relay race black & white2by beCause CEO Nadine Hack – I am thrilled to live at a time of such rapid and profound changes.  It’s like tectonic plates are shifting and we can scarcely envision how this metamorphosis will unfold even while we try to shape it for positive outcomes.  I tingled listening to Richard Seymour who designs for the future and Anton Musgrave who guides people to prepare for it. And yet, plus ça change: Jennifer Sertl, thought leader on corporate consciousness and author of Strategy, Leadership and the Soul, reminded me the more things change the more they remain the same.

After I extolled her impressive work, she said I “stand on your shoulders.”  I told her that we were part of a chain that stretched far behind us and would continue long after us.  When I was young, I believed it was a sprint and we would change it all right then.  As I grew older, I realized it was a marathon and I had to pace myself to be in it for the long haul.  And, then as I grew even older, I realized it is a relay race.  I’ve only been able to do what I’ve done because of those who came earlier and passed me the baton.  I may not see the fruition of all I’ve worked towards but I have a sacred responsibility to carry it forward.  My very trustworthiness turns on that. And, I delight at the prospect of what younger generations will achieve and I’m cheering them on!

{ 32 comments… add one }
  • Sherry Roth November 2, 2013, 2:10 pm

    Beautifully said!
    Xoxo

    Reply
  • Jennifer Sertl November 2, 2013, 4:16 pm

    Exciting that a precious conversation can create so much scalable value. Thank you for teaching us the language of our life cycle. I must give credit to wisdom:The art of progress is to preserve order amid change and to preserve change amid order ~ Alfred North Whitehead.

    Onward,
    Jennifer

    Reply
    • Nadine B Hack November 2, 2013, 5:34 pm

      Jennifer – I truly look forward to co-creating value with you!

      Reply
  • steven healey November 2, 2013, 4:53 pm

    Thank you for sharing your ideas Nadine .

    We all have a part to play in ensuring a good future for everyone

    Reply
    • Nadine B Hack March 15, 2020, 3:03 pm

      Steven – re-reading this post now as it’s relevant for a friend of mine, I see I never replied to you. Yes, we all have a part to play! And, as Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu says, “Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.”

      Reply
  • Chuck Jones November 2, 2013, 5:23 pm

    Thank you for sharing Nadine!

    Reply
    • Nadine B Hack March 15, 2020, 3:04 pm

      Chuck – I’m glad it resonated for you. Each time I come back to this post, I feel more strongly about our role in the long relay race for justice.

      Reply
  • David Wilcox November 2, 2013, 5:25 pm

    Gratitude Nadine Hack and Jennifer Sertl. As I watch our baseball team and fans celebrating a World Series championship, Nadine’s running example sinks in even deeper. As Nadine ran and realized the team she was learning from was also looking to her for leadership at the same time. This iterative process creating lessons from the successes and the failures is the most important thing to keep happening for all of life.

    Reply
    • Nadine B Hack November 2, 2013, 5:31 pm

      David – everything we do is, indeed, iterative and inter-connected; it’s wonderful to find others who make you feel part of a team as you do with so many!

      Reply
  • Blair Kunkel November 2, 2013, 6:21 pm

    What an inspirational story. Thank you for sharing Nadine!

    Reply
    • Nadine B Hack March 15, 2020, 3:05 pm

      Blair – I’m glad you were inspired! As I come back to this now, I recognize that this belief is my way of “keeping hope alive!”

      Reply
  • Carla Goddard, Msc.D (@Soul_Shaman) November 2, 2013, 8:11 pm

    Nadine
    Weaving the tapestry, passing the talking stick, or running a relay – so many stories all which share the truth that within each of us is a leader, an anchor, a cheerleader, and the marathon runner.

    My soul is so profoundly touched by your friendship, your brilliance, and your vision.
    Carla

    Reply
    • Nadine B Hack November 3, 2013, 9:28 am

      Carla – we are in such synchronicity: braiding and weaving were the main images I had when I was thinking about posting until by serendipity I shared the relay story in passing the talking stick fashion and was urged to use it. Feeling of profoundly touched is 100% mutual: I love your “Soulvolution Way: Quantum Leap Ignition to Transformation”!

      Reply
  • Berrie Pelser November 3, 2013, 8:48 am

    Nadine, very well said, and when you grow even older you can watch the race ;)

    Reply
    • Nadine B Hack November 3, 2013, 9:19 am

      LOL! Yes, Berrie, I will enjoy sitting on a bench watching…

      Reply
  • Hans Lak November 3, 2013, 9:08 am

    Thank you for sharing this food for thought!
    Wonderful!

    I hope that we will soon meet eachother and can TEAM UP!
    BeCause YOU MATTER!

    Hans
    TBLI Ambassador
    One Person Can Make A Difference

    Reply
    • Nadine B Hack November 3, 2013, 6:03 pm

      Hans – we already HAVE teamed up as your wonderful work through “One Person Can Make a Difference” is so aligned with my work through beCause. I too hope we will meet in person and find more ways to strengthen each other’s initiatives.

      Reply
  • Caroline November 3, 2013, 3:03 pm

    I resonate with the feeling of being part of a history and of a future. Thinking in terms perhaps of farmers – where the land I have has already been to some extent worked and prepared by all who have come before me, and by those who farm around me. It is my task not only to sow seeds, but to continue to cultivate the land, the plants and the dying plants – in such a way that I too can pass on this land to the next generation that they might continue the process. And some of what I help grow, will take longer to grow than I will ever see, and still it is worthwhile to nurture.
    Can we steward today the relationships as well as the land, that enable this process?

    Reply
  • Nadine B Hack November 3, 2013, 5:59 pm

    Caroline – you are cultivating the land in so many creative ways: I look forward to our collaborations as stewards of our present and future.

    Reply
  • Glenn Davis November 4, 2013, 2:36 am

    I love the title: “Congruence, Change & Continuity” — sounds like you’re with me already @CPartySolution.

    Reply
    • Nadine B Hack March 15, 2020, 3:07 pm

      Glen – your “”C” for Civility, Compromise, Cooperation, Collaboration, Courage, Compassion, Country & Consensus” is more true now than ever!

      Reply
  • David Hager November 7, 2013, 4:33 pm

    Nadine – I think you will appreciate the letter I wrote to my daughter Elsa on her 17th birthday. It struck me later that the essential message was far more universal.

    My Dear Elsa,
    I know that you are not feeling so great at the moment, and I want you to know that it is OK to be whatever and wherever you are now. One of the great things for me about having people around who know me and have known me over time is that they see me in a much wider context, beyond the sometimes fickle moods and feelings (whether they are up ones or down ones), and see the larger and whole being that I am.

    One great writer who I appreciate (although not enough to remember who it was) said that your “real” self is the one who can experience and notice all of the different experiences and feelings that move through us. That Self is much bigger, braver, and more embracing than the smaller self that I may tend to identify with in the moment. He or she said that this real Self is the one who can experience and even take care of the temporary selves, and is the space that can allow all the others to be what they are, a safe place of sorts.

    This may sound like mumbo-jumbo, and it sometimes does even to me. But something in me knows that it is true. This Self (you could call it many things: soul, essence, whatever) is the one I really am. It is the watcher who can observe and kindly appreciate all the others who drift in and out.

    As I have observed you growing these last 17 years, I have persistently felt that your larger Self is very big, very wise and very brave. That does NOT mean you will or should feel those things all the time. As a human being you are this big Self AND all the other things you get to experience as a human being: teenager, girl, daughter, friend, etc., as well as all the moods and experiences of life. But something very deep in you is truly strong, kind, loving and wise. I have come to admire this wise Self a great deal and when I am seeing this deeper Self I don’t see you as 17 years old, or as my daughter, or as anything like that. I see an equal, and sometimes see a wiser person than I am. I did NOT say smarter! ;-)

    I feel so confident in that big Self. It is deep and strong and can carry you many places, ones neither of us can yet imagine. And I am so happy to “have” a daughter who is as rich in spirit as you are. That does not mean you won’t or should not feel crappy, happy, sappy, or whatever is going on for you now. But you are such a joy to know. Not just for me and the rest of our family, but to your friends, people in the community, animals, and LOTS of people you have yet to meet.

    I am really grateful that you are here now. And I am looking forward to the continued unfolding of your life and of knowing you. Daughter and Dad are roles we play. Souls learning, living and loving in the experience of life and its many roles is who we really are. I love the role of Dad and your role of Daughter, but I love the real You even more.

    You don’t even have to be happy on your Birthday. I love you as you are, as you aren’t, today and every day.
    Always,
    David (also known by but not limited to “Dad.”)

    Reply
    • Nadine B Hack November 7, 2013, 4:35 pm

      David – your message is universal and a great reminder to each of us as we follow life’s journey.

      Reply
    • Caroline Rennie November 7, 2013, 8:21 pm

      David, what a splendid letter. I got all weepy reading it – a real gift for your daughter, and a real gift for us all to remember – that we have a right to be in the universe, and that our gifts are our gifts and we should help them flourish. But that this doesn’t bring with it an eternal need to be happy, optimistic, confident. I was searching for exactly this when I was 17, fruitlessly, and your daughter is lucky to receive it.
      Thank you very much for sharing this,
      Caroline

      Reply
  • Sara Mears November 11, 2013, 10:57 pm

    Lovely post Nadine! And beautifully, passionately illustrated by you yourself when you spoke of Bella Abzug in this interview. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnqsuLn47Ew

    Reply
    • Nadine B Hack March 15, 2020, 3:10 pm

      Sara – as the years pass, it grows ever truer in our utterly interconnected world: overcoming darkness with light is our mission!

      Reply

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