This morning, I stood atop of a hill in the Franconian countryside, and though it was gray and overcast, I felt inspired. Suddenly, as if it drifted to me on the currents of the soft breeze, I thought, 

“I am responsible for this view. I created this canvas. Me being right here, right now, is the culmination of a series of decisions and some extreme determination. Even that furry black dog happily pouncing towards me is living proof of how my doggedness helped me to reach goals”. 

On the way home, I reflected on my recent obsession with my failures, and my inability to recognize my successes for what they are. Then I systematically began to review some of my main successes in life, even the ones we too often take for granted. 

Starting from the view of the rolling Franconian hills and working backwards, at one time, each - and I do mean EACH - of the below goals seemed unachievable, but I stuck with it, anyway. And now, they belong on the list of my successes. It may not seem like much, but to me, they're gold. And it's time for me to stop trivializing them. 

Taking stock: Major goals accomplished

• Living abroad
• Having a house to call my own (well, sort of)
• Jumping out of a plane (bucket list material)
• Learning a second language well enough to be proficient
• Rebuilding my career after a nearly decade long hiatus
• Having a successful pregnancy, surviving childbirth, and becoming a mother
• Having a dog
• Learning how to surf (or at least stand on the board)
• Finding someone who was worth spending nearly two decades with and having kids with
• Traveling "overseas"
• Getting my first job out of college
• Finishing college
• Becoming an adult and turning 21
• Traveling abroad
• Getting into college
• Finishing high school
• Learning how to drive a car
• Learning an instrument (drums/percussion)
• Staying up for longer than 30 seconds on waterskis (which admittedly took me years), then a wakeboard
• Getting over my first heartbreak
• Recovering from a bad bicycle accident
• Adapting to a new school and new friends

• Learning how to ride a bike

  and even

• Learning how to walk

Have you ever listed all of your major successes? It’s empowering, because it says, 
“IF YOU ARE NOT REACHING YOUR GOALS, IT’S NOT BECAUSE YOU’RE NOT CAPABLE.
IT’S BECAUSE YOU’VE BEEN INDECISIVE.” 

And when we learned to walk: Did we want anything as much as we wanted that? NO! That was the #1 goal in life at that time. We had no distractions.

So my mission now is to set goals so clear that I can literally taste them. More specifically, I’ll write them on a mirror, read them out loud every day, and make them a top priority. And most importantly, I will strive to never, EVER doubt myself. To make it even more concrete, I'm going to begin by committing to 21 days, since that's the minimum amount of time it takes to build positive habits (for more on setting healthy habits, I recommend James Clear's informative blog post). 

Care to tackle this challenge with me? If so, shoot me an email or drop me a line in comments. 

Allow me to end with one of my favorite mottos of all time, from Adidas. It may be the most powerful three word combination ever. 

“Impossible is nothing.” 

Spot on.

Got 15 minutes?
I've got a gem of a Ted talk, which I couldn't wait to share with you. 
If you dare to watch, Adam Grant will change your perception of procrastination, as he explores original thinking, where it comes from, and what it needs to thrive. 

Original thinking in our global village
What Adam doesn't talk much about are the cultural implications of the habits (or lack thereof) which promote original thinking, which frankly fascinates me. Are there some cultures which provide a more fertile soil for creativity and original thinking? Well, let's make a quick comparison, using the two countries which I know best, with the assumption that there is much truth to national stereotypes.

The Americans (i.e. U.S. citizens) 
Yes, Americans tend to be extremely hard working (the harder, the better, otherwise heads will roll) and eager to please (generally making them more service savvy - In the land where "the customer is king"). And personally speaking, I feel less intimidated presenting a “silly” idea to a group of Americans, than I do to a group of Germans.

The Germans 
And Germans? They're known for being punctual and tidy. Why? Well, their success in life relies heavily on these two traits, while other traits get pushed to the "nice to have" category. Here I’d say that the obsession with perfectionism creates a culture of inhibition, which is contra-indicative of risk taking and unlikely to help incubate original ideas. 

Why is this interesting?
In my college days, I dabbled in human cultures, AKA Anthropology. And sociologically speaking, the topic of creativity, and how it varies from country to country, fascinates me. Why are we so different? And how can we learn how to bridge these gaps and become more tolerant, as the world continues to shrink? 

How does all this translate to the corporate world?
I can say from experience that there are certain major corporations which place little value on original thinking, and rather shun procrastination of any kind. In these environments, productivity takes precedence over creativity. So it should come as no surprise that the ideas which come out of such organizations are seldom truly original. Instead, they outsource creativity to agencies, which are there for the paycheck, but can never be as passionate about the products or services being marketed as an actual employee would be. 

How can we change this?
In the end, only a company who places value on original thinkers can become a market leader for the long-haul. And only managers who give their employees room for "original thinking", and - this is important - the opportunity to fail, can expect extraordinary results. 

Where can I learn more?
Tune into Adam Grant's Ted talk for the full scoop, as he discusses the importance of moderate procrastination, and the critical role it plays in original thinking.

My favorite quote from Adam's talk 
"Being original is not easy. But I do know this: It's the best way to improve the world around you."

Now if you don't mind, it's time for me to stop procrastinating and move on to coming up with some phenomenal ideas.  

Risk: In a nutshell.   
It's an interesting concept. To have a firm grasp on risk, we need to have a solid understanding and appreciation not only of what we have, but also for whether or not we are we willing to gamble what we have for a possible pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, or our potential happiness or success. This is one of the hardest lessons to learn in life. And two major deciding factors are the underlying cultural and financial circumstances of the individual, or organization.

There are cultures that more readily accept risks, and cultures where risks are to a large degree averted. (Humorous side note: when you spend the first half of your life in one setting, and the second half of your life in another, it's hard too know where you stand and decision-making can sometimes feel downright schizophrenic.)

Additionally, there are people (and organizations) who are blessed with seemingly endless financial resources, and one would think that they may be more likely to take financial risks. But often the opposite is true. Or at least on an individual basis. Those with more to lose are often less likely to take risks. 

Proper risk analysis takes time. 
Being in between jobs is a blessing. Sounds absurd, but sometimes a perceived failure provides you with the time you need to reflect, deeply and thoroughly, on what you want. And there is lots and lots of time for inspiration. In my case, this led me to a recent gem of a discovery: Tim Ferris' recent podcast on "Lessons and Warnings From Successful Risk Takers". In it, Tim talks to three people from his new book, Tribe of Mentors, about - you guessed it - risk. What surprised me was that all three of the people he interviewed - author Soman Chainani (@SomanChainani), author Susan Cain (@susancain), and East Rock Capital co-founder and investor Graham Duncan - seem to agree on one common theme: You have to find a source of income that helps you to keep your head above water, so that you can pursue your passion. In other words, when you rely on your passion to provide sustenance, the pressure is often so high that the creativity is greatly hindered, resulting in substandard work. My favorite quote from the episode is from the philosopher Kwame Appiah,  

“It’s not how well you play the game, it’s deciding what game you want to play.”

And finding out which game you want to play is a never-ending process. If you ever find yourself in a similar situation, I recommend "Finding Your North Star" activities which are generally done with a coach. But again, this is not just limited to individuals. How often have we seen, or worked for, companies and corporations which also seemed unclear of which game they wanted to play? The old adage, "If you stand for nothing, you'll fall for anything" certainly rings true here. But of course, finding your "game" and sticking with it in a corporate setting is, well, risky. Still, companies that take that risk, stay the course, and do it well, are often rewarded. Apple is a prime example.  

Less talk, more action.
So I'd like to leave you with this little exercise, if you dare. Jot down on paper what you stand for as an individual. Then jot down on paper what your company stands for. Are those things aligned? It's any exercise I'm in the midst of now. Why? Again, it's all in the pursuit of happiness. Ultimately, we can't know whether we're ready to jump, if we don't know where that leap will take us. And if you're like me, you are also obsessed with self-exploration and self-development. In doing so, we can become more in-tune with this great world we live in, and make more lasting contributions at work, and beyond. 

Stories are all around us. If only we could share them with one another more easily, our neighborhoods, communities, and organizations would be far more effective and welcoming, because there would be more compassion, and less fear and envy. And we all know that great stories told without passion are not stories at all. Today I want to talk about the passion at the core of every great story.

If passion makes the story, how can we get more passionate in our daily lives, or more specifically, how can we create work environments driven by passion?   

It kind of comes down to where the focus is placed by management. Do we value knowledge over passion? Clearly, organizations need both, but interestingly enough, like many valued qualities, the emphasis placed on this varies greatly from country to country. 

Growing up in the U.S., one is often told,
"You can do anything you want after college. Just get a degree. Then find a way to do what you love to do."

That's where the passion comes in. It is intended to compensate for any lack of official training. Just show someone that you love something enough, that you live and breathe for it, and you will get their attention. 

In Germany, on the other hand - the land of the "Meister" - they lay an enormous value on precise training, and considerably less value on passion. In fact, passion can sometimes be frowned upon here. Just do your job and do it well. But don't get loud about things. Don't stir up the pot. 

Unfortunately, the nature of passion is that you stand behind something, through thick and thin. Munich-based ad agency different, seems to get it. A boxing bag hanging mid-agency reads "To fight for something is beautiful." But is it?  

I'd like to propose that passion is what we are missing most in our organizations. Tim Lambrecht, author of Business-Romantiker: Von der Sehnsucht nach einem anderen Wirtschaftsleben (which roughly translated, would be, "The Business Romantic: Longing for another kind of economic life"), is quoted as saying,

„Das Spannende liegt für mich darin, die Romantik als wirtschaftliche Notwendigkeit zu begreifen, denn ohne Aura, ohne Mysterium, ohne unbedingte Emotionalität und ohne Transzendenz verkommt eine Marke, ein Unternehmen irgendwann zum Automatismus – und der lässt sich leicht kopieren und gegebenenfalls gegenüber Wettbewerbern optimieren“

For the English speakers among you, basically, what Tim said was, 
"For me, it's all about understanding romance as an economic necessity, because without that special aura, without that mysterious quality, without unconditional emotionality and taking a solid stand for something, a brand, a company at some point degenerates into automatism - and that can easily be copied and optimized by competitors."

And no one has done this better than Apple, the company selling a recorded 9 iPhones PER SECOND. Steve Jobs recognized the value of surrounding himself with people driven by passion early on. According to Jobs,

"We wanted people that were insanely great at what they did, but were not necessarily those seasoned professionals, but who had at the tips of their fingers and in their passion the latest understanding of where technology was and what they could do with that technology."

Want to read more? I strongly recommend the Inc. article on Jobs, as well as the website of Tim Albrecht, of the Business Romantic Society.

My grandfather used to live in a little townhome which shared a courtyard with several other homes. For a long time, there were few plants, because not a single person wanted to invest money into a garden which was not „theirs“. They didn‘t want to accept ownership of it.

Sound familiar? This is normal human behavior, and nowhere is it more evident than in the workplace. 

Here‘s one example. I served as editor of a global newsletter that went out to more than 6,000 people across the world. Not infrequently, people would get angry with me for changing the wording of their articles. And my colleagues would beg me to just publish the stinking newsletter without ruffling feathers. But how could I? It was my work. It reflected me. So in my opinion, it was worth - like they say in softball or baseball circles - going to bat and giving nothing less than my very best swing. 

Of course, from country to country, we often see differences in ownership culture. But I deeply believe that a single person CAN make a difference. And that it all begins with ownership and a bit of passion. 

For a great film dealing with this very topic, just check out the story of a Mumbai-based attorney, who has transformed his city‘s coastline. Maybe it will inspire you to take a stand on something you feel passionate about, today. 

I‘d like tönend with this powerful quote by Toni Morrison, the well-known American novelist and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

„Freeing yourself was one thing; claiming ownership of that freed self was another. Responsibility equals accountability equals ownership. And a sense of ownership is the most powerful weapon a team or organization can have.“

Storytelling. 
What is it? 

If you asked most people, they'd say that it's a process that happens at a computer desk or with pen and paper in hand, or even around a campfire. 

In reality, a good storyteller is curious to a fault. Which means that more often than not, they ask questions. Lots of them. 

Questions are important and have been for hundreds of years. In the 18th century, the notoriously rebellious Voltaire is quoted as saying, „Judge a man by his questions, rather than his answers.“

Once the right questions have been posed, there's a whole lot of listening that has to happen. Not just with the ears, but with all of the senses. And even the heart. 

Once upon a time, I wanted to be an anthropologist, studying the cultures of the world through observation. This very skill is what you have to bring to the table if you want to tell a good story. You have to be a scientist of sorts, asking pointed questions, making observations, then determining which of those observations could help to solve the puzzle. 

To tell a good story, you have to transport the listener, reader, or viewer to a certain place. Make them feel a certain emotion, and deliver them safely back "home", with a change in perception. 

And that is precisely what Tim Ferris does with his listeners. Just recently, he interviewed Catherine Hoke, founder of Defy Industries and one of Forbes "Top 40 Women over 40 to Watch", on a journey to the maximum security prisons she frequents on her mission to rehabilitate people with a criminal past. EiT's she calls them, or Entrepreneurs in Training. 

Use your drive-time over the next couple days to listen to this powerful stuff. From an unconventional storyteller. Which of course wouldn't be possible, if it weren't for Tim's carefully thought out, sometimes controversial questions. So have a listen. True to any good story, it will change your life. 

Why am I so obsessed with stories? Because through stories, we learn, grow, and understand one another better. The world needs more storytellers.

What about your story? Doesn't it deserve to be told? 

So clearly, Tuesday came and went and I did not get the blog post online on time. Still, I'd like to explore a topic raising eyebrows in organizational psychology circles: 
self-knowledge. Is it capable of reshaping entire organizations? 

Well, let's start small. How well do we know ourselves? Most of us assume that we know ourselves better than anyone, and to a certain extent, this is true. 

Of course, self-knowledge is seen differently from country to country and from organization to organization. Somewhat sadly, you'll be hard-pressed to find a corporation in this day and age which is willing to invest in getting a better understanding of the personality types or behavioral patterns of their employees. But organizational psychologists and trainers have successfully transformed entire organizations through these sorts of assessments. There are plenty of examples, one of which is the U.S.-based insurance conglomerate Blue Cross Blue Shield. (More examples to follow!)

For now, let's explore the concept of personality types and behavioral patterns, and contemplate the effect that it might have on an individual, with me being the guinea pig. 

One of the more famous schools of thought in organizational psychology and the assessment of behavioral patterns is the DISC method. And because of its popularity and proven effectiveness, this is what I've decided to focus on on this fine Transformation Tuesday. 

According to TTI, the company who owns the rights to DISC assessments, "The most effective people are those who understand themselves, both their strengths and weaknesses, so they can develop strategies to meet the demands of their environment". 

The groundwork for DISC was laid by William Moulton Marston, who was one of the founding fathers of polygraph test and is perhaps most famous for his creation of the American superhero, Wonder Woman. And true underachiever that he was, in his spare time, Marston, "...generated the DISC characteristics of emotions and behavior of normal people (at the time, 'normal' had the meaning of 'typical' rather than an antonym for 'abnormal')" then going on to publish his findings in his 1928 book "Emotions of Normal People".

Fast forward to today, the day in which I receive the test results for my very own DISC assessment from my real-life Wonder Woman friend, Aunt, and coach, Beth Hamel-Eifert. It's accurate, to the "T". The "test" itself is based on a series of 24 simple exercises, in which I prioritized 4 statements on what describes me best, and what I felt was less applicable. It should be completed in 15 uninterrupted minutes, which is not at all difficult to do. You generally receive the completed assessment from your coach, who talks you through 20 pages of analyses, covering everything from your strengths and weaknesses, to your Keys to Motivating, Keys to Managing, and Areas for Improvement. It also talks about "adaptations", which is where job satisfaction and optimal performance come into play. If a certain job clashes with your adapted style, it could present serious roadblocks in employee satisfaction and the success of the employee in that given role. 

Once your coach has guided you through a shockingly accurate assessment of who you are and which environments you thrive in, you can choose what to do with that knowledge. But in an ideal world, the coach would also assess every individual within that organization and/or department. When entire organizations are assessed, the coach is then able to map out how the behavior of various individuals clash with one another, and how still other behaviors compliment one another and lead to a more effective workflow. 

It's exciting stuff. Know thyself. Better thyself. And in doing so, better thy organization. It all starts with you. 

I’ll be sure to update you on the role which this DISC assessment has played in restructuring my career and life. And In the meantime, if you’d like more information about DISC, please contact me and I’ll see if I can help out you in touch with a qualified DISC coach. 

Being in between jobs means that I have time to contemplate what my ideal employer might look like. What would they stand for? How would they treat employees? What would their stance on sustainability be? 

Surely, this is an exercise we should all do, but when an offer is made and the money is right, sometimes we put those ideals on a back burner.

But believe it or not, there are actually (big name) companies who rate this their performance not just on Total Share Return, but on Total Societal Impact, or TSI for short! How refreshing is that? If you’re an idealist like me, you’ll love hearing this TED presenter’s explanation of the importance of TSI for long-term profitability, and how we all stand to benefit. 

Here’s an excerpt:

“It's not like we haven't been trying to solve the problems in our world for a long time. We have, and they're still here. We're making progress, but it's not far enough, or fast enough, or universal enough. We need to flip our thinking. We need to have business -- both companies and investors -- bring creative, innovative corporate strategy and capital to solving the biggest problems in our world. And when they do that innovatively, and when they do thatwith all of their thinking and all of their strategy and all of their capital, and they're creating both total shareholder returns and total societal impact, we know that we will solve those problems, both profitably and generously”

To hear the whole (short) talk, follow this link: https://itunes.apple.com/de/podcast/ted-talks-daily/id160904630?l=en&mt=2&i=1000400525417

I met with three beautiful South Korean women today, eating Korean food and sharing in a lovely cultural exchange. But somewhat unfortunately, my brain is used to having literally hundreds of things to do in a single day, with one of those things being (or having been) creating films (usually four, simultaneously) on complex strategic topics for a global corporation, in three languages, complete with transcripts. So, although I should be viewing breakfast with friends as a luxury, being under-stimulated gives my quirky psyche too much time to think and analyze. And THAT is when doubt begins to rear it’s nasty head.

Quite serendipitously, as the day unfolded, I met an Iranian neighbor who said she felt a bit off-center today, too. So I shared with her what I will now share with you. An article which helps us understand the value that even negative emotions have in our lives. 

Maybe, when we begin to see negative emotions as useful, we can embrace them and allow them to serve as the wind in our sails.  

http://happify.com/hd/4-steps-to-embracing-your-negative-emotions/?s=2b0b7cb0

Once upon a time, I blogged. I blogged about what I knew: from traveling with children and exotic adventures, to stories of what it must be like to walk in the shoes of a refugee. 

Why did I blog? 

I blogged because, in my opinion, storytelling is one of the most powerful methods of teaching. We all have so much to learn from one another. I guarantee, if you and I had a conversation, I could stand to learn as much from you, as you from me. And blogging, podcasts, and films make it easier than ever to share lessons learned and epiphanies of sorts.

As the first blog post after my rebirth as a blogger, I thought it would be fitting to "talk" about the importance of re-inventing ourselves. And since it's packaged in a format which makes it easy to revisit from week to week, stay tuned for more "Transformation Tuesdays".

We've all had to reinvent ourselves. But most women are adept at it. We have to be, to survive. How else would you go from being career focused, to being wives and mothers, to being career focused AND family focused? We are in a constant state of change, and are fully expected to master it all, as real-life "superwomen". It's much like the pupation of caterpillars into butterflies, except that it happens multiple times in life.

Sure, there are the exceptions to the rule: women who land the perfect job after studying and keep it beyond the baby years, growing in that single career, with that single employer, over the course of decades. 

But what about the rest of us? What about the ones that...
...landed a perfect job, but had to relocate to save a marriage?
...followed a partner around the world, putting their career on hold, while their partner's career blossomed?
...left a job when they decided to have children, and fought like hell to build themselves back up and return into the career world?
...were let go for not being able to over-perform and deliver 20% more than the position required?
(And these are just a few scenarios of many, all of which I've dealt with personally.) 

Well, it's simple. As I faced my most recent transformation, an executive manager told me,
"Change is good, Liz. Change keeps you on your toes." 

Now, to say that I took this advice to heart and just moved along gracefully would be an untruth. More often than not, I fight change. Kicking and screaming. Not literally. But figuratively. It's quite ironic, really. After all, does the caterpillar fight its transformation into a butterfly? Yet it too, has no idea what the transformation will bring.

Some changes will take place, whether we desire them to take place, or not. And fighting it only results in exhaustion. We lose energy which we could be channeling into the future. Our future us. Our better us. Our stronger us. The more versatile, experienced, and broad-viewed version of ourself is already developing inside of us. And with a little time, energy, and patience, the layers of cocoon will fall away, revealing what we are intended to become.

So here's my new resolution: to embrace change. Only in letting go of what once was, can I make room for rebirth, reinvention, and new intentions. And while I'm waiting for that future to arrive, I've vowed to finally focus on being present in the moment, strengthening myself, sharpening my tools, and showing a bit of compassion to the people around me. It feels a bit like gambling at a blackjack table, but with a little luck, it will pay off.     

I'd like to close with the words of Walt Whitman, fittingly penned in the 19th century,
"I have sometimes thought... that the sole avenue and means of a reconstructed sociology depend on a new birth, elevation, expansion, invigoration of woman... Great, great, indeed, far greater than they know, is the sphere of women." 

For more inspiration on the topic of change, I recommend Erin Falconer's fantastic website: Pickthebrain, and specifically the blog post on change, written by Larissa Gomes.