difference maker: two

I've spent a couple of posts now on getting to yes.  I'd like to introduce you to William Ury, the author of the book.  Bill is a master negotiator.  In this TED speech he describes how he feels his ideas can help achieve the lofty goal of creating more peace in the world.  Bill talks about the third side.  When there is conflict there is always a third side that can play a constructive role in resolving disputes.  If you don't have 20 minutes to spare please listen to the first seven, especially how Bill responds to criticism with what I would call a positive no in minute six.

http://www.ted.com William Ury, author of "Getting to Yes," offers an elegant, simple (but not easy) way to create agreement in even the most difficult situations -- from family conflict to, perhaps, the Middle East. TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes.

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

don't be a cog

Today my ten year old son was on a learning website called Study Island. He's a smart kid who's heading into fifth grade and had straight A's in fourth. On Study Island, which is only accessible through schools, he has the high score in the state for one game and several other top 5 scores in other games. Today as he was showing off to me he gave me a disturbing answer to one of my questions. I asked him, "Why don't you start trying out the fifth grade games?" His answer, "Because my teacher told us not to." Wow! Is that what what the public schools are teaching our kids? Don't take initiative. Don't try something that might be difficult. Fear failure. Obey orders. The way I see it our schools are ancient institutions. They were designed to turn people into cogs. If you do what you're told you'll get a good, steady job. The problem is the good, steady jobs are not the same as they were 30, 40 years ago. We don't churn out machinery, parts and other factory items anymore. To succeed today you need to be able to stand out - not blend in. As a manager I will never tell you what not to do. The best people I've worked with always want more. They look for the next challenge and rise above it. If they fail it doesn't stop them. It only makes them want more. Don't be a cog in the system. Be a Linchpin. Stand out!

difference maker: one

I would like to introduce you to Dr. Pawan Sinha. He is an incredible man who is committed to doing and rethinking. This man has climbed Mount Everest - literally and figuratively. Pawan identified a problem. We can all identify problems. Most of us like to point them out to others, and even complain about them to our confidants. But let me ask you, how many of us actually do something about it? It's easy to complain about problems, but it's difficult to do something about them. Dr. Pawan Sinha identified a problem AND he's doing something about it. 30% of the world's blind population reside in India. Many children in India are born with congenital eye problems. Over 50% of these cases are treatable, but much of the population has little access to modern medical care. In response, Pawan created Project Prakash - a humanitarian effort to bring medical care to the treatable blind population in India. Importantly, not only did Pawan decide to do something about the problem he identified, but he challenged the status quo and found holes in Nobel Prize winning science.

Neuroscientists, David Hubel and Torsten Weisel were awarded the Nobel Prize in 1981 for their research into processing in the visual system. Hubel and Weisel contended that the brains of patients who received treatment for blindness past age four or five are not able to process the information being transmitted from the eye to the brain. Pawan poked holes in their science and testing, and added a scientific mission to the humanitarian effort of Project Prakash. Pawan is proving the Nobel Prize winners wrong. Project Prakash is not only providing much needed care to the children of India, but Pawan is breaking ground with research into how the brain's visual system develops.

Pawan Sinha's speech at the TEDIndia conference is nearly 20 minutes long. It's incredibly moving and well worth your time. We all have the capability to make change in our worlds. We may not have the same impact Pawan has made, but there is no reason why we can't change the things around us for the better. Make a difference. Challenge today's notions. Have an impact.

Pawan Sinha is changing the world. What's Stopping You?

http://www.ted.com Pawan Sinha details his groundbreaking research into how the brain's visual system develops. Sinha and his team provide free vision-restoring treatment to children born blind, and then study how their brains learn to interpret visual data. The work offers insights into neuroscience, engineering and even autism.

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.