What It Means To Have A Voice

All things being equal, this presidential election cycle’s outsiders, Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders, have certainly made it boastfully clear that the unheard voices of the so-called silent majority, whoever thay may be, wish to be silent no more. 

There's A 
Cost To The Quiet

However, as the abortive efforts of movements such as Occupy Wall Street have shown, in order to create a sustainable impact a strong enough leader’s voice at the top has been needed to speak out for them up against the 1%; enter Trump and Sanders!

Now "leadership" is what many have gotten through these die-hard wannabe presidential contenders. However as David Brooks writes in an article in today’ New York Times titled “If Not Trump, What?” –

Trump’s success grew out of that pain, but he is not the right response to it. The job for the rest of us is to figure out the right response.”

Enter New Horizons’ Coffee House Conversations Project!

Reading through the entirety of David Brooks’ Op Ed I felt like I was reading a content branding statement for what we’ve been doing at New Horizons for years now and the overarching philosophies we hold to that end, building zones of peace wherever we may go. 

Read David Brooks’ article up against our “Lean In Legacy Template,” our "Ten Pledges," and our perspectives on leadership and leadership training. For a more emotionally powered dose of us be sure to listen in to our Possible Society In Motion Radio Show podcasts. 

For example, the one Jack and I did last night titled “What It Means To Have A Voice.”

What It Means To Have A Voice

on podcast

And my series on “Conversations with Anastasia on the art of dialogue/conversation,” beginning with the most recent –

Anastasia The Storyteller Shares Stories 

on Lesson One: Collaboration

Then follow up those listening adventures by making it your business to “lean in” a bit more and more each day! Be a change activist beginning right in your own neighborhood or community. And while you’re at it, let me hear from you too by posting comments to my articles or writing me directly at SuperSleuthDSW@aol.com.  Let’s make talking to others beyond our ordinary comfort zones a habit!

There’s a “cost to the quiet” and there’s also a cost to the wrong kind of voice! Learn to be the right kind; the kind that help us build that Possible Society In Motion!

The Current Presidential Election Campaign Crisis --

--- has prompted a shift in priorities at New Horizons.

Add to this the innumerable changes presently going on behind the scenes at New Horizons, the arrival of warmer weather which brings with it our Summer In The Mountains community building days and changes ahead in the format of our radio show programs – surprises and more surprises are ahead here in the days to come.

The bottom line issue, as discussed on our last show, The Gifts Of Collaboration, The Costs Of Opposition and introduced in the first of our three March programs (see links below) on leadership is this 

A main philosophy at New Horizons regarding leadership is that leadership is a lifestyle, having certain special qualities, if it is to be successful, not simply something for Heads of State or corporate CEOs. Leadership is a responsibility for all mature adults. Not allowing this reality into your consciousness and taking up the obligations entailed is a cop out or, as my friend Rabbi Edwin Friedman, discussing the subject of leadership suggested; a failure of nerve!

Check out Ed’s book, A Failure Of Nerve: Leadership In The Age of The Quick Fix, for a in depth discussion on the subject. 

If you are appalled as many of us are that a man such as Donald Trump can garner as much support as he has and wreak as much havoc on day-to-day life in America as he does, now is the time for YOU, personally, to start paying more and more attention to your own adult responsibilities. 

Maybe it’s Hillary or Bernie you don’t like, the same advice follows. Personally I don't like anything on this menu. But, unfortunately this is all that's being served. Howevet, if you think YOU can do nothing in the face of so few choices and find the selection to be inept or disappointing presidential possibilities, think again.

Many of us, including New Horizons, boosted by its Board of Directors, including myself and thousands upon thousands of other grassroots organizations, nationally and world-wide have emerged in recent years, energizing themselves to take personal responsibility where we/they have felt discouraged by the efforts and actions of high level leaders, including our current president.

New Horizons is going to keep pushing this theme –

Leadership Is A Lifestyle!
Note, October 15, 2016, from New Horizons Board of Directors
"In no way do we believe that anyone who does not meet these criteria for leadership should be our elected president. We do not support or condone any outrageous desecration of the fundamentals that represent America, as we know and love it!"

"So get on board with YOUR responsibilities! As far as the coming election is concerned, check out both your heart and your head when you step into the voting booth in November."

Also keep listening to the messages we are sending out to you on our Possible Society In Motion Radio Shows and reading our blog posts for suggestions and encouragement. We are here to guide you, if you need/like. And – get yourself in the "Good Guys GAME," the game of doing the next right thing as they say in AA; taking mature adult responsibility for the kind of life and world you want to be living in.

For starters, here are two links for you to check in on --

1. Essentials of Exceptional Leadership; and 
2. Last month’s three Possible Society In Motion Radio Shows as listed below.

• Exploring Leadership Styles and Values In America
• Leadership in a sea of controversy
• Leadership Role Models – A Personal Story

The Gifts Of Collaboration, The Costs Of Opposition

Following an entire month of Possible Society In Motion Radio Shows on the topic of “Exceptional Leadership,” New Horizons style, Jack and Anastasia return this evening for another intriguing discussion on “Leadership American Style, 2016.”

Last month’s shows included (now on podcast)–

• Exploring Leadership Styles and Values In America
• Leadership in a Sea of Controversy
• Leadership Role Models – A Personal Story

This evening join Jack and Anastasia as they carry their theme of “exceptional leadership” forward to place the program’s overarching objective, overcoming the polarization of American society and politics, up against our current polarized climate.

The Gifts Of Collaboration, The Costs Of Opposition

Thursday, 6;30 p.m.

Also join us for --- 

Coffee House Conversations By Conference Call 

Following our on-air broadcast

Thursday, April 14  at 7:00 p.m.

This Week’s Tentative Agenda 

Your take on: The Gifts Of Collaboration, The Costs Of Opposition

1. Follow these easy steps and you’re in! 
2. Dial in at: 712.432.0600, access code 640883#;
3. Say your name and; 
4. Welcome to Coffee House Conversation by Conference Call with Anastasia and Jack; 
5. Stay as long as you like until around 8:00 or 8:30 p.m.
6. Just listen and say nothing or speak up and get into the heat of the discussion.

Two She-Roes (S-Heroes) And A Go-Fer

Summer In The Mountains at -- 

New Horizons’ Harpers Ferry Retreat Center is on its way!

And my two She-Roes/S-Heroes, Jo and Sue, New Horizons Remodeling Project Co-Chairs are shown here taking a hefty “swing” to out our old kitchen and usher in our coming six months, or more as the

Jo and Sue
Trashing the old kitchen

weather allows, of Harpers Ferry Retreat Center remodeling. I’m the go-fer for these two handy women, barely able to change a light bulb or do much more in the way of even maintaining what we have by keeping it warm and somewhat clean and orderly.

Sunday, April 17 

we officially open our doors --

for a season ahead of community building, work projects and good ole fashioned hangin out. 

You are welcome to join us!

Participate In -- And -- Support New Horizons’ Conversations Projects by joining us for “Exceptional Community-Building” Days -- 

Hacking away.
They destroy to create!

Summer In The Mountains at -- 

New Horizons’ Harpers Ferry Retreat Center

Monthly Community-Building Work Days and Potluck Dinners: our schedule is generally as follows –

• 11:00: – Gather and settle in; 
• 11:15 – 12:30: Community development, interactive , guided community-building activities. Lead by Anastasia;

  

  Me -- the go-fer,
  "figuring out how to clean a
  long-unused table.

• 12:30 – 1:00: Lunch break;
• 1:00 – 4:00: Retreat Center remodeling projects along with practical applications of our “exceptional community” development approach;
• 4:00 – 5:00 – Interactive assessing of applied community development skills;
• 5:00 – on: Relax, dinner, hangin’ out, campfire and more hangin’ out.

For details and reservation:
Space is limited, reservations required 

Contact Anastasia at: Cell, 240.409.5347 or email at: HarpersFerryNH@aol.com

Leadership Role Models – A Personal Story

Anastasia Says –

This is the most poignant, heartwarming show Jack and I have done yet. Listen to it yourself and discover some essentials of “Exceptional Leadership” along with a story that is sure to evoke a smile, a tear or two or simply that very human characteristic -- compassion.

Leadership Role Models: A Personal Story

Now on podcast!

Next take advantage of our new Possible Society In Motion Radio Show Study Guide to explore your own experiences and feelings in the face of “Exceptional Leadership/Role Models." And, if you have had none of this and long for that space in you to be filled, ask Anastasia to give you some of from her abundance.  Contact Anastasia at: SuperSleuthDSW@aol.com.

Finally, do you have stories of “Exceptional Leaders” that have strongly influenced you and your life? If so, drop us a line or two and, also, consider bringing your stories to us live on the air to share your good fortune and the gifts it has brought you with our listeners.

It is high time that unheard voices speak up now about the benefits of fine leadership to help us all keep in mind who and what we want to govern our country from the White House!  

Alongside of what we do not – and – why -- the difference it makes!