Optimism is good for you

Italians are optimistic, relatively, that is relative to the general pessimism surrounding us these days. This is what a survey by the London daily the Guardian discovered. Behind Italy (in order) lie: the US, Russia, Germany, France, Spain, the UK and Japan.

Why are the Italians more optimistic? The Italian journalist Enrico Franceschini suggests the following:
1. Italians know something about the real prospects of the Italian economy that no one else knows.
2. The Italian character tends to stress more hope and trust in the stars.
3. The Italians are being fed unrealistically positive information that hides the real situation and assures, instead, that "tutto va bene" and we should let HIM take care of it. (that is, Berlusconi).

Even if the last hypothesis is true, still, optimism is a good thing and, in an economy based on trust, can even make good things happen.

Positive psychology has developed a classification system of 24 strengths called the "values in action strengths survey". The questionnaire measures human strengths in a consistent, reliable and valid manner, divided into six primary categories of strengths (or core virtues). Coaches informed by positive psychology approaches can use the results of this survey to help clients focus on their "signature" strengths to improve performance and well-being.

Along the way, they also identified the five key strengths that most strongly correlate to happiness: gratitude, curiosity, vitality, hope/optimism and capacity to love and be loved.

So, even if the economy is not going to actually bounce back as well or as quickly as the Italians genuinely hope it will, being optimistic at least makes you a bit happier as you go about your daily life.

a domani,
E

you can take the "VIA strengths questionnaire" by registering on the site: www.authentichappiness.com and clicking on the above questionnaire. It takes about 20 mintues to complete and is free (donated by the Mayerson Foundation to the public domain). Are you curious to know if curiosity is one of your "signature" (top five) strengths? It's number two on my list (after creativity) -- but I guess you would know that by following my blog.

Would you like to know more about how to put your strengths to work for better performance and personal satisfaction? contact me to schedule a free trial coaching session. leave a note on the site, email (abbot.elizabeth@gmail.com) or call: 328 087 8207.

The edge of chaos

I love complexity. Strange, but true. Ask my friend Gillian and she will roll her eyes in desperation. Even the personality and strengths assessments I have been doing say so: "emphasizing complexity can be a motivating force" (Management Drives test), "focuses on developing complex ideas" (Enneagram profile -- "The Investigator"), "analyzes the world in depth" (Myers-Briggs personality type -- "The Architect"), creativity, ingenuity and originality (top strength with the Via Signature Strength Assessment used in positive psychology).

So, keeping this in mind, you can understand how excited I was to get to the last chapter of the book on my nightstand, "Evidence-Based Coaching Handbook: Putting Best Practices to Work for Your Clients" called Coaching from a Systemic Perspective: A Complex Adaptive Conversation. I nearly drooled in anticipation and I was not disappointed.

The article's author, Michael Cavanagh, starts with a definition of coaching as, "a journey in search of patterns". Love it (like the complex circular vector above). Then he gets into a branch of systems theory called complex adaptive systems, or complexity theory.

Don't worry, I won't explain it to you, just share a connection that came to mind as I read -- cultures are actually complex adaptive systems in that (like a human body) each part of the system is a system in its own right and they all interact in a way that makes the whole greater than the parts. It also explains why it is so hard for cultures to change, the parts keep adapting to maintain the integrity of the whole, and why it is so hard for our personal cultural systems to change as we adapt to new environments.

But I digress, what really struck me was the idea of living (and actually thriving) in a place called the "edge of chaos" -- the border between chaos and sameness in which just enough "openness" gives us just enough energy to push us out of sameness and the risk of entropy (disintegration), while not pushing us too far into receiving too much new information and diversity and finding ourselves in chaos (ie culture shock).

This made me reflect that the idea of life/work balance as an achievable perfect equilibrium is a myth. Complexity theorists would argue that steady-state functioning doesn't actually function very well. We live better in a state of "sustainable instability" or a kind of "dynamic equilibrium". Living on the edge of chaos is a "paradoxical state of unresolvable contradictory forces" and the tension between these forces "elicits creativity and innovation".

So, who wants to just live in balance when you can thrive on the edge of chaos.

Welcome to the wonderful world of complexity, and now that I think about it, the wonderful world of living and working in a new cultural environment -- certainly feels like the edge of chaos, especially in Rome traffic on a rainy day.

a domani,
E

* the image is of a complex circular vector. In physics, this process seeks pattern recognition at the boundary of a closed figure when there are no distinct landmarks (and speaks to my coaching model).

One story of corruption follows another in the news these days, with a common theme -- si fa così. For those of you who read in Italian, CLICK HERE for an interesting article by the author of Gomorrah.

Against the tide

I'm generally a positive person, even more so when I put on my coaching hat.

Coaches focus on what is working. When things are hovering around a two on a scale of one to ten, a coach might ask, "great, so how did you get to 2?" Something must be going right and if that something can be pulled out to the front and examined, you might just get some clarity on how to get to three, or even six.

So, when I opened the newspaper and saw that 2/3rds of Afghanistan is now in the hands of the Taliban, up from just over a half a year ago, I automatically looked for what is working.

And I found it. Two maps in the newspaper, one from 2007 and the other from 2008, showed the strength of the Taliban (strong, medium, low) by color codes. Two regions, or parts of regions, stood out. One is hardly in Afghanistan at all, a sliver of high mountain peaks sticking out to the northeast, with Tajikistan to the north and Pakistan to the south and a 76km border with China to the east. The other area is a small region called Jowzjan that borders Turkmenistan and is covered with low level lands.

What do these two very different areas have in common? In 2007 they had a medium level of Taliban presence and in 2008 they have a low level. They are the only two areas in which this happened. The others either stayed the same or increased their level of Taliban presence.

I wonder if these two areas couldn't teach us something about what works in keeping the Taliban at bay? Just a coaching perspective.

a domani,
E

Whose gender gap?

This post will get the comments rolling.

Sexism

The 2007 Gender Gap list by the World Economic Forum put Italy at the bottom of the European heap and way down at number 84 on a world list of 128 countries.This is the country of veline and vallette and very, very few women in politics.

Although actually my most recent encounter with male assumptions about what women can and cannot do, came from a Brit living in the US. His assumptions about Italian males, brought him to assume that I, a woman, would have difficulties working as a coach with a group of males in a business performance area. So does that mean that this job should, by fault, go to a man?

And who is being sexist here?

a domani,
E

Third culture kids unite

Thanks to my friend Gillian, my inbox this morning held a very interesting article I would like to share, "Obama Brings the Expat Experience to the White House". The author, Ruth E. Van Reken, is an TCK (Third Culture Kid) herself and writes about the TCK traits that Obama (and many of his new staff) will bring to the White House and how they may affect the way the new administration guides the nation, and influences the world.

Please CLICK HERE

Back in February, I read "Dreams of My Father" and was struck by his first 10 years of life. I don't think even he, at the time only 26 years old, understood what those years would bring to him in terms of cross-cultural skills and a truly global mindset. So, if you missed it the first time around, please enjoy one of my favorite posts. If you have read the book or know his childhood story, you can skim the first part and jump further down to see how his background informs the extraordinary skills that eventually brought him all the way to the White House.

Please CLICK HERE

Happy reading on a cold, rainy Sunday. I am waiting for the rain to break to have a run.

a domani,
E

Mobile phones to good use

I have been a very bad blogger these days. My writing has been elsewhere. I had good intentions today, but instead got involved in a USAID Development Challenge project for innovative ideas on using mobile technology for international development projects.

I guess I was feeling innovative, and I added my project to the pot. The winner gets $10,000 seed money and the chance to present their project to major donors. If not, you get some exposure anyway.

I thought, why not try follow up coaching for development training projects and do it through a combination of virtual teleclasses, internet voip and mobile phone text messaging. Studies show that training without follow up does not render the results that can be achieved with training plus follow up coaching. This was the premise of my presentation at the SIETAR conference in Granada last month (link is to your right near the end of "When I'm not blogging..."). SIETAR is the Society of Intercultural Education, Training and Research.

Check it out and leave a comment, or even better, a star! CLICK HERE

a presto,
E

Unfortunate adjectives

Oh dear. Now that I can hold my head back up as an American, I must hang it down once again as an Italian.

Berlusconi did it again -- mouth before brain.

Oh well.

I believe his unfortunate comment that Obama is, "young, good-looking and suntanned" came from a place of unconsciousness not of malice or racism. He is just clueless and unfortunately not alone.

I know a few Asian-Americans here in Rome who are struggling with the constant assumption that they are someone's maid. One is a lawyer and recent arrival to the city. The innocent yet disturbing comments of her new Italian husband's friends leave her confused. How should she react? The children of another Asian-American / Italian couple are referred to by their friends at school as the "cinesine", although they are not even of Chinese origin. It is not with a mean intent, just unconsciousness.

So, at the top of the heap, Prime Minister Berlusconi refers to President-elect Barack Obama as, "suntanned" and continues to insist that he was just being "cute".

There is a long way to go. Wake up Italy.

a domani,
E

Moving forward

I have been pouring through article after article, enjoying the energy of forward moving change.

I am a personal fan of the Italian journalist Vittorio Zucconi who has been in the US for many years and carries a particular insider/outsider voice to his reporting for La Repubblica newspaper. True to form, his front page article highlighted unique characteristics of the American people. In this case, their ability to come down from the electoral high and get on with daily life, while both political sides shake hands and wish each other well. A new day is dawning and we had better get some rest. A spontaneous group formed in front of the White House to sing, "Bye Bye George." There was no need to cry victory and denigrate the other side. In any case, they will be back, when the time is right. American's pragmatic civility in politics is what catches him off guard from his European perspective.

In my readings, my favorite comment on Barack Obama was from Henry Louis Gates Jr, a Harvard scholar of African - American history,

"People don't see him primarily as black, I think people see him primarily as an agent of change."

and that is the way it should be, seeing people for who they are and what they stand for.

God bless America.

a domani,
E

Obama-mania

As I finally got to the bottom of my emails, I found a stack of NY Times op-eds forwarded by my mother. She continues to send fed-ex envelopes full of article clippings, highlighted and covered with notes, but recently discovered the NY Times online service. Yikes, what will this team bring!

The article that adds to our cross-cultural understanding is by Nicholas D. Kristof, entitled, "Rebranding the US with Obama" "". He suggests that, "Barack Obama’s political success could change global perceptions of the United States, redefining the American “brand” to be less about Guantánamo and more about equality." "

Perceptions" is the word that caught my eye.

In his endorsement, Mr. Powell stated that an Obama election “will also not only electrify our country, I think it’ll electrify the world.” You can already see that. A 22-nation survey by the BBC found that voters abroad preferred Mr. Obama to Mr. McCain in every single country — by four to one over all. Nearly half of those in the BBC poll said that the election of Mr. Obama, an African-American, would “fundamentally change” their perceptions of the United States."

There it is again, "perceptions". In Europe, these new perceptions have been already translated into "Obama-mania".

"Steven Kull, director of the Program on International Policy Attitudes, which conducted the BBC poll, said that at a recent international conference he attended in Malaysia, many Muslims voiced astonishment at Mr. Obama’s rise because it was so much at odds with their assumptions about the United States. Remember that the one thing countless millions of people around the world “know” about the United States is that it is controlled by a cabal of white bankers and Jews who use police with fire hoses to repress blacks. To them, Mr. Obama’s rise triggers severe cognitive dissonance.

“It’s an anomaly, so contrary to their expectation that it makes them receptive to a new paradigm for the U.S.,” Mr. Kull said.

Now we find, "assumptions," and "expectations," "new paradigms," "what people know about another country," and "cognitive dissonance".

Maybe this election will force all of us to look again at our perceptions, assumptions, expectations, and especially what we think we KNOW about another country. A little cognitive dissonance may not be a bad thing after all -- gets us thinking in new ways.

Who knows, we may have a Chinese-Italian, Romanian-Italian or Albanian-Italian as prime minister some day. Hmmm, first we may need to find a few as doctors, lawyers, government officials or even teachers. Actually right now I would be happily surprised to find a few at my son's old liceo classico - venerable and oddly elite public school in the center of Rome.

There is a long way to go -- hopefully the Obama-mania will create a bit of cognitive dissonance when set side-by-side with the rise of xenophobia and its disturbing question, "what to do with those immigrants" that has been sneaking into the public sphere with increasing regularity.

a domani,
E