LEADING IN TIMES OF TRANSITION

Last summer, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown met with his colleagues to map out Parliamentary programs for managing the global financial crisis in his country. The process undoubtedly involved analyzing the situation, crafting a vision, and developing strategic plans to implement a remediation program. "In the meantime, offstage, increasing numbers of Labour Party members in Parliament were text-messaging and talking with each other on platforms such as Facebook with an entirely different set of narratives than those being spoken in the onstage world. The Internet had created a world with multiple channels of almost instantaneous communication where conversations outside the public discourse were shaping the outcomes of people's lives."

This example is from Alan Roxburgh's fascinating new book Missional Map-Making: Skills for Leading in Times of Transition. Roxburgh argues that many maps (traditional ways of doing things) no longer work because the environment is changing. The people we lead are like crowds in a huge Middle-East market. They communicate simultaneously, sometimes in different languages, developing ways of thinking and doing business that no top-down leader can pre-determine or control. Focusing on the church, Roxburgh notes that the old linear create-a-vision then build-a-strategy approach, imported from business and technology, doesn't work with people who are flexible, interconnected and committed to taking ownership for their lives. 

In graduate school I learned that "the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior." That is a cognitive map that worked when life was relatively stable and when top down leadership and education were the norm. That does not apply any more.  In times of transition, unpredictable change and exploding interconnectedness, we need new life-maps and models for leadership, ministry, and caregiving. These should be consistent with biblical principles and scientific data, but aware of the transitional world where we live. Otherwise we remain talking among ourselves about how things need to change, using the same familiar linear maps or models, failing to realize that we are shrinking from relevance. Maybe we need more people like the Old Testament leaders of Issachar who "understood the temper of the times" and thus knew the best directions to go (I Chron. 12:32).

INTERACTIVE TEXTBOOKS

Big changes are here if you are a student who reads textbooks, a professor who assigns them, or an author who writes (or wants to write) almost any kind of book. A February 22, 2010 New York Times article describes "textbooks that professors can rewrite digitally." Already it is possible to buy e-book or "print on demand" editions of textbooks that are constantly updated because writers can add or change content at any time. Fewer will be the appearance of new print editions every few years; new editions now can appear as ongoing updates. And with increasing frequency books are becoming interactive. Readers can connect digitally with other readers and with the author(s) at any time. Some of my academic friends say this will not happen but it already is happening with books and even with professional journals.

When I read a new book I am interested in the content but equally interested in the ways in which the material is communicated. Last week's letter described the content in Chip and Dan Heath's book, Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard. But look at the format. This illustrates some of the emerging changes in publishing that future authors will not be able to ignore. The authors of Switch:

• Tell a lot of stories
• Use examples that easily relate to readers
• Use imagery that connects (such as "The rider and the elephant" to illustrate left brain and right brain influences on change)
• Cite numerous research studies that are described in understandable language
• Reinforce their ideas repeatedly through the book
• Provide a one-page downloadable summary, easy to carry in your pocket
• Accompany the book with a website.
• Provide short podcasts that apply the book's principles
• Give user's guides (maybe similar to the old study guides) that assist in applying the book's content.
  

Sadly the book is not accompanied by a blog that lets readers respond. Surely that will be more frequent in the future. I tried this in this website and blog, designed to accompany my coaching book,

MAKING HARD CHANGES

About three years ago, brothers Chip and Dan Heath published Made to Stick, a NY Times best seller that described "why some ideas survive and others die." About three weeks ago, the Heath brothers followed up with Switch: How to Change Things when Change is Hard. This is a story-driven, engaging, practical book beginning from the well-known differences between the right brain and the left brain. The book calls these "two different systems - the rational mind and the emotional mind. The rational mind wants a great beach body; the emotional mind wants that Oreo cookie." The book describes numerous research studies and shows how change most often follows a process. To add clarity the authors use creative imagery about a rider, an elephant, and the path on which they move.

• The rider is the rational side of the brain. It sets goals, makes plans, and develops long-term strategies for turning visions into reality. The rider takes the lead for making change happen.
• The elephant is the emotional side of the brain. It is instinctive, comfortable with things remaining the way they are, easily distracted by instant gratification, not budged by logic or long term goals. Also the elephant is bigger and stronger. The rider plans out a diet, the elephant undercuts the self-control and will-power by going for the chocolate cake.
• The path is the situation or setting where change must occur. There may be obstacles, entrenched habits, traditions, or resisting people that get in the way of change.

Here's the book summary: "When change works it tends to follow a pattern. The people who change have clear direction, ample motivation, and a supportive environment. In other words, when change works, it's because the Rider, the Elephant, and the Path are all aligned in support of the switch." At first this sounds simple, but the argument is well-documented and the book is a fresh look at change and how it happens.

Here's a postscript. This book is a model for the way book writing is changing. See next week's letter.

THE PORN EXPLOSION

"Pornography is moving from an individual and couples' problem to a public health problem, capable of deeply harming the emotional, sexual and relationship well-being of millions of men, women and children.... Some experts believe that an epidemic of porn use is society's newest and most challenging mental health problem." These are words from a special issue of Psychotherapy Networker (November - December 2009) that focuses on "the porn explosion" and how counselors are reacting. The lead article describes one writer's move from being a sex therapist who urged clients to view pornography to a believer in the widespread harm that porn is causing.

On the week when the Networker arrived in my mailbox I was reading a sobering new book by Wheaton professor William Struthers. Wired for Intimacy: How Pornography Hijacks the Male Brain shows how experiences with pornography contribute to physical changes (ruts) in the brain. With every exposure to pornography the neural pathway deepens and, along with neurotransmitters and hormones, becomes the underlying physical reality of many male brains and sexual experiences. The process is easily set in motion, difficult to stop.

In contrast, "by intentionally redirecting the neurochemical flow, the path toward right thinking becomes the preferred path and is established as a mental habit." The corrupted pathway in the brain can be avoided and "a new healthier pathway can be formed."

This shift away from addictive sexual stimuli and behaviors is difficult and rarely accomplished by simplistic answers, fervent prayer or even marriage. Firm, consistent mentoring and accountability are of crucial importance. It helps if porn users can identify and deal with the triggers to porn use including loneliness, fatigue, tension, anger, anxiety or discouragement. Determination to avoid pornography and focus on the spiritual disciplines are of great value. Some men find help in counseling that uncovers and deals with the causes of their addictions. Clearly the porn problem rarely gets resolved by individuals trying to cope on their own without help from caring others. And the problem most often persists when churches and therapists ignore this enslaving issue that has surged along with easy access to Internet sexual stimulation.

With enthusiasm and media hype, Apple Computer's Steve Jobs recently introduced the company's new iPad. A few days later The Economist magazine (January 30 issue) featured a cover with Jobs dressed like Moses and a feature article titled "The Book of Jobs."  Same week I started reading Carmine Gallo's new book The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs: How to Be Insanely Great in Front of Any Audience.

For thirty years Jobs has studied and refined the art of effective communication. A Jobs' presentation is like a carefully crafted, well-rehearsed performance that tells a story and shares a vision. Gallo's book overflows with practical guidelines from Steve Jobs grouped into three parts or acts.

• Act One: Create the Story. This is about preparation - the step that "separates mediocre communicators from extraordinary ones." In this stage, communicators determine why anyone would care about the talk. They select "one big idea" to leave with the audience, determine three or four key ideas to present, and decide on metaphors and illustrations that can be used. Every speech should pose a question or tap into a problem that needs to be solved. Then offer a solution, describe a course of action and call for action. Can this apply to church talks or to professional lectures?

• Act Two: Deliver the Experience. This also involves planning. Slides should be simple without clutter, with arresting images and never with bullet points. Plan to do something different at least every ten minutes because that's when most minds drift away unless they are pulled back by something new. Consider ways to use demonstrations and props.

• Act Three: Refine and Rehearse. Take the time to rehearse. When you speak, wear appropriate clothing. Remember that your stage presence can reinforce or undermine your message. And speak to the audience, never to slides on the screen.

Some of this is not new but it's worth pondering. Whenever I hear a speaker I watch the presentation even as I listen. As a result I learn to be better. Steve Jobs is a master presenter and an impressive model, worth watching.

MODERN MENTORING

This week I stumbled on a blog posting at www.GiftedForLeadership.com where I was caught by words from an article titled "Modern Mentorship." The 32 year-old writer, Nicole Unice, argues that "perhaps mentorship has to move beyond structured systems and canned questions." Mentoring involves at least two people, one of whom, usually (but not always) the younger one, wants to spend time with a wise and trusted teacher or friend who is more experienced or knowledgeable. Depending on their personalities, some people like using structured mentoring books and programs but that's not for everybody. Here are some subjective observations about twenty-first century mentoring:

• Many younger people are starved for mentors, especially mentors who are "real," down to earth, willing to listen, flexible, open to sharing, and available.
• Mentoring is not age related. It can involve people at any stage in life.
• The best mentoring may involve hanging out together, talking about life, discussing issues as they come up, giving and receiving encouragement, but not focused on trying to meet the mentor's predetermined agenda.
• Effective mentors learn from the people they mentor. Earl Creps describes this well in his book Reverse Mentoring. I prefer the idea of journeying together because it seems more relational, reciprocal and less hierarchical.
• Mentoring usually involves trusted mutual relationships but not always. Sometimes our best mentors are book authors, public speakers or long-gone heroes that we never met.
• Mentors lose effectiveness when they become threatened by their protégés. Sometimes mentors feel left behind as the people they mentor begin to thrive and grow beyond the mentor. The best mentors cheer when this happens, keep encouraging, and do nothing to hinder or compete with the people who have been mentored.

ABU GHRAIB AND YELLOW RIBBONS

Two recent books have made a big influence on me. Both deal with U.S military personnel and their families but they have broader relevance to caregivers. Frequently I tell students that within a few years their present training is likely to seem antiquated and their work may be very different because so many things are changing so fast. Caregivers who don't adapt will become increasingly irrelevant.

Army psychologist Larry C. James discovered this when he worked at the much-publicized detention centers of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and Abu Ghraib in Iraq. James book, Fixing Hell: An Army Psychologist Confronts Abu Ghraib, reads like a novel but it's the real-life drama of deplorable conditions, brutality, and irresponsible leadership. James was given responsibility for restoring order and changing an out of control environment. Despite the author's recorded prayers for guidance, the language of this book is raw. James determined to be a competent military officer in "the still new battlefield of the war on terror," even as he sought to be an ethical psychological healer. He shares his decision making, inner turmoil, post-combat psychological struggles, and the unfounded criticism that came from the media and from some in the American Psychological Association. This is the powerful, thought-provoking true-life story of a respected professional who had to change his methods to meet changing demands.

I've never met Col. James but I do know David A. Thompson, co-author of Beyond the Yellow Ribbon. The book's subtitle, "Ministering to Returning Combat Veterans" is accurate but may be a little misleading because the book gives much broader insights into the challenges and struggles of military families. With his coauthor Darlene Wetterstrom, Thompson (who has two sons deployed overseas) describes his own experiences as a Navy chaplain and his current counseling work with deploying and returning military men and women. Of special value is the practical guidance for churches and communities that fail to see the deep needs and rich opportunities to assist military personnel and their families. This book gives another example of traditional caregiving roles that need to be adapted to changing circumstances.

JOURNAL WRITING

A journal is a notebook where individuals record their experiences, ideas, reflections, and insights about their lives, struggles and spiritual journeys. "Taking time to write (nearly) every day can provide us with a vital documentation of Christ's work in our lives," writes psychologist Donald Lichi. Journaling can help us keep things in perspective, especially in times of stress or decision making. Some people use journaling to record their spiritual reflections, insights from their Bible reading, or commentaries on the events in their lives. Counseling or coaching clients can be encouraged to write as a way to think through what they are learning or to ponder steps that will take them forward.

Is journeying essential for growth or recovery? Not according to John Ortberg in his excellent new book The Me I Want to Be. Sometimes Ortberg asks audiences how many do not like to journal. Every time he is amazed not only at the number of hands that go up (the majority) but by the "speed and vehemence" with which hands are thrust into the air. Jesus never journaled, Ortberg notes, and neither did Abraham, Moses or Ruth. Throughout most of history people grew without ever picking up a pen and paper - partly because there were no writing supplies. C. S. Lewis stopped keeping a journal when he became a Christian because he concluded that the practice was making him preoccupied with himself.

Most of us realize (but sometimes we forget) that people don't all grow in the same ways. Psychological and spiritual growth are not hand-crafted, writes Ortberg. "We get frustrated when we think that everyone is supposed to look like the pastor or the author or whoever is teaching us at the moment." Journaling is one of many methods that can help with growth. If it works, it can be very useful - especially if it does not become a burdensome and demanding task that weighs us down. If journaling is not helpful it might be best to try something else.

BECOMING AN INNOVATOR

What traits characterize innovators? How can you or the people you work with become innovators? Why are Apple's Steve Jobs, Amazon's Jeff Bezos or the founders of eBay, Facebook, or Skype all innovative entrepreneurs? An in-depth six-year study reported in Harvard Business Review (December, 2009) shows that original thinking, creative ideas, and groundbreaking action come from people who hone and practice the following innovation-building skills:

• Observing. Innovators keep learning, looking for new ideas, thinking of ways to challenge the status quo and do things differently.
• Questioning. Innovative entrepreneurs ask, "Why?" and "Why not?" and "What if we...?" They ask "if we tried something different, what would happen?" Innovators like brainstorming and challenging the way things are done. As a result they come up with fresh ideas.
• Experimenting. "Unlike observers who intensely watch the world, experimenters construct interactive experiences and try to provide unorthodox activities to see what insights might emerge." The researchers found that "one of the most powerful experiments innovators can engage in is living and working overseas." The more countries a person has lived in, the more likely he or she is to "leverage that experience to deliver innovative products, processes, or businesses."
• Networking. Innovators make a conscious effort to visit and meet people from other walks of life. They attend conferences, read broadly, expand their knowledge base, and connect with people who have different ideas. Here's a suggestion: contact the five most innovative people you know and ask them what makes their thinking creative.
• Associating. This involves exploring new and unrelated ideas or activities, pondering how these might suggest new ways of doing things.
• Practicing. Innovators do all of the above as a way of life. They don't just think differently. They act differently and aren't afraid to take risks to make change happen.

What relevance does this have for your leadershbip, your work as a coach or counselor, your ministry or your life and career?

In November 2009 Monitor on Psychology published an article titled "Yoga as a Practice Tool." The writer suggested that counselors have "painted themselves in the corner by only doing talk therapy. There's much more that can be accomplished if you integrate it with other sorts of modalities, such as biofeedback, relaxation training or yoga." The article described how yoga can improve overall physical fitness, strength, flexibility and lung capacity, while reducing heart rate, blood pressure and back pain. Recent research also shows that "yoga may help strengthen social attachments, reduce stress and relieve anxiety, depression and insomnia." Some evidence suggests that in treating PTSD and other trauma disorders, yoga based treatment may be more effective than traditional psychotherapy. This is not surprising based on what we know about trauma and the brain and about ways in which exercise relates to positive mood alteration.

All counselors know the physical and mental health value of non-verbal influences including exercise, rest, sound nutrition, music and more therapeutic interventions such as psychodrama and art therapy. Yoga often is placed alongside these methods as an evidence-based form of exercise that relaxes the body and calms the mind. But yoga is rooted in Eastern philosophies that can go beyond physical exercise and be far removed from anything Christian.

Can Christian practitioners use yoga, mindfulness techniques, and other proven methods but without acknowledging their Hindu, Buddhist or "new age" foundations? Probably we agree that counselors must move beyond therapy that is all talk. But I am cautious about methods that have strong non-Christian and anti-Christian roots. Isn't this playing with fire, especially when the methods are closely integrated with their underlying philosophies? Even if they bring positive change, this does not justify using therapeutic methods without discretion. I am open to new ideas (even those rooted in antiquity) but I try to evaluate what I embrace or use. Sometimes the end does not justify the means. But ponder this: Maybe the yoga fascination also opens opportunities for showing the therapeutic effectiveness of Christian spiritual practices. What do you think?

NEW YEAR GAME PLAN

Seven years ago, Donald Miller published a somewhat unorthodox spiritual autobiography titled Blue Like Jazz. Miller must have been surprised when the book became a best seller. He was even more surprised when a film maker wanted to turn the book into a movie with a script that would rewrite Miller's real life story to make it more interesting. 

"Every life is a story," Miller wrote in his new book, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years. Whether your life is "a story worth telling and talking about, though, is up to you. People set out with grand dreams of changing the world, falling in love, doing something amazing. But the drift toward the merely acceptable happens without notice." Even so, life does not have to be that way. Each of us can start from where we are and build a new story for our lives. Miller's entertaining new book describes how writing a script for a movie motivated him to write a new script for his life, a script that he could live out. In this, counselors will recognize the nod toward narrative therapy.

Instead of narratives, I prefer to think about game plans. Every life is like playing a game. The best players always keep learning, improving, playing. They expect challenges and surprises but they know that winning more often comes to those who prepare for the game. At my age I am in the last period of the game but often that is when games are won or lost. I want to keep playing well until the game time runs out. And I want to keep planning ahead. I think about this especially on the eve of a new decade or a new year. 

How will you or your clients play their life games in the coming year? How will they plan ahead? How will they fill out the next chapter in the story of their lives? How will they allow God to shape the next decade or period of their lives? Ignore these questions and we drift to the end or go down in defeat. 

Maybe you have seen the advertisement in a magazine or on an airport billboard. A photo shows Tiger Woods standing on a rock next to a pond. He is looking at his golf ball in a place where a shot would be almost impossible. Across the top of the photo are these words: It's what you do next that counts.

You need not be a golfer to know how Tiger Woods has self-destructed in the past month. His reputation, credibility, marriage and career have all collapsed. Like so many other famous athletes, business people, politicians and pastors, Woods apparently assumed he could engage in selfish, immoral behavior without being caught or without facing the consequences.

A recent article in Scientific American Mind (December 2009) asks "Why high-IQ people do dumb things." Cognitive psychologists and neurobiologists try to find explanations but they fail to mention that we all do dumb things. Tiger Woods seems to have fallen harder and farther because he was so famous, admired, and high at the top of his game. But we are all fallen creatures, able to rationalize our foolish behavior and justify what some among us still call sin.

That is where Jesus enters the picture. He came on that first Christmas to show us how to live and how to find forgiveness. He came to give us life that is abundant and eternal (John 10:10; 3:16). This weekend millions will celebrate Christmas with no awareness of its true significance. Millions will face a week of loneliness, gluttony, greed, depression, family conflict, pressure, and sadness. Maybe Tiger Woods will be among them. Maybe your clients or friends are there. Maybe you are there as well.

My wish and prayer for all who read these words is that you will experience an inner peace at this special time of year and that you will know the true meaning of Christmas. Christ came to earth to live within us and among us. He came to give life and direction to all who commit to him. How do we or our clients respond to this? It's what you do next that counts.

• A tribe is any group of people, large or small, who have a shared interest and a way to connect and communicate with one another. Tribes can exist within companies, neighborhoods. hobby groups, churches or professions. Blogs and social networking enable new tribes for form or existing tribes to grow significantly and quickly.
• Tribes are everywhere. The most influential tribes "are bored with yesterday and demand tomorrow.... The organizations of the future are filled with smart, fast, flexible people on a mission."
• Tribes all yearn for leaders who aren't stuck in the status quo, who don't fear change, and who don't expect everyone in the tribe to act and think in the same way.
• Leaders of tribes have passion and vision. They stimulate and empower the tribe members to connect and communicate. Even so, tribe leaders have no desire to be controlling "driven superstars intent on self-glorification and aggrandizement."
• In times of change the easiest thing to do is react (but that can be dangerous). The second easiest thing is to respond. The hardest thing is to initiate. Leaders initiate. "They see something others are ignoring and they jump in."
• "You don't have to be in charge or powerful or pretty" to lead a tribe but you do need to be committed. Tribes can be led by people who have no titles or formal positions. We can even lead tribes from keyboards and (according to Godin's book) you can lead "from the bottom with a newsletter." That's an interesting idea!

Ponder this: What tribes are you in? What does this say about your leadership? What are the implications for coaching, education or ministry?

By the way, is anybody reading these letters posted on this site? Have a great Christmas.

I have no problem with teaching methods and models of integration, especially to beginning counselors. But have we limited our Christian integration focus so that we risk losing contact with the larger world in which we live and serve? APA's Journal of Psychotherapy Integration isn't about psychology and Christianity the journal describes "psychotherapy integration" broadly as bringing together "knowledge of psychotherapy and behavior change with developments in broader fields" including psychiatry, cognitive science, psychobiology, health psychology and other academic disciplines.

From my perspective integration for Christian caregivers should go beyond counseling rooms or techniques. Integration also involves learning to bring our faith into: 

• secular settings where Jesus can't be mentioned by name,

• Christian counseling with non-believers including those who resist any talk about religion or spirituality,

• the lives of integrators who can't expect to do integration in their work if Jesus is not integrated into their lives,

• social-environmental issues where psychologists and other social scientists seek to understand and deal with neurobiology and behavior, terrorism, political fears, economic crises, poverty, difficult transitions (like sudden job loss), populations at risk, trauma, postmodernism, globalism, ecological issues, positive psychology, and rapidly changing technology among others.

• ongoing professional and philosophical issues such as the political positions taken by professional organizations or the growing interest in integration apart from anything Christian. A coming professional conference on mindfulness is subtitled "Buddhism and Psychology." Does this have any relevance for understanding emerging integration issues that our students will face in their coming careers?

The integration of faith and life includes but goes beyond methods and models of counseling. Integration is about living a Christ honoring life and keeping abreast of trends that keep emerging and raising challenges

A few days ago I picked up a copy of Atlantic magazine (December 2009) and read the cover story "Did Christianity Cause the Crash? How Preachers are Spreading a Gospel of Debt." (downloadable at www.theatlantic.com). The title is featured prominently on the cover. I anticipated a well written article, especially in a publication as prestigious as the Atlantic. Instead I encountered a rambling description of the popular health and wealth gospel that promises money and prosperity to those who put their faith in Jesus. The author attempted to argue -- unsuccessfully in my opinion -- that the current worldwide economic crisis stems from the sermons of preachers mostly residing in the southern United States.

Perhaps writers, preachers, professors, politicians and talk show hosts have always pushed their opinions with loose logic, sweeping oratory, and debatable "facts." Some are more careless than others but at times all of us are guilty of promoting our opinions with weak arguments. It's true among counselors and coaches who criticize their competitors or who try to support the effectiveness of their own work with smooth words that hide sloppy thinking.

Consider these examples. Much of the Atlantic article builds on the conclusion that a high rate of foreclosures occur in communities where there are a high number of prosperity gospel preachers. This is the old, simplistic assumption that when two items occur in proximity, then one probably causes the other. Furthermore, the article mentions prominent preachers but builds mostly on the example of church members from one Latino church in Virginia. A sweeping, cover-story conclusion then arises from a few case histories.

Some of us have a tendency to do the same. We use correlations in an effort to support cause-effect conclusions or we try to prove the effectiveness of our work by generalizing from a few case examples. Effective speakers, researchers, and mental health practitioners know better. Sadly the use of slippery logic still appears among too many contemporary communicators, including counselors, coaches and maybe teachers who should know better.

• Connection is at the core of what makes us human - "connection with one another, with our own hearts and minds, and with a loving God." The best connection is "the kind that creates a sense of belonging within us, a sense that we are 'safe, cared for, protected, and loved'"
• Control over our connections and environments helps us feel safe and valued, especially if we can control how others perceive us. Facebook provides this control and connection.
• Hyperconnection is the experience of having too many connections, too many choices, too much incoming information. Facebook communication, "short, rapid-fire bursts of information," shapes our relationships and keeps us hyperconnected -- tethered to our iPhones or Blackberrys. With attention focused on "what's new" there is little time for reflection or for developing a healthy sense of self.
• Friendships on line differ from real world friendships, even though the two look similar. Real world friends share a sense of history, commitment, permanence, connection through proximity and respect for boundaries. There is time for giving, for "submitting and taking responsibility for one another." But the more "friends" we have, the more superficial the relationships and the less depth of our communities. Facebook friendships are not very demanding. "We don't have to work hard at them, or offer much of ourselves in return." There is less room for the intentionality, humility, and authenticity of real life friendships.
• As social networks grow, we need to adapt to how we view and experience community.
• How does this relate to counseling, caring, coaching or the church? This book doesn't say. I hope this insightful author has a follow up book in the works.

What would happen if you were required to take off one day every week, not allowed to do any work, forbidden to check or respond to messages? For workaholics or people addicted to their technological devices this could lead to significant anxiety. Many of us are caught in a "24/7 on-call culture" according to Harvard Business Review (October 2009). We work long hours, constantly monitor our Blackberrys and other devices, feel pressure to respond immediately to incoming messages, and live with an "always on - always available" mentality. Behind this is a fear that if we take time off, our work will suffer, our careers will stall, efficiency will go down, and we will disappoint or annoy those who can't get us when they want us.

To test this theory, one consulting company announced an experiment in which groups of employees were required to take one day off every week with no checking into the office or other cheating permitted. Despite strong resistance the researchers pushed on attempting to evaluate whether 24/7 responsiveness really does lead to greater productivity and life satisfaction. The participants chose their own days off and there was in-depth, prior discussion about how the work could get done when every team member took at least one day away every week.

Perhaps you have guessed the results. Compared to those who did not participate in the experiment, the time-off teams reported higher job satisfaction, improved communication with colleagues and clients, better production of products, and a more positive perception of their work/life balance. Clients of the day-off teams had no complaints with the company's services and overall there were gains in work quality and efficiency.

It is easy to think of reasons why these results would not apply to individuals, including coaches, counselors and pastors -- including you or me. But ponder how 24/7, Internet driven lifestyles can impact our lives, families, relationships and spiritual growth. Perhaps the HBR article is worth pondering and applying in our own lives. God had it right about the importance of taking a day away at least once every week.

Our month-long trip to seven European countries involved seminars on coaching and other topics, visits with friends, and even a little time for sight-seeing. As we travelled, I was moved on several occasions by the evidences of so much world-war two and post-war history, especially in Eastern Europe. I have been reading a lot about the Berlin wall as a result of this trip and was sobered as we looked at evidences of the Nazi and Communist oppression that impacted so many lives while we in North America lived in peace, often oblivious to what really was going on elsewhere in the world.  

Our countries are not perfect and sometimes not as free as our politicians like to proclalim. But we have much for which to give thanks. For me this day is a time of reflection on remembrance, as I ponder events that have impacted my life, maybe yours, even though I was never directly involved.

Dr. James H. Bray, current president of the American Psychological Association has been leading a task force on "transforming psychology practice to meet the demands of a new world." As reported in Monitor on Psychology (October 2009) the recommended changes are wide ranging and likely to shape the future of various caregiving specialties including psychology, coaching and counseling.

• We need to develop evidence-based treatment guidelines and practices that have been demonstrated to work. Practitioners, including coaches, should be able to show empirically that their methods are effective.
• There is a need for integrated health care so that mental health and medical professionals work in partnerships.  
• Technology needs to be more integrated into practice.
• Professions need to address mobility and licensure issues. We are hindered by a lack of consistent standards and by licensing differences between states, provinces and countries so that practitioners can't move from one location to live and practice in another.
• Training needs to be updated, moving beyond "fading ways of doing things" and keeping aware of current and emerging trends.
• There can be value in multidisciplinary research.
• We need to expand the focus of our practices. Mental health professions can do a lot more than therapy. Psychological principles apply to behavior changes that impact business, education, health-care reform, prevention of lifestyle problems, international relations, and other social issues.

All of this can be challenging and exciting for those among us who are creative, innovative and forward looking. In contrast, most practitioners, including coaches, are more devoted to sticking with their specialties and refining what they do best. Wherever we work, however, there can be value in pulling away at times to evaluate where our professions are going and how they can keep relevant to cultural change. Jesus was devoted to transforming lives and we, too, are in the life-transforming business. Maybe we need to expand our horizons periodically to consider how our caregiving, our professions, our ministries and our own lives need to be transformed as well. 

Every week the Gary R. Collins Newsletter goes to a group of readers around the world. The above is Gary's latest letter. To receive the letter each week in your email box, please click here. The letter is free and you can unsubscribe at any time.

The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. This old psychological mantra used to be true when the world was more stable and change was less pervasive than it is today. In an era of ongoing change and crisis, however, current events have few precedents in the past. Predicting the future and assessing risks is tougher than it has ever been. This is the theme of an entire (October 2009) issue of Harvard Business Review. There are many explanations for the current economic crisis but in part, suggests HBR. the problem stems from managers who took on high degrees of risk to generate high returns. But what worked in the past stopped working in the present and the big risks brought big losses.   

How does this apply to coaching, counseling or ministry? Consider the following, some building on HBR.

• Low-probability, high-impact events are almost impossible to forecast. "Instead of trying to anticipate low-probability, high-impact events, we should reduce our vulnerability to them....In chess, grand masters focus on avoiding errors; rookies try to win." 
• The biggest risk may lie within us. We overestimate our abilities and underestimate what can go wrong. As a result we take actions that are too risky and dangerous. 
• Optimism and positive thinking can be good, but the "relentless promotion of positive thinking" may have contributed to the current recession. "Providing a best-case scenario usually increases the appetite for risk." Perhaps we should adapt more realistic attitudes to life, careers and business.
• Recognize individual differences in risk-taking. Some people take big risks and accept the consequences good or bad. But remember that individual actions impact others. Change one part of a system (business, family, church, or career, for example) and there can be consequences in every other part of the system. 
• One challenge for coaches and counselors is to help others face and deal with risk. That can be a risky business

How does this apply to the Christian belief that God is in control? How does it relate to contemporary convictions that positive thinking and optimism are admirable?

Every week the Gary R. Collins Newsletter goes to a group of readers around the world. The above is Gary's latest letter. To receive the letter each week in your email box, please click here. The letter is free and you can unsubscribe at any time.

THE HEALTHY AGING BRAIN

I rarely give much thought to my birthday and I debated about writing the next sentence. But I was born on October 22, 1934 so that makes me 75 today. There won't be any celebrations, presents or candles. I won't even be home or near a telephone or computer. Instead I expect to spend time on an airplane and maybe do some journaling.

Birthdays can be great times for reflection and thanksgiving. Today my wife and I will look back over the 45 years that we have been married and my half century in psychology. But at this stage in life we're also looking ahead. This is a great time to be alive and the future can be bright.

Last summer a student gave me a copy of Louis Cozolino's fascinating book The Healthy Aging Brain: Sustaining Attachment, Attaining Wisdom. The author is a psychologist, specializing in neurobiology. His book acknowledges the now accepted idea that brains do not remain static after early childhood. Instead, brains can continue to grow and function optimally throughout life. Physical and mental exercise keep the brain healthy but there is more. Cozolino notes that "the best overall environment for a healthy aging brain is one that optimizes challenges and maximizes attachments."

This concept of attachment is of special interest. "The brain is an organ of adaptation and change," but it's also "a social organ, only understood in relationship to other brains." Brains mature and grow in wisdom when individuals "play a variety of roles that contribute to the survival and wellbeing of others. Ponder what this means for elderly individuals, sitting all day with nothing or nobody to stimulate their brains. Think, too, of the implications of this research for counselors and for nations where elderly populations are getting larger.

I wrote my master's thesis and doctoral dissertation on cognitive issues related to aging. Today my energy continues to be boundless and my life is enriched by interactions with many people of different ages and cultures. Can brains (like mine) really stay sharp well into the later years? Please check this newsletter in October 2034 and I'll give you a report. And thanks to all of you who checked in today and who help keep me growing.

Every week the Gary R. Collins Newsletter goes to a group of readers around the world. The above is Gary's latest letter. To receive the letter each week in your email box, please click here. The letter is free and you can unsubscribe at any time.

HINDU NATION?

"We are all Hindus Now" suggests a thought-provoking article in Newsweek (August 24 and 31 issue). "American is not a Christian nation," the writer begins, even though 76 percent of Americans identify as Christian.  "Recent poll data show that conceptually, at least, we are slowly becoming more like Hindus and less like traditional Christians in the way we think about God, ourselves, each other and eternity." Statistics will differ in other countries but writer Lisa Miller's conclusions are sobering, especially for those of us in Christian counseling, coaching, or other ministries.

Consider this:

• Hindus believe that there are many paths to God. This contrasts with the Christian belief that Jesus alone is the way, the truth, the life; that no one comes to the Father except through the Son.
• "Americans are not buying this, according to a 2008 Pew Forum survey. "Sixty-five percent of us believe that 'many religions can lead to eternal life' including 37 percent of white evangelicals, the group most likely to believe that salvation is theirs alone."
• In addition, the numbers who seek spiritual truth outside the church is growing. "the American propensity for divine-deli-cafeteria religion is very much in the spirit of Hinduism." This involves selecting and combining whatever beliefs and practices seem to work.

A professor recently described her observation that year after year, incoming seminary students show less biblical knowledge than the classes that came before them. Perhaps we all know professionals who want to be Christian counselors and coaches but who show evidence of biblical and theological illiteracy. Their work and beliefs are shaped by accrediting agencies, professional organizations, and efforts to be politically correct. We all tire of irrelevant religion (including tired evangelicalism) and we have no patience with theological or psychological nit-picking and clinging to the past. But in our criticisms do we become like the people of ancient Athens who spend all their time discussing the latest ideas but not believing in anything (Acts 17:20)?

From a Christian perspective there can be no such thing as a Christian Hindu. But do we drift in this direction?

Every week the Gary R. Collins Newsletter goes to a group of readers around the world. The above is Gary's latest letter. To receive the letter each week in your email box, please click here. The letter is free and you can unsubscribe at any time.

"The simplest way to reboot your brain," according the the HBR article is to take a nap of at least 30 minutes. This boosts memory, improves our abilities to solve problems creatively, slows burnout, aids learning and sharpens mental acuity. "A few minutes shut-eye at work (in the middle of the day) could be good for business," concludes the magazine.

A year or two ago Psychotherapy Networker published an entire series of articles on the potentially harmful effects of sleep deprivation. This is a practical issue that can impact us all. I wonder why it is so hard to apply it, why so many people take pride in the faulty conclusion that we can all function fine without getting sufficient sleep?