Each quarter I post a review of a leadership/motivational book I recommend to colleagues and friends. Some may be old favorites, others are hot off the press. I am always open to suggestions for books to review. If you have a favorite you'd like to share with others, please contact me.

The Art of Possibility: Transforming Professional and Personal Life
by Rosamond Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander

What a jewel this small yellow book is!

It is one of those reads in which the concepts are so simple; yet they create an “AHA” and shift away from the way we normally think.

The authors are Rosamond Stone Zander, a family therapist and her husband Benjamin Zander, conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra. The diverse perspectives of the two authors lend a richness and a novelty to Possibility which urges the reader to be novel in his/her approach to challenges we all face.

Possibility’s premise is that we create our own obstacles based on the assumptions we carry. It is a theme reflected in many books I’ve read, but Possibility takes it to a new level and asks the reader to think differently.

The authors’ objective is to initiate a new approach to current conditions. The overall theme speaks to how each of us as individuals plays an integral part in setting the direction for humankind. In other words, we can do something about the way things are.

Each of the 12 chapters offers a “practice”for realizing a personal evolution that promises to enhance not only the reader’s life, but also the organizations and relationships in which he/she participates. Social standards and business practices, say the Zanders, are built on assumptions—-shared understandings that have evolved form older beliefs. The practices in Possibility are geared to shift our perceptions, beliefs and thought processes. Not incrementally, but from a world view.

Each practice is exemplified through stories and personal anecdotes from the author’s lives. I will share a couple of my favorites with you.

PRACTICE #1:  IT’S ALL INVENTED

A shoe factory sends two marketing scouts to a region of Africa to study the possibility for expanding the business. One scout sends back a telegram saying,  "situation hopeless stop no one wears shoes." The other writes back triumphantly: glorious business opportunity stop they have no shoes.

This story comes from the practice called “It’s All Invented.”

So much of life comes to us as a story and when it doesn’t our minds string events together into a story whether one exists or not. What we perceive, no matter how objective we try to be still comes through our filters and frames.

Just as the shoe factory reps invented how they perceived a set of circumstances, so can we look at the many rules and assumptions we live by. They are simply inventions! And because they are invented—why not choose a framework of meaning which enhances our quality of life and the lives of those around us?

The frame our mind creates defines and confines what we perceive to be possible. Every story you tell is founded on a network of assumptions. If you learn to notice and distinguish those stories, you can break through the barriers of that box and create conditions or narratives that support the life you envision for yourself.

At the end of each chapter there are ideas on journaling or practicing the concepts presented in the chapter that can help you integrate the “practice” into your way of thinking.

PRACTICE #2:  STEPPING INTO THE UNIVERSE OF POSSIBLITY

The Zanders say most people awaken each day with an unseen assumption that life is about a struggle to survive and get ahead in a world of limited resources.

What if that assumption was set aside? What if we were free from the assumption of scarcity, what might we do, think, or try?

Look for thoughts or actions that reflect survival or scarcity or competition. We all have these thoughts. So the question is not “Are my thoughts of…” but rather “how are my thoughts…

GIVING AN A

What do we think of people who get an “A?” Capable, competent. When you “give someone an A”, you tend to speak to them from a place of respect rather than a place of measurement against your standards.

Ben Zander relates an example from one of his music classes at the New England Conservatory. His class is a two-semester exploration into the art of musical performance including the emotional and psychological factors that can stand in the way of great music making. He found that students were so worried about their grade that they were not taking the musical risks necessary to create great music (Does this not sound familiar in the workplace? In relationships?)

Zander decided to begin the class by telling everyone they already had an A. All they must do to keep it is write a letter within the first three weeks of class, dated the last week of class, telling him why they received an A in the course. “What happened to them that was in line with this incredible grade?” Especially of interest to him was information about the person they will have become by the end of the second semester.

He includes a number of these incredible letters in the book. They alone are worth the price of the book.

Giving yourself an A is not about boasting or raising self-esteem. It lifts you off the success/failure ladder and takes you into the world of possibility. It allows you to see all of who you are.

What narratives, the authors ask the reader, do you have running through your head that are holding you back? Replace them by inventing wiser stories. In the world of possibility you can change and change people.

PRACTICE #3:  BEING A CONTRIBUTION

Ben Zander brings this practice home through a story from his childhood. Each evening at the dinner table his father would ask the children what they had done that day. Ben, already dealing with issues of competitiveness interpreted this question as “what did you accomplish today?”

Being the youngest, Ben never had the quality or quantity of accomplishments his older sibs had. As an adult this translated into always focusing on the “next thing” and never being fully present for what was. There was always “a better orchestra to conduct…always a more beautiful woman to pursue.”

When his second wife talked of leaving him, he knew he had to address this issue. Instead of “what have I done to be successful today?” he reframed the question into “what have I contributed today?”

The drive to be successful and the fear of failure are two sides of the same coin. Unlike success or failure, contribution has no other side to it. It is not arrived at by comparison. A contribution is beneficial. In the morning, you can ask, “How will I be a contribution today?” It is a more joyful question

WHY I RECOMMEND THIS BOOK

This is a deceptively simple book. It is an easy read that stays in your head long after you have closed the cover. It plants seeds that grow when you are not looking. The stories stay with you, reminding you of the concepts

The concepts, though simple in reading are harder to put into practice. How do we give people an A? It is tough to separate from our own standards and allow people to be who they are and feel it is OK.

Allowing yourself the belief that “it’s all invented” is remarkably freeing. Yes, I can choose among a number of definitions. Which one will move me forward and allow me to feel and be my best?

We can make conscious use of our way with words to define new frameworks for possibility that bring out the part of us that is most contributory, most unencumbered, most open to participation. And who is to say that is not who we really are?

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