A lot of people are asking me, "how is your business?" My business is flourishing. Why? I have always been able to be calm in the midst of chaos and navigate the chaos to create my own reality. Because I pay attention to history and can determine patterns, what is going on in the world economic is not surprising to me. If you pay attention to history, you can predict the future. Life and economics is cyclical. One rule stays constant through all cycles. There are always opportunities to generate business.

If you pay attention, even fashion repeats itself. However, there are certain classic styles that remain constant and true. You must trust your inner guidance system as to what is true and valid and navigate the times of uncertainty using that compass. I never followed trends. I set them by sticking to what I personally liked. I like classic styles that are timeless. That has helped me create fashion that transcends time and trends. I also was able to predict new market opportunities with my existing resources and infrastructures.

Warren Buffet did this in the 90's during the internet boom. People who studied and adhered to Buffet's style of investing jumped ship and bought technology stocks. Buffet did not invest in these inflated technology stocks. He knew that they were being hyper-valued. Buffet refers to his "Inner Scorecard' that kept him from investing in stocks that did not make sense to him. In the book, "The Snowball: Warren Buffet and the Business of Life" by Alice Schroeder (2008), Buffet is quoted, “I feel like I’m on my back, and there’s the Sistine Chapel, and I’m painting away. I like it when people say, ‘Gee, that’s a pretty good-looking painting.’ But it’s my painting, and when somebody says, ‘Why don’t you use more red instead of blue?’ Good-bye. It’s my painting. And I don’t care what they sell it for. The painting itself will never be finished. That’s one of the great things about it. The big question about how people behave is whether they’ve got an Inner Scorecard or an Outer Scorecard. It helps if you can be satisfied with an Inner Scorecard."

During this time, bricks and mortars companies were earning money but were valued less by the think tanks than the internet versions of these companies that were losing money. That didn't make sense to Buffet, and he did not waiver.

What does your Inner Scorecard tell you? Some of the greatest corporate dynasties were birthed during the great depression. After the internet bubble burst, investors were scared to invest in internet companies, but companies like Amazon have survived and flourished. I suggest you don't listen to the noise and join the chaos. Business opportunities can be found by living life and by working in your fields of expertise. This is the time to innovate. This is the time to create the future for the generations to come. 2011-09-16 17:02:10 http://www.belizadesign.com/blog/2011/08/p4/ Witnessing the latest stalemate in the discussions around our nation’s budget inspired me to remember situations where I have had to collaborate with one or more parties where the ability to come to a common ground seemed near impossible. This is especially the case while conducting business internationally. I would witness very well-meaning people not be able to work beyond their differences, even though their highest-level goals and intentions were all in alignment.

Parties would focus more on being “right” then on working towards the goal that was right for the team, group, or business. The stakeholders would get lost in the details of what was being discussed and lose sight of the overarching goal. Competition would win over cooperation and meetings become chaotic and emotional.

Over time, I developed a method to help navigate these obstacles that commonly occur when working together towards a common goal.

The first step was to normally re-frame the intention of the group’s work together. Instead of using the word “negotiate”, I always used the word “collaborate”. The word “negotiate” immediately sets the context that stakeholders are approaching each other from a point of difference where they will need to work to resolve these differences to reach a middle ground. The word “collaborate” focuses on the commonalities between parties. When parties collaborate, they immediately start out working jointly together towards an endeavor. This one small step in re-framing the tone and intention jump-started the momentum of each group’s ability to communicate with each other and build on each other’s ideas and visions.

Many times when parties are required to work together, they represent a department, a company, a belief, a “side” to an endeavor. Just taking a moment to lower the defenses of each stakeholder to focus on their commonalities and the common thread that brought them together really helps to create authentic connections and respect amongst the individual stakeholders. If individuals are authentically choosing the same goals and choose to work together because they authentically share the same values, they authentically appreciate each other and support each other. Re-framing the focus to an environment of collaboration/cooperation vs. negotiation/competition helps to create an authentic and productive co-creative environment.

In addition, I realized how important it was to foster respect, compassion, and empathy within the group. The worst situations I witnessed involved anger, emotional outbreaks, and even name-calling. It was important to make sure to remind everyone in the room that we are all well intentioned sentient human beings that deserve respect from each other. It was important that we validated each other’s ideas, thoughts, and beliefs even if we did not necessarily agree with them. Allowing stakeholders a safe forum to explain their rationale behind or leading up to their ideas or beliefs created a classroom where people from different backgrounds and cultures could learn from each other. It was critical to approach each other with compassion because that would lower our defenses and judgment and help the group more easily reach a consensus and even evolve in the process. I coined this approach, “Compassionate Collaboration”.

This approach focuses on the emotional aspect of working with others. I believe emotions are great in the work place as long as they are helping fuel the creative process through passion. Emotional Intelligence is critical in successful “Compassionate Collaboration” because we are able to identify, understand, and manage our own emotions and are enabled and empowered to do the same with those we are working with.

The following are 6 easy tips I have found very helpful in rallying stakeholders in a collaborative effort to avoid a stalemate.

1. Define the common goal. What are you trying to accomplish as a group? It is more difficult to argue the “highest good” goal than it is the detailed activities and tasks proposed to achieve the goal. Having the goal clearly defined is a great way to bring the collaborative efforts back to focus.

2. Take initiative. Be brave. Share authentically your thoughts. Some of the best and innovative ideas and inventions were shots in the dark.

3. Be compassionate and respectful when providing feedback on each party’s ideas and thoughts. Don’t just throw out an idea if it seems foreign or far-fetched to you. Respect the new ideas. Out of these new ideas, evolution often occurs.

4. Listen with your heart. Try to understand the intent or rationale behind statements. Don’t listen only with your brain and analyze the grammar and semantics; this is especially helpful when dealing with parties from different backgrounds and cultures. Remember, don’t get lost in the weeds.

5. Above all, remember that you are all together to work toward a common goal. You are all human beings and the underlying motive is to do the best thing for the group. Understanding that will lessen the chance of fear-based reactions such as judgment, ridicule, and anger.

6. Stay out of the Drama Triangle: Persecutor, victim, hero. The Drama Triangle is a psychological model of dysfunctional social interaction where the focus is redirected from personal accountability to blame, defense and rescue. The Drama Triangle model illustrates a power game that involves three different but tightly related roles. When team members are authentic, accountable, and align to non-dualistic thinking, (right vs. wrong) the drama triangle dynamic ceases to be the default model of social interaction 2011-08-12 11:43:52 http://www.belizadesign.com/blog/2011/06/p3/ Please check out our new Gold Ionic Plated Stainless Steel jewelry and accessories. We now have Gold Ionic Plated Stainless Steel earrings, cufflinks, dog tags and pendants! These new items feature the classic University of Michigan Block M Logo. The indicia featured on these products are registered trademarks of the respective College or University. 2011-06-20 14:03:44 http://www.belizadesign.com/blog/2011/03/p2/ Beliza Design has great quality items! Their jewelry is one of a kind. 2011-03-07 13:14:10 http://www.belizadesign.com/blog/2010/04/p1/ We're very excited to bring to you all things ``Beliza'' including random factoids about our team, our company, our town, our thoughts about this, that, and the other as well as our awesome office mascot, Oscar the amazing shorkie!

2010-04-01 07:42:23