Madhu Einsiedler

GROWTH CHALLENGE

Madhu's Discussion Questions

This weeks Challenge is what I consider the core of growth.

We can develop, we can transition or we can transform.

Development for me talks about having a good sense to preserve, elaborate on or expand on what works already. Usually this is meant when people talk about focusing on strengths.
Transition for me means changing from one behavior to the other, often that’s what we do when we try to ‘develop’ our weaknesses. There is a pre-defined image of how/where we want to be and we know or develop the nesseccary steps to get there (eat healthier, do more sports; wait before answering an email; ask open ended questions; … everything in the self improvement area and often what people mean when they talk about ‘leadership development and personal development’).
Transformation is what I mean when I talk about the core of growth. It’s the adventure into something new, the leap of faith, aspiring for something we don’t know yet; where ever growth will lead to it will be new, it won’t follow a defined process, the goal will not be pre-defined. True innovations work that way, art works that way (often), children play that way.

For growth we need to make ourselves vulnerable, because we leave our known territory. We then are openĀ  for possibilitites we otherwise wouldn’t be able to think about, for approaches we wouldn’t know how to describe.
In making ourselves vulerable we acknowledge that there are hidden treasures within ourselves we haven’t discovered yet. We get ready to surprise ourselves.

Growth is a shift in perspective.

We leave the idea of knowing how things work and how things should be. That’s the adventure of growth. We never assume we know ourselves, we’re always prepared to let any image of ourselves and others go, we make ourselves vulnerable – again and again, vulnerable now, and now.
If only for a moment to grow we need to discard those truths that we have learned and that have given us the feeling of being in control and thus safe.

To make ourselves vulnerable and to explore ourselves we need to find a safe place beyond the things that we used to make us feel safe up to now. An intermediate safety.

We will explore what we might need for this kind of safety on Sunday.

For now let’s explore the depths of how you changed and learned up to now.

THE CHALLENGE

Do you find your preference more in the
development, the transition or the transformation?

What real life examples do you have for your preference?
What would you need to explore
the non-preference – just for the fun of it?

Other Challenges ...

I have not left Madhu's office without understanding myself better and being able to earn more money.