Douglas Ross reports on the genesis of the first ever ‘Hope is Possible’ program for women facing special challenges in a world driven by greed, bureaucracy, fear and political and business leaders that destroy trust through severe lapses in ethical and moral judgment.

Douglas Ross explains why he threw away his seven-step, sure-fire, principle-based problem solving methodology in favor of watching his son learning to stand up; and why we all have everything we need right in front of us to solve the problems we face.

“Hurry, Scurry, Worry, Work” — President Truman’s words during the MacArthur crisis — pretty much continues to sum up many people’s experience of life and work. Doug Ross argues that it doesn’t have to be that way. Each one of us needs to find our own way to the Holy Grail that is integrity and wholeness. Like King Arthur’s knights, we need to enter the forest, each in our own way at our own time, to take up the search for the ultimate answer to “what’s in it for me?”

In 1837, Danish author, Hans Christian Andersen, wrote a wonderful fairy tale called “The Emperor’s New Clothes”. It’s the story of a leader who was so enamored with the idea of looking good to his subjects that he had a different suit for every hour of the day. Some modern day corporations have inadvertently created leaders with the same persuasion of the ruler in the fairy tale.

People, especially in relationships and in jobs, recreate the same old story, over and over again. They are held in the vice-like grip of old patterns of behavior and broken dreams. Only when we realize that to change our world we have to change ourselves will something different occur. Once you face that reality, you can change the way you react and begin a new adventure of learning from mistakes and building on successes.

A ‘lily dipper’ in a multi-person canoe is someone who looks from the outside like they are paddling like everyone else, though they’re just going through the motions of real work. It’s important that each paddler carry their own weight by digging into the water long and hard; otherwise, someone else on the team has to carry it for them. In this story of paddling through the Canadian wilderness, the writer discovers how lily dippers can become a high performance team.

Whack-a-mole management is the common game of ‘whacking’ business problems as fast as they pop their heads up, using a ‘mallet’ made up of whatever suggests itself as the simplest, easiest and shortest-term action. Yet because it’s more concerned with looking good than with being good, and ignores systemic factors, whack-a-mole management always ends by making things worse. You do not have to manage that way.

This guest posting is by Douglas Ross, who describes himself as a displaced Canadian now living in Georgia, awaiting his green card. You can read more of his ideas at www.resultsthroughintegrity.com
Over 1800 years ago, Marcus Aurelius said “If it is not right, do not do it. If it is not true, do not say [...]