Intention & SurrenderStories & Lessons of my life

Raymond T. YehApril 25th, 2008

Some Questions of Life

• Who am I?

• What do I stand for?

• Where am I going?– Who do I want to marry?

– What choices do I have in my career?

– What is parenthood?

– What is leadership?

– What do I do with my life?

– …

• How do I get there?

What are you chained to?

Physiological

Safety

Social/Belonging

Esteem

Self-Actualization

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs PyramidAnd Its Simplification

SurvivalCompetition

SuccessCooperation

ServiceCo-creationSimplification

(3S, 3C)

昨夜西风凋碧树独上高楼望尽天涯路衣带渐宽终不悔为伊消得人憔悴众里寻他千百度蓦然回首那人却在灯火阑珊处

人生的《三重境界》王国维 -- 《人间词话》 --

What Would you do?Some Stories of my life

1. At 18, at a Pizza parlor• What did Bob Block do with his 1st job?

2. At 37, at UT-Austin• What did Herb Kelleher do at beginning of

SWA?

3. At 51, my daughter wants to be a nun4. At 60, at home with a terminal cancer

patient• What did Lois Hay do with her breast cancer?

Some Lessons of Life

1. Making mistakes is part of life– Bob Inman;

2. Make friends– C.V. Ramamoorthy;

3. Take Leadership ( management, parenting, marriage, friendship, … ) by providing an environment for helping people to fulfill their innate potentials, which includes tolerance of mistakes– Our children, Andrew Carnegie, Watson Sr., Herb Kelleher, …

Some Lessons of Life

4. Understand the Power of Intention (Vision)

• We are operating in an open, connected, participating universe

• It must have clarity & intensity

• MCC, Healing Center, …

• Intention must be guided by values & purpose – Muhammad Yunus (Grameen Bank);

• The size of your intention determines your sphere of influence-- Martin Luther King, Jr., K.T. Li, G. Kozmetsky

“ I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia

the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners

will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood …

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in nation where

they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character …

I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama…

will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and girls will be able to join hands

with little white boys and girls and walk together as sisters and brothers…Thank GOD almighty, we are free at last.”

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Some Lessons of Life5. Commit and Stretch

yourself by doing the best you can:

• How can I be indispensable?• Pick up loose balls

• Learn to teach 15 year olds?• “My Story” assignment• Crossing the Road

• Continuing to break your self-limiting assumptions

• The 4-minute mile– Roger Bannister

• The backward high jump• Steve job; Bill Gates; Lance

Armstrong; …

Some Lessons of Life6. Keep an eye on yourself

• It’s easy to get lost;• The story of Mushashi Miyamoto

Levels of Swordsmanship:

• Sword and man are one;• No sword in hand, sword in the mind;

• No sword in hand and no sword in mind.

Some Lessons of Life

6. Keep an eye on yourself• The story of Sun Tzu– use five strategic

Arts to create great organizations (military, business, social, civic, etc.)

Possibility道

Timing天

Leverage地

Leadership將

Mastery法

「參禪之初，看山是山，看水是水；禪有所悟時，

看山不是山，看水不是水；禪有徹悟，

看山還是山，看水還是水。」

Some Lessons of Life6. Keep an eye on yourself

• Enlightenment experience in Buddhism

Some Lessons of Life6. Keep an eye on yourself

Another look at Maslow’s simplified hierarchy:

I

I

i

SurvivalCompetition

SuccessCooperation

ServiceCo-creation

The diminishing role of “I”

The growing sphere of awareness/

influence of intention

Some Lessons of Life6. Keep an eye on yourselfWatch for the wicked problems:

• Symptoms:– The problem formulation and its solution cannot be

separated;– There are no rules to determine when a solution is

complete;– Cause and effect are far apart in time and space so that

symptoms and causes cannot be distinguished ;– wicked problems are substantially unique;– Exhaustive and definite problem formulations are not

generally possible.• Daily problems:

– Marriage, parenting, friendship, management, …• Principles

– Separation of concerns, co-evolution, iteration, objectification, inclusion, and continuous improvement

Tackling Wicked Problems Engage in deep dialogues to move from Resignation to Possibilities

• Ostrich – The white segregationist government “sticks its head in the sand” to polarize the country;

• Lame Duck – leading to a prolonged, weakened transitional government;

• Icarus – black government come to power and embark on a huge, unsustainable spending program and crash the economy;

• Flamingos – a participatory coalition government which rise slowly, but they fly together.

The South African Scenarios (Adam Kahane)

•Am I doing the right things?•Am I doing things right?

•What can I do to effect the situation?

Keep an eye on yourselfA practical Guide!

So What?What do I do with my life?

• Understand who am I?– Write my story!

– Look inside of yourself!

• Create a vision for future?– Extend my story to future

gradually, and simulate future possibilities!

• Bridge the gap- one small step at a time!– Develop a roadmap and action

plans; Now 現在 Time 時間

Goal目標

5-10 year Goal

Strategy 1

Strategy N

1-3 year goal

Vision愿景

Intention & Surrender

Synchronicity

心想事成！

Life should be a flow

that consists of a series of

Predictable Miracles!