Cyberweek Fall 2006 September 25-29

Resolutionary Thinking is an ATTITUDE, a MINDSET, a WAY of LIFE.

Resolutionary thinking is defined as: The act or practice of a person who thinks with purpose and attitude, leading to positive and fair outcomes.

A Resolutionary facilitates communication and relationships, creates understanding, trust and ethical values, demonstrates respect and fosters conflict resolution.

Resolutionary Thinking is an integrated approach of both learning and training that can help you achieve greater personal or organization productivity. It will improve your quality of life and allow you to better communicate within all types of your relationships. The widespread embracement of Resolutionary Thinking can become the foundation needed to create a path toward WORLD PEACE and a Global Culture of Collaboration.

Col·lab·o·ra·tion n. 1. The act of working together; united labor.

Res.o.lu.tion.ary n. 1. Having purpose and attitude leading to positive and fair outcomes.

Resolutionary Thinking is created through an integrated approach of learning and training of:

Communication: Agreement, Resolution, Negotiation, and Collaboration

Trust

Respect: Tolerance, Cross-cultural Understanding and Diversity

Values: Ethics, Leadership and Integrity

Mutual benefits, common interests, shared goals; these are what drive COLLABORATION.

What are the steps to a Global Culture of Collaboration?

Step 1

Humanity shares the most basic commonalities:

(1) We are all human beings

(2) We all share this planet.

We should unite around our commonality for the common good.

What is the common good?

I think it is safe to present this short list:

• Being able to communicate well with others
• Having an environment of trust
• Having respect for ourselves and others
• Economic opportunity
• Personal well being (safety, shelter, food and health care)
• Resolving disagreements as quickly, smoothly and fairly to all parties as possible
• Agreeing on these values
• World Peace

We must be conscious to the fact that we all need to, in some fashion, take care of one another and work together to protect our planet and its environment.

Step 2

We must acknowledge and understand that most things in life are relationships of some sort. The natures of relationships are that we are either in agreement or in some level of conflict and that both of these states are fluid.

If you accept this as a "truth" common sense would dictate that:

• Being able to communicate well with others
• Resolving disagreements as quickly, smoothly and fairly to all parties as possible

These are very powerful skill sets to have.

How can this be accomplished?

Education & Training Guides and tools Application services shaped to solve specific problems

Resolutionary Thinking addresses all of the above, please explore this site and consider being part of the solution.

What is Resolutionary Thinking?

Definitions:

ResolutionaryThinking = The act or practice of a person who thinks with purpose and attitude, leading to positive solutions.

Resolve = Firmness of purpose.

Resolution = The state or quality of being resolute; firm determination. An explanation, of a problem or puzzle; a solution.

Resolutionary = Having purpose and attitude leading to positive and fair outcomes.

Thinking (n.) = The act or practice of a person who thinks; thought.

Resolutionary Thinking develops an attitude of collaboration and teaches:

• The Nature of Relationships
• Improved Communication Skills
• Develops a process to create better Agreements & Understandings
• Develops deeper skills in Conflict Resolution
• Molds a trusting environment that creates win-win scenarios

What is a Resolutionary?

A Resolutionary is a person who believes in a culture of collaboration.

Resolutionaries are individuals who approach life and business with an attitude preferring to create "win-win" scenarios as opposed to "winner take all".

BECOME A RESOLUTIONARY - Take the Resolutionary Pledge.

Apply Resolutionary Thinking - Visit The Better Agreement Guide

Resolutionary View: 10 principles for Developing the Attitude of Resolution, Directed to Lawyers

by Stewart Levine

It's not about winning or losing. It's about getting people back to their lives. Here's a primer on unlearning the craft of conflict.

During my second year of law school I had my first "real" lawyer's job. I was an intern at a local legal services clinic. On my first day I was handed 25 cases "to work on." This would be my "job" for the semester. Three weeks later I asked the managing attorney for more cases. When he asked about the first 25 he gave me, I told him I resolved them.

He was very surprised--and very curious. He asked how I did it. I told him I reviewed the files, spoke to the clients, thought about a fair outcome and what needed to be done, called the attorney or agency on the other side and reached a satisfactory resolution.

I knew nothing about being a lawyer! I had no idea whether the cases were difficult, needed to take a long time or had to be handled in any particular way. With a "beginner's mind," I found the solution that worked best for all concerned. Simple? It was for me.

I spent the next 12 years becoming a "successful" lawyer--and becoming less effective at resolving matters. Then, feeling frustrated, anxious and fearful, I stopped practicing law. I spent the next 15 years unlearning--recovering what I knew about resolution when I started, discovering its component parts and learning how to teach and model it for others.

I found that the most effective judges and lawyers understand people's real concerns. They know what to honor and what to respect. They know how to frame situations and condition people's expectations. They embody a tradition that accommodates competing concerns and builds consensus. Winning or losing is not the point of their work. Their game is resolution, and getting people back to their lives. They are "resolutionaries."

Developing the Attitude of Resolution

The 10 principles that follow reflect the values that make up the attitude of resolution. This attitude is the place of beginning, a critical first step. It is not enough to go through the motions of any dispute resolution process mechanically, without first cultivating an attitude of resolution.

It will take time to change the way lawyers think. The beliefs and patterns you have about conflict took a long time to develop. They are embedded deeply and operate in unconscious ways. It will require reflection, intention and repetition to change our thinking habits about collaboration and conflict. Faith and trust in yourself and others is called for. You can accomplish it.

This is a foundational step. The goal is internalizing the principles.

Abundance. One of the primary contributors to adversity is the belief that "if you get yours, then there won't be enough for me." This is a scarcity mentality. But the most powerful negotiating tactic is to find out what the other side wants and figure out how they can have it. The likelihood is that they will try to do the same for you. In most situations there is enough for everyone to get what they need. Rather than fighting about dividing a small pie, we need to focus on how to make the pie bigger.

Efficiency. We spend a great deal of time and process wasting resources. Often the patient dies while we are operating--the business is ruined or the assets are consumed during the battle. How many times have you seen the marital home, the only asset of a marriage, consumed by the process, or the cost of litigation exceed the amount at stake? How many lawyers have huge, never-to-be-collected receivables? We need to be concerned early on about using resources efficiently, not wasting them.

Creativity. Lawyers are trained to see issues and problems. We spend a good part of our legal education studying adversarial situations. We learn to think in terms of problems and issues. We look for them in every situation instead of focusing our brainpower on the potential creative solutions that will take care of the needs and concerns of all involved. We need to use creative thinking to figure out how everyone can get what they need.

Fostering resolution. A key to becoming a resolutionary is becoming a quick study in process design. The traditional adversarial process often makes the conflict worse. The time it takes and the standard admonition to cut off communication are not very helpful. The other side becomes demonized. As the battle escalates, it becomes the enemy. The systems are systems of "confliction," like pouring gasoline on an already-burning fire.

A resolutionary looks at the situation, and from the perspective of standing in the clients' shoes, tries to design the best process--a process that will get to resolution quickly without making things worse. Bottom line outcomes are more important than following the steps prescribed by some traditional process.

"Mediation Is not for Sissies" was written by a colleague a few years ago. The premise is that traditional litigation follows a set of rules and has a degree of predictability, while mediation has no rules ... you go where resolution wants to take you.

Vulnerability. This is not about opening your chest cavity, bearing your soul and putting your heart on your sleeve. It's about telling the truth you believe in the situation, and listening to what others say is their truth. Posturing wastes resources. The sooner people have the opportunity to share their side of a situation directly, the sooner resolution can happen. Hiding behind procedures or rules of evidence does not help the catharsis and disclosure needed to resolve a situation. Authenticity is the key.

Long-term collaborations. The resolutionary uses a context of fostering relationship. This is the basis of all productivity and satisfaction. Even when relationships are broken down, it is possible to see the situation as temporary. The worst conflicts are among people with the deepest relationships. A resolutionary sees relationships as long term. That is a perspective that fosters continuity. When you consider the cost of putting in place new personal or professional relationships, it is obvious that preservation is an important value.

Feelings and intuition. As lawyers, our conditioning is that our primary means of analysis is logic. Resolutionaries understand that legal practice is usually more about life situations and transitions that people experience. In guiding them to satisfactory results, we must go beyond logic and include the human and emotional aspects that impact the personal and professional lives of our clients. Our internalized experience over time also will allow us to trust our own instincts and intuition in advising clients. Given that the transitions and major life transactions we advise clients through are based on personal relationships, we can trust and use the personal assessments on which we base our advice.

Disclosing information. Traditionally, lawyers withhold information. We divulge only what we have to, or what the rules require. We come from the premise that information is king, and the less "you" know the better off "I" am. Anything less than full disclosure creates mistrust and sets up a dynamic that does not contribute to resolution. Resolutionaries encourage communication and disclosure. They realize that the resources consumed in holding on are not worth the cost of trust and getting to the bottom of things.

Learning. Resolutionaries understand that their goal is not to win at all cost, but to share information and discover the concerns on the other side. They hold the conflict resolution process as a learning exercise. Everyone teaches everyone else their perspective and what's behind it. When everyone shares this way, the potential for a creative result--a result beyond expectation--becomes possible. As a law student, this is what I thought litigation was about--getting the best result through shared information.

Being response-able. To be a resolutionary is to see the occurrence in a larger context. Resolutionaries try to foster the development of others. They realize there is a great cultural tendency for people not to do the work of taking responsibility for resolving their own situations and to look for another person to take care of "it" for them. Resolutionaries understand that people learn in adverse situations and they coach their best clients to be responsible. It's easy to exemplify noble character when times are good. This gift gives people the experience of participating in resolving their own conflict, and in the process discovering and experiencing their own character.

Evaluating a Situation the Resolutionary Way

When a matter is presented, resolutionaries ask themselves the following questions:

Who has what concerns? What is each person's reality about the situation? (They stand in everyone's shoes so they can treat everyone fairly.)

How quickly must action be taken?

What is the measurable loss and continuing cost and risk of nonresolution? (They are sensitive to wasting resources.)

Who is needed for effective resolution? (They want all essential parties to participate.)

How do we get everyone to the table with the right attitude? Who needs an attitude adjustment, and what's the best way to do it? (They realize getting people to the table is more than half the work.)

What constraints or environmental conditions exist? (They need to know the context in which the conflict is taking place.)

Are there laws, regulations, principles, customs, agreements or other standards for the situation? (They look for objective metrics as a basis for evaluation.)

What future relationships are essential? Who will continue together? (They are thinking of the long term.)

What is acute and needs immediate attention? (They are concerned with others' resources and damage control.)

What's the best action plan? Who will do what, by when? (They understand that the best way to get to a place is to set a goal; in the process you become collaborators and teammates.)

These steps allow you to be an advocate without being an adversary.

When you probe and listen to the underlying concerns of the other side, accommodation and satisfaction for everyone is possible. Solutions can be invented to accommodate the interests of both sides. Sometimes, strong partisan advocating for each side is the best way to understand all parameters of a situation.

You must know the difference between advocating strongly and being adversarial. Many lawyers operating today ignore the difference. Remember that effective resolution comes from relationships created from an honorable attitude. Unfortunately, over the past few years "Rambo" tactics have become commonplace. We all would be well advised to read the best-seller Everything I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.

The core competency of the resolutionary is the ability to lead people to a new vision that returns them to the real business of their lives, without the ongoing internal chatter of continuing conflict. The job of the resolutionary is to lead the client to resume collaboration and cooperation.

The solutions of the resolutionary reestablish the working relationships that are essential for business, family or government activity. They provide options that contribute to the present and future quality of our lives.

What a Resolutionary Embodies

Resolutionaries have the following qualities and abilities. If you aspire to being a resolutionary, it's time to start cultivating these qualities.

Collaboration--They treat everyone respectfully and are always open to learning.

Sense--They make the complex simple.

Confidence--They know the value they contribute; they act on their assessments.

Creativeness and innovativeness--They design what they need to get the job done.

Empathy--They have compassion; they honor and legitimize everyone's concerns.

Fairness--They understand that tomorrow is another day; winning is not everything.

Faith and trust--They know the situation will be resolved.

Open--They create trust and the presence for people to open up into.

Getting to the core--They have an uncanny ability to see the core of the conflict.

Honesty and integrity--This generates trust in everyone; they walk their talk.

Intelligence--They are smart and aware of what's really going on.

Judgment--They have experience and a sixth sense of what will work.

Life experience--They have high mileage (bald, gray or possessing an old soul).

Listening skills--They listen with their entire presence and hear

what isn't said.

Control of the process--They know process is integral to resolution.

Open mind--They are not committed to a particular resolution.

Practicality--They try whatever works.

Care for people--They know it's always a relationship problem.

Tolerance for conflict--They remain centered, grounded and fair in the storm.

The Many Costs of Conflict

by Stewart Levine

In 1994, 18 million cases were filed in U.S. courts at a cost of $300 billion. 20% of Fortune 500 senior executives' time is spent in litigation-related activities. Imagine the tally that adds up to. It's commonplace for legal fees to exceed the value of the amount at stake. Years ago, if a situation had more than $100,000 at stake, litigation was a viable alternative. Today the benchmark is $1 million and growing quickly. Following the old paradigm is very costly!

The cost of conflict represents a resource drain of huge proportion and a source of great unhappiness and discomfort.

WHY SO EXPENSIVE?

Traditional court systems, what you may think of as the usual way of resolving conflicts, do not foster resolution. Their operative premise is that someone will win. Our dispute resolution machinery often fuels the fire of conflict and impedes resolution. Worse, while engaged in the conflict resolution process, your productive activity, what your life is really about, is diluted.

The system does not foster resolutions that address the underlying sources of conflict--breakdowns in relationship. The process is not designed to get people back to an optimal state of productivity.

The current system embodies struggle, control, and a survival of the fittest mentality. It is based on dialectic, right/wrong, either/or patterns that originated in Aristotelian logic. Even though we live in a densely populated, rapidly changing technological world that cries out for systems that foster collaboration, individuals and institutions tenaciously cling to old habits.

Elected representatives, mostly lawyers, to whom we have abdicated control, sometimes believe that we can legislate ways of treating each other. Often they have a knee-jerk response to enact a new rule or regulation in response to a problem. This does not work. The standards essential for a functional social fabric cannot be legislated. What's missing are the bedrock ethics and values that were taught by the educational community and religious institutions and were fostered in extended families. These values have become clouded in our modern, mobile, sound-bite techno-society.

Because family structures and religious institutions have become so fragmented, we no longer rely on them to provide the education of core values. Many people seek external standards that will tell them what to do. People often have little grounding in collaborative skills because real partnership flows from within the "conventional" relationships that community, family, and religious institutions have traditionally demanded and fostered. Many people have no role models and sadly, in many instances, don't know how to treat each other from within a common covenant.

In a recent interview, noted futurist Alvin Toffler, author of Future Shock, The Third Wave, and Powershift, stated: "The place we need really imaginative new ideas is in conflict theory. That's true with respect to war and peace, but also it's true domestically. The real weakness throughout the country is the lack of conflict resolution methods other than litigation and guns."

Toffler is on the right track. Our current crisis is caused by both the aspects of today's conflict resolution system and the way that it is administered, such as:

• Increase in the body of statuary and case law reflecting the growing numbers of lawyers, and complex transactions requiring regulation.
• Commercialization of the legal tradition fostered by competition and advertising.
• Growing reliance on counselors and therapists who care for our internal conflict and feed our conflict-avoidance mentality.
• Breakdown of trust and the inability to assess the value of, or need for, specific actions that therapists or lawyers take (evidenced by growing malpractice claims).
• Attorneys' conflict of interest because their practice of hourly billing results in a devotion to process, not results.
• The growth of the contingent fee and a class of cases in which there is nothing to lose by taking a chance.
• The legal, economic, and emotional minefields of the litigation process.
• The myth of finding truth and justice in a courtroom, a myth that has been perpetuated by the role models celebrated on TV.

These reasons are symptoms. They evidence a breakdown in the covenants of trust between people who are members of the same "community." They point to a lack of communication. People are focusing on themselves. They are concerned about their "rights" and "entitlements" without thinking about their responsibilities toward others. This all flows from the win/lose systems and practices that are in place.

Many people are looking for guideposts and rules that will tell them how to treat each other. This requires new practices and new ways of thinking, which are the subject of this book. Before discussing them, let's examine the cost of doing things the present way. As we review the many different costs, imagine how much more you might accomplish if you could harness the resources expended, the money and energy used in the battle of traditional conflict resolution. Imagine using those resources to produce the outcomes you want.

THE COST OF CONFLICT

The cost of conflict is composed of the following:

• Direct Cost Fees of lawyers and other professionals
• Productivity Cost Value of lost time - The opportunity cost of what those involved would otherwise be producing
• Continuity Cost Loss of ongoing relationships including the "community" they embody
• Emotional Cost The pain of focusing on and being held hostage by our emotions

It's important to identify the costs of our current paradigm and examine some tangible examples. Recognizing the cost, I hope, will motivate change.

1. Direct Costs Because of an inability to face conflicts, many of you spend money you can't afford on professional gladiators hired to do your bidding. A divorce between two people whose only asset is their home can transform that residence into legal fees. The process brings out the worst in people who thought enough of each other to marry, but now can't even sit down and talk.

A few years ago I was called into a situation of two brothers who were business partners in a third generation family business. They had reached impasse over the strategic direction their business would take. They believed they had to engage in a battle about placing a valuation on their business. Each hired a lawyer and each lawyer retained a forensic accountant to place a value on the business. By the time I was called they had stopped speaking to each other based on their respective lawyer's advice. In just the preliminary stages of the "battle" they had spent over $60,000 on professional fees and they were barely at the beginning.

The rule of thumb used to be that if you had over $100,000 in dispute, litigation might be cost effective. Today that number is at least $1,000,000.

2. Productivity Cost Time is a valuable, limited commodity. When people are focused on rehashing the past, they cannot create and produce value in the present. There are two aspects of this cost--direct loss and opportunity cost. The direct loss is the value of a person's time--what the person should be earning but is not being paid because he or she engaged in the conflict. The opportunity cost is the value the person might have produced if his or her energy was focused on creation and innovation.

Intellectual Property. Two colleagues designed two innovative forms of management "technology." These processes were significant additions to the knowledge base about personal productivity and leadership. They battled for over a year about who owned the intellectual property they had developed. The productivity loss from their feud boggles the mind. Instead of many students and clients getting the value of what they discovered, their time was devoted to fighting. That direct loss was their loss in revenue. The opportunity cost consisted of the value of new innovations that might have been developed during the conflict.

3. Continuity Cost Continuity costs result from being stuck in the past--costs such as the loss of relationship and community. Gary was on a fast track management development Program. He was transferred to manage the branch office of a financial services Company. Unfortunately he could not get along with Brandy, the office manager.

Gary objected to the way Brandy completed reports, and the way she socialized with co-workers and clients. Even though she had been doing things her way for years, and even though Gary was made aware of the power she had in the local community, he was insistent on her following standard policy. He would not back off and they ended up in a nasty confrontation. Gary's youth forced him to test his power as "the boss."

Two years later both Gary and Brandy are gone. Brandy quit and went to work for the competition. It takes two people to do what Brandy accomplished, and they can't do it as well. Revenues for the office are down 10%. The cost: $230,000 per year.

4. Emotional Cost Sometimes there are situations you can't let go of: a fight with a spouse, boss, co-worker, neighbor, friend, partner, or the person who ran into your car. The emotions of anger, fear, and blame grip you and force a reaction that saps your current productive capacity. Instead of going about your business, you are riveted on the injustice done to you and the untoward behavior of the perpetrator.

You are consumed with vengeance and a desire to punish the wrongdoer. You expend energy on your anger in addition to the loss you have already suffered. All of this energy will never be recovered.

The Revenge of the Past. Randy finally received the promotion he was longing for. That was the good news. The bad news was his inability to focus on his job. He was going through a messy child custody battle with his ex-wife. That stirred up all of the anger he was holding about the past relationship. She wanted to mediate the dispute, but Randy was set on winning. Unfortunately he lost--his job. It was a position that required all of his attention. He missed two important deadlines because his mind was focused on the past.

SUMMARY

Current attitudes and systems of conflict resolution foster conflict. Conflict is very expensive. It consists of the following, never to be recovered, costs:

(1) direct cost--professional fees; (2) opportunity cost--what would otherwise be produced; (3) continuity cost--the loss of relationships and "community"; (4) emotional cost--the pain of being held prisoner by emotions.

Reflections

Think about the "expensive" conflicts in your own life. What was the direct cost? The cost of professionals? The opportunity cost? The emotional cost? The relationship cost? As you reflect on your situation, think about the different actions and results you might have had if you had taken a different tack. How might you do it differently next time? How would things be different?

Characteristics and Importance of Trust

Question: What CAN'T be held in your hands, seen with your eyes, smelt with your nose or tasted with your tongue yet it CAN BE built and broken? Clue = This is an essential ingredient to everyone's life. Answer below.

(1) TRUST is one of the unseen elements of life. It's an invisible element that we all desire to have in our lives. Without it, RELATIONSHIPS (which most things in life are) will not work as well as they could.

(2) *There are Four C's of Trust

• Capacity for Trust = Our readiness to trust
• Contractual Trust = Trust of character
• Communication Trust = Trust of disclosure
• Competence Trust = Trust of capability

*Defining TRUST: Trust is a relationship of mutual confidence in contractual perfor¬mance, honest communication, expected competence, and a capacity for unguarded interaction.

(3) When TRUST is extended it can be returned. If you withhold TRUST, others will do the same.

(4) If you extend TRUST you risk it being broken or betrayed. Just as with GOOD and BAD, you cannot truly know one without knowing the other.

(5) There are significant consequences that come along with TRUST. If it is broken, there is no guarantee that it can ever be repaired. Be mindful of this before you act.

(6) For many it is difficult to TRUST others if you don't really TRUST yourself.

(7) TRUST needs to be consistently nurtured and tended to or it will not grow or even continue to exist.

From "Trust and Betrayal in the Workplace" (Berrett-Koehler, Nov.1999) Chagnon & Reina Associates, Inc.

Answer: TRUST

TRUSTED ONLINE COMMUNITIES

Overview

"As the joke goes, on the Internet nobody knows you're a dog." (Michael Rogers, Let's see some ID, please-The end of anonymity on the Internet?, MSNBC, Dec. 13, 2005, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/ID/10441443/.)

While this joke is amusing, it is a sad reflection of the lack of trust that exists not only in society generally, but particularly in Cyberspace. WorldWide Digital Media (WWDM) addresses this by facilitating organizational reinvention and individual development. It does this through:

• the creation and distribution of quality digital content and best practice processes and systems;
• the provision of the education and training that enable people to function in a spirit of trust and collaboration, in other words, in Trusted Online Communities (TOCs).

A TOC is an Online community rooted in the mutual trust of its members that comes from secure digital identities (DIDs). A TOC can flourish when members know one another, can identify one another, and are held accountable to one another. Therefore secure DIDs enable TOCs.

Members of TOCs share similar values and a mindset known as Resolutionary Thinking (RT). This is the foundation block of a Global Culture of Collaboration. Its general principles are:

• Communications through agreement, resolution, negotiation and collaboration.
• Respect, tolerance and sensitivity towards cross-cultural and diversity issues.
• Trust.
• Shared Values, Ethics, and Integrity, particularly with regard to Leadership.

Without the establishment of TOCs and the values embodied in Resolutionary Thinking, effective Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) is unattainable.

However, as globalization strides ahead, we must assure that our ways of solving conflict are adapted to it. Both parties can be satisfied by real-world mediation, but what if the parties are situated on opposite sides of the globe?

ODR:

• will be the solution for legal conflicts in cyberspace;
• as a component of an Online Justice System takes the legitimate, functional aspects of alternative dispute resolution (ADR)-such as trust (in the process and the neutral third party, if not between the parties in conflict), efficiency, minimal cost and time, and broad access-and moves them to cyberspace;
• on a global level is made possible by the unique benefits of cyberspace-such as its boundlessness-combined with ADR.

WWDM's education and training tracks are a direct result of its mission to facilitate organizational reinvention and individual development that enable the creation of TOCs. There are three main tracks:

• Trusted Online Communities
• Resolutionary Thinking
• Online Dispute Resolution

Building Community within the Workplace

Learning in the Workplace Occurs in a Community. The workplace of the future needs employees with motivation for continuous learning. If there isn't a safe community in which to learn, people will not take the risk of making a mistake or looking less than competent.

If it takes a village to raise a child, then doesn't it make sense that it will take a community of workers to move an organization forward into the next millennium? It isn't enough to have a few heroes in your company. The demands being placed on your organization need a community response. If you've created a culture of heroism instead of a culture of community, you may not be well positioned for future success

Individuals Don't Heal in Isolation People need community in which to heal their wounds and suffering. The amount of change people have experienced through mergers, new technologies, downsizing, reengineering, etc has taken an emotional toll on workers. It is in community that this can be healed and people can move on. Without the support of community, the stress of the changes stays within the individual as his or her personal psychological challenge.

Community Starts With Acceptance In any situation, the person with the most power has the greatest responsibility to extend trust to others. When trust is extended it can be returned. If you withhold trust, others will do the same.

Remember, All Things Are Interconnected The decisions made in sales impact manufacturing. The choices made in human resources impact marketing. The assumptions made by senior managers impact customers. When you deeply see that everything and everyone is connected it will change significantly how you interact with all those "others." Try asking yourself the question, "Who else will be affected by this decision?" on a regular basis. Ask yourself if what you're doing is good for yourself AND good for the community.

Problems today are too complex for individual solutions. Most problems today involve multiple parties, multiple systems. To solve them demands that you think in terms of the communities that are touched by the problem. Any solution needs to respond to the needs of each of those communities. Solutions need to come from a community of problem solvers.