Archive for category: 2012-06 TMLP Times

Leaving Apple, Pursuing a Dream

There are few people who leave a solid, productive career at Apple to start their own company.  Todd Beauchamp is one of the few, leaving Apple to fulfill the dream of starting his own company, In2Technologies.  That company has just come out with a consumer electronics home theater product called Unity, and it has already won an award for innovation.

Todd is a highly accomplished acoustic engineer. After working on projects for the US Navy, he joined American Technologies Corporation, ATC, in 1998.  At ATC, he was responsible for research and development of their advanced, cutting edge audio technologies.  Todd is the co-inventor of one of those, LRAD – Long Range Acoustic Device, which is one of the first devices  ever to project a concentrated beam of sound waves. It is used for hailing and signaling, and in the military and commercial sectors as a non-lethal deterrent.  It became famous for when it was used against pirates by the Queen Mary and other ships, and will be present with security forces at the London Olympics this summer.

At Apple, he ran the audio lab for the accessories group, responsible for anything connected to the iPod or iPad, and he worked on the final acoustics of the first iPhone.

He was responsible for the ubiquitous white Apple earbuds, the company’s highest shipped product ever at over 200 million units.

Todd completed two years of the Team, Management and Leadership Program in 2011 in San Jose. Kimchi Chow interviews him on his experience of the program and how participants can get the most out of it.

How did you come up with this business idea, and in which quarter?

The idea came from a dream I’ve had since 2004. I then faced some hurdles during that time, so I stopped. When I was in my 2nd quarter of Team, I brought this back as my project, and I pursued it throughout my 2 years of being on Team. Each quarter I reached a major milestone to fulfill my dream.

My project is about a product called Unity, a new home theater platform. It provides a great way for people to enjoy their audio & video everywhere in the world. As you know, music and  movies are a huge part of our culture, and cultures throughout the world. I see an opportunity to provide a way for people to connect with their music & video.

 When did you make the transition to creating a company that is now internationally  recognized?
In  April  2011  I  completed  the second year of Team and left Apple at the same time.  I started my own company and brought this product to introduce to the world. Now I have a small team working with me. We just won a 2012 Innovation Award from the Consumer Electronics Association. We were named number 8 of the top 20 companies in the world in innovation for 2012. There are about 30 articles written & published in Fortune Magazine, Business Week, USA Today, Fast Company, CNET, Home Theater Magazine (June 2012), etc. All that press has potentially reached 30 million viewers as of today.

You shared with Team San Jose recently that you want us to do a project that’s worth doing. A project that will impact thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people, for several generations.

Unity Home Theater System and Tv Stand

 

 What do you suggest we do to get in touch with that big vision, since most us tend to propose small projects that impact only our personal lives, or at most impact less than a hundred people?
Most of us when we come onto Team, we still see the world as we have to do things by ourselves. When you take on the Team Design Statement of “Building teams and teamwork in any situation”, what seems impossible when you do things by yourself will be possible when you build team around it. We have so many concerns that are getting in our way that keep our project small. One suggestion is to write down all of your concerns about your project on paper. Play the “what if” – let your mind wonder, “what if all of these concerns were gone?”  What would be  possible if you now create what you’re going to do from nothing. The most important part here is getting connected with the outcomes- visualizing the experience of people, the positive impact of your project in people’s lives. When you connect with the positive impact, it will help you deal with your concerns and get them out of the way. You will know when you connect to a project worth doing when you feel very emotional about the impact it can bring.

Once you connect with the impact, use the Team 1 & Team 2 Design statements to build teams and cause leaders around the world to fulfill that dream, and it will become a reality.

What is the process that you used to overcome the challenges or concerns that you’re facing while building this company? Could you give us some specific examples that worked for you?
My old way of my being would be to fire people who don’t perform, and find someone new. My new way of being is to re-empower team at all times, so that we as a team will get the dream fulfilled. By having the project that’s worth doing, it pushes me to use all distinctions from the Landmark Forum to the Communication Curriculum- when-ever or whatever is appropriate, to move the conversations forward and be successful. 

Understand that every person on this planet   has   a   story about the world that can get in their way. Once in a while, their story pops up and they are not at their top performance. This understanding allows people to be in their humanity. Just be with them, recreate the experience, and re-empower them.

Looking back on your journey, you were in the Team, Management and Leadership Program for 2 years. What are the top 2 or 3 things you would recommend team members get developed in so that they get the most out of this program?
Play the game that is worth playing in each quarter. Get every bit of coaching possible until you are touched, moved, and inspired by the game you are playing – your project.

Get coaching on connecting the dots between your project and your Development Opportunities, and take on all the Accountabilities for the Communication Courses. On each session of your Development Opportunity, look at your project and ask “Where am I stopped in my action items?” Then, bring those concerns to your coach, and bring it to each Development Opportunity session. Use each Development Opportunity as a place where you are trained and developed in the area you are stopped in project, so that you can have a breakthrough  and  are  able  to  move

what you’re doing forward. Take every opportunity to be accountable for something no matter how scary it is. The more you can take on, the more you grow, and that’s why you are on Team!

It’s not about what we have to do or to work at when we are taking on accountability, it’s about giving things up! Giving up the identity of who you think you are, and the conversation  “you are not good enough.” Just give up the poor and crappy listening we have of ourselves. When you give this up, your natural leadership will show.

In what way did the experience for being on Team transform your life?
With my company last week- rather than firing people who hadn’t performed, my old mode of operating, I re-empowered the whole team to play at a level that’s worth playing at.

With my family,  I have learned to master the distinctions from Landmark Education and bring those distinctions to effectively remove 35 years of anger & anxiety between two members of my family in just one conversation.

Todd’s company product, Unity, can be seen here:
http://www.in2technologies.com/engageunity/

Interviewed by Kimchi Chow, San Jose
Transcription and writing by Lindsay Tappero, San Jose
Alumna; writing also by Michael  Pettingale, Seattle
Edited by James Marchand, NY

 

Creating Happiness for Sick Children

By Dr. Parijat N. Goswami, Gujarat Cancer and Research Institute, Team India

Dr. Parijat N Goswami, Professor and Head of Microbiology has taken up a project for spreading happiness to children suffering with cancer. She is keeping the possibility of love, care and enjoyment alive for these children. She has created leaders around her, and they are working as a team with a oneness of purpose amongst them.

On March 23, 2012, Mr. Ramesh Karolkar and his team presented an entertaining drama they produced to convey to parents and children an important message around medical care. The play creates removing the many taboos and superstitions about seeking medical care. It shows how one can get the proper treatment from appropriate hospitals and doctors. The team leader, Mr. Ramesh Karolkar, is the writer, producer and director of the play. The next program in April was a program wherein the children themselves participated by storytelling and recitation of poetry. Children also listened to the poetry and stories created by the team leaders. This was followed by a wonderful birthday celebration for the children including a cutting of a special birthday cake.

The third phase of the project was on May 4, 2012. Around 65-70 children were gifted with drawing books, colouring crayons, pencils and erasers. There was a drawing competition amongst the children between 3 to 13 years old. The best three drawings were awarded prizes.

All of the children participated with zeal and enthusiasm.   Over    twenty    children    did    drawings, coloured with crayons or drew pencil sketches. They all had different ideas, imaginations and visualisations created and put down on paper. First prize was received by Ms. Khushi M. Jadeja, 7 years old. Media coverage was present for the event.

 

Creating Smiles: Dental Care for Kids in Los Angeles

Dr. Jay Grossman, Team Los Angeles

Dr. Grossman is a privately practicing dentist in Los Angeles with a commitment to provide free dental care to thousands of homeless men and women living in the area.  Twenty years ago he started a non-profit program called Homeless not Toothless as a community project in the Self Expression and Leadership Program at Landmark Education. Over the last twenty years, his project has resulted in 2 million dollars’ worth of free dental care to the homeless of Los Angeles.  Upon completing the first year of the Team, Management and Leadership Program three years ago, he had a desire to create a new project that would expand Homeless not Toothless to include providing free medical and dental care for the 28,000 children currently in the Los Angeles Foster Care Programs. Dr. Grossman is currently in his second year on Team.

Having declared wanting to do this new expansive project, he knew he could not do it alone.  One of the things he mastered in the first year of Teamwas how to powerfully share and create opportunity so that someone would want to take an active role in his project.  Dr. Grossman reached out to celebrities in the community. Sharon Stone is an active member of the board.  Felicity Huffman and Bill Macy appear at special events and speak publicly to gather attention from the media.  Many other celebrities came together to throw a huge gala fundraiser, one of the outcomes being the donation from Los Angeles County of an entire building, which is being used to create offices. Dr. Grossman’s team is responsible for staffing the doctors, dentists, and medical supplies.  These professionals are not working for profit, and have their own teams of assistants.

All the while, Dr. Grossman is still the owner and a practicing dentist in his own office, where he works twenty hours a week and confidently lets the office team manage the rest.  His practice wasn’t always this free and easy.  Between his first and second year in the Team program, he was involved in a serious auto collision.  The accident took him away not only from his project, but also from his dentistry practice for a year and a half.  Thanks to the distinctions he learned on Team, Dr. Grossman’s practice continued to flourish.  “Now I’m in a place where I’m clear that it’s going to powerful with or without me.”

Dr. Grossman is looking to raise a million dollars, and open the doors to his newest dental clinic in February 2013.  He produces powerful results in his own practice, three businesses that he is either CEO or President of, plus running the non-profit Homeless not Toothless.  He has learned to take on multiple businesses and manage them with minimal breakdowns.  On how he runs five corporations having three to over a hundred team members, he says: “I can’t say it’s always easy but I’m clear there’s always a solution to get out of it…and to me that is one of the biggest breakthroughs, the ability to deal with whatever the gap is that I’m playing for in a powerful way that doesn’t slow me down.”

For more information on how you can participate, visit the website www.homelessnottoothless.org

 

Interview by Kimchi Chow, Team San Jose

Written by Lindsay Tappero, San Jose Alumna and

Mike Pettingale, Los Angeles

The Change Agent: Shifting the Conversation of Mexico

mpoderando las relación México – Americanas

Words create our world. Our conversations create the context of how the world occurs to us. Relationships are born and built of conversations.  So what are the words and conversations we hear in the press about Mexico? Drugs, drug cartels, violence, revenge, corruption, illegal, immigration, killings, death etc.  The conversations are invariably about the problems of all those words. On these conversations we then build the relationship of America to Mexico and Mexico to America. A relationship akin to a two-way mirror so dirty and damaged we have no idea what or who we’re really looking at,  so we make up what is by what we hear.Jorge Flores-Kelly for a long time had been disturbed and resigned by this terrible press image of Mexico. When he started the Team, Management and Leadership Program from Landmark Education almost two years ago he resolved to create a project that would change the nature of this conversation of Mexico.

Jorge started a blog  in both English and Spanish to discuss the vibrant activity that is happening  in this country of over 113 million people. Starting conversations on subjects like technology, education, art, literature, economic growth, health care , and Mexico’s international relations.  The blog is called elcatalista.org in the Spanish version and thecatalist.org in English. The blog’s subtitle sets the contexts for the site: “Empowering the Mexican – American Relationship”. Here’s the genesis of his idea explained on his site thecatlist.org:

The Catalist is not a spelling mistake.

Our name is the result of the  combination of two other words that define the essence of this blog:
catalyst and optimist.

catalyst n.  someone or something that helps bring about a change

Since starting the blog in his participation on Team Mexico, things have really taken off for Jorge. He’s produced and presented two videos and written a book that talks about creating a powerful context to relate to Mexico.  He talks about what is going right in the country, what is working and working  well. The intention is that by developing a positive context for people’s conversations about the country, the general decision-making will no longer be biased by negative sensationalism.

The book,  Mexico Piensa + , released in Spanish, but translated as Mexico Thinks Positively, was published in November 2011. As of this March it was sold out and the publisher was printing a second edition.  One reviewer on Amazon.com had this to say about Jorge’s book:

The book is a call to action for Mexicans and an eye opener for foreigners. It also challenges the way we tend to speak about one’s self and it’s a powerful illustration of the impact words can determine our destiny and shape our view of ourselves and subsequently, others views of us. 

In  Mexico,   Jorge’s  book  has  been featured in more than 15 different magazines. He’s been interviewed about it and his work to shift the context of the conversation of Mexico by more than 20 different TV and radio programs.  He’s been invited to speak on creating powerful contexts about Mexico and it’s citizens by Universities, the British Embassy, the Embassy of Finland, and the TEDxCondesaRoma conference.

On Team he’s developed the ability to create powerful contexts that allowed him to fulfill his dream of writing a book that is making a difference for his country. Primary for this was developing the ability to give things up or let them go. Letting go his  thoughts of  “I’ll write the book when I have something interesting to say”, and just starting to write it.  He applies this to the country also,  urging people to give up : “I’ll invest, travel, create a company, etc. when conditions are favorable..”, and instead having people understand they can create favorable conditions by informing  oneself in a proactive, profound manner.

Jorge looks back over the last two years and sees how being on Team has brought opportunities and experiences to his life that he never even dreamed about. The communication tools he’s acquired and the power of team are reinventing his life.  And who knows, apparently a whole country’s image as well.

Jorge’s blog in Spanish: www.elcatalista.org
and in English:  www.thecatalist.org

Jorge Flores-Kelly, Team Mexico
Written by: Paola Bortoluz, Mexico,  James Marchand, NY

Starting a Web Business That Connects Designers with People

Chi explains, “It has been my dream to join the Team Management and Leadership Program (TMLP) at Landmark Education to create a business, so this is a dream come true!” And when her love for both fashion and business resulted in a fashion business with a cause — to support designers and enhance women’s beauty — the dream was complete.

In addition, Chi also holds a full-time marketing job. Just how does she do it all? “Without the team structure of TMLP and what I’ve learned from Landmark’s communication courses, this definitely would never have happened,” says Chi. At one point, Chi and her partner had not heard from the web developing team based in another country for an extended period and multiple project deadlines had been missed. Before getting this training, Chi reports she would have just written off this team and angrily started interviewing new firms. Instead, she was able to see things from the other’s viewpoint and scheduled a conversation during which she learned about what was going on with the design team, cleared out what was in the background for each of them, and agreed on how best to communicate moving forward and created an appropriate timeline.

A concrete result of this conversation is the team agreed to add a web designer to aid the coding team by preparing the html files before sending them to coders, reducing the team’s workload and offering more options to the site.

Things are now moving forward smoothly and they are keeping to the timeline created in their conversation. Chi shares “I had it in my head that the communication tools I learned only work with other people in Landmark programs — it was a huge breakthrough to take this into my life and have it work!”

Since completing the first year on Team, Chi set out to be a successful entrepreneur and she refuses to stop there. Drawing on the structures she learned on Team to create effective results, Chi incorporated them into her business. One of the structures she employs is to have a business coach listen in on her weekly call with her business partner, creating an environment where each partner feels heard and is committed to collaboration and partnership. This has transformed their conversations, allowing them to communicate without drama or making things up about the other person, while maintaining their joint focus on their promised actions and results.

In August, Chi will re-join the Team, Management and Leadership Program for a second year dedicated to the practice of empowering leaders in her business and building the leaders of Team New York. Now that Chi is consistently connected to her business team, she is able to flow with the work process and not feel frustrated or that something is wrong. “I’ve got enormous peace and freedom to do what I love to do — both with MyRentDress.com and in my full-time job,” Chi concludes. And that’s a beautiful thing.

Chi Le’s Business will be at:
www.myrentdress.com

Chi Le, Team New York

by Lisa Cerqueira, Team New England

Supporting Youth in Toronto

Razia Jeena, Team Toronto
by Lisa Cerqueira

As her son grew into his twenties, single parent Razia Jeena discovered he felt she had not been there for him as he was growing up. “It was a lack of consistency on my part,” Razia shares. “I think he was looking for a structure and for me to act as a guide.” Having moved from her native Uganda to the Toronto area twenty-five years ago, shortly before her son was born, Razia was busy figuring out how things work herself and didn’t always know how to guide her son without the familiar structures from her own childhood. “Some of the things my son does have thrown me for a loop. What youth deal with in the Western world is foreign to many immigrant families,” she confesses. “I suggested we partner up and figure things out together and he refused. He said, ‘No. You’re the parent. You figure it out.’ I felt utterly helpless.”

Participating in the communication courses offered by Landmark Education helped her to take these conversations with her son and convert them into an inquiry. “Now I’m really clear on what I need to do as a parent and, as a mom, I want to share this with other parents,” Razia says. “It breaks my heart to see youth, who have so much to contribute, be lost and dependent on others for their livelihood when they are so brilliant, so compassionate. I want to see youth be engaged. I also want to support communication and connection between parents and their children.” To address this need, Razia created Youth ‘n’ Action within the Team Management and Leadership Program (TMLP), a one-year leadership program focused on developing participants to create teams and teamwork in any situation.

Youth ‘n’ Action is an outreach program targeting young people between the ages of 14 to 24 to engage them to take positive action in their lives that supports their family, community and what matters to them. Razia and her team enlisted Scarborough-area youth organizations such as Malvern Rouge Valley Youth Services and Ontrack Career and Employment Services to create the first Discovery Session on Oct 29, 2011.

At the Discovery Session, young people are encouraged to explore their areas of interest through activities and conversation with a variety of Subject Matter Experts. They answer questions, work together to create community projects that provide concrete experience, and share suggestions on how to turn the young person’s interests into a career. Through the Discovery Sessions, some youth choose to go back to school.  Razia’s team is in the process of partnering with local community colleges and high schools to facilitate this process.

Once a young person has gained experience, they are invited to become an expert in the field and a mentor for other youth. Razia describes her vision as an octopus with the core team at the center as the head and the eight arms are the youth intertwined with the community partnerships. Those being mentored today become the mentors of tomorrow. While her vision was so clear, it kept appearing to her as unfulfilled. When she looked more closely, she realized that “while I had created a team, I was only going through the motions of a team and not really utilizing them.” After that insight, she set the date for the event, created milestones by working backwards from that date, and had the team members pair up and take on separate tasks with each team being held accountable by the other, while doing their own work.

The result was a well-received initial event and additional partnerships with Centennial and Seneca College as well as with Rathika Sitsabaiesan, a Member of Parliament who has offered to speak at upcoming events and serve as a mentor. The team is also in conversation with the YMCA, Scouts Canada, and the City of Toronto Outreach workers.  Their next steps include providing support to the youth who attended the first Discovery Session, creating more Discovery Sessions, increasing their outreach and marketing,  and finding ways to draw parents into the mix.

“Youth ‘n’ Action is unique because we bring different youth organizations to work together towards the common goal of youth transformation, creating our leaders of tomorrow.  Our goal is to transform the lives of 3,000 youth by December 31, 2013,” Razia shares. Since completing the TMLP, Razia has been engaged in conversations surrounding the next steps. She is leading the youth transformation project and meets monthly with representatives of other organizations serving youth and their families and will begin partnering with organizations to facilitate conversations with the parents of pre-teen and teenagers beginning in September.

Out of her experiences working with young people, Razia found the courage to initiate a conversation with her own son. He agreed to go to counseling with her—and while ultimately her son chose to move out, Razia has been able to let go of her guilt. “I realized that now it is my son’s journey and he gets to choose his life — no judgments. I am confident one day we will have a relationship based on mutual respect.”

Out of her experiences and her commitment to happy, empowered families, Razia continues to be a stand for parents everywhere. “It is the guilt and unfinished business where parents and the children are left feeling disempowered.  I am taking a stand in my life for myself and for my son. I am coming from love rather than fear, and I am experiencing peace that I have not had for some years now.”

Créer à partir de rien: Vieux Pneus recycles en revetement de Toiture chez AmeriSlate

Robert Cummins est un participant de la gestion et leadership à Landmark Programme. Robert est dans son premier trimestre dans le programme et il dit aimer “ chaque moment.”

Kimchi Chow a interviewé Robert pour découvrir comment il a démarré son projet, ce qui l’a attire dans cette nouvelle affaire, et comment sa participation dans l’Equipe de la gestion et leadership a Landmark lui as permis d’etre dans la voie du succe.

Robert tient une palette de tuiles en à partir de pneus usagés.

Quand avez-vous commencé cette entreprise, quel est votre rôle dans l’entreprise et quel est le produit?
J’ai debute cette idée d’entreprise; il y a un peu plus de deux ans: l’idée originale est venue de mon partenaire. Je suis essentiellement “l’executant”  je mets les composants en place pour realiser la vente de ce produit, et l’etablissement d’un plan de gestion. J’ai ete nomme : Chef de direction et  President. Le but de la société est de prendre les pneus qui sont généralement jettes en décharges qui fournissent des matieres inertes qui ne se décomposent pas, pour les recycler en matériaux de construction.

Le produit actuel est appelé AmeriSlate. Il s’agit d’un materiel de revetement de toiture qui, initialement vient des composants de vieux pneus qui sont recyclés en material pour le revetement de toitures. Ce nouveau material est utilise pour sa longévité, il fournit une excellente et solide isolation tout en etant impermeable aux UV.  En effet,  j’ai transperce un ecrou de chemin de fer dans notre produit:  resultat etonnant, aucune fuite, il est auto-obturant! AmeriSlate est resistant a la grêle et aux plus grandes.  Par exemple, chaque année, Des centaines de millions de dollars de dommages sont causes par les empêtes de grêle au Texas. Les compagnies d’assurance offrent souvent des taux de réductions  pour encourager la pause de ce type de toiture resistant a toutes les intemperies.

Qu’est-ce qui vous a inspiré pour démarrer cette affaire avec votre partenaire?
C’est un produit génial. il apporte solutions aux idees qui me sont importantes et fournit une solution à un certain nombre de problèmes de l’ environnement.

Avec ce produit nous pouvons effectivement éliminer le carbone negatif.  Ce produit fournit materiaux de construction pour le logement, des projets pour les sans-abri à des organisations comme “Beautiful Day” et des groupes similaires.

Chaque année aux États-Unis, Plus de 350 millions de pneus sont jetés dans les decharges. Le material des pneus ne se décomposent pas.  La transformation de ses pneus en material de toiture ou batiment peuvent totalement transformer notre environment. AmeriSlate est partenaire avec une entreprise Australienne qui produit des revêtements de toiture qui ont jusqu’à 91% thermique réflectivité. En Australie, en raison de l’appauvrissement de la couche d’ozone, quatre personnes sur cinq développent  des cancers de la peau.  En utilisant les materiaux d’ AmeriSlate ils peuvent se proteger des UV, réduire incroyablement les consommations de chauffage, et d’air climatise.
Par exemple, en utilisant  AmeriSlate materiaux une personne a Sacramento (Californie) a réduit durant les mois d’été sa facture d’électricité de $ 200 par mois.

Pensez-vous que ces materiaux de revetement de toiture surpasseront les materiaux traditionnels?
Oui. Ces materiaux sont beaucoup plus légers que l’ardoise, à une fraction du coût, ils possedent de meilleures propriétés thermiques, et susceptible de durer un siècle. C’est un produit vert.

Que pensez-vous accomplir avec ce projet durant votre premier trimestre dans l’équipe, Gestion et Leadership Program?
J’ai l’objectif d’amasser un montant de 1,3 millions de dollars de capitaux  pour le financement de ce produit.  Actuellement,  je suis en contact avec trois investisseurs. Un d’entre eux: Erin, m’a introduit à  un autre participant de l’équipe qui travaillait dans un projet différent, nous avons commencé a discuter de nos projets courants comme une activité secondaire. Il s’avère qu’elle avait debute dans l’équipe avec pour objectif d’assembler  un demi million de dollars avant la fin de sa première année. Durant son troisième trimestre dans “Team”, apres avoir amassé le montant incroyable de 1,4 millions de dollars elle a décidé  de quitter le programme pour commencer son affaire. Tres rapidement, son entreprise a atteint 20 millions de dollars qu’elle a revendue, aussitot. De retour dans l’équipe elle se consacre a aider les autres entreprises à demarrer leur affaires en mettant l’infrastructure en place pour assurer leur succès.

Le pouvoir d’être dans Team est le suivant: en travaillant avec votre équipe, vous vous liez aux personnes qui vous entourent, ces personnes sont des enegies qui viennent illuminer vos “points morts” ou vous aider avec vos carrences.  L’ équipe est la  pour soutenir vos idees, votre transformation. Chaque personne de l’équipe developpe ses forces et connaissances personnelles qu’elle partage pour assurer la realisation de votre projet ainsi que de votre croissance.

Que recommanderez-vous à d’autres avec un même projet, si ils sont obliges de soulever des fonds ou de rechercher des investisseurs?
Impliquez-vous dans l’équipe, de gestion et de leadership Programme! Partager. Mettez votre projet en cours.  Parlez-en. Nous nous inspirons des autres et nous inspirons les autres quand nous partageons qui  nous sommes et quels sont les membres de notre équipe!

Vous avez dû relever des défis de construction de cette entreprise. Quels sont quelques exemples?
Mon plus grand défi, c’est moi. Un exemple de ceci est que j’ai toujours eu le besoin de tout comprendre avant d’entreprendre quelque chose de nouveau. Ceci vraiment limite les possibilites.  Lorsque j’ai debute le Forum a Landmark, j’ai vu clairement que je devais laisser tomber ce concept et commencer a agir dans le monde de l’action.

Maintenant, je prends chaque étape comme elle vient sans avoir besoin de connaitre tous les aboutissants. Creant mon propre monde avec mes mots et actions, ainsi tous les elements se mettent en place. Nul ne doit avoir tout compris avant d’entreprendre un project, un plan, une affaire.

Comment avez vous fait en sorte que ce projet aille de l’avant?
Je connais fort bien ma tendance de vouloir tout connaitre, tout penser, tout mettre en oeuvre d’abord, et lorsque je me vois aller dans cette direction, je me ressaisis et commence a prendre des mesures. Ce qui est vraiment stimulant c’est la confiance dans les relations que j’ai avec mon équipe. Demander leur aide, leur soutien, leur savoir faire, plutôt que de  m’enliser a touver toutes les solutions, a vouloir tout comprendre. Quand je suis perdu ou paralyse, ils me ramènent  à l’action.

Que voyez-vous dans la valeur de l’équipe de  Gestion et Leadership Program?
Je me souviens quand j’ai décidé de faire le programme apres une longue conversation avec Todd [Beauchamp] qui m’a demontre toutes les possibilites. Je suis seulement dans mon  premier trimestre, et je peux dire que je n’avais aucune idée de ce qu’etait ce programme vraiment. Il s’agit d’une impressionante l’expérience et la façon dont je me vois a changée. Je pensais etre effectif avec le management de mon emploi du temps, a present je m’apercois mon inefficacite avec le nombre d’heures que je perdais chaque jour

Lorsque,  j’ai un bloc de temps disponible, je pense, “Comment puis- je utiliser ce temps de manière efficace? “Chaque decision est maintenant consciente” A present, je pense, “Je pourrais le faire“ Cette mentalité d’etre sans cesse en action est très puissante.

Avez-vous tout ce que vous avez besoin maintenant pour réussir dans votre projet?
Si cette question m’etais posee avant mes cours a Landmark Education, j’aurai dit: «Non, Je n’ai pas ce dont j’ai besoin. “ Maintenant, après avoir pris le Cours du Landmark Forum, et les Cours de Communication, je me rends compte que je ne possede pas tout ce dont j’ai besoin. Cependant j’ai acquis une  grande confiance avec les outils qui m’ont ete donne,  a chaque instant, je cree,  les choses, les rapports, les connections dont j’ai besoin.

Quelle est la seule chose que vous recommandez aux gens pour qu’ils puissent trouver leur passion, comme avez vous trouvé la vôtre?
Ils doivent se demander ce qu’il dans leur vie crée l’excitation, l’amour et l’affinité. Qu’est-ce qui les motive des leur reveil? Qu’est-ce qui vous permet de trouver un sens à ce que vous faites? Quelle est cette chose? Puis parler avec les gens de vos idees, faconner vos idees vos reves,  faites parler votre coeur votre ame, transformer les en réalité. 

Robert Cummins, Équipe  San Jose
Propos recueillis par Kimchi Chow, Équipe  San Jose
Écrit par Valri Castleman, Équipe San Jose et ancienne élève

L’équipe de traduction
– Luigi Sciupac, Équipe San Francisco
– Anne Vigneaut, Équipe Montréal
– Michelle Habib, Équipe San Jose

Barista Sings the Blues: Making the Dream of a Blues Band Real

Envision having a promising career moving up the corporate ladder at Starbucks. Then the coffee conglomerate decides to hold an employee wide contest; NOT about coffee, but rather a search for soloists or bands to submit original songs.  In 2007, over 800 original songs were submitted by Starbucks’ partners (employees) – one of them being by Khalfani Makalani’s band.

From the moment Khalfani decided to be in the contest, his life changed forever. At the time, Khalfani had worked at Starbuck’s for thirteen years, seven of which as a store manager, and thought it might be fun to put together a band for this endeavor.  His father, a member of a local blues band, volunteered to help.  Khalfani never sang blues before this contest and even though the band was not selected for the final CD, they were one of the finalists in Chicago and the song was played on the radio.  The biggest achievement was to fulfill a lifelong dream to perform with his father on stage.  As a result of his performances with the band, Khalfani chose to end his Starbuck’s career and is now able to follow his passion for singing and performing the blues in front of a live audience.

This life-changing journey was a direct result of Khalfani’s participation in Landmark Education’s Team, Management         and        Leadership Program. There he created a project called “Being Behind Blues” to pursue his passion. During this project, Team has allowed him to get trained on creating a background of relatedness with others, completing measurable goals he promised for the week, being in integrity, and putting in structures for creating the foundation of success. “When I was a kid I dreamed of having a band, touring and performing. With Team, I was able to see that my dreams really are possible. I realized that I had to take 100% responsibility and create teams and teamwork to fulfill on what I really wanted. I realized that it was not something that would never happen but that COULD happen.”

“Being on TEAM Chicago has helped when I was stopped. Team coached me on how to restart, to create structures, to not take things personally, to be present to who I am as a possibility, my stand, and to create teams and team work in any situation.”

Khalfani’s project has changed significantly since he began this journey. It has grown larger than he could have ever imagined.  He  now has a producer and has joined a well-known band in the Chicago blues scene consisting of musicians that have been playing for 10-20 years. He finds it to be very true what is stated in the Communication: Access to Power course  –   Your   word   creates   your world!! He stated he wanted to have younger blues players seen, known and heard on the Chicago Blues scene and he is definitely leading the pack!!

As a result of being on Team Chicago, Khalfani, a younger blues player himself, is following his passion and singing blues on stage with much older 60 and 70 year old players who have formed the blues scene of Chicago for years.  His band is scheduled to open shows for the legendary Buddy Guy this year.  They are on the playing rotation for two clubs, most notably the Harlem Avenue Blues Lounge, one of the premier blues spots in Chicago. Important to him and his community, Khalfani is proud to be making a difference in the lives of younger blues musicians. That’s a contribution that will continue the legacy of Chicago blues well into the future.

Khalfani Makalani, Team Heartland Chicago

By Edith Washington, Heartland Chicago

Written by Edith Washington and Laura Miller, Seattle

Bringing Expert Cardiac Care…

The important issue we addressed is that the majority of the rural population is deprived of timely medical care because of the lack of local doctors in the villages. People also cannot afford the cost of medical treatment. To have a simple medical examination, patients have to travel long distances to reach the urban healthcare centres. This would mean that the patient and/or the attendant will have to lose a day’s wages and spend additional money on transportation, boarding and lodging. These constraints force the population to ignore timely medical attention and it can become too late for a patient’s recovery or even  survival. If a patient has a cardiac problem, the first step in diagnosing is to take an ECG. Since there are no qualified doctors in many villages, diagnosing health problems isn’t possible, and without an ECG machine diagnosing cardiac issues is also impossible.

Local health professionals at the Community Health Centres supply the first level of medical care. In this project we are training these health workers to operate trans-telephonic ECG machines. Now when a villager complains of a health problem, as a first step in screening the patients they take the ECG of the patient with the machine. The ECG is then sent to a cardiologist situated in Bangalore. The doctor in Bangalore analyses the ECG. If the patient is diagnosed with a cardiac problem, depending on the location of the patient, they either direct them for medical treatment to designated hospitals in Malaysia or offer surgical treatment at an affordable cost in Bangalore.

Many voluntary organizations conduct regular medical camps so we partnered with them.  Lions International, Sanjaynagar club, Bangalore together with Kempegowda Institute of Medical Sciences and Bharat Scouts and Guides are conducting both Eye Camps and prevention and awareness programs of the H1N1 virus. Our team is joining hands with them and setting up a telephonic ECG facility in one village on the Medical Camp day. The location of this is Amruthur, a village located 120 kilometres from Bangalore. Amruthur also has a Community Health Centre and hence we can offer the use of telephonic ECG to the whole population in and around Amruthur village. The ECGs taken by these machines will be sent to a Tertiary Cardiac Centre in Bangalore, Narayana  Hrudayalaya. There they will analyse the ECG free of cost and, if required, will extend medical care to the needy at free or very affordable price.

We had around 500 patients visiting the camp. They were given a general medical check-up with a focus on cardiac issues and eye care. The patients were also given preventive medicine to fight the H1N1 virus.

Because of this project, from now on all the villagers in that area have the ability to get their ECG checked at this Community Health Centre. The cost charged to the patients is Rs. 10.00 per ECG as compared to Rs.200 – 400 in places like Bangalore. [10 Rupees is$0.18 US, 400 Rupees is $7.18 – ed]  For  this  low cost they are getting  an  expert opinion on their heart condition within five minutes and don’t have to travel a long distance to see an expert. Everything happens right at their doorstep. More importantly, the tertiary hospital has come forward to offer free or subsidized cardiac treatment to these patients who cannot afford to pay for the treatment.

Our team is very happy to be a part of having served over 500 patients and to provide the facility of tele-ECG for many more patients in the future. This will have a great impact on the cardiac health of people in the region.

I’d like to take a moment and acknowledge Mrs. Saroja Naidu. Even at the age of 85 years, she is a source of self-less service, compassion and energy. She is a noble lady, a social worker, the president of the Lions Club of Sanjaynagar, and also the chairperson of Bharat Scouts and Guides, Karnataka.

Concert for Freedom: Discovering the Power of Teams

Rashelly Davis – Orquesta Filarmónica de Israel

Rashelly Davis plays clarinet for the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and just completed her second year with the Team, Management, and Leadership Program at Landmark Education. Landmark Education’s program in Israel is based in Tel Aviv, with eleven people on the team — seven in the first year, four in the second. The program weekends at the end of each quarter are held in London, England in conjunction with Team Europe.After Shelly arrived in London for her last weekend with Team Israel May 25-27, 2012 she shared some of her experiences with me via Skype.  Moved by the 2006 capture of Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit by Hamas militants, Shelly first set her sights on impacting his situation while taking the Self Expression and Leadership Program (SELP) also at Landmark Education. Held in a secret location, Gilad Shalit was denied visits from the Red Cross or any meaningful communication with his parents. Shelly shares “As a human being and a mother of four, I feel deep empathy and sympathy for Gilad Shalit’s parents, especially for their horrible uncertainty about the fate of their own child.” Shelly had a vision of performing with the Israel Philharmonic in the Gaza Strip and then returning home with Gilad Shalit and enrolled the orchestra general secretary to partner with her  in  making  her  vision   a   reality.   However,  at  a certain point in that project, he gave up and Shelly gave up along with him.

Shelly continued to wonder what she could do in this matter, and in TMLP, she learned how to structure teams around a project and once again took steps to realize her vision. “I wanted to do something for Gilad and his family for a long time, but I thought that such big projects could only be executed by important and powerful people, not by me,” she explains. “Once I realized this wasn’t true, I felt free to think of things I COULD do and created a team of people from the Israel Philharmonic and three women from the Shalit Campaign.”

To draw worldwide attention to the violation of Gilad Shalit’s human rights, they organized a march culminating in a public outdoor concert on the Israeli side of the Gaza Strip, conducted by world-renowned Music Director, Maestro Zubin Mehta. On July 5, 2010 over 12,000 people attended the concert.

In taking on something so large, Shelly got invaluable experience and breakthroughs in seeing how she gets stopped when confronted with lack of agreement or support by authority figures. When she first considered asking the orchestra’s secretary general to partner with her in organizing the concert, “I wouldn’t even say ‘hello’ to him — I thought I wasn’t interesting enough for him to want to speak with me,” Shelly says. What made the difference? Creating a new possibility and taking on a concern larger than herself — “I just kept thinking about taking leadership and what would I do if it was my son? This is the moment where we must put aside our daily troubles for a soldier that has been imprisoned for four years. This is the campaign for Gilad’s life! This is the campaign for all our lives!”

After the concert, Shelly continued to create projects while in TMLP to work towards Gilad Shalit’s release, which came on October 18, 2011 as part of a prisoner exchange deal. With this project complete, Shelly has most recently been working with a team of leaders to support and empower women and families in a variety of ways. Some of the projects in the works include opening the first Montessori school in Israel, organizing a women’s health and wellness march in her hometown of Holon, and creating a series of meetings and workshops to explore four Biblical mothers and create possibilities for people to realize their dreams and vision.   She is also involved in bringing the first Landmark Forum — a Landmark Education program designed to bring about positive and permanent shifts in the quality of life for participants — to Ramallah on the Israel/Palestine border by January 2013.

Asked if she had managerial potential in an interview conducted shortly before the concert for Gilad Shalit, Shelly concluded, “I had some fear that I’d be very nervous. But in the end, I realized it isn’t true that I’m not capable.” This just may be the understatement of the century.

More Information on Rashelly Davis and the Concert for Gilad Shalit, go to www.haaretz.com

Shelly Davis, what’s your message in holding a concert near the Gaza border?
www.haaretz.com/print-edition/features/shelly-davis-what-s-your-message-in-holding-a-concert-near-the-gaza-border-1.284992

 

Rashelly Davis, Team Israel

Written by Lisa Cerqueira, Team New England


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