Do you know why you have wings?

"Oh that can´t possibly be true",

I thought, when I read an interview with a man who said that tornseglare (common swift in English) stay in the air for two to three years after leaving the nest. Two to three years without landing! They even sleep (or at least "half-sleep") mid-air. As unbelievable as it seems, it is apparently true.

Flock of Birds Flying Above the Mountain during Sunset, Pixabay

I thought about this when my coach asked me why I -  who have written four published novels - am still reluctant to call myself an author. After some thinking, and some talking to my always supporting husband, I realized one of the reasons:

Writing is too easy for me to feel like an author. 

The stories just come in to my head and I write them down. That's kind of it. No struggle, no writer's block. No years of writing school. I just write. Sure, I spend a lot of time editing, doing research for my books, improving my story and my text and so on, but all of that is fun. 

To me that doesn't sound like being an author. It sounds like playing around. Or maybe like flying for several years without needing to land if you are a swift...

As INXS sang in Never tear us apart:

I told you

That we could fly

'Cause we all have wings

But some of us don't know why

Do you know why you have wings? Do you even know you have wings?

You have wings. We all do.

Why? Not to show off, not to make others who have a different set of wings feel small. To inspire. To make this world a better place.

There is freedom waiting for you,

On the breezes of the sky,

And you ask, What if I fall?

Oh but my darling, what if you fly?

Erin Hanson

Warmth first, competence second

Jane, the CEO of the company, saw the two men outside of her office. They were anxiously waiting for her to let them in. Let them in and let them know what she thought about their first day at work. They knew she had had them observed.  Of course, they had done their best to give a good first impression. What did she think of their first day?

Suddenly Jane stood up - she was a tall, slim woman -  and beckoned for them to come in to her office.

When they sat down in front of her desk she asked how they had found their first day. James talked about what he had done, what he had said and what he was looking forward to doing within the company. Jane nodded and turned to the smiling John. That smile reminded her of her father's old labrador, a dog with a continuously wagging tale. John told her about the persons he had met and what he had learned from them. 

Jane leaned back in her leather chair. 

"In one year, you will be a respected leader in this company John. James, you will contribute in a good way, but you will not be a leader unless you change your ways."

James' mouth fell open. "But, but why?"

"Because people won't trust you. "

James spread his arms to the sides.

"But, why? I am honest, I am trustworthy, I..."

Jane interrupted him.

"I know. I wouldn't have employed you if you weren't. "

James' arms dropped to his sides, his mouth still open. The whole day James had taken every opportunity to show his expertise. He had let his future colleagues know what he knew, what he could bring to the table. He had been convinced people would love to have him on the team. And now Jane told him they would not trust him.

Jane leaned forward, comforted him with a soft look in her brown eyes.

"People are not as rational as we think. We act instinctively. And the first thing we want to know when we meet someone new is if the person is dangerous or not. Is he a friend or a foe? You have done what most of us do. Telling people how good you are, proving how smart you are. People don't care. Not until they trust you."

Jane turned to John.

"You have talked to a lot of people today. Not about you, you have talked about them. You have made jokes, you have listened more than you have talked. You have not said much about what you are able to do, about your expertise. Still, those I have talked to would all like to work with you. And they are convinced you will contribute well."

James looked at his hands when listening to what Jane told John. He was a grown man, but he felt like a small boy in the principal's office. He startled when he suddenly felt Jane's hand on his back. 

"Don't worry James. I hired you because I believe in you. You will be able to make others believe in you too. If you remember that we are here to make a positive impact. Not to prove to others how smart we are."

How do you behave at work? Do you remember to build trust first and show off your competence second? If you don't, start doing so now. You will be surprised about how it can affect your career.

For more on this subject, read THE KEY TRAIT SUCCESSFUL LEADERS HAVE, AND HOW TO GET IT by Heidi Grant Halvorson

The Beauty of Art part 13- The answers

Most of you did not know the artist this time, but those of you who will come to Fredsrosor - the book release for Primam lapidem mittat - will not only know who the artist is, you will also be able to meet her :).

The artist is Hanna Herngren, the painting is Rosenkvitten.

Hanna is from Sjövik, Lerums kommun Sweden. She lives with her family at the lake Mjörn outside of Gråbo.

Hanna finds inspiration, serenity and happiness in nature and in her garden. Through her reflections on nature she wants to provide those very feelings: serenity, happiness and hope. 

Hanna would like the observer to stop and see the beauty in the small, simple things in everyday life.

Light is central in her paintings. It can symbolize the light in the darkness, or an attempt to provide the feeling of hope and warmth we feel when the rays of the spring sun shines through the branches.

The light in the painting above, is also what some of you liked - one of you even found the light "Rembrandt-like".  

This is another one of her paintings: Christmas fairytale, with a more dramatic choice of colors:

Since I, like Hanna, really enjoy nature and all its living creatures, I enjoy her paintings. I am looking forward to seeing the originals!

On Fredsrosor, Hanna will let us all know how she finds inspiration to her paintings. You can read more about her in Akleja Art.

The Beauty of Art part 13

Hello all,

It is time for another Beauty of Art quiz.

Please let me know:
how the painting makes you feel - and if you know / want to guess -  the name of the painting and of the artist.

As usual the answers will come in a future blog post, including information about your comments about how the painting makes you feel.

The importance of pruning your (issue) tree

We have several fruit trees in our garden. From the kitchen window I can see two of them; an apple tree and a pear tree.

The apple tree gives us beautiful flowers, fruits and shade. It has also been a great climbing tree for our cats and kids, not to mention a great place to put a swing on. The tree has given us more than we have given the tree, and now is it leaning considerably.

Maybe if we would have done a better job pruning it, it would still stand straight.

Apple trees are not the only trees that need pruning. Issue trees do too.

In the course Driving Strategic Impact, an issue tree is described as a problem solving tool that breaks a problem down into MECE pieces. MECE is short for Mutually Exclusive, Collectively Exhaustive.

Let's try this tool on the problem we used as an example in The power of a simple problem statement:

How can I use each week the way I want to?

This question, the problem statement, is the root of the tree. The branches are the breakdown of the problem into more manageable pieces. To use the week the way we want to, we can do less of the things we don't want to do and more of the things we want to do. Let's add them as branches to the tree:

These branches are MECE - there is no overlap and they collectively answer the question at the root.

The next step is to break down even more, adding branches until the questions become easy to answer. By answering each question the root problem will eventually get solved as well. I hope the below issue tree makes it easy to solve the root problem.

As I said in the beginning, there is also a pear tree in our garden. When we moved into our more than 100 year old house, we thought the old tree would die within a year or two.

We have now lived in our house for 20 years and the tree is still standing there. It has, however, stopped giving us pears. Maybe it is time to listen to what Lotta, an aboriginist told me some years ago:

"Annika, trees don't live forever. Maybe you should plant a new one."

Whenever we do plant a new tree, we will make sure we prune it regularly so it can be of great use. Just like a well-pruned issue tree.

The cover!

"I want you to use the picture of this rose, add a skyline for a city and a skyline with mountains. And then I want it to still look similar to the cover of the previous book."

Those were my instructions to the graphical designer at the publisher. And, just as with the other books, it surprises me how my ideas can be turned into a great cover. :)

Those of you who have read Qui sine peccato est probably understand that the city skyline represents Ingelrike, while the mountains are from Arniak. The rose, the symbol I use for the coming book release Fredsrosor, connects them.


So, here it is, the cover of Primam lapidem mittat:

I like it. I hope you do too.

Yes, of course it hurts

Yes, of course it hurts when buds are breaking.

Why else would the springtime falter?

Why would all our ardent longing

bind itself in frozen, bitter pallor?

After all, the bud was covered all the winter.

What new thing is it that bursts and wears?

Yes, of course it hurts when buds are breaking,

hurts for that which grows

and that which bars.

If you are Swedish, the above text may be very familiar, yet sound strange. 

It is an English translation by David McDuff of the first part of the poem "Visst gör det ont" by Karin Boye. 

Ja visst gör det ont när knoppar brister.

Varför skulle annars våren tveka?

Varför skulle all vår heta längtan

bindas i det frusna bitterbleka?

Höljet var ju knoppen hela vintern.

Vad är det för nytt, som tär och spränger?

Ja visst gör det ont när knoppar brister,

ont för det som växer

och det som stänger.

At the moment there are no buds breaking here in Sweden, instead the leaves are showing off beautiful colours just before they fall to the ground.

Autumn is beautiful in September and October while November is a month that can be hard to enjoy in Sweden. I am happy that I, together with the artist Hanna Herngren and the ballad singers Hillo, will make November a bit brighter with the book release of Primam Lapidem Mittat.

Hillo will mix songs and poems. If you like Karin Boye´s poems, I recommend you come!