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Tsunami Scare February 27, 2010

February 27, 2010 by Rosa Say

Today was to be about Rapid Fire Learning ~ and that it was!

Saturday, February 27, 2010 became the ‘host’ of an unexpected event: A Tsunami advisory, then watch, then warning for us in Hawai‘i nei, sent by an 8.8 earthquake about 6,000 miles away in Chile. Here’s a sampling of my play-by-play tweets to remember the day this has been:

5:40am Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami warning, its highest alert, for Hawaii. Follow @hawaiiredcross

6:17am Such a strange thing to hear…“If you are in a coastal area, leave your home assuming you cannot go back.” #hitsunami

7:15am Tsunami waves are not surfing waves or photo opps: Please prepare to leave coastal areas. Don’t put others in danger attempting to save you!

7:20am So many blessings to count, w/just short of 4 more hrs to prepare mālie~ calmly, w/ways science/ technology now help us be aware #hitsunami

7:50am I urge neighbor island tweeters to get necessary info out: Media coverage very O‘ahu centric, understandably per their resources #hitsunami

7:58am “A tsunami isn’t just 1 wave but a series, surging in/ out over several hours.” See inundation zones front pages of your phone bk #hitsunami

8:07am Mahalo friends for tweet-wishes and w/getting info out. Our ‘Ohana in safe place. We’re now preparing our home for others needing shelter

8:33am Think about traffic, go mauka early as you can w/calm: “All roads in coastal inundation zones will begin closing at 10am HI.time” #hitsunami

9:17am 6ft wave in Marquesas lowering forecast, but not enough to put Hawai‘i harbors/coasts out of danger: Continue your preparations. #hitsunami

9:22am Very proud of you Hawai‘i re media coverage I’m hearing: We’re taking this very seriously, but calmly, and w/Aloha, kokua for all #hitsunami

9:36am Hawai‘i keep in mind we’ve been in drought, reservoirs already low. Turn off irrigation systems: conserve water ‘til we know more #hitsunami

9:44am Very impressed by ongoing television coverage all-islands on @KHONnews @KITV4 and @HawaiiNewsNow: Mahalo to all of you! #hitsunami

10:01am Kuleana Kākou: Time to get off the roads, stay home/at high ground; keep roads clear for evacuation buses and emergency personnel #hitsunami

10:13am Big Isle: We’ve less than an hour before 1st surge expected in Hilo: Have your battery-powered radios ready if power interruption #hitsunami

10:16am Oh my, prayers for Chile ‘Ohana! RT: @WSJ New photos of the destruction in Chile after their massive earthquake: http://on.wsj.com/azJ0Rn

11:35am Water definitely receding, unusual surf activity in many areas. Thanks to technology of today we are seeing and learning so much! #hitsunami

11:53am Truly amazing to see our ocean water behave so differently. white water going backwards, reefs exposed. mesmerizing. still gentle #hitsunami

11:57am “This is not an exact science, everybody has to be patient, we’re still in the waiting period.” Ed Teixeira state civil defense #hitsunami

12:04pm Auwe, ocean churn increasing, and 1st wave “not necessarily the biggest.” See live feed here: http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/ #hitsunami

12:07pm Way too many Twitter news updates to RT— wow! The list I have w/news most local to #hitsunami is @rosasay/newsfeeds

12:34pm News: “1st tsunami wave has now reached all Hawaiian islands. Its energy is now swirling all around us. Too early to call off warning tho.”

12:57pm Latest/ quick to hit the net! RT @CBSNews Tsunami official in Hi says “We dodged a bullet” but keeps warning in effect http://bit.ly/bE9WRq

1:03pm Hawai‘i ‘Ohana please keep safe, cautious. Live feeds show our ocean still behaving strangely w/erratic current shifts and surges #hitsunami

1:46pm Now hearing official word: Pacific Tsunami Center lifting #hitsunami warning: We’re in “stand-down” mode. Significant surges, but no damage

1:56pm A very BIG Mahalo to caring Aloha Spirit of Twitter ‘Ohana: I’ve got to believe all those good vibes help in exponential ways #hitsunami

1:59pm Now 56 aftershocks 5.0+ from Chile. Pacific Tsunami concerns not over for Guam, Japan, the Samoas, NZ, others. Keep the Aloha Spirit strong

2:33pm RT @alohajanet: Hawaii residents we were lucky today #hitsunami Donate your canned goods to a local food bank. Need is great in this economy

3:36pm Betcha many afternoon nappers in Hawai‘i after being up all night to prepare for #hitsunami I’m liking that idea too w/last guest now gone.

5:37pm News Update: Tsunami may still be a concern for Russia and Northern Japan. All others in the Pacific now in the clear. (via @HawaiiNewsNow)

Technology has changed so much. The day does give me a sense of wonder about the difference (After Sunday’s Earthquake, October 2006 …no Twitter then, all my reporting after the fact).

As Jennifer Chandler summed up in these three tweets:

my opinion: twitter works because it creates community among people who weren’t community before. we call it different things…

… we call it marketing, pr, govt -but at the end of the day, its still good ol social mechanisms and our own desires driving us together.

when there’s a crisis, we become community for many different reasons and suddenly the boundaries shift… like we saw today…

8:50pm Update: I see Jennifer has published a blog post:
Community emergence in times of crisis #hitsunami

And in the interest of complete reporting, this from Howard Dicus, “Hawaii News Now Resident Explainer:” Apotheosis of the dumbass

Take 5 in 2010 Game-Changing; a February update

February 7, 2010 by Rosa Say

Preface for any who may be new, or occasional readers:

Subscriptions to Talking Story have spiked in the last week since we said Aloha to Joyful Jubilant Learning, and I am thrilled to have you here. THRILLED. I assure you, joyful learning will always be a part of Talking Story (learning is my Hawaiian value of ‘Ike loa); I cannot imagine it being otherwise.

Reading back over this posting, which follows, I also feel I should explain something. There’s a lot of self-indulgent “me” in it, offered up to you as the silent question, “Perhaps you too?”

There are times my posts will “talk story out loud” as a clarity-seeking extension of my own self-talk, and it usually happens on Sundays, a Mālama [stewardship, within caring] day for me. So a truthful caveat that my writing today is normal for me, as the person I am, but not post-normal as the author ofTalking Story, who seeks to deliver more concise writing to you that is not as lengthy, nor with as many posited yet unanswered questions. If you skip this one you will not hurt my feelings, truly. However if you have the time to read it, it might also be the quickest “pleased to meet you,” catch-up, and/or reconnecting you can possibly do with me, for I am committed to giving Talking Story my good stuff, and not the clutter, interesting as it may be, or the sometimes noisy clatter. It’s just that the process of it all needs a writer’s rambling room at times. Sundays suit, are Mālama kind and patient.

A seemingly opposite (but very connected) aside: I also discovered Iain Thomas’s TED talk yesterday, which is a very compelling way to learn about you and not me, and I highly recommend it:

“You and I, We are the Same.” Yet”“we’ve grown up in this digital space, where identity is entirely optional.” —Iain Thomas

You can watch it on my Tumblr, Ho‘ohana Aloha. Click here to see the video (9:28 long).

Glorious weekends, we love thee

It’s Sunday. For many on this particular Sunday, that means the Colts versus the Saints within SuperBowl XLIV with a supporting cast of million-dollar commercial spots. For me, that means thinking and taking stock on a day others in my sports-fanatic household are more than happy to give me that space, especially after I’ve prepped with a great Weekly Review done on Saturday. If the game is good, they’ll have it on tape.

There is no better “taking stock” for me, than following up on something. Then ‘better,’ becomes more meaningful when that following up is with my current Ho‘ohana [my work intention]:
Take 5 in 2010: A Game-Changing Ho‘ohana is what we now turn to updating.

Why game-changing?

No, it’s not more within a SuperBowl metaphor. Game-changing is the first question I answer for myself when the years morph from one into another: Do you want to change your game, whatever it may be, or do you want to tweak the same one, and improve it in some way?

In my case, the 2009 shift into 2010 answer had to do with learning new and different versus more of the same, as a wanting that was tugging at my insides. It was connected to how my learning directly affects my ‘doing’ of most everything (i.e. my productivity: Am I busy, or accomplished? Big difference.)

As the saying goes, “If you keep doing what you’ve always done, you’ll likely get what you’ve always gotten.” Einstein gave this another twist” he defined insanity as doing the same things but expecting different results. Provocative coaching.

Mahalo for being here, and helping

Rands tweeted: “As you write, you need to take your readers with you.”

I think this Sunday is good for that purpose, for much has happened. Besides, as I write, and share things I find and discover, I will take myself with me too, in that “when the student is ready, the teacher appears” kind of way.

Your words can move you if you let them

I have written that adopting mantras can be powerful. In Managing with Aloha, we refer to it as the power of our Language of Intention [MWA Key Concept #5] for the words we speak and act upon are incredibly quick and efficient in effecting shift in workplace culture.

Sometimes I will rediscover this key myself, and on a very personal basis, and by now you’d think I’d no longer be surprised by the way that works, but I am. Keeping my sense of wonder about it all is good, I suppose” yes. We have to know that there are forces at play stronger than we are, fragile and mistake-prone humans that we are (hmmm” more to explore here with the concept of love as a strengthener” will table the thought, for now.)

My Ho‘ohana Sculpting. MWA is inseparable

Back in December, as 2010 drew to a close, I posted Take 5 in 2010: A Game-Changing Ho‘ohana. In brief, updated form, the thoughts, and possible mantras within it, were these:

“My overall strategy for 2010 became clear to me early on: Less will be more.”
“Taking 5 has proved so good for me in the past, and I trust it. Here are the 5 things I now consider the lumps of clay awaiting my own Ho‘ohana sculpting throughout 2010:”

1. Say Leadership Coaching (my business umbrella) will serve Great Managers directly

Learning and stretching is glorious: They grow you. However the truth is that I had allowed too much mission-creep to sway me from my own Ho‘ohana focus. And guess what? In the process of better focus, we can do much for everyone who aspires to self-manage, and self-lead, or manage and lead with their ideas and demonstrative illustrations versus by managing others.

2. M/L Practical: The 30/70 Mission of Managing with Aloha

“M/L Practical” refers to leadership (L) creating energy as our greatest resource, with management (M) channeling that energy in the best possible way. 30/70 is a weekly measurement and action application of the time we devote to each: 30% to leading and 70% to managing. Generally I will write on leading each Tuesday, and on managing each Thursday, with publishing at Say Alaka‘i keeping me on track.

3. Jobs Reinvented and Delivered for Best Livelihood

Not only are business models being reinvented post the “Great Recession;” so is work, job, and career. Do we understand our true relationship with wealth? Our values can help guide us: Values are the Bedrock of Hard Reality.

4. Small and Nimble Self-Managing Teams and Tribes

And small and nimble everything else, it turns out. Self-reliance is speaking up in a louder voice too, a voice we all should welcome, I think. Teams and tribes demand that choices are made. Choices about involvement, about managing, about leading, about good following. There are choices about commitment, the honoring of character, and respect for culture.

5. Critical, Consistent, Clear Communication: “Communication is huge and we need a focus.”

Increasingly true, each and every day. It presses on me, hard and insistent. It battles within me constantly: Communicate, yet quietly reflect first. Communicate with clarity, yet be open to ambiguity and variance. Communicate, yet debrief in private, and self-edit.

Each point has gotten sharpened or strengthened, has spoken up louder, or has intensified somehow. These past few weeks have been affirming and amazing.

For today, and to wrap this up in some way, these are two milestones” movable rocks I am painting with emotional images (like those torches the final 3 burn on Survivor!)” polished stones I will hold in my hand to feel their presence, solidity and strength”

Of Significance: 1. Learning is a never-ending Project

But even learning needs boundaries.

7 short days ago, I declared “game over” for Joyful Jubilant Learning: Learning Healthy and Joyful Endings. I surprised many with my decision; I surprised myself. There were others who completely understood, or who were not surprised at all, or who had wondered why it took me as long as it did to arrive at my place of ending. Not-so-oddly when you think about it, these others were some of the ones closest to the project.

Today, a mere week later, I can best think of Joyful Jubilant Learning as a project of stellar proportions, and not a blog I ended. “Project” does not minimize it in any way, believe me. I love, and thrive in Wow Projects. JJL was stellar in that it challenged me, and others, to open up our learning in Palena ‘ole capacity-stretching. Palena ‘ole is MWA Key Concept #9:

9. Palena ‘ole (Unlimited Capacity):

This is your exponential growth stage, and about seeing your bigger and better leadership dreams come to fruition. Think “Legacy.” Create abundance by honoring capacity; physical, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual. Seek inclusive, full engagement and optimal productivity, and scarcity will be banished.

Learning is a never-ending project for all human beings who want to grow, believing in their own unlimited capacity. Yet we do have to manage our Learning within focus-sharpening boundaries with reasonable edges at times, making it a “short and deep” project of significance with a defined beginning and decision-bearing end. Otherwise, it can take over everything else.

For some, learning at JJL meant community. For others, learning with JJL meant “learning apart together.” Thank you so very much Lodewijk for that clarity. To you who chose that route, silently yet resolutely sticking with us in spirit whenever we vocal JJLers nagged you to be more visibly involved, I admire you, and better appreciate you now, if indeed you stuck with your learning.

Stellar Wow Projects give back in many ways, and , as raw as it still feels for some of us, I am very confident that JJL will continue to give.

Of Significance: 2. Communication benefits greatly from Sense of Place

I think this one also connects to “Less is more” and “Small and nimble.” I am still craving more FOCUS and as a publisher, I am fully aware how much every part of my life marches to the rhythm of how and what I am communicating in any point in time in different team circles.

And oh, what a vicious circle this can be…

Accomplishing is a smaller chunk than all of doing.
Can we do less, yet accomplish more?

Doing is a smaller chunk than all of communicating.
Can we communicate less, but get more done?

Communicating is a smaller chunk than all of thinking.
Can we think less, yet communicate more?

Thinking is a smaller chunk than all of learning.
Can we learn less, yet think more about our learning?

While critical, learning is smaller than the largeness of living.
And in our living, place can mean almost everything.

Another thing that JJL taught me so well, painfully so at times, was that communities and teams are defined by place too, not just people.

To help me focus on my game-changing in 2010, I need to recommit to Sense of Place [MWA Key Concept #8] in some tangible ways which are connected to how and where I communicate. So these are my decisions going forward, with where, for some very practical and tactical reasons, I will communicate from.

You will see more detail evolve as it happens; all need some transition time and may not start immediately, but soon. All are already in process. As usual, I start with Ho‘ohana intentions in the form of another Take 5: My manageable, small chunk of choice.

One place as “true blog” and that is here, at Talking Story, my mothership. I have changes planned for all the other domain names I own and publish under the Ho‘ohana Publishing umbrella; stay tuned.
One place as “Hawai‘i citizen publisher” and “my local” and that will be at Say “Alaka‘i.”
One place in “conversational web-based social media” and that will be on Twitter, and simplified in one account @rosasay. I make no apology for other places I share or broadcast online and choose not to converse; it is intentional.
One place from which I will draw subject matter for any additional writing I do as a guest author, and one place from which all business models, coaching, writing, speaking presentations, teaching workshops, and new projects will flow in 2010. It is the one place from which all value-alignment will root, and remain fertile, and that is Managing with Aloha.
A place I will still say “no” to throughout 2010, despite the more popular web marketing “wisdom” we are bombarded with: I will not be doing any email newsletters over and above, or different from the ways you can now get my publishing alerts directly into your inbox: Via Feedburner subscriptions to either this blog, Talking Story (click here), or if you want even more, my Tumblr, Ho‘ohana Aloha (click here).

Clarity is such a beautiful thing! It is kind. It can soothe and heal.

Where do you stand with your Ho‘ohana, this 6th Sunday into 2010? Mālama yourself. It feels really, really wonderful.

Photo Credits: Posse of painted stones by Isot pihvit pizzat on Flickr

The Manager #FridayFlash Fiction

September 4, 2009 by Rosa Say

The Manager

How had she missed them?

Ally could barely hide her surprise when Stacey and Diana joined the Huddle circle, both with those telltale coffee cups in hand. Warming for them perhaps, but seeing those unmistakable paper cups gave Ally an instant chill up her spine, and she stiffened. She quickly smiled, probably too broadly, mustering whatever nonchalance she could, and said, “Morning ladies, coffee good today?”

She’d watched for them just a half-hour earlier, as she often did. Way too often. Reconnaissance normally didn’t take her this long.

The two girls always had their heads together chatting and laughing (or rolling their eyes) about something. The corner Starbucks was large, perpetually busy and quite noisy, and Ally got braver with each passing morning, for they never noticed her watching them.

Or had they? They were so self-absorbed, center of their own universe —just like at work. She made sure she arrived before they did, ordered her own coffee, then grabbed a table and sat with the morning newspaper, pretending to read it as she covertly watched for them. However this morning they hadn’t showed, and the line snaked so long Ally was sure they’d do an about face and not bother since they were late.

Were they onto her? Had they gone to another Starbucks to avoid her?

Ally knew the pulse of the office usually flowed straight through the racing palpations Stacey and Diana brought to work with them each day. When they were “on it,” they seemed to magically flip everyone else’s switch; when their energies trickled the power dimmed; lights could go out for the others too. What Ally was trying to figure out was if she should use them or lose them; energy can come from different sources, and she only wanted the reliable ones. Just how much would these two girls matter?

They both did a damned good job, no doubt about it. That is, they did a good job yesterday, and would likely do so today. But would they still do so tomorrow, and the day after that, when Ally finally told everyone about the changes to come? Could they up their game? More importantly, what shots would they take if and when they tried to?

Stacey smiled at her, answering for them both. “Mm, real good. We each got an extra shot this morning, just for the heck of it, so we’re ready Ally. You can lay more zooming to the future on us; this rocket ship is ready to shoot for the moon.”

Mitch groaned loudly, “Great, just what I need. You two on more java than normal.” He made no effort to mask the fact that he wasn’t kidding about his distress. Mitch cruised in one gear, and he had no interest in rocket ships.

“Oh Mitch, you love us. You know you do.”

Stacey was ready. Ally could instantly tell this would not be another Huddle where Stacey relinquished the floor to her. Well now, so be it.

Ally smiled again, this time imagining herself the Cheshire Cat for an extra boost in confidence. She glanced at Diana to see if they were of one mind; were she and Stacey both prepared to storm the battlements? However Diana was enjoying watching Mitch grump, saying “Mmm Mmm” as she noisily sipped her coffee, and added, “Moon and stars Mitchell!” For the moment, Ally didn’t interest her. That bothered Ally even more.

Ally suspected, no, she knew, that everyone felt she was blowing company vision way out of proportion: She could feel their impatience, and worse, their thinly disguised boredom ”“ and Huddle was only 15 minutes long! She’d barely given the new vision ten of those minutes the past few days, and the time sped by, seeming to be much less. Nevertheless, she’d vowed to cut her next installment down to just five today and get them to speak up, but there was something she feared more than any objections they could throw at her: Their silence.

Ally felt she’d successfully earned enough management stripes to deal with all manner of pushback from her new staff. A verbal barrage was one she could fence and rally from; she did so with the best of them, and she enjoyed the parry. Silence however, disarmed her. It drove her crazy, and it took all the self-control she had not to scream, “Speak up for Chrissake, I cannot hear what you are thinking!”

She hated that she’d been watching them for this long and still didn’t know where she stood with them. She wanted to be in control, like she usually was. She needed to be in control so she could focus. And there was a lot riding on her focus. If they only knew.

As she’d sat in Starbucks and waited earlier that morning, her impatience growing, Ally caught a story in the business section about the way President Obama would commemorate the 09-09-09 palindrome: He was preparing to address a joint session of Congress to lay out his argument for health care reform. She’d hoped reading would calm her, but it had the opposite effect:

“So as the President huddles with his speechwriter to determine exactly what to say and how to say it, he would do well to recall the example of Winston Churchill. As Oxford philosopher Isaiah Berlin wrote in Mr. Churchill in 1940, ‘The Prime Minister was able to impose his imagination and his will upon his countrymen . . . and lifted them to an abnormal height.’ Furthermore, and here’s the key point, Churchill made the British people feel as if they were part of the action and vital to the cause of victory.”

Did Ally want Stacey and Diana to be part of her action? Were they vital to the cause, necessary in her victory?

She was about to find out. The waiting was over. She’d make sure of it.
Imagination. Will. Ally liked those words. And again, she smiled.

“Okay guys, let’s Huddle.”

Credits:

The newspaper clipping in my story actually came from a good blog post by John Baldoni for HarvardBusiness.org: How Leaders Make Big Issues Personal (and Possible).

2:51 Intermission:

I had chosen this clip for the best visual quality and shorter length, but realize the sound is quite soft: You can click directly to the YouTube page for related clips here (or if you are reading via RSS and don’t see it at all!)

Postscript: About my fiction

Writing fiction is a new exploration for me, prompted by a wonderful new community of writers and tweeters I discovered in my Leading with Twitter project, by following the #FridayFlash hashtag. If you care to follow the rabbit trail this Alice had followed in her @talkingstory Wonderland”

1-First path: Wrote and posted this two-parter to up my game with Twitter: 5 Twitter Tips for Leading and 5 Twitter Tips for Managing. In between them, I posted An idea is a fragile thing: Oh the irony!

2-Winding trail: To lead by example with those two articles, I tried two new Twitter follows knowing they were in the publishing industry: @MariaSchneider and @NathanBransford. By the way, I highly recommend both of the blogs they write: Follow their bio links on Twitter.

3-Refreshment stop: Read this article at Maria’s Editor Unleashed, a guest post by J.M. Strother (@jmstro) explaining, Flash Fiction Gets Social with #fridayflash

4-Rabbit trail? My first attempt was awful, but in the spirit of full disclosure: The Vision. It was much shorter, and you will learn more than Ally did about Stacey and Diana :-)

5-Another playful path: The end of that first post does share more about my thought process on why I would continue to pursue flash fiction. The links I have inserted into the story today are not necessary for the fiction, but are for Talking Story readers who will recall the references to my management and leadership coaching articles.

I may not fit #FridayFlash into every week, much going on right now —and after this one I think it important I be a good community member and fit in more commenting/listening before more writing, but I still love the creative thought aligned in the parallels of my workplace mission and non-fiction writing.

Brings us to today :) Thank you so much for reading! Just made it under that 1,000 word limit, I know.

Now, as Ally might say, “Speak up for Chrissake, I cannot hear what you are thinking!” I mean, the comments are open… not much darkness in my Wonderland!
Trying the Comment Luv plugin here for the first time too: Check it off and it will capture your last blog title, sharing your #FridayFlash as well.

A Say “Alaka‘i” Flashback for #FridayFlash: The Vision

August 28, 2009 by Rosa Say

The Vision

“If she starts on us about Vision in today’s huddle again I swear I’m gonna puke.”

“Yeah, me too. Jeez, what’s the hold-up up there?”

Stacey and Diana tried to be patient as they waited their turn to order in the Starbucks line, but they were cutting it too close to starting time as it was, and they needed another scapegoat to direct their irritation toward. Their manager Ally was a convenient target.

They had office hours, and so the workday always started with a stand-up huddle. Just 15 minutes to dish about the workday to come and get everyone in the mood; to corral their energies and light a fire here or there. Anyone could strike that match, and so huddle was usually something they both looked forward to, each cradling their grande cafÃ© lattes and not hesitating to jump into the conversation without much prompting at all.

But in the last week everyone was quiet, Stacey and Diana included, and Ally did most of the talking. She was using the time to explain about a new corporate Vision Statement handed down from the powers that be, and everyone just wasn’t having it. Ally probably felt their daily huddle was a good time to ease into the corporate-speak, breaking it down bit by bit, and in her single-minded focus with it she missed seeing that everyone else was way less than enthusiastic.

“You know, I hate to admit this, for it makes me sound like a company girl groupie of some kind, but I feel like we’ve been robbed ”“ isn’t huddle supposed to be for all of us? We can’t get a word in edgewise lately.”

“Yeah, Ally doesn’t seem to notice she’s been grandstanding and taking up all the time on this Vision thing. I get that it’s important, but it woulda been much better if she hauled us into one of those 2-hour afternoon meetings and just dispensed with all of it in one fell swoop.”

“That’s funny when you think about it. Imagine us wanting to have another meeting.”

Commiseration can be useful sometimes, for they’d reached the front of the line.

“Yeah, sounds good. Make mine a triple too.”

Vision was requiring an awful lot of caffeine.

For the second cup... by HAMED MASOUMI on Flickr

**A few Talking Story questions to think about:**

And we can talk story about it if you care to.

If you were a character in this short story, who would you be?

If you were Stacey or Diana, would you continue to wait out the Vision creep in huddle, or would you speak up and suggest the meeting?

Why do you suppose they haven’t spoke up if this is bugging them so much?

If you were coaching Ally, what advice would you give her?

How can a Vision handed down from a corporate office be more engaging and attractive to people who have not co-authored it?

Let’s talk story!

About #FridayFlash

I just learned about #FridayFlash late last night while doing my own Leading with Twitter, and these fictional characters popped into my head this morning as I took my daily run.

I was still thinking about my posting yesterday too: The Leadership/Management Partnership Toward Vision, and about all that you, as a manager, may have to do just so you can lay the groundwork for what I suggest within your managing and leading strategies.

Know this: It IS all manageable, and I DO believe you can do it!

When I think of all the Allys, Staceys and Dianas out there who may be struggling in the workplace, my own faulty messing around outside my comfort zone (with writing a short fictional story as my first #FridayFlash attempt) is completely worth it. Believe it or not, I haven’t even had my coffee yet!

If this is your first time to Talking Story in following the Twitter #FridayFlash hashtag WELCOME, and thank you so much for clicking in! A quick look at this page will tell you about the Say “Alaka‘i” connection: I am a non-fiction author who writes on values, managing and leading, for I believe managers matter. Alaka‘i is the Hawaiian value of leadership in my book, Managing with Aloha.

When I read J. M. Strother’s write-up about #FridayFlash I loved the thought of how fiction could help make our efforts to manage better get illustrated in short connective stories managers could relate to, and think more deeply about. Stories have such an amazing way of making academic theory and biz-speak concepts come alive so they are truly relevant. To those of you who are the master of the short story, I look forward to learning more from you, and plan on doing my commenting for the #FridayFlash community over the coming weekend. Until then, mahalo nui loa, thank you so much for your visit here.