Leaders need a robust theory guiding transformation—a philosophy that causes one to continuously improve, day by day, week by week, month by month and year by year.
By Murray Johannsen
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Transformational Learning: Principles and Guidelines to Live By
The following are some principles that could be part of your transformational philosophy.
Be All The You Can Be—Advertising Slogan, U.S. Army
Theory Principle 1: Life Traps Us in A Web of Limiting Beliefs That Keeps Us Stuck
Tis better to grasp for more than you can reach — Unknown
When I was a boy I saw something beautiful near the farms' tool shed. Asking my mom what it was, she said. "That's a spider web." How beautiful it was glistening the in the sun Then I saw something a fly stuck, struggling— trapped, it could not escape. We also are trapped by an unseen web of beliefs, our careers trap us, our money traps us. Limiting beliefs and false expectations are particularly insidious since they go unrecognized.
Limiting Beliefs About the Presen
t A limiting belief is a rather insidious from of invisible straitjacket that goes unseen. It starts with the words, “I can’t” or I’m no god at.” Often these are assumptions. Someone says, “Oh, I can never learn a foreign language.” And guess what, that person is correct—they can’t because they belief they can’t. A better way so saying this might be “I choose not to learn a foreign language (best) or a lesser rationalization such as “I don’t have the time to learn a foreign language.” Of course, if something were important, one would make the time. For example, people can always find time to go shopping at the mall, but there never seems to be enough time to read a book or exercise the body.
False expectations for the Future
Expectations are beliefs about the future—some are true, some are not. Some of these expectations affect only myself, others a small group but still others can affect millions. A classic example of large scale false expectations had to do with the subprime crisis, which began, is in the late summer of 2007. At the time, homeowners expected the value of their homes to continue to appreciate, perhaps even at double digits. The banks thought that foreclosures rates would not increase. Yet, by February of 2008, Business week had reported that housing prices had fallen by 9% nationally and that the rate of decline was increasing.
Transformation Theory Principle 2: We Need to Take Action Daily to Improve Ourself
Rome was not built in a day. — American Saying
It’s just a simple step, but sometimes the first step is the toughest. I am reminded of a saying: “procrastination in the natural enemy of transformation.” Most procrastinate their entire life. They say they’ll get around to it, but they never will.
The young may find this hard to believe, but the old know this to be true—as one ages, it becomes hard and hard to make meaningful changes in one’s life. Habit also creates change the bind us. Without a strong programs for personal improvement, we tend to sink into the quicksand of routine habit which prevents us from doing things better. Habituation of though can occurs very quickly or can take a very long time.
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Transformational Principle 3:Strive to Understand The Mind
“I put my heart and my soul into my work, and have lost my mind in the process.” — Vincent van Gogh
If you ask the average person what the major components of mind are, few could tell you. If you asked them how to chang a belief, they won't know. It you pointed out they are acting defensively, they would then get angry but wouldn't know what you are talking about. They experience fear but don't know how to overcome it.
The mind is like a car, it don’t’ go if you don’t know how to run it.
Transformational Principle 4: Grow The Ego
Know Thyself—Inscription found at the Temple of the Oracle at Delphi (also attributed to Socrates, Plato, Thales, & Pythagoras)
I remember a few years ago doing a training program for a three partners who grow their business from the original three to 133. When it started, one person did the accounting, one did the engineering and the other did the accounting. Twenty-five years later is was still this way. The President was still functioning as an engineer, the CFO was thinking like a book keeper and the Director of Manufacturing was still most at home running a CNC machine.
Some Ego’s are mature and most aren’t. Just because someone is smart, doesn’t’ mean their Ego is mature. There are many PhDs who are operate at a low level of emotional intelligence. Maturity is very hard to define. It’s something that would occur before Maslow’s self-actualization or Eastern self-realizations, but whether
Transformational Principle 5: Purify and Unify the Unconscious
Within the unconscious lies many answers but also many problems. It contains both wisdom and motivation. As Freud and Jung and many other psychologists have pointed out, we have to deal with these forces if we are to continue to transform the Ego into the Self.
Purify the Bad Programs Life installs some bad programs into the unconscious., sometimes when we are very young. For example, our mother says to a child in a moment of anger, “You will never amount to anything!” contributes to insecurity that lasts through life . A father cannot show love so the daughter cannot seem to find it in her relationships. Unfortunately, many of these programs are not easily found let alone changed. Unify the Parts. There are parts of the mind that run almost as independent programs.
This is not all bad, but sometimes is in snot good since these complexes can run bad habits. For example, many cigarettes but the unconscious some day the decision to by, the reaching for the cigarette is largely unconscious—made without thinking about it. The same phenomenon applies to drinking, overeating and other habituated habits.
