JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT THINGS COULDNT GET ANY WORSE!

At the risk of being corny, I couldn't resist the temptation to share this clip of Charlotte and Jonathan from Britain's Got Talent.

Just look at the lessons in TRUST - Self-Trust, Relationship Trust, Organizational Trust, Market Trust and even Societal Trust. (See SMR Covey - Speed of Trust) and of course in INFLUENCE (both negative, personified by the "vile" SC, and all the positive sources that put him to shame!)

I can't believe this whole act wasn't carefully scripted to create a viral marketing campaign that probably means this clip will have travelled three times round the world by the time you see my version! Much as I hate to fall into the trap of sensationalism and showbiz, I have to give my thanks to J&C's music teacher/coach for recognizing/drawing out the potential, to Charlotte for her vital support to Jonathan and to J for his talent, courage and commitment to his team. Finally to Simon for being such a "nasty" man and allowing us all to reflect on the power of our own talents and attributes if only we can have the courage to believe in ourselves, even when the chips are down!

Thanks to Brian McDermott from Growthworks Inc and Linked in for bringing this to my attention!

A NEW PLUS

In case you were wondering, the weird shadows that appear in the Powerpoint explaining my new venture, Coaching Plus for Peak Performance, are not friends of ET heading for home, but 3 generations of Rays in the Cajón del Maipo Cordillera on our way up to the El Morrado Glacier (taken about 4 years ago). What a memorable bonding experience with Peter and Philipito which had a lot to do with building and maintaining trust.

I am delighted to report that CPPP is going strong and I am excited to see how the brave souls who trusted me to be their coach and have dared to do this in English are demonstrating surprising abilities to express highly complex and frequently delicate matters (difficult enough to express in their mother tongue!) in the very safe environment we have created... and they have already seen the early fruits of using me as a sounding box and point of accountability (for their own decisions and results) as they begin to execute their plans.

30+ (gulp!) years of experience have shown me, however, that the skills acquired by practice in the classroom or coaching space do not automatically transfer to real life and the moment we find ourselves in a a less "safe" environment, the self-doubt, hesitation, stuttering and memory gaps begin to take over.

I am therefore keen to move on to stage 2 of my experiment in building self-confidence/trust for language learners by creating a safe space for groups of like-minded individuals to share their ideas and get used to expressing themselves to groups in English, overcoming their fears and reaping the benefits of the 3 "S"s !! - Synergy, Serendipity and Syncroncity.

I shall start the ball rolling in the first meeting by presenting my preferred coaching model "The Heart of Coaching" by Tom Crane, in a Round Table Meeting which will I hope provoke some interesting discussion on different coaching models and experiences involving all the audience.

In subsequent meetings we will encourage other members to make presentations on some other aspects of Coaching, Leadership, HR, OD or Personal Development intended to generate a similar interactive meeting.

Provisional date for the first meeting is Monday 9th April at 19:00 somewhere in Providencia (Exact location to be confirmed). There will be no cost ...and no coffee or trimmings!!! ;) Let me know if you are interested by adding your comment to this blog or mailing me at: philiprayr@gmail.com

Hope you can make it!!

“BY REASON OR BY MIGHT” OR “BY THE MIGHT OF REASON”?

¿(POR LA “RAZON O LA FUERZA” o “LA FUERZA DE LA RAZON”?

I am not sure what specific recent national or international conflict led me to reflect on the“slogan” on Chile’s national Coat of Arms – “By Reason or By Right”.

If this is supposed to be one of the guiding principles of our democracy, what hope is there for “Win-Win” solutions and the Culture of Trust which, according to so many scholars, is the keystone to peace, effectiveness and high performance?

Confucious: “Good government needs weapons, food and trust. If the ruler cannot hold onto all three, he should give up the weapons first and food next. Trust should be guarded to the end, because “without trust, we cannot stand”

Einstein: “Every kind of peaceful cooperation among men is primarily based on mutual trust and only secondarily on institutions such as courts of justice and police.”

Pope John XXIII : “The true and solid peace of nations consist not in equality of arms, but in mutual trust alone.”

Thomas Friedman (The World is Flat) : “Without trust, there is no open society, because there are not enough police to patrol every opening in an open society. Without trust, there can also be no flat world, because it is trust that allows us to take down walls remove barriers, and eliminate friction at borders. Trust is essential for a flat world.”

Extracted from “The Speed of Trust” by Stephen M.R. Covey

I therefore turned to “trusty” Wikipedia to understand the origins of the slogan and was both surprised and delighted to be reminded that Ricardo Lagos (the man with the mighty finger) had started the very same debate and proposed a new less bellicose version “Por la Fuerza de la Razón” (By the Might of Reason) which was presented to Congress as a Bill in 2004 by Nelson Avila and is still biding its time.

As I started a serendiptous jaunt through Google, to learn more, I quickly realized, that the very mention of this subject could be open to a misinterpretation of my motives so I would like to make it clear that I have no political stance on this subject, just a healthy curiosity in hearing what readers of this blog think.

My aim is to relaunch and transform my blog from a sharing of stuff that the author has experienced to a light-hearted forum where readers can share their thoughts and experiences related to trust.