On the Delight and Value of Being Impressed

I enjoy being impressed. Lately, I have been impressed by the laugh out loud humor of NBC's "The Office." Another delight has been David Whyte's brilliant cd series, "Clear Mind, Wild Heart" (www.davidwhyte.com). David's way with poetry helps open us to new ways to participate in life, and I am moved, inspired and mightily impressed. I've been impressed by an executive I've been working with, Paul Anderson. Paul leads with a finely tuned sense of wisdom, knowing how much and how little pressure to apply to his organization, as he steers it through a sea change in its relationship to construction safety. I could go on and on with examples.
Being impressed makes a huge difference to the way we experience life. Life would be dull without our being impressed. We would miss so much. It's the experience of being impressed that opens us to pleasure, admiration, respect, excitement, wonder, and so much more. We can be impressed by something mundane, e.g. the way a waiter comes around at just the right moment to re-fold our napkin. Or, by something awe-inspiring. (I'm remembering a visit I made as a 9-year old to Grand Teton National Park. The beauty of that place is utterly humbling and unforgettable.)

Being impressed also makes a huge difference to the way we work together. To be impressed takes being impression-able. This is when we're open, willing, and appreciative of others vs. closed, defensive, and cheap. When we're impressionable, we're curious about what others are saying, e.g. in the meeting. We're interested - and actively listen for - the merit of what's said, regardless of how big or small that idea may be, or out of whose mouth it's coming from.

When we're impressionable, people around us notice this and feel validated because of the way we're paying attention. People appreciate this kind of generosity. Being impressionable becomes a catalyst for the creation of ideas and allows us to create a dynamic where we're building off each other's ideas. It increases the kind of stakeholder energy we need to get most anything worthwhile done.

Something else I've noticed about being impressionable. It's how impression guides expression. The more open we are, the smarter the words are that come out of our mouth. Not only have we listened in an interested, creative way, our speaking grows more interesting and creative. Rather than being fixated on our own ideas, we become a force for the integration or blending of different ideas we're all putting out there. We do not have to know whose great idea it was that came out of the meeting because it was all of ours.

I'm curious to hear what you are noticing about your impressionability and how that's adding to the quality of your relationships, to what you're getting done and the way you're getting it done, especially in your work with others.

Announcing "Fierce Partners"

The moment has arrived. I sit, I think, I write. Composing my first official blog post could feel like a solitary act acted out in my basement office. But I'm not alone in this. People too numerous to mention - teachers, friends, work colleagues, coaches, clients, people across the world like Felix the Honolulu tour bus driver, etc etc have all played some part in this creation. This post, and this blog in general, is all about the fierce partnership that characterizes much of the best of what we are up to; that goes hand in hand with who we are, working together.



Working together has fascinated me from my very first job in high school working in my father's private label paper plate factory. They say it takes a village to raise a child. It also takes one to make a paper plate! We had Carl, the plant superintendent; Lidia and a good dozen other Spanish-speaking machine operators; Heinz the mechanic; Ramon the warehouse foreman; Luis and Juan the fork-shift drivers; Mickey, among others, in the warehouse; and various and sundry other characterss, all participating to make those plates for the ShopRites, Pathmarks, and Star Markets, of the world. This was sweaty, gritty, mind-numbing work. The fruits of our labors came together to produce something tangible. Working there, you learned what it took to thread 2000 lb. spools of kraft paper through lines of paper presses so they could stamp out stacks of white and pastel-colored plates which got packaged, boxed up and shipped out in trailers or rail cars for placement on a supermarket shelf near you.



I am not glorifying what we did back there in the day, especially when you consider the vast number of trees that were cut down or the mega-tons of toxins the paper mills spewed into the air and rivers to make the paper we used, and how those plates were part of a throw-away lifestyle that clogged our landfills.



Thankfully, we know better now and are much more mindful of our impact on the environment. Thankfully, too, it's highly unlikely that we go to work in an environment which values us for our hands and little else. On the other hand, we may wish that we, too, in concert with others, produced something tangible, that we could see and touch at the end of our day, and feel pride in.



What we do and how we do what we do consumes much of our lives. To what end do you devote this huge chunk of your self? What's the experience like for you working with others? How is that turning out, as in, how satisfying is it? What, that's crucial to what you care about, depends on how well you and others work together? It's to these questions, among others, that I dedicate this blog.



Help me get this rolling. I welcome you to share what you have to say to the above questions, or anything else that got stirred up here so far.








Thank you for being here and welcome aboard!