Asian and Abrahamic Religions

It was an honor to be included in this PBS Documentary as well as serving as a panelist for the World Affairs Today television program. See previous BLOG posts for October 6, 2011 and September 11, 2011.

Thanks again to the Producers, Directors, and to Moderator Sally Quinn of the Washington Post.

Both programs will be aired on Sunday, May 27 as follows:

Asian and Abrahamic Religions: A Divine Ground in America, May 27, 2 – 4:00pm

World Affairs Today, May 27, 5 – 6:00pm

For local stations and schedule, check: MHz Networks

MHz Networks is an independent, non-commercial television broadcaster delivering international, educational programming and providing diverse cultural perspectives for a globally-minded audience. MHz Networks national channel, MHz Worldview, brings programming to globally-minded audiences in the U.S through affiliates, including cable, satellite and telco, reaching over 42 million households nationwide.

Clarity is Power

The Seven Arts of Change  “process” can work as a principled model helping to solve any business crisis, including the “debt bomb” fiscal crisis faced by our nation.  Congress needs a wakeup call and a new process for working together to responsibly manage our nation’s economic debt crisis.

Here is the problem – spelled out very clearly. This will take six minutes of your time.

This was prepared by a former IBM Accountant. Here’s a link to his background.

Here is a process for leading change in business as well as Congress.

Congress must recover from its addiction to borrowing.  It has become standard operating procedure AKA “the way in which we have always done things”!  Raising the debt limit again and again is a “bad habit”.  Raising the debt ceiling with no strategy to balance the budget is simply not acting responsibly…like letting down your family and friends because of your addiction.  This is Congress not “taking responsibility” at all and is therefore letting down an entire nation.  It is the behavior of addiction plain and simple.  America, we can do better than this.

Being the Best you Can Be in a World of Constant Change

One of the reasons change efforts fail (for individuals as well as corporations) is because people fail to maintain a positive sense of urgency over time.  Leading business transformation that lasts is not unlike embarking upon a diet and exercise program that lasts such that the overall health benefits are maintained over time.  The key is creating an environment where performance improvement habits are maintained and evolved over time even as the environment around you continues to change every single day.  

It is also the case that you often cannot control events or market conditions that surround you.  The key is developing a habit of being prepared for constant change. Ironically, change is the one thing we can count on. There is stability in your life when you or your company are prepared for and expect things to change on a daily basis.  In short, change is not a reason to fail. Change is actually the fuel and the engine that drives successful change processes that last over time.

In my own consulting practice this is the reason why I insist upon agreeing to a three year change process to ensure stability for lasting change over time.  The way you maintain a sense of urgency for continuous change and performance improvement will be different in year three of a change process versus the burning platform for change used in year one.  By the time a company has successfully turned itself around at the end of year one, the market conditions as well as people’s attitudes will have necessarily changed in year two and year three.  

After initial success people feel better, but they might become complacent. At the same time, new competitors may have entered the market and changed the dynamic for competing successfully.  For example, a new low cost provider may have entered the market, or a competitor introduces a higher quality standard by innovating a new manufacturing technology, or a most threatening situation might occur when a new product enters the market with the specific aim to take your job by putting your company out of business.

Proactively preparing for these kinds of dynamic marketplace conditions is the reason companies must continue to practice The Seven Arts of Change. This means institutionalizing daily educational mechanisms (“Boardroom Awareness”) in order to keep all employees in the know in order to maintain the sense of urgency that will enable employees to secure their future over time.

Change is the constant.  Change must not only be anticipated, it must be fully embraced when an individual or corporation desires to maintain excellence in a world of constant flux. Preparing for change is not something that happens through events, training programs, and meetings.  Unless an individual or a corporation learns to change the way they work on a daily basis, you never anchor the change process in the mind, heart, and soul.  Successful change efforts must be embraced at a deeper spiritual level that allows people to maintain focus and thus respond to adversity when it matters most.

I’d like to share a personal story in the video below.  

My Dad (pictured here) was fond of saying that ten years post-dental school (US Navy) there was not a single procedure, technology, or tool that he used in his dental practice that was the same. Simply stated, you have to keep up, maintain continuous education as well as a sense of urgency. In all walks of life, we must embrace change in order to be the best we can be.

A Mustard Seed Can Change the World

It was my pleasure to sit down with Dr. Simon Rakoff, entrepreneur, job creator, and ki-aikido practitioner in daily life. Simon began his career as one of America’s heroes - - a fireman and paramedic in our nation’s capital (Washington DC metropolitan area).

One day Simon had an idea and acted consciously (Chapter Five) to execute his vision by creating a software company that lasts.  He sold that company during the dot.com era, but retiring while still so young was not an option - - Simon has too much energy and passion for that!

Simon went back to school and earned a Ph.D. in Organizational Development.  It was my pleasure to serve as a member of his doctoral committee.  Simon’s dissertation entitled Expanding Leader Capability: An Exploratory Study of Daily Practices for Leader Development was a statistical study based upon the principles for realizing bodymind unification (Shinshin Toitsudo) in daily work life as taught by my teacher - -  the late Koichi Tohei (1920 – 2011), Founder of The International Ki Society.

Today, Dr. Rakoff continues to pour his energy into numerous projects including consulting to the Department of Homeland Security, teaching leader development seminars for individuals and organizations, and using his past business experience to help others create new businesses from mustard seeds to successful enterprises that last.

We sat down to discuss The Seven Arts of Change: Leading Business Transformation That Lasts… (fixed video link)

What is YOUR New Year’s Resolution?

Six Questions to Guide Positive Change

This past October I had the chance to give a 60 minute presentation as part of a Furman University community outreach fall lecture series.  It is an opportunity for University faculty to present their work informally at a downtown community center where retirees and business leaders have a chance to explore interesting topics from “The Economics of Oil” to “Prospective Memory” to “Trends in Higher Education”.  In this 24 minute middle video section of my talk (see below), I focus upon investigating six simple, basic, no nonsense questions that will help to guide you through any personal change process.  

I thought sharing this discussion just before January 1st would be a good way kick off the New Year giving you some tools, a template, a frame of reference, and some positive encouragement that will help you to execute successfully your planned New Year’s resolution.  After all, even big businesses are made up of individuals who must each take their game to a new level if the whole organization is to succeed.  That is why the no nonsense advice is focusing upon what it takes for individuals to set new goals and achieve their dreams.  Whether you wish to lose weight, stop smoking, better manage your time, or simply learn to relax, your journey will be advantaged if you ask yourself these six questions before you start you journey of change,

The six questions are:

WHERE?

WHOSE?

WHEN?

WHAT?

HOW?

WHY?

Good Luck!

You know, if we all did this together, we could turn the economy around by becoming more competitive globally; we could grow the economy, employ more people, and thus eliminate our national debt which is the greatest threat to our national security.  In short, we could work both ends of the national P&L statement!  On one hand, we reduce cost by increasing national employment and thus dramatically lowering the need for the government to pay out unemployment benefits.  And, on the other hand, we simultaneously increase revenue by employing more people who will be paying taxes.

All Behavior is Addictive

Recently, I was talking to an old friend and former client who has used the Seven Arts approach to lead businesses ever since he was introduced to these principles over 22 years ago. At the end of our conversation, he surprised me by asking to read some of my early academic writing focused upon understanding the biological basis of behavior. He remembered me referencing this literature in my consulting practice where we are focused upon change in business. Indeed, I was suggesting that it is in our biology NOT to want to change. Habit formation and doing things “the way we’ve always done things” is the single largest contributing factor to a 70% to 80% failure rate when companies attempt to “change the culture” for performance improvement.

Decades ago (when the “earth was still cooling”, as I tell my children), I wrote on this topic. In 1987, after I taught at Harvard (1985-86), I asked some famous colleagues and friends to contribute to an issue of The Personalist Forum with me. I wrote an article entitled, “The Cultural Evolution of Mind,” alongside Harvard professor, Edward O. Wilson (father of Sociobiology), who wrote “The Evolutionary Origin of Mind”, and MIT professor, Marvin Minsky (father of artificial intelligence), who wrote “The Society of Mind.” Together our three articles provided a perspective for understanding the biological basis for learning and behavior. (The Personalist Forum Volume III, No. 1, Spring 1987.)

Then, in 1989, I wrote a book (with Japanese scholars Shigenori Nagatomo and the late Yuasa Yasuo) entitled, Science and Comparative Philosophy, Leiden: E. J Brill. Herein I suggested consideration of the possibility that culturally dependent “ways of thinking” may have at its core an influential biological basis. As I see CULTURE as a term also applicable to the “culture” of different businesses, I have used this understanding to help businesses manage the difficult change process.

Now to my friend’s specific request…a focused early paper that I published in this specific area of scholarship was an article (written with Furman University Dana research assistant, R.D. Hutchinson) published in the journal Human Evolution, Vol. V, No. 2 (175-191), 1990. Since my friend asked for my synopsis per understanding the biological basis of behavior, I share (below) both the full title and abstract of this publication twenty-two years ago!

“Neuroplasticity and Temporal Retardation of Development (Paedomorphic Morphology) in Human Evolution: A Consideration of Biological Requirements for the Plasticity of Human Cognition and the Potential Acquisition of Culturally Dependent Ethical World Views”.

“Abstract: The fact that Homo sapiens have one of the longest childhoods in the animal kingdom is a most significant factor when considering the biological requirements for cultural evolution. The so-called long childhood is necessary for the intergenerational transmission of learned skills and behaviors that define culture. It is important to distinguish between behavior motivated by instinct and behavior that is learned as a result of having been reared in a culturally dependent environment.

Our neotenic development occasions an ability to learn a variety of culturally dependent behaviors. Since we are born, quite literally, as human embryos, we must recognize that our brain undergoes the bulk of its development post-natally. It is significant that at the same time the brain develops its distinctive axon-neuron network structures, persons are learning culturally dependent accepted patterns of behavior that are related to (amongst many other things) language, altruism, filial rites and proprieties, etc. The old reductionist nature-nurture issue is best understood as a complex array of developmental processes in which environmental stimuli (nurture) may affect the physiological development (nature) of the brain. The early plasticity of human cognition may be, to a significant degree, shaped and physiologically constrained by environmental factors (especially in the early years of development). The presence of a diversity of environmental influences the world over suggests the possibility that a person’s intolerance of foreign ethical belief systems may stem from a genuine inability to conceive of ethical relationships in a manner far removed from one’s daily life and native environment.

After consideration of the effects of neuroplasticity and human neotenic development, it is argued that a viable sociobiological research agenda must study not only those ethical behaviors that seem to be shared across cultures, but also those behaviors that stem from culturally distinctive attitudes that are not shared across cultural boundaries.”

View the full article here.

The Power of Giving

As we approach the holiday season of giving (Thanks + GIVING), let us be reminded of our greater responsibility to give back.  Beyond showing gratitude to our close friends and family, what if we were to expand the practice of giving and service in our daily life at work?

In these times when Occupy Wall Street (OWS) protests are springing up around the nation, more and more light is cast upon the issues and extreme inequities that reveal the dark shadow of persistent corporate greed.  For example, how can the CEOs of Fannie Mae (The Federal National Mortgage Association) and Freddie Mac (The Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation) be paid millions in bonus compensation when a) their firms continue to lose money, b) they are bailed out with US tax payer dollars, and c) there is no new plan to stop the bleeding and turn performance around?  

The Seven Arts change process is focused upon each individual, including senior management, embracing a corporate culture based upon first, understanding needs, and second, serving those needs with clarity, alignment, and focus.   The seventh art, The Art of Service, is about giving back to local communities.   At this last stage in the Seven Arts change process, each person not only practices service toward others in the workplace, but is also encouraged to extend these benefits through active service within local schools and community organizations.  A Seven Arts change process includes seeking to become the local “employer of choice” where employees can take pride in working for a company that actively contributes to positive community growth and development.

It would be wonderful if the spirit of giving would become the cornerstone of effective business practice for every high performing company. In contrast to this ideal, the OWS movement today suggests that people are venting their frustration regarding what would appear to be most ungrateful behaviors of poor corporate citizens. I believe if we could shift the business moral compass from selfish greed to selfless service, then we would have the WIN/WIN of fully engaged and committed employees who also feel the need to serve their local communities.  The Power of Giving practiced in daily life thus serves improvement in both the workplace and the community.  Just imagine The Power of Giving writ large… no more OWS because the root cause (selfishness) would simply disappear.

The universal principle to be acted upon here is selflessness.  In the corporate arena, selflessness means exercising the power of giving by putting the needs of others first!  The best thing businesses can do to turn things around is to eliminate the seeds of selfish corporate behavior by practicing daily gratitude and service in the workplace.

It was my pleasure to experience firsthand The Power of Giving while working as a consultant to Duracell Batteries for 13 years of my 30 year career to date.  Initially, under the superb leadership of Duracell International, Inc. CEO, C. Robert “Bob” Kidder, the organization aligned itself around what we called “The Nine Great Investments”.  These investment strategies aligned the organization such that people, products, and quality of life for communities mattered.  

The Duracell high performance culture was maintained through multiple changes of ownership for one reason - - being a good corporate citizen mattered strategically to successive Duracell Presidents including Charlie Perrin, Charlie Kiernan, and Dave Bluestein.  

The Power of Giving was also taught to me and was reinforced by real life examples provided by Marc Advertising Co-Founder, Jack Goldsmith; International  Ki Society Founder, Koichi Tohei; and former U.S. Secretary of Education and former Governor of South Carolina, Richard “Dick” Riley.

Thank you all for such a powerful example of giving to others selflessly in daily life.

What is World Class Communication in a Large Organization?

Answer:  World class communication occurs when everyone in the organization clearly understands both the strategy (“Board Room Awareness”) and the key performance metrics (“Dashboard”) that inform the entire workforce whether the company is “on” or “off” course.

World class communication in a multi-location business is the same as everywhere else in daily life, including in education, in government work, and at home.  When there is genuine, truthful UNDERSTANDING by all parties, and when everyone is performing willingly to the best of their ability, then you have world class communication.

This morning the plant manager of a client company emailed me asking the following important question.  He has also given me permission to share the full text of his email…

“Do you have a book, a case study, or some other means of providing an example to me of what Communication in a World Class Company should look like?  I am thinking specifically about communication between corporate resources and remote plant locations.  I would like to make sure I have a better understanding of what is “World Class Communication” so that I can help drive us to a better place.”

I know of no such book, but I have scheduled a call today with this plant manager in order to discuss his specific need(s), focused upon managing his resources and ensuring alignment with our corporate headquarters located in a different state and time zone.  His thoughtful question occasions my going back to the basics as I always do when faced with a challenge. 

Those of you who have come to know my work always hear me talking about the basics…my mantra is keep it simple in order to maximize clarity (of strategy) , visibility (of metrics), and focus (where everyone’s activities are working in alignment).  Indeed, the fourth of The Seven Arts, is the Art of Clarity, Visibility, and Focus.  When everyone in the organization understands the basics of company strategy (the how) as well as the performance metrics for success (the what), then you have the basis for performance improvement that lasts.

You might call this “Shaner’s Law” - - keeping things so simply that the essence or basics can be explained in four words or less.

For example, I was in Barnes & Noble the other day and realized that the section on diet books was huge: millions of words, hundreds of volumes, from sane to wild perspectives on the topic.  It might be glib, but in terms of the four word filter used to help us think about the simple BASICS, we could say “Eat Less, Exercise More”.  While not ignoring or over-simplifying important genetic and/or biochemical interrelationships, the four word phrase does powerfully orient us to the basic truth.  It can clear our heads of what is sometimes “off strategy”, non-value added clutter.

In business, communication tactics (like diets) vary but the universal principle to be achieved (the financial health of the organization) must ultimately be boiled down to something very simple that can be understood by all.  Strategy is simply the path to achieve the desired result.  However, in order for the strategy to be executed, everyone must first understand what financial and operational health looks like. Second, everyone must understand how to proactively act in response to the visible performance measures that indicate success or failure.  

The numbers must be understood in terms of a “line-of-sight “ mentality.  Tracking performance data informs everyone provided they already understand clearly how their actions affect certain key measures.  The employees, serving the company in their respective cost center(s), understand what they can do to affect the direction of the performance measures.  Each person can thus understand how to make a difference every single business day.  In the diet world you have daily, easy to understand performance measures too … a scale and a mirror - - simple. In business, understanding these performance measures require operational and financial literacy.  This may include, for example, measures for safety, quality, productivity, on time delivery, process variability, and in private equity, EBITDA.

How about this one?  What is the basic essence of a successful business?  Simply put, you will have a steady business that lasts as long as you have customers willing to pay for your product or service.  To accomplish this, most businesses focus upon four words “Buy Low, Sell High”. Or, simply look at total cost - - “Profit = Revenue Less Cost”.  Without a steady stream of profit to invest in growth and pay bills you’re history! And then what happens?  You have to send home for good your most loyal, hard working employees.  Sad but true. .. and unemployment becomes even more of a national problem.

Let’s apply this four word logic to the question at hand, “what is world class communication in a large organization?” Four words - - “Clear Understanding for All”. 

How you go about achieving this collective, ongoing, essential understanding in a large organization is actually a tactical question that will vary from industry to industry.  However, there is a common denominator across all businesses.  You must institutionalize sharing the most critical data relevant to meeting your performance goals. That is, UNDERSTANDING the business metrics that show performance improvement or performance decline is a must for everyone!  This is why all those involved must be trained to achieve financial literacy (see The Seven Arts of Change, pgs. 125-135).

The English statesman and philosopher Francis Bacon (1561-1626) is associated with the dictum “Knowledge is Power”.  This may be true; however, in an organizational setting this will kill you if knowledge is harbored by only a few individuals.  Knowledge itself will not help your organization excel unless it is systematically and strategically shared.  When knowledge (know how) and metrics (how we are doing today) are clearly understood by all, then you have the basis for world class communication.

Globalization: Religious Pluralism and The Art of Compassion

If someone is drowning, you throw them a life-raft.  But, what if they’re drowning and they don’t know it?  You still throw them a life-raft! 

In business, the “life-raft” is  Board Room Awareness.  Board Room Awareness is an educational life-raft that gives drowning workers a chance to succeed and save their job.  Let me explain… 

Many Americans are working in manufacturing industries that are being systemically outsourced overseas.  In select industries, employees are going to work each day and are drowning, but they do not know it.  Management has not invited the work force into a performance improvement process by thoroughly explaining the competitive threat of globalization, nor have they given employees the tools (LEAN) and the education (Board Room Awareness) to succeed.  Providing this life-raft is the most compassionate and competitive thing management can do, it gives employees a fighting chance to save their jobs and the company by becoming more effective, efficient and competitive.  

Fully engaging everyone in the business requires a mature compassion that leads to building real TRUST between employees at all levels of the organization.  With this trust comes meaningful PARTICIPATION in the change process (as described in Chapter Two of The Seven Arts of Change).

I invite you to watch this video trailer of a recent panel discussion on “Religious Pluralism”.  The full discussion will appear on the The World Affairs Today cable television show. www.worldaffairsdc.org/worldaffairstoday.php

As you watch, consider the impact of ignorance and fear in our daily work life. How does a lack of knowledge in the workplace undermine people?  How does a lack of trust or tolerance (management-employee relations) add tension and animosity?  Since an organization is comprised of many different types of people (race, gender, age, ethnicity, etc.), the lessons of religious pluralism are equally applicable in the workplace; hence, The Seven Arts truly are Universal Principles (see last blog post).

It was an honor and pleasure to serve on this panel of distinguished scholars and clergy.  Thank you also to Sally Quinn of The Washington Post for moderating so gracefully.  Follow her column “On Faith” at www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/on-faith.  Thank you also for our wonderful hosts at the The World Affairs Council of Washington DC www.worldaffairsdc.org/

In short, cross-cultural education is the slayer of fear and ignorance in the world of spirituality just as board room awareness is the slayer of fear and ignorance in the world of global business.

A panel discussion with Sally Quinn, Washington Post
Ambassador Akbar Ahmed, Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies, American University
Bishop John Chane, Bishop of Episcopal Diocese of Washington
Dr. Rajwant Singh, Chairman of the Sikh Council on Religion and Education
DC Rao, Former President of the Inter Faith Conference of Metropolitan Washington

Thomas Jefferson Monument

As mentioned by Ambassador Ahmed, the Jefferson Monument celebrates, among other things, religious freedom and underscores our founding father’s vision for religious tolerance. Listed on a tablet called “The Statute of Religious Freedom” (held by a young angelic women representing purity and spirituality) are the words: “Jehovah, Allah, Brahma, Ra”.

Universal Principles are at the Heart of Successful Change:  Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King

People ask me, “Why is the Seven Arts of Change process successful every time?”  My answer is that the arts themselves follow basic universal ethical principles that everyone understands regardless of their education, socio-economic environment or even culture of origin. 

The foundation is treating everyone in the organization with dignity and respect…and that includes giving every person the tools, the education, and the information to succeed.  This universal foundation for change echoes the teachings of Gandhi who drew his ideas from spiritual traditions around the globe.  And, it was Mohandas Gandhi who inspired the vision and action of Dr. Martin Luther King.

Consider the Judeo-Christian notion of the Golden Rule – “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”  It means, you must first put yourself in the other person’s place in order to truly connect and understand their needs.  This is especially important at the beginning of ANY change process.

The same principle is expressed by Confucius and is amazingly called the Silver Rule as expressed in the Confucian Analects.  Again, this same foundational principle for change is expressed as the doctrine of “selflessness” (anatman) in the Buddhist tradition.

The fact is, people (living anywhere in the world) are led positively and successfully when their needs are understood first.  This is the first art, The Art of Preparation.

The inverse of this universal principle is also true.  Consider why people naturally and instinctively resist the rule of a dictator.  We find this occurring today in Egypt, Libya, Yemen, and Syria.  People universally resist those who are not interested in serving their needs, or better…the needs of the relationship.  When resistance is at work, people will NOT go along with the change process because they recognize that there is no real connection and trust cultivated between the leader of change and those expected to change.

This dictator situation is no different than working for an autocratic manager who tries to get things done simply by yelling and creating fear in the workplace by threatening you with your job.  Has this ever happened to you? How did it make you feel?  This kind of manager has no real leadership ability but feels emboldened to act this way as though their title and position gave them the force of truth.

The real “force of truth” is what Mahatma Gandhi called satyagraha.   At its base is the principle of non-violence (ahimsa) which was, of course, the inspiration for Dr. Martin Luther King’s non-violent process for leading change in America.

It is my hope that the Seven Arts of Change (that are rooted in universal principles) will give you the tools to lead positive and effective change whether it is in the business workplace, in education, in government or in your daily life.