This month is Power of Conscience month, where most of the website’s content is dedicated to those who are justice seekers. They believe they know best what is right or wrong, and will go as far as they have to do ensure that wrong is punished or set right.

Today we’re looking at Whistleblowers. These are the men and women who call out injustice and conspiracy for the good of the people. In the real world, we have recent examples like Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning, who were forced into exile for exposing Government wrongdoing.

Whilst it may have broken the law, sometimes laws are outdated and no longer work to protect the people. When this is the case, sometimes, you need to go outside the law in order to do what it right. This is exactly what any Power of Conscience character would do.

There are also Whistleblowers who don’t break the law but are suppressed and finally risk everything to do what is right. Most recently we saw Rose McGowan, among others, who drove the momentum after the accusations came out against Harvey Weinstein.

The movement became bigger than one predator because of Whistleblowers like Rose McGowan who were bullied into silence but spoke out because it was the right thing to do. Whistleblowers are always Power of Conscience characters.

An excellent example of a fictional Whistleblower is Captain America (Chris Evans), in the 2014 movie Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Captain America is frozen in time after WW2 and defrosted in the present day. A soldier with a boy scout mentality has his morality severely tested when he discovers that SHIELD, the espionage organization he works for, has been infiltrated by HYDRA, the villains he thought he defeated back in the 1940s, since the beginning. He has been working for the bad guys and decides to reveal this information to the public.

This action destabilizes national security and leaves the espionage community, and government, in chaos.

He may not have been a Whistleblower if he wasn’t a Power of Conscience character. He always does the right thing, even if it may have catastrophic results in the long term.

In this case, he was right to do so, but in the 2016 sequel he goes the other way and keeps information from his friends, and violates international law because he believes it is the right thing to do. Captain America is every bit as much as Power of Conscience character as Manning, Snowden, and McGowan.

This key speech from the film perfectly sums up Captain America’s motivations:

“The Price of Freedom is high, and it’s a price I’m willing to pay.”

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Here is what the co-author of McCain’s memoirs said about the stories McCain loves and how they connect with his own story:

The John McCain (as he describes himself in) “Faith of My Fathers,” for example, bears more than a little resemblance to the fictional Robert Jordan of “For Whom the Bell Tolls.” Mr. McCain later celebrated (this Hemmingway hero) in another book (about himself) with Mr. Salter, “Worth the Fighting For,” which was named for a line of Jordan’s dying thoughts. (Jordan) was “a man who would risk his life but never his honor,” Mr. McCain wrote with Mr. Salter, a model of “how a great man should style himself.”

Each book is heavy with premonitions of mortality. Robert Jordan and John McCain each confront great tests (the temptation to escape a doomed mission for one, the offer of early prison release for the other) in the service of a lost cause (the socialists in the Spanish Civil War, the Americans in Vietnam). And in accepting his fate, each makes peace with his father and grandfather.

Mr. McCain’s admirers, like Mr. Timberg, have often puzzled over what drew him to Maugham’s “Of Human Bondage.” It is a convoluted psychodrama about a young man with a club foot; he seethes with resentment over his disability and nearly ruins his life in the thrall of a waitress-turned-prostitute who rejects him. But the character’s final realization could fit almost as well near the conclusion of Mr. McCain’s memoir: “It might be that to surrender happiness was to accept defeat, but it was a defeat better than many victories.”

“That explains it,” Mr. Salter said when he heard the line. “Perfect McCainism.”

The full New York Times article can be found at:  http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/13/us/politics/13mccain.html?hp

Power of Idealism characters have a sense of doomed destiny.  They reject the offer of ordinary escape (and a happy life) in favor of the valiant, but doomed attempt.  They embrace glorious defeat (or death on the battle field) in order to live out their own scenario of courage and personal honor.

Here’s what a recent article by a conservative New York Times columnist said about Obama:

“(O)ver the past two years, Obama has… shown the same untroubled self-confidence day after day. There has never been a moment when, at least in public, he seems gripped by inner turmoil. It’s not willpower or self-discipline he shows as much as an organized unconscious (or I might add the collective unconscious). Through some deep, bottom-up process, he has developed strategies for equanimity…

They say we are products of our environments, but Obama, the sojourner (on his quest), seems to go through various situations without being overly touched by them. Over the past two years, he has been the subject of nearly unparalleled public worship, but far from getting drunk on it, he has become less grandiloquent as the campaign has gone along.

…It could be that Obama (as a president) will be an observer, not a leader. Rather than throwing himself passionately into his causes, he will stand back. Congressional leaders, put off by his supposed intellectual superiority, will just go their own way. Lost in his own nuance, he will be passive and ineffectual. Lack of passion will produce lack of courage. The Obama greatness will give way to the Obama anti-climax.

We can each guess how the story ends. But over the past two years, Obama has clearly worn well with voters. Far from a celebrity fad, he is self-contained, self-controlled and maybe even a little dull”

The full New York Times article can be found at:  http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/17/opinion/17brooks.html?hp

Power of Imagination characters are humble and self-effacing quite naturally.  They seek greatness from others and draw their inspiration and power from the bottom up (rather than display it from the top down like John McCain does).

Obama’s grass roots campaign and masses of small individual donations also displays this Character Type’s bottom up view of things.  The danger is they are always collecting allies and consensus and avoid stepping out decisively or with passion on their own, ahead of the crowd, to really lead.  They can be a bit dull and do seem quite ordinary.  Their leap of faith is to move away from the unity of the crowd and make hard decisions that could be divisive.

A Character Type is made up of three key factors:

1. Immediate Tactics: This is how a character reacts to a specific challenge, opportunity or threat.  It is a character’s immediate tactical response or maneuvers to deal with a specific problem or obstacle in the short-term.

2.  Long-term Orientation: This is how the character views the world, sees his or her role in it and is what a character believes is true about life and love.  It is a character’s overarching personal philosophy and view of self.

3.  Strategic Approach: This is how a character goes about leading or getting things done over the long haul.  It is how a character works with others overall. It is how a character takes charge or commands to achieve a larger goal.  Strategy deals with the art of of obtaining a grand overarching objective.

Each of these key factors is motivated by the fight, flight or embrace/submit response.  These are the three possible biological reactions to anything.  A character can confront something (fight).  He or she can withdraw from something (flight).  Or a character can embrace or submit to something.

Today let’s look at John McCain.  He is a classic Power of Idealism character.

1. Immediate Tactics: Power of Idealism characters embrace an opportunity, challenge or threat as a personal test of courage. They see difficulty or opportunity as an individual call of destiny. When presented with a challenge or threat, their first response is to move toward it as a mission or personal call to greatness.

These characters believe their immediate tactic must be a grand gesture or bold move. They want to display individual heroism or do something uniquely dramatic. They believe their extraordinary actions will somehow inspire others to follow their lead.

When confronted with a challenge, opportunity or threat, John McCain opts for a big “game-changing” response. When financial crisis seemed inevitable, McCain boldly announced he was suspending his campaign. He parachuted into the middle of the crisis in Washington, calling for a Presidential level meeting of the candidates and Congressional leaders. He made a dire and dramatic pronouncement that “the country could be plunged into another Depression by Monday.” He then claimed victory for himself as the leader of his party before the actual vote.

2. Long-term Orientation: Power of Idealism characters view life through a very idiosyncratic lens. They withdraw from the crowd, popular opinion or conventional wisdom to protect or promote their own individuality and special distinctiveness. Their philosophy is to follow their own personal star or individual sense of destiny regardless of the cost.

Noteworthiness, individuality or personal eccentricity is what these characters value most highly in themselves and others. John McCain proudly calls himself a maverick or an outsider. He is especially proud of his special or unique status as a Viet Nam POW.

These characters are lone wolf heroes. If they must go down in flames to prove their heroism so be it. McCain has often said: “I would rather lose a campaign than lose a war (in Iraq).” He sees his position on an unpopular war as a heroic offer of personal sacrifice for the nation.

McCain most often uses the word “I” in his campaign speeches. “I would fire the SEC chairman.” “I am suspending my campaign.” “I will follow Bin Laden to the gates of hell.” He sees leadership in terms of a singular heroic action leading the charge.

These characters believe that passion is everything. At their worst, Power of Idealism characters suffer from delusions of grandeur. They can be self-destructive and/or self-harming. In their Dark Side they are narcissistic, melancholy, self-pitying, cynical and embittered.

3. Strategic Approach: A Power of Idealism character’s overall method of working with others toward a goal is to step back or withdraw for personal reasons. These characters delay taking action until they are certain how they feel about something. They must feel sufficiently inspired, encouraged or affirmed in order to act or move forward.

When impassioned or inspired, these characters lead best in short bursts of intense activity or creativity. They engage others by a personal appeal to valor and courage or a romantic call for patriotic action. But they are not overly concerned about the consequences of their bold gesture.

They withdraw from the tedious small tasks involved in the daily execution of a command. These character’s greatest liability as a leader is that they often lack the patience to see through the practical application of their dramatic appeal. They don’t always adequately follow-up. They are often unprepared (or not inspired) to make the niggling, routine or ordinary small sacrifices long-term leadership requires.

Power of Idealism characters are rarely interested in sticking around for the clean-up after their big moment is over. They would rather withdraw into the glorious memory of the grand occasion or glorious battle. These characters need to act in the normal and ordinary course of things. They need to learn that everything doesn’t have to be individually suited to their personal sense of destiny or their passionate individual temperament.

John McCain took a long time to recognize the financial crisis. When he felt a call to action was necessary, he took the problem on personally, made a grand gesture and then said very little in the Presidential level meeting he so urgently called. His bold interjection of personal Presidential politics actually derailed an early accord that was building in Congress.Then he withdrew and left it to others to complete the task.

McCain’s actions during the crisis seem erratic because the dynamic opposites of his Immediate Tactics (embrace) and his Strategic Approach (withdraw) pull him in two different directions. He has been criticized for a lot of “sound and fury” that is followed by very little of the detail-oriented and painstaking leadership that solving a complex problem requires. He has admitted that the details of economic policy are not his strong suit. All of this has produced a whipsaw effect that makes him seem unstable.

Tomorrow I will look at the dynamic opposites in Power of Imagination Barack Obama’s Immediate Tactics and Strategic Approach. Interestingly, Obama’s dynamics are exactly the same: Immediate Tactic (embrace) and Strategic Approach (withdraw). This combination manifests itself very differently because a Power of Imagination character’s overarching personal philosophy and view of self is poles apart from that of the Power of Idealism character.

Long-term Orientation is the prism through which a character sees everything. The same tactics and approach can create totally dissimilar strengths and weaknesses, problems and opportunities because the two characters view the world so differently.

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http://www.letsplaymore.com/art_work_vs.html

In a world that demands more and more of us every day at work, at home, with family activities and with life in general, sometimes good, plain old fashioned play gets lost in the mix. People who want a rich full life might be better off pursing play rather than wealth to get all that will make them happy.

Play brings the gifts of energy, joy, relief from worry, clears our minds, and tickles our imaginations and so much more. For a healthy balance in our busy lives play time, for us, needs to be an honored. We need make time for play as much as we make time work and chores.

To get to this point there are five easy steps that you can take that will bring you in full balance.

First, make a list of all the ways you played as a child. If you have to call a sibling, friend or ask your mom and dad because you have forgotten, do that! Make this list long and then sit back and take a look at it. As you read each thing that you enjoyed as a child try to bring back the feeling of doing that thing. When you bring play back into your adult life you want to re-create those feelings you had as child when you did what felt natural and easy for you.

Now write down what would give you that same feeling today if you did it. If you used to climb trees, what could you do today that would feel the same? If you aren’t about to physically be climbing anything, think about how it felt to be in the tree. What would feel like that now? Sitting in a gazebo? Being in a forest? Just talking with good friends? Think about the challenge of the tree climb and the fun you had when you got there. What would challenge you now?

If it was kick the can, dolls, soldiers, even video games, what was the feeling and how can you re–create that in your life now?

The next step is to make a list of all the things you are doing that are fun and playful or that you –could do that would be fun and playful. Work on this list until there are no less than 24 things on the list. Now next to each one write when was the last time you did these things. Write out when you are going to do them if you know it is planned in the very near future.

In this step you are trying to see how well you make the time to do the things that are playful and fun for you. Now ask yourself, what is stopping you? Some may cost money you don’t have at this time. Some may require more strength than you have at this time. You may be working long hours. You may be doing things with your kids or parents that take a lot of time. Next to each item write down what you believe is keeping you from doing this playful thing. Next to that statement write one or two ways around that problem.

Your next step is to look at the next four weeks in your life. If you can get them in one sheet in front of you that will help, or four sheets, each with one week on them. Now get yourself a highlighter, pick a color that will forever more be the color you associate with play time for yourself. Now you are to highlight different times in the next four weeks when you will be doing some, one or all of the things that are on your list from step two. Make the time to play just like you would an appointment to get your hair cut or go to a meeting. Be realistic; do not highlight times when you know you will have to be someplace else. If the time slots you have are very small and not enough to do the very thing you want, use this short time to plan other times or research or prepare or shop for the play you will be doing.

One woman I met told me she worked hard all year, never played except for two weeks when she traveled to an exotic locale. In quizzing her further I found that not to be true. In reality she spent at least five hours every single week she was not on the actual vacation researching and learning as much as she could about the place she would be traveling to. In essence having a vacation while she planned for the one she physically took. She was getting as much joy out of this research as the actual trip she told me. Play can be so many different things for different people.

Your next step will be to believe play is important. People tell me all the time they want balance in their lives and then when I ask them to do the three steps above, and stick to them they give me a thousand excuses why they can’t. If I truly believe something is important you will do it. Giving to charity is important, so people do it. Taking care of our children is important so we do it. Working to make a living is important so we do it. Play is important, do it!

The last step to a healthy balance in life is to make our work play as well. Work is to be enjoyed. Not the perfect job. Not the perfect work. Work in general. Make your workday fun. Start every day with a smile and go uphill from there. Enjoy your journey to the office. Plan to have a good day. Talk yourself into it, playfully. See the good things in your work. Enjoy whatever it is you do. There are no big jobs and little jobs, there are jobs. Make yours playful and fun for you. Don’t get into the misery others talk about, make your own joy. Find simple ways to make yourself smile during the day. Do your best at what you do and know that that is the highest form of play, doing a good job and being proud of it.

John McCain’s campaign slogan during the primaries was: “Never Surrender.”

The words McCain and others use in describing him and his campaign are:  courageous, hero, honor, valor and maverick.  When he is criticized his opponents often use words like:  hot-tempered, cranky, loose cannon, temperamental and stubborn. These are the keywords in describing or deriding a Power of Idealism character.

Power of Idealism characters often play the role of the rebel, the outsider, the iconoclast or the maverick.  That has always been McCain’s role in the Republican party. He has prided himself (whether true or not) on his independence, autonomy and straight talk.

His statement on his current campaign his website is:  “I am running for President of the United States because I believe in the greatness of this nation as a beacon of goodwill throughout the world.”

These characters often look to the greatness of a more glorious and noble past. Their stories often take place at the end of an era.  McCain harks back to what he sees as a nobler era of American world dominance.

He views patriotism in terms of traditions and symbols.  That’s what the whole flag pin controversy is about.  How can you respect flag and country unless you display it proudly?

Barack Obama is a Power of Imagination character and sees his role, the country and patriotism very differently. I did a detailed analysis of Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton in a previous newsletter.