The Art Of Possibility

By (author) Rosamund Stone Zander; By (author) Zander Benjamin
Short description/annotation:
Presenting twelve practices for bringing creativity into human endeavors, this work provides a sense of the powerful role that the notion of possibility can play in various aspects of life. Through stories, parables, and personal anecdotes, it invites us to become passionate communicators, leaders, and performers.
Description:

Presenting twelve breakthrough practices for bringing creativity into all human endeavors, The Art of Possibility is the dynamic product of an extraordinary partnership. The Art of Possibility combines Benjamin Zander''s experience as conductor of the Boston Philharmonic and his talent as a teacher and communicator with psychotherapist Rosamund Stone Zander''s genius for designing innovative paradigms for personal and professional fulfillment.
The authors'' harmoniously interwoven perspectives provide a deep sense of the powerful role that the notion of possibility can play in every aspect of life. Through uplifting stories, parables, and personal anecdotes, the Zanders invite us to become passionate communicators, leaders, and performers whose lives radiate possibility into the world

Table of contents:
An Invitation to Possibility
Launching the Journey
THE PRACTICES:
1. It''s All Invented
2. Stepping into a Universe of Possibility
3. Giving an A
4. Being a Contribution
5. Leading from Any Chair
6. Rule Number 6
7. The Way Things Are
8. Giving Way to Passion
9. Lighting a Spark
10. Being the Board
11. Creating Frameworks for Possibility
12. Telling the WE Story
Coda

Acknowledgments
A Guide to the Stories
About the Authors

Review quote:
"As applicable in the workplace as in an intimate relationship." —The Boston Globe

 

"In the presence of either Zander, one''s spirit soars. Now they reveal their secrets in a deeply satisfying book. I guarantee you''ll be inspired." —Gail Sheehy

"The passionate energy permeating The Art of Possibility is a true force for every reader for self-development and life fulfillment." —Klaus Schwab, founder and president, World Economic Forum

Biographical note:
Rosamund Stone Zander is a family therapist, leadership coach, and landscape painter.
Excerpt:
Chapter One

THE FIRST PRACTICE

It''s All Invented

A shoe factory sends two marketing scouts to a region of Africa to study the prospects for expanding business. One sends back a telegram saying,SITUATION HOPELESS STOP NO ONE WEARS SHOESThe other writes back triumphantly,GLORIOUS BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY STOP THEY HAVE NO SHOES

    To the marketing expert who sees no shoes, all the evidence points to hopelessness. To his colleague, the same conditions point to abundance and possibility. Each scout comes to the scene with his own perspective; each returns telling a different tale. Indeed, all of life comes to us in narrative form; it''s a story we tell.

    The roots of this phenomenon go much deeper than just attitude or personality. Experiments in neuroscience have demonstrated that we reach an understanding of the world in roughly this sequence: first, our senses bring us selective information about what is out there; second, the brain constructs its own simulation of the sensations; and only then, third, do we have our first conscious experience of our milieu. The world comes into our consciousness in the form of a map already drawn, a story already told, a hypothesis, a construction of our own making.

    A now-classic 1953 experiment revealed to stunned researchers that a frog''s eye is capable of perceiving only four types of phenomena:

    · Clear lines of contrast