by Dr. Ed Brenegar | Oct 6, 2020 | Book, Circle of Impact, Ideas, Impact, Relationships, Structure, Transition
In September 2018, after Circle of Impact was published, I hit the road to promote sales of the book. I spent the next year talking to people standing in bookstores, sitting at bars, in laundromats, parking lots, and hotel lobbies. These conversations went something like this.
“Oh, so you are the author of this book?”
“Yes.”
“What’s your book about?”
“It is a book for people and organizations that are in transition.”
Then they would give me a surprised look and say, “Oh. … Well. … That describes me.”
Then a conversation would happen where they would tell me a story about who they are, their life experience, and why they felt they were in transition.
I found that people first feel that they are in transition. But they lack a way to talk about it. This feeling rises deep from within themselves. This is especially true if they have either worked in an environment described above where they are simply hired to perform specific tasks or have been out of the workforce for a while taking care of family needs, whether children or elderly parents.
Of all the ways that I could describe the book, speaking about transition resonated most significantly with people. This isn’t just personal. It is also something happening to our society, our communities, and every organization within it. It is a global reality felt at the most intimate level of our lives. It is also clear that some people are better suited or prepared to make transitions in their lives, while for others it is a very tough, hard experience.
by Dr. Ed Brenegar | Jan 30, 2020 | Book, Brand, Centralized Institutions, Circle of Impact, Community, Decentralized Networks, Two Global Forces, Uncategorized
Entering a world that is dramatically different than my own, as I did in going to Africa, things stand out. Traveling in the rural areas, seeing motorbikes used to haul goods. Harvested agriculture products spread on the ground beside the highway ready to be loaded to be taken to market. People living in extreme poverty. Visiting a hundred-year-old man, who was homeless because he had outlived his family, showed me the power of local communities to mitigate the effects of poverty. Through these experiences, and more, the Two Global Forces took on a deeper, richer meaning.
by Dr. Ed Brenegar | Jan 6, 2020 | Book, Circle of Impact, Conversations, Ideas, Impact, Questions, Relationships, Transition, Uncategorized
Transition is a central experience of all of our lives. It is also one of the most misunderstood. We know that we proceed through our lives as a succession of days, weeks, months and years. For many of us, we see this only as a process of aging. We grow older. Our...
by Dr. Ed Brenegar | Jun 21, 2019 | Circle of Impact, Community, Impact
“Being a change creator is a mindset utilizing a specific skill set focused on impact. Instead of asking, ‘What does it take to create a happy customer?’ ask, ‘What is the impact that we want to create for our customer?’ When we have a change mindset, we see the difference. We see how what we do creates that difference. We communicate that difference so that we can strengthen our relationship with our customers. We change to adapt ourselves to the needs of our customer. By recognizing this changing difference, we begin to grasp that we are always in transition. “ – Circle of Impact: Taking Personal Initiative To Ignite Change, p. 175.
by Dr. Ed Brenegar | May 14, 2019 | Book, Circle of Impact, Impact, Relationships, Structure
“I did a bad job.”This is how Boston Celtics coach Brad Stevens described his performance after the Celtics were eliminated by the Milwaukee Bucks in the second round of the 2019 NBA playoffs.When was the last time you heard a prominent business or political leader make this claim? Leaders may acknowledge that there are problems and challenges for their organization. It is rare to hear someone own the failure of their performance like Stevens.
