Jackalyn Rainosek: Learning, Growing and Changing

Jackalyn Rainosek is an entrepreneur and consultant with more than four decades of experience. She is the co-owner of DTP Learning in Houston, Texas, which supports leaders in organizations through The Leadership Challenge®, and helps people identify those behavioral patterns that hinder their development with their Habitual Patterns Assessment.

She says that she has always perceived her life as an ongoing journey, and that the journey has been enthralling, challenging, growth producing and exciting. "My focus has been on inclusion, diversity, and social justice," she says, "with other values such as risk-taking, honesty, service and spirituality supporting my strong focus."

Throughout her life, Jackalyn Rainosek has been known to friends and family as courageous and adventurous. She remembers growing up in Texas before the Civil Rights era changed the face of American society, and becoming aware of racism after an incident on a city bus. "Even though my mother and I talked about racism, this situation gave me a whole new perspective, and an emotional connection to injustice," she recalls. As she grew up she began to confront situations that were demeaning to people she knew. "My college years were during the 1960s, so I saw major change occur with the opening up of restaurants, churches, and organizations to all groups of people." She also experiences systemic oppression as a gay person. "Today, I fight for the rights of all human beings in everything I do."

Her dream, she says, is to see everyone as part of a living and breathing body of people who are committed to learning, growing and changing, both individually and collectively. That way, she says we can create a society where everyone is free from oppression and appreciated for who they are. "I am aware I cannot create this type of environment by myself," she says. "We have strength in numbers. When our numbers multiply with the desire for this kind of world, our differences will be accepted and appreciated; we will know at a great emotional depth the importance of this vision, and we will create this environment in all our experiences and organizations."

Improving organizations is at the heart of what Jackalyn Rainosek does. She describes herself as a facilitator of learning for individuals, teams and organizations, teaching people how to lead themselves so that they are equipped to lead others in their organizations. She is a Certified Master in The Leadership Challenge®. "Once we have taught people how to lead themselves," she says, "then we have the opportunity to change systems, and develop whole new concepts of leadership."

The Author writes articles for relationships, behaviors and business field. He has also contributed to Wikipedia, Squidoo and Hubpages. His articles have been published in print as well as online magazines.