Sincere thanks to everyone who wrote with praise and suggestions for our eZine! I also enjoyed hearing from so many people who wanted copies of the first five of Balance Point's "Eight Elements of Personal and Organizational Effectiveness" - that offer (including #6) is still open. Just e mail or telephone me personally and mention the Eight Elements:

Robert@BalancePointInternational.com
425-803-0303

This month's feature is Element #7, Create Partnership - stressing the value of generating win-win relationships with all of the people in your own life, personally and professionally.

We'll also share some favorite quotes and other great ideas so read on and enjoy!

Be extraordinary!

Robert

A Balance Point monthly eZine dedicated to assisting people in living extraordinary lives and creating extraordinary organizations.

We encourage you to forward this message to friends or colleagues who want to be more effective in working with people. They can subscribe to future issues and receive our free 23 page report “ Simple Truths and Enduring Values – The Eight Elements of Personal and Organizational Effectiveness,” at http://www.extraordinarypeople.com/ezine/subscribe.htm.

We have a very simple privacy policy: We do not share any information about any subscriber with anyone outside Balance Point for any reason or at any time. Period.

In this issue:

• Feature: Create Partnership!
• Extraordinary Wisdom Quotes of the Month Nightingale Conant's Living an Extraordinary Life
• Rave Recommendations from Balance Point Extraordinary Living Action Steps

Number 7 in Balance Point's Eight Elements of Personal and Professional Growth

A few years ago, at the Seattle Special Olympics, nine contestants, all physically or mentally disabled, assembled at the starting line for the 100-yard dash.

At the gun, they all started out, not exactly in a dash, but with a relish to run the race to the finish and win. All, that is, except one little boy who stumbled on the asphalt, tumbled over a couple of times, and began to cry.

The other eight heard the boy cry. They slowed down and looked back. Then they all turned around and went back.

Every one of them.

One girl with Down's Syndrome bent down and kissed him and said: "This will make it better." Then all nine linked arms and walked together to the finish line. Everyone in the stadium stood, and the cheering went on for several minutes. People who were there are still telling the story.

Why? Because deep down we know this one thing: What matters in this life is more than winning for ourselves. What matters in this life is helping others win, even if it means slowing down and changing our course....

My twelve years resident in Japan taught me many things. Perhaps the biggest learning and the one I share when people ask me about that experience, is the Japanese culture's commitment to everyone in a group winning, to working together for mutual benefit. The Japanese proverb says "A single arrow is easily broken, but not three in a bundle."

Our Western society often seems a win/lose, competitive frenzy. It often damages relationships and prevents us from partnership. Beginning to live from a commitment to mutual benefit in your relationships will change your experience of life for the better.

Here's how it might work in something as simple as this eZine: While I'm totally unwilling to take responsibility for the value you'll create from choosing to read this, I am totally responsible for creating context and content that will support and even accelerate your journey toward living an extraordinary life.

Part of my expression of my own accountability is to consistently extend the offer of being in partnership with you. I hold you as my equal, my peer, my partner in learning. I know that your knowledge, life experience and perspectives are rich, informed and valuable. Therefore, I'm delivering this content from a context of loving respect for who you are and who you will become.

How about you? Are you willing to be in partnership with me? Are you willing to simply look at these ideas and temporarily suspend judgment about whether they are right or wrong? Are you willing to test them against your own knowledge and experience and thus determine if they can work in your life? Or are you practicing an inner dialogue of judgment that prevents real learning?

Partnership attitudes require the suspension of quick conclusions, prejudices and judgments.

Our partnership you includes sharing some final thoughts in our Balance Point Action Steps at the end of this message so read on.

Our theme this month is "Create Partnership" so here are a few of my favorite quotes on that subject.  

Those of you who are on my personal e mail list know that I sometimes forward thoughtful writing from my friend and Balance Point graduate, John Renesch.

A global expert on business and consciousness, John is a leading writer and thinker on matters of social transformation. He believes that commerce holds the key to bringing about a global shift of human consciousness thus creating a future of tremendous possibility for humankind - the possibility that will allow humanity to transcend the inevitable future that can be projected from current trends.

His website includes details on how to sign up for his free eZine, AHA!, plus how to obtain his books and to learn about his keynote speeches and special projects. If you're interested in leading-edge thinking about our collective futures, look in on John's work at:

http://www.renesch.com

Create Partnership!

A few minutes completing the following questionnaire can be a powerful experience. Consider the following questions:

I consistently play "win-win" with the following people or in the following circumstances
_________________________________________________

I need to play "win-win" more consistently with the following people or in the following circumstances
_________________________________________________

When I truly operate in partnership, my relationships and results have the following qualities
_________________________________________________

When I play the win-lose game, my relationships and results have the following qualities _________________________________________________

The people or circumstances that seem to support my playing win-win are _________________________________________________

The people or circumstances that seem to generate the space for my playing win-lose are
_________________________________________________

The person or circumstance where I most need to play "win-win", to set a context of partnership for mutual benefit is
_________________________________________________

I'm committed to actually doing that by ______________ and the result I will create by being in partnership is
_________________________________________________

Create partnership … and your life will transform itself just in the process of living.

Wishing you an Extraordinary Life and Extraordinary Organizations,

Robert

Robert White
Balance Point

P. O. Box 40405
Denver , CO 80204
Phone: 1-425-803-0303
E-mail: Robert@BalancePointInternational.com

http://www.BalancePointInternational.com

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