Taking the Initiative

Taking the Initiative

Our basic nature is to act, and not to be acted upon. As well as enabling us to choose our response to particular circumstances, this empowers us to create circumstances. Taking initiative does not mean being pushy, obnoxious, or aggressive. It does mean recognizing our responsibility to make things happen.

Over the years, I have frequently counseled people who wanted better jobs to show more initiative – to take interest and aptitude tests, to study the industry, even the specific problems te organisations they are interested in are facing, and then to develop an effective presentation showing how their abilities can help solve the organisation's problem. It's called « solution selling », and is a key paradigm in business success.

The response is usually agrement – most people can see how powerfully such an approach would affect their opportunities for employment or advancement. But many of them fail to take the necessary steps, the initiative, to make it happen.

« I don't know where to go to take the interest and aptitude tests, to study the industry, even the specific problems the organisations they are interested in are facing, and then to develop an effective presentation showing how their abilities can help solve the organisation's problem. It's called « solution selling, », and is a key paradigm in business success.

The response is usually agreement – most people can see how powerfully such an approach would affect their opportunities for employment or advancement. But many of them fail to take the necessary steps, the initiative, to make it happen.

Don't look like a stone, be active. Photo of Icelandic stones by Elena.

« I don't know where to go to take the interest and aptitude tests. »

« How do I study industry and organisational problems? No one wants to help me.»

« I don't have any idea how to make an effective presentation. »

Many people wait for something to happen or someone to take care of them. But people who end up with the good jobs are the proactive ones who are solutions to problems, not problems themselves, who seize the initiative to do whatever is necessary, consistent with correct principles, to get the job done.

Whenever someone in our family, even one of the younger children, takes an irresponsible position and waits for someone else to make things happen or provide a solution, we tell them « Use your R and I » (resourcefulness and initiative). In fact, often before we can say it, the answer their own complaints, « I know – use my R and I! »

Holding people to the responsible course is not demeaning; it is affirming. Proactivity is part of human nature, and, although the proactive muscles may be dormant, they are there. By respecting the proactive nature of other people, we provide them with at least one clear, undistorted reflection from the social mirror.

Of course, the maturity level of the individual has to be taken into account. We can't expect high creative cooperation from those who are deep into emotional dependence. But we can, at least, affirm their basic nature and create an atmosphere where people can seize opportunities and solve problems in an increasingly self-reliant way.

(From The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, by Stephen R. Covey).

Suggestive dancing. Illustration by Elena.

All Nature Is Synergistic

All Nature Is Synergistic

Ecology is a word which basically describes the synergism in nature – everything is related to everything else. It's in the relationship that creative powers are maximized, just as the real power in these Seven Habits is in their relationship to each other, not just in the individual habits themselves.

The relationship of the parts is also the power in creating a synergetic culture inside a family or an organisation. The more genuine the involvement, the more sincere and sustained the participation in analyzing and solving problems, the greater the release of everyone's creativity, and of their commitment to what they create. This is the science of the power in the Japanese approach to business, which has changed the world marketplace.

Sinergy works; it's a correct principle. It is the crowning achievement of all the previous habits. It is effectiveness in an independent reality – it is teamwork, team building, the development interaction or the synergistic process itself, a great deal of synergy is within your Circle of Influence.

You own internal synergy is completely within the circle. You can respect both sides of your own nature – the analytical side and the creative side. You can value the difference between them and use that difference to catalyze creativity.

You can be synergistic within yourself even in the midst of a very adversarial environment. You don't have to take insults personally. You can sidestep negative energy; you can look for the good in others and utilize that good, as different as it may be, to improve your point of view and to enlarge your perspective.

I don"t design clothes, I design dreams (Ralph Lauren).

You can exercise the courage in interdependent situations to be open, to express your ideas, your feelings, and your experiences in a way that will encourage other people to be open also.

You can value the difference in other people. When someone disagrees with you, you can say, “Good! 

You see it differently.” You don't have to agree with them' you can simply affirm them. And you can seek to understand.

When you see only two alternatives – yours and the “wrong” one – you can look for a synergistic third alternative. There's almost always a third alternative, and if you work with a Win/Win philosophy and really seek to understand, you usually can find a solution that will be better for everyone concerned.

Application Suggestions

1. Think about a person who typically sees things differently than you do. Consider ways in which those differences might be used as stepping-stones to third alternative solutions. Perhaps you could seek out his or her views on a current project or problem, valuing the different views you are likely to hear.
2. Make a list of people who irritate you. Do they represent different views that could lead to synergy if you had greater intrinsic security and valued the difference?
3. Identity a situation in which you desire greater teamwork and synergy. What conditions would need to exist to support synergy?  What can you do to create those conditions? 
4. The next time you have a disagreement of confrontation with someone, attempts to understand the concerns underlying that persons's position. Address those concerns in a creative and mutually beneficial way.

(By Stephen R. Covey. The 7 habits of highly Effective People).

Sometimes when I consider what tremendous consequences come from little things... I am tempted to think... there are no little things. (Bruce Barton).

Proactivity Defined

Proactivity Defined

While the word « proactivity is now fairly common in management literature, it is a word you won't find in most dictionaries. It means more than merely taking initiative. It means that as human beings, we are responsible for our own lives. Our behavior is a function of our decisions, not our conditions. We can subordinate feeling to values. We have the initiative and the responsibility to make thing happen.

Look at the word « responsibility » - « response – ability » the ability to choose your response. Highly proactive people recognize that responsibility. They do not blame circumstances, conditions, or conditioning for their behavior. Their behavior is a product of their own conscious choice, based on values, rather than a product of their conditions, based on feelings.

Because we are, by nature, proactive, if our lives are a function of conditioning and conditions, it is because we have, by conscious decision or by default chosen to empower those things to control us.

In making such a choice, we become reactive. Reactive people are often affected by their physical environment. If the weather is good, they feel good. If it isn't, it affects their attitude and their performance. Proactive people can carry their own weather with them. Whether it rains or shines makes no difference to them. They are value driven; and if their value is to produce good quality work, it isn't a function of whether the weather is conductive to it or not.

We have all known individuals in very difficult circumstances, perhaps with a terminal illness or a severe physical handicap, who maintain magnificent emotional strength. Illustration by Elena.

Reactive people are also affected by their social environment, by the « social weather ». When people treat them well, they feel well; when people don't, they become defensive or protective. Reactive people build their emotional lives around the behavior of others, empowering the weakness of other people to control them.

The ability to subordinate an impulse to a value is the essence of the proactive person. Reactive people are driven by feelings, by circumstances, by conditions, by their environment. Proactive people are driven by values – carefully thought about, selected and internalzied values.

Proactive people are still influenced by external stimuli, whether physical, social or psychological. But their response to the stimuly, conscious or unconscious, is a value-based choice or response.

As Eleanor Roosevelt observed, «No one can hurt you without your consent». In the words of Gandhi, «They cannot take away our self respect if we do not give it to them.» It is our willing permission, our consent to what happens to us, that hurts us far more than what happens to us in the first place.

I admit this is very hard to accept emotionally, especially if we have had years and years of explaining our misery in the name of circumstance or someone else's behavior. But until a person can say deeply and honestly, «I am what I am today because of the choices I made yesterday,» that person cannot say, «I choose otherwise.»

It's not what happens to us, but our response to what happens to us that hurts us. Of course, things can hurt us physically or economically and can cause sorrow. But our character, our basic identity, does not have to be hurt at all. In fact, our most difficult experiences become the crucibles that forge our character and develop the internal powers, the freedom to handle difficult circumstances in the future and to inspire others to do so as well.

(The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Powerful lessons in personal change. By Stephen R. Covey).

Proactive model: Stimulus — Response — Freedom to choose — self-awareness — independent will — imagination — conscience. Illustration by Elena.

Pirate by Clive Clusser and Robin Burcell

Pirate

By Clive Cussler and Robin Burcell

Sam decided that their overnight trip to the Inn at Spanish Bay and dinner at Roy's on the Monterey Peninsula would have to wait for another day. He contacted his flight crew and had them fly back to San Francisco from the airport in Monterey. Remi was too worried over not being able to in touch with Bree. That, along with this morning's events, had put a damper on Sam's plans for the week. Within a few hours, they were at cruising altitude aboard their G650, relaxing to the soothing allegretto of Beethoven's Seventh. Remi had received a text from Selma that the book arrived this morning in “fairly good shape”, and other than some minor damage to the inside cover, possibly from being jostled during shipping, there was nothing that stood out. No keys or anything else packed with it.

Even with Selma's text, Remi seemed restless. Sam saw her check her phone, then return it to the table, a look of frustration on her face, no doubt hoping to hear from her friend. He wished he could ease her worry. He didn't know Bree Marshall well, but Remi had worked quite closely with her these last few weeks and had grown fond of the young woman.

xx

When they arrived at the San Diego Airport, the drove straight to Bree's apartment in La Jolla. She lived on the second story in a complex about two miles inland. Palm trees lined the parking lot, the offshore breeze rustling the fronds above them. Sam and Remi climbed the stairs, Remi ringing the doorbell, waiting a few seconds, then trying again. When no one answered, Sam knocked sharply. The door behind them opened, and a blond-haired woman poked her head out. “No one's home.”

Going on a treasure hunt. X marks the spot. Photo ob Bahamas by Elena.

“Any chance you know how to reach Bree? Remi asked.

"You are...?”

“Remi Fargo. My husband, Sam. We work...”

“That Foundation. I've heard her mention her job there,” she said, opening the door wider, eyeing both of them. “Just wanted to make sure you weren't some random strangers. She took off suddenly.”

“When?” Remi asked.

“Late last night. I was just getting home, and she was running down the stairs, saying something about her uncle. Going to see him, I think.”

Sam pulled out his wallet, took a business card from it, and handed it to her. “If you hear from her, ask her to give us a call?” It's very important.”

“Of course. Sorry I couldn't be of more help.”

In the car, Sam glanced over at his wife. “She's probably already in San Francisco.”

“I'm sure you're right. I just hate to think how awful this must be for her.”

“She has our number. She'll call. In the meantime, let's go home, check in with Selma, and take a look at this book Mr. Pickering wrapped up for you.”

They lived just a few miles away in the hills of La Jolla's Goldfish Point, overlooking the ocean. The moment they stepped inside from the garage, their massive German shepherd Zoltan, the only Eastern European bilingual dog in the neighborhood (he knew only Hungarian commands), bounded down the hallway toward them, his nails clicking on the tumbled-marble tile floor as he skidded to a stop in from of Remi and Sam.

Children of Time

Enquiring Minds

By Adrian Tchaikovsky

The plague is insidious at first, then tyrannous, and at last truly terrifying. Its symptoms are by now well recorded, reliably predictable – everything in fact, except preventable. The first sure signs are a feeling of heat in the joints, a rawness at the eyes, mouthparts, spinnerets, book-lungs. Muscle spams, especially in the legs, follow; at first just a few, a stammering in speech, a nervous dance not quite accounted for, then more and more the victim's limbs are not her own, leading her in babbling, staggering, whole frantic meaningless journeys. Around this tie, from ten to forty days after the first involuntary twitch, the virus reaches the brain. The victim then relinquishes her grasp on who and where she is. She perceives those around her in irrational ways. Paranoia, aggression and fugue states are common during this phase. Death follows in another five to fifteen days, immediately preceded by an irresistible desire to climb as high as possible. Fabian has recounted in some detail the dead city that he has visited once more: the highest reaches of the trees, and the decaying webbing were crowed with the rigid carapaces of the dead, glassy eyes fixed upwards on nothing.

Prior to those first definitive symptoms, the virus is present in the victim's system for an unknown period but often as long as two hundred days, while slowly infiltrating the patient's system without any obvious harm. The victim feels occasional periods of heat and dizziness, but there are other potential causes for this and the episodes usually go unreported; all the more so because, prior to the disease taking hold in Great Nest – as it now has – any suspected sufferers were exiled on pain of death. Those incubating the disease were part of an inadvertent conspiracy to mask the signs of outbreak for as long as possible.

During this early, innocent-seeming phase, the disease is moderately contagious. Being close to a sufferer for an extended period of time is very likely to lead to oneself contracting the disease, although bites from deranged victims in the last phases are the surest way to become infected.

There have been half a dozen late-stage victims in Great Nest. They are killed on sight, and at range. There are three times as many lingering in the mid-stage, and so far no consensus has been reached regarding them. Portia and others are insistent that a cure is  possible. There is a tacit agreement amongst the temple scientists to conceal just how little idea they have of what can be done.

Portia is making the best uses of Fabian's prizes that she can. The spiderlings came from the plague city, and she can only hope that this means they are immune to the plague, and  that immunity will somehow be amenable to study.

She has tested them, and taken samples of their haemolymph – their arachnid blood – to examine, but all her lenses and analyses have so far discovered nothing. She has ordered that fluids from the spiderlings be fed or injected into mid-stage victims, a manner of transfusion having been pioneered just a few years before. The limited immune system of the spiders means that blood-type rejection is far less of an issue. In this case the attempt has had no effect.

The Dead City. Photo by Elena.