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Volume 5, No. 10 | Friday, October 13, 2006 |  |
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s I rushed home to catch Andre Agassi in the final stage of his transformation from tennis celebrity to endearing human being at the US Open last month, I was looking forward to the tennis, but dreading the commercials. Yet much to my surprise, one of the ads spoke to me with the power and precision of a 130 mph ace about a phenomenon that universally limits human potential—labeling. In the ad, we see an attractive young woman (Maria Sharapova) entering the Waldorf Astoria in New York, walking through the lobby, emerging from her room after a change of clothes, getting into a cab outside the hotel, and arriving at Arthur Ashe stadium. She moves with a straightforward, I-know-where-I’m-going demeanor past doormen, desk clerks, elevator operators, business men, security guards, etc., and each person she passes sings, in his or her own cracking, out-of-pitch voice, Stephen Sondheim’s tribute to being female from West Side Story, “I Feel Pretty”. They are singing what they are thinking: there goes a pretty woman. There is nothing in their thoughts about her being a top-seeded champion. It’s all about what’s on the surface—until she steps on the court and slams the ball across the net. Then we see a packed stadium stunned into silence and hear John McEnroe utter the only word spoken in the ad, a simple, heartfelt, “Wow.”
Quantam Slam In quantum physics, what you’re looking for affects what you see. Expectations determine outcomes. If you do an experiment in which you expect matter to behave like a particle, it will behave like the solid stuff we always think of when we think of matter. If you do an experiment where you expect matter to behave like a wave by radiating energy in all directions like light or a radio signal, it will behave like a wave. Physicists have concluded from this that matter is neither a particle nor a wave, but both. Yet it is impossible to catch matter being both at the same time. It acts like one or the other, depending on which one you’re looking for. Rather than being dismayed by the strangeness of a universe in which things have a dual nature, Meg Wheatley embraces it as a “more interesting world,” one where “people stop being predictable and start being surprising.” In this world, she writes, “relationship are not just interesting … they are all there is of reality.” There are no solid facts, no polar opposites, no need to choose between competing identities, as in the everyday world where we are always making choices between things like “being pretty” and “being powerful”. In the world of quantum physics, there are only “bundles of potentiality.” We need this at work. We need the capability of being surprised at what a co-worker or colleague can do, particularly one we think we have figured out. We need to move past gender labels to gender assets and common strengths. We need to start looking with awe at another person’s capabilities so we can all become more effective in the workplace. Labels suppress potentiality. If you decide the new manager is incompetent, or too young, or too inexperienced, his or her ability to lead immediately collapses, just as the people who see Maria Sharapov only as a pretty woman cause the tennis champion to disappear. In order to see potential and be surprised by it, we must recognize our part as observer in shaping the reality we see. “Quantum matter develops a relationship with the observer and changes to meet his or her expectations… There is no objective reality; the environment we experience does not exist ‘out there’. It is co-created through our act of observation, what we chose to notice and worry about.” (Wheatley) The good news is that we can change the assumptions that shape our observations and bring other potentialities back.
Changing Our Tune
Whether your label is one-dimensional, like “pretty woman”, or judgmental as in “my boss is a jackass”, it has much more to say about you than it does about the other person. We don’t live in the linear world of the “rugged” individualist any more, but in a “vast web of life” where relationships drive everything and what you see is what you get.
Readers Write
Continually “getting on the bus” levels the playing field between generations through social and psychological interaction. I not only drove to Alaska to volunteer, but on the way back decided to try hosteling, which is an adventure in itself, and met many interesting, adventurous people. Now I’m back on the bus with yet another volunteer effort at a wildlife refuge in Florida. There are so many opportunities to “get on the bus”, and most often you do not need a ticket. Thanks for the positive reinforcement. Writer/Adventurer, CT
As a left-handed person who is used to reading instructions and then reversing them, I read your newsletter and applied it to my new life as a retired, rather than working, woman. I “got on the school bus” to a new phase in my life. I’m moving from a large comfortable world to a smaller unknown one. I’m back in class, taking Spanish lessons. I feel like one of the students in the class tying their shoes with their arms crossed! I found a great book for people who are contemplating retirement or already retired: How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free by Ernie J. Zelinski. The most important point I’ve gleaned from the book is the author’s statement that we’re all born with creative skills but we ignore them in our pursuit to earn a living. I have no idea what kind of creative skills I possess, so I’m working on finding at least one! That means trying new things, possibly feeling incompetent and trying something else. Thanks for your newsletter! You may have written it for people in the workforce, but it also applies to retirees. The learning process never ends! The yellow school bus will be my yearly reminder to step outside my comfort zone and try something new! Happy Retiree, Madison, WI
The program is being hosted by the Cape Cod Women's Network, Suffolk University, and other local organizations in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and will focus on the core decisions women at all stages of their lives need to make in order to make their health, wholeness and sense of well-being a priority. It will be held at the Four Points by Sheraton Hyannis Resort Cape Cod, on Friday, October 27 from 8 to 11:15 AM. Click here for an online brochure (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader).
Next month the Orleans (MA) Chamber of Commerce will host the first offering of the Center for Career and Business Development’s Leading Edge Seminar Series to the general public. (In July, a pilot version of the program received rave reviews from the staff of the Cape Cod Chamber.) The program will take place from 5:30 to 7 PM on November 7, 14, and 21 at the Old Jailhouse Tavern in Orleans. This series is a self-discovery and small group exploration process designed to help participants: * understand the true nature of leadership The Leading Edge Seminar Series is based on the premise that genuine leadership has much more to do with an internal transformation, one in which a person comes to know their own authenticity as a leader, than with occupying a high ranking position, being in charge, or a having a particular set of skills. Each of the three one-and-a-half hour sessions will include leadership education, group coaching and facilitated discussion. Participants will be given a workbook with exercises to complete before each session. Video feedback will also be a part of the program. The fee for the complete series is $195. To register call 508 255 7203 or click here to send an email. Group size will be limited to eight.
40 Oak Leaf Rd About Us Our long-term relationships with clients, recognition by peers, and growing reputation as a community resource speak to the excellence of the services we provide and our commitment to making the world of work a better place for all.
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The stick illustrations in this issue are by Eloise Morley.
Copyright © 2006
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Also in this issue ...
As we move forward into the 21st century it’s pretty obvious to just about everyone that work isn’t what it used to be. Whether we work for ourselves, or for someone else, or are in transition, things are changing rapidly and we’re caught in a shift of seismic proportions. Many things are being demanded of us, and it’s going to require more than just new skills to survive and thrive. We’re going to need to learn how to get serious about taking care of the business of our professional lives. Taking Care of Business We also invite you to share your thoughts by
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I took a few minutes to read your article about the big yellow school bus and relived my experiences putting my daughters on theirs so many years ago. It still brings tears to my eyes and I marvel that I actuallly could do it. And now I am reliving it through them as they stand at another cold corner waiting for the yellow pumpkin to arrive, with tears in their eyes and once again in mine. It was a great metaphor for all of us lifelong learners.
Beverly Ryle will be a facilitator at “Take Charge of your Life”, a morning of reflection and discussion of women’s roles and how to balance them. 
