Giving Thanks along the Journey

Posted on November 24, 2009 by michelle

I’m spending Thanksgiving in Germany this year. This means that I transported stuffing, gravy mix and pumpkin pie fixings eight thousand miles in order to cook all day for my husband’s bewildered family.

Thanksgiving is more than a harvest festival. Our founders crossed the ocean in cramped quarters and found home just in time for a bitter winter that the majority did not survive. In the Spring, Native Americans offered to help the pilgrims learn how to farm. When they celebrated the harvest together that Fall, the pilgrims knew they had survived the beginning of their journey and would be able to live in their land of promise.

We are all on journeys. On any day we can tap into our gratitude or feel like we’re standing with empty hands. Thanksgiving is our possibility to take a moment to be grateful to ourselves, for the help and grace shown by others, and the overwhelming beauty of having opportunity at all.

I’m sending you my sincere thanks for reading this blog and participating in Enriching Leadership International.

Wishing you moments of peace and profound gratitude on our uniquely American holiday.

Negotiating on the Same Side of the Table

Posted on October 21, 2009 by admin

by Michelle Randall

Imagine a basketball team, split over passionate differences in strategy, refusing to work together, even taunting each other during a big game. This team would be stealing the ball from its own players who would be blocking shots made by their own teammates, fouling and pushing each other out-of-bounds. In short, it would be a game of perplexing alliances or, even worse, a game of one-on-one-on-one-on-one. Would a team like this have a chance of winning a game? Most likely not. In fact in a game with fractured teams scoring on their own teammates, how would you even determine the winner? Would fans (if there were any) buy tickets? Would they show up for the game? With this as a political reality would voters actually show up at the polls? Continue reading →

Politicians: Coaching’s Next Frontier

Posted on September 28, 2009 by admin

by Michelle Randall, CPCC

“We believe in co-active relationships, partnerships and community, knowing that our impact will be much greater than if we acted alone.”

Imagine that Co-Active principles replaced partisanship in government. “We operate from a foundation of respect and trust that each individual has inherent value to add. We listen with deep curiosity and intent to discover and build on each other’s ideas and intentions.”

What would be different in our legislatures? Continue reading →