Perseverance
In her latest book Perseverance, author and leadership expert Margaret J. Wheatley writes that throughout human existence there have always been people willing to step forward and take action in hope of reversing the downward course of events. Some succeeded, others did not. As Ms. Wheatley observes, the important point is that we are not the first people struggling to change things – and we won’t be the last.
That thought will help as we forge upwards from the economic downturn of the past two years, which for many of us, has been an exercise in perseverance . We’re discovering how this experience has changed us and how it changes the way we do business. It is times like this that force us to transform how we work and remind us of the importance of focusing even more on building healthy environments to work in.
Healthier companies will no doubt have found it easier to weather the events of the past couple of years.
Persevering through tough times requires good thinking. Lynda Curtin, this year’s opening keynote speaker at the Health Work & Wellness™ Conference 2010, is a recognized expert in helping organizations develop the kind of thinking power that can be the difference between ‘making or breaking’ the success of your organization.
Persevering also requires tough teams, which is the message of our closing keynote Stan Slap. As Stan says, “The bad times won’t last forever, but the story of how you stood up to them will. It’s time to write that story.”
In between Lynda and Stan is a fast-paced program that I hope you will join us for. It is aimed at helping you understand what thinking really means to your organization and how you can use it to bring about the change you are looking for.
And as Margaret Wheatley notes, changing things is quite straightforward. It doesn’t require grand plans, official support or the involvement of all leaders; it simply needs us to step forward and act instead of remaining silent or withdrawing.
The genesis of good, critical thinking is knowledge sharing, which is what the Health Work & Wellness™ Conference is all about – a forum for bringing people together to share ideas, energy and thinking.
Hope to see you in Vancouver in a few weeks! Let the thinking begin!
Deborah Connors
President
Health Work & WellnessTM Conference 2010
Posted by: deborahconnors
on September 6th, 2010
One Response to “Perseverance”
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What People Say
“Being a part of the HWW family has been an incredible learning experience. Thanks for creating a time and space for like-minded people to share, learn and go back out and make a difference.”—
Timely perspective indeed.
I have worked in organizations where the prevailing culture during difficult times was to “hunker down and wait it out”. I have also worked in organizations where during difficult times the attitude was to step things up, rise to the challenge and support your co-workers and customers in the process.
The ‘let’s do’ culture was much more satisfying….and dealt with the hard challenges much more effectively than the ‘let’s not do – and hope things get better’ workplace.
As Margaret Mead so eloquently said:
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”