At the lowest levels, complete truth is non-compassionate. At the highest levels, complete truth is compassionate.

It’s always interesting to hear people at work say that it’s not desirable to be “friends” with people you work with or for. I understand the statement when I hear what their bounded definition of friendship is.

The contradiction is that people want to work in an environment where there is honesty, trust, and collaboration- which are hallmarks of healthy friendships. And at the same time, people magically want this to happen without the risks inherent in friendships. Adults know better.

A recent Standford study on freedom asks college students to describe “choice.”

Students with college educated parents said: freedom, action, and control. Students with high-school educated parents responded with: fear, doubt, and difficulty.

Several other experimental studies indicate the same class-distinct divergent views of freedom. Something to think about as we continue promoting freedom as an intrinsic good.

Those of us who work daily to coach people on their performance, whether at work or in sports, work from the principle of self-trust. This is the practice observation that self-trust is the foundation for all effective and peak performance.

Self-trust means defining our goal and getting out of our own way to get there. It’s the Tao of focused presence minus trying to micromanage ourselves in the process - letting presence and focus get everything done.

The principle was certainly at play as the improbable 21 year old Julia Mancuso won the Olympic gold medal in skiing for the US this week.

Her description of her experience smiling through thick Italian snow flakes at the start gate: I thought all I had to do was ski fast to the bottom. I wouldn’t make it any more complicated than that … Sometimes that’s all it takes. Sometimes, everything takes care of itself.

I was reminded today of the concept of inverse paranoia. In the usual variety of paranoia, we suspect that there are people out there intending harm to us, but we can’t exactly predict who.

In inverse paranoia, we have a belief that there are people out there intending good to us, and we can’t exactly predict who.

I participated in a podcast with authors of Integrity is a Growth Market: Character Based Leadership, Alan Kolp and Peter Rea. One of my favorite quotes from Peter:

The next best thing to having a purpose is being busy.

My friend Cathy Monnin is head of one the larger regional libraries and one of the most visionary and appreciative leaders I’ve had the pleasure to partner with. Today, she relates the following.

Her librarians have been recently terrorized by a group of older teen boys. She calls one of the informal leaders into her office and lays it out: My staff have been spending alot of time with you guys, so do you think there’s some way for us to be productive together? Logical stunned silence from the youth.

She continues: What do you see yourself doing 5 years from now?
I’m afraid I’ll be a dishwasher.
What do you want to be doing?
Running my own business.
Well how are you guys going to be doing that acting like you are today?
Silence again.
What if we get some people in here to talk to you about what starting a business takes?
He agrees.

Cathy’s now collaborating with the high school folks to make this happen. It doesn’t get any more appreciative than that.

My wish is that we always have the kind of passion and imagination that exceeds the time and space that we could ever have to contain that which calls our hearts.

The implication: having only some of what attracts us does not define our failure; the only profound failure is to fail to dream in the first place.

In a conversation yesterday with G, we talked about how institutional and political leaders can agree on “regionalism” from two opposite intentions.

One group suggests regionalism as a strategy for expanding the centralization of power; another suggests regionalism as a strategy for expanding the distribution of power.

Replace “regionlism” with any popular macro strategy that seems like a great idea on the surface. It could be jobs, global competition, or better education. It’s a good lesson in how not to be fooled by the appearance of consensus on strategy.

This from a hunting manual:

Above all, never pull the trigger without knowing the whereabouts of your entire hunting party.

I think the message applies on many levels.