Category: Thoughts

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Books Thoughts

Peaks and Valleys

How can a person be completely devoted to a cause, committed to writing in his blog every day for instance, and then, in an instant, turn from his devotion to other interests?

Well, I don’t know for sure, but I’ve seen it done by other people in different areas of life and always wondered, “How can they do that?”  Now I know, or at least have a taste of what happens when a person turns from one thing to another, because I’ve experienced it myself. 

But I’ve experienced it many times, as probably you have too.  Whenever someone starts a diet and then doesn’t stick with it, or whenever a new workout routine is started and not continued.  People are constantly changing things about their life.

Instead of looking at these ups and downs of change during life as failures, I’ve learned to see them differently and take on a new perspective: they are all part of the normal terrain of life containing both peaks and valleys. 

Of course I gained this new perspective from a book (which is why I like books so much) with the same name: “Peaks and Valleys” by Spencer Johnson.  He was the author who wrote “Who Moved My Cheese?” which was very popular a few years ago and so has been read or heard of by almost everyone.  His latest book has a similar style, it is a short parable that teaches deep principles about life.  Another highly recommended book, because it is so quick and easy to read, yet it contains deep messages if you are looking for them.

For example, here are some of the main messages:

Peaks Are Moments When You Appreciate What You Have.

Valleys Are Moments When You Long For What Is Missing.

Peaks and valleys are not just the good and bad times that happpen to you, but they are also how you feel inside and respond to outside events.

The Path Out of The Valley Appears When You Choose To See Things Differently.

And since I’ve read the book, I am starting to see things differently.  So I must be on my way up to a peak.

Hope to see you there!

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Thoughts

Young Authors

Craig Orback, Illustrator
Craig Orback, Illustrator

This week I had the priviledge of attending a Young Authors Conference with 2 of my daughters who are in 4th and 5th grade.

It was a wonderful event where children from elementary schools all over the area converge on a community college (which happened to be on Spring Break) and get to learn from and interact with real authors and illustrators.  There were several presentations throughout the day and also a bookstore where you could buy the authors’ books and get their autograph.

This year’s theme was poetry, so we met two excellent poets, James Bertolino, and Lorraine Ferra (snagged their books and signatures) and also a very talented children’s book illustrator, Craig Orback – who is a real artist that can create art in a variety of mediums: oil and canvas, pen and ink, water color, pastels, chalk, pencil sketch, etc.

The point I’d like to make is that true scarce skills are still valuable.  These people actually make their living by being very good poets and artists.  Even though the publishing world is changing because anybody can publish a book online these days, and all the new digital tools for creating graphic arts allows almost anyone to become an artist, the fact remains that you still need to have skills to produce high quality material.

Craig told me that work hasn’t slowed down for him at all, just because of the digital age.  And these older poets we met have written many books and their poetry is used all over, in a variety of places.

James Bertolino, Poet
James Bertolino, Poet

So even though the world is changing, and the kids need to learn new skills these days, if they can be the best (or one of the best) in whatever skill they choose, people will want to experience what they produce.  And they’ll always have something to do.

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Thoughts

Respect

Many people of the world understand the basic concept of this word, and in fact, demand it for themselves from others, but obviously we’re a long way from everyone really living it, otherwise we wouldn’t need locks on our house and car doors, security systems, virus protection software, police officers or armed forces.

All these things (and many others) protect us from the disrespect our fellow man gives to us and our property.

We may always need to design more airtight security systems and stronger defense mechanisms for those forces of disrespect that prevail, but they won’t address the root of the problem.

As history can testify, the most powerful force in the world, and therefore also the most dangerous, is an idea.

The most horrifying and extreme case of man’s inhumanity to man in recent history is the story of the holocaust in Nazi Germany, although there are many other similar stories around the world that have not been as publicized.  Our recent terrorist attacks are also examples of the awful brutality that can be administered by our fellow man.

These extreme cases, along with all the others of lesser extreme, are due to some idea held in the hearts of man that justifies their actions.

Therefore, the best offense and defense against these dangerous ideas is to spread the opposing idea of respect for our fellow man.  And when I say ‘spread’ I don’t mean like a news story that everyone hears about one day, then forgets the next day. The idea of respect must lie deep in the heart of every individual so that it guides every decision and therefore all their actions.

This kind of deep, imbedded standard of behavior usually doesn’t happen overnight.  It takes many years and most easily occurs during the time when our minds are most impressionable.

It’s called upbringing.

Therefore, the solution is for me to teach my children to respect others.  And to try to teach others to teach their children respect for their fellow human beings.  And when I say ‘teach’ I don’t just mean ‘tell’.  It must be part of our entire way of life.  I must lead by example, and through many little opportunities I must instill in my children’s hearts the strong desire to respect others.

It may not be easy, or work very quickly, but in the end, it’s the only viable solution.

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Thoughts

Virtue

What of virtue?

It’s not a word that is used very often these days, and depending on your background or worldview it can have various meanings.  But based on my limited research, most definitions of the word are good, and my only point in bringing it up is to try to get the word back into circulation.  I think it might help the world for this word to be part of more conversations.

Here’s why:

The first definition from Webster’s is:  conformity to a standard of right.

This implies that there is a standard of right that one should conform to.  Yes, we all may not agree on the particular details of that standard, but I think deep down, we probably have more area that we agree on than disagree.  Even those who don’t conform to the standard will agree on a right and wrong, they just usually have a reason or justification of why they might have deviated from the standard.

The second part of that definition is: a particular moral excellence.

Morality or having morals is about a system of principles or rules of conduct, and if having virtue is on the ‘excellence’ side of our rules of conduct then that means that someone is conducting themselves better or higher than whatever standard is normal.  And we usually respect those people who are able to live at a higher standard because we all know that being ‘excellent’ is more difficult.  Making a choice between something easy and hard is difficult, so choosing to be excellent is usually the hard side.

The other two definitions of virtue that I think are interesting to be both part of the same word are:

  1. manly strength or courage
  2. chastity especially in a woman

 

It appears to me that most concepts in the world today associated with manly strength or courage would not be associated with chastity.  In fact, probably the opposite, which is why I think the word virtue should be used more often, so that people can connect these two concepts:  that real manly strength, courage or valor involves protecting the chastity of women.

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Thoughts

Do whatever you want (doesn’t that sound fun?)

I know it’s old news so I’m sure you’ve heard about how Google employees get to spend 20% of their time on what ever they want.  It’s not time to goof off, it’s actually working on a project that you either came up with yourself or that someone else came up with but you also find interesting. 

I’ve just been thinking about that concept lately and how innovative and productive that would be.  People always dream of being entrepreneurs and being their own boss, why not give them that thrill without all the risk and hassel of funding and other issues.  For the most part, people want to do good, and they want the company they work for to do well.  So if they can think of something that will benefit the company, or the group they work in, why not let them do it?

Being the boss and telling people what to do and how to do it assumes that you know more than the people you’ve hired.  And if you believe that, then that means that your boss must know more than you. (Most everyone has a boss.)  Now it may be true that high ranking executives or leaders are very smart and talented, but it is impossible that they are smarter in every area than every employee who works beneath them.  Therefore, they ought to be harvesting the talent, skills, and knowledge of everyone in the company to make the company better, more profitable, gain more market share, have a better working environment, or whatever ‘better’ means to the company and the individuals.

And what better way to do that than to say, hey at least 20% of your time should be dedicated to improving things.  I guess it really comes down to trust. 

I suppose people may work on things that may not be such a good idea, but the value that is gained by the improved morale and company loyalty is worth it.  Besides, there should probably be some kind of subjective evaluation to see if the effort is worthwhile.  But it shouldn’t be too detailed, only enough to determine if it will cause major negative repercussions.

 Anyway, that’s what I’ve decided I’m going to do if I’m ever in charge of a group of people.

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Thoughts Web sites

Do you trust us with the new tools?

Companies set up systems in order to produce their products, then they put their heads down and produce. tools

“We don’t have time for that new fangled mumbo jumbo, we’re busy doing real work here.”

I wonder when the first company decided that telephones were a good idea to give their workers?

And give a computer to every employee? That’s crazy talk!

I do remember when everyone in our company was given full access to the internet.  That was quite the controversy.  “They’ll just be surfin’ the web all day.”  Maybe, but it seems like each new advance in tools or technology requires a lot of trust.  Mostly because the most powerful tools can be used for good or bad, productivity or wastefulness, innovation or drivel.

Well, here we are in another phase of new tools – Web 2.0.  It seems like companies should be able to learn from the past.  And I think they are, but there is still resistance, and progress is slow.  Again, trust is a factor, plus a lack of understanding of the impact or potential that the new tools can provide.

Here is a great article from a reputable source (McKinsey) on how companies can make the new Web 2.0 tools work for them.  

The info is out there.  Companies really have no excuse for not understanding  and benefitting from new things.

flickr photo by docman

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Thoughts

Build an Igloo (or do something else really hard)

Everyone should have the experience of building an igloo. 

That’s what I did this weekend.  And let me tell you, it’s not easy.

But I learned many lessons that I think could be applied in other situations.

1.  To get the great feeling of significant accomplishment, you have to do something really difficult.

     Spending 5 hours packing snow, shoveling snow and lifting heavy blocks is not a small task.  And it helps your motivation if you have nowhere else to sleep that night.  Commit to something big, and you’ll feel great when it’s over.

2.  Follow instructions.

     If someone has experience, or knows more than you, and has provided you instructions, it would be wise for you to follow them.  We had specific instructions for building an igloo, including layout size, block sizes, and techniques.  There were others who tried to  build igloos just based on what they thought was a good idea, but in the end, they didn’t turn out so well.

3.  Have faith in those with experience.

     This is similar to # 2 but there were times when the instructions just didn’t seem to make sense.  Only later in the process did we understand the wisdom of the specific instructions.  There were also times when we didn’t think the blocks were very stable and that the whole thing could come crashing down in an instant.  But we had faith, followed the instructions, and the structure turned out very sturdy.

4.  Persist.

     When you’re really tired, and nothing seems to be going right, and you want to quit… don’t.  Don’t give up.  The thrill of success will be so much sweeter when you’ve gone to the edge of defeat.  When one of our key large blocks broke, we thought we were done and had no way to finish, but we kept working it and figured out a way to make it work.  Only pure persistence got us through, because logically, we didn’t seem to have any options.

These probably sound like old fashioned lessons, but that’s why they’re so valuable, they have stood the test of time and apply to almost any situation. 

It took building an igloo for me to understand them at a deeper level.

Destroying our 7' high igloo
Destroying our 7' high igloo
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Thoughts

Ideas, Money, and ???

What do you need for economic stimulus?

First you need business ideas that will generate income and make money for the owners and employees.

Done. 

Seth Godin and some friends provided 999 ideas.  That should be enough to get started.

Next, you need some seed money to make them happen.

Done.

Billionaire Mark Cuban has plenty of money for funding new businesses and he wants to give it away, but he has laid out specific rules and stipulations for the type of business he is looking for.  That’s okay because it’s his money and beggars can’t be choosers.

What else is needed?

Oh yeah… hard work. 

That’s the missing link.  

So it looks like we have unlimited money and ideas available, we just need the tough sweat equity work to make things happen.  Then we don’t need an economic stimulus package, we need a hard work stimulus package.

Let’s go do it.

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Thoughts

Crawl, Walk, Run

Here’s a concept for you.  Before you launch that revolutionary innovative idea, or tackle that BHAG (Big Harry Audacious Goal), it might be wise to start small.

Maybe you should practice that skill at a lower level until it is mastered before you move on to the next step. 

Maybe there’s something you just can’t understand at that higher level without knowing what it takes to exist at the lower level.

Maybe you’ll give up altogether if it is too difficult to reach that final state.

Sometimes when we learn about how awesome running is and how it can get you places so much faster, we want to just do that first, and don’t have time for that crawling and walking stuff.  But sometimes it’s just not possible to really run correctly without taking the time to master the crawling and walking stages.

Are there things you could be better at if you went back to crawling or walking?

Are there things you’ve been putting off because you haven’t felt ready to run yet?  What could be a crawling stage to get you started?

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Books Thoughts

Fear of Failure?

Fear of failure is overrated.

You’re likely not going to get fired over trying something new and radical.  So it’s not really failure that people are afraid of, it’s blame, criticism.

This is another great topic that Seth Godin elaborates on in his book Tribes.

He says that we’re afraid to launch that new idea or product or presentation because we’re worried, deep down, that someone will hate it and call us on it.  “That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard!” “What a waste of money.” “Who’s responsible for this?”

Sometimes the criticism doesn’t have to be that obvious.  The fear of hearing “I’m surprised you launched this without doing more research” is enough to get many people to do a lot more research, to study something to death, and then kill it.  Hey, at least you didn’t get criticized.

Seth admits, getting a bad book review hurts his feelings, and it is about enough to ruin his day.  But it’s not enough.  It’s not enough to ruin his day because his book got noticed.   He realizes that a bad review is a badge of honor because it means that he confounded expectations – he did something worth remarking on.

So the challenge, as you contemplate your next opportunity to be boring or remarkable, is to answer these two questions:

1.  If I get criticized for this, will I suffer any measurable impact other than feeling bad about the criticism?  If so, how does that feeling compare with the benefits from actually doing something worth doing?  Being remarkable is exciting, fun, profitable, and great for your career.  Feeling bad wears off.  If you’ve decided to take the remarkable path, answer this one:

2.  How can I create something that critics will criticize?

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Thoughts

Influence

So how do you do it?

The philosophy outlined in the previous post always sounds good in theory, but how do you actually do it?  How do you get someone to care about what you feel is important?

Here are 3 tips.

1.  Find out what is important to the other person.

When people feel understood and listened to, they are given a fresh breath of ‘psychological’ air.  They get the feeling that you are on their side, that you can relate to where they’re coming from, that you care.  But here’s the key point: you do have to really care.  You can’t just manipulate them with saying the right words, they’ll smell it, they’ll find out, it won’t work.  You have to show that you truly care about what is important to that other person. 

2.  Support others in acheiving their goals.

Do whatever you can to help people accomplish what they trying to do.  Go out of your way to do something that will be appreciated.  Add value to their efforts.  Spread the word about their efforts.  Give an encouraging word and sincere appreciation.  Again, it must be a sincere effort, something you do willingly because you want them to succeed, not because you expect something in return.

3.  Share what you care about.

Talk about what is important to you, in an honest and sincere way.  Don’t tell people why they should change, share how it has affected you personally.  Be truthful and honest.  Make sure your words and actions are congruent and that your integrity is clearly apparent. 

Then let people choose.

When people fundamentally share the same deep down beliefs and goals, they are willing to work together to accomplish great things.  When you follow these tips, you are connecting with people at a deeper level that allows real synergy for working together.  If people choose not to connect with you, or accept your help, or share the same fundamental beliefs, then maybe you don’t need them to.  You can’t force others to care about what you feel is important.  So don’t even try it, you’ll damage the relationship, making it even more impossible to have any influence in the future.

I’ve learned these concepts from various sources and experience, which I’m sure you can also relate to and validate, but these specific tips were articulated perfectly by Dick Axelrod in his ebook, so I just had to share them.

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Thoughts

True Leadership

There are two ways to get someone to do what you want.

  1. Tell them to do it, and the reason is because you are the boss and they have to do what you say.
  2. Influence them in a way that they’ll want to do it on their own accord.

 

One way is easy and gets results.  The other way is difficult and results are not consistent.

One way makes things happen in the short term, but damages long term possibilities.  The other way creates a solid relationship with potential for even greater accomplishments in the future.

One way derives power from compulsion.  The other way derives power from true caring and respect.

Which type of leader would you rather work for?

Which way would you rather be known for?

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Thoughts

Focus

This might seem like a simple topic, but it has tremendous potential depending on the system you are applying it to.

Focus means to put all your energy into doing one thing.  When you do that, you become more productive and produce better quality work.  Think about all the things you’re thinking about and working on.  You probably pride yourself in being able to cover so many bases.  And yes, we are pretty complex creatures with amazing brains and capabilities to do lots of stuff.

But the problem is that when we are trying to get a lot of things done at the same time, and we are switching back and forth between different projects, we lose our effectiveness on each task.  Plus, we may have made progress on many things, but we haven’t finished any of them.

On the other hand, if we focus on one task, and work on it until it is done, then we’ve actually finished one task, and we can move on to the next one.  With this method of linear, sequential completions, you are actually able to complete more projects in less amount of time than the multi-tasking method.  Of course it depends on the complexity of the project or tasks, but as a general rule, this is true.  And it especially holds true for corporations who have their knowledge workers running every which way trying to show progress on multiple projects for multiple bosses.

When an athlete is “in the zone” they are focused on one thing, and they perform it flawlessly.  When they get distracted, they lose concentration and don’t perform well.  The quality of our work will be much better also if we can focus our attention on the task at hand.

One of the reasons it is difficult to focus is because we have a hard time saying “no” to things that show up as needing to be done.  Many times there is a false sense of urgency, so we want to alleviate that discomfort by at least starting to work on that thing.  But in reality, if we are disciplined, and make wise judgements regarding the true priority of items, then we may be able to finish that item even quicker by having it wait its turn, but more importantly we will be accomplishing the things that are the highest priority or have the most value in our lives.

This doesn’t mean that our priorities can’t change in an instant.  While I was writing this post, my son woke up crying because he wet his bed.  I determined that taking care of his needs was more important than finishing this post, so I switched tasks, took care of him, and then switched back.  When emergent issues arise, we need to be cognizant of the true priority and make wise decisions.

The point is that when we focus, by being more judicial in deciding what to work on, we can actually get more things done – the things that are most important to us – and accomplish them with a higher quality output.

It just takes practice.

“Focus power, Danielson!”

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Thoughts

Naysayers must go

Are you a naysayer?

Are you “one who denies, refuses, opposes, or is skeptical or cynical about something?”

I suppose there are times to be skeptical or cynical, but when someone presents an idea that they are passionate about and that they’ve put a lot of work into, does it really help to be skeptical in front of the whole group?  You may want more substantiating data.  You may want a more logical argument for their point.  Or you may want to see proof that their concept will work.  But being skeptical just means that you don’t believe it, which means that you don’t have proof to substantiate your position either. 

Naysayers usually don’t have any better ideas, they just want to tear down anything new or different.  They are defenders of the status quo. 

So the best way to minimize the effects of the naysayers is to call them on it.  Ask them why they are against progress or innovation or new ideas?  No one wants to be seen as a fuddy-duddy, unimaginative or old-fashioned.

Then, if they are not key decision makers, ignore them, go around them.  Make your ideas happen in spite of skeptisism. 

It can be lonely out on the cutting edge, but that’s why it’s cutting, no one wants to be out there.  It is difficult to break the status quo.

So don’t be a naysayer.  You’re holding up progress for everyone, and reducing the number of  people who might have had the next big idea, if it weren’t for you.

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Consultants Thoughts

The Meeting Canoe (Part 2)

I thought I’d try a new tactic and keep you in suspense for a day (of course, it only works for my one daily reader.  There’s more? Please reveal yourself.)

Or it could be that I just ran out of time last night and didn’t want to finish the post.

Anyway, here’s the rest of the story.

The Meeting Canoe is about how to design a meeting, and it gets it’s name from the shape associated with the design concept, which looks like the top view of a canoe, when you’re looking down it – thin on one end, getting fatter in the middle, then getting thin again at the end.

1.  Welcome

The first thing you want to do in a meeting is welcome people.  Let them know that they are in a different space.  One of the most important aspects in architecture is how one enters the building – the entryway.  The same is true for a meeting, make it pleasant and welcoming.  Let people know you are glad they are there and make it a place they want to stay.

2.  Connect to each other and the task

Remind people what they have in common and why they are there.  When people are connected to the group, they are more likely to participate and be engaged in the conversation.

3.  Discover the way things are

Share information, have a discussion about the current state of whatever topic you are meeting about.  Allow all perspectives to be presented.

4.  Elicit people’s dreams

Get people into the future.  What would the situation look like if everything happened the way they’d like it to?  Get creative and invoke the arts, use skits, freewriting, stream of consciousness, headlines, or any method to get people thinking outside the norm.

5.  Decide who does what

This is where you create action plans, give assignments, and have a clear understanding of the next steps.

6.  Attend to the end

Review agreements.  Understand the path forward. End with a feeling of excitement, motivation, and possibility.  Appreciate everyone’s time and contribution.

Those are the 6 steps to the meeting canoe.  The canoe shape is derived from the size and depth of the conversation.  At the beginning, it is somewhat small talk with little emotion or feeling.  As the meeting progresses, discussion gets deeper, more involved, more passionate and detailed.  Then, in closing, we begin to converge on specifics, wrap up the loose ends, and feel complete or finished.  It’s a gradual curve, thus the canoe shape – a great memorable image for designing any meeting.

canoe