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How the environmental movement began in Ashton Hayes
In the previous post, we saw the story of a remarkable village that took a stand, deciding on its own to do its part to combat global warming. Of course, the energy policy of Ashton Hayes will not have a significant impact on climate change in the world at large. At the same time, this small English town provides a compelling symbol. By doing what they can within their sphere of influence, to “clean up our own patch”, as they say, the people of this community are a shining example of possibility for the rest of us. While each of us may not have opportunities to bring about change on the … Continue reading
A village takes a stand
There is one type of leadership story that I have a particular affinity for: tales of common citizens who lead without authority. In other words, I like to hear or read about people who do not necessarily change the world, but who have an enormous impact on their worlds, despite having no formal position of power. One of the reasons I enjoy these narratives is that they demonstrate so clearly two of my favorite life lessons, concepts I seek to impart both in my leadership seminars and in my coaching. First, we can all influence our worlds, often far more than most of us realize, if we are willing to take stands on the issues … Continue reading
Lessons from the breastfeeding protest in Argentina
On Saturday July 23, Coni Santos attended the “teteada massiva” (massive breastfeeding event) that her story had galvanized. She walked calmly through the crowd, smiling as thousands of women nursed their children, in the very same place where she had been harassed for nursing her child in public. Support from all corners of society turned out to be far greater than Ms Santos had ever envisioned. Prominent attendees in San Isidro included 1980 Nobel Peace Laureate Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, and Victoria Donda, a member of Congress who had famously breastfed her child in legislative sessions. Similar protests unfolded throughout Argentina, in such cities as Mar del Plata, Tucuman, Rosario and Neuquen. There was even … Continue reading
Influencing our worlds
When I was in Buenos Aires last month, one of the projects I worked on was preparing a conference with Disney that will take place some time in October or November. As they are interested in hearing my views on “storytelling”, and as this company is known to be replete with master storytellers, I was curious to know what specific aspects or angles they expected me to speak about. In fact, what they are looking for is something they had gleaned from my book, Las siete reglas del storytelling: How anyone, any employee in a company for example, can use personal storytelling to influence his or her world. As I was contemplating this topic … Continue reading
Spontaneity in public speaking
Last time, I closed the post with an appeal for more unscripted speeches, and for increased spontaneity in public discourse. In reaction to this call for spontaneity, several readers wrote in, wondering about how one can “learn to improvise”. If speaking “off the cuff” makes us sound honest and authentic, does that mean we should not prepare quite so much, and instead work on being more spontaneous? Such questions led me back to this issue, though I had planned to write about something completely different this week. So, in this post, and perhaps the next one as well, I will try to shed some light on the relationship between preparation and the … Continue reading
