Its Not Brain Surgery

By: Stephen Dolle, DOLLE COMMUNICATIONS

I just got off the phone with Network Solutions where we discussed their offering for “web site marketing,” and I couldn’t get it out of my head the importance of the gold standard today, that of Googel hit numbers, in measuring the likely success and branding of a company, individual effort, project, or business model. You can have the best product, ample amounts of cash, and business model, but if they don’t add up to your getting 50,000 or more hits on Google, you will more likely than not be just getting by. However - when you or your project does pass this argitrary 50,000 Google hit threshhold, you’ll be hearing “cha-ching” and you’ll be able to contact most any organization, news source, or mover-and-shaker in your respective field for your project - and they’ll take that call. So - if we can agree that Google Internet search engine recognition is the gold standard for being able to successful conduct your business, What would YOU do to get 50,000 hits on Google?

One project that comes to mind was the guy who started bartering goods and services on the Internet, and eventually was able to trade a paper clip for a house in a small Canadian town. This was an incredible story of entrepreneurism and marketing, and I suspect the guy, who I believe was also a writer, is living rather comfortably because of all the attention he drew. I don’t recall how many hits he drew on Google, but I suspect it was more than 50,000.

Perhaps the widely used mechanism or strategy of surpassing the 50,000 Google threshhold has been through videos posted on YouTube. People such as the guy crying over public criticism of Britany Spears awful performance, or several young vocalists who posted their music video on YouTube, got discovered, and then were singing at 10,000 person venues. Each of these people could only draw a few hundred hits before things broke, and when it did, they jumped to 100,000 plus. Another tactic is to place boxes with blinking lights and tickers in them around the city of Philadelphia at bridges and points of interest like the video game company did. I know they got fined, but I wonder if when it was all over whether it was worth it. And ever more straight forward move would be to climb up atop of the Golden Gate Bridge. But, it’s been done so much it’s probably only worth a 1000 Google points.

I remember back in the late 1970s the gold standards in start-ups were companies like Apple Computers, OP Sports, and Nike Shoes. But the Internet wasn’t around, and each had to use person to person correspondence to promote their brand, and what took 3 or 4 years then, can occur in as little as several months today. And today, the things which people will do to attract the needed attention to get that arbitrary 50,000 Google hit mark, is undaunting. I mean, anything goes!

For me, the best thing I got going is my skill and heart at playing Afro-Cuban percussion. I mean, I rock. And for a middle-aged white dude, I’m almost a novelty. In addition to musical performing, I also create extraordinary rhythms and workshops for health and wellness, neurological conditioning, and personal /family /business communications, and seemingly am able to play and affect animals and the weather. Though these are some pretty unique and extraordinary talents, I still struggle over how to promote this to reach 50,000 hits on Google where every door I need to open will open, and the things that now slow me down will get taken care of by others. Paris Hilton - eat your heart out. You got nothing but a pretty face to offer. I can move thousands of people just by playing the right rhythm on one of my Afro-Cuban drums.

Outside of the day in and day out things in search of a 50,000 hit return on Google, I’ve also got my eye set on Oprah Winfrey. I know Oprah likes really good human interests stories, and even more so where the individual can play music good enough to get her to get up and dance on TV. I’m thinking I can play such rhythms - to get Oprah to get out of her chair and dance. I figure that if I were ever able to play for Oprah, it would be such a splash that I’d be at or above 50,000 hits on Google.

So - I’d be interested in hearing of ideas and things YOU would do to get 50,000 hits on Google. Maybe even right as you do it! What ever it is, I’d like to hear from YOU.

By: Stephen Dolle, Ph.D. (Unofficial), Neuroscientist and Speaker
DOLLE COMMUNICATIONS

Will we ever find the “holy grail” of supplements and exercises that can maximize brain performance and aging? Probably not. But there is a current formula or paradigm I have developed that can produce fairly immediate and long lasting positive effects on brain performance and overall health, which I call the “ADESSS Paradigm.”

ADESSS stands for assistive technology, dietary intake, exercise, sensory stimulation, sleep, and stress management. Employing assistive technologies and computerized devices like PCs, cell phones, calendars, inventory systems, and satellite navigation in cars in the proper way can make your life more comfortable, stress free-er, and efficient. Dietary intake of certain brain foods and supplements allows us to leverage our brain performance and optmization from the cellular level. There is so much written on this topic that I will only touch on it here. I like the benefits of fish oils and nuts, core cost effective supplements like ginko biloba and prosphatidyl choline, and lots of water. As a rule, if you are unsure, “keep it simple.” The exercise component of ADESSS means any type of cardiovascular exercise or activitity lasting longer than 45 minutes, and that you do at least several times a week. This could include walking, biking, dancing, drumming, types of yoga and stretching, and even horseback riding.

Sensory stimulation encompasses any activity that stimulates the brain (through any of its 5 senses) to undertake a task or thought, including listening to music, reading, musical performing, drumming, board and PC games, quality conversations and debate, quality television and movies, and even nature scenery. Sensory stimulation influences brain function and cognition far more than scientists had previously thought. In my 2002 study, I was able to confirm the destructive effects of extended exposure to excessive auditory and visual stimuli from loud and repetitive noise and music, and have examined the effects of some environmental and city noise, audio visual (video) gaming, and strong odors. Extended exposure to these sources, as well as exposure to repetitive rhythms and noise, can lead to what is termed, “sensory overload disorder.”

Sensory overload is a condition whereby exposure to reasonable and everyday audio and visual stimulation produces complaints like headache, dizzyness, difficulties in concentration, irritability, and behavioral outbursts. It is becoming increasingly common in persons with learning and/or neurological disorders, for people who have grown up amid noisy city and other surroundings, and amoung solders returning from combat (and even more prevalent in people with PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder)), to report increasing intolerance of noise and repetitive rhythms. It is worth pointing out that soldiers undergo captivity survival training whereby they are subjected to loud repetitive noises, to teach them how to syncopate it and preserve their cognition and psyche, should they be captured. Drum circle facilitators (DCFs) similarly use the playing of drum and percussion rhythms to strengthen cognition and the psyche. In addition, activities like meditation, reading, biofeedback, quiet time, and walks offer relief to complaints associated with sensory overload. Sensory stimulation similarly has a significant influence on our tolerance to stress and sleep quality.

After I suffered a brain injury and CNS shunt placement in 1992, I began to undertake a great deal of research in artificial intelligence, music and art therapy, biofeed therapies, and with neurocompensatory mechanisms. These are touched on under various specialties of “alternative medicine.” In 1992, I already had 15 to 20 years experience in health care, medical imaging, and areas of alternative medicine. Individually, each of the above therapies offers a specific benefit to maximizing brain performance. But, through ADESSS and applications of technology, it can produce a customizable brain health program, like a type of “holy grail” if you will, in optimizing brain performance. Playing in drum circles is certainly pivitol to healthy sensory function and cognition in that it enhances our tolerance to problem audible noise, strengthens concentration skills, social integration and confidence, and boosts physical coordination and mobility.

Over the last 10 years, my research has revealed two very important discoveries in the area of sensory stimulation: I reported on how rhythmic patterns (syncopation) in room noise and auditory sources impacts reduces cognitive function, learning, and concentration; and I reported on how critical rhythmic patterning is to our development of language and coordination as very young children, and also as we age. Interestingly, researchers in Japan recently shared results of a study where chimpanzees scored the same in math pattern recognition tests as did college students. This suggests our primal patterning, from the amygdala of the brain, is not well used after the age of 4 or 5 years. I suspect patterning is closely linked to rhythm recognition, undertaken in part by the amygdala, and is tied to sensory overload intolerance and compromise of the “hippocampus” of the brain. I also suspect that mastery of patterning and rhythm recognition can greatly impact our ability to adapt to mobility and coordination challenges after neurological injury, as well as after the onset of age-related changes in the brain. For these reasons, I am a major advocate of drumming and participation in “drum circles,” and I cannot say enough how they have benefitted me personally. Today, I perform musically, speak, and consult using various drum and percussion instruments.

The final two SS’s of the ADESSS paradigm, sleep and stress, are pretty well written about, and I don’t feel the need to add much here other than to emphasize the importance of adequate sleep and minimizing stress, and to note how sleep and stress directly impacts each other, and how they collectively and separately impact brain performance. There are hundreds of sleep and stress supplements and aids available today. My best advice is to keep it simple. Find what works for you. And don’t become dependant on the supplements or aids you adopt. As a rule, I find it good to periodically alternate what you take.

You can read more on my coverage of assistive technology, neurocompensatory therapies, sensory overload, music and art and drum circle therapies, and about my services at www.DolleCommunications.com.

If you’re one of the 150 million Americans who subscribe to free Internet newsgroup and related services, you no doubt spend considerable time managing your various user names and passwords. For most of these free services, finding your user name and password when you need it is more than an inconcenience. It’s down right maddening!

For instance, I am subscribed to over 40 newsgroups and free services, some dating back more than five or six years with old email addresses. When I go to change my email address on the subscription, I spend more time trying to update my account than the value of the free service or subscription. Given there is no privileged or financial risks at stake, I don’t understand why these host organizations insist we navigate through these hoops? I mean, can’t their server recognize our computer’s IP address?

Hopefully, web 2.5 will resolve most of our user name and password issues with these newsgroup and free Internet services. Organizations whose subscription architecture does not allow ease of migration and updating of user names and email addresses will loose lots of subscribers. For you tech and web experts out there, feel free to comment on this discussion.

Stephen Dolle, CEO
Dolle Communications

I am not big on government initiatives where the crux of the policy is to throw huge amounts of federal tax money as a policy of social programs like in health care, education, and immigration. Money is helpful, but is not a cure-all. I prefer common sense.

In health care, I believe the first step the federal goverment must take is in the establishment and implementation of digitized and PMR (personal medical records) disease treatment programs. Huge sums of money are currently wasted on inefficiency and errors in treatment. This would both improve care and free up moneys for broader care. The 2nd step is in establishing free market competition on drug availability and pricing. On this, I favor Main Street over Wall Street. It would enable the vast majority of the population to widely afford and use prescription drugs and alternative medicines. The third step would be in creating insurance reimbursement for alternative medical treatments, care, and related directives. We are all going to die some day, of some ill. It makes no sense to force certain treatments on patients, while disallowing others when a person is ill and/or dying, per present Wall Street and FDA practices and business/government relationships. We need more reliable and timely independent scientific study on alternative treatments and directives. The U.S. has trailed the world in this arena.

In regards to education, it has always been a “given” that parents and family should play an integral role in the education of their children. Just like it is bad policy to give too much discretion and autonomy to schools and teachers, it is equally bad to not require families to meet some minimum participation in their child’s education. Why should this simply fall on the taxpayer? Isn’t that what prisons have become? Public housing of children now adults who were poorly raised? Clearly, the education solution rests more in accountability with the family, and in part, crosses over into the illegal immigration discussion.

Taxpayers foot huge costs to educate the children of illegal and ill-prepared immigrant parents. Why is that the tax-payers responsibility? Shouldn’t new immigrants be asked to meet some minimum criteria that they are prepared to meet job skills, community and education requirements? I mean, immigration should not be a net give-away!

I have a solid immigration proposal. First, change the Constitution so that all Americans speak one language, preferably English. Next, pass legislation enabling existing illegal immigrants to stay if they meet two criteria: 1. Perform 5000 hours of volunteer work in their community, in partnership with a new volunteer infrastructure the federal government will set up (like a modern day volunteer equivalent of Roosevelt’s New Deal). 2. Learn and speak English. And 3. To stem the influx of ongoing illegal immigration, impose 5-figure fines on employers who hire them, including politicians, government contractors, and Walmart. If the U.S. can follow the above, it would not need a costly and ill-conceived wall.

I think my common sense proposals would do more to make America safer, healthier, and more competitive in jobs around the world, than ANY proposal based on “spending” as a policy. A little more accountability can go a long way.

The more you know!

I don’t have a stake in the current Writers Guild of America (WGA) contract strike, but I’ll share my expert view as to their current public relations and public information strategies. SEE Los Angeles Times Dec. 24, 2007 story, “Holiday e-mail to WGA, East, members” [link] http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/2007/12/holiday-e-mail.html#more

In the above piece, WGA East president, Michael Winship, tries to use a new USA Today Gallop poll, which reported that some 60 percent of Americans support their strike, as a centerpiece in the WGA’s public relations and public information campaigns. But I must caution him on such strategies. WGA instead should keep their eyes and ears open to changing public sentiments, and how these changing sentiments will ultimately impact their final agreement. AMPTP and the major studios, by contrast, appear to be running the smarter PR campaign, saying very little other than an “open letter” on their web site. Their strategy is that of triggering little to no news stay, betting on “out of sight, out of mind” in public sentiments.

I see the WGA’s biggest PR liability in their image as that of a group of professionals who already make a good living who are willing to put the financial well being of thousands of other lesser paying industry workers at risk for their own additional gain, while aggressively appealing to the public for sympathies in their cause. It certainly seems the more compelling story lies in the thousands of disenfranchised workers who by no fault of their own are taking a huge hit in the strike. I mean, these folks have the more compelling predicament and image for taking to the streets. In the PR war, whichever side can best present (exploit) the plight of the disenfranchised workers will certainly find more public support and leverage to serve their end position.

Yet, as each and every day passes, I see one more day of missed opportunities to bring a “resolution” to this WGA contract impass and strike. And the knife of culpability for damages cuts broadly on both sides. As for the recent USA Today Gallop poll, the interesting thing about polls is that people will give one answer when it poses no direct impact on their lives. Yet, once it does, i.e. in January when TV viewers really start loosing TV shows, don’t be surprised to see a much different shift in point of view. My message to all involved: “Don’t be caught late to dinner!”

Stephen Dolle

[quote]
Michael Winship
President WGA East
writes:

“This week, a new USA Today/Gallup Poll reported that 60 percent of Americans support the Writers Guilds in their fight against the media corporations (only 14% backed the AMPTP). According to USA Today, “Six weeks into a strike by television and movie writers, public sentiment rests firmly against the studios.”

As the 2008 presidential campaigning continues to heat up, the field seems to be best defined by either sex, drugs, religion, or your next stock option. It is interesting today with all the uproar over Governor Huckabee’s use of religious crosses in his campaign ads, the guy has come on strong of late. I admit he is very refreshing, and to see a candidate speak so openly and honestly. I’d like to see all the candidates do so, and really be themselves. And that is why I chose the title for this piece.

Governor Huckabee by all rights is a preacher man, and no doubt that will be used against him as things get further along. But for now, he is successfully working the religious angle. We’re never had a preacher as president. I can’t even imagine having a preacher for a father if I were still a teen. My own father was a lot like a preacher, and that didn’t work in the 60s. I mean, what’s a teen say to their preacher father as they leave the house knowing well what they may do that night? Pretend? Well - I hope if he were elected, we adult citizens wouldn’t have to pretend! I already pretend about a lot of things, like, I still look good, I’m still a strong man, at fifty-something I haven’t hit my prime yet. You know the story.

As for Senator Clinton, I believe she just needs to be herself, whatever that is. I mean, I’d like to know what Bill was like. I know many woman (of all ages) who said they would have dropped their drawers for him. So - the guy had something special. Normally, you’d expect a really hot wife. But we got Hillary. And sexually speaking, she’s a total turn-off. I bet you could count on one hand the number of men in america who find her sexually appealing. So she needs to come out with the goods. Be real! It may be her best untapped potential. Run that up the flagpole against Huckabee’s religious scherades. I’ll take the sex as long as she’s honest. She should talk about what it was like to be a woman married to a man like Bill.

Senator Obama seems to be doing a great job coming out and being honest, maybe a bit too much though. He seems focused on the 60s and his teenage drug use. I think there is a very relevant message there, but he needs to bring it better to present day. I still think about the 60s. I’m not so sure our country GOT everything we should have gotten out of that period of upheaval. Here’s the odd thing. In WWII, we analiated Japan, the first ever and only use of the atomic bomb. They are a foreign country and they love us. They worship our baseball, our music, and we love their consumer goods and innovation. Yet, at home here in the U.S., many of our people and leaders angrily fight with each other. Over what? Damn near everything! What has gotten into this country? Where has the consideration gone? If you think a preacher as president will get people to be considerate to each other again, then he better be Jesus Christ! I mean, don’t look to other people to fix what you need to fix yourself! And as for Obama, I like the guy. I just wish he’d get more present day. And some rock and roll would be OK too.

Now Romney, McCain, and Guiliani seem too caught up in promoting wealth and fear, and how they’ll make you richer. After the housing bust and numerous financial crises of the last 8 years, I don’t think voters are buying it. And we all have fears. It’s just that we’re now learning we need to fear our own government as much as any foreign enemy. There is a lot to be said about having class and knowing how to treat others. How many elected officials would you do business with if they owned a local company? Romney, McCain, and Guiliani need to sell us something we can connect with. I doubt I’ll ever be as rich as Romney. And if I had hair like McCain, and wanted to be the head cheese, I’d put some color in it! The rest of the field has missed their boat. Maybe they’ll end up with cabinet positions, as guys like Richardson and Biden have marketable skills.

Yes - next year we may be voting for a president based on religion, sex, drugs, and stock options. And if anyone asked me, I’d take the stock options now if they’re available, my prescription drugs at a better price, and I wouldn’t mind having sex with this attractive woman at church. There - I said it.

For Programmable Codman Hakim and other shunts in treating NPH and adult hydrocephalus

By: Stephen Dolle, a.k.a. MacGyver, Inventor of the DiaCeph Test

Codman, a division of Johnson & Johnson, introduced the “Hakim” programmable shunt in 1998, and since that time it has emerged to become the No. 1 selling CNS shunt in the treatment of adult hydrocephalus and NPH (normal pressure hydrocephalus) today. Yet, the mystery remains as to how to best determine its ideal pressure setting for each patient, from among 18 different settings ranging from 30 to 200 mmH2O. Stories abound on Internet forums from user patients complaining of what is obvious shunt related complaints, yet having no information, test methods, or resources that would let them know whether their Hakim shunt is set to the most optimum setting. I liken it to fine-tuning the amount of daily insulin in individuals who have Type-1diabetes.

Like diabetes, hydrocephalus is very tricky to treat in that each person has their own and difficult to determine degree of shunt dependence and internal ventricular to abdominal cavity pressures, through which CSF (cerebral spinal fluid) must flow to maintain a physiologically healthy intracranial pressure (ICP) and blood pressure within the brain. Hydrocephalus is characterized by a person having insufficient CSF clearance in the brain, from one of many causes or etiologies, where the fluid backs up and exerts abnormal and often dangerous pressures on many of the brain’s vital structures. The surgical procedure is rather simple as compared to the seriousness of the problem it is trying to solve. CNS shunts have been used in the U.S. to treat hydrocephalus for more than 50 years, with perhaps as many as 1,000,000 people implanted with them today. Yet, there still is no home test or means available to alert the patient-user when it might not be working correctly, albeit a mismatched setting of a programmable shunt or shunt malfunction in progress, the latter being a common occurrence in any CNS shunt.

So – being the “MacGyver,” and after being a Codman programmable shunt customer from July 2007, and a not so happy one at that, and “experimenting” with my neurosurgeon to find the best possible setting, I eventually figured out the mystery of programming the Hakim shunt. Now I’m not suggesting that neurosurgeons and user patients throw out the manufacturer’s labeling instructions for finding the best setting, but I can say with confidence that my way is a better method. In 1997, I also pioneered the first ever home shunt test that sadly to this day (sits on a shelf due to lack of funding), and persons with CNS shunts live a lesser quality of life to appease the powers that be.

The key to my method is to get the programmable shunt setting down to as low a setting as tolerable, and then gradually raise it upwards in 10 mmH2O increments, evaluating each setting for 4 to 7 days until a setting is found that provides an upright flow and overdrainage that is satisfactory, yet still flows well enough at night to accommodate most supine ICP spikes during REM sleep (from too low a pressure setting). In my experience, the latter nighttime performance is more critical than mild daytime overdrainage, as upward ICP spikes tend to cause lagging effects for some 24 -48 hours after they occur. You may have to settle with having one or two evening REM spikes a week in order to find the best compromise with daytime overdrainage. It’s a give and take. It may take up to 4 weeks or more to safely get the programmable shunt down to its lowest tolerable setting after surgical placement, and another few weeks to raise it to its most optimized setting.

The next step is for the patient or a family member to learn how to percutaneously evaluate the shunt’s main chamber with finger pressure to determine whether the valve chamber is open, or closed, during periods in which the patient is experiencing complaints. For example, if the patient is experiencing a headache in the daytime while sitting or standing, and the percutaneous finger test indicates the main chamber to be “open,” the finding would suggest a pressure setting that is too low. Conversely, if percutaneous sampling continues to reveal a primary chamber to be closed during periods when headache and other complaints are occurring, this is a pretty clear indication the setting it too high. You should evaluate each setting at least 8 or 10 times over a 4 to 7 day period to be accurate.

My method of percutaneous sampling is to slowly depress the ventricular catheter reservoir or Rickam reservoir (most CNS shunts have one or both) with the index or middle finger of one hand, while slowly depressing the Codman shunt anti-chamber (reservoir) with the index or middle finger of the opposite hand, and observe whether the finger over the shunt reservoir encountered “any measureable” resistance. There is a very obvious resistance to finger touching when the shunt valve chamber is “closed,” as opposed to very little resistance when it is “open” and flowing. This evaluation also serves as a crude assessment of shunt patency, but for these purposes, we’re only interested in knowing whether the valve is open or closed during periods of complaints. Conversely, you might want to check the status of the shunt (open vs. closed) a few occasions when no complaints are present, just to confirm in what position the patient felt better. This method would apply to makes of other programmable shunts, notwithstanding the consideration that must be paid to the differences in pressure setting values and terminology. 

With the above information in hand from the patient or family member, the neurosurgeon can then adjust the shunt accordingly to find the most optimized setting for each patient. Of course, it would be extraordinarily beneficial if the patient and family had the DiaCeph Test or a PMR (personal medical record) palm device, or alternately, DiaCeph software embedded in their personal cell phone. The DiaCeph Test is notably different from a PMR in that it is a patented disease management program, designed to address the many unique needs of users with CNS shunts. Readers can find more information on the DiaCeph Test at www.diaceph.com/DiacephPatent.htm.

By: Stephen Dolle, Dolle Communications

CHICAGO (Reuters) reports that monkeys performed about as well as college students at mental addition, U.S. researchers said on Monday in a finding that suggests nonverbal math skills are not unique to humans.

Now - many in the U.S. are wondering why. The answer is simple. It’s because of the amygdala, a crucial area above the brainstem that played a pivitol role in our earlier primal development and survival, and to which we still have somewhat in common with monkeys today. It earlier helped us with basic (rhythm and body language) communications, risk and reward analysis, and survival decision-making. Today, we still use our amygdala in basic fight or flight response, in non-verbal communications, in music and dance and sports, and in understanding general time/space relationships. The amygdala allows us to follow complex rhythmic patterns like in music, the Earth’s native language. Using the amygdala and our body’s complex sensory system, we are able to follow extensive complex rhythmic patterns of audible sound and movement with incredible accuracy, at levels still unmatched by any of our other analytical activities. The secret is in the “rhythmic codes,” forged into our DNA over 100,000 plus years. The next test should be that of the monkeys, to assess their mastering of the rhythmic code (movement, dance, music, expression).

So it should come as no surprise that monkeys and humans scored similarly in this counting study. We have yet to shed ourselves of our primal existance. We’re perhaps 15-20% of the way towards realizing our full human potential.

Stephen Dolle is a neuroscientist, world percussionist, and drum circle facilitator of health & wellness, sports, and sales communications rhythms. More information is available at www.diaceph.com/DrumCommunicationsTraining.htm

Alpha males and females have long been admired for their leadership in family, community, and business as far back as history can show. But this Darwin-held order of things will be tested this week as General Motors tries to avert a massive national UAW strike. This is not only a test of GM leadership, but it will be a testament to wider cooperation and sustainance of the current U.S. economy. Should GM fail, there would likely be a domino effect on other U.S. industries.

In Detroit today, both sides agreed to a tentative contract to end the two-day strike, and put the discussions before the union. I bring up the alpha male (and female) discussion as it sheds light on corporate survival, and what GM and the union may need to undertake to this end. Alpha leadership has been the standard for the last 50 or 60 years. It’s high profile leaders have been widely covered, many as team leaders, with an equal number who were not. The current strike is likely the biggest test ever for GM and UAW leadership.

I saw a recent television program on leadership and dominance within wolf communities. The alpha males and females run the group, including, dealing with nearby adversaries. This order follows Darwin’s law of natural selection. But is it less applicable to business survival today?

Perhaps not. The guise of rules and fairness protecting employees of large organizations today have re-shaped corporate leadership, further altered amid new findings about the human brain and its potential, and personality traits. We are less physical (brawn) today. More intellectual. And these traits are often mutually exclusive.

I am intrigued with new approaches to teaching and inspiring others to greatness. Often, the best approach in any given situation is NOT what you initially thought. In order to resolve a major strike and effect “change,” you must be able to reach out and affect the most influential persons. You should plant a reasonable shared vision, and allow numerous alpha characters to step up and further this vision.

Over the last several years, I have learned a great deal about communications from playing and leading drum circles, and I encourage there use in team training. Drum circles (and other rhythm methods) form the earliest human conversations on record, and today represent perhaps the most open-minded type of forum for expression of human thought and intent – with speaking only a few words. Just like in business discussions (esp. brain storming), participants here will follow the “most interesting” rhythm and direction. Where an alpha male or female might force their view in verbal communications - in a drum circle, any one individual can step forward as an alpha leader. This type of team work is highly desirable in sports. Ordinary players often step up big!

I believe interpersonal communications have reached a threshold where any one alpha male or female can no longer dominate the order of the day. Today’s leaders must win the trust of team mates, and win over (or outwit where necessary) one’s adversaries. In the case of GM, their emergence from this strike rests heavily on its and the union’s abilities adopt today’s new interpersonal communications: mixed alpha/team.

For more on these methods (and drum circles), visit www.DolleCommunications.com.

COMPANY NEWS  June 26, 2007

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