I was told a story by a manager at Netflix about how a relatively new hire brought down the Netflix site for a few seconds when trying something new. The immediate reaction from management was celebratory instead of punitive.  The message communicated to the employee and the rest of the team was "that's great you took a risk!  It shows you are bold and ambitious in your efforts."

I am sure the manager's story is circulated within the company.  In doing so, the company cultivates beliefs and attitude towards taking risks.  Employees that hear this story will assume, correctly, that they are safe to take risks when trying to improve or innovate any aspect of their work.

We create a culture by cultivation of beliefs, attitudes, behaviors, ideas, skills, and even world views, and the conscious practice of storytelling is one of the most powerful ways in which this cultivation happens.  If you notice, it is actually always happening. Shared stories communicate "how things are done around here" more effectively than any official memo or retreat.  

One of my mentors, who worked with Peter Drucker, mentioned how managers at HP were required to come up with stories of courage about their employees.  Do you want to know more about your workplace culture?  What are the stories you tell, what are the stories people tell about each other?  A change of culture resides in a change of story.

​Today’s post is a reminder to maintain the sense of perspective and equanimity.  In the video below I talk about how easy it is to lose perspective and begin to perceive problems as bigger than they are if things are not going our way.
Are things really that bad?  Even if our circumstance is dire, how much is there we don’t know about?   How can we be so sure these current circumstances are not exactly what we are needing at this moment?

Music of MindfulnessMany of my video posts are cataloged under Music of Mindfulness videos where I share short reflections on leadership and self-care as well as an original song.
The videos are a small taste of my Music of Mindfulness events where you have the opportunity to dive into different aspects of leadership in a retreat setting with the help of short meditations, reflections, original songs, and conversation.
You can find more information and request an invitation for the next event here.
Mindfulness
Mindfulness in pali, the language of the Buddha, means awareness. Though emphasized in Buddhism, mindfulness is a necessary ingredient in all spiritual paths and any psychological transformation.  Awareness transforms anything it shines on.
I have found that even as I adopted different practices for self-connection and communication, I find mindfulness to be the core, what all these other practices come back to.
Music as a Mirror
Music has been used as a tool for transformation across the ages.  Cultures have used drums and rhythms to induce states of trance, wind instruments and the human voice has been used to elevate, to worship, to heal, and to create magic.
Through songs and guitar playing I help the listeners find their center and change their state of mind, so that they have a different perspective from which they can observe their own life.

This week's vlog and song is about how, as leaders, we can find ourselves stuck in the same role we learned to play, creating the same type of results.

When you play the role of a leader, your impact and influence to create an environment where others can flourish, grows.  However, I have found that whenever someone who plays a leadership role has a complaint about someone, they keep focused on how to change the other person.  

Many times shifting your own role as a leader in that context can bring you the results you seek.  If you think of yourself as the only one who knows how to do anything, you could try instead to think of yourself as a supportive guide.  Or maybe you think of yourself as a supporting parent.  Try instead seeing yourself as the one who sets the standards.  

The song in the video above is "Am I The Rain", written and performed by me.  I hope you enjoy it.

I am curious to know how is this for you.  Please leave your comments below.

Thank you!

Organizational change can be a monumental and overwhelming effort when it encompasses deep changes to beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors. The first question that might come to mind is, how to begin?  

I have found it helpful to think of organizational cultural change with a metaphor.  

Think of your organization as a caterpillar wrapping itself into a cocoon and entering the chrysalis stage in the butterfly life cycle. The chrysalis stage serves three main functions you can emulate:

1) The first function is protection to safeguard the process: The cocoon is there to protect vulnerability from the outside and to hold the temporary chaos that transition brings. 

On the outside, a board, shareholders, or other partners might threaten the change or help it. Similarly, you will find resistance or assistance from people inside the organization who might be instrumental for a successful transition. 

To protect the transition it is important to establish a well thought out communication campaign and ongoing process. Both, for communicating your vision and the final destination you have in mind, and for listening and taking into account concerns, of which there will be many.

2) The second function is to break down and re create.

Once the cocoon is in place, the caterpillar’s cells break down into a liquid. The cells know how to reorganize themselves because their instructions are in their DNA.

Similarly, your organization has to reorganize under a vision that follows a new set of values, a new set of beliefs, and a new set of behaviors. A process is needed to acknowledge the current state of the organization and the new place the organization needs to be in.

3) Finally, the last function is to create new structures. This is the new structure being born, the butterfly forming inside the cocoon if you will. 

A simple way to think of structures is as formal and informal rituals people follow, and where they follow them.  

Structures are the means by which the new behaviors and beliefs are reinforced on an ongoing basis. Without changing structures, everything will remain the same and remain only in good intentions.

Organizational changes can be overwhelming and are often very difficult to do so without outside support of a consultant.

We recently returned from celebrating our nephew’s fifteenth birthday. It was a simple affair, because he wanted simple. We ate chicken sandwiches and sang happy birthday over homemade peanut butter and chocolate brownies with chocolate-churro ice cream. We had a wonderful time, and my nephew was very appreciative of our celebration.
 
Every year in this country, most of us attend a few birthday celebrations, think of gifts and cards, and bring a present. Some birthdays have more weight however, because they represent a transition, a bridge into a new era of life. Such is the case with celebrating a fifteenth birthday. Or for some, a fourteenth birthday, or sixteenth. It marks the beginning of the road into adulthood, a complicated road, with many twists and turns.

When we face making transitions we know are more complicated we can get stuck, and risk never making it to adulthood. We feel afraid of walking into the unknown, unprepared. We have an idea of how we will be different at the other end of this road, but we don’t really know or understand the road itself. It is impossible for us to do so because we will ourselves be transformed by our walk.

I call this the caterpillar effect. We chew away at our old leaves and complain of how thing are, instead of entering the chrysalis. This is the stage when the caterpillar wraps itself into a cocoon, all of the cells becoming a soup, a liquid, before reorganizing themselves into a butterfly. 

When I work with business owners I notice those most successful at taking the turn trust their values and destination. They know not to wait until they are ready and prepared by knowing every detail of the road, because they know they will never be ready. Instead, they build a “cocoon”, the structure to hold and protect the changes they will be making.
If you are facing a time of transition in your business call me to clarify your priorities, and find out how to build your cocoon to move forward.
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You can reach me at 831-359-2241 or send me an email atarmando@armandoalcaraz.com ​

When I was younger, I thought I just wanted to work in a stable environment where I could just do what I was asked of and get paid. After years of being an office mole, I realized parts of me were getting repressed as I started to lose myself in work.   After some time I started dreaming of meaningful work where I could express who I truly was. I was heavily influenced by what I thought was a way of life that offered security.

Our current educational system is mostly geared at compliance, under the belief that society needs another clog in the mindless machine to keep it going.  Do as you are told and you will get a high grade, get hired, or get a promotion.  The "do as you are told" mentality has taken over our psyches, and it is easy and comfortable to adopt an attitude of "I don't want to make decisions, just tell me what you want, all I want is my paycheck".  
To be part of a living organization, we need to be alive and awake to who we are, because a living organization asks us to bring our whole selves to the table.  We need to be willing and able to reflect on our personal and organization's higher values, and to listen to our inner intuition and direction of how we can add value to the organization's purpose.  We need to be aware of our feelings, and have skills that enable us to communicate in a connected way with our fellow workers.  

These skills can bring aliveness to organizations even when they are not structured to be value driven, living organizations.  Also, nobody needs higher education to bring their whole selves.  Anyone can develop humility, reflection, and the necessary "soft" skills. Mostly people need guidance and someone who can see the best in them.  Sometimes an awakened circle of friends or coworkers can do just that, and at other times they might need a teacher, or a coach to help them break through old habits.

Feel free to call me and reach out if you want to find ways to bring aliveness into your organization. 

In this Olympic season we are inspired by high performing athletes competing in Rio.  All of the olympic athletes train and prepare themselves to win.  However, we will admire those who look to win by giving the best of themselves over those who want to win at all costs.  If we thought that winning was the one and only measure of success, athletes who have engaged in cheating would be much better received by the public.  Also, if the only goal is to win, 99% of the athletes would have no business competing.   To put it in another way, winning is not the end result, but rather a showing of the athletes efforts and a benchmark to develop themselves further.
Business is no different.  Profit making cannot be thought of as the only goal. Being financially sustainable is a necessity but not the end goal, much as breathing is a necessity of life, but not the meaning of life. Those in business who want their business to reflect more than profit making will tend to come up with mission statements and clarify their values as a business.
Creating a list of values and a mission statement became something of a fad for companies over the last couple of decades.  However, the effort has mostly served as publicity.  Most employees, or even executives, have no idea of the values or mission statement under which their company is based, and often create a culture that expresses the opposite values they claim to stand for.
How can you have a principle/value based company?  How can you create a mission statement that is not destined to become a slogan to hang in the cafeteria or to mention only in the stock holders reports?
The most important factor in creating a value based organization lies in your motivation.  If you truly believe in having a values based company it can’t be because you think doing so will make you and your company more profitable (even though that can certainly be a side benefit). Rather, it is because you understand human values as intrinsic motivators.  The pursuit and aspiration of peace, integrity, wellness, or joy is life-giving in of in itself.  When the members of your organization are consistent in their efforts to align their actions to their values, and are expected and rewarded to do so, their full potential will be unleashed. Success is not guaranteed in this world, but a strong and ethical organization can develop many markings of success.
Do you have a mission statement and shared values?  More importantly, are they the compass that determine every decision, big and small, in your organization?  Or are your decisions based solely on profits and the bottom line?   What are you communicating through your actions?
I will be writing a series of posts and videos on value based organizations.  I hope you can join me and share some of your comments.