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A new perspective can make all the difference.

Raising Social Consciousness

April 24th, 2012

My personal theme and goal for this year is to raise social consciousness…. one person at a time. The companies that I work with in Japan inspired this theme. They take Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to a whole new level. It is not another marketing gimmick, but a real desire to create a sustainable society for the generations to come. They support their vision with actions and resources, and raise the consciousness of their employees in this area.

There are a lot of people out there who believe that caring about a sustainable society is either for hippies or for people who are close to the top of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. It seems, however, that we might have passed a tipping point. During the 2008 worldwide recession, sales of “ethical” consumer products (i.e. green, natural, organic, humane) kept on growing. It appears that even though people had less money, they were willing to spend their hard earned dollars on more expensive products by companies that they perceived as caring about people and the planet.

What is causing this tipping point? …continue reading →

Risky?

April 24th, 2012

I just got back into skiing after a few decades of absence and this created an interesting discussion. Thomas, my boyfriend, has been skiing since he was four and is an excellent backcountry skier. He is about to go Cat skiing (off-trail, downhill skiing that is accessed by a snowcat) in British Colombia. I took the opportunity to schedule a trip to go cave diving in Florida. From my perspective, not being that familiar with the snowy mountain world, his activities sound very risky: you have no control over the snow conditions, there are crevices and anything (specifically you) can set of an avalanche. From his perspective, putting yourself in an underwater cave sounds insanely risky. …continue reading →

Global Communication

April 18th, 2012

I was in Madrid last week and from there I flew to Tokyo where I’m right now for work. The workshop has forty people from approximately 12 different countries. My stay in Madrid and Japan inspired me to write this blog.

Communication studies have shown that when we communicate the majority of the message is conveyed non-verbally thus through body language and vocal intonation. It still fascinates me to see good English speakers, especially native ones, speaking in front of a group clueless of the fact that the majority of the people has NO CLUE what they are saying since they are talking way to fast, are using slang or acronyms. Even in Japan that has the reputation that their people’s facial expressions are stoic, …continue reading →

Explorations Lessons

April 18th, 2012

I just finished the book Blind Decent of James Tabor. It came highly recommended by a good friend of mine. The book tells the story of two explorers, one American and one Russian, trying to find the deepest cave in the world, one in Mexico and one in the former Soviet republic of Georgia. The friend recommended it to me since I am a cave diver but this is a totally different level of exploration and diving. It gives me goose bumps.

What struck me the most is how “dry” caving is one of the last frontiers.  It is probably a project manager’s worst nightmare. The amount of planning and preparedness that is needed to just get everybody back alive, let alone be successful in exploring virgin cave territory is mind-boggling. …continue reading →

Wellbeing for the Body

April 18th, 2012

I must say that keeping up my body’s well being this year has been a challenge. I have spent most of this year on the road for work and since my new love lives on a different continent I am now also traveling between homes.

Before all the travel, my routine was 4 to 5 Bikram yoga classes per week (1.5 hr each) and since I live in San Francisco, I normally walk to any destination that is within a 45min walk instead of taking the car. That combined with healthy food, meant that both my body and mind were in a great state. It has been proven that being active improves your state of mind as well. It definitely works for me. In addition, my body punishes me for not being active with all kind of aches especially my back. …continue reading →

A Matter of Perspective

April 18th, 2012

Still being sore of my hike up Mt. Kinabalu last weekend, I was realizing how much our perspective drives our experiences and in the end our life.  Having done a lot of research on what to expect when climbing the mountain, I was expecting it to be a hard climb with potentially rain all the way. At the start of the climb I set my mind that it would take me an hour per kilometer. When the first kilometer past in 30min and the second in the next 30min I was totally delighted on the progress. If I on the other hand expected it to be a piece of cake, I probably would have been in for a nasty surprise. I have had the same experience when climbing Half Dome in Yosemite, California. Having heard how hard it would be, I was wondering the whole climb …continue reading →

Explore your Curiosity

April 18th, 2012

This has been an amazing year so far. Right now, I’m in Singapore for work. After my motorcycle cross-country adventure which inspired my last blog, I have spend the summer in the south of France and next week after two days of work here I will be jetting of to Borneo to first dive the Celebes Sea and then climb Mt. Kinabalu (4095m), the tallest mountain in South East Asia.

I feel totally blessed to be able to live my life like this. The last few days while exploring Singapore, I have been reflecting on what has gotten me where I am right now in my life. I have never been the “sit still” kind of person, not even as a child. I will have to ask my mom but I am almost sure that in today’s day and age, …continue reading →

Escaping the Routine

April 18th, 2012

The last several years have been quite hectic for me both relating to work as personally and in a way emotionally draining. My 2011 plan was to take it easy in the first quarter and get my life back in balance. People who knew me were a bit skeptic about this plan but with minimum work lined up it looked like it might happen.

This is the very first week this year I will be at home the full week. As you might imagine, the “taking it easy” part has not really worked out. I decided to take a consulting assignment, which would be part-time but ended up …continue reading →

The Need for Agility

April 18th, 2012

For those who know me I am an avid scuba diver. The last week I took a short trip to the Mexican caves. Absolutely gorgeous!! By my return this weekend, Japan had been hit by one of the largest earthquakes in their modern history, followed by a tsunami and now is facing a potential nuclear disaster, an international war started in Libya and on the business side AT&T announced they will be buying T-mobile bringing the US gsm providers back to one.

That is A LOT of change in just one week. It made me reflect back on this century compared to last. It seems that the theme of the 21st century is …continue reading →

Clear Communication – Key to Success

April 18th, 2012

I am in sunny Seattle while writing this. A city I love when it is sunny. Mount Rainier and the Olympic range are gorgeous at this moment.

My current contract has me working on Get Well plans for the two major customers of the company I am consulting for. It is interesting to see how the root cause of many of the issues is based on mis- and poor communication. In today’s service oriented world we communicate almost every moment of the day: emails, calls, text messages, instant messages, meetings, you name it. However, many times the message is not really coming across. …continue reading →

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  • From the IDS Blog

    • Raising Social Consciousness

      My personal theme and goal for this year is to raise social consciousness…. one person at a time. The companies that I work with in Japan inspired this theme. They take Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to a whole new level.more