Marcia’s Book Review:
SACRED HOOPS by Phil Jackson and Hugh Delehanty

Years ago Phil Jackson, famous coach for several NBA teams (including the Chicago Bulls), spoke at a fund-raising event in Palo Alto, CA.  I never forgot the stories he shared about coaching Michael Jordan and the team to one NBA championship win after another. 

NEW TELE-SEMINAR SERIES:

To address the critical issues facing leaders today in any organization: companies, non-profits, school districts, government agencies, or the military, Marcia Daszko has created a tele-seminar series for leaders.

ARTICLE: America's Call to Serve:

Together –and only together—will we bring America out of its crisis.  A leader’s job is to transform.  Mere change will not be enough.  We must begin a journey of transformation that shifts our thinking, actions, and interactions.  We must begin a new journey of transformation, to design new systems and new futures.  Whether we look at our economy, education, healthcare, national security, we have Systems that must be transformed and led.

Just as an American, Dr. W. Edwards Deming guided Japan out of its crisis after W.W.II, Americans can apply his philosophy of leadership and methods to help our nation and our global society.

If we study together Deming’s System of Profound Knowledge, described in his last book, The New Economics, and then work together to implement it, we can transform America. 

Why use this?  It works.  If you have a better theoretical foundation and proven methodologies for transformation, let’s hear them.  Otherwise, let’s volunteer and get to work.

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ARTICLE: 2009—the Year of Choice!  Which Fork in the Road Will You Choose?

2008 was a roller coaster ride for many people around the world.  And in 2009, we’re still on the ride.  We have to make choices and transform, like never before.

Choose Community “we the people” or All for Me

Choose Making a Difference or Being a
Victim

Choose to Respond to the Call to Action or
Depend on Someone Else

Choose to Contribute or Sit Back and
Judge

2009 and our future calls for more interaction Together that will benefit everyone. 

It is time to rid our organizations of the silos, the ranking and rating of people, and holding individuals accountable for what the System delivers (Management created the System—and only they can change it.) Discover your passion and contribute your time to make a greater difference.  If you don’t know where or how to volunteer, make that your assignment today.

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It was written in 1995, yet holds some of the most powerful leadership and system thinking concepts we can all put to good use today.

At the beginning of many team practices, Jackson would read this powerful passage from the Second Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling:

"Now this is the Law of the Jungle—
As old and as true as the sky;
And the Wolf that shall keep it may prosper,
But the Wolf that shall break it must die.
As the creeper that girdles the tree trunk,
The Law runneth forward and back—
For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf,
And the strength of the Wolf is the Pack."

Jackson spoke about the challenges he personally faced as well as those he faced coaching a team of young superstars: inflated egos, (internal) competition, critical thinking, awareness, joy, engaging the mind and harnessing the spirit, lessons of compassion, leading by example, and the Win.

As a systems thinker, Jackson knew “his primary goal was to get the players to reconnect with the intrinsic joy of the game.”  He spoke about the system of basketball and said, “Once the players have mastered the system, a powerful group intelligence emerges that is greater than the coaches ideas or those of any individual on the team.”  In order for them to win, Jackson taught that “good teams become great ones when the members trust each other enough to surrender the “me” for the “we."

As you work and live to learn, understand, and apply Dr. Deming’s philosophy of leadership to help transform society, you can read in Sacred Hoops how Phil Jackson has applied the concepts in many aspects of his personal and professional career.

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It is sure to provoke thinking and more effective responses to help bring us out of our crisis. 

Register on the web-site www.mdaszko.com.  The fee is $95 per tele-seminar.  Choose the date that works for you.

TOPICS:

What Leaders Need to Know to Survive 2009
Leaders need profound knowledge and courage to help pull their organizations out of the crisis our nation is in today.  America is in decline because few people have the necessary knowledge to transform. In this session, leaders will hear specific information and be given resources on what you need to know in 2009.

NEW MINI-WORKSHOP SERIES—
NEW TOPICS

To face the challenges in 2009 and accelerate your business, Marcia Daszko & Associates works with clients to rapidly transform.  A few of our popular mini-workshops in 2009 are:

• Transformation--How to Survive
  and Thrive
• What Leaders Need to Know in 2009
• How To Create A Collaborative
  Culture for Change
• The Impact of Fear and How to
  Reduce It

These mini-workshops will help:

• Shift your thinking and interactions for better focus;
• Develop a new level of knowledge for healthy sustainable change;

• Accelerate communication for better decision-making;
• Define leverage points to capture your competitive edge.

These provocative, interactive sessions build a team with a clear, compelling purpose and methods to achieve it!  The custom mini-workshops offer real-time, useful learning, guidance for application, and address specific, current and relevant needs.  They range from 3 hours to 3 days.
Call 408-247-7757 today to schedule your workshop session.

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If leaders want success, the thinking, language, and behaviors must transform.

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Dan Robertson Joins Marcia Daszko & Associates

Dan Robertson joins Marcia Daszko & Associates, based in Santa Clara, CA. As a senior consultant, he will consult with Executive Teams to transform their organizations to survive and thrive in these turbulent economic times. Dan has held senior executive management positions in manufacturing and customer service operations at Hewlett Packard and 3Com. At both companies he applied Dr. W. Edwards Deming’s principles to improve quality, increase efficiency, and lower costs in operations.

Dan is also the co-author of the book: Deming’s Profound Changes. He holds a BSEE from Purdue University and an MBA from Santa Clara University. With Marcia Daszko, he also co-founded the Bay Area Deming User Group in 1989 and was a Founding Board Member of the In2In Thinking Network. Dan enjoys his free time as a volunteer high school tutor and an instrument rated private pilot.

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