Dominique Dennery - The Art of Transformation

Yesterday another head emerged... in clay. This time a woman, as timeless as the male head I sculpted last week. The male is now covered in plaster and will become a black cement carving that will last a few lifetimes, unless it is destroyed. Humbling to think that an object you create will survive you and possibly survive a few generations of offspring. Will anyone find beauty in it a century from now?

With the interesting distraction of the plaster process, I was not able to finish the female, and must leave it for a week as I set off for an Ayurvedic retreat. I am looking forward to experiencing this alternative medicine that has been practised much longer than our Western one. I expect I will learn much about my body type, food requirement and energy etc. There will be yoga - hopefully not too early in the morning. Actually, I know that is wishful thinking as most yoga practitioners are of the irritating early bird variety! Once up, I will reconcile myself with the fact that I can swim, breathe fresh ocean air, read and snooze.

Back to the heads. What I realize when I sculpt is that I am speaking to myself in a language that escapes my intellect, which surely is a good thing! It's a language that is not anchored in time and space, that has nothing to do with my everyday life and small irritations. What I can decipher is an invitation to explore and discover more about deeper images in the psyche, and follow guideposts to some other reality. The images that come so easily to the surface are like ancient drums echoing. What I know --from where, I don't know -- is that each sculpture is a word in a long poem that will reveal its significance one day when I am ready.

Well, what can I say, this ancient civilization is starting to affect me in more ways then one!

Labels: alternative medicine, Ayurvedic, psyche, yoga

Everytime I sculpt, I am surprised by what comes out of my fingers. Always at first the nagging doubt, the thought that the ease with which shapes emerge from the wet clay is an accident, a fluke. What if the flow stops and the earth stays mute? I am grateful that whatever guides my hands was there again Friday, ready for my first date with sculpting in a year.

An auspicious day, the Sri Lankans would say, no rain, a light breeze under the tree where I take my material. The teacher is a generous soul, a famous artist who transmits his knowledge and gives his time. It is hard to understand why I took so long to call and find my way to his class. I had heard about him months ago. What was I fearing? What would I have to acknowledge?

Everything seems easy. The Atelier is perfect. The schedule is simliar to what I experienced in David Clendenning's class at the School of Art in Ottawa. You work at your own rythm, three hours at a time. The teacher is called 'Sir' here in Colombo. He stops here and there to encourage and correct.

This space under the trees with its water basin and large blocks of stone seems timeless, as if this Atelier has been there since the dawn of time. I pile clay onto an armature and spend a magical hour creating an African head, larger than life . The teacher takes me aside; he is pleased. Proportions are good he says. You need to work on a series, he adds. I know these things, he concludes. These few words resonate with me for a long time.

I will post pictures from my next class.

Je viens de terminer Vers un capitalisme féminin, le petit livre de Rafik Smati (Éditions Eyrolles), le fondateur de Dromadaire.com et suis emballée! Évidemment, ce n'est pas surprenant qu'une femme d'affaires s'identifie au discours de ce jeune visionnaire, mais je crois que toute femme leader pourrait bénéficier de cette lecture.

Smati utilise son bel esprit de synthèse pour parler de l'excès de testostérone (sic!) qui met actuellement la planète en danger (finances, environnement, éthique) et de l'importance de l'influence du principe féminin pour notre avenir commun. Féminin n'équivaut pas nécessairement à femme. Il parle d'Obama comme un président féminin compte tenu de ses valuers participatives et de l'accent sur les enjeux énergétique et biomédicaux à long terme plutôt que sur la prise de risque pour des gains à court terme. Il met au banc des accusés les chefs d'entreprise salariés d'élite (pensons BP!)dont le sort n'est en rien lié au succès de l'entreprise. Il contraste aussi l'esprit de conquête démesuré des Traders à l'approche raisonnée, au service de la concorde qu'il qualifie de capitalisme féminin. Le facteur féminin pourrait nous amener à une civilisation de type 1, plutôt que de type 0 (actuellement), une civilisation qui ne serait plus autodestructrice mais qui utiliserait les énergies naturelles produites par la planète.

Au-delà de la révolution verte, il annonce aussi une révolution biomédicale et numérique dans le sens du féminin. L'internet dit Smati est féminin, car basé sur la transmission du savoir, le partage et la communauté, et qui évolue d'ailleurs vers la gratuité. Smati conclue en affirmant que le plus grand marché émergeant au monde n'est pas un pays... mais les femmes, et nous annonce une Renaissance au féminin qui ne fait que commencer.

Le livre a constitué pour moi une bouffée d'air frais et d'optimisme dans un monde qui semble se nourrir de guerres et de crises destructives. L'avenir nous appartient mesdames!

Again today, feeling confused about being in windy conditions and looking up at cloudy skies with blue patches that remind me of the end of July in Canada. The air is warm with undertones of cool, whispering of rain; so reminiscent of summers at my parents run down cottage on Constance Bay, forty years ago. I get a sense there is something for me to learn or I wouldn’t be stuck on something so small as “same weather, different place”. Something about seeing my life, relationships and life’s work as one, a continuum, as opposed to two different lives on two different continents with two networks of people.

When I speak with like-minded folks I have connected to in Canada and here, we continue our conversations as if a month or two hadn’t gone by. Because there is a hiatus, ideas mature between conversations and make these richer and more potent somehow. There is something about not wasting time, getting to the heart and soul of the matter that creates bigger conversations, and multiplies possibilities. There are also a few divides that have grown.

I have started drawing models for my book on transformation, while continuing to read, rest and renew. When I say I am lazy, my friends laugh, but I am keeping to one activity a day and the 3 Rs. Yesterday, I focused on one business activity and watched the World Cup Final. Maybe that wasn’t an R, as the match was choppy and almost painful to witness. Today, I have completed one coaching activity and this blog. Yoga class tonight will be an R, if Judy doesn’t have us do too many Sun Salutations. :)

Travelling across Canada in June was a revelation. I have done it so many times over the decades, yet this time I was struck with how clean the cities are, how opulent. I looked through the eyes of a stranger. I ran across a multitude of hyphenated Canadians (as in Indo-Canadian, Chinese Canadian, Guyanese Canadian etc) in Vancouver, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Toronto and even Ottawa. I ran into them in the corridors of the hotels where I was staying, in the restaurants where I had my breakfast, in every cab, at every counter. There were few of them in the forums I facilitated, except for Toronto of course; the contrast between the streets and the conference rooms striking me as never before.

Since the subject of many of my workshops was Diversity, I made it a point to speak to my hyphenated counterparts about their impression of Canada, their quality of life, their hope for their children and their own future. They spoke willingly when I explained that I lived part of the year in South Asia. Their story hasn’t changed much in 20 years. Sacrifice of one generation for the next. All the parents proud of the degrees their offsprings are accumulating at their expense. Some of the younger ones were speaking loudly of their frustrations, and made a point of announcing their imminent departure. Will they leave? Many aspired to a better life in their old days, having given up on the present. Almost all were denouncing the empty promises of their adopted country. “Why bring in the best to have us work in menial jobs?!”. Good question.

Their children have not yet made it in large numbers past the doors of the organizations that hire me.

It has been a long time since I blogged. I went through a dry spell as I was delivering workshops across Canada this late May and June. I had to find my voice so many times in front of groups ranging from 10 to 150 people that I seemed to have none left to share with my laptop. The computer became my enemy, the constant reminder of too many questions to answer, too many files to juggle, too many folks neglected. I got overwhelmed, and forgot to breathe.

I am back in Sri Lanka now, not a restful place on so many fronts, but a place to lay my luggage for a while. It’s my first July here, and I am surprised by the cool breeze and cloudy days. I thought July would be unbearable in the southern hemisphere. My friends in Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal have been melting in high noon heat, looking wilted in front of their computer screens across the Skype network. I enjoy Skype. My e-mails are finely getting shorter and being replaced by: Skype me at 8:00 AM EST, which is the cocktail hour for me. Perfect.

This last week, I have renewed acquaintances with some interesting people, both Expats and Sri Lankan. Many are going to the Northern hemisphere on holidays, so there are fewer of us here. The get togethers seem quieter somehow with less of us making our usual noise. I continue to notice how much room we Northerners take, not just in tourist sites on this planet, but in public and private venues everywhere, even when we number half a dozen. Hundreds of native people go by every day, taking little space, making little noise on their own land, while we consistently remind the world of our existence with our clothes, our laughter, our clunky shoes, our complaints.

Picture these scenarios: a senior professional bumping her head against the glass ceiling; a highly educated man at the end of his public service career who wants to contribute differently; a young woman, not yet 25, thinking of getting a PhD and puzzled by the choices ahead. What each of these stories has in common is the need for new tactics to manage a career in the year 2010 and on to 2020.

While many of us have ingrained ideas and internalized stories about what to do and not to do with our professional lives, as a career coach for the last 20 years I have come to recognize that the good old “folk tales” or storylines don’t work anymore.

What follows is not a prescription, but an invitation, to challenge some common assumptions that may no longer be useful. If you are content where you are, this is not for you. If you feel some restlessness, read on….

1. Old Tale: Play it safe!

New reality: Playing it safe won’t make it safe. There are very few safe havens in the world of work today. Your safety net is comprised of your skills which must be current, your network which must be wide and deep, and your intention which must be clear. You already know if you are happy or unhappy with your career, or your life for that matter. Rationalizing, while staying immobile, is a recipe for burnout.

Some say it’s a risk to move and change. Do you know of individuals who have explored new paths by staying where they are? Risk is a condition of existence. And.. .in case you are thinking change takes too much energy, think of the energy it takes to keep yourself immobilized. I’ve been there and it’s exhausting!

2. Old Tale: I want a J.O.B.

New reality: You don’t want a job, you want work. There is plenty of work, while jobs in the traditional sense are disappearing. Most employers have a smaller and smaller core of employees and don’t want more. Who wants to manage a large permanent workforce!? On the other hand, the outer circle of contractors, consultants, lobbyists, project managers, temporary help professionals etc. keep growing. Even if you have a job, make sure you continue to look for work… that you enjoy!

Recommended Read: Career Intelligence by Barbara Moses

3. Old Tale: Someone will notice my good work eventually

New reality: Go after what you want, don’t wait. You may be waiting a long time for Mr. Right or that Perfect Job to come along. The work you want you must create. The job you seek you must create. If it’s already created, it probably belongs to somebody else. Whether it’s advertized or not, 90% of the time jobs are already assigned to someone else. In my days as a professional in the Executive Search business, ads were often there to promote the organization and its visibility, or to attract high flyers working for competitors. Sometimes it was a tactic to eliminate someone the company didn’t want through a due process, or to bring someone it wanted in through this same due process. You can apply, apply, apply, or you can go out there and network to find opportunities that are tailor-made for you.

Recommended Read: Check out books and articles by Gael and Stuart Lidenfield, Jeff Taylor (Monster), or Dian Darling

4. Old Tale: I will get there on my own merit ( a modified number 3)

New reality: Of course you have merit, but you are not an island. We all are network-dependent. Your network is the most efficient way to get what you want. Once you have figured out what you want (more on this in future newsletters), tell others, get curious about what they do, go for coffee, lunch, dinner. Always thank them for the information generously shared, and keep them in the loop about what you are doing. The work, the contracts, the projects worth having, will appear with a little help from your network.

Recommended Read: Outliers by Malcom Gladwell or Six Pixels of Separation by Mitch Joel.

5. Old Tale: I have all the education and knowledge I need

New reality: No you don’t. It is not possible to sell thinking that is decades old. You need to keep reading, keep growing, and keep investing in you. If you do not have new perspectives, how can you possibly convince someone else you have something worthwhile to offer? Broaden your horizon by trying different projects in your organization, learning new skills, volunteering or engaging in creative/artistic endeavours. What is the worst that can happen? If you learn nothing new you run the risk of becoming obsolete.

6. Old Tale: I have to sell myself and I hate selling

New reality: You sell yourself every time you open your mouth and even when you don’t. What is NOT effective in the 21st century is Push Marketing, where you push yourself onto potential employers, clients, colleagues. Push goes something like this: I have these degrees, this experience, I can do this and that, you need my services and I need a contract or an assignment. Hire me! What you need instead is Pull Marketing and Pull goes like this: “Great to see you. What are you up to?... Why don’t I put you in contact with …. I have had the pleasure of working with X in Y area. Would you care to be on my e-list or linked up on ABC social media for me to provide you with the results of my research about Z”….

7. Old Tale: If I can just find my niche!

New reality: The world of one job for life, one career for life, is gone. Think in multiples, think speed dating… Kidding aside, it used to be that staying in one job for less than three years was bad for your résumé. In the mid-nineties, I was told that I was basically unstable because I had changed jobs every few years. Now you have to explain why you stayed somewhere for five years, to demonstrate that you have not been repeating the same experience five times! Rethink what you want, try something new. You have many niches in you … along a continuum of possibilities.

8. Old Tale: You must specialize to be successful

New reality: If you are highly specialized, this is an asset only if you are ready to move to where that specialization is needed. Wanting to stay in one city, one country, and still advance or find lucrative employment in your specialization may be a stretch in the new world of work. If you love your specialty, be ready to move to pursue that dream. If you love your city or country, then you may need to diversify to remain in that environment.

9. Old Tale: There is no career after you turn 50

New reality: Think Renaissance man or woman. Many talents, packaged and repackaged, updated, renewed. Often my clients’ ‘post-career’ careers occur at the junction where paid work skills and unpaid work passions meet. For example, if you love to entertain and are a diplomat, maybe a high end bed and breakfast (wait for me!) appeals. Maybe you are a poet and want to help transform people in organizations Maybe you paint and also coach professionals, so how about doing both. The best careers are fusion careers that best express your own brand of genius. And… as I have seen with my 78 year old mother who went from poor beginnings in Haiti, to become a MD, then a Pathologist, and eventually a Psychiatrist (at 40 + with 6 kids), and who is now becoming a writer, I know it’s never too late.

Recommended read: Anything by David Whyte –the organizational poet.

“Trust that what you can imagine is possible. Trust… and you will make it so.”

Dominique Dennery