Tuesday, again. Time to take stock.

I thought I would be writing daily. Or, maybe every other day or so. It seems to be working out in favor of the "or so" schedule. And here it is Tuesday again and I'm writing again.

I have been wrapping up several coaching assignments this past week. This has added to the feeling of reflection that I usually get into this time of year. With the year end approaching and the winter solstice tomorrow, it seems like a very appropriate time to look at results and play with ideas about the future.

Tomorrow will be the "shortest" day of the year and gives those of us in the northern half of the world an opportunity to ponder in the darkness. For me this is a good time to take score. Life, like it or not, is a game where scores are taken. This doesn't have to mean that the scores are monetary, though that can be part of the game.

I like to take score on a variety of levels. Health is important to me and so are relationships. For health I will look at my condition. Any new complaints? Ailments? Am I getting the sort of exercise that I enjoy? Is it helping my fitness and weight? How are my relationships? Strong or only so-so? Any new friends? Am I putting myself out there? (I tend to be a little shy.)

There are other factors to consider: happiness levels, wealth, and life/work balance to name only a few. What ever is important to you is a topic for review. Look back and see how you are doing; meeting goals or not, needing advise or support, time to start anew, whatever you find as your result. Then, look forward. Envision what you want of this topic or factor in your life. Picture it. Fill in the blanks. Flesh it out. Color in the details. Write about the results you want. Listen to it's needs. Touch it. Use all you senses to bring what you desire into your awareness. Use this focus as an anchor for your wishes. Record this in a way that allows you to go back to it on a regular basis. Renew your commitment regularly as you take stock during the coming year.

Not-So Random is now Not-So Often

I've been busy.

And I imagine you have also. So that lets us both off the hook.

I'm not writing and you're not reading.

So, what have we been doing with all this time? In my case I have been looking at what to work on next. I read the Opinion in MIT Sloan Management Review (Fall 2005) by John Humphreys. In Developing the Big Picture he offered that strategic thinking is not being learned or taught in corporations these days. He calls for "Organizational leaders [to] step in and fill the void by recognizing and rewarding big-picture thinking... [and] focusing on transferring their own conceptual thinking skill to their peers and to the next managerial generation." I agree.

I also am not sure there are leaders ready and able to do this. Strategic thinking is not difficult to do, however it needs to be learned and then practiced. My experience is that most corporations segregate this function into a specialty and do not reward strategic efforts that do not come from this department. So unless you are in this department you will not have anyone mentoring you in strategic thinking.

I would like to change this. I will be developing some materials on this. At least a paper/article and a teleclass. More to follow.