Walk Softly and Carry a Big idea!

Finding Balance, Meaning and Purpose in Work and Life

This experience is based on the lessons from the book Walk Softly and Carry a Big Idea! By Don Jones. Each participant receives and reads a copy of the book prior to the program and together with a facilitator explores the ways that these lessons can make a difference to our work and lives. This story is about the profound personal and professional challenges we face on the job managing and leading ourselves first and others next; and the challenges we face at home giving of ourselves for others. And it is about balancing the two. It is about the soft skills that make the hard differences. It is the story about one person’s movement from chaos to clarity, from isolation to connection, from fear to courage and ultimately toward meaning. It is a story about imagination and about seeing through a child’s eyes again, and it is about letting another side of ourselves help guide us. Ultimately it is a story about finding within yourself the unique gifts and talents that you do have, were meant to find within yourself, and were meant for you to bring forth for those you work with, lead and love.

Participant Experience:

This half- or full-day exploration is broken into three different sections. Participants will have read Walk Softly and Carry a Big Idea prior to arriving in the program. Together with the facilitator they will explore the key lessons around finding balance, meaning and purpose in work and life, and create ideas for integrating those ideas into their intentions and actions.

Section 1 Soft is Hard

The first section breaks down the myth that only the intellect is important, that only hard knowledge and facts make meaningful differences to our work and life; when in fact it is the ‘softer’ side our ourselves, our thoughts, motivations, hopes, dreams, emotions and goals that shape our hard outcomes – both personally and professionally. Reconnecting to this truth is the first step.

Excerpt from the book, Walk Softly and Carry a Big Idea!:

 “In the name of God, stop a moment, cease your work, look around you…”

Leo Tolstoy

Welcome to … school.

When you are learning, without judgment, you are fully present.

When you are fully present you discover your unique power.

Your experience will be your teacher.

Pay attention!

I will be your guide.

Lesson Number One

·         Soft is Hard.

·         Business is not just about numbers; and life is not just about facts.

·         Soft skills create hard numbers.

·         Your future is a path with and through people. You will learn this through wisdom or experience. It is your choice.

Section 2 The Journey Into Meaning

The second section explore the reality that as humans we need to connect to, and serve, something that is bigger than ourselves, or we will never truly be balanced or happy, and that we need to be moving to higher levels of meaning in our work and life.

“We are all like one-winged angels. It’s only when we help each other that we can fly.” Luciano deCrescenzo

Lesson Number Two

·         You have reached the place in your life where you have to change yourself and your view of the world first, in order for the world to be changed by you.

·         The stuff that you have always believed about the world is the stuff that will hold you back from experiencing it for what it really is.

·         When your can is full of garbage: Dump it out.

“The only ones among you who will be really happy are those who will have sought and found how to serve.” Albert Schweitzer

Lesson Number Three

·         Stop, Look, Listen to yourself and others.

·         You can’t control what others will do. Your power is won or lost in how you choose to react.

"Life is either a daring adventure, or it is nothing."

Helen Keller

Lesson Number Four

·         People need to move from chaos and isolation toward order and community. In the combination of those movements you find meaning.

·         When you are surrounded by chaos, ask yourself one question and one question only: Are the choices you are making leading you and others toward meaning? If they are, continue; if they are not, stop.

Section 3 Walk Softly and Carry a Big Idea!

The third and final section of the experience helps provide insights and tool for igniting passion and examines the crucial role that individual courage does play in creating a powerful and meaningful connection to our work and life. 

Excerpt from the book, Walk Softly and Carry a Big Idea!:

 “There is a loftier ambition than merely to stand high in the world. It is to stoop down and lift mankind a little higher.”

Henry Van Dyke

Lesson Number Five: Jump!

Yes, Courage is a requirement.

“What I’ve dared I’ve willed … and what I’ve willed I’ll do.”

Herman Melville

Lesson Number Six: Walk Softly and Carry a Big Idea!

“Worse than not having sight is having no vision.” Helen Keller

Twenty years from now you will be more dissatisfied by the things that you didn't do than by the ones that you did do.  So throw off the bowlines.  Sail away from the safe harbor.  Catch the trade winds in your sails.  Explore... Dream... Discover...

Mark Twain

Lesson Number Seven: What is real?

People are real.

Whatever ties or figments of ties, or hints or spirits of ties that connect people or life itself-they are Real.

Whatever meaning people find in their relationships, work, in their own unique experience of living-that is Real. Everything else is an illusion.

Duration of the Program:

Can be used in either a half-day or full-day format.

Participant Numbers:

The recommended minimum number is six. The recommended maximum is 36.

How this Program is Used:

Walk Softly and Carry a Big Idea! is a powerful stand-alone learning program for people looking to explore powerful ideas that can make a difference to their work and lives. It can also be adapted to fit within a broader management and leadership development or team development program. Walk Softly and Carry a Big Idea! is a personal and professional exploration that allows people to align to their highest aspirations (again) and to begin to build up their motivations and energy for a life of meaningful and powerful contribution.

Learning Program Focus:

•  Realizing that the ‘soft’ lessons lead to real meaningful results in work and life

• Recognizing that change is possible in our lives, and it has to come from within

• Developing the strength to act courageously, and understanding that it is a requirement for finding balance, meaning and purpose in our work and lives

• Finding happiness and contentment through higher purpose

• Reconnecting to what is real.

Program Flow (for 3 hour version)