Really, why do we have to change?

In fact, you really don't have to change as you will change anyway.

Backwards or forwards, change has happened in the whole human history. Ironically then, change is the only constant you have in this world.

As soon as you are born, you start changing. Wait!! That's wrong - you started changing MUCH before you were born. And if you believe in reincarnation, then it is MUCH MUCH before that.

So, why to make effort in changing, really?

Many years ago, I have received a story. It touched my heart so much... but there is a point from that story which was safely kept in my memory: the point when Rose explains about the difference between get older and get more mature.

And that same principle applies to change, and change processes: you can just enjoy the changes that come to you, or you can be the change yourself. Which of them do you prefer?

Be careful with your answer! If you prefer to just enjoy the changes that come, your experience will be:

• Predictable. You will know beforehand what will really happen.
• Carefree. You won't need to worry about anything, just enjoy the changes coming.
• Struggling. Because many times you won't experience the change you LIKE, but only the change that comes.

However, if you are the change yourself, your experience will be:

• Adventurous. ANYTHING can happen, but it all depends on you to start it up.
• Exciting. Because you are the one generating the change, it won't turn into a worry, but a fascinating learning experience, even when you don't like it.
• Winning. When you are the change, then you will always win, no matter the results.

Now, both have advantages (although I probably just mentioned them in the second one...) and you are the one who has to decide on what to do.

What do you want to do: just lie in a bed and wait until you are older, or go there and get more experiences, becoming mature?

I would like to hear from you, write your comments, I promise I will respond to them. Take care, Marcelo

Looking for more than a job

For the beginning of the year I have a ritual I have been performing for so many years now: look for a new job. In my case, a new project or client, or perhaps a publisher for a book. Still, I have to look for a new job, no matter how I name it.

And that has been for 20 years... almost. It is not for the faint of heart.

Well, I did have a proper job for 3 months, in a good consulting firm in Bogota. It was nice to have some secure money at the end of the month, but it didn't last long. We got into an economic crisis and the clients ran away. Then they asked me to look for clients too, but if I had to go after clients, I would that for myself, not for the company.

And I had some long-term projects, which was also a kind of a blessing. I had the opportunity to work with the biggest company in Colombia and other big ones.

Still, most of the part, I have been looking for a job and to change that, I decided to start a blog to share many points of view and perceptions I don't share with companies and managers.

I feel the last 20 years of my life have been the most creative ones. Also, I traveled lots of miles during this time and I was able to create a beautiful network of people from whom I can learn and, from time to time, I can teach a little thing here and there. I can't regret.

When a person has a job, it seems the job has the person: it enslaves him or her, not allowing the person to think outside the box where she or he has to spend most of the years. Nothing against the job as it is not its fault. But why to allow the self to be chained to a chair?

What about consider any job you have - a fixed one or a very volatile like mine - as not a job, but a place to learn and to be able to be much more? What about think about the job as a way to expand our perception of life?

One of the best TV series you can watch - without sex and violence - is Undercover Boss. At one of its episodes, the company CEO was invited for some food at an employee's house. He was so touched to learn what that woman was doing he helped her with a promotion and some facilities: she was paying the house where they lived, helping some relatives who were not able to find a proper job and still able to smile and work in a very efficient way.

Expand your mind now about your own work, see your routine with student's eyes and see your co-workers as a disciple ready to learn something from others. At some point, be the master yourself and teach them the precious wisdom you have got until this moment. At other times, just enjoy being there.

Remember that job is a means for you to express yourself and to contribute to the society, but it will never be your master. And your life will just look like the life of someone who does not have to work...

Without the need of looking for a new job every year! Take care.

Gender awareness

There is hardly a topic more complicated than genders. If you are writing, for instance, you can't forget to mention both genders (his/him/her) or you will be criticized. Spanish, Portuguese and other similar languages will have to change its grammar including at some point an alternative plural as in those languages when you have men and women together, the plural is in its male form.

The reality cannot be denied as literally for thousands of years, one gender has pushed the other into oppression. It seems that for the last few years, things are changing quickly and dramatically.

However, I observe three main types of change happening in the world, and how they are being received by the society.

1. The first change is that which allows the society to adapt itself to the reality. It is not only gender then, it is more than that: abortion, right to drive in some countries and vote in others, right to be a person different than the spouse and so on. It is a kind of a huge political statement happening in the world today. And the reaction is HUGE: protests, use of force in different ways, refusal, splitting countries...
2. The second change is more related to the micro-world of families and offices. Women are taking over, there is no doubt about that. More and more, males have been losing their spaces in the reality of day-to-day life, which has had a big effect in the geopolitical organization - just think that two of the most powerful people today are women (Merkel and Dilma). Resistance has been futile, as what matters today is the depth and the understanding of the situations around. If you take the example of Merkel in Europe, her possible counterpart, the ruler of France or UK, has been almost non-existent.
3. The third change is very different. It is the rise of the soft power, where power is not understood as possession or wealth, but as an energy that allows things to happen. With the ascension of women, little by little negotiations are changing its shape. At last, Europe was not able to push Greece out, instead there was a kind of forgiveness which is the main feature of this type of change. Instead of resistance, it encourages participation and dialogue. Instead of resistance, this change can be assimilated by the other gender very easily; for the first time in History, women and men can be equal without forcing the other to be equal to them...

If you really want to keep the pace with the changes, instead of fighting against it, my suggestion is, no matter your gender, to focus yourself into those competencies that are important in leadership like negotiation, and those important in general life like forgiveness. These will help you to allow all that shining energy you have inside without much resistance; on the contrary, society will benefit enormously from that.

Take care!

And news are...

The power of the media is legendary.

It is able to raise or destroy empires. Companies, people and countries are not immune to that power, and many governments spend a great deal of time trying to neutralize those effects. But at the end, media still wins.

I lived in Brazil during the dictatorship. A school task I enjoy a lot was to buy the Sunday newspaper, a huge edition that looked more like a telephone directory than newspaper. Homework was simple, just select some special news, prepare a collage and take to the school. It was a good reading exercise for everyone. But I still remember that, from time to time, there were strange things on the first page, like a cake recipe. Well, what is a cake recipe doing in the front page. Simple, replacing censored news.

Years later, Brazilian media is stronger than never. Yes, media power is great.

However, it is normally used to spread bad things around, and normally people go to watch, read or listen to something looking for bad things: a fire, killings, kidnappings and the present economic crisis affecting everything.

And its power really created a culture. People are waiting for bad things to come. Everyday. If they don't come, there are always the gossips to fill the time, until the next disaster happens.

Then, a few years ago, that huge power came out of the hands of a few to the hands of all. Social Network has become an incredible phenomena.

It did not steal from the media - which is probably even more powerful - but it created a new way of relating what is going on in the world. And among many subjects, there is one that draws my attention.

Few years back, a 40+ woman dared to sing in front of a big public. No fame, no glamour, just her voice. It was a hit - In a few days millions of people all over the globe knew about her, and it was not because of any of the big chains: her performance was posted into YouTube. It was one of its most watched videos (and it is still that).

Hope. Motivation. Another chance. Among all news of chaos and tragedies, porn and other very negative things, the social network is helping to spread hope around the world. It is helping to make the world a little better, blog by blog, post by post.

Check it out yourself. Just tour around Blogger and see the topics. Or go to your Facebook page and you will see love, peace, humor and all those things we appreciate more and more. And if you see a tragedy, you will normally read nice comments and powerful ideas and images.

It is not a rose garden - or rather it is, as roses have their thorns too. But Social Network has created a way to show the world people love the chance to be better.

I am guessing here, but I am sure one day our TV Network or newspaper will start to show that same trend. And little by little, that power of the media can conquer the world by indicating a path to humanity where there is always something to do, there is always hope and all problems do have a solution, even though it is a few words from a person you don't know even know.

Meditation for leaders

While the world demands more and more from their leaders, a few people in the world are trying to offer those same people tools or the possibility of change to cope with the new reality of time.

I feel meditation is one of those powerful tools that a leader can use so that he can recover his or her energy, and keep their leadership going on. But how that works?

Without trying to be a scientist, I can see from many readings and from my own experience that meditating releases some part of the brain energy we normally don't use. It can be the right side of the brain, or some bad memories still stored within. That gives the leader a new point of view of things around her or him.

But it is not only that; to reach the stage of meditation, you have to relax yourself first. Not any relaxation, but a very deep one. That kind of relaxation allows the body to perform even better.

So, more power!

Next, when a leader meditates, she or he detaches the self from everything going on around. Along with that detachment, comes a very deep feeling of peace, which balances the mind. Peace is the perfect healing feeling for negative thoughts or destructive emotions, something that is quite present in the leader's life. The healing allows the leader to reconnect with other people easier and to build future relationships.

And how do you do it?

• Look for a time and a space without interruption  It is important that you are awaken and not so tired (if you are too tired, rest before meditation, or walk in the nature a little bit). If you like, use some meditation music. Meditation commentaries are widely available. Using music can also help in another way: it helps you to keep track of time.
• Sit down in a relaxed but straight position. Feel your body and start relaxing it. The easiest way is to talk with your body and relax it in your mind.
• Focus your mind in a point in the middle of your forehead. Visualize it as a small point of white light, and tell yourself to direct all the energy you have towards that point.
• You can use plenty of images at this point: you can see yourself flying above, smiling during stressful situations or enjoying a soft breeze at a beach. Those images will be interpreted by your brain and body, and you will relax even further.
• Now, think about peace. A phrase like "I am peace" helps. Talk to yourself about the peace you are experiencing, enjoy it and let that peace takes you completely.
• Experience your mind full of peace: peaceful thoughts, peaceful feelings and images that evoke peace.
• Tell yourself that peace is part of your life, it is something you always have there and you can always reach for it.
• At the end of the meditation, let that same peace to take care of your body, relaxing it even more.
• And slowly come back.

The constant practice of meditation will help even more. Just try it!