what are you waiting for?

I was looking at a note that was passed around facebook a couple of years ago called 25 random things.  Number 17 on my list: When the kids are finished with college I’m going to build a computer program, learn to speak Mandarin Chinese, teach myself physics and climb a mountain.  When I reread that I said - what are you waiting for?  Am I getting the most out of my day? Why not start now? I was poking around amazon and came across How to Live on 24 Hours a Day. It seemed like a modern self help book title, so I was really surprised to find out it was written in 1910.  Here's a quote from the book taken from wikipedia. "Which of us lives on twenty-four hours a day? And when I say "lives," I do not mean exists, nor "muddles through." Which of us is free from that uneasy feeling that the "great spending departments" of his daily life are not managed as they ought to be? [...] Which of us is not saying to himself -- which of us has not been saying to himself all his life: "I shall alter that when I have a little more time"? We never shall have any more time. We have, and we have always had, all the time there is."

I'm going to take it on myself to get started with something new. I don't know if it's going to be one of the four on my facebook list, but it's time I get the most out of my 24 hours. It's easier today than ever before. Are you getting the most out of your life? Are you trying something new? What are you waiting for?

something that matters

Each day I receive one of Hugh MacLeod's gapingvoid cartoons. This was Hugh's cartoon from Friday. Last week was exhausting, and I was moving slowly when I saw this cartoon. I often reflect on the work that we do, and wind up asking myself whether or not we're doing something that matters. I want to make sure that when I go to the office on Monday that what we do has purpose, and that we can make a difference. We connect our members with our customers. We provide a platform to bring them together and hopefully everyone benefits. Of course, some benefit more than others and we have a client relations team that makes sure our customers are designing their pages on our platform to attract many members to their company. Shortly after seeing Hugh's cartoon I got an email from Cathy one of our relationship managers. We've been gathering testimonials from our customers and she forwarded one to me. Well, after reading it, Cathy sure made me feel that we're doing something that matters. One of her customers wasn't getting the returns they expected. Their platform page performance was trending nearly 50% below average. Cathy worked with them to change some images and other items on their page. In just one month the customer's performance is now trending 33% above average! Cathy is helping the small businesses that partner with us succeed. Cathy matters to her customers.

Cathy is one person who is part of one team that is part of the many teams that make a difference at my company. Over the years I have found that I am working with a group of people who are successful because what they do matters to them. They go out and do their job to make a difference, and when that happens our customers, our members and our company benefits. Everyone wins. Are you making a difference? Are you doing something that matters?

fear.less

fear.less is a new online magazine that tells stories of people who overcame their fears and wound up victorious.  Seth Godin has an article in this month's edition with some remarkable insights on fear.  Real fear is when you're in the desert and there's no water.  Real fear is when you're in the woods and run into a bear.  Real fear is primal.  The fear that you and I experience isn't really fear.  It's anxiety.  Why do we worry so much?  Why are we afraid?  What's the worst that can happen?  Maybe we'll succeed. I think that's it.  We're afraid of success.  If I fail, I'm not going to starve and I can certainly pick myself up off the ground and get back to life, but if I succeed then what happens to me?  That's really what's driving our anxiety.  If I give a customer great service they're going to call me more often.  If I make an extra sales call I'm not going to have time to enter my contracts.  I have a great idea to pitch, but what happens if they really like it?  If we double revenues over 3 years we'll have to add a large amount of staff and all those people and our investors will be looking to me for direction.  Wow!  Success can be scary.  The thing is, if we can get past our anxiety, and do something meaningful it's bound to be exhilarating.

Don't be afraid of the things you have to do.  Simplify; clarify; focus.  Put your anxiety behind you.  Accomplish great things.  There's nothing holding you back.

habits

Research says it takes 66 days to form a habit.  I don't know if everyone feels this way, but I think habits  have a bad stigma about them. Instinctively, I think of biting nails or smoking... you know, the bad habits.  But really most habits aren't bad.  Good habits can have a major impact on how you go about your work.  When was the last time you intentionally set out to form a habit? I have a goal of two blog posts per week.  If you look at my history, I rarely hit that goal.  How can I turn blog posting into a habit?  I've made exercise a habit.  I wake up early each morning and workout within 30 minutes of getting up. I can try writing at the same time every night - after the kids go to sleep.  The problem with late night blog posts is I'm bound to be too tired to think (like this rambling post to nowhere - ha!).  What could be more effective?  I can write every day on the train ride into work.  Better yet I can do that and associate it with something enjoyable - like a hot cup of coffee.  I'm setting out to form the habit.  Hopefully when you check back toward the end of December you'll find a two post a week minimum is the norm.

How can you use habits for personal growth?  How can you use habits to strengthen your teams?

thunderbirds

Tonight I have a guest blogger. Ellie Charter is a friend and colleague of mine. She comes to work each day seeking to make a difference. She is an artist. Here what she has to say: I attended the Air Show at Offut Air Force Base recently. This was only my second experience at an Air Show. Surprisingly, I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. I was amazed by so many talented pilots who showcased their skills. Most of these pilots flew one plane at a time and put on exciting solo flights. While the solo acts were very entertaining, the finale of The Thunderbirds really resonated with me.

Six planes, worth billions of dollars, flying at insanely high speeds with thousands of eyes on them – can you imagine the pressure? Flight formations so close that I was certain their wings would inevitably touch at some point and result in disaster. Yet, they performed flawlessly. How? How can 6 individual planes, with individual control panels and individual strengths and weaknesses pull together as a team and perform perfection?

• Communication
• Training
• Trust
• Expectation of Success
• Ownership of Responsibility

As I thought of these characteristics and continued to marvel at their performance, I couldn’t help but let my mind wander to my work. In the past year, we have continuously worked hard to improve on traits I just mentioned. All the while, we work at insanely high speeds to remain top of our game. We have several different departments, all using our own programs and controls. Thus, we depend on each other to communicate and avoid collisions and failures. The success of our team is not based on one solo performance, but the ability of all of us to look beyond challenges with our systems, beyond our own agenda and focus on the team goal. It really doesn’t matter that a team or individual gets to perform the spotlight fly by – it’s so much cooler when we all fly in formation, in sync, and blow the minds of our fans.

We must not look at the road ahead as being filled with unrealistic goals. Instead, we should step up our game - communicate more, take ownership of the jobs given to us, and expect success from ourselves and each other.

We are the elite Thunderbirds in our industry and intend on doing everything in our power to stay there.

--Ellie Charter

simplify

I work in a very complex division of my company.  There are multiple advertising products to sell and several sales messages to pitch.  There are times when our sales reps lose focus and they're not sure what to sell and how to sell it.  Communication problems are prevalent.  Goals aren't clearly defined.  Budgets are too high.  The compensation plan recently changed.  Complexity creates a environment of fear.  Fear breeds upon itself.  It starts with, "I'm not good enough."  Soon enough it becomes, "My boss doesn't think I'm good enough."  Then, "I'm going to lose my job and that will hurt me."  Paralysis sets in and nothing is accomplished. What can we do?  Simplify!  My business line has a new EVP.  She has defined three goals.  1) Increase new sales; 2) Increase the average order size; 3) Increase our retention rate.  All projects and sales goals are evaluated on these three clearly defined, simple goals.  It's so much easier when you simplify.  You know where to direct your efforts.  You choose the products to sell that drive toward these goals.  You know what to do.  You are confident.  The budget is no longer too high and the compensation plan makes sense.  You can do this!

The KISS principle applied.  Keep It Simple and Straightforward.  There's no need to over complicate.  Set simple goals and create projects and products to achieve them.  It sets a winning attitude throughout the organization.

small wins

Have you ever stared at a project list and felt nothing but overwhelmed? It's like walking up the stairs to my attic. I get to the top, see the mess, quickly shake my head in dismay, turnaround and walk back down the steps. The scope of work is too overwhelming. The end goal is out of reach. I'll never be able to get this finished. Dan and Chip Heath talk about shrinking the change in their book Switch. Sometimes you only need to get started. Take 15 minutes here and 15 minutes there and eventually you have a series of small wins. In technology, projects are broken into epic stories; epic stories into user stories; and user stories into tasks. It's easy to look at a task, get started on it and finish it. Before you know it you've knocked out a user story, and all of a sudden these small wins start to snowball. The project doesn't seem as daunting.

This same method can be applied to any goal or change. If you have a sales goal that seems impossible, break it down and shrink the goal. I want to make 50 calls over the next two days and close 10% of them. Over the next two weeks I want to write a chapter of my book. Shrink your objective and earn some small wins.

Who wants to spend ten minutes with me cleaning the stairs of my attic tonight?

destination

I've been working at the same company for 11 years. In the days of building widgets that many years in a factory wasn't very long. Today the factories are largely gone and products are developed by the creative process. 11 years tenure in this kind of environment is more unusual. What keeps me at my company? I've been fortunate enough to have managers that put me in an environment where I could create. They gave me the space I needed to do my best work. Now that I'm in management, I do the same for the people who work with me. I do my best to prepare their workspace. It's my responsibility to plow the field so they can sow the seeds. I point out the destination and provide an environment where creative people can draw the map. Simon Sinek has written a book Start with Why. He writes about leadership. Almost all people can describe what we do. Some of those people can describe how we do it. But very few people can tell you why we do what we do. The best leaders start with why. When you start with why like minded people want to follow you. As a leader it is my job to inspire my team with a destination - the why. I then provide them with the support they need to tell me how we will get there. To do this I try to create an environment for success. I make sure I provide the tools and needed support, and leave adequate space for them to work in. I am not looking for face time or long hours on the job. I'm looking at the benefit of their creations, and the value they provide in getting us to our destination.

reputation

Repetition builds your reputation. Do you look up and smile as you walk down the hall or do you look down to avoid eye contact? Repetition builds your reputation. Do you always treat people with dignity and respect or can you be arrogant and belittling? Repetition builds your reputation. When you're under a deadline do you maintain a positive attitude or do you complain about expectations? Repetition builds your reputation. When a customer has a problem do you quickly respond or do you ignore them or pass the buck to someone else? Repetition builds your reputation. Do you complain about problems or do you try to solve them? Repetition builds your reputation. A friend of mine has a maxim, "Always do what's right, even when no one is looking." That is the essence of strong character. Reputation is character's shadow. If you concentrate on growing your character the shadow it casts will be long and wide. Be positive. Make the tough choices. Do the right thing. Be consistent. A positive reputation will surely follow.

difficult things

Almost all things worth doing are difficult. You've probably heard a variation of that before. A friend asked me if I was concerned about repercussions from my blog. He had a blog at one time and his former company came down hard on him and forced him to shut it down. My first reaction was defensive. What am I doing wrong with my blog? Have I said anything damning? As I thought about it, though, I realized that this blog is my brand. This is who I am; this is my philosophy; this is how I work. After a decade at my company I better have challenged the status quo and put myself out on the line often enough to have an impact. If what I say in this blog doesn't create a stir and inspire debate among my colleagues then this blog isn't worth its space or my time. This is worth doing. Each time I publish I want it to be difficult. I don't ever want to settle or compromise for fear of the consequences. I hope I can make you think and consider alternatives to your routine. I hope I can contribute to inspiring change in the way you go about your day. I hope I can open your mind, so you can make positive changes in your organization. This blog is real. It's about how I try to make an impact in my world. This is my brand. I have nothing to hide.

perception

Perception. We tend to see the negative. We ask ourselves, "What's wrong with this picture?" It's human nature. The lizard brain is taking over. Our instinct puts us on the defensive. It prevents us from seeing the bright side, but the bright side is often where the solution resides. When we concentrate on what's wrong, we over analyze and come up with fixes that will take a long time or likely never be implemented. We should know what is broken for long term fixing, but when we know what we do well we have something to build upon. What's the perception at my company? Why do we call the people we do business with advertisers and not customers or partners? Why are we focused on decreasing our cancellation rate instead of increasing our retention rate? Perception is the way we look at things. When we focus on cancellation rates we focus on the negative, but if we focus on retention rates we'll look at what we're doing well. When we know what we're doing right we can spread that focus throughout the company and influence our employees and customers. Then we can make a difference and begin to effect change.

appealing to the rational and emotional

People have rational and emotional sides.  The rational side attempts to reign in the emotional side.  Some people have strong control mechanisms and others do not.  I’m reading Switch, by Chip and Dan Heath.  They refer to the rational side as the ‘rider’ and the emotional as the ‘elephant’.  It’s hard work for a rider to control an elephant, and when the elephant wants to take over the rider often doesn’t have a chance.  When presenting an idea you have to tap the audience’s elephant.  It's the only way to break through and create an urgent need. I have a dominant rational trait, and I tend to base my presentations on analytics, research and cold-hard facts.  I have been the champion of pursuing a CRM system for my company for nearly four years.  I've faced nothing but resistance.  I have presented the system from a cost benefit perspective; presenting a logical ROI.  I’ve tried to base my case on facts, but only now I realizing that I haven’t played to my audience's emotional side.  I’ve built my case rationally, but need to get the elephants involved.  I'm working on how to do this.  Right now my best idea is to produce a video presenting a dramatic example of how our customers perceive our company with the current systems we have in place.  My thought is the misery the customers and our employees face will hit home with my audience.  Their emotional side will take control of the decision and we’ll be able to move forward with the project.

my strengths

My top 5 strengths with descriptions from Strength Finder 2.0 and my comments following: 1. Maximizer: Taking something from below average to slightly above average takes a great deal of effort and in your opinion is not very rewarding.  Transforming something strong into something superb takes just as much effort but is much more thrilling.

I agree with the sentiment entirely.  I certainly don't care for mediocrity.  Ultimately, it's even more thrilling to take something that's below average and turn it into something extraordinary.

2. Ideation: You are delighted when you discover beneath a complex surface an elegantly simple concept to explain why things are the way they are.

It is fun to look inside a tangled web and figure which strands matter.  I actually prefer to dream of something intricate and then be forced to simplify it so it can be delivered.

3. Individualization: You are intrigued by the unique qualities of each person. You instinctively observe each person's style, each person's motivation, how each thinks and how each builds relationships.

I like to see what makes a person tick.  I'm patient and like to listen.  It's easier to get things done when I understand why someone thinks the way they think.

4. Strategic: You are able to sort through the clutter and find the best route.

I'm surprised this wasn't number one.  I like to create a map and am able to ignore the noise.  Wow, it's frustrating when you see the right route, but don't have to power to change course.  It hurts when you know the company is going to pay the price for it for years to come.

5. Self Assurance: You know you are able -- able to take risks, able to meet new challenges, able to stake claims, and, most important, able to deliver.

Bring it on!  I'm ready to take on anything you can throw at me.

Please leave your thoughts in the comments.

strengths

I know myself.  I know my strengths and I'm aware of my weaknesses.  Aware is the key word.  I don't focus on them or try to improve them.  If you choose to focus on your weaknesses you'll improve them at the expense of your strengths. You'll be ok at your weaknesses and ok at your strengths.  You are choosing to become mediocre. Instead hire or choose to work with people who are strong where you are weak.  Concentrate on your strengths.  That's where it's at.  Focus on them.  Improve them.  Become amazing.

To find your strengths and weaknesses I recommend Strengths Finder 2.0.

leadership

I'm not a fist pounder.  I don't yell very much.  Leadership comes in different forms.  The problem is perception.  You're not vocal enough to be a leader.  You need to be a bull-dog to get things done! I build connections by listening.  People need to be heard.  Listening inspires confidence and trust.  To change the status quo you first have to understand the past.  How did we get here and why are we hanging on?  Telling yourself that people are afraid of change isn't good enough.  What brought on the fear?  Once you understand you can lead.  You can open eyes and erase the past.  It doesn't take brow-beating or screaming.  Understand.  Build confidence.  Create trust.  Make change.  That's leadership.  Build your case.  Get results.  Change the perception.

achievment

Next week I finish P90X.  There is something about exercise that gets me motivated for everything in life. When I'm not exercising I have trouble getting things done.  I can organize projects and lead a team, but I don't have the same desire I have when I'm fulfilling the physical side of life.  For me exercise goes hand in hand with achieving the extraordinary.  P90X is tough.  Not only that, but I've managed to fit the long workouts with 3 hours or commuting, a full work day and time with my family (and now this blog!). I've heard it takes 21 days to form a habit.  I suppose I've simply gotten used to getting up at 4:50 and working out each morning. Goal setting works for me.  I enjoy doing things few people are willing to do.  In 2009 I committed to running a marathon in under four hours.  In November I ran the Philly Marathon in 3:57:26.  I'd never run a marathon before.  The same attitude applies to almost anything in life.  Running a marathon in under four hours was hard.  P90X was hard.  Delivering a project on time and on budget is hard.  Doing anything that is worthwhile is hard.

I may not be able to run a marathon as fast as Bill Rodgers or do as many pull-ups as Colin Bell, but I can set a goal and achieve greater things than most people are even willing to try.  Why won't they try? Why can't they commit?  It goes back to my first post.  There is something within us that is scared of success and what comes with it.  Embrace change.  Achieve the extraordinary.  Don't hold back!

fear

I've been talking about this blog for months.  I find excuse after excuse.  Anything to avoid the first post.  I can't decide on a title.  My thoughts aren't properly formed.  I don't have the time.  I work at a public company.  I can't talk about my  experiences. The thing is all these excuses are fear.  Seth Godin talks about the lizard brain in Linchpin.  The lizard brain controls the fight or flight instinct.  It prefers flight.  Fear takes over.  It's persistent.  It's all consuming.  It stops us from doing great things.  It stops our passion.  What if nobody reads my blog?  What if they think it's stupid?  What if they don't like what I have to say?  What if I fail?

Pay attention to the resistance.  Don't be afraid.  Overcome it.  One success leads to another.  Confidence builds upon itself.  I can do this.  People will read my blog and like it.  This blog is about me.  These are my experiences; my passions.  I don't do a job.  I don't go to work.  I make connections.  I create.  I problem solve and build teams.  I accomplish incredible things.