Post 405 - Most mergers and acquisitions do little to increase the acquiring company’s bottom line. A KPMG study of 700 mergers found that only 17% created real value, and that more than half destroyed it. And a McKinsey study of mergers that took place in the nineteen-nineties found that less than a quarter generated a positive return on investment.
The myth of synergy seems to appeal to many executives’ sense of themselves as magicians. As Warren Buffett has observed, executives see the companies they acquire as handsome princes imprisoned in frogs’ bodies, awaiting only the “managerial kiss” to set them free. Unfortunately, most frogs turn out to be as ugly as they look, and magic kisses are harder to bestow than executives believe. Only a few companies today - Cisco is one - have consistently been able to acquire firms and then improve their performance and profitability.
Merger mania also rests on the fallacy of ownership - the assumption that you have to own a company to make money from it. However, much of the benefits that mergers are supposed to accomplish can be achieved instead through partnerships and alliances. Google has made deals to handle searches and advertising for companies like A.O.L. and I.A.C., giving it access to their customers without the hassle of acquiring them. And I.B.M. has marketed the products of its competitors, Sun Microsystems and Novell, aallowing it to expand its offerings and its potential customer base.
According to a recent analysis of a number of merger studies, mergers that rely more on cost-cutting - combining back-office operations, eliminating redundancies - than on promises of fast growth are more likely to be successful. Acquisitions of smaller, newer private companies are usually a better idea than acquiring publicly traded companies as they’re more likely to provide access to new technologies or products, and more likely to be acquired at a good price. In 2000, for instance, Microsoft paid less than $40M to buy the video-game developer Bungie, the creator of Halo. In the six years that Microsoft owned the company, Bungie’s products brought it well over a billion dollars in revenue.
So, history suggests that, when it comes to mergers, the best response is often to do as Nancy Regan advised and "just say no." A decade ago, America Online merged with Time Warner in a deal valued at a stunning $350 billion. It was then, and is now, the largest merger in American business history. The trail of despair in subsequent years included countless job losses, the decimation of retirement accounts, investigations by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Justice Department, and countless executive upheavals. Today, the combined values of the companies, which have recently been separated, is about one-seventh of their worth on the day of the merger. To call the transaction the worst in history, as it’s now taught in business schools, doesn’t even begin to tell the story of how some of the brightest minds in technology and media collaborated to produce a deal now generally regarded as a huge mistake.
Richard Parsons, the former Chairman and CEO of Time Warner said recently, “It was beyond my abilities to figure out how to blend the old media and the new media cultures. They were like different species, and in fact, they were species that were inherently at war.” Seems like managing the soft stuff is always the hardest part of running a successful business.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Monday, January 11, 2010
Familiar laws of reality.
Post 404 - Someone reminded me of these invariant laws of the universe over the weekend and I'm sharing them with you this morning. I trust you'll find them familiar - I certainly did. Do you have any you'd like to add?
The Law of Mechanical Repair.
After your hands become coated with grease, your nose will begin to itch and you'll have to pee.
The Law of Gravity.
Any tool, when dropped, will roll to the least accessible corner.
The Law of Probability.
The probability of being watched is directly proportional to how stupidly you're acting.
The Law of Random Numbers.
If you dial a wrong number, you never get a busy signal and someone always answers.
The Law of the Alibi.
If you tell the boss you were late for work because you had a flat tire, the very next morning you'll have a flat tire.
The Law of Variation.
If you change traffic lanes, the one you were in will always move faster than the one you're in now.
The Law of the Bath.
When your body is fully immersed in water, the telephone rings.
The Law of Close Encounters.
The probability of meeting someone you know increases dramatically when you're with someone you don't want to be seen with.
The Law of the Result.
When you try to prove to someone that a machine won't work, it will.
The Law of Biomechanics.
The severity of the itch is inversely proportional to your ability to reach it.
The Law of the Theater.
At any event, the people whose seats are furthest from the aisle arrive last.
The Starbucks Law.
As soon as you get a cup of hot coffee, your boss will ask you to do something which will last until the coffee gets cold.
Murphy's Law of Lockers.
If there are only two people in a locker room, they'll have adjacent lockers.
The Law of Physical Surfaces.
The chances of an open-faced jam sandwich landing face down on a floor covering are directly correlated to the newness and cost of the carpet.
Brown's Law of Physical Appearance.
If the shoe fits, it's ugly.
Wilson 's Law of Commercial Marketing Strategy.
As soon as you find a product that you really like, they'll stop making it.
The Doctors' Law.
If you don't feel well, make an appointment to go to the doctor, and by the time you get there, you'll feel better. If you don't make an appointment, you'll stay sick.
The Law of Mechanical Repair.
After your hands become coated with grease, your nose will begin to itch and you'll have to pee.
The Law of Gravity.
Any tool, when dropped, will roll to the least accessible corner.
The Law of Probability.
The probability of being watched is directly proportional to how stupidly you're acting.
The Law of Random Numbers.
If you dial a wrong number, you never get a busy signal and someone always answers.
The Law of the Alibi.
If you tell the boss you were late for work because you had a flat tire, the very next morning you'll have a flat tire.
The Law of Variation.
If you change traffic lanes, the one you were in will always move faster than the one you're in now.
The Law of the Bath.
When your body is fully immersed in water, the telephone rings.
The Law of Close Encounters.
The probability of meeting someone you know increases dramatically when you're with someone you don't want to be seen with.
The Law of the Result.
When you try to prove to someone that a machine won't work, it will.
The Law of Biomechanics.
The severity of the itch is inversely proportional to your ability to reach it.
The Law of the Theater.
At any event, the people whose seats are furthest from the aisle arrive last.
The Starbucks Law.
As soon as you get a cup of hot coffee, your boss will ask you to do something which will last until the coffee gets cold.
Murphy's Law of Lockers.
If there are only two people in a locker room, they'll have adjacent lockers.
The Law of Physical Surfaces.
The chances of an open-faced jam sandwich landing face down on a floor covering are directly correlated to the newness and cost of the carpet.
Brown's Law of Physical Appearance.
If the shoe fits, it's ugly.
Wilson 's Law of Commercial Marketing Strategy.
As soon as you find a product that you really like, they'll stop making it.
The Doctors' Law.
If you don't feel well, make an appointment to go to the doctor, and by the time you get there, you'll feel better. If you don't make an appointment, you'll stay sick.
Friday, January 8, 2010
Cows In Art Class, a poem by Charles Bukowski.
Post 403 - Henry Charles Bukowski (1920 – 1994) was an American poet, novelist, and short story writer. His writing was heavily influenced by the geography and atmosphere of his home city of Los Angeles, and emphasizes on the ordinary lives of poor Americans, the act of writing, alcohol, relationships with women, and the drudgery of work. A prolific author, Bukowski wrote thousands of poems, hundreds of short stories, and six novels, and eventually had over 60 books in print. In 1986 Time called Bukowski a "laureate of American lowlife."
A heavy drinker all his life, he once observed, “Drinking is an emotional thing. It joggles you out of the standardism of everyday life, out of everything being the same. It yanks you out of your body and your mind and throws you against the wall. I have the feeling that drinking is a form of suicide where you're allowed to return to life and begin all over the next day. It's like killing yourself, and then you're reborn. I guess I've lived about ten or fifteen thousand lives now ... I don't like jail, they got the wrong kind of bars in there.”
Cows In Art Class by Charles Bukowski.
good weather
is like
good women -
it doesn't always happen
and when it does
it doesn't
always last.
man is
more stable:
if he's bad
there's more chance
he'll stay that way,
or if he's good
he might hang
on,
but a woman
is changed
by
children
age
diet
conversation
sex
the moon
the absence or
presence of sun
or good times.
a woman must be nursed
into subsistence
by love
where a man can become
stronger
by being hated.
A heavy drinker all his life, he once observed, “Drinking is an emotional thing. It joggles you out of the standardism of everyday life, out of everything being the same. It yanks you out of your body and your mind and throws you against the wall. I have the feeling that drinking is a form of suicide where you're allowed to return to life and begin all over the next day. It's like killing yourself, and then you're reborn. I guess I've lived about ten or fifteen thousand lives now ... I don't like jail, they got the wrong kind of bars in there.”
Cows In Art Class by Charles Bukowski.
good weather
is like
good women -
it doesn't always happen
and when it does
it doesn't
always last.
man is
more stable:
if he's bad
there's more chance
he'll stay that way,
or if he's good
he might hang
on,
but a woman
is changed
by
children
age
diet
conversation
sex
the moon
the absence or
presence of sun
or good times.
a woman must be nursed
into subsistence
by love
where a man can become
stronger
by being hated.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
The importance of self-assessment.
Post 402 - "Man knows himself completely until he makes his first compromise. The more he compromises, the more he takes in that which is not himself. Soon he forgets who or what he is. He becomes his name rather than receiving the name that is his." - traditional American Indian saying.
Jung emphasized the importance of balance and harmony. He cautioned that today we rely too much on science and logic, and would benefit from integrating spirituality and an appreciation of the unconscious into our lives. He also recommended that we treat conflict as a gift because challenging conversations deepen trust. He cautioned to remain an “I” in the face of “we” pressures. It’s important not to give up who we are because of pressures for ‘togetherness’ and not to become an emotional domino by fusing with others. Remain differentiated instead, saying, “I’m really uncomfortable with XXXX and I’d like to explore it further.” Be an ‘I.’ But don’t take a stand and then disconnect. The challenge is to take a stand and remain connected.
Synchronicity, as Jung talks about it, means meaningful coincidence. We don’t do anything without a reason. “We are what we think about all day long.” It’s destructive to be controlled by negative thoughts because our subconscious mind won’t hold a negative. Instead, create and hold a positive vision of people lined up at the door to see us, then having wonderful meetings, giving spectacular service, etc. Having a truly successful life depends on having a really clear intention. How much depends on having the means to realize that intention? Not much. If we’re genuinely committed to the intention, we’ll find the means to make it happen. Ask yourself, “Is what I’m doing right now getting me closer to what I really want?”
Use language to sustain awareness that doesn’t write excuses into our thoughts that are disempowering and self-ensnaring. We need to mind the intentionally of how we talk. Start using “I want to” (implies choice), not “I need to” or “I have to” (implies addiction). Don’t join others in “pity parties” when they complain and bring problems to us. Tell them, “Here’s what I think the problem is. You’re the only one who can fix it. So stop complaining - come up with an action and a resolution.” Point out that there are only three choices: fight, flight, or stand and deliver. Start by taking our finger off someone else and putting it right on ourselves. Remember, when we point our finger at someone else, three fingers are still pointing at us.
Circumstances don’t determine our experience; our perspective - how we view our circumstances - determines our experience. An optimist thinks he has the best of all possible worlds. A pessimist is afraid he’s right. Events are neutral. How we contextualize them determines what happens to us. To see clearly, we have to stop being in the middle of the picture.
“Consistently and overwhelmingly, the evidence showed that experts are always made, not born … if you want to achieve top performance as a manager and a leader, you’ve got to forget the folklore about genius that makes many people think they cannot take a scientific approach to developing expertise … the journey to truly superior performance is neither for the faint of heart nor for the impatient. The development of genuine expertise requires struggle, sacrifice, and honest, often painful self-assessment.”
This quote is from a major study reported in the Harvard Business Review (July-August 2007) “based on rigorous research from over 100 leading scientists that looked at exceptional performance using scientific methods that are verifiable and reproducible.”
Although Jung's ideas can be very helpful in guiding our self-assessment, they aren’t typically included in the psychology or business curricula at most major universities. However, you’ll occasionally find them explored in courses on personal development and the humanities. Here are some suggestions for further reading:
Connie Zweig, “Meeting the Shadow,” “Romancing the Shadow.”
Robert Johnson, “Owning Your Own Shadow”
Shunryu Suzuki, “Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind.”
Phil McGrath, “Life Strategies”
Jung emphasized the importance of balance and harmony. He cautioned that today we rely too much on science and logic, and would benefit from integrating spirituality and an appreciation of the unconscious into our lives. He also recommended that we treat conflict as a gift because challenging conversations deepen trust. He cautioned to remain an “I” in the face of “we” pressures. It’s important not to give up who we are because of pressures for ‘togetherness’ and not to become an emotional domino by fusing with others. Remain differentiated instead, saying, “I’m really uncomfortable with XXXX and I’d like to explore it further.” Be an ‘I.’ But don’t take a stand and then disconnect. The challenge is to take a stand and remain connected.
Synchronicity, as Jung talks about it, means meaningful coincidence. We don’t do anything without a reason. “We are what we think about all day long.” It’s destructive to be controlled by negative thoughts because our subconscious mind won’t hold a negative. Instead, create and hold a positive vision of people lined up at the door to see us, then having wonderful meetings, giving spectacular service, etc. Having a truly successful life depends on having a really clear intention. How much depends on having the means to realize that intention? Not much. If we’re genuinely committed to the intention, we’ll find the means to make it happen. Ask yourself, “Is what I’m doing right now getting me closer to what I really want?”
Use language to sustain awareness that doesn’t write excuses into our thoughts that are disempowering and self-ensnaring. We need to mind the intentionally of how we talk. Start using “I want to” (implies choice), not “I need to” or “I have to” (implies addiction). Don’t join others in “pity parties” when they complain and bring problems to us. Tell them, “Here’s what I think the problem is. You’re the only one who can fix it. So stop complaining - come up with an action and a resolution.” Point out that there are only three choices: fight, flight, or stand and deliver. Start by taking our finger off someone else and putting it right on ourselves. Remember, when we point our finger at someone else, three fingers are still pointing at us.
Circumstances don’t determine our experience; our perspective - how we view our circumstances - determines our experience. An optimist thinks he has the best of all possible worlds. A pessimist is afraid he’s right. Events are neutral. How we contextualize them determines what happens to us. To see clearly, we have to stop being in the middle of the picture.
“Consistently and overwhelmingly, the evidence showed that experts are always made, not born … if you want to achieve top performance as a manager and a leader, you’ve got to forget the folklore about genius that makes many people think they cannot take a scientific approach to developing expertise … the journey to truly superior performance is neither for the faint of heart nor for the impatient. The development of genuine expertise requires struggle, sacrifice, and honest, often painful self-assessment.”
This quote is from a major study reported in the Harvard Business Review (July-August 2007) “based on rigorous research from over 100 leading scientists that looked at exceptional performance using scientific methods that are verifiable and reproducible.”
Although Jung's ideas can be very helpful in guiding our self-assessment, they aren’t typically included in the psychology or business curricula at most major universities. However, you’ll occasionally find them explored in courses on personal development and the humanities. Here are some suggestions for further reading:
Connie Zweig, “Meeting the Shadow,” “Romancing the Shadow.”
Robert Johnson, “Owning Your Own Shadow”
Shunryu Suzuki, “Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind.”
Phil McGrath, “Life Strategies”
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
How to regain our integrity.
Post 401 - “Character is a quality that embodies many important traits, such as integrity, courage, perseverance, confidence and wisdom. Unlike your fingerprints that you’re born with and can’t change, character is something that you create within yourself and must take responsibility for changing.” - Jim Rohn
Carl Jung pointed out that we support and maintain the image we have of ourselves by seeking out others who reinforce the person we like to think we are. Guilt also allows us to hold on to what we pretend to believe even as we act in ways that contradict our espoused beliefs and values. It’s useful to think of guilt as a warning sign that we’re getting off course, and that we need to rethink a belief or behavior. Guilt is a mirror where we get a look at our self-limiting beliefs. Once we knock down one of these self-limiting beliefs, it’s easier to knock down the others - a bit like dominos.
As a result, the best place to work on building better relationships is in the mirror. Creating a positive persona that attracts others requires a shift in how we view ourselves. The bravest thing we can do is to be who we really are and not apologize for it. Rather than asking, “What am I going to do to solve this problem?” ask instead, “Who am I going to be to solve this problem?” Living a ‘no fault’ life means acting like “it all depends on me.” Personal accountability is essential if we’re to grow and develop our potential.
So, even though it’s difficult to do, we’re better off if we face up to our fears and insecurities. Jung emphasizes that we need to take responsibility for our own actions instead of blaming others. Denying our own accountability doesn’t make us any less accountable. Integrity is the state of being whole and complete. It involves having personal honesty. Anytime we break our word, there’s a loss of self, a loss of respect - our own and that of others. Accountability without integrity is like a ticking time bomb. If we want our lives to work, it’s all about personal integrity.
One way to start regaining our integrity is to make a list of broken agreements and things we didn’t complete in the past. If we write these down and do clean-up work by acting in ways that atone for them, then we can start over and move on.
Operating from blame or from judgment is one of the clearest signs that we’re doing something wrong. Anytime we’re blaming, we’re operating from a lower level of consciousness. Anyone we can’t forgive, we carry around inside us like a hostage. We can’t simultaneously know love and be unwilling to forgive. If we won’t forgive, we have to judge. Fear condemns and love forgives.
This reminds me of an old Irish Proverb:
What shall I do to love? Believe.
What shall I do to believe? Love.
Carl Jung pointed out that we support and maintain the image we have of ourselves by seeking out others who reinforce the person we like to think we are. Guilt also allows us to hold on to what we pretend to believe even as we act in ways that contradict our espoused beliefs and values. It’s useful to think of guilt as a warning sign that we’re getting off course, and that we need to rethink a belief or behavior. Guilt is a mirror where we get a look at our self-limiting beliefs. Once we knock down one of these self-limiting beliefs, it’s easier to knock down the others - a bit like dominos.
As a result, the best place to work on building better relationships is in the mirror. Creating a positive persona that attracts others requires a shift in how we view ourselves. The bravest thing we can do is to be who we really are and not apologize for it. Rather than asking, “What am I going to do to solve this problem?” ask instead, “Who am I going to be to solve this problem?” Living a ‘no fault’ life means acting like “it all depends on me.” Personal accountability is essential if we’re to grow and develop our potential.
So, even though it’s difficult to do, we’re better off if we face up to our fears and insecurities. Jung emphasizes that we need to take responsibility for our own actions instead of blaming others. Denying our own accountability doesn’t make us any less accountable. Integrity is the state of being whole and complete. It involves having personal honesty. Anytime we break our word, there’s a loss of self, a loss of respect - our own and that of others. Accountability without integrity is like a ticking time bomb. If we want our lives to work, it’s all about personal integrity.
One way to start regaining our integrity is to make a list of broken agreements and things we didn’t complete in the past. If we write these down and do clean-up work by acting in ways that atone for them, then we can start over and move on.
Operating from blame or from judgment is one of the clearest signs that we’re doing something wrong. Anytime we’re blaming, we’re operating from a lower level of consciousness. Anyone we can’t forgive, we carry around inside us like a hostage. We can’t simultaneously know love and be unwilling to forgive. If we won’t forgive, we have to judge. Fear condemns and love forgives.
This reminds me of an old Irish Proverb:
What shall I do to love? Believe.
What shall I do to believe? Love.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
How to practice acceptance, not judgment.
Post 400 - Our judgments provide the biggest clues to finding out more about our Shadow. Whenever we feel ourselves over-reacting emotionally to a quality or a characteristic in someone else that pushes all of our buttons, we can be sure that we’re seeing a part of our own Shadow. “If you can spot it, you've got it.” We have to be willing to see the part we play in attracting certain relationship issues into our own lives. We can’t change anything we don’t know about. And we certainly can’t change other people. So if we become aware of our total self, the dark and the light, then we're able to make more conscious choices about how we behave.
Here are some new definitions to use when examining your Shadow:
• Truth - What is.
• Honesty - To be at one with what is.
• Belief - An interpretation of what is.
• Self-deceit - Believing distortions of what is.
• Intimacy = think of this as “into - me - see.”
Defensiveness comes from the fear of being hurt. When someone becomes defensive, we tend to react to their reactivity. Our response is usually to fight or to run away. What we fear triggers anger, and this is almost always a secondary emotion because we have to experience something else first. When someone is defensive, the real message is, “Be aware.” We can be right, or we can have a relationship. Most people would rather be right than have their life work properly. If they have a belief, they’ll do whatever it takes to prove that their belief is true.
The dilemma of holding our cards close to our chest is that we can’t see the cards. The best card we can have up our sleeve is no card at all. Vulnerability is the perfect protection. As Rollo May noted, "Freedom lies in the ability to pause and choose between stimulus and response."
When we won’t forgive, we must judge to justify our inability to forgive. Protecting ourselves with judgment means binding ourselves to illusions. Judgment is a protective strategy of erecting a physic protective barrier by making other people wrong. In that sense, anyone we hold a grudge towards effectively owns us. Forgiveness is not about saying, “Your behaviors are OK.” Rather, it involves acknowledging a lapse in our own consciousness.
Try operating from a base of acceptance instead of judgment. Start by thinking that people do what they do with a positive intention. Think, “You've forgotten yourself and that's your only fault.” Being competitive and proving people wrong doesn’t work very well in real life. Trying to have a 50/50 relationships doesn’t work well either because it’s always about score-keeping. If we give 100% of ourselves and the relationship ends up not working, we can leave without feeling that we're a victim. So the message in building a healthy relationship is to keep judgment out of it. If we accept our own humanness, we’re better able to help others. Small s is our ego-based self. The ego’s work is to make us less that we really are. Large S is our true self. A clear understanding of our true self that involves deep personal knowledge generates significant learning opportunities.
He who knows others is wise. He who knows himself is enlightened. “We don't reach enlightenment by going into the bright places in our lives, but by going into the dark places,” according to Jung. As the Buddha said, “Enlightenment is not a change at all but merely a recognition.” Maturity is a willingness to take responsibility for our own emotional field and for managing the impact of the wake we leave behind us. It’s best to work to be ourselves, without apology, so we eventually reach a state where we can say to others, “I’d like your love and respect, but it’s not essential to my well being.” If we’re really doing the best we can do, making the best choices we know how to make, we'll see ourselves as innocent. We'll then become more loving and we'll treat ourselves with more respect. If we can’t give ourselves love and respect, we’ll do things we don't want to for others instead in an attempt to get their love and respect.
Here are some new definitions to use when examining your Shadow:
• Truth - What is.
• Honesty - To be at one with what is.
• Belief - An interpretation of what is.
• Self-deceit - Believing distortions of what is.
• Intimacy = think of this as “into - me - see.”
Defensiveness comes from the fear of being hurt. When someone becomes defensive, we tend to react to their reactivity. Our response is usually to fight or to run away. What we fear triggers anger, and this is almost always a secondary emotion because we have to experience something else first. When someone is defensive, the real message is, “Be aware.” We can be right, or we can have a relationship. Most people would rather be right than have their life work properly. If they have a belief, they’ll do whatever it takes to prove that their belief is true.
The dilemma of holding our cards close to our chest is that we can’t see the cards. The best card we can have up our sleeve is no card at all. Vulnerability is the perfect protection. As Rollo May noted, "Freedom lies in the ability to pause and choose between stimulus and response."
When we won’t forgive, we must judge to justify our inability to forgive. Protecting ourselves with judgment means binding ourselves to illusions. Judgment is a protective strategy of erecting a physic protective barrier by making other people wrong. In that sense, anyone we hold a grudge towards effectively owns us. Forgiveness is not about saying, “Your behaviors are OK.” Rather, it involves acknowledging a lapse in our own consciousness.
Try operating from a base of acceptance instead of judgment. Start by thinking that people do what they do with a positive intention. Think, “You've forgotten yourself and that's your only fault.” Being competitive and proving people wrong doesn’t work very well in real life. Trying to have a 50/50 relationships doesn’t work well either because it’s always about score-keeping. If we give 100% of ourselves and the relationship ends up not working, we can leave without feeling that we're a victim. So the message in building a healthy relationship is to keep judgment out of it. If we accept our own humanness, we’re better able to help others. Small s is our ego-based self. The ego’s work is to make us less that we really are. Large S is our true self. A clear understanding of our true self that involves deep personal knowledge generates significant learning opportunities.
He who knows others is wise. He who knows himself is enlightened. “We don't reach enlightenment by going into the bright places in our lives, but by going into the dark places,” according to Jung. As the Buddha said, “Enlightenment is not a change at all but merely a recognition.” Maturity is a willingness to take responsibility for our own emotional field and for managing the impact of the wake we leave behind us. It’s best to work to be ourselves, without apology, so we eventually reach a state where we can say to others, “I’d like your love and respect, but it’s not essential to my well being.” If we’re really doing the best we can do, making the best choices we know how to make, we'll see ourselves as innocent. We'll then become more loving and we'll treat ourselves with more respect. If we can’t give ourselves love and respect, we’ll do things we don't want to for others instead in an attempt to get their love and respect.
Monday, January 4, 2010
How to make peace with our past.
Post 399 - "Make peace with your past so it won’t screw up your present."
This was the underlying philosophy of Carl Gustav Jung (1875 – 1961), a Swiss psychiatrist who was the founder of analytical psychology. He is thought by many to be the most influential psychiatrist in the twentieth century.
According to Jung, self-realization can be divided into two distinct parts. In the first half of our lives, we strive to separate ourselves from others as we attempt to create our own identities (with the focus on I, myself). Jung believed we then have a sort of “second puberty” between 35-40 where our outlook shifts from an emphasis on materialism, sexuality, and having children to concerns about community and spirituality. In the second half of our lives, we reunite with others and become part of the community again. This is when we start volunteering, building, gardening, creating art, etc. rather than excluding and destroying. We’re also likely to pay more attention to our conscious and unconscious feelings.
Jung said that, “Everyone carries a Shadow, and the less it is embodied in the individual’s conscious life, the blacker and denser it is. At all counts, it forms an unconscious snag, thwarting our most well-meant intentions.”
The “Shadow” is an archetype, a character with a universal meaning in everyone’s consciousness. We all have a Shadow and it’s essential that we learn to confront it if we’re to develop our self-awareness. We carry around all the disowned aspects of ourselves in our Shadow, that is, those parts of us that are unconscious, repressed, undeveloped and denied. Think about it as a large sack containing things that we don’t accept about ourselves that we have to drag about with us wherever we go. We can’t learn about ourselves if we don’t learn about our Shadow. As Jung said, “As we reclaim our shadow, we shed light in the world.”
Jung emphasized the importance of being aware of shadow material and incorporating it into conscious awareness in order to avoid projecting shadow qualities on others. He believed we should strive to become highly differentiated and highly individualized by first learning to know our limitations, then by moving beyond them. He warned that if we don’t own our own issues, they’ll own us. Highly differentiated people own their issues and have made friends with them. As a result, they’ve become a non-anxious presence in an anxious world. The journey of individuation is from being childish to childlike and involves removing the barriers to true awareness. The more we know about ourselves, the more choices we have. As Jung said, “How do you find the lion that has swallowed you?”
The first thing we have to do in order to begin to see into our Shadow is to take full responsibility for our lives. We project the characteristics we have in our Shadow on other people, those soft targets all around us who cooperate with our projections. What we disown, we project and this causes our inner states of consciousness to be reflected in external situations time and time again. We can learn to recognize what’s in our unconscious through the mirrors of other people. If we’re willing to look at the significance of these repeating patterns, we’ll see the syncronicity of events and situations and ultimately, we’ll become one with ourselves.
“Wanting to be someone else is a waste of the person you are.” - Kurt Cobain.
This was the underlying philosophy of Carl Gustav Jung (1875 – 1961), a Swiss psychiatrist who was the founder of analytical psychology. He is thought by many to be the most influential psychiatrist in the twentieth century.
According to Jung, self-realization can be divided into two distinct parts. In the first half of our lives, we strive to separate ourselves from others as we attempt to create our own identities (with the focus on I, myself). Jung believed we then have a sort of “second puberty” between 35-40 where our outlook shifts from an emphasis on materialism, sexuality, and having children to concerns about community and spirituality. In the second half of our lives, we reunite with others and become part of the community again. This is when we start volunteering, building, gardening, creating art, etc. rather than excluding and destroying. We’re also likely to pay more attention to our conscious and unconscious feelings.
Jung said that, “Everyone carries a Shadow, and the less it is embodied in the individual’s conscious life, the blacker and denser it is. At all counts, it forms an unconscious snag, thwarting our most well-meant intentions.”
The “Shadow” is an archetype, a character with a universal meaning in everyone’s consciousness. We all have a Shadow and it’s essential that we learn to confront it if we’re to develop our self-awareness. We carry around all the disowned aspects of ourselves in our Shadow, that is, those parts of us that are unconscious, repressed, undeveloped and denied. Think about it as a large sack containing things that we don’t accept about ourselves that we have to drag about with us wherever we go. We can’t learn about ourselves if we don’t learn about our Shadow. As Jung said, “As we reclaim our shadow, we shed light in the world.”
Jung emphasized the importance of being aware of shadow material and incorporating it into conscious awareness in order to avoid projecting shadow qualities on others. He believed we should strive to become highly differentiated and highly individualized by first learning to know our limitations, then by moving beyond them. He warned that if we don’t own our own issues, they’ll own us. Highly differentiated people own their issues and have made friends with them. As a result, they’ve become a non-anxious presence in an anxious world. The journey of individuation is from being childish to childlike and involves removing the barriers to true awareness. The more we know about ourselves, the more choices we have. As Jung said, “How do you find the lion that has swallowed you?”
The first thing we have to do in order to begin to see into our Shadow is to take full responsibility for our lives. We project the characteristics we have in our Shadow on other people, those soft targets all around us who cooperate with our projections. What we disown, we project and this causes our inner states of consciousness to be reflected in external situations time and time again. We can learn to recognize what’s in our unconscious through the mirrors of other people. If we’re willing to look at the significance of these repeating patterns, we’ll see the syncronicity of events and situations and ultimately, we’ll become one with ourselves.
“Wanting to be someone else is a waste of the person you are.” - Kurt Cobain.
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