Our colleague, Albert Barsochinni raises a critical concern, which is held probably by most executives involved in high tech businesses: " Don’t talk to me about slow time, when I don’t have time enough to eat my sandwich! Instead show me how to go faster. My competition is accelerating and if I can’t keep up, I’m history!"

Case #1 of the First Training Bulletin presents a partial response to Albert’s challenge:

hurry sickness. It reminds me of the phenomenon of "duck death," usually after a banquet in Beijing. It is not uncommon to see an overstuffed and overtaxed foreign executive literally keel over dead at one of these eating orgies. It seems we are becoming similarly inebriated with fast time.

In addition to the injury to your health, unconscious fast time—for I believe what we are really discussing is awareness –is also lousy business.

Case # 4—In the Twinkling of an Eye—Bankruptcy

We knew from the outset that the Chairman of the Board was a weak link. " You have to work with what you have. I’ve got things under control," the president of this promising network start up company reassured me. But in the very first conference call his Chairman revealed an essential clue about himself. " We simply can’t say ‘no’ to X (a key customer and prospective investor), because they’ve got all the leverage. We need them." He was so sure of himself.

Just hearing this told all. He would become, if he were not already, an unwitting agent. Because those who fear the ‘no’ are the first to spill critical information about their company and they will become the mouthpieces of their opponents. It is an insidious combination: a player becomes unconscious in fast time, this breaks his focus and drives his delusion of need; then he panics, which sets up a fatal impulse. And so it was with this company.

The company was negotiating a huge investment from its key Japanese customer, which would permit both companies to develop the next generation of networking technology. With meticulous care the president and I had steadily cultivated the perception of pain within the highest ranks of the Japanese company. Top management could clearly see the benefits of a strategic alliance, which would bring it to worldwide dominance in this critical sector. We had negotiated hard, and now we were near to receiving an initial $ 5 million on a critical infusion of $ 15 million.

Just about a week before the Japanese company completed its due diligence, the Chairman buckled. In a clandestine and private meeting unknown to the president or anyone else in the company, the president tendered his controlling shares at a bargain price to his Japanese counterpart. Sensing his panic and confused by this bizarre behavior (After all, who would act like this in Japan?), the Japanese management demurred, and the window of opportunity was lost. Soon after the American company declared bankruptcy.

Artful Navigator References: In studying this case you might want to refer to the following hyperlink references in the Index to the Artful Navigator: Impulse/Intuition ratio Fall out of Integrity Compromise Integrity Agents "No" also please see PIPS

Is there a solution to the fast time/hurry sickness dilemma, especially in high tech where unconscious fast time is a way of life? Dr. Alan Rush, an expert on fast time, offers an intriguing perspective. If time is so critical, he argues, the most excellent companies will find ways to work smarter. Under his guidance these firms literally " squeeze " time out of the work cycle by eliminating unnecessary duplication and waste. By their innovative techniques, Dr. Rush and his colleagues have saved companies millions of dollars. Here is a sampling of his principles:

• Your primary goal is to accelerate without sacrificing quality
• Focus on doing something better and different from the norm
• The right product requires listening to the Voice of the Customer
• Develop a "pull-in" mentality by saving a day at a time
• Define success by a day saved
• Pay to save a day rather than penalize delays
• Recognize that planning to meet the plan usually ends in a 100% -150% overrun
• Organize your work flow in teams of triads

Alan Rush can be reached at Tel: 1-650-593-9342; fax: 1-650-654-1580; or e-mail: Alancti@IX.Netcom.com.

So working smarter is one element of a solution, because it helps to restore a greater sense of control. But still we are in the grip of fast time.

The balance is achieved by the counterweight of slow time. And here the key lesson appears to be to defocus on the exigency of external schedules, which are really beyond our control, and to become more interested in our emotional responses to these external events. The essential point, which Fred Phillips and others are suggesting, is that slow time is not only a natural state, but also a skill, and this skill requires some dedicated practice to master.

Yet, the payoff can be extraordinary. I am finding in my own practice that inside slow time we can discover virtually everything we really need — a source of nourishment, of healing, wisdom, and joy. And from this place we can even redefine reality! What seems at first like Armageddon reappears, more simply, as just a Pirandello play.

In the next Training Alert, qigong master Ken Cohen offers his own perspective on the fast time /slow time conundrum.

© Copyright, Julian Gresser, February, 1999, All Rights Reserved