Culture—The collective expression of the values, beliefs, and behaviors individuals bring to any endeavor. It’s the manifestation of communal priorities and how people choose to relate to one another. Simply stated, it is how we play in the sandbox with one another.
Emotional intelligence—The degree to which someone has the ability to both read and lead oneself and others. Self-awareness and authenticity are cornerstones of emotional intelligence. A high degree of emotional intelligence carries with it the capacity to know, own, and be responsible for one’s feelings, thoughts, and actions.
Grounded leader—Someone who is emotionally mature and stable, firmly rooted in convictions and steadfast in determination. Grounded leaders demonstrate the following characteristics: rooted in reality, emotionally centered, relationally rich, results-oriented, others-focused, mission-minded.
Growth Spiral—A means whereby an individual may assess whether they are engaging for growth or resisting change. One may either ascend the spiral toward growth and transformation or descend the spiral toward desperation and alienation. Each takes place in a progression of spirals.
Growth gear—The state of being relationally engaged for growth by embracing feedback and acting responsibly. It’s a disposition of seeking to create the most value for everyone involved.
Luciferianism—A belief system that reveres enlightenment, independence, and human progression. Sometimes mistakenly associated with Satanism due to the Christian interpretation of the fallen angel. This philosophical approach stresses enlightenment as the ultimate goal and highlights freedom of will, worshiping the inner self, and the fulfillment of one’s personal potential.
NetWeaving—A term, coined by Bob Littell, that stands in contrast to networking. Creating value by connecting others who share a common interest or may be able to serve one another in a mutually beneficial manner. NetWeaving is gratuitously providing information or resources as a way of building relationships. It is about promoting someone else’s story above one’s own. It is an understanding that all the good things we desire in life are by-products of creating value for others.
OAR—The elements that must be present for team members to bring their best to the table in each endeavor. OAR is an acrostic, which stands for: ownership, accountability, and responsibility.
Pipeline vs. platform—Traditional learning systems are essentially pipelines. There is a reservoir of content, which is pushed from a repository to a recipient. It’s a one-way flow of information that the sender hopes the recipient will ingest, thus providing the diet of information for growth to take place. But, devoid of relationship, it rarely garners the intended result.
A platform, on the other hand, provides a stage for interaction for those who have been enlisted in a learning community. Information flows freely back and forth, allowing all participants to move fluidly between the modalities of learning, applying, and teaching. This learning triangle produces an environment of friendship and reinforcement. Because information is shared in the context of community and encouragement, learning takes place at a rapid pace and application is celebrated among members of the learning community.
RAW conversation—A productive developmental conversation. RAW is an acrostic, which incorporates the three components of this type of coaching conversation: reality, advancement, and wrestling.
Relationomics—The study of the observable impact that relationships have on economic activity. It’s an assessment of the value created by relationships as opposed to simply a fiscal transactional analysis. In the marketplace, there is a significant causal correlation between the strength of the relationship and the flow of resources. The stronger and healthier the relationship, the more productive and profitable the transactions between those parties tend to be.
Remarkable culture—An environment in which people:
Believe the best in one another,
Want the best for one another, and
Expect the best from one another.
Self-Help Conundrum—The fanciful idea that one may attain maturity apart from being relationally connected with others. We are all interconnected. By nature, we are relational creatures and relationships help hone us to maturity. Maturity is marked by how well we relate to others. Growth does not take place in a relational vacuum.
Self-Transcendence—Living beyond self. It’s focusing on what you can do for others. It’s creating a legacy of good. It’s seeking to meet the needs of others and, in doing so, finding meaning and fulfillment in life personally. It’s also counterintuitive; the secret to leading a meaningful and fulfilling life is actually found in generosity. The more you give, the more you will receive.
Valucentricity—The energy and momentum that is produced when values are properly identified and aligned, producing a unified and energized workforce.