Callie Roos

Many people have heard about leadership training and development and there is a lot of talk about how important it is today but how many people really know what leadership training seminars are?

It doesn’t matter whether you are going through in-house training – as most large companies have today – or whether you are attending a leadership training seminar; it is important to understand what leadership training is and what it involves.

Leadership training seminars can conceivably cover any range of different topics. Anyone searching for leadership training seminars will soon discover that many courses have no relation to leadership and even those that do not mention leadership may, in fact, be just what you are looking for.

To find the perfect leadership training seminar for your needs, you need to determine what your leadership team needs. It is better to target weak areas first before trying to improve key areas where the leadership team is experienced.  Bear in mind that the training budget of your firm as well as the amount of time available to your leadership team will determine which leadership training seminars are possible choices.

Leadership training seminars can be found in a lot of different places. Local colleges, universities and other training institutions are a good place to find leadership training seminars but there are also private groups and individuals that offer seminars on a variety of leadership topics.

Professional leadership coaches are often the primary choice for organisations that do not an in-house training department or for trade shows and conferences. Leadership coaches, like Callie Roos, offer leadership training seminars at nearly any location and tailored to the specific topics that need to be covered for the target audience. These leadership training seminars have a great advantage over those offered by colleges and the like as you can determine the where, the when and the content of the seminar.

Most leadership training seminars will contain a presentation on leadership skills. These presentations focus on innovative ideas and techniques that leaders can use in their environment. At large seminars there is also the opportunity to meet other leaders in the field. This allows for the sharing of ideas and methodologies making the leadership training seminar all the more effective across a wide range of markets and people.

Even if you cannot afford to send your entire leadership team to a leadership training seminar, they can still bring back the knowledge and the skills to you firm.

Leadership training is important for many organisations. It is important to stay up to date with the latest methodologies to ensure that your organisation’s leaders are equipped to successfully lead and motivate your teams. Leadership training seminars allow your leaders to learn and expand their leadership skills and to bring these skills back to your organisation.

If you’re planning an event that entails providing important information intended to stir creative thought and motivate the audience, a keynote speaker is what you need. When the audience arrives, they are not usually focused. To capture their attention, they must be drawn in and inspired to learn. The keynote speaker is crucial to delivering the right message and a vital tool to an event’s success.

A good keynote speaker sets the tone for the event and engages the audience from the beginning to the end of the event. A keynote speaker will usually start the proceedings for a particular function. The keynote speaker delivers a speech that captivates the audience and gets them ready and willing to learn.

Most event managers enlist the services of a keynote speaker to deliver a fresh point of view. The keynote speaker must be an authority in the subject that he or she is delivering a presentation on. Their goal is to promote a sense of collaboration designed to motivate people to look at situations in a different way and bring new and creative thinking into the organization.

What should a keynote speaker do?

The keynote speaker should present a number of anecdotes that can involve humour, depending on the organization to keep the audience engaged. Keynote speaker should be able to provide details relevant to the company or organization. The keynote speaker should also incorporate his or own life’s experiences into the presentation.

A keynote speaker should have a good understanding of the company’s vision and mission and be able to fit the presentation with current issues in the corporate world. The keynote speaker should also be prestigious and renowned in the community.

There are a few things to keep in mind when hiring a business keynote speaker:

• Make sure you schedule a meeting before the event.
• Bring information packets such as advertisements and brochures so the keynote speaker can design a presentation around your organization and its philosophies.
• Ask the keynote speaker to provide a series of points that will be discussed.A speech must have a number high profile references, quotes by prominent people, clever expressions, and inspiring statements. A good conclusion of a keynote speech is very essential.
• If you are holding an event that will have a number of speakers, the keynote speaker should be able tie all of the topics together as one or more common themes.

The bottom line is that a keynote speaker is necessary for a successful event. It is just like a business investment. A professional keynote speaker will leave your audience feeling informed, motivated, and ready to take on new challenges. 

If you’re planning an event that entails providing important information intended to stir creative thought and motivate the audience, a keynote speaker is what you need. When the audience arrives, they are not usually focused. To capture their attention, they must be drawn in and inspired to learn. The keynote speaker is crucial to delivering the right message and a vital tool to an event’s success.

A good keynote speaker sets the tone for the event and engages the audience from the beginning to the end of the event. A keynote speaker will usually start the proceedings for a particular function. The keynote speaker delivers a speech that captivates the audience and gets them ready and willing to learn.

Most event managers enlist the services of a keynote speaker to deliver a fresh point of view. The keynote speaker must be an authority in the subject that he or she is delivering a presentation on. Their goal is to promote a sense of collaboration designed to motivate people to look at situations in a different way and bring new and creative thinking into the organization.

What should a keynote speaker do?

The keynote speaker should present a number of anecdotes that can involve humour, depending on the organization to keep the audience engaged. Keynote speaker should be able to provide details relevant to the company or organization. The keynote speaker should also incorporate his or own life’s experiences into the presentation.

A keynote speaker should have a good understanding of the company’s vision and mission and be able to fit the presentation with current issues in the corporate world. The keynote speaker should also be prestigious and renowned in the community.

There are a few things to keep in mind when hiring a business keynote speaker:

• Make sure you schedule a meeting before the event.
• Bring information packets such as advertisements and brochures so the keynote speaker can design a presentation around your organization and its philosophies.
• Ask the keynote speaker to provide a series of points that will be discussed.A speech must have a number high profile references, quotes by prominent people, clever expressions, and inspiring statements. A good conclusion of a keynote speech is very essential.
• If you are holding an event that will have a number of speakers, the keynote speaker should be able tie all of the topics together as one or more common themes.

The bottom line is that a keynote speaker is necessary for a successful event. It is just like a business investment. A professional keynote speaker will leave your audience feeling informed, motivated, and ready to take on new challenges.

Any time you need to motivate an audience to improve, excel, or take part in something, a motivational speaker is the best choice. Motivational speakers have the ability to inspire people to improve their performance, have a better attitude, and work better with people. They can also encourage individuals to make positive changes for a better overall quality of life. Not just anyone can motivate a whole audience. It takes special skills and techniques to accomplish such a task. The goal of motivational speakers is to facilitate change either at work or in people’s lives in a positive manner. Their purpose is to provide the incentive people need to make these changes.

In a work environment, how one or all employees perform can sometimes begin to lag after a series of accomplishments. After achieving so much, they may not have the desire to meet higher standards or continue to meet the standards they have already surpassed. This is when motivation is needed the most and can turn things around for better performance. Motivational speakers are able to create new energy and excitement for employees and individual teams in the workplace that have lost their craving to constantly improve and do better.

It is best to choose a motivational speaker that has excelled in the particular field you do business in. They can use their expertise and experiences to help the audience and relate to what they are going through. Motivational speakers are great for changes in company direction, employee compliance, and teaching people to team building. They have many tips that can improve workplace productivity and help everyone contribute and be part of the company’s success. Some companies use these types of speakers to encourage employees to strive to meet company goals. Another use is to provide new ways to boost sales and increase overall profit.

In a non-work environment, they can be used for self-help seminars to encourage spiritual or mental improvement. These types of events can include speaking about dealing with an addiction, handling stress, budgeting, improving your health, and many others. These types of speakers are the top pick for many events because they can create an energy that a regular speaker or other methods cannot provide.

Motivational speakers have many benefits and can be used for any situation where an audience needs a little boost and to be encouraged to make a change or accomplish something. They are not only great for the workplace but also can be used for customer seminars, school events, charity events, and investment meetings. They can serve many purposes and the right speaker can actually win over the audience and obtain the exact results you were looking for. Speakers are available for any type of business, school, or charity. If you have an upcoming event that needs a little boost, these types of speakers are definitely worth your time and consideration. They can help make your event very effective and get positive results.

There are many training seminars available in the marketplace today. We live in a world where a person is expected to keep learning every day of their lives to stay current. One of the training seminars that any person hoping to move up in the world should attend is leadership training seminars. Leadership training is important for any person that wants raise themselves in the corporate ladder or anyone that finds themselves in charge of a team.

Leadership. It’s a word that many people have heard, but not many people understand. Very few people will admit to having any leadership qualities at all, but that is where leadership training comes in. These training seminars are designed to help people discover the leadership capabilities that reside within them. In essence, the aim of leadership training is to help a person through the transition from contributor to leader. This transition encompasses a number of elements.

Most leadership training seminars tend to focus on developing certain skills and areas. These include strategic thinking skills, delegation and communication skills and leadership styles. Seminars will also help people understand what it means to be a leader. They will help identify the role of a leader in different situations be it corporate or social as well as gear them with the tools necessary to identify and solve problems.

Leadership training seminars also teach future leaders how to assess their own leadership style and how to make effective use of it. This includes the skills necessary to make important decisions, the acceptance that you sometimes need ask others for assistance, and the ability to communicate effectively – not only to your team, but to your superiors as well.

In large corporations, leadership training is often hosted by human resources. For those people who are not lucky enough to work in these large corporations, however, the best option is to check local directories for the dates and times of leadership training conferences and training seminars. These conferences have the additional advantage of allowing attendees to communicate with a larger diversity of trainers and to get a more holistic view of leadership.

Even for established leaders, these conferences can be of great value. They can get together with other leaders in different fields and discuss the problems that they are facing. With all the experience together in one room, solutions to current problems facing leadership may well be discovered. Leadership training doesn’t stop at the classroom. It continues for as long as you remain a leader and you always need to keep learning to ensure you are at the top of your game.

Leadership training is a useful tool, even for people who are not necessarily in leadership positions. The training seminars hold a lot of value for many occupations and positions. For those who want to be effective leaders, however, there is no real choice. Being a leader takes more than just charisma, it takes the right knowledge to do what needs to be done and, most importantly, to lead.

The keynote speaker at an event has to be chosen with great a care. His speech undoubtedly plays an important part in making the event a success. His speech should be such that it motivates the people an interest in the programs that follow. It should also highlight whatever are the main activities of the organization. A forceful, interesting and humorous speech will go a long way in helping to make the whole occasion a successful one.

Planning the event is very important. You should fix the date, the location and the budget allotted for the event. With this information you should start hunting for the right keynote speaker. The speaker should be available at a reasonable distance and should be available on that date. The budget also plays an important part, as you should be able to afford to pay the speaker. If the speaker stays very far away, you might want to find out if someone is available, closer.

You should choose the speaker depending on the type of presentation you want and the time of the day you want the speech to be made. A morning speech has to be energizing. An after dinner speech should definitely be humorous. Some might want speakers to conduct workshops while others might want them to give the keynote speech.

The reason for the speech should also be a factor in choosing the right keynote speaker. Some may want a speech to be given to educate the people, while others may want a motivational speech, still others might want a shift in the behaviour of the audience, so that a change is initiated. There are groups who might want to raise funds for the organization or promote a particular cause of the organization. There might also be events where the need might just be simply entertain the audience. Whatever the need, the speaker should be hired for his expertise in that particular field.

You should make an assessment and find out which speaker has made an impact on the target audience earlier. If you have not invited the speaker before, you should find out if he has addressed similar groups before, and how they have liked his speech. You could also ask your fiends and acquaintances about available speakers and how they liked them. This reference will help you to narrow down your search, because you will be getting first hand information.

The target audience is a very important factor. You should consider the demographics of the audience. It might be a general audience, or a specific audience made up of all women’s group, only school children or working people. The speaker should be able to provide the needs of the audience.

You should also find out who are the core decision makers with regard to hiring the keynote speaker and look at things from their point of view. This will enable you to choose the right keynote speaker.

The best place to choose the right keynote speaker would be the internet. You can find out many sites that give you the required information about the available speakers, their expertise and their experience. Depending on your needs, whether you want the people to be trained, whether for you consulting needs or for simply giving the keynote address you can hire the best keynote speaker. So go ahead and choose the right keynote speaker according to your requirements.

Corporations and businesses work in much the same fashion as sports teams. Every piece to the whole, every team member, every employee contributes his/her piece to the overall product or objective. Without a well-connected employee base that works in harmony with the overall goal of the corporation, the mission will be lost and success minimized far below the company’s potential. This is why so many of the most successful, profit-yielding businesses and corporations take part in corporate team building seminars, retreats, and events.

These corporate team building events help your employees learn how to depend upon and communicate with each other to maximize the efficiency, enthusiasm, and overall productivity of your company and its long and short term goals. Here are the main advantages of corporate team building.

• Employee Morale – By deciding to sign your employees up for the right corporate team building event, you will boost employee morale. Including them in an organised event to help them connect will make them feel appreciated and enthusiastic about not only the corporate event but also the short and long term goals of the company.
• Productivity – Most corporate team building programs focus on every business owner’s main concern- increased productivity. Everyone knows the shortest, albeit seemingly impossible, route to corporate profit is a creating a boost in productivity. Corporate team building events focus on achieving this boost through symbolic problem-solving exercises centered on team-oriented strategy and action.
• Employee Vision – Though closely connected to affecting employee morale, corporate team building events can also open your employees’ minds to a clearer idea of your company’s short and long term goals. By inviting them to work towards a symbolic end through team games, you are also altering their vision of what they can achieve for your company. This, in turn, will inspire them to work harder and introduce more positive action and contribution to your company.
• Organized Training – Corporate team building programs are also integral for training your employees how you want them to be trained. By engaging in regular events such as these, your employees will be organised by training to your company’s objectives, and will therefore be more adaptable to your way of thinking and acting positively.

Employee Connectedness – By introducing your staff to corporate team building programs and events, you are also inviting them to get to know one another better, and break down stereotypes and perceptions they may have about each other. These retreats help your employees learn to trust and depend on one another for a common goal, and this helps them feel more connected. Feeling more connected to one another- as part of a corporate family- will help them break down communication barriers that would have previously held them back from collaborating together at work.

To be ON PURPOSE means to live your life forward to your original design. Or maybe for most of us it means to go back to your original design.  To become what you were meant to be!   The laws of purpose mean the following to me:

1. You cannot at any time pin purpose to a place and say that I have arrived, I am there.  You are continuously busy to find the purpose in your life and it will become clearer as you move forward (advance) and go towards it.  It will not come to you,  you will have to go towards it! 2. It is not what you are doing, but how you are doing it that really matters. 3. Purpose is waiting for you – you have to go towards your purpose.  In other words it is already there – just go and find it!

Be very careful how you live.  Live as though you know what is expected of a purpose-driven life and not as a person that does not know what it is.  Do not waste your ‘clock’ time.  Make best use of every opportunity you get because we live in difficult and bad times. 

Do not waste your life by living without a purpose.   

So what is it that gets us to be so busy that we don’t have any time left?

Life

-    We need a number of new skills and it never ends -    We often have to generate additional business to make ends meet -    We have to diverse our financial portfolio -    We have to connect spiritually in many different ways -    We need to explore continuous alternative education opportunities necessary to go forward

Time

-    We are busy seven days of the week, we are too busy -    We often work 8 to 16 hours per day -    Our kids have a lot of extramural activities every day -    We are on the road driving sometimes between 1 to 5 hours every day

Social Connections

-    We do not have many friends anymore or spend time with our friends -    We do not have time or energy to spend with our families -    We often need to ‘buy’ a relationship with our kids

Availability

• We have to be available 24/7.  Cell phones do not provide you any privacy if you do not make a decision to sometimes switch them off • TV / internet is getting worse as we spend more time on both • We watch reality TV shows instead of living a real life • Everything has got to happen with speed.  Things are happening too slow or we just do not have enough time for everything we would like to do.   • You isolate yourself because you want to protect yourself and your time We are impatient and in a hurry and this often leads to frustration e.g. road rage

The question is:  where is the locus of control in your life?  Is it the stuff around you that control your life or is it what is on the inside that really counts?  Things like your convictions, values, meaning and beliefs. 

I guess we have become so busy that we have a ‘blindness’ for the opportunities that is all around us every day.  That is the stuff we actually want to do more of and for this we need to open our eyes.

Four things we could try to live by and focus on more:1. Insight into reality – what is really happening to us and the most important people in our lives? 2. A quality life – we need to create more balance and for this learn to say ‘no’ 3. Gratitude – to live our lives with more thankfulness,  joy and enthusiasm 4. Do the right things – to focus on what really matters, to do less but do it as good as you possibly can, to make everyday and everything that you do in that day a success

You may reprint this article as long as you leave it as is and credit the author: Callie Roos is a motivational speaker specialising in leadership, motivation and team building. www.onpurpose.co.za

Have we reverted to a jungle-life where only the fit will survive? Callie Roos covers the laws of survival.

Two colleagues and I went to the United States where we visited a number of thriving communities and businesses. There was one crucial question that we asked: Why is it that you guys are doing ok? Since our main objective was to identify and learn from the criteria that make individuals, businesses and communities successful, we only focused on those whom we perceived as winners.

The common Denominators

In all the places we visited, we found a common denominator inherent in every success story.

• Winners understand the power of vision. They know where they are going and they continuously reinforce that dream.
• They all have an outward focus. They don’t exist for themselves. They believe that they can make the world a better place and are willing to commit resources to make it happen.
• They believe in leadership at all levels, without being control freaks.
• The organisations we looked at were all value-driven. The most significant value in their culture was that of excellence. The leaders had raised their expectations to a level, which they believed denoted success. They believed that the standards they had set were within everyone’s reach. The norm in these organisations is that, if you don’t like the height of the bar – leave.

The Laws of Survival

In one of my seminars “Life beyond Hope” I teach what I call the “Laws of Survival”. These are the fundamental laws that we need to survive and thrive as “Hope-A-Holics” in our personal, community and business lives.

• Excellence through Belief: Is just one of these laws – the law that says believe that you are capable of being the best in everything you do.

I have learnt what constitutes success the hard way. For me, excellence is not something that one achieves simply by doing one of two things. It has to be a mindset that you follow, which shapes the way you perceive things. Past experience has taught me that beliefs are the most powerful force necessary for creating something good in life. When you believe that you are capable of achieving excellence, your belief becomes the driver that helps you get where you want to go. Positive beliefs not only help you to see what you want out of life, they also release the energy that you need to get there.

Whilst I was in the US, I thought about all the negative beliefs concerning the future of our own country, which hold so many South Africans captive. The bottom line is that in order to motivate others to help us initiate workable, positive change in South Africa, we need to begin replacing negative perceptions with positive beliefs.

The same holds true for transforming our businesses or personal life arenas. Therefore if we all focus on modeling excellence, we will inspire the people around us to do the same, and ultimately we’ll all become more successful as a result.

• Freedom to Choose: Essentially, your beliefs are a matter of freedom of choice. The second “Law of Survival” is centered on a principle, which implies that our life choices are rooted in our freedom to make those choices. As a result, we also have to be prepared to take responsibility for the outcome of those choices. Fortunately, it’s never too late to change the way we think, and consequently each one of us has the power to change the way we live our lives.

Becoming a “Hope-A-Holic” begins with changing the way you think. Everything that man has created is capable of undergoing positive change. Model excellence and strive to be the best in everything you undertake, every day of your life. Do the best you can for more than thirty days, and then let me know what happens.

One of my daughter’s and I undertook a six-hour hike through the Waterberg Mountains a few years ago. The temperature was forty degrees that day and the going was tough. When it looked as if my daughter was ready to throw in the towel, I sat her down for a few moments and convinced her that her level of fitness and stamina had made her the stronger climber. I told her that I was relying on her to help me over the worst hurdles. To be honest, halfway through our journey, I realised that the belief I had instilled in her was pretty close to the truth, (after all I am getting older!). By the time we reached the end, she had acquitted herself like a champion. She literally glowed with the sense of fulfillment that arises when you succeed in overcoming a great challenge. In the next few weeks she participated in a number of athletic events at school and I knew that she will outperform herself, simply because of what she gained from the experience of believing that she was capable of conquering mountains.

Most folks are just about as happy as they make up their minds to be! (Abraham Lincoln)

When you can’t change others, change yourself so advises Callie Roos in this article.

There was a time in my life when I wanted to change the whole world. I believed that if I could encourage people to change their behaviour I would succeed in making the world a better place. Today, I realise that this was not the way to go. Change has to begin from within. It was Mahatma Gandhi who said, “We must be the change we want in the world”, and having applied that principle to my own life over the years, I recognise that by changing myself, I have added value to the world in which I live.

Instinct versus Choice

Every year when the plains in Central Africa dry up I follow the wildebeest as they migrate northwards from Tanzania across the Serengeti Plain and through the woodlands up to the Masai Mara Reserve. When the grazing in the Mara has been exhausted, the herds head southwards again, returning to the plains where it all started. Nothing changes from year to year, as one and a half million wildebeest embark on a journey, where two hundred and fifty thousand are destined to die. In the course of every migration, they still try to cross the river at the same places. Each year the banks on the other side become slippery, and when young calves are separated from their mothers, they often fall into the water and drown, or get taken out by marauding lions or big crocodiles. They never change their pattern; I know that animals operate on instinct, rather than on premeditated choice. Unlike humans they do not have the capacity to build bridges or erect tollgates that could limit the number of lions passing through.

It is this essential difference, which separates man from beast. We have risen to the top of the top of the food chain by virtue of our ability to make choices, as opposed to living our lives simply on the basis of instinct. Our freedom of choice is what makes change possible.

In the heart of the African bush, people sometimes lose their lives, by selectively ignoring the one thing that could have enabled them to survive. Here in the urban jungle, people die spiritually and emotionally, when they lose the ability to hope or envision a brighter future. Cynicism and despair have a way of making us forget that we have been equipped with a life-sustaining tool, which is found in our capacity to think and take responsibility for our choices. More often than not we drown, when we fail to exercise this ability. Life is an ongoing process of learning, growth and making changes. Those individuals, who choose to ignore this, are destined to live their lives as wildebeest and make the same mistakes over and over again.

Escaping the Wildebeest Legacy

Whenever I ask the groups of people I speak to if they want to change their lives to become better fathers, mothers or leaders, they all respond with a resounding ‘yes’. Yet, they don’t always recognise that improvement is driven by change. Unfortunately, none of the so-called experts on change can claim to have discovered a step-by-step guide on how to achieve it. This is because essentially, each one of us is responsible for initiating the changes that will make the diverse and individual worlds we inhabit, better places. In a nutshell, if you don’t like the world that you have created for yourself, change it or accept that everything will remain the same. Acknowledge that you will encounter the equivalent of slippery banks, marauding lions or crocodiles along the way, and believe in your ability to find a route around every obstacle.

When I began my career as a professional speaker and life coach, I saw my task as going into a business to facilitate its core processes relating to vision, mission, values and strategies. At the time, I naively believed that once these were firmly entrenched, people would change their attitudes and behavioural patterns. Experience has taught me otherwise. Today, I begin in reverse, because I’ve recognised the importance of change from within. I know that if I change, I stand more change of motivating the teams I work with to change as well. Individual acts of change create a ripple effect that becomes the catalyst for transformation within a business or an organisation. In short, they are the key to making the world a better place.

I don’t believe that our creator ever intended us to live our lives in mediocrity or discontent. Why else would we have been endowed with the gift of freedom of choice? Each one of us has the power and the right to choose a path of excellence, especially since we only have this lifetime to invest our potential and reap the dividends that it yields.

My own various life experiences have shaped the person I have become and proved beyond a shadow of doubt that I am responsible for creating my own happiness. As Abraham Lincoln so wisely observed, “Most folks are just about as happy as they make up their minds to be”. Therefore, I acknowledge that every choice I make determines the outcome of my mission to live a purposeful and contented life.

We all need to understand and identify our individual purpose on this planet. The change the world and make a significant contribution to the societies and communities in which we live and operate, we need to commit to a goal this is bigger than ourselves.

Worth noting:

• Making an indelible imprint or leaving an everlasting legacy, begins with recognising what you have to give and feeling good about yourself.
• People who are not okay with themselves will find it almost impossible to be comfortable with others.
• You are the starting point. No other person can change your life or make crucial choices for you.
• The changes you make can only come from within.

Now is the time to begin. Yesterday has gone, tomorrow has yet to come, today provides an immediate opportunity to set things in motion.

Please think about the words by Peter Senge, one of THE world guru’s on leadership today, from your perspective as leader, and as follower:

“In the West we tend to think of leadership as a quality that exists in certain people. This usual way of thinking has many traps. We search for individuals with leadership potential, rather than developing the leadership potential in everyone.  We are easily distracted by what this or that leader is doing, by the melodrama of people in power and others trying to wrest it from them. When things are going poorly, we blame the situation on incompetent leaders, thereby avoiding any personal responsibility. When things become desperate, we can easily find ourselves waiting for a great leader to rescue us. Through all of this, we totally miss the bigger question: ‘What are we, collectively, able to create?’

Leadership exists when people are no longer victims of circumstances but participate in creating new circumstances … That is the real gift of leadership. It is not about positional power; it is not about accomplishments; it is ultimately not even about what we do. Leadership is about creating a domain in which human beings continually deepen their understanding of reality and become more capable of participating in the unfolding of the world.

Ultimately, leadership is about creating new realities… Most of us aren’t very good at perceiving reality as it is. Most of what we ”see” is shaped by our impressions, our history, our baggage and our preconceptions. We can’t see people as they really are because we are too busy reacting to our own internal experiences of what they invoke in us, so we rarely actually relate to reality.  We mostly relate to internal remembrances of our own history, stimulated and evoked by whatever is externally before us… If we could only see reality more as it is, it would become obvious what we need to do. We wouldn’t be acting out of our own histories, or our own needs, or our own purely reactive interpretations. We would see what is needed in the moment. We would do exactly what is required of us, right now, right here.”

Senge then ends by quoting Einstein: “The world we have created is a product of our way of thinking.”