Good day,

I was somewhere over the eastern Atlantic Ocean when the networks proclaimed Barrack Hussein Obama, "King Elect" ... er, excuse me, "President (Elect)" ... or at least that how it sounded when I finally heard the news upon landing.

I think it's a good day for America (for some of you that's the United States of America, but for all of us who live there and many others who are "old school" just America is enough to make my point clear), and also for the world-at-large. All in all I think Barrack Obama's a good man for the job, and the best man for the job today (given the choices both leading up to the election and for the final election itself). Not that I thought that John McCain wouldn't have been a good President as well, I think he would have ... but it's a question of "fit and match" for me as some of you who read me regularly might already know.

One perspective about how to make a choice like who should be the next President would be, "What can I get from his/her presidency (for myself)." In other words, "What's in the goodie bag they're holding out for me personally." This seems to be a function of what some are calling, "The Shallowest Generation" referring to the boomers and post-boomers.

"I hate to tell you Boomers, but putting a yellow ribbon on the back of your $50,000 SUV is not sacrifice. Our claim to fame is living way beyond our means for the last three decades, to the point where we have virtually bankrupted our capitalist system. Baby Boomers have been occupying the White House for the last sixteen years. The majority of Congress is Baby Boomers. The CEOs and top executives of Wall Street firms are Baby Boomers. The media is dominated by Baby Boom executives and on-air stars. We have no one to blame but ourselves for the current predicament. Blaming Franklin Roosevelt or Lyndon Johnson for our dire situation is a cop out. Baby Boomers had the time, power, and ability to change our course. We have chosen to leave the heavy lifting to future generations in order to live the good life today."

from: THE SHALLOWEST GENERATION by James Quinn, November 3, 2008

Looking at it from the outside it would appear that this disease of "Boomeritis" has infected most of the industrialized world as we know it. For years the high-end luxury retail market has soared. In fact it was presumed by most "savvy" investors that the luxury retail market was on an unending roll of every increasing growth. There's even a Luxury Marketing Council who's founder and chair Greg Furman has been touting as recently as the beginning of this year the immunity and selectivity of the luxury market ... a market flooded by boomers who want to have a part of the "good life" that's on offer there.

Yet, now we are hearing about another possibility, that in the wake of the most recent economic crisis even the luxury market may be showing signs of failing alongside other retail sectors. The idea that luxury buyers may be price conscious after all is almost heresy in that market space. However, at the very same time the ultra-luxury market continues to grow and maintain it's strength despite the crashing portfolios of so many boomers who thought they were impervious to the economic realities of the ordinary blue collar workers out there.

The references in politics will always be the social/culture form as it has been experienced and as it is intended to become. In other words what I'm suggesting is that politics is an expression of both the perceptual experience and desire of those with political power. When we're talking about a democracy then the power is held by the voters, especially before the election whereas afterwards they apparently lose a significant amount of their ability to impose their power without relatively extreme measures being taken to do so.

It seems that in the latest U.S. presidential election that has just occurred we witnessed the intersection of the late bloom of boomeritis with the political process. Essentially, what the boomers have wrought is not what they find they want now that they have it. The desire to have an ever growing economy left unchecked has produced effects like:

All told the current election process and the result against the current social/cultural backdrop are not surprising to an astute observer. Not that there were any guarantees that it had to go the way that it has, but surely in hindsight the results make perfect sense all around, i.e.: systemically. One of the filters I use most often when I am observing social/cultural forms has become the Graves Model as developed by Dr. Clare W. Graves. Essentially a model of human bio-social evolution that I have written and spoken about extensively elsewhere, including on this blog (E.g.: Burning Desire to Change the World - Part I and Burning Desire to Change the World - Part II).

To get the backdrop of the Graves Model I recommend you go back and read the two postings I referred to above. However the basic idea is that as we have advanced our social/cultural forms we have done so in alignment with our biology as humans. This is what Dr. Graves referred as a "The Emergent, Cyclical, Double-Helix Model Of The Adult Human Biopsychosocial Systems" you gotta love that name!!! What he actually said was that as people continue to interact socially they advance the social model they are using which gives them greater access to their full biological neuro-potential. Literally that we can use more of the potential of our brains as we advance socially. Another way of saying this is that more sophisticated social models demand greater brain resources to be used to operate them and this loop between demand and opportunity gives us access to the potential that is present but had been previously unrealized.

Essentially, what Dr. Graves is offering us is a way to consider a different way of thinking about evolution:

Humans with our sophisticated and complex social systems demand us to access more of our latent neuro-potential ... such that the extremely sophisticated and complex socio-cultural systems we have evolved have allowed us to continue to advance to our biological evolution alongside our socio-cultural systems in tandem step-by-step .... not by altering the our gross physical anatomy but by allowing us to gain access to the resources contained in our existing gross physical anatomy, and that process continues in an ongoing way even today.

So rather than human evolution being something that ceased in any significant way 100,000 years ago or more human evolution has continued in an externalized way through the advancement of our socio-cultural systems. Literally, the suggestion is that purely biological evolution allows the species that are physically evolving to better cope with the demands placed on them by the environments they occupy. In the same way:

Graves biopsychosocial, emergent cyclical double-helix, systems are an external form of evolution that humans have adopted allowing us, by virtue of evolving our socio-cultural systems, to better cope with the environments we occupy ... including those we are creating, e.g.: the global economy.

Dr. Graves designed his model delineating significant shifts in the values that people occupying various levels of socio-cultural systems utilize. These values determine both what information in the environment a person utilizing them will tend to notice as well as how they will construct and assign meaning to that information. The meaning assigned to information in the environment determines the behavioral responses that emerge and the outcomes that people will produce as a result. Simplified what Dr. Graves has organized is a model that delineates how people produce the specific outcomes in the environments they occupy, and why different groups of people create different kinds of outcomes in different environments based on the value set they are operating from at any given moment.

IMO what we are now witnessing is a shift in the United States of America from utilizing Graves Level Five values as the default socio-cultural system to a Graves Level Six value set as the default operating system. Using the outline of the Graves Model to describe this shift it could be said that the United States of America has been operating from a system that seeks and rewards opportunity, while simultaneously allowing the rewards to accumulate to the most efficient operator in the system in terms of exploiting the opportunities present, what Dr. Graves referred to as Level Five. I'm referring to a new shift to where 1) the total resources in the system are distributed as broadly as possible, 2) access to the system's resources is created for as many people as possible and 3) the total resources available in the system are expanded by exploiting technology to increase the leverage of the resources throughout the system-at-large ... what Dr. Graves refers to in his model as Level Six.

It seems that the most recent election in the United States of Barrack Obama as President-Elect is a Graves Six response (especially when you compare what would have had to have been true to elect John McCain based on his campaign messages). This is a monumental socio-cultural shift for the United States of America ... and the entire world given the social, economic and military prominence of the United States of America on the global scene. From where I'm sitting the election of President-Elect Obama has changed the entire playing field and only those who are ready to play at the next level up in the game will prosper when the impact of the shifts that are coming begin to emerge.

Fundamentally, I say all of this coming out of a position where I've been putting the greatest force of my attention on the nature of these socio-cultural forms for the better part of a decade now. Using the models I was introduced to by Roye in my years of apprenticing with him, including hundreds of hours discussing the impact of his work in terms the effect of that work within socio-cultural systems, as well as the material I've been studying and using since I've build an enormous base from which to pursue this particular fascination of mine ... as well as to bring my expertise to my clients worldwide. All in all I'd say these are indeed most interesting times!!!

Best regards,

Dr. Joseph Riggio, Social Ontologist

Holte, Denmark

THERE'S STILL TIME TO REGISTER!

Jump Into 2009 With A Running Start ... join Joseph at either of both of the PERSONAL ENHANCEMENT workshops he's presenting this December

I’ll be presenting the last Personal Enhancement programs this year in England on December 8th, and then again in Barcelona on December 10th. Both programs are limited to only ten people each, and are almost always in high demand. This is the only public program I run where I work privately with people in a group format. For a full day I work on issues that the participants want me to work with them on, deliver a ton of material of creating exquisite performances in relation to the issues that come up, and have no agenda whatsoever except delivering on the requests participants bring into the room.

Essentially what I’m doing is hours of private work that I normally charge ten times the amount of what this program fee is for the entire day! If you’re interested give Nancy a call at +1/609-275-1845 or email her at nsriggio@josephriggio.com for full program details and to register.

As always I take participants into these programs on a first come, first serve basis and when I have ten in each program the doors will close for 2008! If you know that you want to kick off 2009 running you can even come to both programs, in England and in Spain, and pay half the normal program fee for the second program ... but please act now ... call or email Nancy today ... I hate having to turn people down because we’ve overrun the room and you’ve asked me too late.

Well I have voted ... up until that very last moment I truly didn't know who I'd be pulling that lever for (actually pushing a button on a new electronic voting machine), but in that moment I choose.

All I say for now is that my sense is that I voted in an historic election for the U.S. of A. ... and tonight sometime while I'm somewhere over the Atlantic the world will know what the country says in regard to who should be our next President.

Wish us well world ... (your futures could count on it )

Best regards,

Joseph Riggio, Ph.D.

Princeton, NJ

To some folks it would seem as though I have been really busy lately ... major client projects I’m working on, serving on a Board of Trustees, serving on some volunteer committees, developing new material for the MythoSelf Process training programs, designing a new professional leadership communication training program, working with private clients, reformatting my radio show on VoiceAmerica.com, multiple writing projects, launching new products for 2009 ... WHEW! And when I’m not doing that (or sleeping) of course I’m carving out time for my family every chance I get, which I make sure is plenty actually ... taking my daughter to school and sometimes picking her up too, cooking dinner for the family, talking with my son and helping him make plans to attend graduate school, spending some time with my wife just enjoying each other’s company. That sure looks like a long list, and I didn’t even try to make it comprehensive ... just what I thought of off the top of my head as I’m writing.

I’m going to guess there are some folks who could give me a run for my money with their own lists. The point is that many people today are busy, some of the folks I work with are among the busiest people I know. Yet what’s interesting is that the best performers I know don’t seem busy. In fact the best performers I know seem to move from one thing to another with both elegance and grace, and they do so as though they have all the time in the world to do it. Unlike the popular impression that the busiest people are the most powerful or successful, what I have found is that the most powerful and successful people I know have all the time they want and need to do what they want. I’d even go so far as to say that the real metric becomes:

“Having all the time you want, to do whatever it is that you want, that is absolutely uncommitted to doing anything because you must or have to, and the means to pursue those things you want to be doing, is the most accurate measure of success you’ll find.”

Most people confuse the phrase in the last part of that sentence, “...and the means to pursue those things you want to be doing ...” as the measure of success. But, having the means and not the time is absolutely useless and some folks have found out either just before or just after their heart attack or stroke. You see I know more and more folks who have begun to reconsider how much they have in terms of “means” in favor of how much they have in terms of “time.” And, these folks are opting to make more from less.

These folks are simplifying their lives in every direction, e.g.: smaller homes, more carefully chosen vacations, less “stuff” they need or want to own (which serves one well when you choose for a smaller home), moving away from the “big metro areas” into more remote and often more beautiful locations for their primary residence ... some folks I know have even taken to moving permanently to their favorite vacation locations as their primary residences. What’s interesting is that these folks are not perceiving their life experience as simpler but rather as more full, complete and whole when I speak with them. They have opted out of the system’s definition of “success” and have begun to redefine it for themselves. In part this redefinition includes doing what they want not necessarily what they “should.”

Very early on in this journey of mine I made a decision to do what I wanted with my life. That decision included dropping out from the standard schooling track, even though I was top honors student when I tried and a very good student even when I didn’t. I just realized at the time that for me an endless track of classroom schooling imposed on me by teachers who would demand that I prove that I’d learned what they wanted me to wasn’t the path to take to keep what I already had, and would more likely corrupt many of my best intincts. I had done enough schooling in school, and had enough schooling outside of school to know that for me what I wanted and needed to learn wasn’t contained in those hallowed halls nor held by those hollow educators.

Now, some folks would look at this and suggest is was a first step to failure and lack of accomplishment (and many did) ... “Oh no! What will you do with a good ("approved") education?”

Now you’ll notice that word “approved” in parentheses there in that quote, yet you’ll seldom hear anyone using it in actual speech. However, that’s exactly what they mean ... that any education that isn’t approved by the system isn’t actually to be considered an education at all. And more and more as we “move forward” the requirement to do anything comes with a price tag on it of having taken the “approved” education to get your ticket punched first. In many ways education today is the “mark of the beast” and if you don’t have it you will have to fight tooth and claw to get pass the prejudice of choosing your own path.

So what do I think the role of formal schooling really is about then? Well that depends on who you ask. For some incredibly gifted and sincere teachers it is a way to expand their student’s minds and their lives. I’ve seen and even worked with those kinds of teachers ... and they are brilliant to be around. For others it is a way to impose the mores of society on the students in their care, teaching them what is right and wrong, what has to be known by everyone for their own good, and in some case literally how to think about things according so some proscribed protocol. Unfortunately in my limited experience, as a student, as a parent, as a faculty member and as a citizen of this great nation that later type is much more common. The system is designed not to educate but to teach:

“educate" [To bring up or guide the powers of, as a child; to develop and cultivate, whether physically, mentally, or morally]

“teach" [To impart the knowledge of; to give intelligence concerning; to impart, as knowledge before unknown, or rules for practice; to inculcate as true or important; to exhibit impressively; as, to teach arithmetic, dancing, music, or the like; to teach morals.]

You see the major difference here is that real education is about helping what’s inside to come to the surface and manifest fully, i.e.: “To bring up or guide the powers of, as a child”, whereas what teaching is about is imparting from the outside in what is desirable for the teacher, i.e.: “To impart the knowledge of; to give intelligence concerning; to impart, as knowledge before unknown, or rules for practice; to inculcate as true or important” This major and critical difference so often goes completely overlooked and therefore missed by even really well meaning parents, and many teachers as well, when they think about schooling children.

And now as I continue to keep my vigil regarding how we are schooling and inculcating our children into our society, as I listen to the drivel of the politicians calling for more schooling and more funding for schooling, I am in ever greater distress. I am distressed specifically because I don’t believe those politicians are among the innocent and ignorant masses who tout the wonders of “Getting a good ("approved") education.” I think they are in fact part of the very system that wants to inculcate children to follow the rules, to do what they are told, not to upset the apple cart or think for themselves.

One of the things I point to most often is how school is more and more becoming a place in the U.S. of A. where you’re not allowed to “fail.” They are teaching that “failure is bad.” For example:

*"There are folks who are against the whole [valedictorian] idea because they don’t like the competitiveness,” says Michael Carr of the National Association of Secondary School Principals.

*In Texas, Indiana and Kentucky, several schools are parading 10 or more of their top students as “valedictorians” on graduation day—making a joke out of a once-great honor. According to the dean of admissions at one California college, some high schools are honoring as many as 50 to 100 “valedictorians.”

This is a total joke!!! What do these folks think they are doing??? Can you imagine in our evolution if some tribal elder had decided on this kind of utter and abject stupidity? “Bruce I know you don’t see so well, and your spear arm isn’t as strong as Larry’s, but we want you to feel like you are just as valued as any other hunter or warrior in this tribe so I want you to lead the hunt today, HO!” That tribe died off, they have no descendants, their genes have been crushed under the hooves of the buffalo that Bruce could neither see nor spear ... gone for all time ... THANK G-D!!!

Yet this is exactly what we are doing to our students today, forcing them to deep mediocrity. For instance Bruce may have been the best woodworker in the tribe, he may have “invented” the practice of hardening spears and arrows in fire. Yet because he was never allowed to fail he was never forced to find his own path, the one where he naturally excelled and where his natural proclivities and fascinations would allow him to excel. This is the very path I find education in the West on today. The path that’s about mediocrity and producing the right kind of worker bee for the system not for the bee. For example:

*"But this Kumbaya attitude has also seeped into classrooms, with potentially serious consequences. A school board in New Hampshire, concerned about undermining the self-image of kids, voted earlier this year to end the practice of breaking students into different groups and teaching them according to their ability. So now the school is “leveling” the groups and teaching everyone together.”

And our freaking genius politicians keep talking about more education and education as the great equalizer (there’s a real revealing statement if I ever heard one) ... and not a peep about real education reform! Not one politician has the guts to stand up to the NEA or the AFT and say, “NO MORE ... NO MORE FUNDING FOR OUR FAILING SCHOOLS ... OR THE SYSTEM THEY SUPPORT! And, it’s not about the schools it’s about the process, the very core pedagogy that we need to revisit.

Somewhere along the way we lost our impetus to test ourselves, and in so testing ourselves find out our limits ... and our strengths. We seem to have built a system where the average became good enough and there was little to no reason to strive for excellence. We have derided those who have achieved excellence and seek to tear down each and every accomplishment that identifies someone as elite. Oh, it’s okay if the system that produces elite performance gets some credit, but not the individual. You just need to read the gossip papers and magazines, to note their sales volume, to collect the headlines they tout and you’ll know all you need to about how we love to see our heroes destroyed in the most public and eviscerating possible manner.

Yet it is in failure that we learn about how to succeed. Success, and even more so excellence, requires risk. But we are taught to be afraid to fail. The message of the larger society is that your failures will be publicly displayed and used to diminish your achievements no matter how great. We are building a culture that derides the “tallest poppy,” the individual who dares to stick their head up and above others as they strive for excellence. When what we need are more opportunities to fail early on so we learn the critical lesson that failure is temporary, as is success. This lesson above all others allows us to take grand risks. Knowing that failure is only temporary and in fact most often a step on the way to the success we desire will allow and encourage us to take the risks required to succeed wildly.

The danger here to the “status quo” resides in the corollary lesson that taking risk, failing and defining success by your own terms will cause many people to opt out, to choose their own path and not the one most desired for them to take by the society they are instructed to serve like good worker bees. The real education is finding out who you are, with all of the accompanying lessons that come with testing yourself to the very limits of your being. Yet even the most simple opportunity to test oneself in the crucible of becoming educated, i.e.: finding out what’s inside that you can bring to the surface and manifest on the outside, has become an issue for concern in our schools, those bastions of good ("approved") education:

*"No more honor rolls, valedictorians, letter grades—how long before schools start to ban simple games like tag? Oh, wait: That happened at a Santa Monica, California, school just a couple of years ago. “In this game, there is a ‘victim,’ or ‘It,’ which creates a self-esteem issue,” the principal explained in a newsletter to parents. Tag would no longer be allowed, unless supervised by adults. Your lesson for the day, kids: School is no place for winners.”

So instead of winners, winners in the game of living their own lives, we are producing a country of well “educated” very busy people without much of a life at all.

I appreciate that I am as busy as I am, but not to busy to stop and smell the rose ... every day. I appreciate that by some fluke I both had the intuition to step away before the inculcation took over completely and convinced me that my role as dictated to me by others was more critical to my well being than stepping away, taking the risks, failing ... and succeeding ... to find my own path. I appreciate that along that path I was fortunate enough to find a few amazing teachers who opened me up to myself ... and to the wonders of this world we share. And, I appreciate that despite all the challenges I see around me, especially at times in our own backyard, I still live in a country where I can write and publish this post at my will.

[*NOTE: All the quotes about schools I’ve used above come from Outrageous! “A” Is for Average Not achievement or accomplishment or All-American. Not anymore. by Michael Crowley at Readers Digest online (http://www.rd.com).]

Joseph Riggio, Ph.D.

Princeton, NJ

Jump Into 2009 With A Running Start ...  Join PERSONAL ENHANCEMENT This December ...

I’ll be presenting the last Personal Enhancement programs this year in England on December 8th, and then again in Barcelona on December 10th. Both programs are limited to only ten people each, and are almost always in high demand. This is the only public program I run where I work privately with people in a group format. For a full day I work on issues that the participants want me to work with them on, deliver a ton of material of creating exquisite performances in relation to the issues that come up, and have no agenda whatsoever except delivering on the requests participants bring into the room.

Essentially what I’m doing is hours of private work that I normally charge ten times the amount of what this program fee is for the entire day! If you’re interested give Nancy a call at +1/609-275-1845 or email her at nsriggio@josephriggio.com for full program details and to register.

As always I take participants into these programs on a first come, first serve basis and when I have ten in each program the doors will close for 2008! If you know that you want to kick off 2009 running you can even come to both programs, in England and in Spain, and pay half the normal program fee for the second program ... but please act now ... call or email Nancy today ... I hate having to turn people down because we’ve overrun the room and you’ve asked me too late.

I got more than a few phone calls and comments after my last blog post about how Sarah Palin won in the Vice Presidential debate. And now here’s something I thought I’d frankly never see ... a true blue, dyed in the wool, Democratic feminist defending Sarah Palin for being really, really smart! You read that absolutely correctly ... “really, really smart!”. Well run me ragged and put me away wet ...

Let’s start here:

“Now by “smart,” I don’t refer to a person who is wily or calculating or nimble in the way of certain talented athletes who we admire but suspect don’t really have serious brains in their skulls. I mean, instead, a mind that is thoughtful, curious, with a discernable pattern of associative thinking and insight. Palin asks questions, and probes linkages and logic that bring to mind a quirky law professor I once had. Palin is more than a “quick study”; I’d heard rumors around the campaign of her photographic memory and, frankly, I watched it in action. She sees. She processes. She questions, and only then, she acts.”

WOW! that’s heavy duty smart and I agree without having spent any time with Governor Palin myself like the author of the statement above has had the privilege of doing herself. So, who’s calling Governor Sarah Palin smart? ... Elaine Lafferty, former editor-in-chief at Ms. Magazine. This is no fluffy hair-brained, right-to-life, religious right Christian nutter ... but a full-blown leftist, liberal Pro-Choice feminist. She worked with Sarah Palin when Palin was crafting her “glass-ceiling” speech. She spent time with her traveling as Palin was on the campaign trail and gives us a very different image then the mainstream media has been blasting us with (to say nothing of the even more extreme liberal media). If nothing else it would be worth seeing what else she has to say, huh? Here’s another example of what Ms. Lafferty has to say about Sarah Palin:

“What is often called her “confidence” is actually a rarity in national politics: I saw a woman who knows exactly who she is.”

I think that most people just aren’t willing to do the homework necessary to get the facts for themselves ... what I call the refusal of doing due diligence. Instead they will take the surface impressions they get from the thirty second sound bites, the criticisms hurled at public figures, and the willingness to be swayed by the endless inundation and indoctrination based on the “facts” as the mainstream media would have you believe them. I just went through an exchange with a friend of mine about the ridiculous claims about Obama’s false birth certificate ... which took all of ten minutes to totally undermine by going to the sources myself. TEN MINUTES! ... just 10 minutes was all it took me to completely undermine a false accusation that has been rampant on the Internet for weeks now. Yet my observation has been that most people would rather accept the pablum their fed than to do what it takes to gather and chew on the facts themselves.

But, back to Sarah Palin, huh? I’m just not surprised to here another smart, credible source calling Governor Palin smart ... smart as hell in fact! It’s really evident to me in watching this women that she’s not the country bumpkin the media has made her out to be. If fact I really do see her as the most honest kind of American politician ... someone who saw something going on that she didn’t abide with and took grass roots action to get into the system, become a part of it and change things from the inside out.

Now I know this posting may not be making me a whole lot of new friends in some places, but my job has been to “call ‘em like I sees ‘em” and I ain’t about to stop doing that now. Of course I self-selected this job and I love my work. I’ve never set myself up to make friends, even if I do on occasion hope to influence a few people here and there. I think that we will not have seen the last of the smart and clever woman running for the post of Vice-President of the United States of America even if Barrack Obama is successful in his bid with Senator Biden this time around ... in fact I wouldn’t be too surprised if she’s running for the top post next time around ... and wins it hands down! FWIW, while I’m none to happy about her running mate these days, if I remain feeling like I am today ... when she does make that run for President I’ll be working on her campaign ... now put that in your collective pipes and smoke it!!!

In closing I thought it would be interesting to here what Elaine Lafferty had to say about Governor Sarah Palin in closing her article about her on The Daily Beast:

“But here is the good news: women, citizens of America’s high and low culture, the Economist and People magazine readers, will get it. They got it with Hillary even when feminist leaders were not supporting her or doing so half-heartedly. Yes, Palin is a harder sell, she looks and sounds different, and one can rightfully oppose her based on abortion policies. If you only vote on how a person personally feels about abortion, you will never want her to darken your door. If you care about anything else, she will continue to intrigue you. As Time’s Nancy Gibbs noted a few weeks ago, quoting bioethicist Tom Murray, “Sympathy and subtlety are seasonings rarely applied to political red meat.” Will Palin’s time come next week? I don’t know. But her time will come.”

If I’ve captured your interest at all read the full article at The Daily Beast, and have a listen to the YouTube video of Palin giving her “Glass Ceiling Speech” while you’re there. If you tried to get this on YouTube, you’ll find only the preliminary comments that have nothing to do with her actual speech. However, what you’ll most want to attend to is her skill at delivering this speech, her connection with audience and her general style of presentation ... she’s a pro! Use a positive, excitatory bias as your perceptual lens ... listen for her presumptions ... listen to her building “yes sets” ... listen to her logical chaining (she’s especially good at this particular hypnotic skill) ... listen to the social proofs ... listen to the way she connects with a specific audience, calling them out right up front! ... she’s a very skillful hypnotic speaker ... get over the prejudice you might go in with and decide you’ll listen for what she does right first. Then decide on whether you agree or disagree with the content, after you’ve spent the time to listen to her skillset as it manifests in her speaking style.

Not making any new friends in Nuevo California ... or trying to either.

Best regards,

Dr. Joseph Riggio ... social ontology gadfly

Princeton, NJ ... and around the world ...

Jump Into 2009 With A Running Start ...  Join PERSONAL ENHANCEMENT This December ...

I’ll be presenting the last Personal Enhancement programs this year in England on December 8th, and then again in Barcelona on December 10th. Both programs are limited to only ten people each, and are almost always in high demand. This is the only public program I run where I work privately with people in a group format. For a full day I work on issues that the participants want me to work with them on, deliver a ton of material of creating exquisite performances in relation to the issues that come up, and have no agenda whatsoever except delivering on the requests participants bring into the room.

Essentially what I’m doing is hours of private work that I normally charge ten times the amount of what this program fee is for the entire day! If you’re interested give Nancy a call at +1/609-275-1845 or email her at nsriggio@josephriggio.com for full program details and to register.

As always I take participants into these programs on a first come, first serve basis and when I have ten in each program the doors will close for 2008! If you know that you want to kick off 2009 running you can even come to both programs, in England and in Spain, and pay half the normal program fee for the second program ... but please act now ... call or email Nancy today ... I hate having to turn people down because we’ve overrun the room and you’ve asked me too late.

Last time out ... I posted here that I was betting on Sarah Palin in last night’s VP debate. So let’s start up front with the headline from http://wwww.msnbc.com immediately following the debate last night.

Palin pushes wedge between Biden and Obama

That’s a very powerful first impression that the analysts at MSNBC came up with based on their viewing of the debate. From a viewer point of view (mine of course) what stood out were how many times Sarah Palin pointed out how Joe Biden had disagreed with and even spoke dismissively about Barack Obama as a senator, as a candidate and in terms of his readiness for assuming the office of President, that Senator Biden simply couldn’t respond to except to smile like a deer caught in the headlights because she was reading direct quotes from him ... including a real zinger about John McCain:

“(Senator ...) you said you’d be honored to run on a ticket with him.”

(Sarah Palin speaking there about a comment Joe Biden had previously made about Senator John McCain in terms of his fitness for the presidency.)

That’s hard to live down when you become the vice presidential candidate for the other side.

(I’ll come back to some of Joe Biden’s other tactics regarding John McCain at sometime I’m sure ... AND REMEMBER this is a posting about Art of Power NOT Politics!!!)

Then this mornings headline read:

Palin delivers, but doubts linger.

So overall I’d say first and foremost Sarah Palin did as I expected ... way over delivered on just about everyone’s expectations regardless of which side of the fence you’re sitting on about her readiness as a vice presidential candidate. Now remember, I’m not going political (for now) what I’m pointing to is the nature of her skills as a presenter and at working an audience.

There are common traits that virtually all power presenters display and techniques they all know how to do and use to their advantage. Whether it’s raw talent or trained skill I won’t say, but regardless these are trails that can be followed directly to lair where personal and public power lives. What I’ve been seeing and saw again last night is that Sarah Palin is a natural when it comes to being in front of an audience. For one thing she knows how to connect with an audience even through the lens of a camera. This is a trait that directors pray for in their talent, a natural affinity for the camera and a way of coming across that the camera just loves. Last night several million viewers felt that Sarah Palin was in their homes with them discussing some of the most significant topics facing the nation and world today ... that’s powerful.

Here’s a quote from Howard Fineman, an analyst from MSNBC, this morning:

First, let me say that I was wrong--ridiculously wrong--when I said on “Hardball” before the debate here in St. Louis that the event would be the longest 90 minutes of Palin’s life. No way. She loved every minute. And when Biden said at the end that he was glad to have finally met her, he was clearly lying. It was no fun for him.

That’s a very powerful thing for an analyst to say and do, admit they were wrong ... no “ridiculously wrong” so that alone would count as a major feather in Governor Palin’s cap. However he was supported in this by the behavior of the other pundits on stage just by virtue of what they largely weren’t discussing, i.e.: Palin’s failure to deliver. Instead they talked about the points that Palin made vs. those that Joe Biden made. In other words every pundit/analyst on every major network was comparing the actual political performance on the issues of Joe Biden, who’s been a senator for all of eternity and has served on every committee every created in the senate, with a woman everyone counted out as a “soccer mom” from Alaska. Yet, her she was, the self professed “soccer mom from Alaska” debating on National television one of the most erudite and experienced senators on Capitol Hill and for the most part holding her own.

Here’s another quote from Fineman that typifies what I’m referring to:

When David Axelrod, Obama’s chief strategist, came into the spin room after the debate he didn’t bother arguing that Palin was not ready for prime time. Instead he argued that she had not successfully distanced the GOP ticket from President George Bush.


If McCain was to be judged on the wisdom of his veep pick, she did him some good Thursday night by not appearing like a deer in the headlights.”

So now you’ll watch the argument shift from whether or not Gov. Sarah Palin WON last night’s debate based on a whole new set of improvised rules ... e.g.: did she further the Republican ticket by distancing Senator McCain and herself from the Dems, did she do enough to undermine the legitimacy of Barack Obama and Joe Biden, did she do this or do that ... all spurious speculations and opinions to bolster whatever the pundits want you to think the day after the fact.

IMO here’s the bottom line, again from Fineman (but note the tone implicated in the remark about “how to field dress a moose” ... I get it, how it’s so easy to take pot shots at this lady, but even her detractors shouldn’t count her out as I’ve been saying all along ...):

“As aggressive as her performance was, it is unlikely that it moved the overall horserace numbers. But she did show that she not only knows how to field dress a moose, but to stand toe to toe with a senator.”

That’s it ... the bottom line was and is that the “little old, soccer mom” Sarah Palin went head to head with a senior senator who’s been in national televised debates twenty six times, including Presidential Primary debates ... and she stood “toe to toe” with him ... in my book, very simply - that’s a WIN!

In the next couple of days I’ll be commenting on how she did it, and mention some points about Joe Biden’s performance as well. There’s a year’s worth of material here for a student of the language of power to study ... so have at it!

Best regards,

Joseph Riggio, Ph.D.

Princeton, NJ

PS - First since I’ve now posted again since my last posting where I made the generous offer to include a copy of “Beyond the Obvious” to anyone who placed an order before my next posting (this post) that offer is now complete ... next time act more quickly ... in my world decisiveness pays (literally)!

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One of the things I know about myself is that if I want to be building a habit I have to do “IT” ... again and again and again ... whatever the “IT” is that I want to build a habit around.

In this case the habit I’m looking to (re-)form is one of putting sometime into writing each day ... I have a number of reasons why I want to do this, but nonetheless the habit will build if I do it, regardless of the reason behind doing it.

This is a rather powerful idea, i.e.: you can build any habit you want simply by committing to doing whatever it is that you want to build a habit around doing.

So as I began, “Here we go again.” I’ve been working quite hard for a long time at rebuilding my business, and I mean this in two ways:

A brief history probably has a place here to help the story make sense. A few years back I was traveling excessively, up to forty-two weeks a year at one point. I made a very conscious decision that I would revamp my business to spend more time at home with my family and that demanded a change in the most basic form of my business. Rather than continuing existing contracts or seeking new contracts that required me to travel internationally for as many weeks a year as I had been, through Europe, Asia and even Africa on occasion, not to mention throughout the North and South America, I decided to let it all go.

Literally, I began concluding the outstanding commitments I had in place with regard to my corporate clients and refusing additional or new work. Within a year I had closed that business for all intents and purposes, going from seven-figures a year in revenues to low six-figures a year in revenues. I also began shifting my attention from doing primarily corporate training to putting my attention on building up my public training and personal consulting work. What this specifically meant was:

[NOTE: Click here to see some of the distinctions of what I call Private Consulting.]

At that time I especially wanted to be expanding the MythoSelf Certification Training programs we were running and putting together products to reach out to a much large audience. What actually happened was a definite increase in both the quality of our training programs and the attendance in them, both in terms of the quantity and quality of the participants IMO. Some of the shifts I’d begun making must have appealed to folks who were willing to make significant commitments to learning this work with me and then taking it out beyond me on their own as well.

In regard to developing products I began by reconsidering the basic models I was working from at every level ... content, process, intention, audience ... you name it. What resulted was the design of two new significant programs at that time, EPC2™ | Exquisite Performance Coaching and Consulting.” I began offering these two new programs as a set, one program building on and reinforcing the other. Both programs were built on a precise performance improvement model I’d designed and explicated just for these programs. I had no idea when I was doing this how successful these programs would become, nor how integral they would prove to be within the toolset for MythoSelf® Facilitators.

While I made each of these decisions intentionally I have to say I didn’t fully realize what the cost would be when I made them. Ultimately, before we saw things turn around we came very close to bankruptcy ... but truth be told other than for specific passing moments I just accepted this as part and parcel of the process of getting to the next phase. Now I can happily report that my business is more than turned around from being anywhere near the edge of bankruptcy. In fact in many ways my business is more stable than it ever was before.

Specifically, I’m now running the business I dreamed of when I began making these changes five years ago. To a very great extent this is a function of building a habit of success. It includes both doing what it takes AND most importantly building the mind-set that it takes to do just that ... what it takes!

Performance is an “inside job” ... before you can take the action you need to take to create the results you want, you need to build the mind-set from which taking action becomes possible ... IT’S ALL ABOUT ATTITUDE!

I can tell you that during the transition from when I began changing my business until today when I’m running the business I only imagined back then the most important thing I was able to do was to set and maintain an attitude from which action was possible ... “regardless of all external evidence to the contrary.” Even when I was going through the most difficult moments that came about as a result of the decision to change my business and all that came along with it ... both planned and anticipated AND completely unplanned and most definitely unanticipated ... I was able to maintain a Ready State from which I could and did do everything I had to in creating the outcome I kept in mind all along.

This wasn’t just something nice to be able to do, it was critical given what I do for a living ... giving clients critical advice about sensitive, significant and often confidential issues in their lives and businesses. So even when my life seemed to be falling apart from all external observations of it (and there were times in the last couple of years when it seemed that way to others who were observing I can assure you), for me from the inside looking out it was just something to be moving through ...“So This, What’s Next?”

In closing (for now):

When you combine both of these things I’ve been addressing in this posting, building a habit of success and developing an attitude of success (despite all the evidence to the contrary) ... you are well on your way to the kind of Exquisite Performance that elite, world-class performers in every field of endeavor display every day ... the kind of performance that virtually eliminates limitations and takes these folks to the top of their game!

Well there you go ... another day of having written and another chapter in doing what it takes ...

Best regards,

Joseph Riggio, Ph.D.

Princeton, NJ

PS - If you’re ready to make a difference in your life and to get the same information I used when going through the transition from building one seven figure business to another get my four CD set “EPC Series One”, here’s a short blurb about that product:

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(Remember, no guarantees about when I might post next ... my last posting was about twenty-four hours ago, and the one before that was on MAY 4th ... over four months ago ... but a little “head’s up” for ‘ya, I’m in habit building mode right now.)

WOW! ... it’s been a really long time since I’ve put up one of these, i.e.: a new blog posting.

Anyone who’s been tracking my schedule knows it’s was a busy summer for the Riggio family and me. I started off with a bunch of travel for clients ... mostly through Europe, that was followed by a week in Denmark at the Blue Butterfly, Langebaek Retreat Center doing my first ever Intentional Performance training program, then it was off to California with the ‘fam’ for a bit of R&R;just before we all left for the Mytho2|MythoSelf Facilitator’s Intensive Training Program at Relaiscortefrancia in Lake Iseo, Italy ... whew! It was all quite a rush. I don’t think I was home in NJ for more than two weeks in the last twelve weeks total.

However, I have to add that it was all well worth it ... I had a great summer. What makes it work so well for me is that I get to do pretty much exactly what I love doing. All summer I’m running around meeting up with people I enjoy being with and in some case at least sharing the stuff I’m most passionate about in my own life. I’ve often said that “I live a truly magical life” and the evidence keeps accumulating to support that particular claim.

But enough of my rambling about how incredible my life can be ... what’s got me writing (among other things) is that we are in the final stretch of the U.S. Presidential election process ... and I for one think “It’s been a long time comin’ ...”. Those of you old enough will remember the reference there to 1969, the “Summer of Love” ... Woodstock ... and the David Crosby tune played by Crosby, Still and Nash at that event. I was ten years old at the time myself ... the country was at war in Vietnam ... Richard Nixon, a Republican, was the President of the United States and despised by much of America’s youth. Those were interesting times (that Chinese curse/blessing), marked by what appeared to be radical social upheaval and change ... and yet ...

To use an old quote:

“The more things change, the more they stay the same.”

Here we are again ... only this time I’m on my way to being fifty ... a long time gone from being ten I can assure you! But, at the same time things seem very much the same ... another Republican President is in office, George W. Bush, who like Nixon is despised by much of America’s youth ... we are at war in Iraq ... and the country seems ready for massive social change. Yet ... I think it “Appears to be a long time before the dawn ...”.

Despite Barack Obama’s claims to the candidate of change after Thursday night’s first presidential debate I have to say my doubts couldn’t be stronger that it won’t be the case. I’ve got to presume that when they are alone and looking themselves in the mirror Barack’s camp have to be mighty disappointed with their boy. He was supposed to be a real firebrand who was going to bring real change to Washington (D.C.) ... and instead he spoke like a tepid pot of old tea ... i.e.: really he’s just more of the same old, same old ...

Then of course there was Senator (John) McCain, who began with a tribute to, and I quote, “the lion of the senate” ... Ted Kennedy. It just seemed might self serving in context from my point of view. And, while he made some strong points of his own ... he just seemed ... tired. More to the point he seems so “senatorial” ... compared to Obama’s Presidential presence. He really set himself up to be read as the old guard. While repeating over and over that he was a maverick and the sheriff of the senate and that he’d never been voted Miss Congeniality ... I couldn’t help but feel like I was watching someone who’s been sitting in the same chair for much too long.

I guess if I had to some them up I’d say it was a battle of the “better than thou upstart kid on the block” who keeps talking about “Main Street” while he’s looking to move into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue himself, and the old solider with “many miles to go before he sleeps” and who needs a win before he can go in peace ...

All in all I’m left thinking that:

… but I’m beginning to think I may be a cynic.

Yet, what I have to add that I find most fascinating of all is the study in presentation and propaganda this affords us all in such a public way. These folks are among the best at capturing their ideas in thirty second sound bites, using the platform ... the cameras ... the audience ... the press to their advantage and presenting the persona they most want us to imagine they are, regardless of the evident truth behind the persona that they can’t help but let peak out from behind the mask (as if anyone really cares to look). In some way when I view it as a combination of entertainment and education I can walk away amused and enlightened ... (the challenge is that there’s so much at stake).

What I invite all ya’all to do in the upcoming weeks is to watch the remaining debates, not necessarily for the political content, instead listen and watch for the lessons there in in professional communication. (Although, if you’re planning on voting it wouldn’t hurt to know who your actually voting for ... what they’re saying, AND WHAT THEY’RE NOT SAYING OR SAYING THAT’S JUST PLAIN WRONG!)

Watch for the studied expressions, the gestures ... the tonal variation and rhythmic marking ... and notice how it effects what you think you’re hearing them saying. I was amazed that after the debate on Thursday, and I mean just after, how many people couldn’t remember what had been said in the previous ninety minutes by either candidate ... that’s a full hour and a half of content! What stood out were the sound bites ... and of course the post-debate spin by the pundits that followed on every news channel ... and over the next day or two in the rest of the media.

It’s funny but it seems to me like on a really fundamental level we’ve haven’t moved forward in time at all ... I keep listening for the real change coming but I guess it’s still much like it was in 1969 ... just that now there are more zeroes on the end ... and I keep hoping that truly “the darkest hour, is always just before the dawn ...”

more David Crosby lyrics

Long Time Gone Lyrics

(David Crosby)

[Intro. (Electric Guitars)]

It’s been a long time comin’
Goin’ to be a long time gone

And it appears to be a long
Appears to be a long
Appears to be a long time

full lyrics

more lyrics

Best ...

Joseph Riggio



Princeton, NJ

PS - I’m planning to do a bit of post-debate coverage myself after the upcoming Vice Presidential debate ... my money’s on Palin ... in front of an audience she’s a natural ... don’t count the lady out just yet ...

Howdy ... I’m almost feeling like I have a head cold, all full up with something that I can’t quite get clear. Yet in this case I know that the experience I’m having has much more to do with ideas than anything else. I’ve been rolling around in ideas for days, weeks, months ... or maybe more correctly years. Most of this time the ideas have flowed pretty well ... and to a great extent that remains true for me. Yet there I find myself tending a new crop of ideas about some ideas I’ve had for a while. And these new ideas are iterations and referential to a lifetime’s worth of old ideas.

Specifically, I’m finding a few things that stand out:

What seems so significant to me now has to do with the way the ideas are coalescing into some new form. I cannot speak to it yet, but I sense that it will have a form that I can speak to very soon. I already have some sense of where these ideas are going, I’m pretty darn sure of where the ideas have been drawn from that are in the process of coalescing, and I can even speculate on where they could end up in the short-term. What I cannot do yet revolves around a common language that would express what seems to me to be new ideas, although I am perfectly ready to accept that they are more likely revisited ideas that are expressing in a new way.

What I’ve been putting out, the aspect of these ideas that has been accessible to me for the last couple of years at least, has been around the idea of performance as an aesthetic consideration. Most folks are looking at performance from an analytical position, seeking to quantify the components to create a impact on the total performance experience. This would be anti-aesthetic in my opinion.

The primary distinction of the aesthetic consideration begins with the perception of the wholeform experience, perceiving the entirety of the experience as a singularity as opposed to a set of linked fragments.

Beyond the perception of the wholeform experience operating from the aesthetic consideration the perception of either “well-formedness” or “ill-formedness” of the experience becomes obvious.

Well-formedness and ill-formedness are expressions of the pattern inherent in the experience and the context that the experience occurs within.

My simple take on performance as an aesthetic consideration lives inside of the idea that the aesthetic consideration resides in the sensual experience of pattern ... both pattern as resonant and dissonant forms. Thinking about form as the primary consideration ... the wholeform experience, how the entirety operates ... positions the performer in a different relationship with performance.

Instead of considering fixing the aspects of the performance that are somehow wrong or not working, the performer who operates from the aesthetic consideration operates in regard to the wholeform experience, which resides beyond any specific aspect of the performance ... in this way of operating intention informs actions and overrides analysis.

We can say that we’re discussing the concept of intentionality here. This concept has been at the heart of my thinking since at least 2002 when I began my research for my doctoral dissertation. In fact the concept of intentionality became the central concept of my dissertation. [If you’re interested you can read more about this in my full dissertation “Towards A Theory of Transpersonal Decision-Making in Human Systems”, which you can purchase from Amazon.com.]

What I’ve been putting my attention on has been getting these ideas together in a a coherent form and then out in some way that makes sense independent of the entire historical context in which they were fermented. The basis of what I’ve been doing has been rooted in literally centuries of material dating back to the early Greeks. I know that the culmination I’ve been moving to, must stand alone before I’ll be able to express it in a way that relieves the sense of stuffiness I’ve been experiencing. So I’ve been dancing around the absolute center of the idea until very recently. Now I’m much, much closer and sense I’m closing in on that expression that will pull it all together for me.

Joseph Riggio

Princeton, NJ

P.S.: There’s still time to get in on the Intentional Performance program in Denmark this July. If you’re reading here ... you’ll probably be thrilled to be part of what we’ll be doing there ... go ahead download the brochure Intentional Performance.

PPS ... we are also still offering the entire Intentional Performance program for only $1750 when you attend both this program and the 2008 MythoSelf Facilitator’s/Trainer’s Intensive Training ... that’s a full $1000 off the Intentional Performance program fee!

Some folks have been noticing that I’ve been appearing infrequently here on my blog ... at least based on some private emails I’ve been receiving. Well there are a bunch of reasons I could give, or I could sum them all up and say that I’ve been overwhelmed with the amount of things to be doing ... but it all becomes meaningless because regardless of what might be going on in my life or yours we all do what we decide is imperative for us to be doing. Simply I haven’t been called to be writing so much here lately ... and I’m beginning to think I understand a bit more why.

Let me start a bit earlier back than where we are right now. First of all I think we all want to live lives full of meaning and purpose ... to be in the flow of the cosmos knowing we are standing in a position well suited to us and where we can make an impact of some kind based on our unique potential ...

It was 1969 and I was most assuredly Dazed and Confused ... when Led Zeppelin debuted the tune with that same title on their premier album Led Zeppelin after Jimmy Page, who IMO was the greatest blues-rock guitarist of all time, reworked a version of the same tune from an earlier group he played with, the Yardbirds. The tune was originally written by a folk singer named Jake Holmes in 1967. It’s a dark tune about what sounds like a bad relationship or maybe an evil woman if you listen to the lyrics closely. But what Holmes said about in a 2001 interview was this:

“The song’s about a girl who hasn’t decided whether she wants to stay with me or not. It’s pretty much one of those love songs.”

I was ten years old when they released that album and that song. When I first heard it I was probably closer to twelve years old and it was 1971. The world around me was dazed and confused ... it was literally in a cultural, social upheaval ... war was raging, rioting had transformed the country and more specifically the city I lived in, politicians had lost virtually all their credibility ... the chant all around was a combination of “Down with the establishment!” and “Question Authority” ... I was a child of revolution, not an external revolution like civil war, but an internal revolution of the mind ... of values ... of everything that represented stability in the world as I knew it to be.

So I listened ... John Paul Jones driving the tune with that compelling, entrancing, exquisitely simple descending bass line ... Page with those ethereal sounds as he bowed his guitar ... John Bonham supporting the pulsing rhythms on drums ... and Robert Plant with that hauntingly pained vocal ... it was mesmerizing long before I heard the words. Literally it was a song title and a soundscape to me and for me ... a way beyond the limits of what I saw, heard and felt going on around me ... maybe even a way out.

The question of course would be, “A way beyond what?” ... “A way out of what?”

The simplest answer I could possibly offer would be, “A way beyond and out of the position of being dazed and confused ... beyond and out of the roiling circumstances surrounding me.”

As I’ve said this wasn’t, isn’t, about the words ... the lyrics ... nothing particularly profound there IMO ... true and honestly raw maybe ... but not profound. It was a purely aesthetic experience ... something that drew me in and opened up to me another position of perception. That sound drew me in and restructured how I saw the world around me, what I heard in what was being said, how I felt about it all ... even that which I myself couldn’t express ... couldn’t even point to ... and yet knew as well as I know my name that it was so ... aesthetic arrest.

At the time I was a committed fan ... listening to Led Zeppelin the way my children today listen to the bands they too find transport them as well. I must say I don’t get it, I don’t get the same experience of being transported by what they are listening to as they do, yet I do get that they are ... transported and beyond the limitations of the present.

And now we are back again ... to the present. I’ve made more than one comment about the idea expressed in the phrase, “Be Here Now” and all such nonsense pointed to being in the present ... in this space and time we occupy, e.g.: The Power of Now ... like where else can we be?!!?!? Of course we’re all here and now!

Yet many people recognize that they are not available to what is here or now ... what is present in this space and time. In essence they are in another space and time ... a fabrication that they impose on this space and time. It’s not a question of operating with a consideration of alternate space and time being present ... or calling into this space and time the consideration present in other space and time possibilities ... but the imposition on this space and time of another that doesn’t belong or fit.

This then becomes the essence of this dialogue ... the fit ... or as I prefer, the fit and match ... of things. Another way to call this out would be as the pattern of things. Pattern resides at the core ... the heart ... of the aesthetic position. When the pattern is recognized in the sensual experience the veil of the aesthetic has been drawn.

The challenge with all of this ... the aesthetic position ... has to do with the unspeakable nature of it. The aesthetic position cannot be spoken ... nor can it be written ... and therefore I have chosen more and more to remain silent.

I find myself drawn by the pull of the aesthetic. I’ve said clearly that the work I do resides in the aesthetic ... neither scientific or psychological, neither rational or irrational ... maybe non-rational, it’s not even philosophical ... although it’s most definitely informed by all of these and contained by none of them. I follow the pattern to see where it leads. Try selling that to a client who thinks they are paying for results!

Yet ... this is where I am ... embracing and embraced by the aesthetic. I am positioning myself more and more to hold this position ... for myself and for those who seek something of the same ... aesthetic arrest ...

Best regards,

Joseph Riggio

Architect and Designer of the MythoSelf Process

Princeton, NJ

I am stepping outside of the contained position this summer .. stepping into that place where the aesthetic reigns ... and yet connecting it to the place where we live in our ‘ordinary’ lives as well ... Intentional Performance ... it will be exciting to see who’s ready to let go and show up ... all I can promise is that I’ll be there and no where else.

Welcome ...

If you’re a regular visitor to BlogNostra you probably realize that I’ve been a bit off in my posting schedule. To say the least I’ve been sporadically posting here over the last few months ... with an intention to be more regular in my posting, but challenged with all the things coming up around me. You’ll also notice something that I haven’t done before ... I’ve posted a picture. I did this, posted this picture, specifically because it will be the one that I intend to use for a new project I’ve been asked to work on, a new Internet radio program I’m calling Intentional Performance.

This program will begin airing on Saturdays starting the first week of April on Web Talk Radio.

Although I’m also currently hosting my live Internet radio show Leadership Intuitions on Voice America, this program offers both my listeners and me a different direction that I’m excited to be going in.

Here’s the description I wrote for the catalog entry about the show:

Intentional Performance

with Dr. Joseph Riggio


The shift from living an ordinary life to living a life that is extraordinary and authentic often requires only a millimeter of change in attitude.

Join Dr. Joseph Riggio and his guests as they talk about their failures and successes, the unique lessons they’ve learned and their tricks and tips for building a life from the inside out.

This show will take a different direction as I’ve said, first of all I intend to be doing interviews with some really interesting people on this show, drawing them out about “… their failures and successes, the unique lessons they’ve learned and their tips and tricks for building a life from the inside out.” This alone really sets this show apart from what I do on Leadership Intuitions, with Michael Cage who co-hosts that show with me.

While I still love doing Leadership Intuitions it’s really for a completely different audience experience. On that show, Leadership Intuitions, Michael and I discuss every aspect of leadership possible ... often talking about leadership in organizations and business, or in relation to entrepreneurship, but we also often discuss leadership as a personal or social attribute as well. In the new show Intentional Performance in addition to building it around interview with some of the truly fascinating people I know and meet, I’ll have a chance to take a direction that has become far more personal for me.

This new show really has me excited because I sense a complete alignment with where I am now in my own life and work, and that will be the focus and what I’ll be talking about on Intentional Peformance. The fundamental premise, “The shift ... of change in attitude.” has always been close to my heart. The idea of moving to the excitatory bias or to a positive position or even as I sometimes say “being at your best” stands directly at the center of the work I’ve been studying, developing and delivering for just about twenty years now.

It really, really gets me though when folks think that this idea of “being at your best” revolves around some airy, fairy concept of feeling good or being happy. As I’ve said a couple of hundred times, or maybe even a couple of thousand times ... “What I do has nothing to do with being happy ... although you may find yourself happy as a result ... the work itself has nothing to do with being happy as its intended outcome.” My work has as a singular intended outcome, ‘Becoming Human’, exemplified by two or three things that are primary in the way in which this specifically manifests:

This new show, Intentional Performance will be all about just these kinds of things! I intend to find people who are living in relation to these three points I’ve noted above, and have found for themselves their “blueprint for success.”

To sum up where I find myself going with this new adventure I’d have to say it’s about, “Creating Futures That Work.” I hope I find you there joining me on this next part of the journey ...

Joseph Riggio

Princeton, NJ

PS - Keep a lookout for the soon to be released information about my summer intensive retreat at the Blue Butterfly in Langebaek, Denmark. I wrote about this back in December (2007) in my blog posting, Continuing the Journey (check that posting out for more details about the program). BTW we have now confirmed the dates with Varuni at the Blue Butterfly, we’ll be there doing this program 7-11 July 2008 ... and I couldn’t be more excited. I’m going to limit the program to just twenty people to create a truly special, intimate, profound, transformative experience for everyone who attends.

Truth be told I hadn’t even realized that I’d already named the direction I was heading in, i.e.: Intentional Performance, when I was asked for a name for this new radio program ... but I’d obviously committed myself to this direction more than I knew myself before the beginning of this year ... that’s the power of intentionality!

PPS - I really hate to sound pushy, but if you haven’t done so already and you’re even slightly interested in attending the Intentional Performance Retreat with me in July at the Blue Butterfly please, please get a note to Nancy to be put on the mailing list for this program, 2008 Intentional Performance Retreat and we’ll do the rest ... we’ve already got people who have asked us to hold a space for them without even knowing the dates or the costs ... so I’m sure this program will fill very quickly when we release the program details and I will be limiting it to absolutely no more than twenty people!!! ... THANKS FOR UNDERSTANDING!