How can we create happier organizations?

Note from HBR

A truly happy organization is one where people are:


1. Energized and motivated by being in control of the work they do

2. Trusted and given freedom, within clear guidelines, to decide how to achieve their results

3. Able to get the life balance they want

4. Valued according to the work they do, rather than the number of hours they spend at their desk.  
-  By Monika Tyagi


Leaders create an environment where people can contribute. They ensure there are forums where people can learn, work, improve, and innovate TOGETHER. Leaders don't try to motivate people (that is an arrogant unsustainable myth), but they do have the responsibility to create an environment where people are self-motivated! That's where the power is!  
- By Marcia Daszko

Inspiring Dance - Hand in Hand

Mary is a beautiful girl and talent dancer. She was born in a ordinary worker's family. In 1995, she was 19 year-old, entered the ballet troup of Qingdao. She had bright future before the disaster happened. A car accident made her lost her right arm. She learned how to take care of herself with left arm only, and lived independently. She tried various jobs and saved money started a book store. Five years later in 2001, she was invited to compete in the 5th National Special Performking Arts competition for the handicapped and won the gold medal. The sucess gave her the hope that she would return to her belived stage.

In 1984, Zhai Xiaowei was born in Henan Province, China. When he was four years old in 1988, Xiaowei boarded on a tractor to play then fell down. The tractor was spining over his leg. He lost his left leg forever. He grew very optimistic and athletic. HE had tried high-jump, long-jump, diving and swimming. In 2005, Xiaowei was recruited by Disabled Persons Federation in Henan Province. He became a cyclist.

Xiaowei and Mary met at the streat toward federation rehabilitation center, when Mary who had retured dancing and looking for a partner. After Mary invited him to see her performing, Xiaowei was inspired. He started to dance training and became Mary's partners in 2005.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DArfA2kvP3Y&feature=related

Memorial: a friend left

A friend who is a writer from local Chinese news paper requested me to write an anticle to memorial our common friend Judy Liang. It is very hard to organize all memories with Judy in a few lines of words...

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怀念梁玉琦女士

好友梁玉琦女士(Judy) 在2011年1月27日突然的走了，一個曾經相識相知的人的生命會突然地与我們徹底地隔斷、就在現實的世界消失了，實在令人惊愕、讓人不能接受地難過，Judy 的音容笑貌，不用回憶就活生生地如在眼前。

我認識Judy 是四五年前的中國年，中華聯誼會在Crown Plaza Hotel 舉辦中國傳統春節慶祝會，我發現場地布置挺漂亮，有燈籠，大扇子，鞭炮，對聯等，當時我們公司的亞洲人協會也在籌辦中國年慶祝但苦于經費少，所以我想把布置的道具借來用一用气氛會很好可吸引更多的人，也給中國人長長臉，所以找到會長馬博士得到他同意,他介紹我找Judy 辦，Judy 布置了會場也保管布置用品，Judy 當時在跳舞，看她忘我的舞姿和輕盈的身影，覺得她的心真年輕。后來更是發現Judy 辦事認真負責井井有條，晚會每個桌子名單是她排的，布置用品登記清楚。后來中華聯誼會有什么活動她總是會打電話邀請我參加。

Judy 多才多藝，她認識我以前她在中文學校教民族舞蹈，她交誼舞也跳得很棒，她唱歌我覺得比歌星更有味道，因為她唱歌很投入給歌詞注入了情感，听起來能打動人。她勤奮好學善良傳統，因為傳統她的婚姻是由父母安排的，因為善良和認真負責她在婚姻中付出太多，而得到的是終身的痛和無奈，但她還是相信善的力量，特
別信佛，佛是她的精神力量之一。

Judy 被推荐為中華聯誼會2008 至 2010的會長，那是她在中華聯誼會(CSA)當了六七年理事過程中干出來的，她有這個奉獻精神也有能力當好會長，唯一不足是英語不好，我之前了解到JUDY 來美前几年在台灣婦女會當主任，慰問軍隊排節目她是骨干，作地方工作如計划生孩子，幫助民事糾紛，她個人付出時間出錢出力，她的婦女會成績出色受到宋美齡表揚。 JUDY 被選為會長后，開始在資格老的理事中作工作要求增加新的理事，同時給我打了好几個電話說服我加入了中華聯誼會，成為會長助理，工作期間更了解她工作認真負責仔細，特別投入，生病住院還想CSA 的工作，几乎每天打電話詢問EMAIL的內容，在她的會長期間，她更發揮了其他理事的經驗和能力，CSA 辦了好几次有意義的活動，有傳統節還有八八振災演出，健康議症幫助社區等。JUDY 工作的努力和全心全意﹐大家有目共睹。

對朋友，JUDY 熱情助人主動關心，在她去世前三個多月我作手術﹐她知道了告訴我如果我女兒不能過來﹐她要陪我住一夜醫院至出院﹐那時她自己身體已經很不好了還為別人考慮忘了她自己真讓我感動。每次CSA活動，她個人會買二三十張票送朋友。平時朋友哪里傷痛之類，她幫助理療，朋友買地也請她看風水，又化時間又吃力。總之，JUDY把自己的時間，金錢和智慧無私的奉獻給了社區和朋友，這樣的例子寫不完。

愿JUDY一路走好，我相信，她的天堂有愛，有笑，更有朋友。

Start a Romance – Fairy Tale tells how

The Little Prince's Friend: fox

The little prince came from outer space, to the planet Earth in the process of going through all kinds of adventures. He looks like a boy on Earth, he has no friend on Earth yet.

It was then that the fox appeared.

"Good morning," said the fox.

"Good morning," the little prince responded politely, although when he turned around he saw nothing.

"I am right here," the voice said, "under the apple tree."

"Who are you?" asked the little prince, and added, "You are very pretty to look at."

"I am a fox," said the fox.

"Come and play with me," proposed the little prince. "I am so unhappy."

"I cannot play with you," the fox said. "I am not tamed."

"Ah! Please excuse me," said the little prince.

But, after some thought, he added:

"What does that mean-- 'tame'?"

"You do not live here," said the fox. "What is it that you are looking for?"

"I am looking for men," said the little prince. "What does that mean-- 'tame'?"

"Men," said the fox. "They have guns, and they hunt. It is very disturbing. They also raise chickens. These are their only interests. Are you looking for chickens?"

"No," said the little prince. "I am looking for friends. What does that mean-- 'tame'?"

"It is an act too often neglected," said the fox. It means to establish ties."

"'To establish ties'?"

"Just that," said the fox. "To me, you are still nothing more than a little boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. And you, on your part, have no need of me. To you, I am nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world..."

"I am beginning to understand," said the little prince. "There is a flower... I think that she has tamed me..."

"It is possible," said the fox. "On the Earth one sees all sorts of things."

"Oh, but this is not on the Earth!" said the little prince.

The fox seemed perplexed, and very curious.

"On another planet?"

"Yes."

"Are there hunters on this planet?"

"No."

"Ah, that is interesting! Are there chickens?"

"No."

"Nothing is perfect," sighed the fox.

But he came back to his idea.

"My life is very monotonous," the fox said. "I hunt chickens; men hunt me. All the chickens are just alike, and all the men are just alike. And, in consequence, I am a little bored. But if you tame me, it will be as if the sun came to shine on my life . I shall know the sound of a step that will be different from all the others. Other steps send me hurrying back underneath the ground. Yours will call me, like music, out of my burrow. And then look: you see the grain-fields down yonder? I do not ea t bread. Wheat is of no use to me. The wheat fields have nothing to say to me. And that is sad. But you have hair that is the colour of gold. Think how wonderful that will be when you have tamed me! The grain, which is also golden, will bring me back the thought of you. And I shall love to listen to the wind in the wheat..."

The fox gazed at the little prince, for a long time.

"Please-- tame me!" he said.

"I want to, very much," the little prince replied. "But I have not much time. I have friends to discover, and a great many things to understand."

"One only understands the things that one tames," said the fox. "Men have no more time to understand anything. They buy things all ready made at the shops. But there is no shop anywhere where one can buy friendship, and so men have no friends any more. If you want a friend, tame me..."

"What must I do, to tame you?" asked the little prince.

"You must be very patient," replied the fox. "First you will sit down at a little distance from me-- like that-- in the grass. I shall look at you out of the corner of my eye, and you will say nothing. Words are the source of misunderstandings. But you will sit a little closer to me, every day..."

The next day the little prince came back.

"It would have been better to come back at the same hour," said the fox. "If, for example, you come at four o'clock in the afternoon, then at three o'clock I shall begin to be happy. I shall feel happier and happier as the hour advances. At four o'clock, I shall already be worrying and jumping about. I shall show you how happy I am! But if you come at just any time, I shall never know at what hour my heart is to be ready to greet you... One must observe the proper rites..."

"What is a rite?" asked the little prince.

"Those also are actions too often neglected," said the fox. "They are what make one day different from other days, one hour from other hours. There is a rite, for example, among my hunters. Every Thursday they dance with the village girls. So Thursday is a wonderful day for me! I can take a walk as far as the vineyards. But if the hunters danced at just any time, every day would be like every other day, and I should never have any vacation at all."

So the little prince tamed the fox. when the hour of his departure drew near--

"Ah," said the fox, "I shall cry."

"It is your own fault," said the little prince. "I never wished you any sort of harm; but you wanted me to tame you..."

"Yes, that is so," said the fox.

"But now you are going to cry!" said the little prince.

"Yes, that is so," said the fox.

"Then it has done you no good at all!"

"It has done me good," said the fox, "because of the color of the wheat fields...."
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Note: story is edited from chapter 23 from "Little Prince" author Antoine de Saint written in 1942 French children literature. It was my toastmaster speech one on ATM story-tell manual.

Mao's last dancer

A friend gave me a ticket to watch movie “Mao’s Last Dancer”. I went after work. The story of a ballet dancer from China to USA is so touched. The movie is based on autobiography of Li Cunxin. At the age of 11, Li was plucked from a poor Chinese village by Madame Mao's cultural delegates and taken to Beijing to study ballet. In 1979, during a cultural exchange to Texas, he fell in love with an American girl. The procedure of his stay in USA worked very hard. Two years later, he managed to defect and went on to perform as a principal dancer for the Houston Ballet. At the end of movie, audience were very touched, I heard clapping around.

The movie showed the screen back and force, China and USA. The thread of Li’s life, where he grew up, how to become a dancer and turned excellent, how he got to know about USA and how he tried to stay in USA, how he became a star.

There are two levels successful in movie by comparison.

The first level contract is visual, class ballet vs. China’s living environment of regular people. Heavy timing on stage performance of ballet, we enjoy the beautiful music and ballet, very elegant and classic when Li performed as leading role on stage. On other screens, Li grew up in the countryside of China, his school, his parents, his village. Then he was luckily selected to Beijing Art School, heavy loaded training, politics, cry at behind. His parents were happy for him to have a good life, have enough to eat, no hungry.

The second level contract is sprite level of two countries, China vs. USA. When Li came to USA at the beginning, he was in caution about everything. The gifts that Ben bought for him, he returned for refusing influence. The words like I do not like President, he would check around if others heard to cause trouble. The boss of Chinese restaurant was an enemy in his “political eyes”. While American are acceptable, even he was loved by an American girl. He feels free, loves the country. He wanted to stay. The peak was in the Chinese General Console in Houston. He was kidnapped to force him return to China, ignored he was married, ignored his wife, ignored his lawyer and other visitors on site. I admire the brave of Liz, she insisted to stay with him when General console asked others to leave, wanted to speak to Li only. In my memory, government’s order should be obeyed, over personal’s desire.