Purposeful Patriotism
Posted on January 23, 2012 by Mark Young

On a long drive last year, I found myself listening to a classical music radio station, and to one of the most inspiring pieces I can remember hearing.

The live recording, a concert by the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, was made in Prague in 1939. Czechoslovakia had just been invaded by the Nazis. The Nazi flag had been hoisted at Prague Castle. Dissent was punishable by arrest and potentially death. Certainly, any nationalistic Czech displays were verboten. The national anthem had been replaced by the anthem of the Reich.

And here, on an evening in 1939, the people of Prague had gathered to hear Václav Talich conduct their own orchestra, playing their own music: Smetana’s My Country and Dvořák’s Slavonic Dances. The performance was a rousing one; but what made the hair stand up on the back of my neck was what followed. At the end, after a sustained standing ovation, the audience slowly, spontaneously began singing the Czech National Anthem. First just one or two voices, then several more, and eventually what must have been the entire concert hall, singing with all their might.

In doing so, they risked their own safety. But so strong was their commitment to their motherland that they were prepared to take the risk. Knowing that there were probably Nazi officials in the crowd, they nevertheless continued this spontaneous show of defiance and patriotism.

I wasn’t the only one to be moved. Countless listeners to the radio station called and texted to say how they had been moved to tears by this recording. Just typing this blog post brings back the strong emotion, which we felt so viscerally.

Patriotism. That’s not such a popular word these days. It’s particularly rare in corporate circles. But it got me thinking about purpose. I’ve worked with a number of companies in the process of redefining their purpose in the world. At worst, this is regarded as a necessary communications exercise; an opportunity to put something on a poster on the walls; a tick-box.

Many leaders have moved beyond this, though, and see the definition of purpose as an opportunity to create focus: an analytical exercise to better define “what’s in and what’s out” of the corporate mission. Google’s mission to “organise the world’s information” is a good example.

Rarer, though, is the sort of purpose that instills the level of patriotism displayed in that Prague concert hall in 1939. It’s not about the words. It’s about how that purpose lives in the hearts and minds of the people who work 40, 50 or 60 hours a week to bring that purpose to life.

In Built to Last, Jim Collins and Jerry Porras found, through rigorous research into companies’ share performance over time, that companies with a more compelling and shared sense purpose, vision and values were significantly more successful. I had the privilege of working in one of the companies in their study – Procter & Gamble. (Indeed, in my organisational development role there, helped to build alignment around a new purpose statement in the late 90s). P&G’s purpose is about producing “products & services of superior quality and value that improve the lives of the world’s consumers”. Last weekend, I met up with a P&G friend who has recently moved on, now to a pharmaceutical company. I noticed something interesting about how she described her new job. It gave her a chance to improve consumer’s lives, and therefore she was happy. The resonance between her own sense of purpose, and the company’s, was key for her.

Collins and Porris, writing in the Harvard Business Review in 1996, said: “Truly great companies understand the difference between what should never change and what should be open for change, between what is genuinely sacred and what is not.” Have a look at some of these examples, quoted by Collins and Porras:
Wal-Mart: To give ordinary folk the chance to buy the same things as rich people
Merck: To preserve and improve human life
McKinsey & Company: To help leading corporations and governments be more successful
Walt Disney: To make people happy

If you worked in those companies, would the purpose provide clarity and focus? Would it inspire you? Would it create genuine, spontaneous “patriotism” towards your employer – if, of course, you felt it was genuinely lived?

In Future Considerations, we redefined our vision, purpose and values three years back. Our purpose – “to enable the world’s leaders, institutions and systems to evolve, and to influence the great challenges of our time” – has proved very powerful in creating both focus and inspiration. It has helped us to be clear, not just on what sort of work we want to take on, but how we want to do it. At times it has galvanised the team and helped us to draw out that extra ounce of discretionary effort that’s sometimes needed. It resonates because we wrote it by asking ourselves what it was we truly cared about; our unique role in the world.

I realise that not all of our readers are corporate CEOs, able to define the purpose of a global organisation. But I would suggest that the definition of purpose is a powerful and important exercise – at whatever level you’re leading. I have worked with numerous teams where the creation of a team purpose was instrumental in ramping up the team’s effectiveness.

Ask yourself these questions:
:: as individuals, what are our personal reasons for being in the world? why do we care about these? (get to the core… listen intently to one another expressing these personal purposes, without judgment.)
:: as a team/business, what can we, together, uniquely do in the world?
:: if we didn’t exist, what would be lost?
:: what do we most deeply care about contributing?

I’d like to close this blog post with another story – also about patriotism. A long-term multinational client experienced a hostile takeover a few years back. I visited their head office and had lunch in the staff canteen while the acquisition negotiations were in full force. As a show of defiance, many staff were coming to work dressed in the company’s well-known brand colour. In knew, from my experience, the degree of commitment to the company, its vision, purpose, values and brands that everyday there people felt. Staff were symbolically prepared to take a stand for what they believed in.

As a leader, what level of patriotism do you believe you are unleashing among your people?

Mark is the Managing Director of Future Considerations. Click here to find out more about Mark and contact him for further information about his experience with the growth of the company.

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Purpose: The missing ingredient
Posted on January 16, 2012 by Peter Masters

Reading through news articles, blogs, updates and surveys on weekly (sometimes daily) basis, there is rarely an article that, 3 months on, still sticks in my head. In September last year the Chartered Institute of People Development (CIPD) published a survey that reported that only 33% of leaders in the UK perceived the quality of leadership in their organisation as, “High”.

I read this and I don’t understand – this could just be because I am 24 and perhaps a little naïve, but regardless, I would like to ask 2 questions.

Why is the perception of UK leadership so poor? And, if it is a true assessment of the ability of todays’ organisations to lead, then what will tomorrow look like?

Given the number of leadership programmes that are available to staff across sectors, I’d like to take a punt and suggest that it isn’t the availability of training and development that is missing from the leadership equation. I would like to suggest that it is something more systemic…

I look back at my own experience leading a National non-for-profit organisation in Australia, I reflect on what I thought was commonplace. Identifying leadership skills that aligned with the vague direction I had drawn for myself. Searching for the roles to give me that experience. Leaving the organisation after 3 years of managing volunteers from a team of 6 people to 13 teams across a continent.

I was working in an environment that was so aligned with my purpose it was parallel. I was driven to succeed by an internal motor, rather than an external expectation that I must achieve performance metrics. I worked alongside others who had their own internal motors purring, I had respect for their work and trust that they were developing themselves and those they served – while simultaneously achieving organisational objectives.

Without the luxury of a leadership development programme to compliment our development, we worked with a fundamental vision that everyone shared, had ownership of and worked towards – seeding leadership qualities throughout our business. If this doesn’t sound like your workplace, then I would like to pose 3 questions to you.

  • What is your life’s purpose?
  • What is the purpose of the organisation you work for?
  • Where is the overlap?

If there is only marginal overlap and you perhaps have a less than desirable opinion of the leadership of your organisation, then maybe a purpose-check is in order?

I truly believe that organisations have the opportunity to create a fundamental shared purpose amongst all employees and that this is the crux to the sustainability of businesses now and into the future. My opinion is that what is most often missing is the individual and our knowledge of what exactly it is we live for.

Do you believe that purpose is what is missing from the leadership of organisations in the UK?

Add your perspective by posting a comment below.

The youngest member of the Future Considerations team, Peter manages the marketing and communications for the consultancy. Click here to find out more about Peter and contact him for further information around his experience or to connect with anyone in Future Considerations.

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Leadership? Management? Facilitation.
Posted on January 13, 2012 by Ana Karakusevic

Much has been written about the distinction between a manager and a leader; a manager – so the popular thinking goes – is one who directs resources (including the woefully misnamed “human resources”), and a leader one who enables others to achieve, often through leading by example.

I believe, however, that in most contemporary management theory and practice, the defining skills of a leader still tend to veer towards a concept of leader in military, heroic, or “leading from the front” terms. And it is therefore no wonder that the paradigm of a successful leader still tends to be deeply rooted in the masculine energy (regardless of actual gender, as manifested physically). Leaders we fete in most First World Countries still tend to have this energy, whether they are male or female.

And I do wonder whether this approach lies behind some of the difficulties we still have – as a global human society – of recognizing the true value of diverse contributions.

I was reminded of this recently in a team coaching session for a global (and commercially very successful) financial institution. When discussing how best to include geographically, energetically and gender-based diverse viewpoints, the team leader suddenly said: “Sometimes we make judgements because someone is quieter than us or has a different energy; we tend to surround ourselves with copies of ourselves, and it’s really easy to miss out on different contributions.” And this is – I would add – particularly true in project teams that are based in different locations, with different languages (or unequal command of the shared language – usually, English), and different paces/styles of discourse. The team leader in question realized early on, during telephone project calls, that certain members of the team were missing important bits of information due to his fast-paced delivery style, and decided to follow up the main actions and points of discussion in an email, so that the more thoughtful ones could re-read them and respond appropriately.

That was a relatively easy example, and I am sure many of you reading this will think inwardly: But of course, I knew that! But – ask yourselves truthfully – how often do you do it? Or, rather, how often do you make assumptions and quick decisions in the heat of the moment (and in the 21st century we seem to have more heated moments than ever) without considering how your leadership style will affect others? The team leader I was quoting earlier had himself decided to try – against type and natural leadership style – to try and listen more, not talk so quickly, and allow pauses and silences in discourse, without taking them as a sign that something is wrong, or that the project is losing momentum. In other words, he agreed to being coached towards becoming a facilitator and not a director of his “human resources”. I wonder how long it will take us to start rewarding this behaviour in organisations and society, including changing titles and reward mechanisms… Lead Facilitator rather than Managing Director: now that would be a step change towards a new paradigm!

Ana is a sought after expert in learning design, leadership development and team facilitation. Click here to find out more about Ana and contact her for further information around her experience or with any questions you may have.

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Overcoming personal agendas to create unified change
Posted on January 11, 2012 by Mark Wade

In 2010 the International Labour organisation reported that while mining employs 1% of the global labour force, the industry generates 8% of fatal accidents at work. This is a rather startling statistic and is certainly an issue mining companies take very seriously indeed. Of course, my immediate reaction is one to minimise health risk in the workplace and prioritise this above all else. Though, what does this mean for the profit/performance agenda of the board and shareholders? Or for employees whom have “always done things this way” and push back when the smell of change is on the horizon?

Where do we start when we want to gain alignment to implement sustained change? – particularly if it is going to have real impact in saving human life!

When we worked with Anglo American, a mining company in South Africa, they had a vision ‘Zero Harm’ as part of their “One Safe Anglo” programme. They made commitments on paper, and were met by a wide variety of challenges. One key obstacle was how to engage and enrol people of very different backgrounds, agendas and emotions and help them to put aside their preconceptions and work together in a blame free and constructive manner.

Together we developed and implemented a multiphase programme involving site visits in South Africa and an international study tour of industrial locations having a range of safety performance records. We used Theory U as the basis for much of the learning journey, which included a series of reviews and workshops to capture ideas and proposals and integrate these into the wider ‘One Safe Anglo’ program.

What developed was a sense of camaraderie and shared purpose between participants, which transcended previous vested interests, and equipped miners with key skills (sensing, enquiring and reflection) to continue to practice the ‘deep insight’ necessary to generate objective and innovative solutions while on the job.

And realistically, the entire process started with a set of questions:

  • How do we currently work with competing agendas?
  • When was the last time we truly gained inter- and/or intra-team alignment? (and what did that look like?)
  • How do we develop leaders who drive organisational alignment?

Many of us don’t work with the same occupational health and safety risks as a mining site, yet we all work to engage and enrol people from a great variety of backgrounds with an even greater number of agendas and preconceptions about the company or colleagues.

Deepening our understanding of how true alignment (or lack of it) currently affects culture and performance is always the first step to identifying what agendas/bias/conflicts exist.

Only then can we effectively drive unifying change.

Mark is a renowned expert in sustainability and sought after facilitator of senior executive teams and multi-stakeholder events. Click here to find out more about Mark and contact him for further information about his experience.

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Solving the “greatest moral challenge of our time”
Posted on December 19, 2011 by Mark Wade

“Climate change is now one of the greatest moral and economic challenges of our time.”

A sentence that draws a host of varied reactions, but was one that Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd stood by in a speech after ratifying the Kyoto protocol in 2007. Fast forward five years, and the speed and efficiency with which we, as a global society, have been able to effectively implement climate compatible strategies could be called into question.

This is a complex challenge. One where a solution cannot easily be found – do we even know what it looks like yet? Imagine the challenge from the point of view of a developing country. They are likely to be more harshly affected by the resultant symptoms of a warmer planet and yet, even with the gift of hindsight, are not often able to develop in the most sustainable of fashions. So, how may they choose to develop sustainably?

The answer still unknown, though there is some light at the end of the tunnel.

The Climate Development Knowledge Network, a five-year initiative aimed at assisting developing countries meet the challenges posed by climate change, partnered with Future Considerations to get 190 world experts on climate-compatible development to pool their knowledge, networks and passion to create ground-breaking prototypes for implementation.

The Network knew that a conventional 5-day event would not authentically serve achieve their vision of creating real innovation and action – even with the expertise of policy-makers, practitioners, researchers, students and entrepreneurs involved in the arena of climate change and development in the room.

Together, we re-evaluated the entire process to be one big ‘U process’, from co-initiating before the event to co-evolving after the event. The theory was used to inform the design flow over the five-day conference and was supplemented with an innovative range of interventions such as open space, world café, and Lego Serious Play. Virtual technologies were used to support the physical learning of the participants through e-learning platforms and on-line communities of practice.

The result was reported to be extraordinary. The sharing and learning process led to self-organising hubs around two dozen or more innovative prototypes. In the process, people formed new strategic relationships that transcended geography, background and expertise in the face of a common purpose. The output was of such high quality that 11 of the prototypes went on to receive CDKN Innovation funding support, with many more securing funding from other sources.

The lasting value of these prototypes is yet to be fully understood, as most are still in the process of implementation, however, the feedback from those who participated was that a new standard for climate compatible innovation had been set.

The ‘U process’ used in this conference created the space for innovative action to directly address climate compatible development for third world countries. It meant that the impossible became possible, and creativity came to life rather than existing as a buzzword for a marketing brochure.

Imagine the power of this process in any business environment. What could it mean for the creation of your sustainability strategies?

Or let’s take it one step further…

  • What is the greatest moral and economic challenge of your business?
  • How will you plan to overcome this challenge and transform it into an opportunity?

Mark is a renowned expert in sustainability and sought after facilitator of senior executive teams and multi-stakeholder events. Click here to find out more about Mark and contact him for further information about his experience.

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A new way of finding the Emerald City – a fresh approach to sustainability
Posted on December 12, 2011 by Mark Wade

Dorothy (and Toto) had one hell of a time, trying to navigate the yellow brick road on their journey to find the Wizard of Oz and the Emerald City and, ultimately, the way back to Kansas. And yes, while this could be said to be a simplistic representation of what leading and managing a business in the 21st century is like, in essence it is the same. We are all working towards achieving a greater vision, goal, a monthly KPI or target-associated TLA (three letter acronym) and throughout the daily grind we are confronted with complex and challenging situations.

Often when faced with the task of getting from point “A” (Munchkinland) to point “B” (Kansas) where “B” – or the path to “B” – is unclear, unknown or hasn’t been tested before, we automatically assess our options, define our path and create the action needed to get there – simple right?

It may be simple, but in this process, opportunities for innovation, insight and involvement may have been missed and the optimal “B” (which may not have been originally identified without engaging others eg. the Emerald City) is not attained.

A tool that we implement with a variety of stakeholders in varying settings to attain the optimal “B” – outcome or output – is the “U” process. Theory “U”, developed by Otto Scharmer, helps people identify, engage with, and reflect on, all that is relevant to the context before moving to action. It stops people from leaping to simplistic and damaging decisions in situations they are ill prepared for and instead, creates the climate for deep insight and innovation.

Among its many applications, we find it particularly helpful when working with clients to embed sustainability strategies in their organisations. Sustainability leaders will be familiar with the complex and competing stakeholder demands, the lack of existing best practice and the web of multiple cause-and-effect relationships in their work. Theory “U” was designed for exactly this sort of challenge.

The theory comprises three main stages as shown in the diagram below:

Theory U

During each phase of the ‘U’ process – sensing, reflecting and acting – participants develop a different set of skills. They begin identifying the issues, seeing the problem from multiple perspectives and surfacing their own (perhaps limiting) assumptions. They move to connecting to a sense of individual and collective purpose and meaning. From this base they develop innovative solutions and move rapidly and confidently to prototyping and implementation.

This approach is particularly valid when individuals, teams or organisations face unfamiliar and challenging situations they have not encountered before.

In December this year, we will illustrate how our clients have used the “U” process in different ways in order to achieve the optimal outcomes aligned with their respective visions and goals. Be sure to follow Future Considerations on Twitter to continue to discover examples about how you may apply Theory U in your business context.

Mark is a renowned expert in sustainability and sought aer facilitator of senior executive teams and multi-stakeholder events. Click here to find out more about Mark and contact him for further information about his experience.

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Sustainability as a platform for growth
Posted on December 9, 2011 by Caroline Rennie

Ten years ago,

  • virtually no companies were making public commitments regarding sustainability.
  • most companies treated sustainability issues as operational issues – strictly limited to their factory walls.
  • sustainability was seen as cost, not profit.

But quietly, many of the world’s most successful companies were looking at radically different approaches to creating sustainable businesses. Businesses designed to be environmentally sustainable, socially sustainable and economically sustainable. How they assessed sustainability and the approaches they took are changing the expectations of all businesses today.

Switch #1: Asking the right question
Most managers ask for proof that sustainability can be profitable. The result? Few dare risk their careers on a guess about whether unsupported change will be successful. Switch the question to “How can we make sustainability profitable?” and you get scores of ideas from within and outside the company. General Electric has used this technique in its Ecomagination Challenge to find new ideas, new businesses and new fans. It is doubling the rate of growth of its sustainability products vs conventional products with a view to providing only sustainable products to the market.

Switch #2: Committing to an end game
Toyota’s “Our aim: zero emissions” has guided the development of their processes as well as their products: they aim to ensure there is a hybrid and then a fully electric vehicle for each of their models. The result has been that they created and now dominate the market for low-emissions hybrid vehicles and have driven the industry commitment to electric cars.

Switch #3: Taking responsibility end-to-end
Similarly P&G’s commitment to zero waste from it’s products and packaging, or Coca-Cola’s to ensure that they generate as much water locally as they use, send a clear signal to communities, employees and NGOs that they are moving beyond doing ‘less bad’ and towards operating in a way that is consistent with nature.

But the most game-changing move of all?
Reconsidering true costs by integrating the cost to the environment into P&L. Puma has put a monetary value on environmental impacts. The result – they are taking decisions that systematically decrease their use of materials, processes and logistics that are costly to the environment, in favour of those that have little or not cost.

Where to start?
Naturally, to get these benefits, employees and supply chains need to have an understanding of what sustainability means, and how value can be captured. And then – they need to be set free to innovate. As we have worked with our clients, we have done the research on how and what companies are doing to capture value. As we work with teams to help them engage and manage the change internally, we also have our eye on the external tools and drivers that can help make the switch. Let us know if you’d like to reconsider with us what switch could make the difference for you?

Caroline has had 20 years experience developing and running environmental/sustainability functions across the public, private and not-for-profit sectors. Connect with her here to discover more.

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Putting Values to the Test
Posted on December 5, 2011 by Peter Masters

Our November newsletter spoke about values and how we work with them everyday. The theme can be interpreted in many ways. One of our readers felt compelled to write about what values look like from his/her own experience. This is their contribution.

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“We can speak endlessly of values and how we have successfully applied them, but seeing values come in action during the most difficult times is the true test for a company that claims to be a values driven organization. I have heard of strike stories, whether heard of them or seen them on TV, and as an outsider, it always seemed like fun!

The truth is, it is exactly the opposite.

I have had the honour, and yes – the honour , of witnessing one that lasted for 5 continuous days. I have learnt a whole lot more about values than all the sessions and workshops I have attended on values , values driven leadership and how to embed values in everything we do.

During the darkest of hours, it is only values that come into play, can pick up the broken pieces and bring people together. When management listens and responds, that’s values in action, when people make a choice whether to work or strike, that’s the freedom of speech and action that could only be fostered in a values driven organization, when the strike ended and people walked back to their offices and felt like returning back home and more energetic than ever before, that’s the success that could only be witnessed in a values driven organization.”

- An Reconsider Insight Reader

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What do you really care about?
Posted on November 28, 2011 by Tim Stanyon

Many in senior leadership positions reach a point of “crisis of purpose or meaning” where the values and intentions that were so obvious and explicit to them in their earlier careers have become lost and obscured by the sheer volume of the day to day “stuff” that they are now trying to cope with. This can not only make the “compass” by which they navigate less available to them but it can leave them with a sense of hollowness or immense lack of satisfaction, despite their achievements. This in turn will begin to threaten their effectiveness and performance and can lead to their “re-doubling” efforts to maintain their levels of achievement. Of course this eventually leads to a degree of “burn out” where even if levels are maintained it’s at a cost – sometimes their health or emotional well being; sometimes their family and friends are neglected and relationships fail; sometimes those who work for or with them feel the brunt of their stress; sometimes they feel that an escape is the only answer. In all cases operating in this mode is not sustainable for themselves or for those they lead.

Much of my work with senior leaders often involves this conversation. How can they re-connect to their purpose in a way they provides clarity, intention, drive (without consuming themselves) and enables them to be in relationship with their leadership which is sustaining and sustainable? Asking the question “what do you really care about?” in one form or another can often produce a shock as realisation that either they have “forgotten” or cannot now identify anything or that they CAN remember but they realise they see little of it in their day to day work. This moment of shock is an opening, a doorway back into what they care about. It may be a re-kindling of past purpose or it may be a new exploration to discover what it is in their current lives (work domain and beyond) that provides them with a true sense of purpose and meaning. Helping to identify this can be the beginnings of a renewal that builds energy and drive through purpose that allows them (paradoxically) to let go of the need to “do everything” (to exhaustion) and to see more clearly those things that only they can do – and thus where they need to deploy their efforts and skills (finding ways to delegate or let go of the rest).

Of course the “personal” is only part of the story. There is a systemic pressure on individuals who inhabit the “organisational space” of leader. This space is one of complexity and overwhelm if specific strategies are not in place to prevent this. The reflex response of those “at the top” is to “suck it up” and thus add to their burden and overwhelm, even as they believe they are helping others and doing their job. For more on this see the work of Barry Oshry (Power and Systems). So I also get them – individually and collectively, when working with a senior team – to experience and explore the various organisational spaces, including that of “Leader” (Tops in Oshry terms). In doing so they gain a new insight into the systemic pressures they are subject to and thus can see better what THEY are responsible for and what the SPACE itself is responsible for. With this new insight we can begin to build strategies to enable their leadership to become both more effective and sustainable.

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Quiet Heroes
Posted on November 16, 2011 by Jarda Dokoupil

I just got back from an inspiring evening in Prague. Together with a friend, we had an idea to start Aikido classes for ourselves and few more people. Today was the third class with 11 people attending. A fun and meaningful evening of learning an art, with high, lows, learning and an inspiring discussion in a pub afterwards. A simple evening, not grandiose, not publicized or greatly acknowledged, just a simple evening of beauty…

But what is special about this story for me is that it took a third person to make this happen. Drawing on the initial intention, a dear friend of mine actually took the time outside of his ‘ordinary’ life and responsibilities to call up few potential venues and find the right one for us. He took the time to send few emails and where there was an intention he generated an action, a movement, a commitment. Without the simple few actions that he made happen, today and many evenings to come would never happen. He is my ‘quiet hero’. A person that made it all possible to transfer a dream, a possibility into a reality.

And it made me think. How many of such ‘quiet heroes’ are present in our lives? People who take an idea and make it happen without a need for acknowledgement, fame or praise, just for the idea itself, for the love and the friendship they hold towards us. Crucial people who move all of us forward without being the ones in front. Inspiring individuals who go little further than normal, because they get inspired by an idea, often not their own. The people who are fundamental to all the things we see around us.

How many people like that do I have in my life? How many ‘quiet heroes’ who have helped me on my way just because it felt right and it was something they unselfishly wanted to do? What are all such acts and choices in my family? How many people like this are there in Prague? In my country? In Europe? In the world? What are the stories of these ‘quiet heroes’, what are the little battles they have to fight every day to make things happen without ever having or even needing an acknowledgement for all that they have done? In our lives, in our families, in our communities; these people are hidden everywhere we go, if we spend a little time to look…

How many ‘quiet heros’ do you have in your life? Who are the people who have unselfishly helped you on your way by doing a similar thing to what my friend has done? And perhaps, to how many have you helped in the same way, consciously or unconsciously?

It is to all the ‘quiet heroes’ of our past, present and future that I would like to dedicate this post. Thank you with all my heart as none what is would have been possible without the actions you took at the crucial moment when they were needed…

Anywhere you are and whoever you are, you truly matter to me and to all of us. Thank you.

This post from Jarda’s blog was written and posted in Dec, 2011.