Off and running. We
hope you were stimulated by the first class... and are ready to dig in. At the
same time… Have “No” Expectations…
So, please post any comments, ideas or questions that you wish about this class and where we are headed. Additional thoughts on the “Great Idea” exercise or the name tag brain-storm?
Many thanks to those who posted Self-Introductions under a different heading. Slightly more than half of our group has NOT YET introduced themselves. PLEASE do so.
Between now and the next class on September 30, experiment with your assigned "Live-With": Have No Expectations. Record your experiences-- successful or less so-- with this concept. How did it work in meetings, in dealing with deadlines? What did you try? What did you notice about your own reactions? This is the most difficult tool and "wrestling" with it has a slow but definite payback.
You can also share any comments you have about the readings.
Good luck.
Julie & Hal
So, please post any comments, ideas or questions that you wish about this class and where we are headed. Additional thoughts on the “Great Idea” exercise or the name tag brain-storm?
Many thanks to those who posted Self-Introductions under a different heading. Slightly more than half of our group has NOT YET introduced themselves. PLEASE do so.
Between now and the next class on September 30, experiment with your assigned "Live-With": Have No Expectations. Record your experiences-- successful or less so-- with this concept. How did it work in meetings, in dealing with deadlines? What did you try? What did you notice about your own reactions? This is the most difficult tool and "wrestling" with it has a slow but definite payback.
You can also share any comments you have about the readings.
Good luck.
Julie & Hal
It was a nice class and very helpful. I am going to try Live-With and Have NO Expectations whole of this week at work and in life. Lets see how things turn out.
ReplyDeleteThe exercise was good. I draw & painted after many years. Asked myself why did I stop drawing after collage.
The creativity and leadership subjects are very deep and I would like to see some examples and slowness in moving slides would be help me a lot.
Question: I get so many thoughts and ideas every day. So confusing. How do I capture an idea clearly and identify which one to apply to resolve a problem or go after?
ReplyDeleteGood morning, I just read this article by John Kotter: http://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkotter/2013/09/24/leadership-lessons-from-lego/#!
ReplyDeleteFun article, I particularly liked the idea in #2 of reframing the hurdles in change from "stop mode" to "innovation time." When I facilitate force field analysis sessions, we first address the "headwinds and tailwinds" to accomplishing a specific goal and then reframe the "headwinds" as opportunities. It is remarkable how the things we perceive as challenges can become our most powerful tools to usher in change. The lens of framing is powerful.
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ReplyDeleteI have been practicing the first “live with” tool this week (“have no expectations”). By consciously removing expectations, the discussions yielded various new and unexpected possibilities. One example involved the discussion of a process enhancement with several cross functional teams. These discussions can be challenging, especially since the participants bring with them different perspectives and expectations (what works, how it is today, how it should be in the future, etc). After communicating the “have no expectations” concept, the teams were able to communicate new innovative possibilities that I do not think would have surfaced otherwise. This exercise has yielded the best ideas to date, and the team is energized and focused on the end goal.
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ReplyDeleteThe article “ What Leaders Really Do” by John P. Kotter really made sense to me. The article states that the concepts regarding “leaders” and “managers” were initially controversial, but they have since been validated over time. I would theorize that the rise of inexpensive technology, global communications and social media have expedited the need for change in business direction, which in turn helped to highlight the difference in roles. This created an awareness for the value of strong leaders who could set clear direction and motivate people towards the necessary and frequent changes - while also demonstrating the value of management who would organize the complex people and systems toward that direction efficiently. I would imagine most of us have examples of organizations that have demonstrated strong leadership and/or management behaviors.
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ReplyDeleteAfter reading the “Not Business as Usual” article by Michael Ray, it reinforced the importance of the “great idea” exercise to help identify the conditions and experiences under which we each are able to access our inherent creativity. During the 9/23 class “great idea” exercise I noticed a pattern that some of my most creative moments happened while I was performing some kind of physical exercise such as working out at the gym, hitting golf balls on the driving range, or even just walking for the sake of exercise. For some reason, the “mindless” aspect of physical exercise helps me become open to new possibilities. Thanks to this new self-awareness I will continue to test the theory ;)
I have been practicing "Live-With" and "Have No Expectations" since our last Monday class. I had an interesting week.
ReplyDeleteMy week started with a bang. Tuesday afternoon I decided to attend Oracle Open World conference, I walked in around 2.30pm, checked in at the registration deck for printing my discovery pass that provides access to the conference exhibit hall. For some weird reason, the printer at the concerned desk printer did not print my pass, instead my pass was printed elsewhere which took about 5 minutes for the event crew to find it. Due to this delay in finding my pass, I got free upgrade to full conference pass. :-). Then I entered the exhibit hall floor and happened to visit American Express Open booth where I was given a key for the closed locker and asked me to try my luck, that turned out to be the right Key and I won $250 gift card for just trying. Then I continued to circle around the exhibit hall and happened to enter into BigData Live Booth where I bumped into the MD of United Airlines who is in the midst of a project which my company offers a service. As I started spending few more minutes in the booth, I saw an interesting BigData presentation which helped me to learn some interesting use cases that I can add in our presentation deck and uncovered some new ideas on how I can sell our services better. (BigData - Is a term used for large volume of data that is captured, curated, stored, searched, shared, transferred, analyzed and visualized using specific data management and analytical tools). In the same booth I had an interesting conversation with a lady (normally I won’t speak to such person for business but I spoke as I had no expectations) who turned out as another good lead for my company.
As my day continued to turn to be great, “Have No Expectations” became tougher. In fact next day, I was expecting so called ‘luck” almost every minute and it was very hard to find any. First of all, I had tough time finding a right car parking in the morning. Almost all the parking lots around Mascone center were full due to the conference, and the ones which had open slots, was charging $40 flat fee for parking till 7pm while I was looking for parking atleast till 9pm for $20 dollars or less. Probably I would have checked 10 parking lots, almost when I gave up my expectations and decided to go back to the one which charged $40 fee, I found a parking lot which was right behind Mascone center that charged only $25 for parking till 9pm. I was happy and parked my car straightway. Then when I entered conference exhibit hall floor with expectations to win some dollars and gifts. I was looking for luck like yesterday at American express booth, despite of trying 5 times I didn’t win a dime this time. The same happened at EMC booth which was give away 60+ iPad minis in 2 days, 2 iPad minis every 30 minutes. Also I didn’t find any lead that is useful till late evening. Then I talked to myself and told not to have any expectations. Late in the evening, I met with one of my old contact which turned out to be a very good lead. Similarly earlier in the day, I was expecting my biggest customer to appreciate the summary status report that we prepared investing 20+ hours of our senior management time and got big disappointment when the customer completely rejected the report and asked us to send a different simple one.
ReplyDeleteOn Thursday, I again started my day without any expectation and the day went very well. Firstly I had a good lunch discussion with co-workers and then attended 2 events which turned out to be fun. I managed to meet some very interesting people both professionally and personally. Friday I was expecting a detailed long conversation with a prospect before the call, but we managed to get the end result we wanted within 5 minutes into the call and the cal was over within 10 minutes. I was amused by the impact of Live-With and Have No Expectations.
ReplyDeleteSaturday was even more interesting, I went to Macy’s Stanford Mall for buying the leather jacket I wanted. They did not have the item I needed in stock and asked to drive to Macy’s at Hillsdale Shopping Center. Though I strictly told myself I will only buy a leather jacket and nothing else, I ended up buying whole of other clothes. In fact 10 items and burnt $1K. In the evening, I had an important meeting for which I prepared atleast 5 hours on Friday, that was simply cancelled and got postponed most likely to week of 7th Oct or later. I was planning to go out and do other things in the evening, but ended sleeping at 7pm and woke up at mid-night. It is 2.42am on Sunday, here I am writing this blog, which I did not even think in my dream that I will do. Talking about dreams, I had some very interesting dreams too. I believe I saw God in my dream, Lord Shiva (Indian god Lord Shiva - Supreme Destroyer of Evil forces) in my dream, I can remember the dream even now. My parents are not comfortable with reading SMS (they use their mobile phones only for dialing and picking up calls and I desperately needed them to read important SMS that comes from my Indian bank for making any online transactions), but I ended up touching them within 1hr around 1am on Sunday and accomplished my goal. Also I have a bad habit of not reviewing what I write and getting embarrassed many time due to Typos, but I definitely reviewed this blog once completely and corrected my many items. Again have no expectations and surrendering to the problem worked.
Here is my conclusion - It is tough to “Live-With, Have No Expectations and Surrendering to the problem”. But I strongly believe it is important that we follow these consciously (till it becomes part of our character), this will help us relieve ourselves from the additional burden, stress and worry of end results we put us through. This in-turn will help us perform better with peace of mind and lot more focus. Hope you find my experiences useful.
ReplyDeleteTeam - The way you can post your blog if it has more than 500 words is by breaking it to multiple comments with less than 500 words like what I did here.
ReplyDeleteSometimes the universe gives you just the tool you need precisely in the nick of time. This week's "Live With" was just that for me...but not how I expected. And that was my "Ah ha" moment: Expectations were so deeply ingrained that I had expectations about the ways and situations in which I would apply having "no expectations!" Here's how it unfolded: When leaving class Monday, I thought about how I would abandon my expectations for my workday on Tuesday. Positive reinforcement came early after a conference call that had the potential to be negative was quickly deflated. Feeling good about the heuristic, I applied it several other times to interpersonal relationships, even talking about it openly with several co-workers. Mid-week rolled past and I had several journal entries reinforcing the power in observing and trusting over controlling and "expecting." Then on Wednesday night, I received some unexpected personal news. It was hard to hear, sad, disappointing and emotional. I cried. While sniffling at night and admittedly feeling fairly sorry for myself, it hit me: I was upset because I had had expectations that I was totally unaware I had developed. What's more, there are several creative solutions available if, and only if, I am willing to set aside my underlying expectations. So two paths exist. One, I may hold my expectations and lose something very dear in my future. Or, two, I may abandon my expectations and gain something very precious. What astonishes me as I write on Sunday afternoon, is that since deciding that the expectations are little sacrifice, the creative solutions to my perceived problem from Wednesday are more numerous that I had imagined. I will be honest, this was more lesson that I was "expecting" (or even hoping*) to gain in week one. And yet, the heuristic that I so confidently thought had deep professional applications, was a true gift, personally, this week. To this tool, I must bow with gratitude and say Namaste to the Universe. PS- Is "hope" just expectation in disguise??
ReplyDeleteThis week I was being plagued by mistrust/lack of confidence in my creativity. I'm not in a management or leadership position, and in the past (and sometimes still) I would be the quiet one in the back. Last week I got an invitation from our director to attend an extended leadership offsite, to be held this coming Thursday. In a meeting last week the director went over the agenda and his expectations from us. I thought of mentioning that "having no expectations might be useful" in order for us to be more creative and come up with ideas, but I was afraid that others wouldn't understand or that I would make myself ridiculous. Finally, I decided to mention it anyway. To my surprise, the director thought that was a very good point. My manager asked me what I meant by it and I gave a few examples. The following morning I found this article by John Kotter "Leadership lessons from LEGO". Again I wasn't sure whether to share it with my coworkers. Instead of sending it to the team, I first sent it to my manager and the director, who thought it was very helpful and encouraged me to share it with the other offsite participants, but no comments from anyone yet... Then I started worrying about that... Had a very bad night from Friday to Saturday. In the morning I decided to go for a run, and gradually my anxiety disappeared. I found myself focusing more on the good things in my life and on the things I really want to do and enjoy doing. Also, the book "Creativity in Business" that I had ordered a week before the class started finally arrived a few days ago, and I've read the first 2.5 chapters so far. I'm pleasantly surprised and realized that I had very different "expectations" from a business book. Some of the things that are described in the book, I've read in books on self-development and spirituality I really enjoy reading!
ReplyDeleteGreat article and very helpful! But I admit is still hard for me live with no expectation. I feel insecure if I don't make any plan or dont follow any script. For sure this feeling has been developed by corporate world and teachings at college to be ready all the time for all of the situations. But I must assume feelings like anxiety and stress are very frequent when I have expectation about some outcome or project. It gets my mind tired. I will practice daily about live with no expectation to become it into a natural habit.
ReplyDeleteLive with "no expectation" led me to an interesting “back to basics”.
ReplyDeleteFor my part, I did not see any successful consequences of this practice yet. Last week I spent some time observing how I was reacting to this "no expectation" lifestyle. It just happened to me this way, it was not meant to be a big analysis.
First reaction: If I live with “no expectation” when I engage myself in a situation, I immediately need to questioned the process I had put in place to live, do, organize. Why would I decide or do things this way, in a professional meeting? Or … In my kitchen’s cupboard?
(I think everyone lives with a series of automated process to deal with, either business or personal life; it is reassuring and almost necessary, it is the result of the culture, education, family and social expectations we grow up with. It is a database and a program at the same time, slowly and constantly affected by our experience.)
Therefore if I live with no expectation, should I live the same way? It drove me to this question: “what is really important? What are the important decision I need to take? Why would I do that? Why do I do it this way? (because I have expectations! - It works all the time!)”.
Would answers be: “Because I want it? Because I was told to? Because I learned how to do it? Because I like it this way?”
I started to challenge my point of view, my reactions, my automatic processes in life.
Following this step I experienced quite an agitated moment: too many ideas, too many possible answers to my questions above, which one to pick? I couldn’t say it was a good, positive and satisfying moment of creativity. It was going too fast and I was unable to catch one of those new ideas, some were very good. I felt like I was watching a large group of wild running horses, amazing moment but you can’t actually focus your attention on one’s run.
I was quite frustrated when I was in that state. I was less efficient than usual because I was challenging all my way of doing things but could not manage the feedback.
After the storm, a more quiet time arrived, thankfully. I realized that I had reduced the ambient noise of the permanent VOJ, I operated a “back to basics”. I was telling me: “what is the best to do, do it without thinking what your boss or your mother think. Do it because you know you are right to do it this way. Be confident in what you think. Say it loud, twice if necessary. Be determined.”
Let’s hope I can maintain this state of mine, I kind enjoy it !
I wouldn’t say that I have the Creativity inside yet (not the one I will have in 10 weeks for sure ;o) but I have the sensation I made some space for it. I have prepared the land, planted seeds, and now it is ready to grow!
Hi everyone, I am Ulrika Brenner, moved this fall to the area from Sweden. I work as a counselor, professional and private clients. Earlier in life i studied Business and had various positions within finance and human resources. I believe it takes courage and curiosity to grow as an individual. In this course I will be challenged to communicate with my higher Self and hopefully experience new paths or possibilities in life. As a counselor I have my own business but on a project base I cooperate with colleagues within my field.
ReplyDeleteSee you in class, Ulrika
I found this week's 'live with' really quite difficult to do, but I am going to keep trying. When I did succeed at having 'no expectations', it lifted a huge weight from my mind. For example, I have spend quite a bit of this week thinking about why a contact had not replied to my emails. I run through various scenarios - good and bad - in my head, which takes a lot of mental energy. Of course, the Voice of Judgement is there saying that the reason for the (lack of) reply is either about me, how I phrased the email, a lack of clarity, etc, etc. Even thinking 'they are very busy, or this is a difficult issue' takes up time and energy. Instead, not trying to second-guess the reason was freeing, and allowed me to concentrate on other issues. It was a definite struggle, though, to concentrate on 'having no expectations', and quieten the mind chatter. In the end when I did get a response, there was - of course - a legitimate reason for the delay….
ReplyDeleteOne other issue that I feel I need to grapple with is about 'no expectations' = 'no preparation'. I have traditionally based my meeting preparation on what I would like to come out of the meeting. This week, with one major meeting with the faculty, I went in with no conscious expectations. I think that this also lead me to do less mental preparation. The meeting went well but I felt I wasn't as polished as I could have been. I need to work on balancing the two: having no expectations, doesn't mean not polishing a presentation or preparing yourself, it just means not having expectations of the outcome or what role people will play.
I also feel that 'no expectations' fits well with both trying to calm the Voice of Judgement and deciding what leadership style to use. Our greatest expectations are of ourselves, in having no (or at least fewer) expectations, we should be able to achieve more, especially creatively. No expectations will also let us listen to the situation in which we need to provide leadership, rather than always defaulting to one type of leadership or having set formula. Looking forward to tonight!
“Live-With” and “no expectation” is not an easy task! To have no expectations of your self or of others should be obvious. I like to be in control and be well prepared for whatever I do, so this has been a week of interesting struggling ☺. I have been reading the book/articles and trying to absorb and let all the advice sink in…. From my perspective this is a journey. Right now I am more in square one, a bit more in the mode “let go…” which probably connects with “no expectations” I really like the description in the book: instead of labeling something as good or bad – stop and look at it hard! Enjoy, try to understand, do not label people before you listening to what they have to say. Being open and see what´s happening, has been my mantra. I am looking forward to dig deeper every week and to see where this journey ends!
ReplyDeleteI applied the “have no expectations” concept mostly in situation where I would normally expect a negative outcome. I found that in most cases the outcome turned out positive. One example, that happened last week, I realized after sending a report to my boss that I had made a serious mistake in the numbers. I initially thought her would be mad or disappointed, I than told myself not to have expectations and deal will the consequences once they actually happened. I went to him and explained the situation and he just laughed about it and it was the end of it. I was happily surprised and kept applying the concept and with similar outcome. It has been an eye opening week.
ReplyDeleteHave no expectations... With an academic background in Psychology, one place that this Live-With is especially interesting is in the realm of person perception. When meeting new people, we're able to size others up in just a few moments.
ReplyDeleteGiven this, I decided to note my application of this prompt in when meeting academic faculty when visiting a grad school for the first time. As the professors I met with were long-time New Yorkers, I could have easily, overtly applied any stereotypes I had from from the media and past experiences to these new faces--allow these expectations to color my interactions.
Thus, my challenge here was to let go of any assumptions I had. Long story short, letting of some of my expectations made it easier to select deeper, more creative questions when interacting and learning about the graduate program. Without relying on my expectations, it felt as if there were less of a barrier to getting to know the people I spoke with. This is definitely an exercise I'll carry on when meeting with other professionals for the first time.