FORMER PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP

Posted on August 31, 2024

As the 2024 Presidential election unfolds, a MUST READ for all voting Americans, whether Republican, Independent, or Democrat, is The Trump Indictments: The Historic Charging Documents with Commentary by Melissa Murray and Andrew Weissmann. The introduction certainly nails what we have witnessed, are witnessing and will witness, “His ‘brand’…transgression-an id with no super ego.” (xiii) Simply, the impulsive part of the personality that is driven by pleasure and repulsed by pain, absent the judgmental and morally correct part of personality. Murray and Weissmann offer, “THE UNITIED STATES is venturing into uncharted territory with not one, but four, criminal indictments of a former president for crimes alleged to have been committed before, during, and after his presidency.” (xvi)

As we witness the dark divide becoming wider, deeper, nastier, and darker, contrasting candidates for President is interesting. It appears the critical decision is to vote for the candidate who has a quality profile, i.e., 1) is objective and not self-serving and decides based on what is in the best interests of America; 2) is committed to common good, authenticity, compassion, gratitude, trust, hope, courage, honesty, prudence, and integrity; 3) can best transcend and include others and consciously evolve a sane American culture; and 4) committed to earned power, not position power.

How one chooses to “show-up” in the world can be critiqued by researching, examining, and witnessing talents, skills, and experiences; making observations; and scrutinizing character, personality, mentality, and interests. Let us take-a-look at Former President Donald J. Trump.

Talents, Skills, and Experiences

A narcissistic drama-seeker who covers a fragile ego with a bullying impulse and has taken democracy to the brink. (Maggie Haberman, Confidence Man, 506) Life’s goal has been to gain and maintain position power, at any cost. Witness a track record of business and government failures, investigations and numerous lawsuits and absolute chaotic disasters: most consequential president in history; puppet of Vladimir Putin; foreign policy bullying, badgering, and destroying; abandoned allies; personal business endeavors with several bankruptcies; North Korean nuclear weapons stockpile doubled; pandemic management and leadership was non-existent, dereliction of duty, passed buck off to governors who became blame targets; enlisted foreign interference in elections (Russia and China); several obstruction of justice charges; impeachment proceedings; insurrection; multiple legal cases lost and pending; accepts payoffs for positions; and has numerous Trump party cronies who are lost souls in search of a tribe and chief. No decisions are made based on strategic plans, strategies, goals, and objectives; makes decisions on how he feels at the time; can handle small projects and sign executive orders; not able to lead projects large in scope; selection of judges, deconstruction of government entities, environmental deregulations and deconstruction of institutions may be his legacy; and immigration policy is inhumane. Is a master at using neuroses [The dark side of the psyche: denied, repressed, disowned and projected subconscious aspects of the Self.] to create stories (“fake news”) that strategically move the “lightning rod” from the Trump Party to others in order to trigger the psyche of perceived “enemies” and his base. Others become the personification of the wrongs and inexcusable of the Trump Party: Russian interference, Ukraine, racism, nativism, gloating, tax cuts for the rich, Supreme Court justices, bullying, outrages, fake news, etc., etc.  As Bernie Sanders has eloquently noted, “Nero fiddled while Rome burned. Trump golfs.” Accepting responsibility for anything is not his cup of tea. Blaming others is his ballgame. Just take him Diet Coke, wash his dirty laundry and witness a confusing story narrative, throwing sand in the eyes of the onlooker, claiming that transparently implausible stories were true unless proven otherwise, and denying the obvious truth.

Observations

Former President Donald J. Trump is a genius at networking and using the media to recruit, retain, and fire, at will, addicted surrogates, circles of friends, admirers, celebrity hangers-on, and wannabes who savor and long for safety and security sought by bonding together and identifying with a tribe in order to persevere and protect against outsiders. Allegiance and admiration are given to the chief and clan. Mystical signs, conspiracy, and desires of powerful spirit beings must be followed for the continued safety and well-being of the tribe. Years of behaviors reveal the following:

• Does not understand duty, honor, and country.
• A cheat, a liar, a fraud, a bully, a predator, a con man.
• Racist, incendiary, toxic, casts hate, disruptive, name caller, and divisive, unfit for political office.
• Repeatedly has disparaged the intelligence of service members: Americans who die in war are “losers” and “suckers.”
• Disrespect for the history, traditions, and legacy of Arlington National Cemetery.
• Deny, deny, deny; accuse, accuse, and accuse. The magic formula: D cubed—disease, disaster, division; and he continues to escape responsibility and being held accountable for anything by anybody.
• Tax cuts were a corporate “boondoggle.”
• Vision for country is merely to fix what his administration undermined, agitated, deconstructed, or destroyed during his time in office. Examples: intelligence, FBI, CIA, U.S. Postal Service, voting integrity, Supreme Court, and CDC.
• Stokes fear, celebrity, and brand building; and show-photo opportunity is the foundation for his rhetoric. Is a stand-up comic.
• Staff selection of addicted surrogates has been a disaster and revolving door; and demands loyalty even if unethical, yes sir, no sir, no excuse sir; or you are fired.
• Surrounded by fixers and “yes men;” encourages rivalries and thrives on personal attacks.
• Protected by political party sorted, partisan, power worldview associates of the Federal government institution he and his cronies choose to deconstruct and destroy.
• Conspiracist (example QAnon) and guilty of political cowardice, blaming, passing the buck, and dereliction of duty; shirked constitutionally mandated duty and rewards misconduct.
• Sexist and multiple lawsuits and misconduct behaviors.
• Racist: a person who shows or feels discrimination or prejudice against people of other races, or who believes that a particular race is superior to another.
• Dishonest, arrogant, and narcissist; uses position and financial power for personal gain.
• Creates martyr complex, irrelevance, and distractions; misleads, boasts and is egotistical, promotes blamelessness of self, never wrong, and anxious to criticize.
• People mistakes and poor interpersonal relations skills.
• Lies, denies, blames, and spins; egotistical and self-serving; unqualified for the position.
• Having been President and playing golf reveal the real person: you cannot hide. Read Commander-in-Cheat.

Character, Personality, Mentality, and Interests.

• Low-functioning includes persons who “… do not exhibit polished and polite behaviors as a mask for their manipulations…may lack the education or interpersonal skills to control and deceive. Instead they might use threats, coercion, or intimidation to achieve their desired outcome.” (Source: Dr. Timothy J. Legg, “What Is a High-Functioning Sociopath?”, 5-28-2019, https://www.healthline.com, 1-3.)
• Narcissistic sociopath: one form of antisocial personality disorder and is the result of environmental factors such as a child or teen’s upbringing in a negative household that resulted in physical abuse, emotional abuse, or childhood trauma. (Sources: Mary L. Trump, Too Much and Never Enough, 2020, Simon & Schuster; https://psychcentral.com, Dr. John M. Grohol, “Differences Between a Psychopath vs Sociopath,” 5-20-2020, 1-5; Dr. Tarra Bates-Duford, “Psychopath vs Sociopath: 16 Key Differences,” 9-7-2018, 1-3; https://www.health.com, Rosie McCall, “9 Ways to Spot a Sociopath,” 10-4-2019, 1-7.
• Gangster, corrupt, and behaves as if above the law.
• A stale, nasty breath of death, hate, narcissism, chaos, fear, conspiracy, norm erosion, “dark,” institutional deconstruction, and neo-facism.

Partisan politics is a dangerous duel of limited and partial truths; and binds party sorted folks to fixed, literal or otherwise limiting beliefs and frames of minds. Political party sorted, addicted surrogates make obvious excuses for candidates and excuse the inexcusable with respect to virtue, morality, judgment, intent, behavior, actions, ethics, and laws. W. Edwards Deming remarked, “If a person is not performing as expected, it is probably because they are miscast for the job.” Michael Cohen offers, “No one ever tells Trump the truth about his behavior and beliefs, or the consequences of his conduct and ignorance and arrogance, in business or in his personal life and now in politics. Trump is the boy in the bubble, impervious to the thoughts and feelings or others, entirely and utterly focused on his own desires and ambitions.”

Former President Donald J. Trump is a power-hungry gangster who is unfit to occupy the Office of the President of the United States of America. Examine and deeply reflect on his profile. As a country, we need a President who will lead the country, improve the country, and set the stage for future generations, not one who will continue to deconstruct the many institutions that are the foundation and pillars of the America Americans desire. Read The Trump Indictments: The Historic Charging Documents with Commentary by Melissa Murray and Andrew Weissmann. America needs an individual with healthy ego, the conscious part of personality that mediates between the id and the superego and makes decisions that are in the best interests of the UNITED STATES.

SOS

Posted on August 23, 2024

We live and learn, sometimes, maybe! If the desired result is to change one’s behavior or outlook on the quality of life and living, why does one keep doing the same old stuff, over and over, and over and over, again, absent any positive, long-term result? Here’s a story about two recent experiences.

August 20, 2024

While climbing out of bed this AM noted A-fib…tightness in the throat, upper back, and nape of the neck…and a need for meditation, Heart Mind Entrainment Music, and a chat with dear wife Cindy to sort the wheat from the chaff—chaos—and open a new vision for a niche in today’s world…being grateful for a move to higher ground absent depression…ups and downs OK, depression not OK. Here we are…with Dr. David C. Korten (When Corporations Rule the World) as a self-appointed mentor from a distance and with admiration…help folks move away from sacred money and marketing to family and community. Action plans: finish book, Good Parents! (vision complete, writing in process, target for Berret-Koehler Publishers, www.bkconnection.com); weekly BLOGs on web site www.johnedwindevore.com (1st BLOG 8-18-24); possible video with TED; local presentations as invited and offered; appropriate, invited, Speak Peace (Speak Peace in a World of Conflict, Marshall B. Rosenberg) conversations (observations, feelings, needs, and requests) five days a week at LA Fitness; check out New Economy Working, co-founded by Dr. Korten; practice Speak Peace with Cindy; help transgender granddaughter, Ivy, and grandson, Haley, ASU student; and enjoy life, the new niche, and have fun and play  with the family.

August 19, 2024

While at LA Fitness riding a stair stepper (the steps to nowhere) the intuition offers a taste of reality. The 8-18-24 vision is the SOS I have been doing my entire life…create a new OUTER game plan—distraction—and life and living will be “hunky dory,” as Gma used to say, along with the culture messages, beaucoup book messages, and role models. Simply feels like a temporary reprieve, and the negative mind chatter remains. It is now time to start thinking about the next distraction and fabricate the next game plan. Simply a dream of happiness and joy with a new game plan…vision, current reality assessment, and gap closers. Yes! SOS!

What’s the problem? Lots of nice feeling, sounding, presented outer work absent INNER work to resolve the depression issue. This has been the story of my life: find a new distraction, the latest program…military service, education, corporate America, career, health, wellness, new books, new book ideas…and the list is quite long…50+ years of self-awareness and self-development, each new undertaking missing INNER work. However…

In 2001 started a three-year trek to Naropa University to learn to meditate and study the five Wisdom Traditions. Simply was looking for the connection between the body and the mind because the bowling average had peaked at 208. This opened the door to INNER sentinel work that continues. My most recent experiences have been with energy psychology and a bunch of communication and psychology related books. And intuitive awareness fruit showed up today at LA Fitness when it offered that the sterling 8-20-24 vision was missing simple INNER work to move forward from the depression.

My self-prescription for negative “mind chatter” is as follows. Turn on the heart mind entrainment music with earphones, simply sit (meditate) to quiet the mind, and, when ready, begin watching and listening to the “mind chatter,” the stuff of the conscious mind. As the negative “mind chatter” rambles, move directly to heart, mind, brain, emotions, and nervous system coherence breathing and visualize a positive, exciting experience…here are The HeartMath Solution guidelines for Freeze Frame (64-85):

1. Recognize the stressful feeling and FREEZE-FRAME it—simply take a time out to take a closer look at the immediate situation.
2. Make a sincere effort to shift focus away from the racing mind or disturbed emotions to the area around the heart. Breathe through the heart to help focus energy around the heart area. Keep focus here for at least 10 seconds.
3. Recall a positive, fun feeling or time in life and attempt to re-experience it.
4. Using intuition, common sense, and sincerity, ask the heart, what would be a more efficient response to the situation, one that will minimize future stress?
5. Listen to what the heart says in answer to the question.

Reflect, have a great day, and share your love, gratitude, trust, compassion, courage, honesty, integrity, and prudence for life, living, and America. Observations, feelings, needs, mind chatter, nervous system, and behavior will offer the proof of the puddin’ that INNER work may boost one’s morale and lasting hope for a United States chocked full of joyful families and communities. Let’s join hands and make it happen!

Some resources.

• The HeartMath Solution, Doc Childre, Howard Martin, and Donna Beech.
• Sitting in the Flames: Uncovering Fearlessness to Help Others, Appendix D, Basic Meditation Instructions, Dr. John Edwin DeVore.
• When Corporations Rule the World, David C. Korten.
• Speak Peace in a World of Conflict, Marshall B. Rosenberg.

SACRED MONEY

Posted on August 19, 2024

The author was a small-town kid from Northwestern Ohio, born in Defiance Hospital, Defiance, Ohio, and raised in the town of Sherwood, population 500…27 miles South of Michigan, 15 miles East of Indiana, and 60 miles West of Toledo. Pursued the opportunity to go to Defiance High School…class size went from 13 to 130; and from there it was off to the United States Military Academy, eight years in the Army, including two years in Vietnam during the War, success in corporate America, five degrees, husband, father, grandfather, great grandfather, and enjoying retirement…golf, piano, reading, family, and writing, and grateful for every moment above ground on the right side of the grass. For a perfectionist, lots of good %&*$ to get stuff right in this is world. A corporate America, boss recommended, self-awareness process has continued for 50+ years and $85,000. Yet, still depressed. Simply absent deep, inner, Little John work.

Every day it is flabbergasting, and a catalyst for stress, depression, chaos, and A-fib. Only have become interested in politics for the last eight years; however, frequently have noted the drastic changes and transitions between growing up in that small town in 1940-1954 versus today’s global world, internet, cell phones, capitalism, and chaos.…simply changes from that early years focus on family and community to the military, corporations, “gangs,” as Dr. David C. Korten (When Corporations Rule the World) calls them, literally ruling the world to pursue, at all costs, sacred money and markets. Life as a kid was quite basic and simple: great brother, parents, grandparents, and cousins; safe home, love, basic needs, lots of play, work in the family owed hardware store, close friends, church on Sunday, and school.

However, depression has become the name of the game for a few years. I lay awake last evening wrestling with chaos…and thanks to the self-awareness work and a patient wife, Cindy, have a feeling a needed family and community niche has surfaced…the feeling is I need to kiss the sacred money and markets good-bye and evolve to higher ground. Let’s peek at the night of CHAOS…trying to put the pieces of the depression puzzle together…

Cindy and I had recently completed six months of energy psychology “digging deep” and relationship work, coupled with reading several energy psychology books; reading Dr. Rosenberg’s Speak Peace in a World of Conflict, Nancy Pelosi’s The Art of Power: My Story as America’s First Woman Speaker of the House, Dr. Korten’s When Corporations Rule the World, and Jonathan Haidt’s The Anxious Generation; wrestling with and helping with some family issues…transgender granddaughter, ASU student grandson, and a trip to Mexico with family; issues with new, progressive, tri-focal glasses; visit of granddaughter from Pennsylvania; an introduction to TED suggested by son Doug’s girlfriend, Amber; and had recently finished for son Doug Jeffery Mason’s Dad I Want to Hear Your Story: A Father’s Guided Journal to Share His Life & Love.

Sounds like a need to transcend and include others and “I messages,” as daughter Chris coaches. To handle this crisis Dr. Korten offers, “Cowboys in a Spaceship (42)…we must come to terms with a basic reality: we have passed over the historic threshold from an open frontier to a spaceship world…” (50)

While climbing out of bed this AM noted A-fib…tightness in the throat, upper back, and nape of the neck…and a need for meditation, Heart Mind Entrainment Music, and a chat with dear Cindy to sort the wheat from the chaff and open a new vision for a niche in today’s world…being grateful for a move to higher ground absent depression…ups and downs OK, depression not OK. Here we are…with Dr. Korten as mentor from a distance and with admiration…help folks move away from sacred money and marketing to family and community: book, !Good Parents! (vision complete, writing in process, target for Berret-Koehler Publishers, www.bkconnection.com); weekly BLOGs on web site www.johnedwindevore.com (1st BLOG 8-18-24); possible video with TED; local presentations as invited and offered; appropriate, invited, Speak Peace conversations (observations, feelings, needs, and requests) five days a week at LA Fitness; check out the New Economy Working Group, co-founded by Dr. Korten; practice Speak Peace conversations with Cindy; help transgender granddaughter, Ivy, and grandson, Haley, ASU student; and enjoy life, the new niche, and have fun with the family in Mexico.

WHAT’S UNDER THE CARPET?

Posted on August 11, 2024

Today’s media platforms reveal that America’s three-legged democracy stool is missing its third leg. Economics and politics are thriving; and the missing third leg, morality—ethics, empathy, character, compassion, decency, goodness, courage, trust, honesty, integrity, self-restraint—is blatantly obvious. Witness polarization, attacking fellow human adversaries, suppression of voting rights, mass and social media untruths, cyber warfare, inequitable wages, healthcare and childcare shortcomings, systemic racism and casts, LGBTQ rights questioned, environmental degradation, untreated mental health, home grown terrorism, immigration overload and inhumanity, thriving white supremacy, inequitable tax systems, education state-of-the art and funding deficiencies, insane gun control, absence of political leadership, et al.  The danger is continued and deepening division, fear, and autocracy; and the opportunity is to look beneath the behaviors and confront narcissistic, ego driven behavior; improve common good as individuals; and merge and participate in interactive, needs based dialogue and collectively manifest the missing third leg of the stool, morality, and for all Americans. As Jonathan Sacks offers in Morality: Restoring the Common Good in Divided Times,

Recovering liberal democratic freedom will involve emphasizing responsibilities as well as rights; shared rules, not just individual choices; caring for others as well as for ourselves; and making space not just for self-interest but also for common good. Morality is an essential feature of our human environment, as important as the market (economics) and the state (politics), but outsourceable to neither. Morality humanizes the competition for wealth and power. It is the redemption of our solitude. (20)

A personal sentiment for a strategic objective, a solid, three-legged stool—economics, politics, and morality—is to have democracy that inspires measurement, evaluation, and incentives based on achievement of common good, “… what is shared and beneficial for all or most members of a given community, or alternatively, what is achieved by citizenship, collective action, and active participation in the realm of politics and public service.” (Wikipedia)

Morality has become a lost virtue and narcissism is on the rampage in America. Mass media headlines offer only the tip of the iceberg. A question for reflection: How can cultural morality be restored? One step at a time! Individually, we each need to become passionately inspired to get our own house in order and to show up for the common good. Collectively, we can merge with groups to facilitate contributions to common good and one can choose to purchase products and services from organizations that have chosen to be measured, evaluated, and incented via a common good report card.

A common good baby step can be uncovered with action—walk the talk—using the genius of Marshall B. Rosenberg in Speak Peace in a World of Conflict,

Peace requires something far more difficult than revenge or merely turning the other cheek; it requires empathizing with the fears and unmet needs that provide the impetus for people to attack each other. Being aware of these feelings and needs, people lose their desire to attack back because they can see the human ignorance leading to these attacks; instead, their goal becomes providing the empathetic connection and education that will enable them to transcend their violence and engage in cooperative relationships…When people get connected to their needs, they don’t have this anger that drives them to want to punish others. We do need to make evaluations about our needs: Are they being met or not? But we do this without going into our heads and making enemies and villains out of people who in some way are not fulfilling our needs…Every time we go up into our head and make a judgment of others instead of going into our heart and seeing the needs, we decrease the likelihood that other people will enjoy giving to us…The fact remains that when people get connected to the needs behind anger, frustration, and violence, they move into a different world. (134-135)

Simply take time out to observe, touch into feelings, and identify needs under the anger, frustration, and violence carpet…the world can change. As Rumi noted, “Our beyond ideas of righthood and wrongdoing there is a field: I’ll meet you there.” (135) The next time you are either angry or frustrated with yourself or another, take the time to stop, lift the carpet, and note what need is there waiting to be satisfied. Be a change agent, not a catalyst for more turmoil.

OMELETES

Posted on August 3, 2024

It feels like the globe is in a state of turmoil created by overwhelming changes absent managed and effectively and efficiently led transition. In haste the offering is that we need to genuinely transcend and include others and come together. Let’s move to higher ground where family and community can become reality. In Age of Revolutions: Progress and Backlash from 1600 to the Present, Fareed Zakaria quotes Isaiah Berlin,

If you are truly convinced that there is some solution to all human problems, that one can conceive an ideal society which men (and women) can reach if only they do what is necessary to attain it, then you and your followers must believe that no price can be too high to pay in order to open the gates of such a paradise. Only the stupid and malevolent will resist once certain simple truths are put to them. Those who resist must be persuaded; if they cannot be persuaded, laws must be passed to restrain them; if that does not work, then coercion, if need be violence, will inevitably have to be used…if necessary, terror, slaughter…We must weigh and measure, bargain, compromise, and prevent the crushing of one form of life by its rivals. I know only too well that this is not a flag under which idealistic and enthusiastic young men and women may wish to march…it seems too tame, too reasonable, too bourgeois, it does not engage the generous emotions. But you must believe me, one cannot have everything one wants—not only in practice, but even in theory. The denial of this, the search for a single, overreaching ideal because it is one and only true one for humanity, invariably leads to coercion. And then to destruction, blood—eggs are broken, but the omelet is not in sight, there is only an infinite number of eggs, human lives, ready for the breaking. And in the end the passionate idealists forget the omelet, and just go on breaking eggs. (323)

We are simply breaking eggs. Daily we are witnesses to scurrying about to avoid being identified as the culprit. In our culture there is intense desire to be off the hook; and clever and devious actions taken to get off the hook are known as cover your posterior. Quite simply, desired results do not equal excuses coupled with no desired results; and blaming, justifying, spinning, lying and choosing not to accept responsibility when something goes wrong is a negative life and leadership strategy. Being right is a booby prize! The real prize is the desired result which has not been realized. Blaming and justifying put us at the mercy of other people and events and do not make things happen. A better strategy is not to give away power and influence by blaming and justifying. Take charge: 100% responsibility, I am 100% responsible and others are 0% responsible. Life happens because of me, not to me!

Imagine the power in this country where everyone is assuming 100% responsibility for its success. Imagine how refreshing it would be for politicians, the President, Vice Presidents, Senators, Representatives, and Judges to be examining what they did and what they could do rather than expending energy and plotting how to get off the hook. Perhaps the greatest value of the 100%-0% concept is that it focuses energy on creating desired results rather than finding ways of avoiding responsibility. Because it encourages folks to develop new options to produce desired results, it is a deeply empowering concept. Simply breaking more eggs produces no omelet for breakfast.

Three strategies the Democrats have unfolded are to preserve the soul of the American political system, to strengthen the backbone of the country, and to unite the country. Some of the Democratic tactics being used to earn votes are planned improvement “actions” related to abortion rights, infrastructure, voting rights, immigration, gun safety, and foreign policy.  Continued strategies of the GOP are to divide the country, retain white supremacy, deliberately fan the fires of racism, sow fear, and to suppress voting rights of minorities through the tactic of voter suppression legislation in 43 states. Other intentional tactics are lying, working problems, blocking improvements, creating chaos, deconstructing, dismantling, bickering, sowing hate, and dividing.

“Words are singularly the most powerful force available to humanity. We can choose to use this force constructively with words of encouragement, or destructively using words of despair. Words have energy and power with the ability to help, to heal, to hinder, to hurt, to harm, to humiliate and to humble.” (Y. Berg) We are the intrapersonal, interpersonal and person to persons language we create; and a person who controls the message of words has tremendous power over others. And we simply keep breaking eggs!

As 2024 has unfolded, political leadership choices are being revealed. More than likely choices will be driven by words—language—pontificating past results and popular actions. A spectrum of positive words that create the stories and emotions for each of us…freedom, prosperity, security, facts, unity, truth, order, respect, harmony, poise, receptivity, peace, tranquility, positiveness, team effort, teamwork, childcare, guardians, self-mastery, integral life practice, health, non-partisan, wellness and well-being, mindfulness, awareness, self-restraint, values, equality, fairness, globally respected, quality, guiding principles, ethics, peace, clean air, allies, non-partisan, value in diversity, safe schools, no debt, sincerity, trustworthy, believable, passionate, disciplined, generosity, wise, direct, open, nice, 100% responsibility, apology, loving-kindness, patient, tolerant, compassionate, humanness, beautiful, smiling, et al.

An array of negative words that create the stories, mind chatter, and emotions for each of us…lies, lynching, deception, casts, spins, obstruction, abuse, conspiracy, human scum, traitors, chaos, entertainment, dynasty, autocracy, racism, above the law, divisiveness, partisan, war, bombs and bullets, street shootings, smoke and mirrors, impeachment, corruption, fear, abuse of power, obstruction of justice, cult-like, tribal, business failings, pay-offs, porn stars, partisan vulgarity, broken promises, scandals, low character, bad judgement, failed policies, cover-ups, low intellect, disruption, conflict, deconstruction, selfish, narcissist, demagogue, cruel, fraud, short-sighted, chaotic, et al. Simply more broken eggs!

The language we each are is powerful and the paradox of choice is clear: an America for Americans that is inspiring and visionary for generations to come—freedom, love, hope, happiness, peace-of-mind, purpose, and connections created on a foundation of compassion, authenticity, virtue, and good; or an America for Americans that is evil and dictatorial for generations to come—pay-back, fear, hate, vindictive, intimidation, economic insecurity, casts, racism, decay, and global disrespect. Christian D. Larson offers, “So long as we continue to resist or deny evil, we will think about evil, and so long as we think about evil, evil will be impressed upon the subconscious, that the subconscious will reproduce and bring forth into personal life.” When there is only one power which decides who is right and who is wrong, and who should be punished and who not, we have a form of…dictatorship. (James Heiser). The mission is quite clear: to merge with others to co-create, transcend, and include others, and evolve democracy for “We the people, by the people, for the people…” The strategic objective is not to create autocracy for a select few by a select few. Let history record that the civil war of 2024 strategies and tactics of the language and actions we each are won votes to improve, evolve, and preserve democracy for America and Americans. Let’s quit simply breaking eggs! It’s messy and offers no nourishment! Let us wake up and make omelets.

 

 

 

TRANSITION BLIZZARD LEADERSHIP

Posted on July 27, 2024

As global guests we are amid a global interference blizzard—psychological overload of our very fragile human condition—because of scores of deliberate, unmanaged changes and manufactured messages that manifest as a sense of lost identity, confusion, chaos, infinite searching and loneliness that camouflage fear, anger, depression and sadness. Some worldwide, current reality change symptoms are the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer; non-stop blaming, undermining, defending, accusing, distracting, taunting, attacking and discrediting; anxiety coupled with the absence of compassion and caring; post-truth; diversity is perceived as weakness; corruption, mass shootings, cheating and stealing; escalating stress and sexual, drug and alcohol abuse; deconstruction of government institutions; crumbling personal identities, ethics, morals, values and principles; daily, media are attacked and are host to drama and self-absorption, etc. Thich Nhat Hanh commented,

There is a deep malaise in society…We absorb so much violence and insecurity every day that we are like time bombs ready to explode. We need to find a cure for our illness…Many young people (and adult people) are uprooted…We need roots to be able to stand straight and grow strong. (Living Buddha, Living Christ, 87-89)

Too many changes are planned with little concern for how they will affect people or what people will have to do to make them work. The assumption is that the changes are necessary and that people will simply adjust to them. William Bridges suggests that the psychological processes that change initiates are more like distress and disruption than adjustment: many changes that are meant to strengthen actually weaken and cause resentment and confusion. Fortunately, there are techniques for leading and managing the fragile, human side of change and it is called transition management.

A change normally has an ending, a new beginning and a transition, the neutral zone and psychological reorientation people, cultures and institutions go through when moving from an old situation and coming to terms with the new situation. Transition can be led and managed by 1) identifying the transitions, 2) managing the endings, 3) deliberately leading the psychological adjustment process through the neutral zones and 4) orchestrating and supporting the new beginnings.

Some of the current literature can support identification of some of the multitude of changes and associated transitions—psychological interference blizzard—we humans are experiencing in a globe overwhelmed by cyber operations, information overload and post-truth messaging; political, institutional and humanitarian unrest; military evolution from beans, bombs and bullets to hybrid warfare; and cultural, economic and financial volatility.

Change and Transition Uncovering Resources

Bacevich, (2010). Washington Rules: America’s Path to Permanent War [American Empire Project]. NY, NY: Macmillan.

Boot, M. (2018). The Corrosion of Conservatism: Why I left the Right. Amazon Whispernet.

Browder, B. (2015). Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man’s Fight. NY, NY: Simon & Schuster.

Carlson, T. (2018). Ship of Fools: How a Selfish Ruling Class Is Bringing America to the Brink of Revolution. NY, NY: Simon & Schuster.

Clapper, J.A. (2018). Facts and Fears: Hard Truths from a Life in Intelligence. NY, NY: Penguin.

Clinton, H. (2014). Hard Choices. NY, NY: Simon & Schuster.

Clinton, H. (2017). What Happened. NY, NY: Simon & Schuster.

Cohen, A. (2002). Living Enlightenment: A Call for Evolution Beyond Ego. Lenox, MA: Moksha.

Comey, J. (2018). A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership. NY, NY: Macmillan.

Corn, D. & Isikoff, M. (2018). Russian Roulette: The Inside Story of Putin’s War on America and the Election of Donald Trump. NY, NY: Hachette.

Corsi, J.R. (2018). Killing the Deep State: The Fight to Keep President Trump. Amazon Whispernet.

Daniels, S. (2018). Full Disclosure. NY, NY: Macmillan.

Dawisha, K. (2014). Putin’s Kleptocracy: Who Owns Russia. NY, NY: Random. House.

Dzuiban, P.F. (2017). Consciousness Is All: Now Life Is Completely New. Amazon Whispernet.

Dzuiban, P.F. (2013). Simply Notice: Clear Awareness Is the Key to Happiness, Love and Freedom. Amazon Whispernet.

Farrow, R. (2017). War on Peace: The End of Diplomacy and the Decline of American Influence. Amazon Whispernet.

Frum, D. (2014). Trumpocracy: The Corruption of the American Republic. NY, NY: Harper Collins.

Hall, K.A. (2014). Sovereign Duty. Kindle.

Hayden, M.V. (2018). The Assault on Intelligence: American National Security in the Age of Lies. NY, NY: Penguin.

Harding, L. (2017). Collusion: Secret Meetings, Dirty Money, and How Russia Helped Donald Trump Win. NY, NY: Random House.

Heiser, J. (2014). The American Empire Should Be Destroyed: Aleksandr Dugin and the Perils of Immanentized Eschatology. Kindle Unlimited.

Howard, R. (2018). The Killing of Uncle Sam: The Demise of the United States of America. Amazon Whispernet.

Johnston, D.K. (2018). It’s Even Worse Than You Think: What the Trump Administration Is Doing to America. NY, NY: Simon & Schuster.

Kaplan, D.A. (2018). The Most Dangerous Branch: Inside the Supreme Court Assault on the Constitution. NY, NY: Random House.

Kasparov, G. (2015). Winter is Coming: Why Vladmir Putin and the Enemies of the Free World Must Be Stopped. NY, NY: Hachette.

Levin, M.R. (2009). Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto. NY, NY: Simon & Schuster.

Levitsky, S. & Ziblatt, D. (2018). How Democracies Die. NY, NY: Random.

MacLean, N. (2017). Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America. NY, NY: Penguin.

McCain, J. (2018). The Restless Wave: Good Times, Just Causes, Great Fights, and Other Appreciations. NY, NY: Simon & Schuster.

Murphy, M. & Leonard, G. (2005). The Life We Are Given: A Long-Term Program for Realizing the Potential of Body, Mind, Heart, and Soul. NY, NY: Penguin.

MacLean, M. (2017). Democracy In Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America. NY, NY: Penguin.

McFaul, M. (2018). From Cold War to Hot Peace: An American Ambassador in Putin’s Russia. NY, NY: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Newman, O.M. (2018). Unhinged: An Insider’s Account of the Trump White House. NY, NY: Simon & Schuster.

Peterson, J. (2018). 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos. NY, NY: Random House.

Nance, M. (2018). The Plot to Destroy Democracy: How Putin and His Spies are Undermining America and Dismantling the West. NY, NY: Hachette.

Pirro, J. (2018). Liars, Leakers, and Liberals: The Case Against the Trump Conspiracy. NY, NY: Hachette.

Ryan, A. (2018). Under Fire: Reporting from the Front Lines of the White House. Amazon Whispernet.

Sasse, B. (2018). Them: Why We Hate Each Other—and How to Heal. NY, NY: Macmillan.

Scaramucci, A. (2018). Trump, the Blue-Collar President. NY, NY: Hachette.

Singer, M. (2009). Demagogue: The Fight to Save Democracy from Its Worst Enemies. NY, NY: Macmillan.

Unger, C. (2018). House of Trump, House of Putin: The Untold Story of Donald Trump and the Russian Mafia. NY, NY: Dutton.

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Wilber, K. (2000). Integral Psychology: Consciousness, Spirit, Psychology, Therapy. Boston, MA: Shambhala.

Wilber, K. (2001). A Brief History of Everything. NY, NY: Penguin-Random House.

Wilber, K. (2017). Trump and Post-Truth World. NY, NY: Random House.

Wilson, R. (2018). Everything Trump Touches Dies: A Republican Strategist Gets Real About the Worst President Ever. NY, NY: Simon & Schuster.

Wolff, M. (2018). Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House. NY, NY: Macmillan.

Woodward, B. (2018). Fear: Trump in the White House. NY, NY: Simon & Schuster.

Zakaria, F. (2024). Age of Revolutions: Progress and Backlash from 1600 to Present, NY, NY: W.W. Norton.

Following transition and change identification, some possible next steps: manage those pesky endings; deliberate leadership through neutral zones; and planned orchestration and support for new beginnings. Celebration!

 

 

BIG YES!

Posted on July 21, 2024

For every shot the golfer needs to evolve a Ritual for creating a personal, “big yes” teepee where the conscious mind becomes quiet, the body, ball, club, and target become one, and the programmed subconscious is afforded absolute trust to deliver a golf shot. In 1929 legendary Bobby Jones remarked,

 The golf swing is a most complicated combination of muscular actions, too complex to be controlled by objective conscious mental effort. Consequently, we must rely a good deal upon the instinctive reactions acquired by long practice. It has been my experience that the more completely we can depend upon this instinct—the more thoroughly we can divest the subjective mind of conscious control, the more exclusion of all thoughts as to method—is the secret of a good shot…After taking the stance, it is too late to worry. The only thing to do is to hit the ball. [Gallwey, W. (1998). The Inner Game of Golf. NY, NY: Random, 19-20]

It could be argued that pulling the trigger to make the shot is the most critical of all elements of the shot cycle; and it may be the simplest, and yet, possibly the most difficult because it must be done without the Captain’s thinking, with absolute trust of the subconscious to perform to expectations, and when the golfer is excited and has energized the impulse to manifest a fantastic golf shot. As we settle to create the space bubble—the state of quiet presence—we are deliberately breathing; and the Ritual is automatic and is the one distinct stimulus that will trigger, coordinate, and create the conditions for the authentic self to show up to create-manifest the “big yes.” Quite simply, the creation of the conditions that facilitate potential emergence of the peak performance state—the visualized, inspired intent to put a ball at the target, 100% responsibility-life happens because of me, not to me, sitting in the flames-face everything, avoid nothing, and awareness and patience—we are empty, and the trigger is absently pulled.

This evolving master skill is individually unique and is the state of being present, tension-free, with that which is intended, for as long as intended [Shoemaker, F. (2007). Extraordinary Putting, NY, NY: Penguin, 8-10]. We summon the inner artist for a remarkable and often indescribable zone experience of spiritual oneness; and one becomes witness to freedom and an intuitive unleashing of a unique, creative, synchronous flow of human physical activity. Simply relax and put your awareness where your deepest natural breathing originates—sensed image approximately 1½ inches below your navel. Let breathing be deep and full, shake loose any tension in the muscles, and trust that as center is experienced—seamless unity of body, mind, and spirit setting the stage for “sweet impact” and zone performance—well-practiced actions will result naturally without effort. A “quick and dirty,” Ritual checklist might include:

• Take a couple of deep, elevating breaths and visualize energy circulating between your feet and the earth below you. Feel static and dynamic balance and sense a balanced and solid foundation; and connect with the environment surrounding you.
• Take three-five short, explosive breaths into the upper chest to activate the sympathetic nervous system, increase oxygen, and intensify subtle energy currents of passion. Charge the whole body, physically and emotionally, preparing for the exertion to come, make a final visual touch of the target.
• On an out-breath, one-pointed concentration on the point of impact of club with ball—mindfulness—channeling all body energies into a laser beam of relaxed, focused concentration, letting go of everything—self-restraint—and sensing the synchronous, flowing swing to impact with a ball creatively floating to the target—awareness.

Squeeze Trigger: With passion burning, the captain of the ship unconsciously squeezes the auto-pilot button and trusts the programmed subconscious to creatively deliver a ball to an intended target.

A good athlete can enter a state of body-awareness in which the right stroke or the right movement happens by itself, effortlessly, without any interference of the conscious will. This is the paradigm for non-action: the purest and most effective form of action. The game plays the game; the poem writes the poem; we cannot tell the dancer from the dance. [Mitchell, S. (2006). tao te ching. NY, NY: Harper, viii.]

The challenge and opportunity are to create the conditions for zone performance to become reality on every shot!

 

 

 

AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL

Posted on July 14, 2024

O beautiful for heroes proved

In liberating strife,

Who more than their country loved,

And mercy more than life!

America! America!

May God thy gold refine,

Till all success be nobleness,

And every gain divine!

—Katherine Lee Bates & Samuel A. Ward, America the Beautiful

 Where has America The Beautiful gone! Daily, we are witness to absolute, chaotic disaster! And more will unfold as campaigns unfold and as each self-serving TWEET is offered. “Nobody likes me!” It is embarrassing and disgusting!! Some words that capture the unrest: pay-offs, shootings, demonstrations, not objective, untrusted, self-serving, party sorted, low functioning, sociopaths, racism, white supremacy, deconstruction, and protection by political party sorted, power worldview associates of the Federal government institution and country. We must do better and begin the long trek to evolve America The Beautiful.

O beautiful for spacious skies,

For amber waves of grain,

For purple mountain majesties

Above the fruited plain!

America! America!

God shed his grace on thee,

And crown thy good with brotherhood,

From sea to shining sea!

—Katherine Lee Bates & Samuel A. Ward, America the Beautiful

Some food for thought to help re-route the ship: Rachel Kleinfield and Aaron Sobel (USA Today, Friday, July 24, 2020, page7A) offer, “7 ways to reduce political polarization: Destroying the other side cannot be our goal.”

1. Call out your own party: speak truth to power and challenge your own tribe.
2. Avoid bad jokes: words matter, and they can perpetuate existing violence and cultivate preexisting grievances.
3. Make social media kinder: remove hateful messages, reduce the spread of hateful memes, and avoid prejudiced or polarizing speech.
4. Downplay the fringes and highlight the median: provide information that overturns party sorted beliefs and that reduces polarization. There may be less disagreement on policy issues than thought.
5. Emphasize disagreement within parties: most policy issues have a range of opinions within a party.
6. Help others imagine empathy: stories that encourage others to take the perspective of the other party can reduce prejudice.
7. Avoid repeating misinformation, even to debunk it: repetition leads the brain to think things are true; and there is a tendency to seek information that agrees with how one believes.

Partisanship is shaking the mighty pillars of our democracy; and destroying the other party is not a reasonable objective. The chaos, confusion, and disaster we see unfolding daily is about destroying the other group of human beings, the other tribe. As The Honorable John Lewis offered, get in “Good Trouble” and become a master of uniting. Whether Democrat or Republican America The Beautiful is the goal!!! Let us evolve together, not apart. Some folks wonder what happened; some folks watch what is happening; and some folks make things happen. Make things happen!!

O beautiful for patriot dream

That sees beyond the years; Thine alabaster cities gleam,

Undimmed by human tears!

America! America!

God shed his grace on thee,

And crown thy good with brotherhood,

From sea to shining sea!

—Katherine Lee Bates & Samuel A. Ward, America the Beautiful

 

IDENTITY

Posted on July 6, 2024

In The Blood Lust of Identity Ian Buruma offers, “Identity is what gets the blood boiling, what makes people do unspeakable things to neighbors. It is the fuel used by agitators to set whole countries on fire.” Yes! We need to get back to the work of governing instead of focusing so much energy on ego, partisan victory, conflict, and pride. Folks, we collectively must wake up, begin to think sanely, and elect political leaders with new trajectories and course setting strategies that manifest from deep within the cockpit of compassionate, authentic souls. We are de-railed and can begin to re-rail with objective votes this November that are not self-serving and are in the best interests of America for Americans.

Having been born in Defiance, Ohio and raised in the small town of Sherwood, Ohio in Northwest Ohio farm country, the evolving America of today is a far cry from what was modeled during those early years. Dad owned a hardware store and Dad, Mom, brother Dan, and I helped make the store customer friendly for all customers. We went to church on Sunday, had pleasant times together as a family and with cousins from Fort Wayne, Indiana. Brother Dan and I played with the neighborhood kids and went to the local school. The teachers, coaches, spiritual leaders, and neighborhood parents were great, and many of the name’s re-surface daily in awe of the past. Life was simple! Perhaps Glennon Doyle nails it when she comments that when we reach the age of ten, we lose who we are and become who others think we should be. Confusion and chaos set-in and we grow up curious and puzzled about who we really are. Wow! There has been a lot of losing going on! Have we really become who others think we should be? Adding social media and smart phones to the equation simply offers more distraction from who we really are, just an imported, imposed, presented self.

To get the early Self right it was off to obtain degrees; 12 years as a trained killer and decorated, two-year Vietnam War combat veteran who did not care whether fellow soldiers were Democrat or Republican; 23 years in corporate America that included creation of minority and women supplier development programs and seven minority, women, gay and deaf employees’ advisory councils; two marriages, three wonderful kids, six grandchildren, and a great grandson and granddaughter; and retired and still trying to get the golf game and life right, a perfectionist at heart. Quite simply, conscious experience of emotion offers that the strategy of anger and divide hurts folks; any idiot can make up stories to fit a narrative; schoolyard viciousness comes from 8-year-old bullies; disrespect invites disrespect; violence incites violence; and when the powerful use money and position power to bully others we all lose.

As one of many combat veterans, we are witness to a past President who chooses not to champion those in uniform and respect the core values of the military: 1) he is a convicted felon; 2) leadership is absent; 3) not objective, is self-serving, and makes decisions not in the best interests of the country; 4) does not set a good example; 5) lies to self-serve; 6) dismissed as headaches the blast exposure soldiers received from a 2020 Iranian missile attack; 7) in four years made only three visits to soldiers in war zones; 8) has referred to military leaders as “dopes and babies” when being briefed about the value of allies and overseas commitments; 9) reversed punishments or convictions for troops accused or convicted of war crimes; 10) has excoriated soldiers who have irritated him: Senator John McCain, a prisoner of war in North Vietnam for more than five years; Defense Secretary James Mattis: “…the world’s most over-rated general…”; and combat-wounded Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman was “very insubordinate” and fired from the White House for testifying at Donald Trump’s impeachment.

Political party sorting has divided the country…Senate, House, Supreme Court, state governments…is dividing the country, and will continue to divide and deconstruct this country unless “we the people” make a definitive course correction. We need to elect and re-elect sane political leaders who are aware and understand the perils of partisanship and who are sane and have a track record of leading, healing, transcending, and including, and uniting diverse groups of folks…coalitions, communities, and collectives unify. We are all humans and have needs and wants and together we can make those needs and wants become reality. Each of us needs to stand in the face of power and tell the truth. Let us elect political leaders who are masters of the Self and who model the way as persons, in relationships, socially, institutionally, culturally, and by helping others and caring about others. Let us not re-elect or elect the deranged.

 

LEADERSHIP??

Posted on June 29, 2024

Political headlines remind of little kids who are desperate for approval and have never been told that bragging is obnoxious; and that lying, cheating, name calling and using other people’s money for self-serving outcomes are not ethical and moral. Where are the political leaders and leadership? They have been replaced by actors, entertainment, circus, and showmanship.

Directed mass communication and social media efforts to manipulate, discredit and dismantle; deliberate, vindictive attacks of media; election interference; politically inspired chaos, violence, distractions and divisiveness; loss of truth to power; deception and fake news intended to manipulate and nurture egos; emergence of fringe political organizations and activist groups; and undermining international coalitions, these headlines portray boiling, turbulent, conflicted and partisan times. An analytical glance establishes the least common denominator to be nothing more than a manifestation of the reality of our individual and collective human condition—everything human can be reduced to entertainment that can be branded, that manifests competitive spirit and that can be marketed and sold as a commodity. Of notable interest in our Western culture has been the transition from politics with leaders and leadership to politics with politicians who are actors and entertainers who love showmanship and ego aggrandizement: a long-term, global worldview has been replaced by short-term entertainment snippets that are divisive and attract human ego’s thirst and greed. The glaring need is to grow leaders who are students of the human condition and leadership; and who have a track record of leadership successes with measurable accountabilities.

LEADERSHIP is an attribute of an individual’s brand; and is an earned, trust based, influence relationship between the respective leader, other leaders and followers who intend ethical and moral change that mirror common purpose. Some key qualities are as follows:

• INTEGRAL ETHICS: The concept of integral connotes comprehensive, whole, balanced and “best of the best” and the concept of ethics is sincere private commitment to doing what it takes to grow into a life of full integrity: “walk the talk” in every area of life and “model the way” as individuals; in relationships; and when skillfully helping and supporting others. It is an opportunity for happiness and freedom and embraces 100% ethical responsibility for cultivation of care, compassion and awareness in the world and the globe: the range and depth of ethical choices that includes conscience, intra-psychic ethics—health, wellness and wellbeing, behavior, cultural relationships and systems and the environment. Ethics includes the full spectrum of morals, values and principles and is the art of being a good person and practicing goodness in everyday life. It includes all ways of being truthful, intelligent, authentic, and courageous that constitutes integrity: coupling intentions, promises and commitments with actions and behavior. The fruit of everyday ethics is humility and deep self-respect, a meaningful and lasting integrity that frees the person from living in denial, self-division, and self-contempt. Good leaders provide clarity about institutional ethics, morals, values, and guiding principles and behave consistently with these organizational beliefs. Ethics can also be the common values of a specific group.
• MORALS: Judgments made by an individual and concerned with the principles of right and wrong behavior and the goodness and badness of human character.
• VALUES: Determine what a person pays attention to and how the person acts. Examples: trust and trusted; integrity; direct; open; honesty; caring; compassionate; moral; health, wellness, and wellbeing; financial viability; leadership; hope; and peace-of-mind.
• GUIDING PRINCIPLES: Core values that are articulated. Examples: Do not lie, cheat, or steal, nor tolerate those who do. Objective, not self-serving and acts in the best interests of the people and organization being served. Committed to the concept of 100% responsibility: life happens because of me and not to me. Does not blame others, learns from one’s own experiences in an intentional and self-directed manner and applies that learning to new challenges. Sets a good example for physical health, emotional balance, mental clarity, spiritual awakening, ethical behavior, and integration of hidden, denied, and repressed reflections manifested in the world. I am a student of life. I am silent self alone. I do everything with love. No matter what I am experiencing, it is arising in the awareness I am-the Universal Self.
• PURPOSE: Reason for existence. Examples: Exemplary student of life. In the service of global health, wellness, and wellbeing, to embody, celebrate and study the ever-greater depth of awareness, humanity, and life.
• FOLLOWERSHIP: The actions of someone in a subordinate role. The intentional practice on the part of the subordinate to enhance the synergistic interchange between the follower and the leader. Team play.
• INTEGRAL VISION: Comprehensive, compelling picture of a desired future state. Leaders create and communicate a world centric vision, strategies and direction for the organization and persons led. Articulate a worldview for the Nation and the globe and possesses an integral understanding that allows the leader to be aware and understand other persons thus opening greater mutual understanding and openness to innovative, harmonious resolution; and more intelligent and appropriate responses to conflicts faced.
• MISSION DRIVEN: Peace-of-mind with purpose and connections built on a foundation of compassion. Has a bias for action, for trying new things and for getting things done. Aggressively pursues objectives and sets high standards for self and others. Takes calculated risks and makes personal sacrifices to get things done.
• EXECUTIVE MATURITY: Acts appropriately in business, social and political situations. Displays control in complex, ambiguous or stressful situations. Identifies with people, shares their values and beliefs and is comfortable with them. Works toward mutually carved-out, worldview goals.
• HUMAN NEEDS SATISFACTION: Is “in-tune” with mental and emotional needs of others, cares about people and puts action plans in-place to create an environment to improve the quality of life and personal productivity that is beneficial for persons. Links recognition to accomplishment and shows appreciation and expresses pride in the team’s accomplishments.
• INTEGRAL THEORY and PRACTICE: Student of integral theory and integral life practice—physical health, emotional balance, mental clarity, and spiritual awakening—that includes a pluralistic and multicultural composite map of the human territory and ways to include all of the important dimensions of being to enable growth, awakening and development to fullest capacities. Integral theory does not dictate how to practice or how to live. It offers new perspectives on practice and life, new possibilities, and new horizons; and it opens minds, thus hearts, to a more inclusive and compassionate embrace of the Cosmos and all its inhabitants. Leaders who push the edges of their discipline do so by taking perspectives with more depth and more span than most others.
• INTEGRAL COMMUNICATIONS, TECHNOLOGY and ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE MASTER: Integral communications translates the way an individual speaks to others’ perspectives while still being an authentic self. Simply keeps persons informed and creates communication forums and diverse coalitions to give and receive information and ethically manage perceptions. The spectrum of communication expertise: intrapersonal, interpersonal, person-to-persons, mass media, social media and associated technologies that optimize communication needs and strategies.

Artificial Intelligence: The theory and development of computer systems able to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence-visual perception, speech recognition, decision making and translation between languages.

• QUALITY RELATIONSHIPS and INFLUENCE: Develops, uses, and sustains strong, cooperative relationships with persons. Uses effective listening and interpersonal skills to achieve mutual trust and respect. Accomplishes tasks and objectives by resolving conflicts and influencing the actions of others. Is seen as a change agent; and makes a difference when involved.
• STAFFING and STAFF DEVELOPMENT: Attracts and selects people with innate talents and learned skills. Assesses the short and long-term needs of the institution and develops plans to improve the overall structure and talent and skills strength of the institution.
• TEAM LEADERSHIP: Achieves results by motivating and inspiring a unified, winning team. Builds commitment to common goals by communicating a sense of mission and by energizing the team. Creates an environment where differences are valued, where systems work equally well for all and wherein people can retain uniqueness and contribute at their full potential.
• BUSINESS and FINANCIAL SAVY: Has a worldview perspective and is aware and understands the implications of changes in the globe. Has “street smarts,” sizes-up situations quickly, is practical, and knows the right things to do and when to do them. Plans, communicates, monitors, and controls, establishes risks, solves problems, and makes sound decisions concerning economic and financial performance.
• HANDLING COMPLEXITY: Analyzes and solves complex problems. Deals effectively with large amounts of data, changing conditions, incomplete data, or uncertainty. Understands how seemingly unrelated issues interact and affect one another. Gets to the essence of complex issues quickly, generates a variety of alternative courses of action and makes effective decisions.
• IDEA LEADERSHIP: Open to input, change and new ideas. Implements breakthrough and innovative ideas, programs and processes that make a genuine difference.
• INTEGRAL POLITICS: is aware and understands the inadequacies of political parties because of limited and partial views that do not address the complex issues facing the world today.

Individuals matter, leaders matter and leadership matters. If democracy is to prevail, we must select good leaders and hold them accountable for high quality leadership!! The evolution imperative of wholeness and inspired, growing awareness of the human condition, coupled with helping others, can change the daily headlines from an underlying sense of fear, chaos, and domination to love and freedom. Leaders can be grown who create a vibrant civil society where people continue to be free, to live as they choose, to speak their minds, to organize peacefully and to have a say in how they are governed.