To Have-Do-Be or to Be-Do-Have!

My blog post today is going to discuss a number of ground breaking principles that I believe will make a difference in our fight to save the planet, redesign our future to work for everyone, and score big wins in the technology field for sustainability. These principles are being used today in a variety of contexts, from building high performance teams, to achieving breakthrough results, to transforming situations and creating new unthought of solutions. I will list the principles and discuss each on its own, then I will tie all of them together to explain how they will benefit our quest to create a planet that works for everyone.

The principles that I want to discuss are:

• Inquiry
• Values and Groundbreaking Principles
• Ways of being
• Promises

Inquiry

Albert Einstein said “Man can’t be taught what he already knows”, and “To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle, requires creative imagination and marks real advance in science.”

It is important for all of us who are trying to save the planet and create a brighter future for its inhabitants to remember to be creative in our thinking, to never stop questioning, to come up with possibilities and solutions that at first may not seem possible, but will ingenuity will be attainable.

Values and Groundbreaking Principles

It is very important for us to figure out what our values are and operate consistently with these values. ultimately, operating consistent with values is what determines ethical conduct from none. Operating with values and ethical conduct have a positive return in any endeavor that we have in life.

The groundbreaking principles are the following:

Accountability: To be accountable for what we take on.

Responsibility: To to responsible for the outcome whether favorable or not. The outcome is always my responsibility, and has nothing to do with external factors or conditions. I have the power to make it happen. To be cause n the matter.

Integrity: To honor our words and our commitments. To operate according to them. To check in with our promises and declarations and communicate when we are not fulfilling on them.

Trust: To trust the process, ourselves, and each other. To restore trust if it is not available. Trust is given, not earned.

Ways of Being 

This aligns with the title of this post. Do we have-do-be or do we be-do-have? I would say the majority of us have been trained at a very young age that it is have-do-be. There is more evidence however that the way to accomplish the desired results is through be-do-have instead. Let’s examine this for the result of:

A Planet that works for everyone.

Have-do-be: We need to have a planet that works for everyone first, in order to perform action consistent with it, such as take care of the planet and its inhabitants, in order to be good stewards of the planet.

Be-do-have: We be good stewards of the planet first. Then we act consistent with who we are being thereby taking care of the planet and its inhabitants. Once we do that, we get the result we want, which is a planet that works for everyone.

Promises

It makes a significant difference if we make a promise and commit to its accomplishment for the result that we want to achieve. A promise here needs to be bold, and some what outrageous in its scope and reach. It should be a promise that we doubt if we can keep. Making an easy promise is boring and does not motivate anyone, whereas making a promise beyond our reach makes for a great call to action. To condition our resources and efforts to strive for reaching our bold promise.

Where does this fit in with TICS?

As I mentioned in the opening paragraph, these traits, values, and tools are all used to build high performance teams. They are also used to create new solutions and results that seemed at first sight unattainable. These traits apply to sustainability, technology in sustainability, and creating a planet that works for all of us in a number of different ways.

It applies in building high performance teams that will address the issues at hand. The medium for creating these teams in communication and language. For these teams to be high performance, they need to be inquisitive, to operate consistent with our values, to take on accountability, responsibility, integrity and trust, to adopt the be-do-have model, and to create a powerful promise that calls them in action. It also applies in creating the environment where out of reach, creative, and whole solutions can be designed and implemented.