Taos – the enchanted project- completes two years of Enterprise Facilitation® training

They call it the “Enchanted Circle Sirolli Project” and they refer, of course, to the Land of Enchantment i.e. the awe inspiring mountains of Northern New Mexico. If you have never been there…go, and you will understand the “enchanted” bit!

Martha and I arrived immediately after a snow storm that had managed to transform the high desert into a landscape of sparkling whites and blues all set against a background of rocks that had been washed clean of dust and that seemed painted in ochre. The Two Year celebration was beautifully organized and Board Members , clients, Christopher Madrid, the Enterprise Facilitator, and Jean Kenin, the Board’ chair, were at hand to share stories, celebrate their successes and partake some excellent food offered, for the occasion, by the Don Fernando Inn of Taos.

State, regional and local government representatives shared congratulation and so did the McCune Foundation and the Los Alamos National Laboratories two of the non government founders of the project.

The highlights of these events, however, are always the clients. It is their stories and their emotions that remind us why we are doing what we do, why it is so important to care for the dreams and aspirations of people. One of the clients of Christopher was a young doctor, he had been left with the seemingly impossible task of trying to keep the doors open at the local children’ clinic. The private clinic, dealing with the poorer and uninsured children in the community, had lost one of the founding partners and was just about to be closed when it sought the help of Christopher and the Board. Not only the clinic was saved, but state legislation was enacted to change the legal status of such entities and now the clinic has become an example of what can be done in the field.

So many clients and so many stories!

During my address I told the gathering that it did not surprise me that the magic of Enterprise Facilitation happened, again, in the Land of Enchantment. It was the people that I met on my very first visit there that did it for me. John Otis, Don Francisco Trujillo, the Mayor Bobby Duran and all those who came to listen to our presentation with open hearts and mind. You could see it in their faces, the love they had for their ancient land and for the people who have made the Land of Enchantment their home.

Dr. Ernesto Sirolli
CEO
Sirolli Institute
1 877 SIROLLI
(916) 446-9264
www.sirolli.com

As a child in Italy I always wanted to be an Indian not a Cow Boy, finally…!

It was with a sense of trepidation that we accepted an invitation to address the Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Council in North Dakota. We had been there before, at the invitation of the Sitting Bull College, and had been impressed by the talent, determination and skills of the tribal people that we had met. But to be invited to address the Tribal Council was a totally different experience! First of all I felt honored. These are the descendants of the ancient inhabitants of the Americas with ancestry spreading all the way from the Artic Circle to the Yucatan Peninsula. Secondly these are the beloved Sioux of my childhood games (pronounced SEE-U-K-S in Italy!). Who would ever have imagined that one day I would have been invited to address their Tribal Council!? Yet Yvonne Fizer and I had a tremendous reception that started at the airport in Bismarck and continued for an entire day. The invitation was extended to us by the Tribal Chairman, Ron His-Horse-Is-Thunder, who had attended our presentation at the College last year and who has become a champion for our methodology. This time however we met many other tribal leaders including the formidable (Big) Dave Archambault, his wife Betty and a number of members of their family including his son Dave Jr. and daughter in law Nicole who are very successful entrepreneurs.

Big Dave, among many other duties, runs the local tribal radio station and we were interviewed after addressing the Tribal Council. We left the community with the hope of being invited back, this time to establish an Enterprise Facilitation® project. It would be the first such project established by an Indian Tribal Council in America and the idea sends shivers down my spine! We repeat time and time again that THERE IS NO GEOGRAPHY TO PASSION. We also know that race and culture have nothing to do with it either and we look forward to demonstrate what we teach right here, in the majestic planes of North Dakota, under the watchful eye of Sitting Bull!

Ruth's Letter to the Institute

“The past seven years have been a grand and glorious journey. The local board and I have always enjoyed a special relationship and we have moved Baker County forward together! However, we couldn't have done that without the advice and support of folks at the Sirolli Institute. Thank you for everything you have done to help us be a success. A dedicated, passionate, and creative board chair is an important of any project's success. The best board chair we have ever had was Nancy Peyron, and you were farsighted enough to hire her as part of the Institute Team. Lucky you!

At the end of February, I will begin a new chapter in my life, and am looking forward to whatever the future brings. Perhaps our paths will cross again. Thanks again for the wonderful birdbath. I will fondly remember my Enterprise Facilitator days whenever I watch the birds splashing around and enjoying their lovely bath.

I wish special blessings on all of you!

Ruth

Ruth Townsend, Enterprise Facilitator

Baker Enterprise Growth Initiative (BEGIN)”

Ruth Townsend, Enterprise Facilitator, Retires

Ruth Townsend has decided to retire on March 1st after almost seven years serving the Baker Enterprise Growth Initiative as an Enterprise Facilitator. In that time she has helped launch 74 new businesses and added 124 full-time jobs to the local economy.
Well-wishers, including BEGIN board members and many of the clients Townsend has helped to begin their business, praised Townsend's dedication toward business development and the trust and admiration she has earned from her clients.
Enterprise Facilitation®, a business development technique developed by the Sirolli Institute, teaches prospective business owners they must do — or hire or barter with someone else to do — three things to be successful: develop a product, market the product and keep accurate and detailed financial records and projections.
Ernesto Sirolli, who founded the system that trains enterprise facilitators and board members, stresses that entrepreneurs should follow their passion.
Sirolli couldn't attend Townsend's retirement party, so Yvonne Fizer, the Sirolli Institute's business development manager attended in his place.
BEGIN was one of Sirolli's early projects in the USA, and it's one he often holds up as an example, Fizer said.
"We look for certain qualities (among enterprise facilitators) because they've got an exceptional job to do," Fizer said. "What you have here is known around the world — in Canada, the UK, New Zealand — because of the work Ruth has done. There are countless people I have directed to Ruth."
In fact, Townsend and the BEGIN board are personally responsible for five Enterprise Facilitation® projects being developed in Kansas, Fizer said.
Sirolli sent Townsend a letter which praised her for transforming people's passions into lifelong careers.
Townsend wasn't the first choice for the job as enterprise facilitator, and Baker City wasn't Townsend's first choice, Zimmerman said. The committee selected an economic developer whose wife decided she couldn't live in Baker City, and Townsend opted for a job as chamber executive in a town in Washington. She soon discovered that job was not as advertised, so she agreed to come to Baker City for an in-person interview.
Fortunately for the fledgling program, Townsend and her husband, Malcolm, stopped at Geiser Pollman Park just before the job interview to walk their dogs (which was lawful at the time).
At the park they met Kathleen Chaves, who talked to the Townsends for an hour about her high hopes for the new program.
Board members share memories:
Peggi Timm said she enjoyed her time on the BEGIN board "because I got to serve side by side with people with whom I haven't agreed on anything for 25 years."
The secret to Townsend's success? Timm said it's her appearance.
"She doesn't look like a business lady," Timm said. "She looks like a friend."
Glynn Murphy of Unity dropped the moniker "Dr. Ruth" on Townsend, a name that Townsend said she is finally getting used to.
"Dr. Ruth has nursed a lot of businesses around here," said Murphy, a BEGIN board member. "Not only has she nursed businesses, she's nursed our board through a lot of trials and tribulations. She's given of herself, she's taken pay cuts, and she's gone way beyond what anybody could have asked."
City councilors Dennis Dorrah and Terry Schumacher, both members of the BEGIN board, were also on hand.
Dorrah said he's seen Townsend in action from at least three perspectives: as a city councilor, he's watched her "come to the city asking for money." As a client, he's been grateful for her help launching an Internet presence for his business. "We started selling on the Internet two weeks after meeting with Ruth," he said.
The last vantage point has been as a board member. "Ruth spends a lot of time obtaining funding," he said, "and I think that's paid off."
Added Schumacher: "Ruth and I may be at the opposite ends of the political pole, but we both get fulfillment out of seeing someone being successful and excited about what they're doing."
Schumacher said he had the privilege of offering the job to Townsend in 2000, because Zimmerman was out of town.
"You should have heard her. She was whooping and hollering at the other end of the phone, she was so happy," he said. "Now we're glad to call you Dr. Ruth, because you love to help people."
"It's been a grand and glorious journey," Townsend said at the event's conclusion. "It's been so satisfying to know that you've made this much of a difference in Baker County.
"Will some of these new businesses grow to become big businesses? Who knows? A lot of them just want to support their families.
"We do a lot of our work below the surface. We work on self-esteem and developing passion, and that's not something that's seen by people.
"But you don't bring money into the county without building the person up first."

I spent a day in the village of Pari, in Tuscany, with Dr. David Peat, his wife Maureen, his daughter Eleanor and various artists and writers who were staying in the village at the time. The village is a pristine, medieval, Tuscan hilltop of great beauty that has been David Peat’s refuge and inspiration since 1996. I went to see Pari in the hope that it could host our European Master Classes since we will soon have ten or more Enterprise Facilitators in training in the UK. The village came to my attention after receiving an email by David Peat who is writing a book on “Gentle Action”. Maggie Calloway, author of “the Energetics of Business” had spent some time in Pari while writing her book and had given David a copy of my book “Ripples”. David tracked me down and very soon we were making plans to meet. Doctor Peat has a PH.D. in physics and has been described as “one of the most interesting and innovative thinkers today”. He is an eclectic writer who has authored twenty books, but what fascinated me was his interest in people, especially in thinkers who are stretching the boundary of our understanding: from quantum physics to art, from music to consciousness.

And yes, the village could host our Master Classes. I can already see our trainees sitting in the garden behind the “palazzo” at the top of Pari, among the trees, and looking down at the valley below. While in Pari I sampled the food and the local wine and I can report that they may be a problem…some Enterprise Facilitators may decide to stay in Pari never to go back to the UK. After all thats what happened to our Liverpudlian David Peat!

Dr. Ernesto Sirolli

Visit the Pari Centre on the Web