Subject: [Partnerwerks TeamWisdom Tips] A Tale...for your weekend
> Join me and other smart professionals for Being Powerful
> In Any Team, Feb. 17-19 http://www.beingpowerful.com
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Welcome to Partnerwerks TeamWisdom Tips!
by Christopher M. Avery, Ph.D.
January 10, 2002
Read by 3159 professionals in 48 countries.
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TeamWisdom(TM) Tips promotes individual mental skills and
behaviors that create highly responsible and productive
relationships at work.
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This week's line-up:
1. 10-Second TeamWisdom
2. Welcome Notes
3. A TALE OF TWO PERSONAL OPERATING SYSTEMS
4. 5-Minute TeamWisdom Stretch
5. TeamWisdom Resources
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1. 10-Second TeamWisdom
Program your personal operating system for maximum learning
and effectiveness.
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2. Welcome Notes
Happy New Year! If getting maximum performance out of your
teams is a priority this year, then you must join me for
Being Powerful In Any Team, Feb. 17-19. A bunch of smart
professionals like you will be there. I hope you will too.
http://www.beingpowerful.com
I wrote a fable for you this week. I'll use it in my
newest keynote speech topic "Owning It: The Mark of
Responsible Leadership." Let me know how you like it.
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3. A TALE OF TWO PERSONAL OPERATING SYSTEMS
A couple of weeks ago seventy-five cars on a highway in
Houston were involved in a mass-pile-up in dense fog. News
reports indicated fog was responsible for the crashes. A
brave citizen fired off a letter to the editor which I just
read in my morning newspaper. He confronted the editor and
readers, including me, with his impression that fog didnıt
cause the cars to pile up. Instead, he said, people who were
driving irresponsibly for the conditions caused the pile-up.
I agree with that brave citizen letter-writer. Letıs go on
to speculate, completely hypothetically for a moment, about
the lives of two people involved in that pile-up (by the
way, miraculously, no one was critically injured). In our
speculation, letıs call one person "Below" and another
person "Above." Below and Above were both involved in the
pile-up. They were each in the middle somewhere driving
side-by-side in identical cars at the time it happened. Both
of their cars were totaled, and both Below and Above were,
thankfully, uninjured. They each spent a few hours at the
scene, tending to the injured, making statements to police,
and getting their vehicles towed away, before turning their
attention back to wherever they were headed that morning.
Now Below is quite sure fog caused the accident and there
was "absolutely nothing I could have done about it." He was
simply a victim of circumstances beyond his control. But
since Below is also a proactive leader who considers himself
quite responsible and believes in taking action, he felt
something needed to be done. So, Below has joined together
with others involved in the pile-up to employ an attorney
and other experts to search for a solution that will ensure
this problem wonıt happen again. This group will investigate
the design of the highway, the best practices employed by
the engineers and construction companies. They will
investigate the cityıs transportation office and emergency
procedures regarding weather in general and fog
specifically. Theyıll also look into whether the city,
county, state or federal government allowed some
micro-climate to mysteriously develop around a drainage
swamp, a near-by river, a buildingıs air conditioning
cooling tower, or rising swamp gas, or something that would
have created that hazard for those drivers in that area
under those specific weather conditions. This will all take
considerable time and effort in order to be done right and
may unfortunately require litigation to get the responsible
parties to pay attention to the changes they need to make.
Of course, if there happens to be a cash settlement, the
spokesperson for the pile-up participants will report to the
media that it never was about the money, but about doing the
right thing.
Now, letıs consider Above. After tending to other injured
people and while making statements to police, Above had a
simple cognition. That cognition was so simple and the
result of it was so mentally and emotionally freeing, he had
to smile to himself. What was the cognition? He simply
looked clearly at the situation as it truly was and thought
to himself, "I just hurled myself and my car at 70 miles an
hour into dense fog. Oh sure, I hoped it would only be for a
few feet and then I would be able to see again. Oh, sure, I
hoped I would be able to see the tail-lights of the cars in
front of me and be able to stay on the road and not rear-end
anyone. And, oh sure, I justified to myself I had to keep
the accelerator down and maintain my speed so I wouldnıt get
rear-ended. But, the truth is clear and unavoidable. I just
hurled myself and my car at 70 miles an hour into dense
fog!!!" And, while still smiling sheepishly to himself,
Aboveıs next thought was this: "I think Iıll consider what I
want to do differently the next time I drive in extreme
conditions. You know, I really didnıt even have to go out. I
also didnıt have to be driving so fast. Gosh, there are lots
of other choices I could have made than to choose to hurl
myself and my car into the fog at 70 miles an hour. I think
I'll make a different choice next time."
...to be continued. Stay tuned.
Get started with this week's 5-Minute Practice Tip.
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"'Teamwork Is an Individual Skill: Getting Your Work Done
When Sharing Responsibility' contains more practical
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are likely to have read"
~Terry O'Keefe, Executive Bookshelf
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4. 5-Minute Practice Tip
In what areas of your life are you like our character named
Below? And in what areas are you like our character named
Above? How could you be even more like Above?
I wish you a world of responsible and productive
relationships at work.
Faithfully,
Christopher
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5. TeamWisdom Resources
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http://www.tfi.com
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I will be traveling to and speaking...
- January 20-22, Seminar, Sasol NA, Inc., Lake Charles, LA
- February 17-19, Being Powerful In Any Team, San Antonio,
TX (http://www.beingpowerful.com)
- March 11, Seminar, KPMG, Denver, CO
- May 5, PMI/NJ Chapter Regional Symposium, Edison, NJ
- May 13-15, Being Powerful In Any Team, San Antonio, TX
(http://www.beingpowerful.com)
- May 22-23, 3rd. Conference on Work Teams, Centro de
Productividad, Monterrey, N.V., Mexico
Want me to speak at your company or association? See
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