WEEKLY UPDATE: Taking the First Step

Summary: A year ago, I started a 12-step journey, based on the original 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. So many 12-step groups exist today; their premise is always the same: inner growth through intense self-honesty. Taking the first step is the most important part of this and any personal journey.

This week, I dusted off some old journals and workbooks and re-read them to get some perspective on my life. What a difference a year makes! One year ago this month, I started working with a 12-step program—based on the original 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous—in order to gain a deeper sense of personal responsibility and inner peace. (These two ideas may seem antithetical, but they can coexist!)

A number of different groups have co-opted the 12 steps for a variety of different reasons—from staying sober to breaking abusive cycles in any number of areas. (See Wikipedia's list of just some of the growing number of programs available today.) My own first introduction to working the 12-step concept was through a prosperity consciousness class.

Gaining intense personal insight is the ultimate goal of any 12-step-based course or program. And the first step—with any personal journey—is always the most important, for it's with that first footfall that you make your commitment to your course. And none of us can move forward without serious honesty, both with ourselves and others.

Here is a generic version of the 12 steps:

(1) Admit I am powerless over (my problem); that my life has become unmanageable (because of my futile efforts to control the problem)

(2) Come to believe that a power greater than myself can restore me to sanity (this often varies based on religious/spiritual beliefs)

(3) Make a decision to turn my will & my life over to the care of this power as I understand it

(4) Make a searching and fearless moral inventory of myself

(5) Admit to this power, myself, & another human being the exact nature of my wrongs

(6) Am entirely ready to have this higher power remove all these defects of my character

(7) Humbly ask this higher power to remove my shortcomings

(8) Make a list of all the people I've harmed, & become willing to make amends to them all

(9) Make direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so injures them or others

(10) Continue to take personal inventory, & when I am wrong, promptly admit it

(11) Seek through prayer & meditation to improve my conscious contact with the power greater than myself as I understand this power, praying only for knowledge of (my power's) will for me and the ability to carry that out

(12) Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these steps, try to carry this message to others (who face my problem), & to practice these principles in all my affairs


© KiKi Productions, Inc. 2009

Begin from Within: Corporate Integrity Starts with Personal Integrity

No matter where you stand on the political spectrum, the phrase “corporate integrity” may well get your blood boiling today—especially if you live in the U.S.: Corporate giant AIG, a decades-old institution in not only the American (and international) economy, but also (thanks to business and advertising) in the mind of the American, is being publicly lambasted for the choices it’s made in the wake of its federal financial bailout. The situation is a macrocosmic parallel to the American individual on public welfare whose monthly income checks are designated only for program-approved costs, like milk or diapers. If the individual gets “caught” spending welfare money on anything outside of those program-approved expenses, there are repercussions.

The terms of this “program-approved spending”—and its mismanagement consequences—may not have been so clearly defined for AIG and other corporate recipients of federal bailout money. Just like the financially unstable individual who suddenly wins the lottery, the company is perceived to have continued the spending spree that put them in the red in the first place.

But the backlash goes beyond spending practices. It’s no secret that personal wealth is a high priority for most Americans, as well as others around the globe. And when you factor in the success over the last decade of products that tout prosperity consciousness (such as Australian Rhonda Byrne’s The Secret), there’s really no mystery to the motivating force behind this seeming money-hungry madness.

But the difference between reaping rewards and sowing repercussions is not such a fine line. In fact, most prosperity consciousness programs—be they in audio book, afternoon workshop, weekend retreat or online e-course form—feature a compelling distinction between wealth and greed: generosity. “Giving to get back” is a phrase that can be twisted. Sound business practices call for “giving” to the business in order to generate more growth. But global companies like Starbucks have based their corporate mission statement around giving to not just the business’s bottom line, but its employees, customers, vendors and even the communities with whom they work.

Starbucks’ longtime CEO Howard Schulz has spoken at length about how he applied his personal philosophy of generosity to the mission and vision of the company almost from its inception, learning quickly that focus on the bottom line should remain the bottom of one’s focus for true success—success that’s measured in more than merely dollars. His personal values became his corporate values, and remain the paragon of virtue at his Fortune 500 business—a company that’s yet to ask for a handout in 2009. (By the way, Starbucks is not only a Fortune 500 entity, it’s also currently listed as one of Fortune’s 100 Best Places to Work.)

Do you speak your truth all the time, even when no one is listening? Do you do the right thing, measuring the motives behind your choices, even when no one is looking? Integrity is commonly known as the ability to do the right thing even when no one is watching. Watchdogs and whistleblowers aside, getting caught misappropriating (or simply being inappropriate) only goes so far. Living an honest life can get you further than the greatest windfall; that measurement may include, but goes beyond money. Talk about your truisms!

(c) KiKi Productions, Inc. 2009