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Meanderings from Jean's Desk....
Blog Archive
August 6, 2010: Out Of My Comfort Zone Vacation
July 15, 2010: Let All The Kids Come To The Table: Not Just The Good Ones
July 1, 2010: It Takes A Village!
June 18, 2010: In Memory of Theresa Sykes
June 1, 2010: Shift the Universe
May 17, 2010: This Is The Real News
Apr. 15, 2010: You Spot It, You Got It!
Feb. 15, 2010: Learning vs. Mistakes
Feb. 3, 2010: Honey, This Is Normal!
Jan. 15, 2010: Why Do You Still Do It!
Video
2009 Kenosha Business of the Year:
LMI Packaging Solutions, Inc.
CHAORDIC
Chaordic is one of my favorite words, which, best I know, was coined by Dee Hock in his book Thriving on Chaos.If I may, here is a visual to understand its meaning. Remember making those pictures in grade school where you colored as many colors as were in the Crayon box onto a sheet of art paper until every available blank spot was covered. Then you took the black Crayon and scribbled over the psychedelic mess until you obliterated any trace of color from the sheet. Finally, you were given a hair pin or some other pointed object and told to begin scratching into the now blackened paper. And much to your delight, you began creating a very beautiful, multi colored art piece against a black background, that now had meaning. It felt like magic and suddenly the weirdness of the instructions made sense.
In the definition of Chaordic, the many colors that started the art piece represent ‘chaos’. The black overlay is ‘order’ and the beautiful picture that appears as we scratch through that order is ‘thriving’.
The theory is that chaos and order can and do, live side by side in the world. It is our challenge to control that which we can control so we can be present and fully ready for that which we cannot. By creating an underlying theme of order we are best able to live with chaos. This ability to be with the best of both worlds defines “thriving”.
In business it looks like this. We commit to process all that we have learned from the chaos that comes our way. In so doing we stop spinning our wheels learning the same things over and over again. This new found order frees us up to focus on what the business environment will provide next. My controller recently described risk management, not as the elimination of risk, but as the management of known risk so that the organization is freed up to react quickly and with full attention to the unknown risk that is always waiting around the corner.
As I have said so many times, what I have learned in business has served me well in life.
As the mother of three adult children, the sister of four siblings who I love dearly,‘Ont Jean’ to 15 amazing nieces and nephews, and friend to many; chaordic shows up for me in this way. My health and well being as fine tuned as I can get it is my underlying theme of order. It is one of my top priorities each and every day. The valued relationships I have described above are the chaos. It is a marvelous chaos that enriches my life daily but also requires great energy. If it is not one thing it is another. And thriving is having the energy and love, courage and strength to be there for every one of those relationships however they might show up in any given moment. Whether it is to fully share in their joy, to be leaned upon, to shake someone loose from a blind spot that is consuming them, or to simply provide unconditional love, I must always have full energy for that which is most important in my life.
The underlying theme of order, my health and well being, allows me to be fully present in the wonderful chaos. It allows me to live powerfully in a world that isn’t always easy. And in return, the gifts those relationships give to my life cause me to thrive in so many ways.
Since nothing is guaranteed in life, if someday that underlying theme of order becomes compromised in any way, I know that all I have to do is identify a new underlying theme of order lying out there somewhere in the midst of all the chaos, and in so doing, once again create the ability to thrive in this chaordic life.
Questions, comments for Jean?
If you have a question or comment, you can email Jean.