Trina Hoefling Untethered

We have another book on the professional sports steroid / drugging saga.The big book distributors are buying in low volumes, according to NPR, because they believe we, the reading public, have steroid fatigue. We haven’t solved the problem; we just are getting used to its being a part of athleticism.

We cannot turn on a newscast or day time talk show without having to listen to Blagojevitch proclaim his innocence and victimization, droning on and on.

Citigroup seems to have no shame.

The Bush Administration continues to believe that, despite finally acknowledging mistakes were made, they truly were doing the right thing.

My fellow consultants continue to moan that they are less able to charge exorbitant fees for their expertise. While not questioning our contribution and competence, and while I have over a quarter century experience learning that independent consultants must charge significantly more to accommodate the additional personal and business expenses, I do believe that some consulting firms have joined the ranks of some highly paid executives who have lost sight of the financial divide between the lowest paid and highest paid contributors in the organization.

Does anyone see a pattern here?

It is easier to believe proclamations of no wrong doing when the accused truly believes no rules, ethics, morals, or laws were violated.  Culturally, the very air we breathe may be so toxic that we are lost in the rules of the game to the point that we truly are doing what we must to retain the “right” to offer our competence.

Mark Maguire and Barry Bonds are exceptional athletes. If no steroid abuse were happening in baseball at all, they would still be exceptional athletes. Just perhaps with lesser stats. If the virtual physical enhancement playing field were equal, they would still excel. If they took the “high road” and refused to use any asset available to them while others did, perhaps they would have simply blended into the pack.

What’s a star athlete to do?

I grew up in Illinois, and have watched Illinois and Chicago politics my whole life. Blagojevich is a travesty, whether he is blinded to his own culpability or not. What may be the bigger travesty, though, is that he was just arrogant or narcissistic enough to think he didn’t need to cover his tracks. Was he operating at a level worse than most in his practices, or does he simply have a potty mouth and a temper and bad judgment? We ALL know political corruption is rampant. What is the old saying that Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely? Isn’t that why our Founding Fathers built a constitution of checks and balances? (Which is a story for another day….)

Yet here we are. A governor waging a PR campaign second to none, likely convinced he was only practicing politics as usual. And perhaps he was. If he is the poster child for change, I’m all for it. I’m ready for clean air.

The money people have been greedy and corrupt at many levels, but I venture that many top earners are simply riding the wave of their peers. One must make a certain amount of money and bandy a certain amount of power and money around to be considered “successful” in today’s marketplace. Some just plain want all they can grab. Many are simply playing by the current rules. Some have been probably quite unaware of how out of whack it all really is.

If ambitious professionals want to rise above the masses, they must compete against prevailing norms. Our society’s prevailing norms are toxic, and create choices for many – politicians, athletes, executives , consultants – that verge on the line of narcisisstic lack of other-awareness, and many fall on the common practices side of that line. It’s easy to become unconscious sheep, following blindly what is normal and losing sight of what is right.

Common practices suggest that you have to woo and win and barter and trade and wield money and status sometimes in order to rise in your respective profession. You have to garner and horde power wherever you can so you have the ammunition you need.

Frankly, I want clean societal air. Much is falling around us – beliefs, hopes, dreams, salaries, jobs, housing prices. Believe me, I’m affected directly. I would rather be without a house than steal from someone in the name of “This is the way it’s done around here.” I would rather lose my status in the community than  take a job where I know I can’t have a positive impact. It just doesn’t feel right to me. And besides, while I like cash flow and nice things, I’m not driven by them.

I, despite watching my retirement disintegrate around me, breathe the air and make choices. I choose clean air as much as I can find. And yes, I am willing to sacrifice to do that.

Aren’t you?
Shouldn’t our financial institutions? Our professional athletes? Our financial and industry top executives?

And shouldn’t we – as the people of this great society – call them out and support the ones who choose to rid themselves of toxicity they may not have been aware they were breathing in?

We cannot participate in strategic thinking and America’s renewal if we are breathing unconsciously.

We have many choices in front of us. The first is to open our eyes, breathe clean air, expect exceptional humanity from the best of the best, and stop worshiping superstars that cannot sustain super human elitism without great cost to their bodies, all our ethical consciousness, and us.

A competency whose time has not only come, but with an imperative unprecedented. Not only do teams need to collaborate, so do entire industries – sectors – nations, not to mention small businesses.

As a teacher, practitioner, and facilitator of collaboration, I vibrate with excitement while shivering in worry.

We can do this. We are smart when we bother to be. The Cabinet being created and huddling in Chicago, preparing to break into fast action in DC is being compared to Lincoln’s Team of Rivals (a brilliant read by historian Doris Kearns) while hands wring or clap that the team has a ring of retro 90’s Clinton days. That’s not my worry, and here’s why….

First, whether it’s for the US Cabinet or hiring the best branding team, if you want the best and brightest, you find them. If you’re seeking smart experience with aligned commitment to the objective, you find them and hire them. If it provokes the media and pundits, reassure them by reminding them of what you know…. that you are setting not only the agenda, but the tone of the team dynamic. That people can rise above their own agenda for the greater good, and be better people with a wiser agenda in the end as well. In other words, people can collaborate better than they ever have, and for reasons bigger than WIIFM.

So now you have smart, experienced, committed, competent people embarking on a path that has never been travelled. You are forging a path together, smart and, I hope, humble enough to know that there is no time or room for isolationist action, polarizing politics, ego grabs, or stubborn insistence on holding on to one opinion when many are being offered for consideration. This is an invitation for not only critical advisers to the President, but for all of us in our own work and challenges and lives.

We are being invited into a higher order of caring and commitment and responsibility to be part of the solution, not the problem. We are being asked to stop standing by and waiting for someone else to do something for us.

I know – from over a quarter century of professional work facilitating collaboration and from twice that of living my life – that the end result of authentic joining together to think and act is infinitely greater than the sum of its parts. I have success story after success story, and a few disappointments and abject failures ready to give testimony to the Power of Collaboration.

We can do this. The Administration can do this. The Nation can do this. Possibly, if we really commit to this, we can beat all forecasts and odds and, even successful examples from history. Miracles happen every day when minds join, wisdom speaks, and hearts align. Actions follow.

Extreme opinions do not need to derail this overriding commitment to building a pathway back to the United States as global leader and prosperous nation. America is burying labels that don’t allow for crossing borders. We must collaborate across the distance of difference, beliefs, habits, perspectives.

So I don’t worry about too many Clinton administrators or the size of the challenge before us. My life exudes the power of collaboration even while I am severely impacted by the current global financial crisis.

Rather, I worry that fear will short circuit patience, and that strong opinion unexamined will hide the best integral solutions. I ask that I, you, and American leaders actively explore together the best routes to build our future together the fastest without disregarding risk, most innovative after reasonable examination, and as fairly as possible.

HIRING: A team of rivals committed to lead with a visionary executive fully committed to the United States being a healthy and contributing global citizen. Lots of room for strength and power and savvy and brilliance and advocacy. Much need for inquiry and What If’s and wisdom unfolding integral and synergistic solutions.

In other words, dialogue and collaboration that is so important it cannot fail.

Are you ready to be a full collaborator – beyond your labor-management views? your socio-economic perspective? Your “job status”? your comfort zone? Your zebras-are-better-than walruses bias?

Am I? Yup!!! I’m all in….