• October 25-27, 2006
• The Country Place Retreat
• www.retreatpa.com

    To get a sample of the important dialogue you will experience in WELL enjoy the following article and visit our website, www.womenexecutiveleaders.com for more information on our upcoming women's retreat.

ARE WOMEN'S GAINS MEN'S LOSSES?

(Excerpt from keynote speech by Sylvia Lafair, Ph.D. at Luzerne County Commission for Women Annual Conference)

    The concept of winners and losers points to a world without shades of color. It is a world of yes and no, good and bad, right and wrong. It is a world based on stereotypes and polarization.

    How can we get beyond the wasted time and energy required to keep the win-lose mindset in place? How can we, as women, spearhead the action needed for partnerships, cooperation and collaboration to become the blended colors that create an interesting and vivid tapestry for today's business environment?

    Women and men who can listen to each other and begin discussions about what really matters at work can band together to solve delicate work life balance issues.

    Sometimes we learn to listen when we least expect it. That's what happened to me.

     I was leading a corporate retreat for a national sales account unit of a large company. Team building was combined with sales reports and strategic planning for the following year.

    At one of the team sessions, the women in the group had become quite vocal about work-life balance.

    The key complaints were familiar: Complaints that child care was not shared fairly at home, complaints that they had to turn down plum assignments because of family responsibilities and concerns over burnout.

    Very few men spoke up as fervently. It was as if the work balance issue really belonged to the women. Even when I asked the women to listen, the men seemed surprisingly shy and almost inarticulate.

    The women requested time to relax, take a walk or to take a nap.

    So! I asked the men if they would like some time separately to discuss their concerns. I would be the only woman in the room as an objective observer.

    To my surprise everyone liked the idea. After dinner, the gals went off on their various adventures and I sat with the group.

    I honestly expected a half hour to do it. Was I ever wrong! We were together for 3 hours. Seventeen men talked and talked and talked. I listened, laughed and even cried with them.

    I've not had an experience quite like that ever before nor ever again.

    So what does that have to do with us as women? Everything. They talked about holding back feelings or not knowing how to express themselves. One man said I made him so mad when I used the "F" word. He informed me he didn't know how he "felt," only what he thought! They talked about missing their kids growing up moments and feeling foolish if they admitted it. They talked about success and how empty it was, even if they could buy a pricy car.

    Men are struggling with the same issues that we are, looking for a place of balance and not really knowing what to give up, not sure what to ask for. And, ladies, they really need us to LEAD THE DIALOGUE. (click here to continue)

SANKOFA: A movie produced by Haile Gerima in 1993

By Nancy Pennebaker, MA

    A way of life in Ghana: A key element in the dynamic, life-changing leadership learning process created by Creative Energy Options, Inc.(CEO) co-founders Sylvia Lafair, Ph.D, President and Herb Kaufman, CEO.

    SANKOFA is a West African word from Ghana that means "One must return to the past in order to move forward, so we understand why and how we came to be who we are today."

    In Germia's movie the heroine Mona, a contemporary African American fashion model, is possessed by spirits who linger in the Cape Coast Castle in Ghana....the hub of the slave trade in the 17th and 18th century. Mona travels back to the past where, as a house servant in Ghana's slave trade center, she is constantly abused by the house's slave master. In her dreams, Mona defies the humiliating system and takes fate into her own hands. What she learns releases the negative impact of the interfering spirits, enhances her self-awareness, and causes her to make positive choices in her real life.

    To Catherine Afeku, a citizen of Ghana and a recent graduate of CEO's Total Leadership Connections^TM program, the word SANKOFA is very familiar. Catherine states, "It is a way of life in the Ghana culture. I grew up understanding that if I had regrets about my actions in the past, I must go back and correct those actions." However, SANKOFA is very difficult to accomplish when the practicalities of daily living are consumed by the need for food and medicine. "Our people are either hungry, sick, or both. There is no time to deal with regrets and only the positive memories and stories from past generations are spoken. Everything else is just swept under the rug.", states Catherine.

    Unlike the movie's character (Mona), Catherine is not an African American who experienced the generational lingering of slave trade tragedies. She was fortunate to have been provided an international education and the cultural opportunities of living in places like Italy, London, and the United States.

    Catherine's father, who left Ghana, her mother and the rest of her siblings to study and become an international diplomat, invited Catherine (at the early age of 11) to live with him and his new wife. While Catherine left her family to seek a better life, her mother and siblings continued to struggle in their Ghana village.

    Over the years, Catherine grew into a dynamic and compelling achiever, married her husband Seth, and became the mother of three bright and energetic sons. After living in the United States for several years, Catherine felt a calling back to her homeland. The family returned to Ghana and Catherine began a journey to find her place in the world.

    It is at this point that Catherine enrolled in the CEO Total Leadership Connections^TM program and ultimately addressed her own ghosts and regrets. It was difficult for Catherine to understand why she didn't feel worthy of her successes and accomplishments. She wondered why she was consumed by guilt and felt empty from her (very purposeful and conscious) achievements. During her SANKOFA, (a CEO transformational learning process) Catherine began addressing her super-achiever patterns and learned that they were based on and in her past. Realizing that the unexplainable guilt came from leaving her mother and the obsession to achieve was in order to feel worthy of her father choosing her, she understood what she must do to correct the actions of her past. Read More...

Young Global Leaders

    What do you think about how the world will be for your kids as they enter adulthood and the work place?

    What do you hope will give them great job satisfaction and a sense of accomplishment, purpose and security? We all know it's more than money alone!

    It's our job now to give today's youth the skills and vision for living and working in a global, connected society.

    If you've read "The World is Flat" by Thomas Friedman, and if not, read the report in our last Pep Talk, you'll learn why today and even more in the future we're in a global society.

    Stop and think about what our teenagers need for their development. Now is the time to start them on the road to personal, professional and global leadership.

    Creative Energy Options, Inc. has partnered with Ghana, Africa and plan to have 25 teens from that area along with teens from the United States join us for Young Global Leaders, January 2007.

    The Country Place Retreat and Conference Center will be "home base" for our young African neighbors for two weeks. They will learn about life and work in America and how to be a leader who is open to all cultures, beliefs and values; a leader who lives from a place of integrity and is a leader in action and thought. We are inviting American teens, ages 14-19, to join in this eye-opening experience over the Martin Luther King, Jr. extended week-end, January 12th-15th. What a great time to celebrate the diverse leaders of the world and give these kids an opportunity to learn about leading with vision, purpose and passion.

    This is a call to action to help young people be at the head of the leadership class at home, at school and in the world. As more companies become global and the planet moves more and more into a connected world the youth with the advantage will be the ones with the broadest perspectives of diversity and unity.

    Contact Mary Jane Saras, 570-636-3858 or maryjane@ceoptions.com. Mary Jane is a facilitator for Total Leadership Connections^TM and co-founder of "Young Leaders in Action" and will be spearheading this program. Cost for the Friday evening through Monday lunch global experience is $450 per person. What a great way to move teens from today to tomorrow armed with knowledge and skill of global leadership!

    Who will be our next global leader?