Nancy's Worldview

Lake Tahoe in Winter for Rene, based on his photograph in February 2011

2011-08-17T15:58:00.000-07:00

California Impressionists

2011-08-17T15:57:00.001-07:00

Giverny

2011-08-17T15:55:00.000-07:00

new paintings - my dog Jack

2011-08-17T15:54:00.000-07:00

Lotus Pond in Vietnam for Joel's birthday 2010

2010-11-15T17:37:00.001-08:00

More Art for the heart and soul

2010-11-15T17:36:00.000-08:00

More art for the heart and soul

2010-11-15T17:28:00.000-08:00

Farm and Vineyard in Autumn

2010-07-29T20:03:00.002-07:00

Napa Vineyard in Autumn

2010-07-29T20:03:00.000-07:00

Water Lillies for my sistern-in-law Nina

2010-07-29T19:58:00.000-07:00

2010-07-29T19:56:00.000-07:00

Attached are some of my latest paintings.

Another Van Gogh Inspiration

2009-12-01T15:21:00.000-08:00

Fall in Conneticut, inspired by a photograph by my husband

2009-09-27T23:02:00.000-07:00

Inspired by Van Gogh - Country Scene

2009-09-27T22:58:00.000-07:00

Monique from Martinque

2009-09-27T22:55:00.000-07:00

Bridge over lilly pond - Monet study

2009-08-27T16:53:00.001-07:00

Large waterlillies

2009-08-27T16:52:00.001-07:00

Painting of bridge over a lilly pond for Mom's 90th birthday

2009-08-27T16:46:00.001-07:00

My first nude

2009-01-24T19:16:00.001-08:00

A Tribute to JMW Turner's "The Junction of the Severn and the Wye

2008-11-15T16:02:00.000-08:00

Ode to Kandinsky's "Improvisation"

2008-10-27T20:11:00.000-07:00

Whispering

2008-08-16T13:27:00.000-07:00

I just started working on a more abstract style of painting. I had the need to do impressions and not representations - in a deeper way. I have a yearning for something more deeply intuitive and spiritual.

An original painting of Montara Beach

2007-11-02T08:21:00.000-07:00

Drawing from the Right Side of Your Brain and Problem Solving

2007-10-30T18:24:00.001-07:00

Drawing from the Right side of Your Brain should be an exercise to help people learn to think out of the box and take risks. Using the right side of the brain adds much capacity to problem solving and is akin to having a team with diverse talents. Why isn't this tried more in companies? They are using antiquated methods for decision-making, problem-solving and management. Structures are from the 20th century and thinking lags behind. Shake things up by adding right brain thinking and creating. Try a little ART!

2007-10-30T18:17:00.001-07:00

Tips for Managing Change Successfully - A Simple and Workable Plan

2007-08-28T14:35:00.000-07:00

Successful Change Management Principles

Adapted from “The psychology of change management” by Emily Lawson and Colin Price in the McKinsey Quarterly

Four conditions for changing mind-sets with large scale change:

Employees must see the point of the change and agree with it – at least enough to give it a try. They must understand the purpose behind the change. If they don’t understand the purpose, they will suffer from “cognitive dissonance” or the distressing mental state that arises when people find that their beliefs are inconsistent with their actions. People have to understand how their contribution to the change will make a difference.
The surrounding structures (reward and recognition systems, for example) must be in tune with the new behavior. Organizational structures, management and operational processes and measurement procedures – setting targets, measuring performance and granting financial and nonfinancial rewards – must be consistent with the behavior that people are asked to embrace. When a company’s goals for new behavior are not reinforced, employees are less likely to adopt it consistently.
Employees must have the skills to do what it requires. Many change programs are put in place without showing people how to adapt to their new situation. David Kolb , an adult learning specialist, described a 4 phase process for learning that can be applied to help individuals learn new skills: Basically people must reflect, experiment and apply the new principles. All this is anchored best by teaching it to others.
Employees must see people they respect modeling it actively. People model their behavior on significant others – those in positions of influence. Role models at every level must “walk the talk” and be consistent. Change must be meaningful to key groups at each level of the organization.

Each of these conditions is realized independently; together they add up to a way of changing the behavior of people in organizations by changing attitudes about what can and should happen at work.

My first palette knife painting, aka 3rd painting

2007-04-11T21:18:00.000-07:00

I have just finished my first palette knife painting. It is a wonderful and freeing technique. The knife is much faster process than the brush. It is very dynamic.

2nd Oil Painting - first original

2007-03-31T15:44:00.000-07:00

This is my second oil painting. I started it and then had to have shoulder surgery so I could not do anything for 10 weeks. I learned patience and perseverance. Two very good lessons and so I came back and finished it. It is my first original.

My first oil painting

2006-10-03T17:11:00.000-07:00

I am very excited to post my first oil painting. I just finished a series of painting classes. Our first project was to paint a copy of a Monet, using the Impressionist style. Here is my masterpiece!

Creating High Performance

2006-05-06T20:52:00.000-07:00

At a party tonight for my friend Anne who just received her Phd., one of my other friends asked how we could achieve optimum performance in difficult situations. She was asking this question because of the failure of America's response to Katrina in New Orleans and our recent power outage and shut roads in Half Moon Bay, CA. We are wondering how to improve a system that does not work and prepare for an uncertain future.

Reading Harrison Owen's yet to be published book, Achieving High Performance, it is clear that high performance exists when people are able to self-organize in the absence of rigid structures. The formal organization often gets in the way of high performance. Most high performance exists within the informal organization.It is the same with innovation as most innovation happens on the fringe of an organization, not within it.

Parents responsibility to build accountability into their teenage children

2006-03-13T09:53:00.000-08:00

Monday, March 13th, 2006

I couldn't help thinking about the article I read in the San Francisco Chronicle this morning about a group of 100 teenagers who did nothing to stop a fatal stabbing of a fellow teen at a party in El Cerrito, CA. What makes an entire group of teens freeze and not call 911 when they are always using their cell phones and it is certain they all were in possession of them? Was their main concern to get out of there so they would not be arrested? Was the person stabbed someone unknown to them and therefore a non-entity? This happened at a party where there were no adults around.

The only good news about this incident is that it pulled a community together and set up a panel of teens, parents, educators and community leaders to try to figure this out and make sure this does not happen again.

The bigger question is that there seems to be no accountability on the teens part for letting someone get stabbed. Were they not all accomplices in this tragedy? There seemed to be a lack of courage to step forward with integrity and compassion. Somehow each child there is responsible in some way if they could have helped and did nothing. They should examine their consciences and help other teens speak up to prevent further tragedy.

Where have the parents been in all this? The educators? The community leaders? It takes a village, to quote Hilary Clinton, to raise a child and certainly this is true for teenagers. I know as I have an 18 1/2 year old daughter. It takes courage to be a parent of a teenager, especially at this time when so many of them are without any adult guidance.

Many educators have presented emotional intelligence training as part of the standard curriculum in the schools. Not many have adopted it and yet things like this are clearly needed to give children the ability to self-refelect and self-manage. We all need tools to be aware of our impact on others.

As a management consultant to global business organizations, I see the lack of self-awareness at all levels of the spectrum - from entry level all the way to the top of organizations. The complexity of the world we are living in demands a level of self-reflection, no matter how pressed people are for time.

Mel Levine's "Ready or Not, Here Life Comes"

2006-02-19T19:14:00.000-08:00

http://allkindsofminds.org

Mel Levine presents the best information on helping teenagers move into a productive adulthood. This should be required reading for all parents, teachers, school administrators, counselors and pediatricians and all those people who work with children. He has talked about the importance of helping teenagers get a sense of reality (greater worldview that is both short and long-term) and has some good tools to help. I wish I had seen this earlier but it just came out as I have an 18 year old who is in a society filled with huge possibilities and with no realistic expectations about how to achieve them.

The Year of the Wood Rooster

2005-02-26T11:53:00.000-08:00

Let this year of the Wood Rooster, which I am, be one of strategic planning. Think before acting and scenario plan. Last year, the Monkey Year, was very tumultuous--large Tsunami killing hundreds of thousands, terroist killings, Iraq's election and their move towards independence, were all reflective of the ups and downs of the Monkey type year. Lots of surprises - both positive and negative.

What have we learned from all of this? How can we move ahead in the future?
As an organizaqtional consultant, I see the need for better planning for the future--to upsize and downsize as needed. The lack of planning has hurt organizations as they are unprepared with the intellectuual horsepower they need to mobilize and change directions when needed. Still --not enough thinking is being done at all levels. Information is continually being withheld, that given out, could empower people to make better decisions.

In educational establishments, as well as in organizations, there is not enough dialogue to surface diverse opinions and build better organizations for the future. People are stuck to their old ways of doing business and education, even though they know they are not working. The fear of change continues to hold people back and yet that is all there is. Why, in Western culture, do we try to control change? Why not ride the waves of change and lead? What is it going to take to get there now?

Nancy's Worldview

2005-02-26T11:52:00.000-08:00

Nancy's Worldview

Working with people who have different worldviews

2004-11-16T16:39:00.000-08:00

Collaborating with people on projects when you have different worldviews can be challenging, especially if you have strong opinions. I treat it like a cross-cultural collaboration when you have to produce a 3rd way--not my way or their way. This seems to work. Also really understaning someone's interests about a particular position is important. Why is that important to them? What are the underlying reasons for their position? Look for things that are shared and those that are different. Come up with options that appeal to both. In a sense, it is a negotiation.

Shifts in Thinking continued

2004-10-22T13:55:00.000-07:00

Today, in talking with a couple of clients, I know that we are at the beginning of transformation in thinking differently in the West. This either/or thinking has reached its own "Peter Principle." One could only think like this and survive in a simplistic world. The complexity, ambiguities and the uncertainties we face today require greater understanding of paradox, strategic agility and other skills that are not taught in most American schools. In Asia, this is common place as evidenced by yin/yang analogies. Everything is both/and not either/or.

What caused this simplistic view? Is it simply because we are a young country? Is it because we are economically driven as a culture which makes us think in black and white and quantitative terms? Or was it that we started out in survival mode through revolution and our natural tendency for flight or fight has remained even though the external environment has changed. What embedded systems prevail in America that makes this shift in thinking so radical when in other parts of the world, it is so common place?

Shifts in Thinking

2004-10-20T09:28:00.000-07:00

Before you can change your external worldview, you have to change your thinking. So many people have an either/or mentality rather than a both/and. I noticed this way back in 1990 when I attended a workshop, lead by Harrison Owen, entitled "Creativity and Business." Most of the people there were either from business or were from the arts. I was one of the only people who had experienced both. As a dancer and as a business person, I did not see any conflict. Most people had trouble embracing the two. They still do and yet the Chinese have always embraced the yin and yang. This both/and thinking is very ancient but in the West we have compartmentalized everything. I think this has come in part from our illusion that we can control things. It is a very mechanistic point of view. It is very provincial and unworldly. I feel so grateful my parents were total opposites in that I saw many possibilities from birth which I incorporated into my worldview from an early age.

2004-10-09T11:32:00.000-07:00

Ulla and Clara at Tivoli Gardens watching bear and clown in Medieval stage show

Friends Around the World

2004-10-09T10:25:00.000-07:00

It's wonderful to have friends around the world. We just came back from Denmark where we stayed with someone named Peter who was an exchange student 16 years ago in America. He is all grown up with one baby, one on the way, a wonderful wife and stepdaughter. Meeting Peter when he was 16 was a critical time in his adolescence. Things were forming or were already formed that shaped the person he is today.

Today, a couple weeks after we have come back from Denmark, Peter is here in America. He is staying with us now and having "deja vu" experiences of being 16 and in America. He was always interested in politics and ended up being a spin doctor for the Deputy Prime Minister in Denmark. He is here during the presidential debates and adds a European perspective to our election.

All of this dialogue enhances my worldview which can never be America centric. I have traveled and seen and worked overseas.