Last week, I was inspired by Arianna Huffington's new book, Third World America and wrote about shifting from anger and blame to personal engagement and response-ability. Thanks to you, our readers, I am inspired to take this conversation even further.
As usual, comments last week ranged from the appreciative to the kind of glass-is-always-empty attacks that some seem to call engagement. And thank goodness for these critics -- they keep reminding us why this kind of work actually matters.
More to the point, however, are the personal examples people shared about what they have done in response to challenging situations. I'm sure the trolls out there will be all too willing to attack these folks as well, but what the heck. In doing this work for several decades now, I have found any number of one-time critics who have circled back to thank me for the original provocation. So, too, in this way might these very real and very personal examples serve to provoke the complacent into self-motivated action.
Here's an example from Thor who created a career by holding a clear intention and committing to it.
Russell,
Nice article, I liked how you walked the reader through your thoughts around thought and action. The only additional element I might suggest you add to the mix is intention.
When I was looking for a job 10 years ago I knew that I would have a number of opportunities presented to me for work, however I was focused on the intention of finding a job that involved sustainability. During the 8 months or so that I was looking, I indeed had a number of "traditional" job offers which I ended up rejecting.
However, when I was offered the opportunity to work with my local electric utility on its fledgling "green power" program I immediately jumped at the chance to work with a truly sustainable product, renewable energy. Today, I'm proud to be the leader of a team that runs the nation's leading renewable power program.
I had the thoughts and I took action but it was also my intention that got me where I am today. Thanks!
THOR
Here's an incredible example of what one person can do with intention, commitment and resolve, something that made a powerful difference not only to himself, but to his community as well:
A couple of us have been creating sustainable jobs out of a chemically contaminated industrial street in Springfield MA. We started just simply helping those around us.One day a guy asked if he could gather scrap wire from the back yard and burn the rubber off. He would turn the copper in down the street at metal scrap business. He then asked if he could sleep in one of the old trucks and keep the fire going all night. He then asked if he could take the old truck apart for scrap. We asked he leave us the back frame which is the door we walk into everyday for work. He now owns his own truck and apartment, and still gathers scrap.
Six years ago a guy came with a small load of old building material looking to get space for a store to ReSell old building supplies. ReStore is graduating spring of 2011 into their own 60,000 square foot warehouse.
Last year we had 30 inner city kids working for Summer Youth Project teaching job skills. This summer six came back and we started Green Street Community Gardens.
Rob Thomas
Now before you jump in to cream Rob, perhaps you should know that he has created something called The Gasoline Alley Foundation (www.gasolinealley.org), a not-for-profit foundation enabling others to create socially responsible and sustainable businesses as tools for positive social change. From their website:
The Gasoline Alley Foundation believes job creation is the most effective means of both economic and community development. In short, socially responsible business practices are the strongest economic model for sustainability. Consequently, we focus our efforts in socially responsible entrepreneurship education.And at an even more grass roots level:
I'm no hero, but I did keep visiting local restaurants and coffee shops and kept lawnboy employed when it wasn't really affordable to do so. After two years the businesses I supported are still here and lawnboy went to college with a little more change in his pocket. I was no savior, but I did help and evidently someone else did too.Tsakonas
Lastly, good old Marcus01 added a great summation of the principle being extolled here:
WE need to take responsibility for our lives. We need to band together and form more communities of people helping each other, rather than expecting help to come from outside, because it's not coming, folks. Those days are clearly over. Get used to it, get up, and get moving.Marcus01
So, please do keep your focus on what you can do to make a difference - for yourself, for your family, for your community. No act is too small and wherever you find yourself is a great place to start. Be easy on yourself and on those around you - no one is going to transform this mess in one fell swoop, but we surely will fall if we don't do what we can.
What do you think? What could you do to become more personally engaged? What small step could you take to help move things forward?
I would love to hear from you about your ideas, about what you have done to work around the challenges you are facing, or about what you have seen a friend or neighbor do that has been effective.
Please do leave a comment here or drop me an email and let me know your experience.
Russell Bishop is an Educational Psychologist, author, executive coach and management consultant, based in Santa Barbara California. Watch for my new book coming out in January, 2011 Workarounds That Work: How to Conquer Anything That Stands in Your Way at Work. You can find out more about Russell at http://www.lessonsinthekeyoflife.com. Contact Russell by email at: Russell (at) lessonsinthekeyoflife.com
Follow Russell Bishop on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Russell_Bishop
Russell Bishop: Who's to Blame for This Economic and Political Mess?
Jay Williams, Ph.D.: The Key to Getting Motivated
If you know what you stand for you can commit yourself to a clear intention that is aligned with your values.
Each of these acts tells a story about the people who have taken action. The actions reflect the autonomous decisions made by people who are prepared to think for themselves. Each of these people is a leader in their own lives. In accepting responsibility for themselves they are becoming leaders in the wider community also.
In this way, by choosing to serve we become leaders.
This translates into business. In short: Ask not what your workforce can do for you, but what you can do for your workforce. You may be surprised what you get back.
This article is a breath of fresh air. We have the capacity to deal with tough times, but too many prefer to blame and whine instead of engaging creative coping mechanisms. Our resilient forebears coped during the Great Depression of the 1930s, but we have become spoiled and impatient, demanding instant gratification of every desire. I was reminded of two things: the play, "Waiting for Godot" by Samuel Beckett and an item in the current issue of Ebony Magazine, debating whether or not black leadership was "dead." In the former example, two characters in "Waiting for Godot" are waiting for an unseen character named Godot (who never arrives) to come in and take care of everything for them with no input on their part as they sit and wait. In the Ebony debate I tended to agree with the author who said that that African-Americans are indeed equipped with the human resources to assume leadership in a number of areas instead of waiting for a single "saviour" (such as a Martin Luther King) to emerge, advancing from a 1950s and '60s model of leadership while building on the legacy of Dr. King to move into the multiple leadership opportunities of the 21st century.
Just like the tea bag parties think we can go back to some kind of 18th century agrarian utopia, Mr. Bishop thinks one business we can all engage in is recycling old electronic parts or some such refuse. Excuse me, recycling is a dirty, toxic business. That's why there are laws. That's why the tea bag parties don't get it.
What has also happened is that the continual knock down of religous organizations has lead the country away from a strong local community based organization structure to a more federal base where there is no connection to a given community creating a political heirarchy that is only getting worse.
We need to reduce our Federal taxes and get back to more local community style organization. That way if you are not happy about what is happening you go directly to the source. Believe it or not the internet will slowly bring this about in another form and that is that with a small community structure you know the people and what their character is and what they are involved in. With the Internet the information is there for all political and business characters but you may have to read between the gossip.
There is no such thing as Utopia and therefore more government and taxes will never get us to Utopia. It will just line someone elses pocket.
And, if social responsibility matters, as, in fact, I do, then how do you move to social responsibility without someone taking personal responsibility first?
I encounter this in my job as well. I cannot be all things to all people.
We're not as friendly or as charitable as we should be. We're not open to helping others anymore. We're afraid of being "taken" by our fellow Americans but have no problem about being "taken" by huge corporations.
I now live in a small town and my neighbors are all closed off with fences and curtained windows and it makes me wonder if anyone even lives in the houses.
However, I did find a puppy-mill today in a small neighboring town and we'll get that shut down in due time.
Please help someone else because we end up helping ourselves more.
How about we take serious responsibility for our own lives? If you look at that in a larger sense - responsibility for everything: the good, bad, and the in-between - it's a very tall order. While we're at it, we can reach out to our neighbors in a non-invasive way, and suggest a return to real community. One where we're not in each others' faces, but there if we're needed. Let's find our commonalities. We have much more in common than we think.
One of the reasons the corporatocracy/plutocracy/kleptocracy has been so successful is they preach a message of division, and have us convinced through the media that we're all divided into opposing groups. Liberals, conservatives, Democrats, Republicans, yada-yada all come down to divide and conquer. Pay attention and you'll see how that game is played.
Really, we have much more in common than we think, but our propaganda-fed egos keep pushing us apart.
A choir member had lost her job during chemo. After two years, her new job is secure and we were expecting her to move into other housing. Sadly, other health problems (maybe long-term chemo side effects) have surfaced. We do not know how much longer she'll need this house, but we have saved one "starfish" and made whatever housing she might have found available for another struggling individual.
Heaven forbid one of the quoted entrepreneurs gets successful to the point where the same posters on this site who have praised them for going into green business today will be lambasting them for "exploiting the climate crisis to enrich themselves, build a business on the backs of their employees, blah, blah, blah."
> general progressive meme is.
He doesn't. The Murdoch/Hearst brainwashing ranges far and deep.