REFLECTIONS ON A JOURNEY…
HOW I LEARNED TO WORK WITH OTHERS MORE EFFECTIVELY
BY WORKING ON A BOOK ENTITTLED
“WORKING TOGETHER…ON COLLABORATION”
As journeys go, this project was one of the most fascinating in my 40+ year career as an author of books, filmscripts, and magazine articles, as my goal was to honor a great man, great due to his ability to work effectively with others for the good of the American people.
His name is Dr. C. William Keck, with a 23 page resume including such honors as recipient of the American Public Health Association’s highest award, the Sedgewickealth AssociationHe Memorial Medal; founder of a Public Health Academic Programs at the Northeast Ohio Medical University, former President of the American Public Health Association, and now Executive Director at MEDICC, an organization dedicated to helping America work effectively with other nations regarding healthcare.
Dr. Keck, his wife Ardith, and I began the book some 2 years ago.
The book, entitled Working Together…On Collaboration covers the arc of planning and activity necessary to bring collaborative efforts to success.
Here’s what I learned:
LEARN TO PUT YOUR EGO ASIDE
Many of the 15 expert collaborators in the book spoke of the need to develop a life outlook which evidences a bit less ego. This is not so easy to do. We do not have to look at each and every occurrence in life through the prism of how we might judge it, or how it impacts only us. We can learn to think carefully about the views of others, realizing their views are as precious to them as our views are precious to us.
LIFE IS BIGGER THAN OUR OWN VIEW ON THINGS
As adults, we spend the greater part of our time weighing things…what do we like? What do we not like? What do we choose? And to a certain extent, we actually develop an ego based on those decisions.
But life is bigger than that, so it makes sense to spend more time thinking carefully about the thoughts that others you work with have.
This translates into saying, “I’ll think carefully about what you suggested,” and actually doing it.
Carefully considering how another’s views make sense from their perspective.
We need to remember the fact that our willingness to think deeply about the views others have which differ from our own is one of the principal things about us others will like, respect, and enjoy.
Forget the ideas, think of the dynamic- respecting other’s thoughts.
A FAILURE CAN BE A SUCCESS…WE JUST MIGHT NOT SEE IT
Dr. Keck spent decades trying to accomplish goals in public health, but it was only after he retired that one of them came to fruition. The public was served, but just not on the timetable he desired.
He saw that things weren’t happening, but in time, things changed and his ideas were implemented in full. That cliché, “A watched pot never boils,” comes to mind.
You might think that what you’ve done in life is a failure, but you might be wrong about that.
IF YOU ARE GOING TO ERR IN LIFE- ERR ON THE SIDE OF KINDNESS
Perfection exists only in our minds, in fact much of life is too much one thing or another.
So if you’re going to err, err on the side of kindness.
LIFE IS MUCH LARGER THAN WE IMAGINE
All of us create thoughts about our lives and relationships, but we never want to make the mistake of thinking or believing that those thoughts represent the entire truth of the matter.
Life is quite a bit larger than we may imagine, and that translates into more love, more success, and more opportunity than we see.
As Helen Keller and many others have stated so eloquently, together we can accomplish so much more than what we can do alone.
The book WORKING TOGETHER…ON COLLABORATION is available in paperback and Kindle on Amazon, see LINK https://www.amazon.com/Working-Together-Collaboration-William-Keck/dp/1545531846/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1496401859&sr=1-1&keywords=working+together+on+collaboration+keck+kettlewell+keck.
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