November 6, 2001
To Whom It May Concern,
My experience with TransFormance Theatre goes back a number of years. I was asked to share the story of my career as a woman with a liberal arts background in the predominantly male, engineering culture of Boeing.The occasion was the Senior Executive Program - attended by all senior executives of the company. The purpose was to expand our awareness of Boeing's strengths and weaknesses as a culture. Our challenge was to get some new perspectives on the value of honoring and inviting diversity into the senior executive corps of the company.
While I was initially quite nervous about revealing what I really felt-about what it had been like being one of only three female VP's in a male dominated organizational culture-the act of honestly telling my story before my peers was a truly great experience. TT's sensitive, caring, and often humorous enactment of my story enabled us all to see beyond the narrow perspectives of the powerful, but limited, culture that has been Boeing's strength and weakness.
Over the years I have received a continuing stream of heartfelt thanks from my colleagues, men and women, for taking the risk to be real and "tell it like it is." I think my story helped many recognize the real business need to augment our core engineering mentality with a broader approach based on managing the needs of the human heart.
TransFormance Theatre brought out the connections between business and human needs in an effortless, seamless way that was inspiring and authentic. Their ability to find both the humor and depth, even in painful situations in a way that honored all sides of the issue - disarmed people so they could let the messages sink in without becoming defensive. It was a true growth experience for me personally and for others in The Company. By speaking to people's hearts, I learned that the arts could provide a powerful means for organizations to address critical human issues rapidly and effectively.
Another experience of TT I would like to share involves what Jonathan calls "subtle energy management. " I was leading a group of airplane parts manufacturing business units in the Commercial Airplane Group. At a critical juncture point in our journey, I called an offsite meeting of my direct reports. Our imperative was to hash out the future direction of the seven unique business units that reported to me.
After teaching us all to collaboratively enact our different perspectives on the future of the division, Jonathan led the group in a 20-minute subtle energy management process. It was designed to align us all around an emerging common vision that would create our future. We progressed to such a deep level of shared awareness that when we came out of the process, we all sat together for a full ten minutes in utter rest and silence.
This was truly unlike any other experience I have ever had with a group of Boeing executives. Sitting quietly together for ten full minutes was a wonderful and unique experience. I had never experienced anything like that level of alignment and unity in my 27 years with The Company. Finally, one member of the group spoke what we were all feeling, when he said in the softest voice I had ever heard in a Boeing business meeting, "such deep peace." Everyone nodded in a silent chorus of agreement. We all left knowing that we had accomplished something profound in that meeting.
It is my belief that we need more of this kind of peaceful understanding in our business planning and decision-making processes. I whole-heartedly endorse Jonathan's subtle energy management techniques - they improve our ability to stay focused on the bottom line by connecting each of us to one another, then back to the source of creativity in ourselves.
Carolyn Corvi
VP, Boeing Commercial Airplane Group,
Head of 737 Program (Boeing's largest & most successful airplane program)