Saturday, October 25, 2014

2014 MIDTERM ELECTIONS WILL CHANGE NOTHING


 The 2014 midterm election will change nothing in the United States ~ 2014 is set to be the most expensive non-presidential election in US history and unfortunately money buys elections. Not only do politicians do the bidding of the wealthy, they themselves are increasingly numbered among the rich and super-rich and they follow their corporate masters. Social inequality rules in America and the 2014 midterm election has been reduced to Kabuki theater as millionaire Republicans and Democrats rearrange the chairs on the deck of the sinking Republic while the main stream press tries to convince us that it all really matters: Allen L Roland, Ph.D

 
"The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to the point where it becomes stronger than the democratic state itself. That in its essence is fascism - ownership of government by an individual, by a group or any controlling private power. ": President Franklin Delano Roosevelt  

 
The 2014 midterm election is a particularly menacing level of Donkey Kong for Democrats. But 2016 isn't. Why? Ezra Klein offers a simple explanation of this political game in this excellent three minute video ~  https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=GANnzyFXVBU

 
To fully understand this reoccurring political theater we must fully understand the American Oligarchy. WSWS cuts to the chase in their recent article ~ THE AMERICAN OLIGARCHY ; " What accounts for this hollowing-out of American politics and the transformation of elections into empty biennial rituals? As with all significant political transformations, these changes are rooted in deeper social processes. One does not have to look all too far to identify them. Over the past several weeks, report after report has been released documenting the extraordinary growth of social inequality in the United States and throughout the world. Late last month, Forbes magazine reported that the 400 richest people in the United States saw their wealth grow 14 percent over the past year. The following week, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development reported that global social inequality has eclipsed the pre-Great Depression highs of the 1920s."

How can these vast changes in economic relationships not have had a profound and transformative impact on political life?

Andre Damon, WSWS explains ~ "The historian Edward Gibbon once summed up the political form of the Roman Empire as “an absolute monarchy disguised by the forms of a commonwealth.” Taking our cue from his definition, we can say that the United States has become an oligarchy disguised by the outward, increasingly threadbare trappings of a democracy…..Whatever the pretense of “one person, one vote,” the fact is that the top 0.1 percent dictates policy and essentially selects the personnel tasked with carrying it out." See WSWS article  ~  http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2014/10/18/pers-o18.html

 
The Supreme Court's 2010 decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission helped unleash unprecedented amounts of outside spending in the 2010 and 2012 election cycles. The case, along with other legal developments, spawned the creation of super PACs, which can accept unlimited contributions from corporate and union treasuries, as well as from individuals; these groups spent more than $600 million in the 2012 election cycle. It also triggered a boom in political activity by tax-exempt "dark money" organizations that don't have to disclose their donors.





Citizens United, in essence, established corporate personhood where corporations have the same weight as individual voters but with obvious incredible financial clout and leverage.

 
It always seems to come back to George Carlin telling the truth about Banksters, Corporations and who really controls America ~ 3 minute video http://agreenroad.blogspot.com/2012/05/george-carlin-who-really-controls.html

 
As such, the most important under reported and ignored political event in the United States at the present time is the Move To Amend movement.

 
Move to Amend is a coalition of hundreds of organizations and tens of thousands of individuals committed to social and economic justice, ending corporate rule, and building a vibrant democracy that is genuinely accountable to the people, not corporate interests. It calls for an amendment to the US Constitution to unequivocally state that inalienable rights belong to human beings only, and that money is not a form of protected free speech under the First Amendment and can be regulated in political campaigns.

 
Find out more and how you can participate so that our future elections will no longer mean nothing. Sign up now ~ https://movetoamend.org/november-6-10-arizona-barnstorming-tour-shara-smith

 


 
Jon Stewart on Corporate personhood.



 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Allen L Roland, Ph.D


 
Freelance Alternative Press Online columnist and transformational counselor Allen L Roland is available for comments, interviews, speaking engagements and private Skype consultations allen@allenroland.com

 
Allen L Roland is also a lecturer who also shares a daily political and social commentary on his web log and website allenroland.com He also guest hosts a monthly national radio show TRUTHTALK on www.conscioustalk.net

 

 


Sunday, October 19, 2014

KC vs SF / A WORLD SERIES TO RELISH


The Royals are tasting success for the first time in decades while the Giants are reveling in success / Reuters

 
Buckle your seat belts because this years world series will be a thing of beauty with two supermotivated wild card teams battling for the gold ring.This series could be decided on the base paths where the Royals are the fastest in baseball along with their stellar late inning bull pen but this could possibly be counter balanced by the moves of wily future Hall of fame manager Bruce Bochy and an experienced Giants team who have been here before ~ winning in both 2010 and 2012. Two evenly matched teams but the difference maker could well be Royal's budding super star Lorenzo Cain: Allen L Roland, Ph.D  

 
“It’s great to see small-market teams get in there and play the big boys, and see what they can do.”  former KC manager Jack McKeon

 
The Giants have the sixth-highest payroll ($148 million) in baseball, and play in the fourth-largest media market, compared to the Royals, which was No. 18 in payroll ($91 million) and competes in the No. 34 market. San Francisco appears to play with the same winning swagger after years of success under their wily manager Bruce Bochy ~ while Kansas City seems to have relished the underdog role under Ned Yost, who is still unproven regarding World Series pressure. See article ~ http://www.ibtimes.com/world-series-2014-kansas-city-royals-vs-san-francisco-giants-matchup-good-baseball-1707189


Travis Ishikawa's walk off home run in the ninth for the Giants to beat the Cardinals 6-3 was indeed electrifying ~ but nowhere close to the excitement generated by Bobby Thompson's shot heard round the world to beat the Dodgers in the playoffs in 1951.

Let me set the stage for those of you who may not have been around 63 years ago.

 I will never forget that afternoon of October 3,1951 ~ it's emblazoned into my soul for the sheer emotion and excitement lifted me to unparalled bliss, if not ecstacy. Yes, it was the day I became a Giant fan forever.

It was a crisp typical late fall afternoon in Western Massachusetts ~ I had just finished football practice and was sitting on the stairs of the Mount Hermon Prep School Fieldhouse listening to the radio play by play of the last game of the New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers National League playoff.

The Giants had won 37 of their last 44 games to force this three game playoff with the powerful Brooklyn Dodgers. The Giants had won the first game at home 4 to1 but had lost the second 10 to 0 in Brooklyn and were now trailing 4 to1 going into the last of the ninth of the final and decisive game at the Polo Grounds ~ with the fearsome Don Newcombe on the mound for the Dodgers.

Things looked very grim indeed for the Giants ~ but Newcombe was showing the effects of overuse from the season's final days. Pitching on only two days' rest and tiring badly, he attempted to take himself out of the game, only to have Jacky Robinson talk him into trying to finish the ninth inning.

Giants shortstop Alvin Dark singled to start the ninth inning rally. Then Don Mueller singled to right, which sent Dark from first to third base. Monte Irvin followed, with a chance to drive in a run, but he chased the first pitch and popped out. Whitey Lockman followed with a double down the left-field line, scoring Dark and advancing Mueller to third. Mueller slid awkwardly into the bag and broke his ankle, forcing the Giants to send in Clint Hartung to pinch-run for him.

Charlie Dressen, the Brooklyn manager, finally pulled the obviously drained Newcombe and sent Ralph Branca into the game. (That move has bewildered baseball historians to this day ) Branca had pitched and lost Game 1 of the series and had given up several home runs that year to Thomson, who had hit 31 during the season. However, in Dressen's defense, he had no well-rested pitchers available; in the last regular-season game alone the Dodgers had sent seven men to the mound . Besides that , Willie Mays was on deck behind Thomson ~ so he couldn't pitch around Thomson. During the pitching change, Giant manager Leo Durocher reportedly implored Thomson ~ " If you ever hit one, hit one now ! "

So the stage was set and I was frantic in
anticipation ~ Branca's first pitch was a fastball down the middle for a strike. His second pitch was a fastball up and in to Thomson, intended as a setup for his planned next pitch, a breaking ball down and away ~ which never happened. For Thomson pounced on that fast ball and drove it down the left-field line, a rising shot toward the invitingly close outfield fence, and into the third row of a frenzied mass of Giants fans who went stark raving mad ~ including myself as I screamed with broadcaster Russ Hodges ~ The Giants win the Pennant, The Giants win the pennant ...

 

This Oct. 3, 1951, file photo shows Bobby Thomson of the New York Giants hitting a home run, to win the national League pennant against the Brooklyn Dodgers, in the ninth ining of a baseball game at the Polo Grounds in New York. AP Photo/File)

So here is that moment frozen in time on youtube ~ this treasured memory was indelibly implanted in my young mind for it was etched in total joy and delight ~ forever associated with the late Bobby Thomson who died in 2010 at 86 years old. Two minute video ~
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrI7dVj90zs

 
Courtesy New York Times 10/18/34

 
My prediction: Kansas City is much faster on the base paths than SF and it's bull pen is rock solid in the late innings ~ but the Giant's 10th man is their indomitable manager and master strategist Bruce Bochy and he will not be denied his Hall of Fame worthy third World Series victory in five years. See article ~ http://www.veteranstoday.com/2014/10/10/sf-giants-bochy-heading-for-hall-of-fame/

 
"Baseball is like church. Many attend, few understand” ~ Leo Durocher

 
Allen L Roland. Ph.D
http://allenlrolandsweblog.blogspot.com/2014/10/kc-vs-sf-world-series-to-relish.html


Freelance Alternative Press Online columnist and transformational counselor Allen L Roland is available for comments, interviews, speaking engagements and private Skype consultations allen@allenroland.com

 
Allen L Roland is also a lecturer who also shares a daily political and social commentary on his web log and website allenroland.com He also guest hosts a monthly national radio show TRUTHTALK on www.conscioustalk.net

 

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

A CHILD WILL LEAD US OUT OF OUR MORAL WILDERNESS


 Click on to enlarge
 
Jesus knew that a state of loving soul consciousness that he had surrendered to, as an adult, was innately there in children and that they already knew what he knew. That they all had a part to play in a slowly evolving loving plan as 16 year old Pakistani Nobel Prize winner Malala Yousafzai is now most certainly doing: Allen L Roland, Ph.D

 
At that time the disciples came to Jesus and said, "Who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" Then He called a child to Him and had him stand among them. "Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven." Mathew 1-3

 
What did Jesus mean when he said ~ Unless you are converted and become like children, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

Any person, such as myself, who has made the inner shift from ego consciousness to soul consciousness knows precisely the meaning of Jesus's words. When you see God as love, an evolutionary process with which we all participate as co-creators, then you begin to realize what we all deeply sensed as children ~  that the Kingdom of Heaven is within each one of us.

Until we completely surrender to love we cannot escape the matrix of ego consciousness and find our authentic vocation within a Unified Field of love and soul consciousness. A state of soul consciousness that exists not only beyond time and space but whose principle property is the universal propensity to unite. Once we fall through the rabbit hole of love we rapidly become aware that we indeed have a part to play in this loving plan ~ as I maintain Malala Yousafzai is surrendering to now.

 
For example, as a very young four year old boy, living in Newtonville. Massachusetts with my beloved grandfather, mother and twin brother, I was very aware that in loving that deeply I was tapping into a joyful state of consciousness that existed beyond time and space and that I was one with everything I saw around me. I knew ~ for one unforgettable instant ~ that I was a beloved and essential part of a loving universe.

 
There is always one moment in childhood when the door opens and lets the future in ~ Graham Greene

 
I was also very aware of this state of consciousness at 6 years old while still in Massachusetts, when I was taken away from my grandfather and was in deep grief ~ I had a clear and lucid vision of the Golden Gate Bridge and the immediate Bay (which I had never visited or was aware of) ~ but I never forgot it and knew it had something to do with my destiny. (It was as if that innocent loving child within myself was saying ~ just open your heart and you will meet me again and this is where it will happen )

 
40 years later I walked into that same exact precognitive event at Fort Mason in San Francisco and realized amidst tears of profound joy that precognitive event had seemingly gone backward in time and I had finally found proof of my Unified Field ~ for there was no time and space within this field of love, it was indeed the sole constant of the universe and I was now ready to own this truth with the world and demonstrate what I already deeply knew.

Malala is also obviously in sync with her destiny but please note the already subtle ways her true message has already been diluted by the mainstream press. Yet Ms. Yousafzai offers an emotional counterpoint to the grinding conflict in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere. “With her courage and determination, Malala has shown what terrorists fear most: a girl with a book,” said Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations secretary general.

She said of her meeting with President Obama , “I also expressed my concerns that drone attacks are fueling terrorism… Innocent victims are killed in these acts, and they lead to resentment among the Pakistani people. If we refocus efforts on education it will make a big impact.”  These deeply felt criticisms by Malala are seldom mentioned by the main stream media.

In Pakistan, she has come to symbolize the country’s existential struggle against Islamist violence. She rose to prominence in 2009 as the author of an anonymous blog that described life in Swat at a time when fighters, armed with Kalashnikovs, terrorized the valley’s residents and shut schools where girls were being educated.

Later, she became a national news media figure, speaking about the need for peace, which drew her into the Taliban’s cross hairs. In the summer of 2012, the insurgents hatched a plan to kill her, then put it into action that October.

See 11 minute NY Times documentary: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/13/world/asia/malala-yousafzai-pakistan-shooting-suspects-arrested.html

After the shooting, with life-threatening wounds to her head, Ms. Yousafzai was flown to Britain for treatment. But back in Pakistan, a news media-driven backlash had already started, some of it by crude conspiracy theories ~ accusations that the teenager was a C.I.A. agent, a blasphemer or a traitor.



But I maintain, that when Malala was shot she became aware (while on the verge of her own death and unconscious for three days) of her life's purpose and understood what her father saw in her soul through his love ~ that she was destined to be a politician/leader and speak her truth to the world from a place of intention, purpose and soul consciousness as well as an innocent victim of the violence around her.
I have witnessed the same reaction in combat veterans with PTSD (all having experienced the violence and atrocities of war) who once they touched the emotionally trapped child within themselves, have felt an overwhelming need to be in service from a place of love, joy and gratefulness. Here's an example ~

BAND OF BROTHERS #5 / The miracle of Heart Centered Self-Healing | 03/13/11 / Veterans Today  http://www.veteranstoday.com/2011/03/13/86954/  

Five Vietnam and one Iraq veteran with PTSD faced their deepest fears and inspired each other to open their hearts, conquer their fears and find themselves in the process.

I told them that this was an action based workshop and if they did their homework they would reach a place of not only another choice but would open their closed hearts in the process. They would also begin to see through different eyes ~ eyes unclouded by fear, resentment and unworthiness. I also explained through my Cycle Of Life chart how psychic pain will override Joy to the extent that most people have no idea that beneath their deepest pain and aloneness is love, joy and connectedness ~ the Unified Field .

After each session ~ part of their homework was to read each session in my book RADICAL THERAPY / SURRENDER TO LOVE AND HEAL YOURSELF IN SEVEN SESSIONS ( NOT SEVEN YEARS ) which reinforced the previous session with additional exercises and a pertinent story. In essence, I build a safe haven for them to become completely vulnerable and explore and connect with their deepest feelings. My role is that of their coach, versus therapist, who is guiding them to the real coach ~ themselves!

Of course, in that first session I shared my own heart’s journey or quest to find a lost and alone little boy within myself who not only wanted to fly, and became a Navy Fighter pilot, but also to love as deeply as I loved my beloved grandfather before I was torn away from him at six years old ~ emotionally shutting down my deepest feelings and became something other than myself in order to survive. We briefly talked about the war and all of them started to briefly share their heart’s journey and by the end of two hours ~ they began to feel a sense of commonality and purpose.  Their homework was to produce a life chart of the path of their individual heart’s journey ~ which they would share with the group over the next two sessions. The purpose of the life chart is to see their life as a quest versus a struggle to find their authentic loving self ~ and begin to see their war experience as part of that journey.

The Life chart is a wonderful vehicle to self-acceptance and compassion for themselves ~ for in the process of sharing their life chart with the group and others they are taking a major step of letting people into their self-imposed cocoon of aloneness and realizing, perhaps for the first time, that they are capable of being loved and understood. They also inspire each other to take greater risks in revealing themselves which is precisely what happened in Band of brothers #5.

After sharing their individual life charts, they did the Victim /Accountability exercise in session three ~ where they all had the chance to feel the lightness and joy of being accountable versus the heaviness and sadness of being a victim. Their homework was to take the people they had resentment towards off the hook and to realize that many of them they had deeply loved and were really gifts in their lives.

It was during this exercise that Abraham became the poster boy for Band of Brothers #5 by completely surrendering to his deep seeded anger, rage and body shaking hatred towards his past girlfriend, who left him while he was in Iraq, and then, with my coaching, took total accountability for his deep pain, realizing she could not have been any different than the way she was and that she was gift in his life ~ and immediately burst through his dark tunnel of resentment and anger (emotional wounding) and then exploded into almost uncontrollable laughter and joy beneath that pain and began weeping in joy . That was it ~ he had emerged from his self-imposed cocoon of fear and soon shared with us how everything looked different and that he couldn’t stop smiling which remained the case for the remainder of the sessions. Abraham wrote in his evaluation that this was the major fear he overcame in this workshop ~ “ My being in a cocoon of fear, anger and resentment and finally bursting out of it ~ I’m a different person now, I smile a lot more  and everybody has noticed the change.”

Abraham’s obvious deep inner joy inspired the whole group to take this all important step in finding their authentic and joyful self. Most of them had resentment issues with parents or ex-loves or wives and their homework was to take them all off the hook and see them instead as gifts on the path of their heart. Once that happened they were ready to finally meet the emotionally lost child within themselves ~ which is precisely what happened in session four.

The fourth session they met the child within by means of a powerful guided image visualization. Every one of them saw that long lost innocent child who told them what they needed to do to fully embrace him in their lives now. Their faces literally changed and became younger as they made that inner connection ~ they were dormant flowers suddenly blooming. I was moved almost to tears to see these Veterans suddenly claim their joy and innocence after years of self-doubt, guilt and despair.

Here’s some of the comments they heard from that child with the question being ~
 
What do I need to do to fully embrace you in my life?

Surrender to yourself

Love me

Believe in me

Accept yourself

Is there joy beneath my pain?

Yes!  ( that was the answer for all of them )

What’s my next step?

Surrender, go with the flow

Let go, surrender

Surrender, let’s visit

Get out of your cocoon

Open your heart

What’s the most important advice you can give me?

Be yourself

Let down your guard

Be me

Surrender

Own your joy

Stay with me

Meeting the child within was a game changing event for all of them especially Adrian who wrote in his post workshop evaluation ~ “The most meaningful aspect of the workshop was meeting the inner child and surrendering to love ~ which were two things that I thought might be an illusion ~ silly me! “

Gary also thought it was the most meaningful ~ “ Discovering that each of us possesses a rare and genuine inner self and that negative and anti-social behavior  ( that once troubled and frustrated myself ) is actually the end result of a lifetime of ego protection in reaction to the outside influences of others ~ my fear of opening up to strangers is now gone “

The Fifth session, one week later, was all about gratefulness and thanking the people who have been there for them their whole life ~ with the help of a guided visualization. Many of them had virtually not thanked anyone and certainly not themselves. That was their homework. As they did that their hearts began to fully open because gratefulness is the lifeblood of soul consciousness and is the only antidote for unworthiness.

This exercise really touched Roger who leaped on the homework to fully open his heart and emerge from his cocoon of fear and is still thanking people who have touched him in his life ~ “I learned that my fear has held me in a holding pattern most of my life but I’ve now learned to listen to myself inside ~ that little guy with the happy face.”

By now the Band of Brothers were inspiring each other on their common journey through fear ~ they were beyond the point of no return. Their homework was to thank at least 25 people who had touched them before the next session. We still hadn’t dwelled on the war for there was no need to. Their military experience was now a stepping stone versus an obstacle on their path to self-healing. They were already healing themselves by taking responsibility for love and sharing their gratefulness with others. Their hearts had opened and they were seeing through different eyes ~ which Abraham and Chuck merrily confirmed each remaining session.

Soon they were at session eight and celebrating the completion of a successful mission to open their hearts and find themselves in the process. The ultimate fire fight as Adrian confirmed is the battle with fear on the inner journey to open the heart and the last step is always the same ~ surrender and let go to the joyful magnificence of yourself and all of them had succeeded.

Doug, the gentle giant, closed our last celebration session ~ with many of the past  Band of Brothers attending, but his comments on his post workshop evaluation probably summed up the feelings of band of brothers #5 ~ regarding Did the workshop meet your expectations ?

Doug answered ~ “Yes, it more than met my expectations ~ it changed my expectations."

What personal changes have you overcome from this workshop?

Doug answered ~ “My compassion for others is overcoming my fear and mistrust. I have opened my heart and gained an appreciation for myself at the same time ~ I have progressed further in this eight week workshop than I have in 25 years of on and off again private therapy.”

Doug has finally come home from Vietnam and the miracle of heart centered self-healing became obvious again for there can be no true healing without the heart ~ which is precisely what happened with Band of Brothers #5. The gift I gave them was myself ~ not being afraid of their pain or anger and totally owning the joy of who I am and what I know and caring enough to not let them settle for less than all of themselves.

Roger thought it was what he enjoyed most about the workshop ~ “ The gift was you, Allen ~ you are so full of life, love and truth. It helped push me to surrender and break down the walls inside of me and find the joyful little boy. “

The beat goes on, the Band of Brothers continues to grow ~ and I, in turn, continue to be deeply moved by the most spiritually satisfying work of my life. I’m also grateful to Sal Ueda, LSW with the Concord Vets Center in California for not only setting up these groups but preparing these wounded warriors for this life changing heart centered work
-------------------

So now back to Malala ~ who is simply fulfilling her life's mission by being in service from a place of gratefulness, compassion and love and telling her truth from that place of soul consciousness. I'm sure her father originally saw that purpose in her eyes.

 
It's also interesting to note that the Poster Boy of band of Brothers #5 Abraham is now studying to be an MSW and is clearly in service from a place of love, joy and soul consciousness.

 
Can it really be this simple?  That  deepest within each one of us is an emotionally trapped child longing to be seen and to share their gift within a rapidly evolving loving plan.

 
I most certainly am living my life's destiny, which I sensed as a child, and later felt with my heart centered work with clients and shared with my Ph.D dissertation The Unified Field in 1998 ~ and then clearly demonstrated with my soul centered work with combat veterans with PTSD over the past five years.

 
Malala Yousafzai is living it, Jesus lived and preached it and I have lived, proved and written that beneath our deepest fears and resentments is not only love, joy and a state of soul consciousness (the Unified Field) but also our authentic vocation within a constantly evolving loving plan.

 
A child will lead us out of our moral wilderness ~ but that child is also deepest within each one of us waiting to be seen and activated through love.

 
“I told myself, Malala, you have already faced death. This is your second life. Don't be afraid ~ if you are afraid, you can't move forward.”
~ Malala Yousafzai, I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban


 
Allen L Roland, Ph.D
http://allenlrolandsweblog.blogspot.com/2014/10/a-child-will-lead-us-out-of-our-moral.html
 



Freelance Alternative Press Online columnist and heart centered spiritual counselor Allen L Roland is available for comments, interviews, speaking engagements and private Skype consultations at allen@allenroland.com

Allen L Roland is also a lecturer and shares a weekly political and social commentary on his web log and website allenroland.com He also guest hosts a monthly national radio show TRUTHTALK on www.conscioustalk.net

 

 

Thursday, October 9, 2014

SF GIANT'S BOCHY HEADING FOR HALL OF FAME


The wily fox and super motivator Bruce Bochy ponders his next move as his SF Giants won their eighth consecutive postseason elimination game over the Washington Nationals and set the stage for perhaps another World Series appearance ~ but most certainly an early and well deserved baseball Hall of Fame selection.

 
In this time of growing wars, conspiracies, epidemics and other uncertainties, there are some sure things to savor and one is Bruce Bochy's SF Giants making another run for the World Series championship: Allen L Roland. Ph.D

 
To understand why the San Francisco Giants won the World Series in 2010 and 2012 and are now a strong contender to win again in 2014 ~ you must first realize that the Giants are a reflection of their indomitable skipper Bruce Bochy who commands their immense respect and fuels their inner fire ~ especially in October with his shrewd moves and savvy baseball sense. But Bochy has leadership traits that others can also learn from.

Chester Spell, an associate professor of management at San Jose State University, says Bochy epitomizes what management consultant Jim Collins calls a "level-five leader," someone who can transform a company from good to great through a "paradoxical combination of personal humility plus professional will."

Byron Deeter is a partner at Bessemer Venture Partners, was also part of four national championship rugby teams at UC Berkeley under renowned coach Jack Clark, and he also speaks highly of Bochy.

He says managers can learn two lessons from Bochy. One is that "culture matters." Before games, you would see players jumping up and down in the dugout, just having fun. Instead of telling them to get serious for the big game ahead, "Bochy does the opposite; he allowed the team to be themselves. They really enjoy playing together and play better when they are loose and relaxed." In business, "helping establish a culture in whatever way is right for that company is time and money well spent. Team bonding activities may in some cases seem childish, like the pranks going on in the Giants' dugout," but they help when the going gets rough, he adds.

The other lesson is "team first," he says. "People joke about how baseball is an individual team sport .. Sports, like business, is full of prima donnas. But a good manager, through consistent actions, sends the message ~ we are all a unit, no one is above the team."

Deeter says Bochy's decisions not to reactivate left fielder Melky Cabrera after his drug suspension to preserve the team dynamic, and to transfer struggling starter Tim Lincecum to relief are good examples of his team first ethic. See article ~ http://www.sfgate.com/business/networth/article/What-business-can-learn-from-Bruce-Bochy-3991592.php


San Francisco's Bruce Bochy has won 1,594 games in 20 seasons, nearly 300 more than any other current manager. (Eric Risberg / Associated Press

 
"He speaks, people listen. He's a game changer," said pitcher Jake Peavy, who played for four other managers but has a special affection for Bochy.

Bochy's peers appear to agree ~ with a recent poll of NL managers selecting Bochy as the best in the league. Then there's what the numbers say, namely that he's a Hall of Fame manager in waiting.

Bochy has won 1,594 games in 20 seasons, more than Hall of Fame managers Dick Williams, Earl Weaver, Miller Huggins and Whitey Herzog and nearly 300 more than any other current manager. Barring another losing streak, he'll soon pass Tom Lasorda for 19th place on the all-time list for victories.

Of the 18 managers ahead of him on that list, 13 are in the Hall of Fame. And if the Giants win the NL pennant this season ~ they've won two of the last three ~ he'll become the 23nd manager to win more than three league championships.

The other 22 have plaques in Cooperstown.

"He's very quietly putting together a Hall of Fame career," said the Angels' Mike Scioscia, the second-winningest active manager. "When you talk about Joe Torre, about Tony La Russa, about Bobby Cox, about guys that have made it, Boch is going to be right there when it's all said and done."

But what makes Bochy special as a motivator ?

It's Bochy's no nonsense approach and rock solid temperament as well as his ability to adapt to the changing times and players.

Quite simply, Bochy cares about his players and his players know it. They play and are inspired to reach higher levels and win for him ~ and there is no better example than Hunter Pence.

 
 
 
The Giants’ Hunter Pence at the outfield wall, catching a ball hit by the Nationals’ Jayson Werth to save the game. Credit Ezra Shaw/Getty Images


His players love and respect Bochy and if he is indeed the wily old wizard making all the right moves, as he did in the 2012 World Series against the Tigers, than Hunter Pence is the driving soul force of the Giants making them believe in themselves by his heroics on the field and his passionate leadership in the dugout and locker room. Buster Posey is the steady anchor of the Giants but Pence is their passion and desire.

Pence and Bochy were meant for each other because Pence personifies Bochy's deep inner drive and leads on the field by example and completely believes in his skipper ~ "He's got a lot of poise. When your leader is a rock, it leaks into your team," said Pence, who has played for five managers during his career.

I may have given up on the Giants for a short time this year, especially after they blew a nine game lead in July and I indeed had a short term fling with the A's before Billy Beane sold their soul and team leader (Cespedes) to the Red Sox for Lester, but I never gave up on Bochy who continues to amaze me with his patient leadership and baseball acumen.

Make no mistake about it, the Giants are the team to beat this year and it won't be because of their talent ~ quite simply they are all paid extremely well and have won the gold in 2010 and 2012 ~ they are the team to beat because they want to win for their grizzly old father figure Bruce Bochy who has never given up on them ~ they want Bochy in the Hall of Fame.

You heard it here first.

Allen L Roland, Ph.D
http://allenlrolandsweblog.blogspot.com/2014/10/sf-giants-bochy-heading-for-hall-of-fame.html


Freelance Alternative Press Online columnist and heart centered spiritual counselor Allen L Roland is available for comments, interviews, speaking engagements and private Skype consultations at allen@allenroland.com

  Allen L Roland is also a lecturer and shares a weekly political and social commentary on his web log and website allenroland.com He also guest hosts a monthly national radio show TRUTHTALK on www.conscioustalk.net