narrator: whether you are building a new house or just replacing your water heater, g.e.'s heat pump technology is one place to start. it's designed to save energy, which is good for everyone. the geospring water heater from g.e., proud sponsors of "being strategic" with erika andersen. erika andersen: i think that being strategic may be one of your most useful tools to use in creating the life that you want to have. lucky for us, being strategic is learnable. most of us kind of try to wander toward solutions in our lives without ever having clarified the problem that we're trying to solve. in my mind, the way to make this really useful and valuable to yourself is to make it a habit of mind and action.

and that's what i want from you. i want you to keep learning and to create the lives that you most want to have. so, welcome, everybody. i'm thrilled to be here, and i hope to make this time that we have together as valuable as possible. i want to share with you a process and a set of skills that can help you create the life, the future, the business, the career, the relationship, that you most want for yourself. so let me start by asking you a question. how many of you, over the last couple of months, have heard the word "strategic?" it could have been at a business meeting, it could have been at a kid's fundraising committee meeting, you know you hear at work,

"strategic," or being "strategic." show of hands. how many? ok, most people, most people. ok, very common phrase, we hear it all the time. okay, let me ask you another question. how many times, when the person using that word, used it, did they explain to you what they meant by it? well, a couple of times. it doesn't happen very often. we rarely explain it, and yet we mean lots of different things by it. if you think about it, right, people use that phrase, "being strategic" to mean stuff all the way from thinking about the competition, or focusing on the big picture, to sometimes people actually mean that guy thinks like me. he's really strategic, he has the same point of view i do. although they don't say that out loud. okay, so here's this really important thing, and i agree, that it's important. we talk about it all the time, but we really don't have a common definition. so, i believe that being strategic means: "consistently making those core directional choices that will best move you toward your hoped-for future."

now, this is a deceptively simple sentence. there's actually a lot in here. first you look at that interesting phrase, "hoped-for future." so it implies that in order to be strategic, you have to know where you're going. you have to have a future that you want to create. then there's another interesting phrase here: "core directional choices." and it's hard to make core-directional choices toward something unless you know where you're starting from. so there's all kind of stuff in here, implies you know where you're starting from, you know where you're trying to get to, and then you're going to make some core choices to get there. and finally there's that interesting word, "consistently." consistently making those core-directional choices. so what this implies is that there's a capability to be built in here. the capability to see where you want to go, see where you're starting from, make some core choices and then consistently act according to those choices. okay, so most successful people i know, and by successful i mean people who have created

the lives that they want for themselves. they have and they demonstrate this capability. and i've even noticed it with young people, just starting out. if i notice that they're behaving this way, i think, wow, this person is really likely to be able to create the life that he or she wants for themselves. in fact, i remember in the late 70s, there were these two young guys, you may remember them too. they were talking about computers in a really interesting way. and at the time, in the late 70s, computers, those of us who were old enough to remember, computers were mainframes and workstations and almost the only people who had anything to do with computers were programmers and data entry people. and here came these two young guys, and they start talking about computers in a whole different way. they said computers, we could all have computers, everybody could have a computer, it could be fun and simple and useful. well, a lot of you already know the punchline. these two guys were steve jobs and steve wozniak and they started apple computers. and whether or not you ever used an apple computer, in a lot of ways, you're living their vision of the future.

right? we now live in a world where computers are simple, and easy, and sometimes they're even fun to use. so that's the power of this thing. these guys had a hoped-for future and they consistently made the choices to move toward it, and here we all are, in this post-apple world. and i know it's been true in my life too. that when i, once i started identified it and started working with it, the successes that have come to me, whether it's been to build a business or write books or even be a great mom, have come when i have behaved in this way. when i've gotten clear about the future and moved toward it consistently. and the spectacular failures that i've had in my life? they have come when i have not behaved in that way. when i either have not been clear or acted consistently toward that future. now one thing that's important for us here, although a lot of my clients and my business are big corporations, this doesn't just apply to business. i think of it is, this capability called strategic, i think of it as being a swiss army knife.

you know, there are a lot of different things on it and you can use it in a lot of different situations. in fact, i've yet to find a part of my life where this is not a useful thing. in fact, i'm going to go out on a limb here, based on my experience over the last 20 years, with myself and my clients, i think that being strategic may be one of your most useful tools to use in creating the life that you want to have. there's some good news. and i've discovered this and made me very happy. lucky for us, "being strategic is learnable." now i was really happy when i figured this out because people tend to talk about it as though it's not. people tend to talk about it as though it's like in-born. when they talk about somebody not being strategic like they say, "oh, that guy can't sing," or "that person's nearsighted." you know, like, too bad, you're done. well what we found is that it is learnable. it's a model and a set of skills that most people can learn. i mean, there's a natural aptitude, some people are just better at it than other people. but almost everyone can learn this capability and

improve it, and improve their odds, their chances, at creating the life they want to have. i'm going to introduce you to this model and the set of skills for being strategic, but we're going to spend the next hour, but first we're going to walk through the model, then i'll show you a picture of it. a picture's worth a thousand words, they say. and then we'll spend the rest of our time together exploring it, and i'll give you a chance to try it out with a real situation that's meaningful to you. so are you ready to do that? ready to start honing your "being strategic" skills? ok, great, great. so, here's the model. first, there's a kind of pre-step that we call "defining the challenge." and the reason that's there is because often, people try to solve a problem before getting clear about what it actually is. so i'm going to give you a way to get cle, get to the heart of the challenge, and not race through too soon to solve it. then once you've done that, once you're clear about the problem you're trying to address or the challenge you're trying to solve, then the first step is "clarify what is."

and what that means is you get clear about your current reality relative to that challenge. what you have going for you and against you relative to that challenge. and at this point i'm going to share with you three mental skills that are the core mental skills of this capability of being strategic. they'll be useful throughout this process and i think you'll find them useful in a lot of other ways too. so once you've done that, you've come to the fun part: "envision what's the hope." that's where you create in your mind, the future, where your challenge has been successfully addressed. we've actually done, you solved the problem, you've done what you set out to do. and i'll show you a way to get really three-dimensional about that, so you can see it really clearly. so that's the phrase, "hoped-for future" that i use. then we come to the least fun part of it, which is "facing what's in the way." every time that you try to create a new reality for yourself, there's, there are obstacles, and i'm going to help you get clear about those and learn to assess them in an accurate way, so they're not overwhelming, so you can see what they really are so you can move past them, and do the next step, which is the path.

and that's the heart of this process, that's where we get to strategies, remember, i use the phrase "core directional choices." that's what strategies are, they are those core choices you're going to have to make to get to where you are, to where you want to go. and then you fill in those strategic pathways with tactics. tactics are like the bricks in your path. right, so that's the whole thing. now, so some people like words and some people like pictures. so we also have a picture. see our nice shield? they have a dual purpose. they look nice but they're also a picture of the process. so there's a hill here. think of that as the challenge you are trying to address. it's the hill you're trying to climb. and the "x" is "x" marks the spot, that's where you're starting from, relative to your challenge, relative to your hill. then there's your beautiful castle, your castle on the hill that you're trying to get to, that you've designed, that you've created in your mind. and then, you can't see them, but there are trolls hiding in that crevice on the side of the mountain. those are the obstacles that you'll need to overcome, right, to get from the "x" to the castle

and that's the path. mind, you can see what that path is, first strategically, and then tactically. it's going to take you from where you're starting from to the castle. alright, so now you've got the whole drill. since i'm going to be using this metaphor, thianalogy of a castle, a lot, i want to talk to you about a real castle-building, real life castle building situation. and it's one that i really love, i used it in my book a lot. there was a guy who lived about 800 years ago, in wales. and his name was llywelyn fawr, which means "llywelyn the great" in welsh. and he really was great, he was an amazing man. he at the time, wales wasn't even a country, it was just a bunch of little, kind of fiefdoms, pretty much continually at war. and he envisioned a united wales. this was 800 years ago. he was a remarkable man and through a combination of i think, probably good people skills and battle savvy and statecraft, he made it happen. he brought this group of warring lords together

into a country, wales, and kept it together until he died, many many years. so one of the ways he did this was, he built castles. and one of the castles that he built was in a little town in north wales called criccieth. and now it's just a ruin, but if you kind of squint, you can kind of see how impressive it must have been, it's on a headline overlooking cardigan bay. so what i want you to do is come back with me in my time machine and stand by the ocean shore with llywelyn fawr, and we'll walk with him as he goes through this process that i just described to you. so we're standing on the shore, us and llywelyn, and they had just had a raid from the irish raiders, the irish warriors, going back out to sea, and it's been a bad day for the welshman. fires had been set, lives have been lost. and he's standing there and he thinks to himself, how can we best protect and defend ourselves from our enemies? that's his challenge question, right,

he's just defined his challenge. how can we best protect and defend ourselves from our enemies? and so he thinks about it, he thinks about his "what is," he thinks about where he is relative to his challenge. and he thinks, "well the welsh are strong, and they're great fighters and they're loyal to me, and those are things we have going for us. but on the other hand, they're not used to operating as a team, they're pretty independent, and also, we don't really have a source for new or better weaponry." so there are those things. and then he thinks, what's happening outside of this. and he says, "well, we've got a lot of enemies, we've got the irish, we've got the normans, we've got the scandinavians. and that's not helpful. but then on the other hand, our land itself is helpful to us, we're surrounded by mountains, there's the ocean in front of us. okay, that's where we're starting from." so he goes to his noblemen, "we think the best way to protect and defend ourselves is to build a castle on this hill." and they get really clear about it. what it would look like, how would it work. why it would protect and defend them. and once they're clear about it,

they step back and they said, okay, what are the obstacles? and they might have said, well, we've never done this before. we've built some wooden hill forts, but stone castles? we actually don't know how to do that. so that's one obstacle. and then he might say, "you know, who's going to be doing the fishing and the farming and the hunting while we're building the castle? how are we going to take care of ourselves while we're building this thing?" okay, so there are some obstacles. so then they said, "what are we going to do to get from where we are to the actual, literal, castle on the hill?" so let's say that they came up with three strategies. three core directional choices, very simple. they said, first of all, we have to design the castle. we have to design a castle that will do what we want it to do. then, we're going to have an executed plan to build the thing. and third, we're going to have to figure out how to provision and defend ourselves while it's being built. so then i bet llywelyn kind of assigned those to guys to go off and make the tactical plans, how specifically are we going to do that. it's an amazing thing, they did it, the welsh had not built

stone castles, so it was new to them, they did it. so let's come back to the 21st century, here we are. ready to figure out how to make amazing things happen in your life. yes? okay, great. so let us begin. first thing is defining the challenge. now i talked a little bit about this before. people tend to want to solve a problem before they know what it is. if that happens in a meeting, with a bunch of people, it's what i call dueling solutions. i bet you all experienced that. "no, my solutions are better!" "no, my solutions are better!" what's the problem? we don't care. we like our solutions. okay, so this is a process that i encourage you to do. there are three steps to it, to define your challenge. let me explain these three steps with an example. alright, let's say we have a friend named jill. i think this will really resonate for most of you. and jill is out to lunch with some friends of hers. and they're all talking about their kids, and jill says, "i'm really worried about my son jimmy in second grade.

he's having, i'm not sure abt second grade for him." and if her friends are like most friends, they just want to help. so they start throwing solutions at her. and the first says, "oh, you know, my sally had a hard time in second grade too, it's when they start giving them homework, you just have to teach them study skills." okay, second friends says, "you know, i'm not sure the public schools are so great around here. we send our son to private school, you might consider that." and the third friend says, "you know, my daughter complains at the beginning of every year. you just have to listen to them and help them problem-solve." okay, some nice solutions. you noticed, they don't have the faintest idea her actual problem is. right? three different solutions, all kind of mutually exclusive. they don't know. ok, so if instead, we rewind the tape a little bit, what if they did this instead. what if one of jill's friends said, "well, what's not working? what exactly are you upset about with jimmy in the second grade?" she might say something like, "well,

i'm really worried that he's not getting the educational fundamentals that he needs. you know, this is the year they ought to be learning reading, and writing, and math." oh, that has nothing to do, you noticed, with any of the solutions they offered? but now they know her actual problem. so let's say they keep going. and they say, okay, so the problem is that you're worried that jimmy might not get the educational fundamentals he needs in school this year. so let's frame that problem by making it into a "how can we" or "how can i" question. that's the second step in this process. so, your "how can we," "how can i" question would be, how can i make sure. audience member: how can i make sure jimmy gets the educational fundamentals he needs? erika andersen: exactly. how can i make sure that jimmy gets the educational fundamentals he needs? okay, now there's this interesting third question, "would that feel like success?" this is like a safety net, like a checking question. so they might say that. they might say, okay, so if you found the answer to that question, "how can i make sure that jimmy gets

the educational fundamentals that he needs," would that feel like success? would that make you feel like the problem was solved? she might say yes, but you might go, "well, but i want to make sure he gets them in school this year. you know, that's what's school's for." so maybe her full question that defines her challenge is "how can i make sure that jimmy gets the educational fundamentals that he needs in school this year?" and then she'd go, yep, i'm there, bingo. now if her friends start solutioning, they're going to be much more likely to help her find a solution that works. right? now you get to try this yourselves. this is where it gets real, this is where it gets real and practical for you. so what i'd like you to do is think of a problem that you're wrestling with, something real, that you feel you're not quite clear about. take yourself through these steps. first say, you know, "what's not working?" and then when you have a clear sense of that, try to flip it into that problem statement, "how can i make sure," "how can i 'x'" and just

write that down. once you've written it down, take a look at it and say, "if i found the answer to this question, would i feel like i solved my problem or addressed my challenge?" and if it's yes yes and if you want to tweak it a little bit more, do it. now, while you guys are doing this, i'm going to talk to the folks at home. so i would love for you to do exactly the same thing. take a paper and a pencil and go through these same steps. and to help you do it, let me give you a couple of examples, a couple more examples. so let's say for instance that someone has lost his job. it's, a lot of people has done in the last couple of years, and he says to himself, "in getting a new job, what's not working is that i don't have a job, and i really didn't like my last job." so maybe his challenge question is, "how can i find a job that supports me but that is challenging and satisfying?" or perhaps someone's problem is, they haven't been able to create relationships in their lives that really work for them. so maybe their challenge question would be, "how can i create a healthy and nourishing

relationship in my life?" okay, so you try the same thing at home. everybody got some kind of "how can i" question that we can work with? a real challenge? something you're actually wrestling with? okay, you've just done something that most people don't take the time to do. most of us try to kind of wander through solutions in our lives without ever having clarified the problem that we're trying to solve. so this is an important first step. and now you're at the core of this and you've got a real challenge which you're clear about, and we're ready to start working the model. so when we come back, that's what we'll do. fred nahhat: hi, fred nahhat here in the studios at public television, with another great program. one that can make a meaningful difference in your life, it's called, "being strategic" with erika andersen, we're going to continue in just a moment. but right now we'd like to offer you the opportunity to get some of the tools that you can use to improve your life. they say that change is inevitable,

but what can you do to stay ahead of that pace. well, make a $60 pledge right now and we'll say thank you with the dvd of the program, "being strategic" with erika andersen. and it offers you the tools that you can use to keep ahead of change and make a huge difference in your life. and on the dvd there are some extra features with questions about that inner voice that you talk to and with everyday and make that impact that can make a big difference for you and your family. how about the $90 giving level, if that's right for you, the book from erika andersen, i guess the basis of all of this, the work, the program, and all the strategies that you can employ to continue on that road to life improvement and the skills that you can use to make a big difference. or maybe if you'd like to become a member at the $125 giving level, well, we have got the combo for you when you make a pledge of support. by calling that number on the screen, you'll get the dvd with the extra bonus material; the book, of course; and a great web and e-companion, which includes a password and more information

online that you can access to make this kind of information available to you and work through step by step. public television gives you the steps on many levels to make a great difference in the life of you and your family, and of course, your entire community when you keep public television on the air. you do it by calling that number on your screen, and talking to a community-minded volunteer and making a pledge of support. "being strategic" with erika andersen is this offer and we'll be continuing that program in just a moment or so, but right now, make a difference in your own life by picking up that phone and making a pledge. diane bliss: friends, did you write a challenge question for yourself? a "how can i" or "how can we" question? we do that here at public television a lot. and our biggest question is "how can we continue to provide quality programs without the funding?" the answer comes from you. and right now i hope it will come in the form of a pledge, as we continue with this great program

with erika andersen called, "being strategic." right now, the book, on which this whole program is based, is a thank you gift from us to you, at a pledge of $90. and i would like to welcome erika andersen to public television. erika, thank you so much for putting your life's work into this project that's coming alive on public television. erika andersen: oh, you're most welcome. it's my pleasure. diane bliss: well, it started back in 1980 and you began doing some work with corporations, large and small i understand, helping them to sort of align their goals. talk a little more about that for a moment. erika andersen: well, when i started out, i realized that corporations really needed a way to get very clear about the future they wanted for themselves. in fact, that was the mission of my company originally and still is today, helping organizations clarify and move toward their hoped-for future, and that's what we're hearing about in the program. diane bliss: and it's fantastic information that applies to our daily lives. i know i'm taking a lot of your messages personally. erika andersen: absolutely.

diane bliss: and that's what you intend for, isn't it? erika andersen: yes, in this process what i found was that people who are strategic tend to be strategic in all aspects of their lives. so it's like, if you think of it, it's like a swiss army knife, you know, which is something that has a lot of attachments that you can use it in a lot of different kinds of situations. it's very broadly useful and that's what i think this process and these skills are too. diane bliss: so there's value then, in knowing how to be strategic. i mean, is it tangible value? erika andersen: oh absolutely. because when you have a process where you can get clear about the challenges facing you, see what the future would look like if you addressed those challenges and then create an actual road map of how to get there, that's a powerful skill to have. diane bliss: it truly is, and i think that a lot of our audience will put that towards various aspects of their life. right now though, we'd like for you to become a member of public television with your generous pledge. won't you make that now? thank you. announcer: for a $90 pledge to public television, the "being strategic" book provides the foundation by which you begin to work to build your castle on the hill. erika guides you with her step-by-step model to

develop your "how can i" question. the "being strategic" book is loaded with enlightening chapters to jumpstart your learning. erika andersen: become a fair witness. pull back the camera. and sort for impact. announcer: erika equates the fundamental skills from this process to a swiss army knife. erika andersen: this capability called being strategic, i think of it as being like a swiss army knife. you know, it's got a lot of different things on it and you can use it in a lot of different situations. announcer: when one understands these principles, they will be ready to decide the core-directional steps, needed to move toward their most hoped-for future. your investment of $90 in public tv for this book is the gift that keeps on giving. jeff mitchell: we have a little bonus time with erika to go more in depth about how it all works. so we now know this approach for getting more of the life we want. what's some more support you could offer to help us get the best from it? erika andersen: well, there's one thing that i really didn't have a chance to talk about in the program, and it's a really important element of success or failure when you're doing this, and it's how you talk to yourself about it.

so you're aware that we all talk to ourselves all the time, right? jeff mitchell: it's not just me? erika andersen: no, it's everybod everybody does it. it's called "self-talk." it's that little kind of unconscious narration of your life that goes on in your head while your life is unfolding. so it's kind of like, "oh, that guy has a big nose." "ooh, boy, i sure hate standing in this line." you're just talking all the time, right? jeff mitchell: right, yeah. erika andersen: yeah, okay. diane bliss: erika, in your career, you've worked with organizations large and small, i mean, fortune 500 companies and little local businesses, also profit and nonprofit groups, correct? erika andersen: yes. diane bliss: and do you see a difference in the organizations based on their size or anything, as to applying these principles, or does it work for everyone? erika andersen: it's, in my experience, pretty universally applicable. this is a simple and unusually simple approach. we're saying that no matter whether it's a business challenge or your career, or your personal life, relationships, family, that the essence of it is getting clear about what you want and creating a map, a path to get there,

and that's what really this is about. diane bliss: well, that path is wonderfully illustrated in your book, "being strategic." what prompted this, erika, what caused you to sit down and put together this well-organized book? erika andersen: i really just wanted to make it available to more people. i felt as though we could reach a certain number of people with our company and working with our clients. but if i wrote a book, it would be available to anybody who would be wanting to buy a book, and that really appealed to me. diane bliss: and then when we said, let's talk about public television. erika andersen: absolutely. diane bliss: and bringing you to public television, we created this video and there's bonus material which we'll talk more about. but now your message is going out to hundreds of thousands of millions of people. what are you hoping for, what's your life's goal with all of this work? erika andersen: well, my hoped-for-future, not only with this but in my life, is to help people become who they want to become. and i know from years and years of experience with this, that this is a powerful tool in doing that. so for me, the opportunity to be on public television

and speak to a lot more people about a way to do that is wonderful. it's really, deeply satisfying to me. diane bliss: and you're so in, aligned with our organizational philosophy of public television, and that's to help everyone be a little better than you currently are. learn a little more, grow a little more. and that combination of erika andersen and public television and you, is just a natural fit. join us with a pledge. erika andersen: welcome back! let's do a quick review using our visual. so before we broke, you all had the opportunity to define your challenge, to think about a problem, a real problem that you were wrestling with and define it. so you've clarified that hill you're trying to climb. now what we're going to do is look at where you are starting from relative to that hill, your "what is?" then, we'll go and build that castle. you figure out what that the future would look like when you addressed your challenge.

now a lot of people say, well, wait a minute, we defined our problem, let's just run up there, let's start solving it, let's just race up the hill. generally not a good idea, let me use an example to help you understand why. let's say we got some kids on a saturday afternoon and their challenge is, a normal kid on a saturday afternoon challenge, they want to have some fun. their challenge question is, "how can we have some fun this afternoon?" so let's say they just start solving for that. they start thinking, well, we can call our friends, we can make some prank phone calls, we could, you know, see what's on tv. and then one of them goes, "oh, oh, the county fair is happening this weekend, it's just a couple of miles away, let's just get on our bikes and let's go over there." and they get on their bikes, they race over there, they get off their bikes, they're so excited, there's ferris wheels and merry-go-rounds, they turn out their pockets and they've got a couple of dollars between them. you're not gonna have a lot of fun at the fair with no money. so they're hot, tired and frustrated, they go back on their bikes, and go home to try to get some money from their parents. okay, so this is not a big deal, some frustrated kids. but let's think about it with bigger,

more important situations. how many businesses, for instance, go broke, go belly-up the first year? a lot. very high proportion. and generally speaking, some entrepreneur, who was trying to solve the problem, build a better mousetrap, he or she goes racing off, up that hill to build that thing, and a year later, they realize they were way undercapitalized, or they didn't have the skills they needed, or nobody really needs the mousetrap. right. okay, so, because it's a really important part of being truly strategic, i want to help you do this well. i want to help you get good at figuring out your current state relative to the challenge you're trying to address. so there are three mental skills for doing this. they're very simple but very important, and they're used throughout this process. they're called: become a fair witness, pull back the camera, and sort for impact. so because these are so important and so foundational, let me explain them in some depth. so the first one is "become a fair witness."

i stole this from a guy named robert heinlein, who wrote a book, "stranger in a strange land," have any of you read that book? oh great, okay! it doesn't matter if you haven't read the book, it doesn't matter. so in this book, there's a guy, michael valentine, he's the protagonist, it's a fascinating book. this guy, michael valentine, was raised on mars. his parents were astronauts, so he has to learn in the book, he has to learn how to be an earthling. and he has a kind of mentor. and the mentor's trying to explain to him this profession called being a "fair witness." and michael doesn't understand. so the guy, the mentor, turns to this woman and says, "will you go put on your fair witness robes?" okay, she comes back, she's wearing a long white robe. and the guy says to her, "are you now a fair witness?" meaning, are you now operating in your professional capacity? she says, "yes, i am." he goes, okay. points to a distant house on a hill, says, "what color is that house?" she says, "it appears to be painted white on this side."

that's what a fair witness has done. the job of a fair witness is to "as neutrally and objectively as possible, say what he or she observes." they don't do wishful thinking, they don't say what they hope is true, or what they don't want to be true or cherry-pick the data, they just as neutrally and objectively as possible. they say, this is what i observe. this is an absolutely critical skill, in being strategic. because if you don't start out accurate, it's hard to know if you're going to be able to get where you're trying to go. okay, the second one, "pulling back the camera." now this is easy to explain in 21st century america because almost everyone watches tv or watches the movies. so this is how this works. let's pretend this is a camera. let's say i have the camera all the way over here. what are you going to see on the screen? camera's all the way over there. and you might not even know it's a castle, it's some weird shape. there's no context. so i pull back, pull back, pull back, now what do you see?

oh, it's a whole picture, a castle, a hill, keep pulling it back, keep pulling it back. oh, wow, it looks like some kind of stage set, maybe they're going to have a speaker here, right? so the farther you pull back the camera, you get context. patterns emerge. you can see things more clearly. almost without exception, when somebody says so-and-so's being too tactical, it means the person's operating with the camera pulled too close to the action. like for instance, have you ever gotten irritated, you're trying to explain something really important to somebody and they're kind of mono-focus on some of the details, and you feel like, you're not getting my point, right? you want them to pull back the camera. so, being strategic is really important because once you pull back the camera, and look at the situation from a bigger frame, you're more likely to understand it and see all the pieces that are important. does that make sense? okay, so the third thing, sort for impact. so you're being a fair witness, you're pulling back the camera, you're pulling back the camera, a lot of stuff is going to be coming in the viewfinder. so how do you figure out what to look at, right? so that's why this third skill is important,

sort for impact. and one of the things i've learned over the years, it's there's a business tool that again, is like a swiss army knife, you can use it in any part of your life. and it's called, swot. that stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunity, and threats. those of you who are in business might have heard this. but it's a great way to sort for impact. because what you're looking for is what's happening in my situation, that makes a difference as to whether or not i'm going to be able to address this challenge. you've got your strengths and weaknesses and opportunities and threats, relative to that challenge, is a great way to sort for impact. let's use our kids as an example. let's say that instead of racing to the fair, they say, we want to have some fun, where are we starting from? what do we have going for us, the strengths? we're open to a lot of options, we've got our bikes. all the free time in the world, those are their strengths. weaknesses, you know, we're too young to drive, some things we're too young to do, oh,

we don't have money. they would have found that out then, before they rode off to the fair. and then if they looked outside of themselves, opportunities and threats, they might say, well, we live in a town where there's a lot of fun stuff happening. and we have friends we can call and ask them for ideas. and our parents might be an opportunity too, they have ideas, they might even give us money, they might even chauffeur us around. and then if they look over here at the threats, they might say, well, our parents may be a threat too, they might have much less interesting ideas of what they want us to do on a saturday afternoon. right? okay. so then they have a pretty clear idea. they know where they're starting from. and it would be much easier for them to then build a castle that's a realistic castle for them, that they can actually get to, right? so what i'd like you to do now is think about the strengths and weaknesses, the things that are happening within you that could either help you address your challenge, or get in the way of addressing that challenge. and then the things that are happening around you.

what are circumstances that could support you addressing your challenge, or circumstances that could get in the way of you addressing your challenge. there's a place to note that down, and while you're doing that, i'm going to talk again to the audience at home. okay, so exactly the same thing, you've written down your challenge, now you're going to get clear about the what is. become a fair witness, pull back the camera, and sort for impact using swot. your strengths, your weaknesses, your opportunities, your threats. now sometimes if you're dealing with a challenge that you have a lot invested in, or you already have a strong point of view about it, it's really hard to be a fair witness, so here's a tip. one thing you can do is actually pretend you're another person observing you in this situation. and then write down what you see about that person, you, their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats. sometimes that makes it a little helpful, to be objective. now, though, we get to go to the fun part. we've got your challenge, the hill you're trying to climb, "x" marks the spot, this beginning sense of where you're starting from. now you get to envision that castle on the hill.

and this is the fun part. we call it, "envisioning the hope." now this is the part of the process that the people we think of as being visionaries, that are good at, but the good news is, more good news here, i've found that everybody has this capacity. if you think about it, human beings are the only creatures i know of, on the planet, who actually have the capability of envisioning a possible future, of imagining a possible future. every kid who has wanted a bike for christmas does it. they think about what it'll be like when they have that bike and they're riding down the street. every lover who has wanted to be with their beloved does it. think about what it'll be like when they're with their loved one. okay, so we can all do it. it's an important capacity, we can all do it. unfortunately, there are a couple of ways that we can all get in the way of doing it. and one way that i suspect we all had experience with is, we can just stifle it. you can just say, "oh i can do this, i can get a new career," and then you go, "oh,

i don't think so, i don't think that's possible." so we can stifle our capability to think of a future that we want. the other thing we can do is we can overreach. we can think of futures that actually are not possible, probably, for us to achieve. right? so we can get in the way by stifling, or we can over-exercise it. okay, so what we're trying to do is find that middle path, i call it the "art of reasonable aspiration." to come up with a castle that you can actually achieve. it's an aspiration, but it's reasonable for you, you can do it. so there's a process for doing that. first thing you have to do is pick a timeframe that's realistic, given the size and scope of your challenge. so let's say for instance, let's start with something relatively small. let's say your challenge is, "how can i get a promotion at work?" and the current state, your "what is," where you're starting from is, you've got a great job, you're performing very well in it, your last performance review was

really strong, your boss is real supportive. okay, so that may be a six-month challenge, or nine month challenge, that might happen fairly quickly. let's say on the other hand, remember that guy that had that challenge? how can i find a career that's satisfying and challenging to me and that supports me? and maybe his what is, maybe where he's starting from is he's in a low-level job that he doesn't much like, his boss isn't really supportive, and there aren't a lot of jobs in his town, so that might be a longer challenge. might require some education, maybe that's a three or four year challenge to really getting a career that's satisfying and challenging to him. okay, so you pick a timeframe that is realistic depending on your challenge. so it's realistic relative to the size and complexity of the challenge that you have. so once you've done that, and this is the core of it, this is the place where you exercise that capacity that we all have, to envision. you imagine yourself there, and i don't mean you think about what it would be like if you were there, you literally imagine yourself there.

it's like you're getting in a time machine and you step out, at the end of that timeframe, that you agreed upon with yourself, six months, three years, whatever it is, and you look around and describe that future, where your challenge has been addressed. you're describing that successful future where your "how can i" question, you've answered it successfully. and you start describing it to yourself. now some people just like to envision it in their mind's eye, but most people like to write it down. you just start writing, and you really three-dimentionalize it. what does it look like, what does it feel like, what does it sound like, how are you acting, how are other people interacting with you? you just write down whatever you want to to really make it three-dimensional. here's what it's like now in the future state where i've addressed my challenge. and then finally what you do is you pull out key elements. after you've described it all to yourself, you think, what are the four or five things that are most important to me about this future that i'm envisioning, that really are like stakes in the ground. if these four or five things were true,

this really would be the future where my challenge is addressed. and you write those down. so then you have a clear sense of it. now because this is new to most of you, i suspect, and not so many people usually do, let me give you a kind of real-life example. let's say we have another friend named jill, all her friends are women whose names start with "j," and she wants to retire. and her challenge question is, "how can i create a comfortable and secure retirement?" so the first thing she does is she picks out a realistic timeframe. and she decides that for her, it's 10 years. she would like to retire in 10 years. so then she does exactly what i'm encouraging you to do, she steps into her time machine. she gets out, 10 years from now and she describes for herself that future world, 10 years hence, where she has created a safe and comfortable retirement for herself. she it writes down, what does it look like, what does it sound like, what does it feel like, all that stuff. and then she extracts the key elements, and when she extracts the key elements,

this is what she comes up with: i'm living in a house and town i love, she finds one, she's describing, she loves her house, she loves her town, she wants to stay there. it's an important part of her future. i have income for day-to-day and vacations. i have income, i'm comfortable, i can support myself. and vacations. when she described her future to herself, she realized that was a really important part that she didn't know that. oh, i want to be able to travel during my retirement. and then the third thing is, she says, "i have an emergency fund." because she knows when she did her what is, part of her what is was that her parents were getting older and might need some help, so she has an emergency fund for that and for health issues of her own if they come up. and the last one is a feeling. she feels secure that she's okay for life. she feels secure that she's made the right financial decisions, she feels secure that she has her money, her investment, her savings in the right vehicles. that she's going to be okay for the rest of her life. she says to herself, "if these four things are true, that will be the kind of cornerstones of my

safe and comfortable retirement." alright, now, of course, i want you to do this yourself. so the first thing i'd like you to do is pick out a realistic timeframe, relative to your challee. it could be three months, six months, two years, ten years, however big and complex or small and easy your challenge is. you pick out that realistic timeframe. and then, once you've done that, exactly as i described, step into your time machine, and you get out at the end of your timeframe, whatever that is, into that future, where your challenge, whatever your challenge is, has been successfully addressed. and then you describe it to yourself. you just write, write, write, write, write. and then once you've done that, you pull out, just like jill did, those four key elements; four to five key elements. okay, now while you're doing that, i'm going to talk to the home audience again. i want you to do exactly the same thing. exactly the same thing. create a timeframe that's realistic for your challenge, get in your time machine.

get out at the end of that timeframe that you've picked, and really describe it, three-dimensionalize it. describe it in as much detail you want. and once you've done that, pull out the key elements. and one way to think about these key elements is, they're like headlines to the story of your future. you create this three-dimentional story of the future where you successfully addressed that challenge, and then you pull out the headlines, the four or five things that are the most important to you, just like jill did, to describe that future for yourself. i really hope you're going to build this castle, we're going through this pretty quickly and you're just getting a chance to start working with it, but this process is the same for any part of your life. business, career, professional, and let me, i want to open up a little bit and share myself as an example. a couple years ago, a few years ago, i found myself alone, after the end of my first marriage, like many, many people in the united states. and i decided to practice what i preach. so, as soon as i was in a mental state where i

wanted to think about relationship and start dating again, i decided to be strategic. so my challenge question was, "how can i create a true partnership of love and respect and affection?" that was my challenge to solve. i looked at the good things i would bring to a relationship and the not so good things i would bring to a relationship, and i looked at the things around me that might support me in that kind of relationship and the kind of things that might get in the way. and then i did exactly what i asked you to do. i set a timeframe of two years, and i got in my time machine and i stepped out, and i described it to myself in great detail, what it would feel like, the sort of person this would be, the kind of relationship we would have, how we would feel about each other, the kind of life we would create. i got very, very detailed about it and then i pulled out my four or five key elements. and there's a very happy ending to this story. about a year ago i met the most wonderful man in the world, and we fell in love. fortunately, i was his hoped-for future as he was

mine, and we were recently married. so this all turned out very well for me. so when we come back, we'll figure out how to get you up to that castle that you've described on the hill. diane bliss: we are continuing our discussion with erika andersen, i'm diane bliss. erika, as we all know, our country has gone through such a massive shake-up. and individuals' lives were just changed forever and ever, businesses and organizations, everything's sort of topsy turvy. is this the time, a good time, for people to say, should i do something different, should i set my challenge question a little differently? talk about that with our audience a little bit. erika andersen: i actually think it's a perfect time. we've actually had, since the book came out last year, had a lot more interest in it, both from corporations and from individuals, because i think, the recession we've just gone through, makes us all a little more reflective.

am i really living the life that i want to live? am i creating the kind of life, and community, and family that i want to have? and i think this process is a helpful tool to help people decide that. diane bliss: i like your phrase, "hoped-for future." it's, you have to have the vision to see the future, but you're encouraging us to dream big, not just in a small way, correct? erika andersen: yes, exactly. and it's dreaming, i use a phrase a lot, "reasonable aspiration." it's aspiring, but in a way that's achievable, because if your dreams are too big, then you won't achieve them and you'll feel sad. if they're too small, you won't create that kind of big change in your life that you want. so it's that middle path, that reasonable aspiration, that can really get where you're trying to go. diane bliss: and the public television audience is so, actually hungry for this kind of information, because they're a thinking crowd, a crowd that is often a leader in the business or organization. and if you would like to strategize on behalf of your corporation or your personal life, you know what to do. strategize with public television with a pledge.

fred nahhat: well, it's been employed by some of the greatest companies in the world, and now, it's available to you on a personal level, and of course, it's through the lens of public television. "being strategic" with erika andersen, and when you make that pledge of support right now, at the $60 giving level and above, we're going to say thank you with the dvd of the program where you'll get doable steps that develop skills for strategic thought and action. not just a plan, but the knowledge to be able to make continuous plans as you go through your life and make it a little better than maybe it was before. that's at the $60 giving level and above. if you can come up with the $90 giving level, this is the book from erika andersen, "being strategic:" plan for success, out-think your competitors, and stay ahead of change. and that's competition, i guess, in your work life but also your personal life and those different things, those obstacles that you face everyday and make your world, and our world, a little bit better place when you make a pledge to public television. hey, at the $125 giving level, we're going to send you the dvd and the book,

and also great access to web tools when you pledge $125 to your public television station. announcer: with your $125 gift to public television, you're afforded this phenomenal "being strategic" combo package. experience this compelling dvd program, the companion book, and the exclusive public television web card giving you online access to a downloadable workbook designed to methodically plot your steps to success. erika's valuable tips from her extensive coaching experience provides the perfect starting place to utilize your swiss army knife of resources to develop the correct path for you. erika andersen: i want to help you get clear about the best possible choices for you. choices that will help you create the career, the relationship, or the life you really want. announcer: use the e-workbook to plot the strengths, write down the trolls under the bridge, and realistically determine what tactical strategies are needed to conquer the self-talk. your castle on the hill starts with your pledge of

$125 to public television, for your empowering combo to keep you moving forward. fred nahhat: when you support public television by becoming a member to this station, you allow the broadcast service to continue to come into the home of millions of americans with free programming for adults and children. when you consider all the other things you find on television, consider public television first and how in this non-commercial environment you're finding that information and facts that can make appreciable difference in your life, and the lives of your friends and neighbors, just by making that pledge of support to public tv, you keep those programs on the air. whether those programs are news and information, science and nature, mystery, drama, and all those important programs for children, you'll allow us to do all of that when you make a contribution of support right now. and when you do that, around this program from erika andersen, we're going to help you to continue to think strategically and make that life plan that'll improve your own life and i guess, by connection, the lives of your friends

and neighbors and those in your community. millions people do that through public television, all by that simple act of making a pledge. the giving level? well, that's up to you, just pick up the phone, call that number on your screen and give, to public tv. erika andersen: we found that awareness and motivation are key if you want to get somebody interested in doing your thing, if you really want them bought in it and part of it. people tend to be much more open to doing something new if they're first aware that it's an option, of course, and then they see the personal benefit to it. announcer: for your generous gift of $60 to public television, we're delighted to send you the dvd, "being strategic" with erika andersen. the energizing program provides the key elements needed to plan for success. erika knows exactly how to help you get clear about the best possible choices for you. choices that will help you create the career, the relationship, or the life you really want. being strategic is a way of life. a path of clear thinking, consistency, and achievement.

erika andersen: so what this implies is that there's a capability to be built here. the capability to see where you're wanting to go, see where you're starting from, make some core choices and then consistently act according to those choices. announcer: additionally on the dvd is a bonus segment on "self-talk," which is one of the most important elements of success in life. your $60 gift allows public television to continue being strategic about the dynamic, impactful programs we offer. this dvd will help teach you how to build your castle on the hill. diane bliss: erika, this book has been used by so many people in the corporate world, and now, more and more, by people in their personal lives and nancy tellem, president of cbs, had something to say about you. "erika is to strategy what suze orman is to personal finance." that's some quote, girl! erika andersen: that is some quote. i was very honored when nancy said that. diane bliss: and that really is an implication that you're tackling the whole situation, not just a little fraction.

and that's really what you do, you take that book back and you ask people to join you in stepping back, pulling back that camera lens if you would. talk a little bit about that. erika andersen: well, i think the reason nancy said that is because she felt that my apprch is sensible and simple and it's accessible. that you don't have to be the ceo of a major organization to understand it, although you can be. that you, at home, trying to create the life, the career, the relationship that you want for yourself, can use these tools that you're capable of making the life changes in your life that you want. that's what i was trying to convey. diane bliss: well you surely have conveyed it, and with such clarity and ease and comfort, and that's the best part about learning something new. you know, especially as we get older and older, and we don't want to have our minds, especially i think, a woman's mind, with lots of ideas and we go scatterbrained but you're helping us to hone in at an important time in our lives, on important things, and we thank you for that. and we hope you'll hone in right now in supporting public television with your gift.

announcer: for a $90 pledge to public television, the "being strategic" book provides the foundation by which you begin the work to build your castle on the hill. erika guides you with her step-by-step model to develop your "how can i" questions. the "being strategic" book is loaded with enlightening chapters to jumpstart your learning. erika andersen: become a fair witness. pull back the camera. and sort for impact. announcer: erika equates the fundamental skills from this process to a swiss army knife. erika andersen: this capability called being strategic, i think of it as being like a swiss army knife. you know, it's got a lot of different things on it and you can use it in a lot of different situations. announcer: when one understands these principles, they will be ready to decide the core-directional steps, needed to move toward their most hoped-for future. your investment of $90 in public tv for this book is the gift that keeps on giving. fred nahhat: you know, one of the strategies that we deploy here on public television is to bring you up close and personal with great authors and their works, and of course, "being strategic" with erika andersen is a great example of that.

in this book, you're going to be able to find what "being strategic" really means. making those core-directional choices that will move you forward. be clear about the problem you're trying to solve, figure out where you're starting from. now imagine yourself in that castle on the hill that erika talks about. identify those trolls under the bridge, and then outline the path to the castle, your core strategies and the tactics for implementing them. all available in the book, at the $90 giving level and above, and of course, the $125 giving level, where you'll get the dvd and the book, and the great access to the web companion, which has even more tools for your own personal success whether you want to employ them in your, in your business, or your family, or in your personal life. using that inner voice to create positive energy, positive strategies for you. you know, we always try to remain positive on public television, that's why we bring you these kinds of series and specials that are gonna make a true

difference in your life. as you move yourself forward, you move public television forward as well. when you call that number on the screen and you make that pledge. diane bliss: erika, we're going to be going back to your lecture in just a moment, but the good thing about the lecture on here, is that there are also bonus items that you recorded for us. talk a little more about what the viewers will get as bonus material on the dvd. erika andersen: well, there are two parts to the bonus material. the first one is about self-talk. you know, we all talk to ourselves, and you can do it in a way that's positive and helpful, or in a way that gets in the way. and i have some approaches, some skills that help you, the way you're talking to yourself in your head supports your future. then the other part of it is, if you decide you want to do this process with a group, at work, at school, in your church. there's some uh, indications here in the extra material about how to get a group interested in doing it. how to get them on board with you. so they're doing it together with you. diane bliss: so by pledging at the $125 level, not only will you get the dvd and the book,

but that web access, and that's going to give you the tools you need to really approach the group with a plan, a sheet, and it won't be empty. and you know what? right now we'd like to fill the checkbook for public television. do your part, be as generous as you can. and if a $125 pledge is something you can afford, we'll really, really appreciate that, because that will help in our strategic direction, providing you with quality programs, all year long. erika andersen: so welcome back. let's review the process to this point. so you defined your challenge, the hill you're trying to climb. and you've gotten clear as to where you are relative to that challenge. and you've envisioned that beautiful castle on the hill, the situation, at some point in the future, where you've successfully addressed that challenge. now we've come to the part that is the least fun

part, and nonetheless important. it's called "face what's in the way." this is where we look at the obstacles, remember i said there were invisible trolls hiding in the crevices of the hills? okay, so face what's in the way, i'm going to show you the steps to do that. this should look oddly familiar! this should look exactly the same as the steps under clarify what is, because it is! you use the same three skills. you become a fair witness, you pull back the camera, and sort for impact. now, let me talk to you about why these three skills are particularly useful in this step. most human beings have one of two tendencies when it comes to obstacles. they're either what i call obstacle minimizers or they're obstacle enlargers. obstacle minimizers are the people, and sadly, i fall into this camp, who want to pretend there aren't any obstacles. no, no, no, no, it'll be fine, we're good, la la la. okay, how many of you are like that? you don't want to look at the obstacles. it's usually about half and half. and then there are the obstacle enlargers, they're the people who start heading toward a

future and they see something that's going to get in the way and it seems overwhelming. let's just turn around and go right back down the hill. okay, how many of you are obstacle enlargers? see, we know ourselves very well. so in either case, these three skills are really helpful because if you're a fair witness, what that's about is getting accurate and neutral, so if you underestimate the obstacles, it'll bring you to the middle this way, and if you overestimate, it'll bring you down to the middle this way. so being a fair witness is very helpful in either case. pulling back the camera is also helpful because once you see the obstacles in context, they're more likely to assume their proper proportions. and i'll talk about sorting for impact in a minute. so if you get to be a fair witness and you pull back the camera, it becomes like data, you're just looking for the data, you're looking to see how big the obstacles are and how much of a threat they are. now sorting for impact is pretty much the same as clarifying what is, you're looking inside yourself and outside yourself. and obstacles inside you to your vision,

it could be things like lack of belief in your own abilities, could be, you know you tend to procrastinate when it comes to important things. so you need to recognize those big obstacles inside yourself. obstacles outside of you could be other people's actions or attitudes. now, with obstacles inside of us, they are harder to see because we don't want to look at them, but they're easier to control, they're inside of us. with obstacles outside of us, they're easier to see, in fact, we like sometimes looking in the way to see how people are getting in our way, but they're harder to control. and it's important to look at both of them because you're really trying to get a clear picture of what you're gonna have to get over to achieve that castle on the hill. okay, so this is, i'll say it again, it's an important part of the process but it can be scary and even demoralizing, but when you know it, then you can figure it out, you can work with it. so again, i'll use myself as an example. after i created my ideal relationship vision,