the 5Cs

The 5 Cs of Awareness are: Color, Culture, Class, Character, and Context.

When Bill Belicek's father died, Dan Shaughnessy wrote in the Boston Globe (11/24/05, page C9) that "Steve Belichick was about three things -- family, football, the Naval Academy." That started me thinking about my own 5Cs and what others will say about my 5Cs at my funeral. Over the past few months, I have been thinking that my own 5Cs include growing up Jewish, growing up the in 60's, being driven by challenges, my OCD compulsiveness regarding attention to detail regarding work and Summercore and being willing to embrace change in dramatic fashion. See the bottom of this Web page for more detail.

The 5 Cs of Change are: Confidence, Courage, Commitment, Conflict, and Community.

together they make the 10Cs

The long list of identities with which we described ourselves earlier are all a part of our "10 Cs." Each gives information about who we are, our histories, our shared and different experiences, and how we perceive ourselves and how others perceive us in the world. They tell part of the story of our lives, yet no words or labels can accurately capture the totality of who we truly are. The "10 Cs" is an attempt to bring together as many parts of the whole as possible. Each of the 10 Cs are inter-related. None can stand alone and none can be developed in isolation from the rest.

this info comes from the Web site of http://www.lesley.edu/academic_centers/peace/content/10cs.pdf#search='five%20Cs%20Class%20Culture' at Lesley University where you can download the full article with descriptions of each of the 5Cs first published in November 1995 by Cross-Cultural Consultation.

The 10Cs: A Model of Diversity Awareness and Social Change © 2003, Patti DeRosa and Ulric Johnson

Patti DeRosa is the President of ChangeWorks Consulting, addressing workplace and community diversity and social justice. She is the author of several articles about diversity and anti-racism and has taught courses on multicultural issues at Boston University, Lesley University and Simmons College. ChangeWorks Consulting, ...Randolph, MA ... http://www.changeworksconsulting.org

From their Web site ... We encourage you to read and share these articles and commentaries written by ChangeWorks Associates. Permission to reproduce is granted, with the following conditions:

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See http://www.changeworksconsulting.org/articles.html for the article reprinted again in two column fashion. It is listed as Article #5.

Dr. Ulric Johnson is the director and founder of Teens Against Gang Violence. He is a professor at Springfield College, an addictions specialist, and a family therapist. Together they co-directed Cross-Cultural Consultation from 1990-1996. Teens Against Gang Violence ,,, Dorchester, MA ... http://www.tagv.org

More reflections ... Steve Bergen

• I have always been very attentive to details ... whether you this characterize this as thoroughness (euphemism) or compulsive/obsessiveness (caconym) it has remained a constant of my life ... I look back on my life and think that perhaps this is connected to my math background or computer background or possibly even a basic tenet of my personality from birth, if you believe like my Psychology professor Dr. Bibace from Clark University 1969 that personality is mostly genetic ... in the year 2001, I heard John Neiers from Dalton School in NYC share one of his favorite quotes that he had picked up along the way ("if you don't have the time to do it right, when will you have the time to do it over") ... several years later on 2/13/09, Ian from Promenent shared with me a similar saying from his father that "there is never enough time to do it right' always enough time to do it over" ... this speaks to my obsession with "attention to detail" -- something that has driven people I am associated with crazy over the last 30 years ... I recall Art Scott from Noble and Greenough in 1994 saying to me that I was a "mirror for everyone" reflecting back to him and others "areas for improvement"
• I have always been driven to accomplish things ... I worked incredibly hard in 1965 to earn the 21 merit badges for being an Eagle Scout ... my mechanical aptitude being poor, I remember how difficult starting a fire in the woods was using flint and a stone ... ... 8 years later in 1973, I was obsessed with getting a BA/MA in mathematics from Conn College and Wesleyan University as a simultaneous degree ... 9 later in Summer of 1982, I was driven to leave my job, give up a good salary, give my boss two months notice and start the Teaching Company on a shoestring and hope and pray that I could support my family financially
• I do not read people well ... I could give you many examples but most are too embarrassing to put on the Web ... I believe I have low inter-personal intelligence (one of Howard Gardner's original 7) ... this is absolutely genetic and family related ... in my family of four, I am the interpersonal superstar which is unbelievably pathetic!
• I am Jewish and grew up believing -- as many Jews do -- that rules are important, even when arbitrary .. there are so many seemingly arbitrary and random rules in the Jewish religion that people of all levels decide to buy into or not ... even if you do not follow all 613 of them, I believe that growing up in a Jewish family is one of my 5C's and has influenced my entire life ... I recall driving my mother crazy in 1965 when at age 14 on year after my Bar-Mitzvah I insisted on her helping me find "kosher for Passover" parakeet food for my two parakeets Lucky and Happy ... we never succeeded but must have gone to 10 stores before we gave up ;-)
• I grew up in the sixties and am a big fan of "vigorous debate and genuine disagreement and dialogue" to quote Jim Collins, author of the famous "Good to Great" book. I was influenced in the 1960s by books like "The Strawberry Statement" by James Kunen and the sixties' culture ... I wore my hair past my shoulders from 1969 for many, many years ... being a big fan of "vigorous debate" is probably also connected with growing up in a Jewish family ... I can still recall dozens of heated arguments with my Uncle Sol about his use of "girls in his office" to refer to 40 year old women and his anti-labor, anti-union attitudes ... click here to listen to a favorite audio clip by Jim Collins titled "Dialogue and debate, not consensus"
• I am a fanatical believer in honesty, transparency and "doing the right thing" ... this has not always been true for me but once again, I am not going to share specifics on the Web ... suffice it to say that after starting to date Lynne Schalman in 1968, it took her approximately 7 years for her to change me ... Lynne and I married in 1972, had our first child in 1979 and second child in 1984 ... in addition to her being my wife, my life partner and my best friend, she has consistently been my mentor on numerous inter-personal things since she is an inter-personal genius and I am a self-acknowledged inter-personal idiot ... I heard a quote from a colleague in the 90's that said "character is what you do when no one is watching" and even though I am not a fan of that colleague, the quote has resonated true to me for many years
• I had a colleague and friend last week talk about me "being in Summercore mode" all the time ... this resonated with me and made me think of Larry Bird's intensity and my OCD obsession with him teaching, instructing and quadrant 2 activities ... this latter reference comes from Stephen Covey's "The Seven Habits of Effective People" ... click here ... at the not yet old age of 54, I am beginning to realize the importance of avoiding monotones in both voice and style ... Steve Bergen 11/24/05