Celebrate Your Independence!

Dear Independents,

Did you know we can vote in the primary as well as the midterm election without changing our “Independent” status (to Democrat or Republican)?  For more information, Arizona’s Pima County residents, click here.  Call 520-740-4330, listen to the brief recording, press 1, then 7.  Early ballots will be mailed out on July 29 — plenty of time for August 24′s Primary Election.

Americans, contact your local election center.  Every voice counts.  Vote!  Vote!  Vote!

The Engaging Leader: Winning with Today’s Free Agent Workforce

“People don’t quit their jobs, they quit their bosses.  Skilled people want to work for winning leaders.  Grade A talent wants to work for Grade A leadership.  It won’t settle for less.”

In The Engaging Leader, Dr. Ed Gubman communicates how to draw out employees’ enthusiasm and commitment; how to retain and nurture companies’ most prized and priceless assets — employees:

• Engaging leaders are drivers and builders.  Drivers are decisive decision makers; putting results first, stress the bottom line, and crack the whip (maintaining pressure on accountability and come down hard when goals aren’t met).
• Builders put people and process first.  Builders are relationship-oriented.  Builders let solutions emerge, take a long-term focus, stay behind the scenes more, and are more positive than critical. (They are, by no means, indecisive.  Builders possess goals and visions.  They rely on natural consequences vs. immediate consequences by an authority).

Engaging leaders know when to be drivers and when to be builders.

Furthermore, Dr. Gubman states, “Employees (talent) want freedom, control, accountability, and caring.” 

• Freedom — the freedom of expression and the ability to be who you are, not someone you’re not.
• Control — people enjoy their work when they know what their responsibilities are and have the autonomy to achieve them.  They don’t want to be micromanaged.  Even when what-to-do comes from above, talented employees expect to figure out how to do it themselves.
• Accountability — giving someone an assignment and holding him or her responsible for delivering results.
• Caring relationships increase people’s investments in your workplace.  Warm relationships help employees feel connected and will motivate them to work for you — to help you meet your goals.  Employees will confide in personal matters if they feel safe.  They also want some friends in the workplace.

Tough and tender, a loveable task master, realistic optimist … whatever you call it, the intersection of driving and building behaviors is what engages most people. 

Successful leaders learn this in their interactions with people.  They become more versatile, expanding their own styles by taking on some behaviors that are unnatural to them at first, but become second nature as followers reinforce them by responding favorably. 

The ability to incorporate parts of these seeming opposites, like the skill of reconciling group goals and individual needs, will make you an engaging leader and a long-time, big time winner.  (Full Story)

 

Dance Your Way to Success — Love, Respect, Dignity, Teamwork

“If you believe in yourself, you have what it takes to win.  You can get whatever you want . . . Show up and get it.”

“To do anything is hard . . . Even if you find the place to assign blame, problems don’t go away”

“If a woman allows me to lead, she’s trusting me.  More than that, she’s trusting herself.  If your 16-year-old daughter is strong and secure and trust herself, how likely would she let some idiot knock her up?  And if your son learns to touch a girl with respect, how will he treat women throughout his life? . . .”

“So, ladies and gentlemen, this is what I do here.  I teach dance.  WITH DANCE AND ITS SET OF RULES, WE TEACH YOUR KIDS LOVE, RESPECT, TEAMWORK, and DIGNITY; that which would help give them the vision of the future they could have.  THE VISION OF THE FUTURE THEY COULD HAVE.”  (6:30-7:46)

“I’m not interested so much in teaching ballroom dancing techniques. What’s important is the civility that ballroom dancing can bring . . . courtesy, respect, and dignity.”  (Pierre Dulaine, educator, founder, Dulaine Method)

 

America — Struggles and Hopes Inside Foster Care

All a kid needs is one person to hang on to, to listen, to care, to show up consistently.  (Dr. Maureen Brennan, psychiatrist of residential treatment facility)

Imagine … abandonment, sexual abuse, lies, secrets, guilt, shame, drugs, distrust, nightmares.

Imagine … Help!  Hope!  Healing!

In America, more than half a million kids are in foster care.  Once they reach 18 and age out of the system, only two out of ten will make it.  Others will end up homeless, in prison or dead.

We can do better.  We must.  These kids don’t belong to someone else.  These kids belong to all of us.  They are America’s children.  THEY ARE AMERICA.

Take Care Clinic — Patient-Friendly Health Care Option?

What’s your ideal health care?  Free?  On-demand — 24/7?  State-of-the-art, thorough, professional patient care? 

Where do you go for minor illnesses requiring immediate attention?  Urgent care?  ER? 

How long did you have to wait?  How much did you pay?

CVS and Walgreens’ Take  Care Clinics are now providing walk-in, basic healthcare services — respiratory illness (sinus infections and strep throat), urinary tract infections, rashes and poison ivy, minor injuries and sprains — illnesses not serious enough for emergency rooms but nevertheless, requiring immediate professional attention.

Experienced family nurse practitioners and physician assistants provide the health care you need to get better and stay healthy.  CVS pharmacy will treat minor illness, minor injury, and skin condition for $62.00 (with or without insurance), Walgreens starts at $65.00.  My last trip to the Urgent care was 6 hours long and $75.00 … with insurance!

Next time, I may give Take Care Clinic a try! 

Stay well! 

Dr. Medina’s “Brain Rules” (Summary)

Our minds create our realities.  Our minds’ abilities to process and execute complex, abstract information separate us from the rest of the species in the animal kingdom.

For readers joining us today, feel free to click on the link(s) of your choice:

1. Exercise Boosts Brain Power
2. Care
3. Lifelong Learners Thrive
4. We Cannot Multifocus
5. Repeat to Remember
6. Remember to Repeat
7. Sleep Well.  Think Well. Kudos to Siesta!
8. Get Stress On Your Side
9. Sensory Integration Boosts Learning!
10. Vision Trumps All Other Senses
11. Male Brains and Female Brains Are Different
12. We Are Natural Explorers

Thank you, Dr. Medina, for sharing your insights and research findings on the brain — one of our most important, yet chronically abused and underused organ! 

Brain Rules (XII) — We Are Natural Explorers

Curiosity is crucial to progress and development. 

Do you agree?

Our ancestors’ curiosities helped them “see” the tiger behind the tree!  Curiosity told them to flee!  They ran!  Thank goodness!  We wouldn’t be here today if humans stood aimlessly amidst the wide open savannah!

Infants constantly experiment with their senses, touching and tasting objects within their line of sight.  Children and adults test people’s boundaries — all the time — wondering which behaviors are acceptable (or unacceptable) to their acquaintances.  (see Play By Rules, Rule #12 [4:00])

What about school and learning? 

How can we continue to capitalize on our curiosity — our desire to learn, problem-solve, and progress?

Dr. John Medina suggests:

• Consistent exposure to the real world — combine theory with practice.  Students will get firsthand experience and an unobstructed view of how their newly acquired skills are practiced in their chosen field
• Consistent exposure to people who operate in the real world — watch professionals in action!  Assist as needed.  Meaningful learning takes place when the brain connects theory with practice
• Consistent exposure to practical research i.e., programs taught by professionals who are involved in the day-to-day grind but who are also trained to think, hypothesize, and implement studies benefiting the next generation 

No matter where I am in my life’s journey, I hope “I’ll never lose that sense of wonder.”

I’ll dance!  I hope you will, too! 

Brain Rules (XI) — Male Brains and Female Brains are Different

Men and women are equal; however, we’re not the same. (Unknown)

Sounds reasonable.  Seems to ring true for male and female brains, too.  Here are a few differences:

• Women tend to use the brain’s left and right hemisphere to process verbal info.  Men primarily use one.
• Women tend to have thick cables connecting their two hemispheres.  Men’s are thinner.
• Men bond through physical activities.  Women bond by talking and sharing secrets.
• Men and women respond differently to acute stress:  women remember the emotional details.  Men get the gist.  (see Play By Rules, Rule #11 [3:00])

How beautiful!  Men and women — big picture and details — we can complement each other’s strengths and conquer the world … if you fit the stereotype. 

What if you’re a woman who prefers to see the big picture or a man who likes to be detail-oriented? 

Do you agree with the research findings?  Do you disagree? 

Brains Rules (X) — Vision Trumps All Other Senses!

Out of the five senses — vision, hearing, smell, taste, touch — vision trumps them all! Yes, a picture’s worth 1000 words!

Why?

• Our brains see letters and words as tiny pictures, not letters and words
• The brain uses roughly 1/2 of our thinking resources on vision
• Studies showed only 10 percent retention (three days later) for auditory learning vs. 65 percent for lectures using visuals
• People remembered more than 2,500 pictures with at least 90 percent accuracy several days post-exposure, with as little as 10 seconds of  exposure!  Accuracy rates a year later still hovered around 63 percent! (see Play By Rules, Rule #10)

Less words, more pictures.  Sounds like a plan!

Brain Rules (VIII) — Get Stress On Your Side

When we”re stressed, what changes take place inside our bodies?  Rising blood pressure, increasing heart rate, boost of energy — all signs of adrenaline gushing through our blood streams to keep us alive.

Our stress responses were designed to solve problems that lasted not for years, only seconds (literally, the fight or flight mode).  Stress was designed to get our muscles moving us as quickly as possible, usually out of harm’s way so we won’t become some tiger’s lunch! (John Medina)

Our environment has changed drastically since the days of hunting and gathering but our bodies have not.  Too many stress hormones lingering in our brains lead to chronic stress, overwhelming the brains’ ability to function and problem solve.

Chronic emotional stress causes our health to deteriorate.  Stress attacks the immune system resulting in elevated blood pressure, increasing the risk of autoimmune diseases, heart attacks, and strokes.  Chronic stress can cause depression, altering our abilities to think — affecting our productivity; more importantly, our quality of life!

What happens in our private lives affect our public life.  Stable home lives affect students’ performance at schools as well as workers’ productivity.

How, then, do we manage stress?

Get control back into our lives (insightful stress management experts agree).  Give students and employees a way out — not from their jobs but from the stress they experience from their tasks (John Medina).

Lots to remember, integrate, and apply — for me, anyway.  Looking forward to serving my students with more compassion, more patience.  Wish me luck!