Many thanks for a great link (CoachesGetRich email – Rich Schefren teleseminar). Another meeting had to be re-scheduled so the timing of your email was spot on and a valuable hour spent. Some great points and thoughts that I will “steal with pride”.

You might not be surprised to hear that I was not entirely in agreement with Rich Schefren’s thoughts re. only get advice/coaching from those at the top of the pile. Ref. Q&A session at the end of the podcast.

If he meant avoid poor imitations then I am happy with that. If on the other hand he was, as appeared to be the case, suggesting one avoids those who, (might be able to stand alongside or ahead of the current ‘best’ but), are currently building a reputation, then with that sentiment I have a problem. He wasn’t clear so I will give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he was referring to those that are a poor imitation, rather than good guys building a business and a reputation for delivering results.

Best regards
Davo
David Ruthven-Stuart – Consulting Partner
Personal Consultancy Solutions Ltd (PCSL)

Richard

Regards
Bay
Bay Jordan – Director, Zealise Limited

Register here for Dr John Demartini

Letter to the Editor

Richard,

Many thanks for a great link (CoachesGetRich email – Rich Schefren teleseminar). Another meeting had to be re-scheduled so the timing of your email was spot on and a valuable hour spent. Some great points and thoughts that I will “steal with pride”.

You might not be surprised to hear that I was not entirely in agreement with Rich Schefren’s thoughts re. only get advice/coaching from those at the top of the pile. Ref. Q&A session at the end of the podcast.

If he meant avoid poor imitations then I am happy with that. If on the other hand he was, as appeared to be the case, suggesting one avoids those who, (might be able to stand alongside or ahead of the current ‘best’ but), are currently building a reputation, then with that sentiment I have a problem. He wasn’t clear so I will give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he was referring to those that are a poor imitation, rather than good guys building a business and a reputation for delivering results.

Best regards
Davo
David Ruthven-Stuart
- Consulting Partner
Personal Consultancy Solutions Ltd (PCSL)

Consultants, coaches and trainers – register here

The comment from a reader about the value words being action verbs instead of abstract qualities and your response shows that you are both correct.

Several years ago I conducted a study about values. I surveyed 200 teachers and asked them to review a list of 25 value words and rank order the list in terms of importance to them. Number one was the most important and number 25 was the least important.

I then asked each teacher to describe three examples of how they put their number one value into action in the classroom, and provide three examples of how they put their number 25 value into action in the classroom.

We expected that they would easily come up with three actions for number one and have difficulty coming up with three actions for number 25. The exact opposite was true, however. And in some cases the teachers couldn’t describe any actions for number one, and when they did, their confidence that the value and action were congruent was very low.

We used this study to postulate that such incongruence between prized values and daily action was the major source of stress for teachers. We also used the data to influence teacher training and teacher professional development to use a more coach like approach in helping teachers articulate their values and construct methods, lessons, etc that reflected or demonstrated their values.

Cheers.

Rey Carr (Peer Resources)

Richard

Good to see you back in print again.

I have a few thoughts on the ‘can you be too rich’ question as in our quest to bend the use of our language, we seem to have lost sight of our goal, and it is time to refocus and consider:

• We might consider someone rich from inheritance who spent their capital on things that added little or no value to their lives, to be irresponsible or a wastrel, rather than rich. As we’re doing the same to the natural capital of our planet, claims to be rich when we’re reducing our capital need to be taken with caution – we are reducing the earth’s capacity to support human life at an alarming rate.

• The Chinese sage Lao Tse commented 2500 years ago that “only the man who knows the meaning of the word enough can ever be rich”, and I found it interesting to discuss this with clients in Shanghai on a recent visit. Until we decide for ourselves what enough means in terms of holidays, countries visited, carbon emitted, size of my TV and so on, we can’t really start the process of getting rich.

• Our biggest challenge is to remember the meaning of wealth and riches, and realise the true value of conversations and relationships – events which retain their value over time – rather than pretend that the continued acquisition of material possessions will ever be sufficient to be replace the value of human contact that they replace.

• Perhaps the question is not so much about obscene wealth but ‘ignorant wealth’, as well as its flip side cousin of enforced poverty, which has to exist if I choose material over human wealth.
  

Cheers

Andy
Andy Middleton – TYF Group

Your article, How to decide where to live, prompted much thought. My relatives are not local and I do not have a wide circle of friends. However, I have lived in the area for 10 years. Is it enough? Yes it is – I enjoy ‘grabbing the moment’. If it is a nice day then I will go for a walk. A simple smile is often enough to open up facinating insights to the lives of others. My conclusion – it is not the place, it is what you make of it.

Marion Paris
Parris King Developing Potential Ltd

Thank you for these insights.

I particularly like the viral approach to change and subscribe to it in my business undertakings.

Your son has a refreshing approach to team leadership and one that will hold him in good stead as he continues to grow.

Brefi is an inspiration to my own organisation as I continue to build it in the direction that feels right.

“Man/Machine” or “People/Process” interfaces are areas of particular interest to me, coming from a manufacturing background, and applying my learnings and expertise in process & manufacturing and the public sector. When you boil it all down, it’s all about the quality of communications that builds productive human relationships, which leads to individual, team and business accomplishment.

Keep up the excellent work.

Kind regards

Tim Watts
Tim Watts Associates

Just a small note based on your suppliers comments on NLP and failure

There is a basic presupposition in all NLP training which I have undertaken, that is there is NO FAILURE only FEEDBACK, so for someone to use the word failure and NLP together is a very strange concept for most NLP Practitioners.

I feel that feedback would be a better word and might inspire a few more people to look for the very things which your article writer is looking for them to search for; after all, we can all find room for feedback in our lives very easily.

Its just a thought

Regards

Stuart Anderson
Jigsaw Executive
0870 850 4459

Dear Sir

Thank you for sending me Issue 131, ‘Coaching and failure‘. This is a very good issue for me . I love the quote from Andrew Halfacre "Success comes from good judgement, Good judgement comes from experience And experience, often, comes from bad judgement!".

This particular quote says it all. Everything in this quote happened to me, and as I stumbled down, I got up and face to do it better and I worked from experience, if it was a bad one I consider it my learning curves and learn from it, I never consider it a failure. By learning from it I got bettter and better in life, my decision making, my handling with people, my communicating with people from all walks of life got better because I listen to people I never argue and tell them they are wrong. Every bit of what people have said, I learnt from it, it was a good feed back to get better.

Lucie Connell

I read your informative article. I have a question about the UK prime minister’s office which I hope you could answer. I need to draw the organization chart of this office. I visit their site at: http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/ and http://www.number10.gov.uk/output/Page1.asp but unfortunately I couldn’t find it. What I need is similar to those I found at: http://www.progressivegovernment.org for USA president office. I would appreciate it if you could help me to find the organization chart of “Downing Street and Number 10″ and UK Cabinet.

With best regards
Fareedeh Ghassemi

Hi Richard

Yes, politicians are becoming a group apart, the secular priests courting celebrity and demanding protection, physically and intellectually. Two suggests, flippant with a serious undertone.

Governments of various hues have set targets and demands on public sectors workers. For instance, if students fail to connect to their courses teachers are criticised for not making the appropriate efforts. Therefore, a simple proposal. The PEEL Act. This stands for Politicians’ Electoral Engagment Law and fixes politicians salary to the level of turn out in their constituencies. Given the appaling and streadily decreasing turnouts such an Act may see politicians actually engaging in the democratic process of regularly meeting their consitituents, that is, you and I!

Secondly: most of us in the public sectopr have regular, constructive and probing supervision about what we do and why. The effects and consequences of our professional decisions. Who provides such professional supervision to politicians? At one time it could be argued the priests provided this questioning, but today?

Any other suggestions to make politicians more ‘normal’ and more willing to listen?

Regards
Richard Lyon

1. John Illingworth Says:

I have never heard of recycling spectacles. Who takes the old ones? How do you practically do this – or do all opticians do this but not advertise the service?

2. Richard Winfield Says:

Recycle your mobile phone: www.fonebak.org
Recycle your computer: www.computer-aid.org
Recycle your spectacles: www.vao.org.uk

3. Lorraine Maddams Says:

As always – enjoyed the newsletter. As you know I too am a Fellow of the RSA but am not directly involved in the Coffee House Challenge. However, I have been thinking a good deal about plastic bags. Recently I was at Borough Market in London and bought a wonderful flat basket, both light and strong, for about £5, made somewhere in the East. The basket takes up no room at all as it lies completely flat – but expands to a large shopping bag. These baskets must be very cheap to import and I wonder if the supermarkets could sell them as sustainable shopping bags. They are also extremely beautiful. I do not know what they are made of.

I would like to comment on the difference between the power of caring and the negative burden of worry. Fundamentally you can care about the things you cannot change and make a huge impact

This is to do with the way we use language and belief. If, for example, you try and tell somebody that you are deeply worried about something they are more likely to build barriers to helping you before they decide whether to assist you or not. On the other hand, if you tell someone that you care passionately about something then the energy of caring will help them step into your reality much quicker. Try it for yourself, next time you start to worry, reframe it, tell a colleague you care passionately about a project, issue, problem and see the difference you can make, especially to the things you cannot change.

To care about something is to give it positive, moving, understanding energy. Worry gets you nowhere!

Regards

Cliff Kimber
Evolution Partnership

I belong to one of several refugee families in India. We were displaced during partition in the year 1947. The word Refugee is assigned to all displaced families.

Right from childhood, this one word has etched deeply in my mind.

I like to share this small experience with readers of this newsletter, in case you feel it suitable.

It (i.e. the experience related to being a refugee!) got rekindled by the appended news item of 4th April.

Even if you do not publish it, I shall be obliged to get your comments on the suggestions to further improve my writing ability.

“The year was 1959. After recovering from a severe attack of whooping cough, I was put in the local Municipality School for starting my education career. This educational institution is not only exempt from tuition fees, the school children were also entitled to free milk for improving nutrition. I vividly recall a curious query that I had made to my father one evening when I asked him to confirm if we were RAFUJI (this was how the school teacher pronounced for “Refugee�?). My father replied in affirmative and with lot of enthusiasm I went and informed my teacher. I was just five years old at that point of time and felt very happy that I completed the assignment successfully as my teacher patted me for quick compliance of a requirement, which she had to enter in my record book. Little did I know the distinction between an English word and any other word in any other language? Words of parents, teachers and elders were Gospel Truth. After many years when I started learning English language and when I understood what it means to belong to a refugee family, I could recall the importance of being innocent and extent to which I was relaxed after completing my assignment. I was just doing the task assigned. Little did I know that refugee is a relatively lower status than a full fledged citizen?

Later as I grew up in this Metropolitan City of Mumbai, I not only grasped the language and overcame scores of hurdles in becoming a contributing person.

The prayer referred by you in your Issue No 96, 4^th April 2005 is put as small posters at several places in my home for past six years. I, my wife and two daughters have drawn lot of inspiration from its contents and often use it as a reference to resolve issues. After reading your editorial, this refugee incident got rekindled and I thought of sharing the same. Earlier, I often used to tell my colleagues that in spite of being able to look after self and family, sense of belongingness to a particular place is still eluding us, as our forefathers’ land in Pakistan is not likely to be back with us. However, practicing learning from this biblical prayer has given us lot of courage to change the things we can, accept the fact that we belong to Displaced Families.

I sincerely wish the same courage, serenity and wisdom to many readers who might have faced similar situations in their life !

Regards

Manjit Singh
Chief General Manager
A.P.R.Packaging Limited
Ashti;