View from The Lighthouse is the biquarterly electronic newsletter of CoastWise Consulting.
 

At first glance, you may think that this issue of View from The Lighthouse is about skiing.  But it's not.  What it's about is what can be learned from seemingly unrelated activities (like skiing) that can then be applied to other parts of our lives. This past winter, after 40 plus years, I finally had a "breakthrough on skis."  When I thought about what contributed to this, I was reminded that because we all have basic patterns that inform how we approach our work and otherwise live our lives, much can be learned by paying attention and learning from situations and settings that are less familiar to us.  In this vein, I write about those interrelated variables that I believe enabled this breakthrough (and may contribute to yours as well), because there are important business and life analogues to this experience, and skiing's just the metahpor.

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To create a competitive advantage for our clients by leveraging the

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The Fielding Graduate Institute Summer Session
July 26, 2002   Alexandria, VA
(with Pat Wiklund)
"Build Your Practice with More New Clients and More Work with Existing Clients"
www.fielding.edu

The Socio-Technical Systems Roundtable
New Orleans, Oct. 7-9, 2002
(with Craig McGee, Peter Jay Sorensen, & Doug Moynihan)
"Supply Chains and Sustainable Development"
http://www.sonoma.edu/programs/od/sts2001/

The other day, I finally got around to putting away my ski equipment.  I had a really great season this year, and while I was cleaning the spring mud off my boots, I started thinking about why it was so much fun.  What had happened that I finally became the skier I've aspired to be for 40 plus years.  And why, I wondered, had this happened after all these years?  I identified five variables that contributed.

Persistence:  Despite the fact that I was getting older and have a knee with no cartilage, I never gave up the dream—or vision—that I could be a graceful skier who could make turns when and where I wanted to without fear of disaster.  Rather than having to carefully and painstakingly pick the turning spot to avoid certain conditions (like ice), obstacles (like rocks or moguls the size of Volkswagens), or terrain (like the edge of the trail), I long wanted to have the confidence and trust that my body would easily and spontaneously react and know what to do and how to do it—that I would be unconsciously competent on skis.  Isn't this, metaphorically, an experience we all seek?

Technology:  If you are a skier then you know that technology, in the form of shaped skis, has transformed the sport.  The most subtle shifts in weighting, angulation, and edging create the set of conditions that enable the skis to do exactly what they're designed to do—turn!  Done well, the experience is exhilarating and magical.  Even when done not-so-well, it's still pretty amazing, because the potential for turning is built into the skis, so they're very forgiving of stylistic errors—most of the time.  Even so, all new (and new-to-us) technologies require some period of adjustment or adaptation that we should anticipate and for which we should plan.  In the case of new skis, I had to plan a trip that was mainly for demo-ing several pairs of skis that I had researched ahead of time.  I skied with an instructor, because I knew that there was a learning curve for shaped skis.  I had to be willing—and this may be the most important part—to give up my old, straight skis and the way of skiing them that I had gotten pretty good at.  In the case of computers…well, I still miss my Mac!

Conditions: However, the environment, context, and other external factors also mattered.  At the end of the season, I bought new boots and used them for the first time on a mountain I’d never skied before, during a heavy, spring snowstorm that resulted in limited visibility and big piles of loose, wet snow that were difficult to ski through or around.  The boots turned out to be too big, so I couldn't steer the skis, and heavy snow is hard on bad knees.  Even if you've never skied, you can see that this was an accident in the making.  Where I was graceful just a couple of weeks before, I now felt awkward.  Again.  So making a clear and realistic assessment of the external conditions that affect your goal—short- and long-term—and your immediate efforts in pursuit of the goal is essential.  Achieving a goal or outcome is iterative and subject to assorted variables.  Be willing and able to notice and adjust.  As much as I wanted it to be different on that last day of skiing, I stopped.

Instruction:  When I first started skiing, it didn't occur to me to take lessons.  By the time it did, I had a lot of bad habits to unlearn, some of which still surface under difficult conditions.  Several years ago, a friend and I participated in a ski clinic for women and had the good fortune to ski with an instructor who has contributed in major ways to my skiing transformation.  We skied with her several more times, then lost track of her.  So we did some research, found her, and last winter planned a trip to that place so we could ski with her again.  She's that good.  The point here??  We can't be self-taught specialists in all things, especially the important ones.  All of us know people who would rather struggle, wish, and hope than ask for help.  If it matters, is affecting your life or your performance, and/or is something you've long struggled with or hoped for (you know what these things are)—go find someone to learn from, and stick with them as long as they still have something to teach you and/or until you've learned what you wanted or needed to.  Life is short.

Letting go:  This comes in many forms.  In the case of skiing, it meant realizing that this was something that was meant to be fun, not work—vision notwithstanding—and enjoying it, even when I didn't ski as well as I'd have liked.   So one way of letting go is to stop trying so hard.  This is tricky, because it's about learning how to not get in your own way or otherwise make yourself crazy without also giving up the dream or vision of what or how things can be better or different.  It means doing those activities that will move you toward that new state or outcome while also knowing when to stop or change strategies.  Sometimes it means that for a particular goal or activity, close enough is good enough.  And it means acknowledging that there are forces at work in the world that are outside your direct control—and letting them work for you.

Peter Block's newest book, The Answer to How Is Yes, is to individuals what his previous book, Stewardship, is to organizations, and what The Empowered Manager is to managers.  Together, they are a trilogy on the importance of self-determination, personal accountability, and the importance of creating workplaces that are productive and sustainable through equity, partnership, service orientation, and advocacy.

The thesis of this book is summarized on the page before the introduction: "Transformation comes more from pursuing profound questions than seeking practical answers."  Block believes that by our ever-increasing tendency to ask "how" questions we take ourselves further away from living lives of meaning and purpose.  Instead, we should be asking "why," "what," or "yes" questions that will lead us to clarify and act on that which is most important to us.

In the first of four parts, Block focuses on getting the questions right.  There are six culture-driven "how" questions that when asked too soon or too literally constrain the debate, creating premature limitations and boundaries that restrict options for change:

Before asking the "how" questions, we should first be clear about what that which matters, that which offers meaning and hope, that which offers possibilities and freedom.  There are six "what" or "yes" questions—and one bonus question--that he says are replacements for the "how:"

In Part 3 the discussion turns to the workplace.  Because our culture favors instrumentality over idealism, intimacy, and depth, we must think and act in ways that enable and support our being able to take action on our own behalf and on behalf of the systems in which we live and work.  Block examines those assumptions, beliefs, and forces that must be challenged if we are to live with meaning in these places.

Part 4 looks at the larger culture and what Block calls the "dominant archetypes of instrumentality," the engineer and the economist.  He contends that what's missing is a countervailing view or position that represents idealism, intimacy, and depth.  This, he says, is the artist, specifically the architect.  Exploring these four archetypes, he proposes the role and orientation of social architect as that which can synthesize and integrate the three and, in so doing, "design and bring into being organizations that serve both the marketplace and the soul of the people who work within them."

Peter Block has long been one of my favorite people and writers.  At a workshop I attended years ago, he helped me understand the power of sport as metaphor and how to use it in my work, and Flawless Consulting is still the premiere book on the subject.

Block, Peter, www.peterblock.com. (2000). Flawless consulting: A guide to getting your expertise used. (2nd edition). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer.

Tejada-Flores, Lito. (2001). Breakthrough on the new skis: Say goodbye to the intermediate blues. Boulder, CO: Mountain Sports Press.

www.theinnergame.com is the website for Tim Gallwey, author of several Inner Game books, most recently The Inner Game of Work (2001. NY: Random House).

McCluggage, Denise. (1999). The centered skier. Tempest Book Shop.

If you're in the Bay Area and would like to spend the evening with Peter Block,  he is the featured "conversation starter" at an event on 7/12 from 5:15 to 9:00 PM sponsored by Heartland Institute.  To register go to www.thoughtleadergathering.com/billing/register.php?ID=68
www.heartlandinstitute.com
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