Better, Worse, Faster
As I sat down to write this morning after doing a survey of the news, I had a moment of questioning what I am up to with this blog. With the war in Israel taking such center stage that the travesties in Baghdad are going unreported in our news, it feels like more of a time for damage control rather than encouraging and nurturing a new paradigm of political leadership.
But the words that Paul Ray, the demographer who identified the 50 million Americans who are “Cultural Creatives“, said at the tenth Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability (LOHAS) conference reminded me of my own convictions. Together with his partner Dixon de Lena, Ray said, “The world is getting better and better, worse and worse, faster and faster.” This is because we are at the end of paradigm and at the beginning of a new.
So while our international politics feel shameful, horrific, and totally out of American integrity, what I also know to be true is that there are millions of people hungering for political leadership that can take this country in a new direction.
In the next few blog entries it’s my intent to give a little more background on the intent of this blog and to define my premises.
At the core of my work is the idea that we are at a time in history where things are changing so quickly that we can’t simply just respond to events as they happen even thought that would be our natural inclination.
I hear from so many political leaders that they don’t have time to be proactive that their days are spent to such a degree just responding to the masses amount of work that is in front of them.
Yet, I hear in them the desire to be leaders and not just responders.
It is also true that at this time in history the old reflexes, those natural ways of responding that we have practiced so well over and over, are no longer serving us. New reflexes are needed.
One of the ways to develop these new reflexes is through reflection that allows us to be conscious of the choices we make and that calls us forth naturally to our leadership not just our “responsehip”.
I believe that political leaders need a safe environment where they can reflect on the issues that face them and someone to challenge them to think in new ways. That’s why I think coaching is so useful as our old world views shift into new ones.