One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began.
– Mary Oliver (Journey)
email: thechautauqua@gmail.com
Wednesday, 30 September 2009
Monday, 28 September 2009
Friday, 25 September 2009
Believe
I never cease being dumbfounded
by the unbelievable things
people believe.
– Leo Rosten
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Wednesday, 23 September 2009
Monday, 21 September 2009
Creative
Very few people do anything creative
after the age of thirty-five.
The reason is that very few people
do anything creative
before the age of thirty-five.
– Joel Hildebrand
Friday, 18 September 2009
September 18, 2009 Chautauqua
From the Editor's Computer
Is your company or organization based on the traditional pyramid model with the owner/CEO/president at the very tip, the supervisors/managers in the middle, and the front-line workers/labourers at the very bottom (or under the bottom)?
We are so used to that old model that often we do not see that may be there is another way to organize things.
I just read about a model for organizing a company or organization that definitely turns the old pyramid one on its head.*
Instead of a pyramid, think of your company or organization as a fruit tree. In this alternative model, the front-line workers/labourers are the fruit with access to the all the best resources (the sunlight and air that a tree needs to grow). The supervisors/managers are the branches which provide support for the fruit. The owner/CEO/president is the trunk with provides the central support for the whole structure. Cash flow, policies, and other resources are the water that enters through the roots and nourishes the fruit via the trunk and branches.
If everyone worked together to ensure that the front-line workers/labourers - the ones who the public sees and interacts with on a regular basis - was able to provide excellent customer service then just imagine how well your fruit tree of a company or organization would produce.
* From “Orbiting the Giant Hairball: a corporate fool’s guide to surviving with grace” by Gordon MacKenzie
Beth
Click here to read the complete issue of The Chautauqua.
To contact The Chautauqua, email: thechautauqua@gmail.com.
Wednesday, 16 September 2009
Learned
The wisdom of a learned man
cometh by opportunity of leisure:
and he that hath little business
shall become wise.
- Apocrypha Ecclesiasticus 38:25
Monday, 14 September 2009
Leisure
Those who decide to use leisure
as a means of mental development,
who love good music, good books,
good pictures, good plays,
good company, good conversation –
what are they?
They are the happiest people in the world.
– William Lyon Phelps
email: thechautauqua@gmail.com
Friday, 11 September 2009
Wednesday, 9 September 2009
Health
He had had much experience of physicians,
and said,
“the only way to keep your health
is to eat what you don’t want,
to drink what you don’t like,
and do what you’d druther not.”
- Mark Twain
Monday, 7 September 2009
Blossom
No person is your friend (or kin)
who demands your silence,
or denies your right to grow
and be perceived as fully blossomed
as you were intended.
– Alice Walker
email: thechautauqua@gmail.com
Friday, 4 September 2009
September 4, 2009 Chautauqua
From the Editor's Computer
I came across a new word this past week...leela. Leela is Sanskrit, and literally translates to “God’s play.” It refers to the aspect of our lives and universe that seems to be quite humorous and playful.
When you are in a situation where life just seems to be going every way but the way you want it to, and you decide you might as well laugh as cry...that is leela.
When you are in a situation when everything is going your way and you aren’t sure if you should enjoy it or wait for the other shoe to fall...that is leela.
Leela is what makes you laugh when the day is going downhill very rapidly. Leela is what lets you recognize that there is still breathtaking beauty all around you even as you are mired in deep pain. Leela is the creative spirit at work when you are faced with overcoming some of life’s toughest challenges.
Leela gives us a chance to release some tension from our lives and lighten up as life happens just as it is going to happen - with or without our permission.
Beth
Click here to read the complete issue of The Chautauqua.
To contact The Chautauqua, email: thechautauqua@gmail.com.
Wednesday, 2 September 2009
Happy
Happy to have,
but just as happy not to have.
And happy to be,
but just as happy not to be.
- Unknown
email: thechautauqua@gmail.com
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