Tag Archives: understanding

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A New Perspective at the Pyramids

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My husband and I just returned from his biggest bucket list vacation, EGYPT!  ..And the last remaining wonder of the ancient world!

In spite of wonders like the Pyramids, the Temples, and the Nile ~ Egypt has experienced significant declines in tourism because of the continued reports about the conflicts in their country…

  • Our first day of the vacation we visited places that were surrounded by armored vehicles, armed guard stations, and lots of men with rifles.
  • On our second day, an armed guard accompanied us as we drove and walked. (It was quite an adventure to have a guard follow 5 of us through the city!)
  • On the fourth day we met an fully armed group at 3:30 in the morning and caravanned to our destination.

Although we experienced no threats, it was hard to miss that safety was not something to take for granted! 

Later that day we began to see things from another perspective…

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Consumed by a Problem You Can’t Solve?

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Several years ago an executive told me that if I knew about a problem that was unsolved, it didn’t matter how hard I wanted to be a part of the solution,…   I was a part of the problem until it was solved.  

Ouch. That was a hard pill to swallow.

Recently I was reminded of that pill, as someone contacted me and asked for my help.

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Executives: Do you not know? OR …Do you not care?

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Years ago I read a wonderful post by Ted Coine titled, Dear CEO:  Who tells you when your baby is ugly?

The post resonated loudly, because as an employee and as a customer I have wondered…  [Tweet “Do they not know, or do they not care?”]

Over the past 41 days, I’ve asked that question at an increasingly high level…

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11 Tips for Dealing with Manipulators

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Last week’s post:  Together You Stand, Divided You Fall is the first part of this “mini series.”  If you missed it, click here.

When I was a teenager I watched daytime soap operas. In each of them there was always a manipulative character that consistently pressed invisible buttons, somehow always getting what they wanted.

I remember wondering if anyone could actually be that conniving.

This weekend a news article and a video that covered different stories, were shared on social media.

Both were shared to stir hate and both effectively stirred up some of their intended audience.

  • The article made me angry
  • The video shocked me
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DEEP Understanding Drives Change

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I cannot do all of the good the world needs but I can do all the good that I can do

Several years ago I sat in a room full of volunteers that were being trained to go into schools and work with children that were at risk of dropping out. One of our exercises was a simulation that was designed to help us better understand the day-to-day realities for their families.

  • We were divided up into small groups.
  • Each one of us was given a role to play.
  • Then we were given a real life problem that needed to be solved.
  • And a name of a place we needed to go to for help.

In the simulation I was the small child of a single mother that had no car.

  • “My mother” needed food and a job and childcare.

The simulation was timed to help us understand everything that she needed to accomplish in one day – just to bring home food. (Let alone finding a job or daycare.)

Each time we got off the simulated bus, we walked into a facility and stood in a long line. To eventually be re-directed to another place for services that was across town with different operating hours and another long line.

My job was to simulate how a child begins to act as a few hours becomes a day without food, without a nap, without play.