Lifelong Learner Ivana Sendecka from Slovakia.

I'm Moving;-)

2009-09-18T09:24:00.001-07:00

Hi my dear readers!

Smile, no need for panic;-) I will be very much present and I will carry on with my purpose, just under different "house number".

Please set your new RSS feed for following link
of my new home;-)

You will find there more pages, interactive content, information about project Next Generation Leaders of Slovakia
and much more.

Looking forward seeing you there!
cheers,
i.

P.S. Thanks my first blog ever for serving me so well, I will never delete you!;-)

Why no teachers have ever explained physics to me this way?

2009-09-08T05:15:00.001-07:00

;-)
Master piece book by Fritjof Capra - The Tao of Physics.
Both rational and intuitive parts of your brain will feast, while reading this gift of maestro Capra to the world.I can only, bow and be silent to digest the content.

I have a dream, that one day there will be a school where every subject will be interconnected with other subject, in order to provide students picture of wholeness and interrelatedness of everything around us.

cheers,
i.

Posted via email from Ivana Sendecka is sharing.

Love knows no limits

2009-09-07T11:51:00.001-07:00

Thanks @ Lars Christian Schmith, for sharing this video on his Facebook profile.

I have nothing more to add, title says it all.

Enjoy!

Posted via web from Ivana Sendecka is sharing.

What is going on?

2009-09-02T09:24:00.001-07:00

;-)

Many talents to be unleashed in Slovakia.

Look what are we cooking with the team from USA.

Slovakia watch out.

Planting Emerging Talents in Slovakia

View more presentations from Ivana Sendecka.</div></div>

Volunteers from Slovakia ready to give a helping hand and heart, give me a shout.

Cheers,

Posted via web from Ivana Sendecka is sharing.

“Black belt” status for composing emails.

2009-08-05T04:53:00.001-07:00

Hello Folks!

As promised, here is the follow up on the previous blog post about enjoyable emails.

Executing following 'moves' will bring smoothness to your communication:

Be personal and try to connect with the human being who will receive your email.

For example: start with national greeting, ask about hobbies, give a praise about previously well done job etc.

Go straight to the point and avoid formal clichés, no one has got the time to read "yours sincerely","kindly find attached", "I am looking forward hearing from you"

People as your colleagues, clients etc. know, that you are a polite person even when you will not write "best regards" at the end of the email, but only "ciao"!

When addressing tasks to be done to people, dedicate each of them 'separate' paragraph, so they will be motivated to carry on with work.

Certainly forwarded emails with FYI note will not do the job!

Be original and don't be so serious, try to express
your sense of humor and creativity. Don't be afraid to be "out of the topic", and don't forget that there is also other life not only work one, even for top managers. After all, we are all the SAME, 72.8% of water, aren't we?;-)

Adding interesting links, referring to conversation. Tip for the interesting book or article, pointing out nice restaurant to eat in, can also be a good 'personalization' to your email.

Dedicating few extra minutes to composing of the email, WILL save you hours of work! Especially when you require certain tasks to be completed. Be inspiring, suggest and share your thoughts.

Motivated recipients of your neat and crispy email, where you have showed your interest in them as people, WILL do the miracles!

Happy practicing!

Let's be your emails outstanding and pleasure to read.

In the next post I will tell you about:

How well composed email can get you and appointment with top executive, who has never met you before.

Curious? Watch out then!

Have a super cool day!

Cheers,

Do people enjoy reading YOUR emails?

2009-07-15T08:30:00.001-07:00

What is the first action taken when people sit at their seats in the office? Not a difficult, guess, right? Everyone is checking their emails. In every corporate culture emails are main communication tool, once your email ID is created you 'exist'.

There are many articles and blogs with tips and tricks how to write an email in such a 'sexy' manner that people will read it, reply and most importantly act according it. Another advice is paying attention to revising the draft before pressing the 'send' button.

You might also be aware of the ORID technique, which is another framework for composing 'readable' email after covering Objective, Reflection, Interpretation and Decision into the body of the email. We all have heard about the rules for 'cc-ing', forwarding of the emails or order of the recipients, it all matters.

All of the above are tips and tools to help us. But having the knowledge without applying it and without putting it into action is the same as not knowing at all.

Are your emails read with interest? Do people like to see incoming mail from you in their inbox?

If you are not sure, do the following TEST: Send an email to your peer in the open space or in the office and watch whether his or her face will lighten up.

So? Have your email initiated sparks in the eyes of the recipient?

Have you ever asked yourself, what kind of email do you like to read? How do you want the recipient to feel and how he/she should react afterwards? What do you want to achieve by contacting the person? What message do you want to communicate?

I have done the TEST by asking few people who I was interacting via emails recently, this questions:

"How did you react when spotting email from Ivana in your inbox?

How did you respond? Was it somehow different from other emails?

If yes, why? Can you use describe it by any examples?"

Viera Stupavska:

Viera is the Head of the retail branches for Dexia Bank Slovakia and I have had the privilege to work with her for 10 and half months on the Cash management project within the Euro Change- over Program in the Dexia Bank

Robert Lences:

" I particularly remember one email – a summary of tasks before a project status meeting, which Ivana was leading. It was a pleasure to read, even while not being very short. What made it different from others was that there was a piece of personalized message for each recipient, all of that was positive and motivational. No unnecessary formal extras around the real content. And in the end, the email created the impression of being composed by a human for the people, with care and attention. All that gives a good reason to read and reply such emails before all the rest."

Robert Lences is the Managing Consultant in Capgemini Slovakia with expertise in Enterprise Architecture.

Smita Rai:

" I receive several emails in a day with request for information. But rarely do I register a sender's name. But I remember the first email from Ivana because it was not just another formal mail requesting for information, but an attempt to establish a connection. It was the 'Namaste', a way of addressing an individual in my country that made me find where this mail was coming from. And it pleased me to know that a colleague from Slovakia knew the greeting. I think in today's day of one line emails, we need to sometimes take a few minutes and draw that connection. After all, breaking walls in communication is important for successfully working with teams across the globe."

Smita Rai is the Knowledge Manager for Global Public Sector & Healthcare for Capgemini, residing in the Bangalore office. Her husband writes a
super cool blog on cocktails,worth to have a look at!

Do you want to know more about mastering email communication?

Watch out, the next post is coming soon.

Have a super cool summer day.

Cheers,
i.

True or just "made up" movie?

2009-07-06T06:49:00.000-07:00
Hi Folks!

Thank you all for your super cool response on the latest post and “On cultures” slides. Today, I will go on and build on the cultural theme. Why?

Few hours ago, I have received interesting video, which made me think again.
Did you know? (Watch the video, please)

Do you still think, you know the world you live in?
Do you still think you can live comfort set of the learned habits?
Do you still think you don’t need to be aware of any other cultures, but yours?

Adopt – Adapt- Transform was one of the themes during the implementation of the huge outsource program of Capgemini.

I would boldly apply that theme into every part of our daily lives.

Cheers from believer in ONENESS and synchronicity;-)
i.

Understanding cultural differences or giving away forgotten gift - slide show;-)

2009-07-03T02:52:00.000-07:00
Hello! Namaste! Ahoj! Marhaba!

Today, I have decided to share with you few slides, which have been stored in the folder of my desktop for almost 2 months. Originally I have made this document about Understanding cultural differences, to spread the awareness among colleagues in the business consulting world as my expression of care and importance to make our work environment effective and friendly, in case of any multicultural interactions.

I simply backed off, when,common reaction was:

“What for should if I know about it, I don’t work with Indians or Arabs?”

But, I have changed my mind, because:

“If posting that slide deck “On Cultures” will help one person to learn something new, it will be 100% more compared to zero audience, while document was stored in the PC, isn’t it?”

Super cool, then!

I am delighted to share with you my first uploaded presentation.
Here we go, gift for YOU!

On Cultures
View more documents from senda5.

I am looking forward to hear your thoughts, and please educate me, if any of the mentioned my -own - experience based observations can be interpreted in more precise way!

Have a super cool Friday
Cheers,
i.

On Trust

2009-06-10T06:14:00.000-07:00
Today‘s post was inspired by Capgemini colleagues in the Yammerland, about trust and being trustworthy. So, I could not resist and I have asked, I mean Tweeted the following question:

"How will someone gain trust? When do you start to trust someone?"

Twitter fellows, had to shrink their replies into 140 characters.
@Fifigyuri:
The act of helping either me or anyone increases trust. Helping, acts of altruism make trusting.

@MichaelVrijhoef
1st Tweet: When they are right in their aired opinions MOST of the times and admit when they were not.
2nd Tweet: When they say what they do and do what they have said.

Facebook buddies, Lars from Denmark and Gabika my ex-classmate from University have exchanged interesting thoughts as well, captured below.

Lars Christian Schmith
Trust can only be a question of knowing who you are in depth. An old saying: "that one who knows him/ herself knows the universe itself." Awakening paves the way to trust and talking about relationships between individuals communication is inevitable in the process....

Gabriela Rendekova
Very true what Lars said however how many people can even trust themselves? Trust carries a bit of naivity but one could go crazy not sharing. The answer is: Trust only a bit and be vigilant. In general, trust comes when somebody repeatedly proved to be relied on.

Lars Christian Schmith
Yes, you got a point Gabriela! If one cannot trust himself how can he trust others? The key is awakening and until you are not quite awake you are asleep and will be misguided as a part of your learning-process.

Folks, thank you for sharing your insights with me and now with the rest of the world as well!

It is amazing how much one can learn, just by asking a question on Twitter/Facebook. Super cool!
Another great lesson!

So, let's learn and grow together!

Cheers,
i.

On the Outliers and special P.S., for Malcolm Gladwell

2009-06-09T01:42:00.000-07:00

Hello world!
Today I will share with you my take away from Malcolm’s Gladwell recent book, Outliers. Typing my thoughts into MS Office word document, while listening to the song “Let it be” through iTunes. YES, The Beatles, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates - all of them legends “outliers” in their fields.

How did they make it?

Official abstract from the Malcolm’s book states following:

o The people who become really good at something put in 10,000 hours of practice.
o Genius alone is not enough. You must pair it with practical intelligence.
o Intelligence is a threshold: You need to be sufficiently smart to succeed.
o Family background shapes practical intelligence and strongly influences success.
o Your regional, cultural and ethnic backgrounds affect how you respond to conflict and crisis, and how you communicate.This impact continues long after you have moved away from such roots.
o If you identify the cultural factors that govern success in a particular area, you can teach them to more people.

Selection of my notes:

Brilliant imaginative work to win Nobel prize requires creativity. High IQ ain’t enough. Beyond threshold without imagination we won’t succeed. Practical intelligence is essential.

Robert Sternberg defines practical inteligence as: ”Knowing what to say to whom, knowing when to say it and knowing how to say it for maximum effect.”

There are 2 ways how people raise their children:
o Heavily involved in the free time activities of their kids
o Separating adult life from children’s life – “accomplishment of natural growth”

Success is function of persistence and willingness to work hard for 22minutes to make sense of something that most people would give up on after 30 seconds.

Success is grounded in a web of advantages and inheritances, some deserved, some not, some earned, some just plain lucky – but all critical to making them who they are.

Outliers are those who has been given opportunities and who have had the strength and presence of mind to seize them.

Happy seizing Folks!

Live your own success story with every breath you take.

P.S.: Malcolm, please assure correction on the page 26,....”Czechoslovakian soccer team of the year 2007”…
Czechoslovakia doesn’t exist since 1st Jan 1993, when 2 independent countries Slovakia and Czech republic were established. Thanks in advance, for all readers.

Cheers from sunny Slovakia.
Life IS super cool!
;)

Focus on WOW, Don’t worry about HOW!

2009-05-21T01:23:00.000-07:00
Hello World!

The month of Gemini’s has just kicked off with awesome conversation via Skype with my friend Michael. Follow him on Twitter, he is truly amazing soul: Follow Michael on Twitter

Few words has taken our chat into different level of depth.
WOW vs. HOW.

Realizing what makes you feel WOW, is the first step to get into “content-ness” state of being.

Let me illustrate those mysterious "the how" and "the wow":

Imagine, that you are passionate ice hockey player. OK?
When you focus on the super cool feeling of WOW within you, which you are experiencing when being on the ice rink, you simply don’t think about HOW to do skating, do you? It is simply going “automatically”, isn’t it? You are not worried about how to step on the skates- the HOW, you are just enjoying playing the game– the WOW.

Drop your eye on the last sentence from the selected handwritten note, where I have captured striking thoughts of our conversation.

THERE IS ONLY NOW, TOMMORROW EXISTS ONLY IN OUR MINDS> the only TRUE MOMENT IS NOW!

Guys, I am encouraging you to focus on the WOW, right NOW. Instead of searching for the answers on the HOW!

Enjoy the ride!
Life IS super cool.

cheers,
i.

Trends of the 21st century collectively summarized through Web 2.0

2009-05-18T05:05:00.000-07:00
Hello World! I have started this week, with following Tweet, which hit my blog, updated Facebook and Yammer status within seconds.

“IvanaSuperCool is asking you folks:"How would you summarize five, the most important trends of 21st century, which are shaping our lives and business?" #yam

Instant reply from my network members, stroke me within minutes since question was asked. What a feeling…WOW! I am so grateful to have you “around” folks! Gifts of your presence in my life are priceless and the least what I can do is to share your precious insights with the world.

Collaboratively we have identified following trends:

•Democratization of the Internet use has changed our lives. (Rik van der Schalie via Yammer recommended to read The Cult of the Amateur by Andrew Keen)

•First digital age generation has grown up (I am recommending to read Grown up digital by Don Tapscott)

•War on talent to maintain highly capable individuals within companies is priority.

•“Expiration date” on obtained knowledge is shorter and shorter.

•Interactivity is skipping hierarchy within organizations and erasing any geographical distances.

•Natural resources of oil are drying up.

Jon Hampson, shared again via Yammer:
International Energy Agency chief economist Fatih Birol's opinion: "We are expecting that in three, four years' time the production of conventional oil will come to a plateau.”

•“Technie” point of view was covered by another Capgemini YammDude^TM Chris Kernaghan

o Cloud computing - But only if the reality can match the hype
o Virtualisation - For internal flexibility. VPNs - To free up workers from geographical constraints.
o Smart Mobile Computing - To enable better communication through more means.

Cherry on the cake was contribution to the topic by Emmanuel Gobillot.
Emmanuel Gobillot
Author, leader, speaker and great inspiration for me, when he has added his insight in marvelously creative way via Tweet:

@egobillot: 4 trends Demographic, Expertise, Attention and Democratic (initials spell DEAD if we don’t change the way we do business).

So, let us all be fully ALIVE while being aware of DEAD!

As @ MichaelVrijhoef has said: "Changing the way we THINK really results in changes in our lives..."

Thank you folks for being present in life.
Bowing and staying grateful.

Life is super cool!

Yammer “Lingo” for Capgemini citizens

2009-04-24T11:28:00.000-07:00
Conversations and interactions on Yammer are becoming essential and frequently used tool for many of us during work hours. As of now, Capgemini has 1785 members in the Yammer forum, so revolutionary number 1789 from the French history, is getting closer and closer.

In order to prevent “violence” in the Yammer community, it is asking to bring enlightenment structure in the language we use.

Based on citizenship principles, voice of the crowd has been heard out. Following are the suggestions, which have been briefly discussed within previous blog post comments and within Yammer forum by its proud citizens.

Definition and unification of the Yammer language will ease the process of integration for newly joined colleagues and will enable the rest of us to lead by example in our free highly energized community.

Following is proposed language for citizens of Capgemini, when referring to Yammer activities:

Yammer Lingo^TM = Yammer Language
Yammerland^TM = Yammer’s Capgemini forum
Yamm^TM = Post on the Yammer (as Tweet on Twitter)
RY^TM = Re-Yamm (as RT retweet on Twitter)
YammDude^TM = Gentleman user
Yammerette^TM = Lady user
YammUp^TM = Face-to-Face meeting
Shut the Yamm up!^TM = Silence please!

Thoughts on how to enrich and improve our new born Yammer dictionary is more than needed.

Have a SUPER COOL weekend!

P.S.: “Liberty, Equality, Brotherhood!”

Why “YES” for Yammer?

2009-04-19T06:34:00.000-07:00

Two days ago, I have conducted my first coaching gig and one of the lessons which I have learned is, that people love to hear real examples and stories from the life.

After one and half month spent in the super cool community of Capgemini on www.yammer.com, I cannot imagine any working day without being logged into Yammer.

Here is why:

1. Interactions with top CXOs of the group are on daily basis. Thanks to Yammer any “level” boundaries have been erased. Only thing which matters is the will to freely share content you carry in your head, contributing to discussions and to helping each other. Truly high spirit and energy are in our fortune. (*FREEDOM*)

2. Desktop application will feed you with posts of the followed people and with blink of an eye you can get involved into experts conversations. Before unknown topics to me, like Cloud computing or Agile are known thanks to Yammer. We are never done with learning and the fact, that everyone can teach you something new is demonstrated on Yammer in every Yamm.(*MODESTY*)

3. Sharing rocks! Various groups are attracting likeminded people. Group about Delicious bookmarking, will enable you to see what other people find worth to bookmark. Amazing source of information, if you will spare few minutes to join the group and add Capgemini-ers to your Delicious network. Amazing food for the hungry, eager to learn soul. (*TEAM SPIRIT*)

4. Not only knowledge sharing, but also building super cool RELATIONSHIPS is enabled via Yammer. Extending network to Facebook friendships or following on Twitter is very precious sign of trust. (*TRUST*)

5. Getting replies on emails instantly when referring to Yammer. Last week my colleague seeking for information for proposal, asked me, “How come, you have got email from the person so fast? I was trying to contact him for few days already and didn’t get any response yet?” Well, that is the magic of Yammer and relationships. (*HONESTY*)

6. Highlighting existence of the local office within 90,000 plus employees group is valuable addition, which Yammer provides to its users. I bet, that if you will inquire on the Yammer about Capgemini Slovakia, they will know, who is ambassador, some of them will be even able to greet ‘Good morning’ in Slovak language. Again, thanks to being part of the Yammer community. (*BOLDNESS*)

7. And you know what? It is great FUN, while getting better. (*FUN*)

The above listed, value adding items are very brief summary why Yammer is great tool for company’s worldwide boundary free cooperation.

Moreover, all is aligned with Capgemini’s Seven Core Values: Honesty, Boldness, Trust, Freedom, Team Spirit, Modesty and Fun.
(Believe me, this was coincidence, the way content of the blog has fit with it. It was not my intention, but it worked out amazingly!)

Stay hungry, stay foolish, join Yammer.

Life is SUPER COOL!

Journey from Knowledge Management to Knowledge Sharing

2009-04-01T06:01:00.000-07:00
Why did attempts of knowledge management failed over the last several years? Why is it going to be different this time?

Knowledge management is not about storing documents in the right place, but having people sharing their knowledge. Knowledge is the glue that holds our virtual universe together.
We need to shift our attention to the creators of existing content, then and now, it has always been: PEOPLE.

During last century the main innovation focus was on electrification. Environment pressures and reality of 21st century brought in, as the essence of economic growth – knowledge and its management.

Knowledgification powers radical innovation in 21st century.

Successful implementation of effective knowledge management (KM) is about enabling the culture of innovation within the company. What used to be true in the past, doesn’t work effectively now. Web 1.0 based search engines are no more attractive in comparison with interactive web 2.0 platforms. World Wide Web is flooded with data, which are not linked. How do we get data linked? How to extract information we need for work? How to avoid knowledge mismanagement?
Emerging phenomenon of social networking platforms within lives of people and companies, their partners or customers cannot be overlooked.

Social computing enables more effective people interaction.

Connecting people is the most efficient way, how to get hold of needed materials, documents, deliverables or lessons learned. Interactivity and contribution within existing KM platforms is lower than desired when designing it. Response time for inquiries is too long compared to interactions through “out of the office” web 2.0 applications. This might cause barrier and frustration among KM users. How to get people involved in KM? What would be attractive for them to contribute to KM databases actively?

Below, you can find brief list of web 2.0 based tools and available technologies:

• Mash ups
• Social bookmarks
• Social tagging
• Blogs and Microblogs
• Social networks
• Wikis
• RSS
• Virtual world

Knowledge is in the network. (P. Senge)

Above statement is also supported by, Metcalf’s law of exponentially increasing the value of your knowledge network, by increasing its volume – can be achieved” Social computing allow people connect and share knowledge - naturally. As knowledge flows more freely and in a variety of ways (blogs, wikis, microblogs, etc), the company's soil becomes more fertile for innovative ideas to take place. Employees will have space to unfold their talents and know-how, share it with the networks and increased numbers of colleagues, which have been out of their reach before (geographical, hierarchical etc.)

Social computing captures the knowledge that is shared informally via conversations and people interactions.

Instead of exerting even more efforts to formally document the knowledge, store files and documents, let’s realize strength of knowledge management via integration social networking applications and its tools into it. Spreading the word and ideas can be achieved with surprisingly fast pace.
Potential of KM can be enhanced and fully realized through social computing.
The social computing component layered into that KM framework, even basic things like user forums with space for comments, ratings, cloud tags, Yammer feeds, and wiki-like editing capabilities is able to take huge knowledge base.

This kind of integration of social computing into KM framework, business processes and workflow will have also impact on:
• Content quality of data, whereas the level of detail will be improved significantly by linking available sources of existing data
• KM users will be involved completely when giving them a stake and space for identification of their value added in the final product

Existing myths about social networking within company are source of resistance and doubts about its value adding role towards competitiveness of their business.
Perception on web 2.0 tools can be illustrated by: Old an ancient story about the group of blind men who touched different parts of elephant to learn what it was like. Based on part they touched, each man had a different perspective. “It’s a rope!” - one man said touching the tail. “It is a tree!” - other said by touching the foot of the animal.
Fast forwarding the story to year 2009, different people have a different understanding of web 2.0 beast. Social networking might be associated with Facebook, publishing with Blogs, collaboration with Wikis.

What keeps social media ambassadors to challenge present KM and promote professional networking as essential part of daily work and learning process?

Social media platforms are providing functions with unlimited reach across whole organization.

Social computing components within company enables employees to:
• Create authentic identity via freedom to personalize their profile via picture, nickname, areas of interest, languages spoken etc.
• Have excitement and fun on the workplace, when collaborating with globally dispersed teams.
• Unique space for newly joined colleagues for introduction and the way to integrate smoothly into company.
• Erase hierarchical stereotypes and barriers, when able to interact and reach every colleague at any level within organization. (involvement of executives and leading by example is essential)
• “Eyes on” feeds is great mean to learn more about many unknown subjects when reading feeds, conversations and interactions between experts.
• Making 1 plus 1 far more than 2 – shared knowledge from share minds can generate unexpected synergy effects.

Knowledge management and social media are not mutually exclusive. Social media will not replace KM.

Bringing together Web 2.0 applications and KM into day to day life of company, has to be done hand in hand with proper business process designing, in order to ensure accuracy where error rates must be extremely low. There is still requirement for technical documentation, and a logically-organized framework for presenting that information are necessary and appropriate.
As the story comes to and end, we are crossing finish line at the same place where we have started: PEOPLE are the voice to be listened to.
Final desing of KM platform and its functionalities must serve the best and has to be aligned according requirements of KM users, in order to achieve so often missed target: effectively functioning knowledge management.

Question arises in my mind: KM or KS?
Knowledge sharing (KS) is everywhere. I think KM is largely dead.

Notes for YOU from Notes to Myself by Hugh Prather

2009-03-14T16:28:00.000-07:00

After having an excellent second Friday 13th in a row, how else as I was following Ivana’s Survival Manual for Friday 13th. I have decided to share with you what has touched me within a blog entry break. Someone, who had courage to quit his job and with support of his second wife, has dedicated upcoming two years to break through with his work. His patience has been rewarded and gave joy to million around the globe.

THANK YOU, HUGH PRATHER!

Notes to Myself, a tiny book, which was able to move me, by another step further, on my thousands miles long journey called life. Main ideas are as usually, handwritten and captured in one of my diaries. Sharing gratitude and admiration for Hugh’s book is the least what I can do, to give tribute to an authentic human being, sharing his gifts with the world as Hugh is.

Let me drop down for you the most powerful lines from this masterpiece. I am warning you, they are spooky true and will make you think. So, are you ready to face the truth and look into mirror? I am sure you are, otherwise you would not reach this blog, you would not reach this paragraph either.

Here we go, ladies and gentlemen: “Let me present Hugh Prather’s Notes to Myself!”

…My anxiety doesn’t come from thinking about the future, but from wanting to control it…

...My only habit should be to have none…

…Time is change, therefore I have more time per- clock when I am flexible…

…When I have listened to my mistakes I have grown…

…Guilt is a guide that will lead me whenever I will choose to follow…

…There are no absolutes for something so relative as human life. There are no rules for something as gentle as human heart…

…Dishonest people believe rather in words than in love…

…Accept happiness as present attitude not a future condition…

…Forgiveness is the willingness to begin. Guilt is the love of staying stuck…

…Generosity feels at least as rewarding as greed…

…Learning to respond to now is the only thing there is to learn…

…I have a choice to be right or to be a human...

…No one is wrong. At most someone is uniformed. “You are wrong” means I don’t understand you. I am not seeing what you are seeing...

…As long as I am hated I make difference…

…When I say “You should” I avoid committing myself…

…An argument is always about what has been made more important than the relationship…

…By giving what I want I realize that I have what I thought I lacked before…

…All my life I have made it complicated, but it is so simple. I love when I love and when I love I am myself…

…Being real is more a process of letting go than it is effort of becoming. I already am what I am…

Hmm, how do you feel? Any changes, faster heart beat maybe? Busy thoughts running through your head? Did you allow yourself to let go?

Tell me about it.

Certainly each of the above mentioned quotes could be the topic for separate blog itself. It is up to you which one will stick into your heart the most, it is up to you which you will manifest in your day to day life. Let’s make it simple and just send the message forward by being true example.

I trust you have enjoyed part of your journey, which you have spent by reading this article.

Peace and loads of love.

Who said that Friday 13th is unlucky day?

2009-02-13T13:21:00.000-08:00

Hey ALL
I am very confident that you have lived your day to the fullest and you've over heard „warnings“ about bad luck day, black day, Friday 13th...
I DID! And you know what? It worked!:-) How? Let me share with you, newly invented manual, tested and just approved after passing user's acceptance test:-)

IVANA’s SURVIVAL MANUAL FOR FRIDAY 13th:

1. „Fire up the volume of your favourite tune on ipod or CD when starting your day“ - don’t listen to silly radio RJs in breakfast shows, who are feeding you with horrifying stories about black Friday 13th.

2. „Set a target of XYZ people, who you will make smile today.“ – great chance to start, is already in the lift of the office building.(*Fortunate are those residing on the top floors of the towers, much easier to fulfill the target -large lifts fit in more people, the journey up lasts longer)

3. „Cherish every minute of the day, which is the most precious gift regardless of the date in the calendar. One and only chance, gift of presence.“ – Remember the words from The Suncreen Song – Don’t worry about the future; or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday.”

4. „Give uncoditionally the best out of you.“ – when carrying this in your mind and serving your best. I guarantee you won’t dedicate any tiny mini thoughts to the topic of „black unlucky day.“

5. „Be like Jonathan Livingston Seagull“ – don’t follow the flock. The only thing you are allowed to follow is your heart. Be bold, even when crowd will call you outcast. Love the flock and be an example of happy Friday 13th journey.

My beloved readers, I believe that in case of any dark thoughts about upcoming Friday 13th in March 2009, you will know now, where to look up for help.

Help is within YOU!!!!

Have fun and keep leading the flock with love.
Cheers,
i.

The Half Truth by Doc Fleming and Ivana's vision about Chief Reality Officer

2009-01-11T09:43:00.000-08:00

Hi Ya, Namaste, Ahoj, Ahlan wa Sahlan to All.:-)

Hmm, curious right? Chief Reality Officer - CRO? What is that girl talking about? We all know what CEO, CSO or CFO shortcuts stand for...Where on Earth is the company which have „Reality Department“ in its organizational chart?

Let me again poke your brain cells and raise few question marks in your mind.
The Half Truth is the book, which mentioned CRO on its pages. Book written by Dr. Kevin J. Fleming, was hard to get, but definitely worth to wait till its delivery...
www.amazon.com/Half-Truth-High-Breaking-Illusions-Powerful/dp/0595457088/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1231695443&sr=8-1

I chewed up its pages within few days, while sipping coffee prepared with love by my dear friend Dinesh from Sri Lanka...Numerous notes in my dairy are now, free to the sight of blog’s world too.

„Know thyself!“ are the first words of the book, the advice of old Greek thinkers.

Searching for truth is in my opinion, never ending life long journey. Thanks to geniality of those who left here many information available for seekers, one can speed up this process a lot...But as Doc Fleming is saying: „Gaining wisdom isn’t a sprint sport.“

So, please, step on the starting line. Ready? 3, 2, 1...Go! Let’s make first tiny step out of comfort zone.

Many black pen lines and thoughts have taken away virginity of the book, which is fate for all my books, though. Few following quotes are those which I liked (apart from many others) and I’ve decided to share them with you, with my comments to it and my featuring new CRO characteristics.

Again, I am asking You, to give me valuable feedback as soon as you will read this column.

„Over-sized egos kill people.“
This is one of the very true reality of today’s world. Every CRO must be definitely aware of it and understand both realities, negative and positive aspects of it. Knowing own dreams and ambitions as well as those who are surrounding CRO, is excellent to start with before managing, leading and distributing any tasks to people. CRO’s ego must be completely absent. Offering partnership instead status based hierarchy and remembering to be always humble and open, must be naturally possessed and mastered by any effective CRO.

„Don‘ push the river.“
Movement doesn’t necessarily mean improvement. People are more moved to avoid pain than to achieve gain. CRO must be living example of evolution toward better existence of organization and its people, facing possible hurdles and pain without fear, in order to follow path of true reality agent. Prone not to choose easier way in order to avoid arrows in the back. Being authentic is the key for CRO to breed more authenticity within whole company.

So my take on being authentic CRO is:

CRO cannot become emotionally or mentally lazy. Constant learning and sharing gifts of gained new insights with his/hers people and followers. Being great listener to own inner voice and guts helps to identify roots of truth, for CRO as well as for those interacting with him/her.

Never settle…Deeper truth isn’t always obvious to the human eye or ear.
In order, if we are keen to make 1 plus 1 far more than 2 we should go forward with accountability, love and authenticity.

I think every part of our lives is determined by the level of our ignorace toward seeing truth...Reality department is invisible and present in every insitution, family or relationship. To be CRO in every field of one's presence, should be the goal for all of us. Leaders, and decision makers are not allowed to stop and neglect working on living in truth.

I highly recommend to add The Half Truth to your list of must read books. To find out more about Dr. Kevin Fleming, click on www.effectiveexecutivecoaching.com

Peace and keep your high spirits.
Cheers,
i.

White Tiger and Slum Dog Millionaire...Fiction or true India?

2009-01-07T15:34:00.000-08:00
It is almost midnight, chilly night with temperature far below zero degrees Celsius , first 7 days of 2009, first week with new Euro currency for every citizen in my country…
Despite all those facts, my mind is far away from my present location…Curry, chapatti, paan, buffalos, rickshaws, slums, outsourcing hubs, 5 star hotels, sweat, heat, various people’s destinies and amazing landscape – planet India.

Aravind Adiga was the one who has got hooked up many to his novel, giving away a story about successful “entrepreneur “Balram Halwai in India’s south Banglore..No wonder, that Aravind was awarded by Man Brooker Prize in 2008. (All of you can read the reviews online when you will look up The White Tiger)
So, I will focus on my take from this novel. Please, share with me your opinions, my dear friends from all around the globe! I am great listener and even author composed this book by talking to people.

I have bought this book by “accident”, when I have had last 50 AED note in my wallet during my last visit in Dubai. Price of the book was 50 AED and it was on the central stands in the bookshop as bestseller. However, I don’t like to follow the crowd, I have taken it. “Nice color and cover of the book”, I thought myself.

Start: 27th December 2008, 4:00 AM

Underlined places of the book and notes have made my thoughts run in my head and I have learned many new facts, which I didn’t know about India, even despite 3 years spent with many Indian friends and now I even understand them more…especially those who are called office BOY even at their forties…
Interesting facts:
• Bohd Gaya is the town where lord Budha sat under tree and found enlightment
• Benaras is the holiest spot on the river Ganga
• Balram is sidekick of the god Krishna
• Halwai is cast of sweet makers
• Cast system is still present with very strong family pressures and loyality
• Corruption is part of day to day life: in health care instutions , educational system, police departments and government offices
• Poor people in the north drink tea and poor people in the south drink coffee.

Underlined parts of the book, I want to share with you:
• Servants are obsessed with being called “sir” by other servants
• Trustworthiness of servants is the basis of the entire economy, who are caught in the scoop like roosters before getting killed by butcher, they don’t even try to escape from the scoop…
• Dreams of the rich and dreams of the poor never overlap…the poor dream all their lives to get enough food and looking like rich. And rich are dreaming of losing weight…Ironic, huh?
• The moment you show cash, everyone knows your language.
• Everyone who counts in this world, has killed someone or other on their way to the top.
• The moment you recognize what is beautiful in this world, you stop being a slave..

Balram broke the chains of his slavery, got out from the scoop….Made himself a free man, he let his spirit out of the cage made by rules and boundaries built by society…

I am just wondering...
- Why can be people so cruel to other human beings? Are not we all one?
- How can be respect to human life changing its levels as the casts are lowering? Aren’t we all one?
- Who has got the power and influence in hands is mostly the greediest one…Don’t we all need to eat just 3 meals a day and sleep on one bed at a time?

Hmm…and the same night when I finished the book, I have bumped into a movie trailer Slumdog Millionaire. I have just finished watching the movie. Please do the same.

When you will combine it with novel White Tiger, you will understand my urge to write down this lines.
My next steps: trip to India...

Finish: 7th January 11:45 PM

Cheers and awaiting your feedback

i.

Money, money, money...

2008-12-27T10:19:00.000-08:00
Lyrics of the famous Swedish band’s tune is known to millions of people. .. ABBA is associated with beats of night clubs, old LP players and cassette tapes radios for many. But today’s hottest topic: money isn’t linked to the cheerful music of legendary band…
I have recently talked to friend of mine through one of frequently used IM service, who lives in the other part o the world…
“How are you?”, I have asked him.
He said: “What a silly question, how can I be in today’s situation? Of course I am not ok…”
I asked: “Why? What so, horrible happened to you?”
He replied with exclamation in his virtual response through IM messenger: “Oh, my God, you don’t know what happened in the world?!!Didn’t you hear about financial crisis?!!”
“Well I did, but can you tell me how does it stop you from enjoying your days?”, I have continued.
“Situation is very bad, real estate market is down, stock market is down…”
“Yes, that I know, but still how does it affect you? How does it stop you to live your days to the fulliest?”
“ Oh, you don’t understand anything, I have lost 80% of my savings…How am I supposed to live?”

I thought a lot about my friend, it was pointless to get deeper in this conversation at that time, it would be like adding oil to the fire…
So, I have decided to write down, what I wanted to tell him, but couldn’t overcome his refusing mood, touched by anxiety and offensiveness….
Yes, world is struggling with financial crisis, and market’s crash…But do we also have to take it as our struggle…? Will it help anyone, if we will be worried and in bad frame of mind? Will it ease the tensions?
Instead, of enjoying everyday’s sunrise, living days in truth, serving our best, sharing our gifts with those we love and care about….we are constantly worried and it is distracting ourselves from the things which
make sense…
I have read somewhere, that: True man will remain, when he gives up all possession and positions….
So, why to worry, whether I have lost some money? What goes around, comes around…isn’t it always like that? If the essence, the real purpose’s of man is sincere and coming out from the heart, money and assets cannot decrease net value of one’s mission …don’t chase money, they will follow you…

Living in Truth, My Life's Purpose

2008-12-27T10:13:00.000-08:00
Humility, acceptance and silence seem to work most of the time. So, I should better live my purpose, act accordingly and master my deepest purpose. Not to “yap” about it.Yes, more you know, more you realise how much you don’t know. Which will keep you very much with your feet on the ground, or even put you down on your knees.

So, why I am writing this document, then? There are many things, which one cannot express by words. And those who, understand, never ask. They just can read it from the sparks in the eyes, the way I look at the world, how I treat people, and how I value relationships.
What I trust is universe, I have my eyes and heart opened. Patience always helps to go through difficult ups and downs. Listening to inner voice, and balancing emotions within me, while putting them into action, is very difficult lifelong challenge.

There are no right or wrong choices, just different results.
And as Einstein said: “Insane are those, who expect different results by doing everything the same way.”

Serving my best is the only way, how I want to lead my life.
Give the best out of me to the world. Leave long term impact on people’s lives. Even tough I cannot be responsible for anyone’s choices or actions, except mine. Raising expectations are giving birth to disappointments. But I am ready to face all the obstacles on my journey. I have the warrior’s spirit and I will fight without fear to the last breath, if I cannot serve my best and follow my path, if I cannot be present.
Is there any other sense of being, then?
Living in lies, in “wasteland”, according senseless rules, absent of fundamentals, so essential to me. NO! Not me.

Which are those essential fundamentals for me?
Let me try to note down, some of them:
• Honesty and sincerity, living with heart.
• Character and core values, which cannot be suppressed by short term monetary possessions.
• Refusing “Copy – paste lifestyle”...and following fake idols created by system and society.
• Treating all people with the great respect, regardless to status, age, or race etc.
• Being aware of own fears, but not letting them to kill the mind and spirit in me.
• Not missing importance of “accidental coincidences in life”.
• Being grateful.
• Listening twice as much than talking.
• Being always me and authentic.
• Being nice and gentle to myself. (don’t expect others to do so, if you are careless about your own life, health, emotions...)
• Respecting elders, having great love for my family.

Nothing is fixed...We are all connected...All is energy. As, Joseph Jaworski called it in his extraordinary book Synchronicity: “Oneness.”

Available for Radio and TV Appearances

2008-02-05T08:22:00.001-08:00

Did you really miss me on the radio, shame on you

Since returning to Slovakia I have already been a guest on RTI (broadcasting to Slovakia, The UK and Europe simultaneously) and Viva in Slovakia nationally.