my philosophy in brief

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Inspired by Stephen R. Covey I want to state my philosophy in brief by using his widespread mindset, simple coupled with a situation which dominates our private and business life. Some of us may know the paradigm shift experience that is also known as "battleship and lighthouse*" - by Frank Koch published in Proceedings, in the magazine of the Naval Institute many years ago. Like the experienced captain, who was "compelled" to see the reality in a totally different light as he used to see it before, might happen to us, that we see a reality that is superseded by our limited perception - a reality that is critical for us to understand in our daily lives as it was for the captain in the fog. Instead of seeing the "reality" (the lighthouse) we may see "fragments" which to us appear as the real territory, but in fact they remain just fragments of our imagination of the territory out there (the battleship) and all of a sudden we "become stranded". In fact, clearness and clarification are not easy -for everyone- especially if we are reacting in that fast moving, very dynamic and changed business, social, political and private life. This is where principles step in and help us to "see more clear". Principles are like lighthouses. They are natural laws and cannot be broken, cannot be ignored, because principles automatically govern - the consequences flowing from our decisions, actions or even patterns are governed by principles (like gravity, duality, causality, coherency, etc.). But we also know, one must be "wrong" and one must "move back" or be "broken", if we find ourselves stuck overseas, right?! I am convinced that we do have and can find a lot of alternatives we cannot see while we are programmed to stick on fighting or breaking, to get stuck in the one reality, or to be right. Cecil B. deMille put it that way "we can only break ourselves against these laws". Principles are our Core/our Center and this is the source and focus of personal development. Principles apply as natural, scientific or juridical to us as individuals but to firms as well - they exist in enterprises and in the same way they are laws to all the people and aligned partners. As leaders and responsible entrepreneurs we are asked to go beyond our blinkers, patterns and the "daily issues" and to enable us even in the fog to figure out, which principles are governing and if and how deeply they are aligned with the value system, practices / course of action and set of tools of the company. The same apply to a very specific and personal situation.

To get it clear, let me clarify a common misunderstanding: Principles are not values. And principles are not practices. Values are our maps, the outer circle of our guidance system, the "what we decide to do and we can control". Principles are the territory, the inner circle of our guidance system, The "to be deeply and diligently taken into consideration and we cannot control". How you can recognize them? They are self evident and are proven to have enduring, permanent value. Principles are deep, fundamental truths which have universal application; and when these truths are internalized with our values, behavior and patterns, they empower us to create a wide variety of practices to deal with different situations. The more closely our maps are aligned with these principles the more accurate, functional and valuable they will be.

As I mentioned before, to become a dynamic, energetic und responsible leader we first have to identify the principles governing the specific situation (the inner circle of our guidance system) matching our value system and our mindset/our paradigm (thoughts, behavior and habits) against them and subsequently we "connect the dots" (as said by Steve Jobs), before we set up for accurate practices/course of actions and toolsets. This is where we need to get started in every intra- or interpersonal as well as in corporate issues. Everyone has to do it in his/her own individual way, by extending gradually to a broader circle incl. intersections and interactions with others (spouse, child, relatives, companies we work at, colleagues and so on).