What about being yourself today?

Inspiration

Sometimes in life you have to re-charge your batteries, sit down, mindfully, be on your own and simply BE. Every one of us has different ways of doing so. Don’t be afraid of yourself, look into what really matters and what is important to you.

You are fantastic as you are, no need to change! Remember this wherever you are geographically and personally in your life.

No obligations, no achievements, no targets, simply being with yourself…

That’s exactly what I am going to do for the next days! Jenny

Congratulations ShaoLan Hsueh!

Chinese language

Do you remember that I wrote about an amazing woman, ShaoLan Hsueh, some time ago, who illustrates the Chinese language to make it easy and fun to learn? Well, she continues on her path and just successfully raised funds for her Chineasy Book on Kickstarter.com.

This truly is a very exciting project and undertaking and once I have a bit more time, I will definitely look into it more deeply as her method really makes learning all the different characters engaging and definitely easier!

Have a good start in the new week! Jenny

5 things to consider when starting your day

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In order to begin your day mindfully and be ready for whatever might happen to you during the next hours when you’re awake, consider the following:

  • As soon as you open your eyes, become aware that you are alive, breathing in and out. Feel grateful for what you already have.
  • Instead of rushing out of your bed, think about how you want to live your day and set your intentions.
  • Don’t switch on ‘autopilot mode’ when getting dressed. Remember your aspirations and feel the clothing touching your body.
  • Brushing your teeth or showering, be fully present, don’t drift away to what comes next.
  • Take the time to eat breakfast, even if you only have little time. Prepare your food mindfully and savour every bite recognising how lucky you are to have enough to eat.
  • Taken from Thich Nhat Hanh – “Work”

    George Simons: «Persons are bigger than definitions» | Baltic Artek

    See on Scoop.itMindful Leadership & Intercultural Communication

    Jenny Ebermann‘s insight:

    Interesting workshop given by my colleague George with whom I will animate a LinkedIn lunch discussion in Tallinn, Estonia at the SIETAR conference in September. He produces the diversophy games, an interesting resource for organisations, trainers/coaches and teams alike: www.diversophy.com.

    See on en.baltartek.ru

    Internal (intercultural) communications: Secret Ingredients for Innovation

    Henry Doss has recently published an article on Forbes entitled: “Innovation: Leadership is always the key”. He rightly says that if an organisation is struggling with innovation it might be focussing on systems and processes rather than on the development and nurturing of powerful individual leaders. Whereas I certainly agree that (mindful) leadership is a very important factor when creating and fostering a culture of innovation, I also believe that communication, especially internal communications and intercultural communications are key ingredients that cannot be missed out.

    Why? Imagine how many different teams in diverse functions such as marketing, sales, research&development etc. have to work together to predict trends and think about new products/services that could succeed in their specific market(s). Without effective internal communications including discussions, feedback, questions and so on, an idea will never get through the funnel and be tested in the end.

    Likewise, if the various team members are lacking intercultural communication skills, they will not only fail to identify how a specific customer need could be successfully met in their identified target market; they will also fail to communicate the creative input or idea to the respective teams and functions which very often are globally spread out and staffed with people from around the world. An idea needs clear communication and a tailored approach to market so that it can be successful and developed further by all relevant internal stakeholders.

    Of course teams and organisations need visionary and powerful leaders who are able to put their ‘creative thinking cap’ on and translate sometimes vague and ‘fancy’ ideas into real products and services adapted to customer’s needs and markets. Nevertheless, in my experience, effective internal (intercultural) communications, mixed with a culture of trust and appreciation are really the “secret” ingredients for successful innovation.

    Do you have any experience with innovation and what works/what doesn’t? Looking forward to reading/hearing about it!

    Have an excellent weekend and please follow me per mail or in your WordPress reader to learn more on intercultural communications and mindful leadership! Jenny

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    All the peace and happiness of the whole globe,
    the peace and happiness of societies,
    the peace and happiness of family,
    the peace and happiness in the individual persons’ life,
    and the peace and happiness of even the animals and so forth,
    all depends on having loving kindness toward each other.

    Lama Zopa Rinpoche – found here

    Intercultural experience in Italy

    Italy

    During the holidays, I had the pleasure of spending some time in Italy. As some of you will know, at the seaside, you cannot bathe everywhere you want (you would have thought the sea is for free). You have the choice of either paying for a “bagni” or you desperately try to find a spot where you can plant your umbrella and sit (and swim) together with many other happy holiday makers.

    Well, one day, I chose to pay for a bagni as I did not want to look around for something else (33 degrees Celsius is a bit too much for me for being adventurous). Normally, prices are indicated at the entrance, of course all in Italian with various exceptions and possibilities (like two chairs second row; or one cabin two chairs an umbrella and first row etc.). At this very bagni there were no prices written down but it looked nice, so I decided to try my luck. As I speak a little Italian, I thought that I should easily be able to get what I wanted… but no, I wasn’t as it turned out.

    Here’s why: first, I met the “bagnino” or bath attendant. He told me that I had to pay 25 EUR for a day to be somewhere in the third or fourth row. He must have seen my incredulous face as I nearly swallowed what I was eating, as he then told me that the “capo” was coming… here I noticed that unfortunately there was a gap in my knowledge as I did not watch the “Godfather”, hence had no idea what “capo” meant. Quickly, I understood though, as another man was approaching who definitely looked like the boss of the bagni. He waved me in and made me wait in front of his little cabin, where he first had to take a phone call. Mindful as I am I decided not to run away but patiently waited for my interlocutor to come back to me. I then repeated my question and to my great astonishment, suddenly the price had dropped to 20 EUR. Being accustomed to travel and different cultures I then began to negotiate and finally got my spot for 18 EUR. Very proud of myself, I finally settled down at the beach…

    And the moral of the story? Even as an intercultural communications expert you encounter situations that are not quite as you would have  expected them to be. Being open and mindful definitely helps overcoming obstacles and learning from the experience!

    Thanks for reading and please follow me to learn more about mindful leadership & intercultural communications on a regular basis. Don’t hesitate to ask for online coaching as well, the digital age makes everything possible!

    Jenny

    Everything in life is uncertain!

    It is very sad to read in the Executive Summary of the  “Towers Watson 2012 Global Workforce Study” that: “Almost four out of 10 respondents (38%) are bothered by excessive pressure” and that “Security is taking precedence over almost everything on the job.” Although the survey was conducted in 2012 and only represents 29 countries, it mirrors very well the climate that can be felt nowadays. This is not only true for multinational companies, but also for public ones and SME’s as I learned from the many people throughout my network as well as through own experience. Michael Carroll puts it this way (page 50): “Yet, somehow, for far too many of us, our instinctive yearning for creative challenge gradually transformed to the point where we ended up preferring security rather than fresh uncertainty, assurances rather than adventure, a reliable and stable job rather than an inspiring mission.”

    But, is not everything in life uncertain? Things are constantly changing and re-arranging themselves, every minute and every moment. If we accept this basic fact and learn to be comfortable with ourselves in the first place, getting to know our inherent emotions, strengths, weaknesses, drives and needs, thus trusting our inherent abilities, we will be able to deal with ambiguity and also willing to question the status quo. Finally, we will live our lives fully and we will also find our enthusiasm, innovation and creative power back. Stress, problems etc. won’t go away but we will have a different approach to dealing with them, hence there will be less burn-outs, depressions and other illnesses.

    We truly need to wake up to the fact that we are the authors of our own lives and that exactly as with high performance athletes, there is an optimum level at which we “function” to our best. It is time to turn around and start looking at our lives from a different angle!

    I can help you do that! As a systemic and mindful coach and trainer I can take you to the next level by simply being your guide for a certain while. Looking forward to hearing from you!

    Jenny