Category Archives: Thought Process

Why We Enjoy Lights at Year-End Holidays

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Sony122015 071 AcrossFromChgoMillenniumParkThe solace it brings

to see the Light, no matter where we are in the world and no matter what year-end Holiday we celebrate, the Light is most important to us.

Anon

 

 

It is our humanity we wish to remember at this time of the year and I would like to share with you one of John O’Donohue’s poems, in his book, To Bless the Space Between Us.

May you listen to your longing to be free.  May the frames of your belongings be generous enough for your dreams.

May you arise each day with a voice of blessing whispering in your heart.  May you find a harmony between your soul and your life.

May the sanctuary of your soul never become haunted.  May you know the eternal longing that lives at the heart of time.

May there be kindness in your gaze when you look within.  May you never place walls between the LIGHT and yourself.

May you allow the wild beauty of this invisible world to gather you, mind you, and embrace you in belonging.

Happy Holiday in the Lights you celebrate as you Choose Who You Want to be Known As.  

“Jo Ann” M. Radja, Executive and Career Management Coach

https://www.wordpress.com

 

A New 2016 Thanksgiving

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377355-wild-turkeys-wild-turkey-in-flight

 

A great challenge of life: Knowing enough to think you’re doing it right, but not enough to know you’re doing it wrong.  Neil deGrasse Tyson

I have never seen a photo of a Turkey in flight; of course birds fly, and it was whimsical to see the above photo of the majesty of a turkey in flight.  Since the American Thanksgiving holiday came to be in 1789 ,  we can reflect on positive history over our past generations.  Here are a few videos to listen to over this Holiday Weekend:

Thanksgiving music:   http://www.fuse.tv/2014/11/thanksgiving-music-playlist-ultimate#7

How our first President, George Washington handled the surrounding conflict as he set about organizing the First Thanksgiving celebration of our young Nation: http://www.wsj.com/video/opinion-journal-the-first-thanksgiving/1AD96C87-0CB2-45FA-A8F3-274CE8D7C096.html?mod=djemBestOfTheWebtha

Lastly, from Chicago, the Thanksgiving Day Parade – :http://www.chicagofestivals.org/ 

I hope you enjoy a new experience this Thanksgiving Holiday as you Choose Who You Want to be Known As.  Enjoy!

“Jo Ann” M. Radja, Executive and Career Management Coach

http://www.wordpress.com/disclosuresChicago

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When Mindfulness becomes a Personal Mantra

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Heedfulness, Mindfulness and Introspective Awareness help us retain our core values in life.  The Dalai Lama

 

While leaving a Professional Building before Labor Day Weekend, I noticed a few available individual public trays of current magazines.  One of which is called, YOGAChicago , September – October, 2016. It was a surprise to see the lead article written by Mia Park entitled, “Reflections on Mindfulness by Illinois Politicians at the DNC.” [this past Summer]  

Ms. Park quoted a number of Illinois elected officials who shared how Mindfulness was incorporated in their public lives:

Senior US Senator Dick Durbin – “A moment of reflection is valuable….for you to consider what your political career might be able to accomplish.  Real world reflection helps to set the stage for value-driven policy making.”[paraphrased].

Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, Cook County Board of Commissioners –   “When you’re going off into battle to debate legislation, remember who you are accountable to.”  “It’s important to be conscious of that always – it will keep you away from the forces that have led many politicians astray –  money, special interests, and many other vices that make you cease to be a public servant.”

Theresa Mah – 2nd District – Reflects on how mindfulness for politicians can acutely keep uppermost in their minds why they became public servants for the people they serve.

The complete Mia Park’s one-page article, includes the Secretary of State, Jessie White is at this link :http://yogachicago.com/2016/08/reflections-on-mindfulness-by-illinois-politicians-at-the-dnc/

The quotation by The Dalai Lama was found at page 107 of his book, Beyond Religion, Ethics for a Whole World. (2012)  He explains that:

 Heedfulness relates to being vigilant and conscientious about what we do;

 Mindfulness, in the context of living an ethical life, is about recollection of one’s core values and motivation; and

 Introspective Awareness means being honestly aware of our behavior and bringing it under control.   Of course, this does not happen overnight.  It requires practice.

As You Choose Who You Want to be Know As, consider how a Mantra of a mindful thought will bring you closer to the person you want people to see.    Enjoy!

“Jo Ann” M. Radja, Executive and Career Management Coach

https://www.wordpress.com/disclosures

http://creativecommons.org/by-nc-sa

What’s Your Philosophy – On Mature Expectations?

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The best part of our lives we pass in counting on what is to come.  William Hazlitt

We smile as we read text describing the difference between the use of “a” and “the.” It happened to me as I read a four-page paper by Luciano Floridi, Professor of Philosophy and Ethics of Information at the University of Oxford, entitled, “Mature Information Societies – A Matter of Expectations.”   Mature_Information_Societies_a_Matter_of

Floridi’s premise is that “a” is more appropriate when discussing the digital information society because it refers to groups as opposed to “the,” that references one. Digital bandwidth itself, all over the world doesn’t provide a basis to judge the benefit of information to society. Rather, it is the expectation of information that drives education, understanding and innovation for each country’s philosophy of life. Expectations are viewed as mature when balanced by an acknowledgement that all people in the society may not be able to share your specific expectations. In other words, the right to expect more is coupled with knowing everyone may not equally be able to share in the output of digital information.

From a business prospective, companies work daily  through expectations they have for their customers, their employees and stakeholders. Mature societal expectations point to three avenues, according to Floridi, as follows:

a)  Education – Creates awareness of your own assumptions and expectations; Allows for justification, reasonableness and historical determination of your expectations.

b)  Understanding – When society implements a particular right of use it recognizes deficiencies associated with the right of use.

c)  Innovation – Mature expectations assist in creating informative actions, ordinary vs. extraordinary, normal vs. abnormal.

The philosophy of digital information results in mature expectations for the common good. Haven’t we all asked one or more of the following questions: How will this benefit the customer? Why are we moving foward on this project when the risk evaluations are not yet completed?

It’s time to recognize we all have a philosophy for the common good developed on the back of digital infrastructure. As you Choose who YOU want to be Known As in whatever societies you participate in, consider your Expectations for what you give, what the other person gets  and what benefit is provided. Enjoy the upcoming weekend!

“Jo Ann” M. Radja, Executive and Career Management Coach

http://www.wordpress.com/disclosures

http://creativecommons.org/by-nc-sa

Following Up is Not Always Easy. . .

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Pain often leads a conversation

Over six months ago, our city was mourning the loss of a young man who was shot while walking down a street.  After a video of the shooting was released, citizens vehemently blamed people they believed were personally responsible for the death.   Anger and bewilderment followed in our neighborhoods and across social media.  The personal anguish of citizens was felt, recognized and acknowledged resulting in municipal and federal investigations  beginning the work to respond to the demands understanding the Why of what happened. The citizen focus over the past few months appeared to be quiet and perhaps blurred.  When people are in mourning, learning how to deal with the pain is not an easy road to go down.  Pain leads the conversation.

I am writing this blog post because of two separate instances that happened this week.  The first occurred shortly after I arrived back in the City from a business trip.  I spoke to a man and asked a follow-up question of why downtown streets were closed due to police protection.  He was surprised I knew about what happened since I was away, and then responded that a construction crew accidentally hit an energy mainline.  Responding to his surprise, I said, “I’m signed up with the city to receive weather and other alerts.”   His perception: “That’s because you are So and So.”  The conversation remained friendly and the man understood from me that all citizens were able to receive the same alerts.

The second instance was my learning that the US Justice Department would hold a meeting where citizens would have an opportunity to raise their concerns about interaction with the police department – an outgrowth of the investigation that began six months ago.  I listened to this news shortly before 6:00am.  The next day the Illinois Progress website announced only 30 people attended the first Justice Department forum.  http://www.illinoisprogress.org.

Following up on issues that are important to you is not easy when you are in pain and mourning.  If I had not listened to the news early in the morning, I would not have known about the US Justice forum that evening.  The business of municipal and federal agencies is for the common good – so for those who would  like to attend a future forum, here is the listing, again from Illinois Progress:  http://progressillinois.com/news/content/2016/06/15/us-justice-department-hold-public-forums-chicago-police-department-probe.

As you Choose Who You Want to be Known As this week, consider reaching out to someone who would benefit and want to know about these future forums.  Thank you and have a great week!

“Jo Ann” M. Radja, Executive and Career Management Coaching

http://www.wordpress.com/disclosures

http://creativecommons.org/by-nc-sa

Do YOU have an Elephant in the Room?

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When the light around you lessens / And your thoughts darken /. . . Search yourself and see / That it is your own thinking / that darkens your world.   John O’Donohue

Earlier this afternoon, the following post was published under the title, “What’s YOUR Elephant in the Room?” https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/whats-your-elephant-room-jo-ann-m-radja    Here’s a copy for your reading:

“I just finished reading another LinkedIn Post about the paradox of innovation; namely, termination due to computer innovation. It took courage for an innovation expert who advises companies about innovation to share his personal story of how and why it came to be that his company fired staff. Yet, that ELEPHANT in the room idiom, had to be handled in a manner considering the employee’s best interest.

When we think about the idiom phrase of handling “the ELEPHANT in the room,” it usually refers to a subject matter that no one wants to discuss. Our brain perceives the conflict greater than it may be, represented by a large insurmountable figure.

Business Leaders accept the fact that the challenge of an ELEPHANT in the room must be dealt with. It is a conflict. Sometimes all that needs to be done is to have a conversation and the ELEPHANT is no longer in the room. Neuroscience, however, has offered a remarkable perspective, using an analogy of a Rider and an Elephant. The perspective is given by a Massachusetts Institute of Technology Neuroscientist, Mr. Emile Bruneau.

Bruneau explains the analogy as an example of how the brain handles conflict by stating – all the Rider can do is to train the Elephant because the Elephant is more powerful that the Rider. The Rider cannot control or fully understand the Elephant. While this story is recited in a Post by the United States Institute of Peace in an effort to teach people how to deal with conflict. I believe it speaks volumes for the business actions we are involved with. A tool is introduced to deal with conflict, “universal empathy.” http://www.usip.org/olivebranch/2016/05/05/dalai-lama-offers-hope-youth-leaders-and-vice-versa?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=event&utm_campaign=events_weekly

We know we cannot control another individual. Since we do not understand the perspective of the individual, represented by the Elephant idiom, we need to ask open-ended questions so that a two-sided conversation takes place. The How of this neuroscience perspective is to approach an Elephant in the room, with universal empathy. Questions such as, “How would you describe. . .” “What did you think would happen if . . .? “What did you expect would happen. . .”

What’s remarkable is that neuroscience now helps to explain the issue of how the ELEPHANT in the room, comes to be – in the first place. The ELEPHANT is an idiom character representing conflict, triggered by an unconscious bias. The tool — new phrase of “universal empathy” becomes a positive application to use with the conflict idiom.

The term “universal empathy” may become mainstream because it is an inclusive term. We want and do take the first step in handling a conflict. As we begin to practice the use of universal empathy – when we access our own Pause button – perhaps we can alleviate the ELEPHANT idiom character showing up. It’s another way of handling ourselves and Choosing Who We Want to be Known As in our chosen career. Have a great week!

“Jo Ann” M. Radja, Executive and Career Management Coach”

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http://creativecommons.org/by-nc-sa

What is it Right, Wrong or Gossip?

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Out of some little thing, too free a tongue /  Can make an outrageous wrangle  Euripides

We sometimes forget that mistakes people make – are nonsensical.  Here’s an example.  Last Saturday I brought down to the loading dock of the building where I live three bags of paper; a worker from the shredding company was waiting for the paper to load onto his truck.  The bags were inside a wheeled, carry-all cooler that I use to cart around groceries and other items for my convenience.   The worker took each bag out individually and when he looked down at the bottom of the carry all, he saw some items he decided were garbage.  Which they weren’t.  He didn’t say anything to me about these items, he did say something to someone else.

My apartment stored a vacuum cleaner which was broken and could not be repaired. I left the loading dock area and went back to my apartment to retrieve it.  Another tenant saw me wheeling the vacuum cleaner, that I placed in the carry-all cooler toward the building recycling area; he offered help; he explained the vacuum cleaner had to be placed in a dumpster, not the recycling area because it had a plastic exterior cover.  He wheeled the vacuum cleaner to the dumpster (which I didn’t know existed), lifted up the carry-all cooler that held the vacuum cleaner and hoisted it over the top of the dumpster is a few seconds.  As I quickly said, “What are you doing? the carry-all cooler wasn’t even 2 years old; it is not garbage.”  “Oh, yes it is, the man replied.  The man outside (the shredding company worker) said your carry-all cooler carried garbage!”  Huh!  Needless to say, my wheeled carry-all cooler was removed from the dumpster, wiped clean, and is available for my use again.  Gossip has a life of its own and spreads more quickly than the truth.

IMG-20160425-00816It’s important to remember, whatever is left for pickup anywhere outside, it is available for anyone to look through and use. Happily, no garbage was in my carry-all cooler and the misconception was corrected.   No matter what your career path may be, let’s hope the perceptions we hold about someone else are based on reliable facts.  As you Choose Who You Want to be Known As this week, enjoy a gossip-free day!

Mindfulness also is a platform that may be utilized when faced with the example I have shared with you:  Observe, Describe, Accept, Don’t take it Personally and be Non-Judgmental.  Again, enjoy your week!

“Jo Ann” M. Radja, Executive and Career Management Coach

 

 

 

A Common Place Term: Bystander

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diffusion-responsibility-bystander-effect-illustration-crowd-witness-act-crime-doing-nothing-47422863It’s in the news recently, the term Bystander Effect or Bystander Action.  It’s the principle – when in a group of people, personal responsibility to assist/help someone is mostly not recognized.  Last week on March 30th,  the following post was published on Linkedin.com/Pulse on this subject:  https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/its-catching-now-understanding-jo-ann-m-radja

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The issues of Bystander Actions are present in our society at all levels.  Vice President Joe Biden has been involved in a Bystander action prevention program to discourage violence on college campuses and is planning to visit Pittsburg, PA today: http://www.post-gazette.com/local/city/2016/04/05/Vice-President-Joe-Biden-in-Pittsburgh-today-for-It-s-On-Us-campaign/stories/201604050156  and the photo, to the left, is from the website:  www.lookfordiagnosis.com/mesh_info.php?term=Bystander+Effect&lang=1

Since WordPress.com represents the spirit of collegiality, I would like to share with you my September, 2015 presentation notes on Bystander Actors in the workplace.  It was prepared for a specific industry and is easily updated to fit any industry.  Included within the presentation are insights of Professor Mary Rowe from MIT, Senior Advisor – Compliance Strategist and Attorney, Joe Murphy, and Margaret Heffernan, Author of: Why We Ignore the Obvious to Our Peril, Willful Blindness.

As you Choose Who You Want to be Known As, have a great work week!

“Jo Ann” M. Radja, Executive and Career Management Coach

Notes: Understanding Bystander Actions by Jo Ann M. Radja with Insights from Dr. Mary Rowe Ph.D September, 2015

Scenarios attachment   and  Bibliography and Resources

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What’s Your 2016 Spring Surprise?

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spring-1256806_640Spirit is an invisible force made visible in all life.  Maya Angelou

It happens often, you change for one reason or another. People you knew a number of years back are unable to accept the change. Apparently you surprised someone because of your development growth. What kept you together in a circle no longer applies It could be as simple as you no longer enjoy eating a certain food, or you lived in the same neighborhood and moved away, or you received a promotion that the other person wanted. Your Spring Surprise happens and you want to move forward.

Alternatively, you may be on the cusp of a change – in the process of transition. Your challenge is to assist someone to accept the transition in your career. Using the emotional intelligence matrix of. . .

observing,

describing,

accepting,

not taking it personally, and

not judging the other person. . . is one strategy to consider. Choosing Who Do You Want to be Known As during the transition process is your personal responsibility that you do not take likely. 

This weekend as the Spring Equinox greets us, very best wishes for YOUR Spring Surprise. . .

So, I

Persevered.

Resilience paid off.

It’s the first day of Spring and

Not too late to

Give back to those who were kind to me.

Doubts tried to creep into my mind for a while this past winter.

And were swept away.

Yearnings will come true as you focus on

what’s important to you. ©Jo Ann M. Radja*

 

“Jo Ann” M. Radja, Executive and Career Management Coach

http://www.wordpress.com/disclosures

https://creativecommons.org/by-nc-sa

* This anagram was first published by me on March 20, 2015 via LinkedIn.com/Pulse

 

 

A Parody for early March, 2016

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Here is a parody on the issue of customer service.  It’s the first week of March, 2016; we recognize that we are only responsible for our actions as we attempt to diffuse the conflict “ball” thrown at us.  One way is to find humor in the situation. . .

E. xcuse

T. he unwelcoming you

H. ear.

I. t’s Thursday and we have few

C. ustomers.

S. o, we forget the service training we were given.©

As You Choose Who You Want to be Known As this month of March, consider humor as a means to diffuse conflict.  Enjoy.

“Jo Ann” M. Radja, Executive and Career Management Coach

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