Alignment is important in cars, in our spine and in complex systems like family businesses. The following is a poem I have written in preparation for the 14th Annual Women in Family Businesses program at Miraval March 11-14, 2010:

Alignment is the key

First we must be aligned with our selves

Knowing our true self, our integrity

Then we must learn how to assure that

Our decisions, our actions, our choices

Are aligned with what serves us in the long run

Next we must align ourselves with those who

Can help us stay on the constructive course of our lives

And not distract us or knock us off that path

Harmonizing is part of that process—

not that everything is always perfectly aligned,

rather than we can blend our sounds,

creating a better sound than that of one voice.

When we go to make our way in the world

And organize others to achieve these goals,

Once again we must seek alignment

This time between our vision and that of others

Through this alignment we combine our energies and talents

To positively impact our world, our organizations, our families.

And what if those who are important to us are not aligned with us?

What if they fail to support our dream?

What if we cannot find the path that fits us both?

Sometimes we are just misaligned

and we must release the hope, the hold,  that part of the dream.

Not allow ourselves to be drawn away from that which is most important.

In those moments we must recheck our own alignment

To assure that we are still lined up with ourselves.

But in other cases, we can stll try.

That’s when the work begins.

To dig deep and see where some alignment might exist.

To find a thread, a seed, a drop of congruent values, dreams or history

To sift through the superficial., the injuries and the history of hurt

To identify where possibilities lie

To align.

And to sew with that thread, water that seed, join the drops

And create together.

Stand up straight!

Stand together!

Reach for the sky!

Synergize!

Alignment rules!

Copyright 2009 Leslie Dashew

While these stones don't look aligned, they are positioned in alignment with each other such that they have stayed together, strongly resisting weather and wars for over 700 years!

While these stones don't look aligned, they are positioned in alignment with each other such that they have stayed together, strongly resisting weather and wars for over 700 years!