Retreat

Once again Sille Lundquist and I will run a three day retreat at the beautiful island Samsø (Denmark). This year it will be from the October 31st to November 2nd 2012.

In our everyday life we usually don’t have too much time to retreat and reflect. To rest and digest. To proflect and connect. Which is a pity, because we need this, in order to sharpen our awareness, our relationships, our leadership.

Inspired by mindfulness, yoga and nature we will lead you through three days of meditation, curiosity, connectedness, presentness – and yes, yoga.

The retreat is for everybody with a beginners mind – for you who have never practised mindfulness before and for you, who have and therefore is aware, that you can always practice some more…

Read more about the retreat, conditions and signing up procedure here: (Danish version – please send me an e-mail if you need an english translation).

Efterårsretreat

Mindfulness Downloads

Connected to the book “Just a moment” that I wrote some years ago with Sille Lundquist there are some downloads you can listen to, if you want  guidance when you practice mindfulness. The downloads are now  to be found on our webpages – and no longer on the publishers webpage. Find them under the category “mindfulness downloads”.

Leading from a Strength-Based Perspective

In 2010 Mikkel Ejsing and I wrote the book named “Styrkebaseret Ledelse” in Danish. It has now been translated into English, which we are very happy with and proud of. We hope it will help spread the word of Strength-based Ways of Leading which we believe so much in together with mindfulness and other new ways of developing sustainable, efficient and healthy organizations.

The English title of the book is:

“Leading from a Strength-based Perspective

- tools for promoting efficient and healthy organisations”. 

You can read part of the book here:

Part of the book in English

If you want to buy it, follow on of these link:

Danish Psychological  Publishers´Series

On Amazon

Enjoy!

Team-training on the EMBA in Kenya

Just returned from Kenya, where the second E-MBA class of University of Inoorero is now in module 2 of their 18 months of study. In this module they work in groups/teams while doing a strategic project for a Kenyan business. It is exciting – and a lot of hard work. In the middle of it all they also have to reflect on their group-proces: how is it going, what is working well for them in the groups, what is challenging and what will they do to improve their team-work. All in order to learn, grow and reflect about how to make a High Performing Team and what it will require if a team-structure really should function – not only in words, but also in practice. At the E-MBA – and in their companies.

Here are some pictures from our three days training in Lukenya – Kenya:

Facebook, Linked-in, Twitter – what´s it for?

It´s been a while since I last wrote a blog-post. I´ve been busy trying to “spread the word of mindfulness and leadership/business innovations” on facebook, linked-in and twitter. I must admit, that those “social networks” are not really my main expertise… I don´t think I use them correctly. I should check them every day, someone told me. I need to link to others (that I like), like others posts (that I like too), retweet, comment on, add to the discussion of other important people´s view on the subjects…

All this is just not easy for me. Most of my time I am busy doing what I do best: “Real life” Leadership development, mindfulness, writing on a book or two, talking to and empathising with real human beings out there in the real life… Or I spend time in nature, with my children, my husband, my friends, do yoga, go for a run, do some gardening. All this comes natural to me. It´s easy. I know how to do it and be in the moment and enjoy it – live it. I don´t like spending too much time in front of my computer.

BUT: I must admit, that if facebook, linked-in and twitter can help me/us spread the word of those things, that I believe can help us create a better world – well, then it´s worth trying. I am just wondering whether that is really what happens. Do people get more mindfull and/or innovative just because a lot of us write about it, link to it, like what others write about it?

What do you think?

Article on mindfulness

A  month ago I had an article in the Danish Magasin “Lederne” on mindfulness. The article is in Danish only – unfortunately – but for those of you who can read and understand that and would like to read it – here it is:

Mindfulness for ledere 2012

For the rest of you, here is a picture which reminds me of being and helping others to be mindfull…

Posted by Gonzalo Cesar, text by Stewart Vriesinga:

“The picture shows the chief of the Kayapo tribe when he received the worst news of his life: Dilma, ‘The new president of Brazil, has given approval to build a huge hydroelectric plant (the third largest in the world). It is the death sentence for all the people near the river because the dam will flood 400,000 hectares of forest. More than 40,000 Indians will have to find another place to live. The natural habitat destruction, deforestation and the disappearance of many species is a fact.”

My heart is speaking

Being certified within MBTI I often take the leaders I coach through this type-indicator to help them understand themselves, others, their own and others reactions better. I hate to “box” people, but have found this particular instrument really helpfull in sheding light on some of the different ways we as people perceive and structure the world, make decisions, recharge our batteries or solve a problem. And sheding light on HOW different we think and feel when it comes to feedback!

Being a big F person myself – the feeling type versus the more analytical T/thinking type – I have a tendency to let my heart speak louder than my head. When receiving feedback, I would like people to judge my personality and THEN the assignment.. When making decisions, I go to my stomach or heart and listen to what it tells me. It isn´t always rational what it tells me, though, and I often have a hard time explaining why I think this would be better to do than that. But I know it will… . And when I am to judge other people, I look at their intentions – more than what they do. What matters to me is HOW they do what they do.

I really LOVE this one sentence from Otte Scharmers book on the U-theory:

“The result of an intervention depends on the inner state of the intervener”.

Scharmers definition of succesfull leadership is, that “it depends on the quality of attention and intention that the leader brings to any situation. Two leaders in the same circumstances doing the same thing can bring about completely different outcomes, depending on the inner place from which each operates” (quote from the article: “Adressing the blind spot of our time” by Otto Scharmer – an executive summary of his book on the U-theory).

Do you also think the quality of the attention and intention that a leader brings into a situation matters to the outcome? Do you also listen to your heart speaking? Or is this just irrational crap in your eyes and ears?

Graduating minds

Last weekend the first E-MBA class of University of Inoorero, Kenya, graduated. Congratulations!

As I watched them smiling and hugging and sighing with relief that 15 months of hard work now finally materialized itself in a diploma I thought of all the changes these leaders now hopefully are going to implement in their organizations and society.

I hope they will keep un developing themselves. Challenging status-quo. Listening to their hearts and harnessing their minds. I hope they will use emotional intelligence and resonance to guide them in the decisions they take, which influences a lot of peoples lives. I hope their small businesses will grow and flourish and make them even prouder of Kenyan products and ways of doing things. I wish they will stop and reflect every once in a while and think back on the feedback, good advice, new learning and insights they have gotton on this E-MBA.

I hope they will act as if they have thousand lives to live but no time to waste.

“I do not seek. I find”. Pablo Picasso

Do you know the feeling?

This is what it felt like for me in 2011. Finding. Not seeking. Great things happened and most of them by themselves. Of course I made choices, said no to some things and absolutely YES to others. But basically I tried to stay open to whatever happened. And somehow that attracted all the right assignments. What a great way to live and lead. So much easier! Of course it is guided by me making it absolutely clear to myself and hopefully also others what kind of work I like to do and offer: Leadership development with a focus on sustainability and innovation. Leadership development for the single leader, the leadership team or team-processes which help the leader move the organization in a sustainable direction.

And introducing and training people in mindfulness. That´s what my heart beats for!

What do you think about planning or not planning, finding instead of seeking, having a vision/mission yet staying open for whatever arises? What are your experiences with this?

Time…

Just watched the movie “In Time” – where time is the currency, not money. And isn’t it always like that, anyhow? What matters is how we spend our time – with whom and with what. How it feels and what it leads to. What will you do with your time in 2012? How will you spend it, use it, live it?

Happy New Year!