Response to Jessica Isla-Week 4 Reading

I've summed up this week's reading in several ways. I think all of what the Zander's offered in chapters 9-12 can be summed up in these three simple ways: We are active participants in what happens in our lives, we are the creators of how we interrupt what shows up in our lives, and we must take full responsibility, for the choices we make, based on what "is." These are powerful lessons, that if taken to heart, can truly change a person's perspective on their lives, and the lives of others around them.  So often when students are in a conflictual situation, the blame lies everywhere, but on themselves. Many are not willing to view the choices that they made as flawed. This 'downward spiral" thinking is so prevalent throughout our country.  Beginning with politicians on down, this country could sure use some "possibility."

Week 4: Blog Post #1 - Readings on "The Art of Possibility" (Chapters 9-12)

 

Chapter 9: Lighting A Spark 
The message that "Certain things in life are better done in person" is a very power message.  It definitely makes a statement... a statement of responsibility... a statement of importance... a statement of respect.  This is the type of statement that can be passed down form generation to generation and the message will always be the same.  People will take you more seriously if they see you face-to-face.  The message is delivered with more passion and is communicated in a different way than over the phone or through words on a paper.  Plus, there is more desire to listen, or hear someone out, if there is a physical presence.  Overall, this practice is about enrollment, which is the art and practice of generating a spark of possibility for others to share.  You give yourself as a possibility to others and being ready, in turn, to catch their spark.

Chapter 10: Being the Board 
When nothing seems to be going your way and even when enrollment doesn't seem to work... just call yourself "the board."  You have now become life's playing board, where the game is being played on you.

The first part of the practice is to declare: "I am the framework for everything that happens in my life" OR "If I cannot be present without resistance to the way things are and act effectively, if I feel myself to be wronged, a loser, or a victim, I will tell myself that some assumption I have made is the source of my difficulty."  The second part of this practice is to ask yourself in regard to the unwanted circumstances: "Well, how did this get on the board that I am?

This practice helps us to remain on track.  When things happen to us, we are able to take a graceful journey through life.   Zander says that "being the board is not about turning the blame on yourself."  It is about making a difference and designing conversations to repair breakdowns in relationship.  Zander continues on to say "You name yourself as the instrument to make all your relationships into effective partnerships... You open the channel by removing the barriers to tenderness within you."  Lastly, the rewards for being the board are"self-respect, connection at the deepest and most vital kind, and a straight road to making a difference."

Chapter 11: Creating Frameworks for Possibility 
The practice of this chapter is to invent and sustain frameworks which bring forth possibility.

The steps to practicing framing the possibilities are:

1. Make a new distinction in the realm of possibility: One that is a powerful substitute for the current framework of meaning that is generating the downward spiral.
2. Enter the territory. Embody the new distinction in such a way that it becomes the framework for life around you.
3. Keep distinguishing what is "on the track" and what is "off the track" of your framework for possibility.

I can somewhat relate to this summary of Zander's story below in a small way.  As I enter my classroom wearing glasses, my students who are new to wearing glasses don't feel as shy, but A New Children's Storytook things to a whole new level.  It had such a powerful impact on me.

The little girl has had chemotherapy and comes back to school with no hair.   The kids make fun of her and won't play with her.   The next morning the teacher comes to school with her head shaved.  All the students went home and begged their parents to let them shave their heads.

The framework the students had functioned in changed when the teacher removed the downward spiral.  The vision we have becomes our framework for possibility when it meets certain criteria that distinguish it from the objectives of the downward spiral.

Zander breaks it down....

• A vision articulates a possibility.
  A vision fulfills a desire fundamental to humankind, a desire with which any human being can resonate.
• A vision makes no reference to morality or ethics, it is not about a right way of doing anything.
• A vision is stated as a picture for all time, using no numbers, measures, or comparatives. It contains no specifics of time, place, audience, or product. 
• A vision is free-standing .
• A vision is a long line of possibility radiating outward. It invites infinite expression, development, and proliferation within its definitional framework. 
• Speaking a vision transforms the speaker.

For that moment the "real world" becomes the universe of possibility and the barriers to the realization of the vision disappear.  This practice of framing possibility calls upon us to use our minds in a manner that is counter-intuitive.

Chapter 12: Telling the WE Story 
Zander explains that this practice points the way to a kind of leadership based on the courage to speak on behalf of all people and for the long line of human possibility.

1. Tell the WE story - the story of the unseen threads that connect us all, the story of possibility.
2. Listen and look for the emerging reality.
3. Ask: "what do WE want to have happen here?" What's best for US? What's OUR next step.

More often than not, history is about conflicts between an "us" and "them".  The WE Story defines a human being in a specific way.  It says we are central selves seeking to contribute, naturally engaged, forever in a dance with each other.  The WE appears when, for the moment, we set aside the story of fear, competition, and struggle and tell its story.  The goal of each of us is to remove those things that impede our progress forward as a great leader.