Bob appeared way too young to be a sought-after consultant for the military.  On the surface he did not have much going for him.  He was only 29 years old, didn't have much experience, and had never spent a day in the military.  And he was surrounded by other consultants who were older, more seasoned, with desired engineering knowledge, and with a military background. 

     Yet, soon battle-tested colonels from the Marines sought out his advice and called for him to be on their procurement teams. Why? Because he kept the team of contractors, suppliers, and military personnel effectively coordinating their combined activities to produce needed additional protective armament for American troops in harm's way.   Before Bob became engaged in the process, the situation was a mess - and desperately needed armament was arriving to troops at a snail's pace.
 
Left Brain Knowledge is Never Enough

      Bob knew something the others did not.  Our culture, our educational system, and our notions of success lock us into a left brain, knowledge based, way of understanding and operating in our world.  We end up knowing a lot of facts and can push information as a currency of success.  In Bob's case, and in a vast number of situations, it is irrelevant to inventing and coordinating effective action among groups of people.  His clients knew a lot of "stuff" -- what they didn't know was how to coordinate action among groups of people.

     What was missing in the above example was the capacity to invent, to think out of the box of their comfort zone, to generate trust, and to build effective relationships.  These are all right brain attributes -  relational based skills, not knowledge based infomation.  And because they were not developed as skill sets, people knew the facts - but they stayed locked in the comfort zone of their perspective which limited the group's capacity to coordinate action effectively among the varous parts of the supply chain.  The cost was vulnerable troops.

         For instance - how many of you know people with great knowledge and who are very smart, but who work for someone else who has less cognitive IQ, but far more emotional IQ?  It happens all the time.  Emotional IQ, or a right brain orientation, allows a person to understand another's motives, build cohesion, and act in concert with those motives.  It also allows a person to know, understand, and change the person they are.  Vision, inspiration, creativity, and intuition come from developing this part of the self - not by developing more knowledge.  

          And you cannot read a book (dump in more information) to develop this part of the self.  That's not the way it works.  Knowledge is helpful, but you have to move beyond rational knowledge to develop the potential of who you could be.  In fact, you have to learn to calm the body and still the mind to gain access to the potential to which your brain and your mind have blinded you.

          Take, for instance, leadership - something in short supply in today's egocentric world.  You can read any number of books about leadership and learn the information about leaders.  We hear the following: leaders have vision, leaders inspire, leaders gain the respect of people, and leaders build effective teams to accomplish goals.  Those are attributes of a leader.  Before you know it, people are talking the talk of leadership - but are still blind to the capacity to internally reorganize themselves into becoming an effective leader.  This is a right brain undertaking.  And unfortunately, we are not taught the skills of awakening this part of our heroic nature.  Instead, as a culture, we have been taught to regurgitate facts starting in school.
 
Why is Re-inventing Your Potential So Important?

      Look around you.  The uncertain times we live in now have forced our hand.  Have you noticed that not only have blue collar jobs gone off-shore, but now cherished left-brain "safe" jobs such as law, accounting, and engineering are also migrating off-shore.  If your road to success is based on left-brain, knowledge-based careers (no matter how successful this was in the past), you are vulnerable.  
         But what happens if you integrate your left-brain education with developing the skills of right-brain thinking?  You learn to create a different, more vibrant, world in which to live! 
 
Finding Your Heroic Nature
 

      Bob, the young consultant, did exactly this.  He learned to observe that there were much more powerful parts of himself than he had imagined.  And he began living from these aspects of himself rather than hiding from his self doubt or in the false security of left brain knowledge.  As he developed this emerging part of himself, others noticed the confidence and the quiet sense of authority that radiated from him - not just his knowledge.  And, it is not just in him...this power is within each of us.  Bob chose to learn how to live from this empowered part of himself, rather than in a diminished possibility of who he could be.  He quit chasing left brain knowledge as the way to success.  Instead, he engaged his powerful creativity, his capacity to make connections with people, and the ability to inspire people to reach for something greater.

        In the coming months, we will be examining what Bob discovered that transformed his life.  The next issue will be about the inner connection between body, mind, and Spirit.  I hope you come along for this voyage of discovery.
 
Onward and Upward
Rande Howell 

Do You Want to Know More?

     Do you want to learn how to move beyond the confines of your comfort zone and explore how to develop your potential?  There is so much more possible for your life than you see.  Imagine yourself breaking free and a whole new space of possibilities opening up for your life.  Now explore how you can bring that new possibility of yourself into your life.  Learn how to re-organize yourself by attending this free webinar.

     You are invited to attend a free Ignite Your Spark Webinar that reveals the skills and tools that empower you to create and live a life of purpose, meaning, and joy.  In it you will also learn how to re-tool yourself for success in this new emerging world in which we now live.