Resetting - I Hope

I don't think I'm alone with this thought...I think this "event" we are going through will cause a great resetting of things.  I was talking to my wife yesterday and said that I hope one of the silver linings coming from the coronavirus fight is that we realize that the rat race we were running isn't necessary.  I hope we realize/notice that we can get a lot done and have a lot of success without running ourselves ragged, without ignoring our families and without having a life.

This is a tragedy on many levels. I hope that we at least learn something from it.

#WEREMEMBER

Mining Gold

I want to tell you a little story I heard the other day.  

Back over 100 years ago a reporter asked Andrew Carnegie – one of the first industrialist our country ever produced.

“You have 43 millionaires working for you.  How did you attract 43 millionaires?”

Carnegie replied, “They were not millionaires before they worked for me.” 

The other man said, “Wow! Well how in the devil did you develop 43 individuals in such a way that allowed them to become millionaires?”

Carnegie stated that you develop people the same way you mine for gold.

You move loads and loads of dirt to get to the gold.

You also must remember when mining for gold that you are not looking for the dirt – you are focused on finding the gold!

Everyone on our team has gold within them.  There may be a lot of dirt in the way of the gold but it’s there.  It is easy to get distracted by the dirt but if we focus on that dirt where is the benefit?  Where is the benefit to the team and where is the benefit to the individual?  There isn’t one.  However, if we focus on the gold and what it will take to get to it, well…there’s a lot of benefits there! 

Develop people the way you mine for gold.

Losing Andrew Carnegie - Seth Godin

I love Seth Godin.  I have read a few of his books, follow him on twitter and read his blog.  Below is a blog post of his from years ago that I love and it's extremely relevant now...

From Seth Godin’s blog…

Losing Andrew Carnegie

Carnegie apparently said, "Take away my people, but leave my factories and soon grass will grow on the factory floors......Take away my factories, but leave my people and soon we will have a new and better factory."

Is there a typical large corporation working today that still believes this?

Most organizations now have it backwards. The factory, the infrastructure, the systems, the patents, the process, the manual... that's king. In fact, shareholders demand it.

It turns out that success is coming from the atypical organizations, the ones that can get back to embracing irreplaceable people, the linchpins, the ones that make a difference. Anything else can be replicated cheaper by someone else.

(http://sethgodin.typepad.com/)

Structure = Freedom

I had a boss that used to say this a lot

Structure = Freedom

I always understood what he was saying but it has never been more obvious as during this time of quarantine and being newly retired.

OMG!

At first it was great. I was "retired" for about two weeks before the quarantine started and the kids were dismissed from school.  Those two weeks had no structure as I was just taking it easy catching up on sleep and Netflix.  It was very relaxing and enjoyable.

Then we quarantined.

And I made the mistake of not putting a tight structure in place.  I decided to let the kids have a good time for a little while.  Yes, they had to do their school work but as long as they got some done everyday it was ok.

Now after 4 plus weeks of no structure I feel like mush (plus I've gained 10 pounds so I really am a little mushy!)

I realize that for a productive life some sort of structure must be in place.  For myself, I have to get up like I used to - shower, shave, put on decent clothes, eat my normal breakfast and start doing some "work."  For my kids we'll implement a standard time to get up, regular breakfast, school work time, chores (a little 😀) etc.  Then play time/free time after that!

You've heard "With Freedom Comes Responsibility"

I say, quoting my former boss, "With Structure Comes Freedom!"

Teacher Parade!

My girls school, Blandford Elementary, had a "car parade" through our neighborhood today.

It was GREAT!

The teachers decorated their cars and came through waving, beeping their horns, yelling at their students - in a good way - who stood on the side of the streets.  My kids loved it as did the other kids in the neighborhood.  It was a great way for the students and the teachers to remain engaged while we are going through "social distancing."

This was a fantastic way to Drive to Happiness, Success, Engagement - you choose your word!

Just one of the cars in the parade...

Deposits and Withdrawals

If you have been in a leadership position hopefully you have heard about the concept of deposits and withdrawals.  You must deposit, invest, into your team before you can make any withdrawals - asking for things back from them just as you would do with your bank account.
 I would say that you must make numerous deposits before making any withdrawals.  In fact the more you deposit and invest the less you will ever have to withdrawal and when you do these withdrawals become very easy to do.
I have experienced this in the past from my own supervisors.

I had one who from day one of meeting him he approached me in a way that made me feel appreciated.  He would ask my advice about things in my department - even when he knew the answers (but I didn't know it at the time) - and he would simply talk to me like I mattered.  And he did this on a daily basis.  This allowed him to ask me for things that other supervisors wouldn't have been able to ask.  In fact, many times he wouldn't even have to ask.  Because he invested so heavily in me and others around me the need for withdrawals was tiny.  We gave the extra effort without being asked.  We identified issues before they ever reached this supervisor.  We took care of him.

I had another supervisor that from day one she was the opposite.  Instead of asking for my advice or opinion she just barked policy and compliance.  She would point out opportunities and started her withdrawals from me and those around me.  We complied but because there were no previous deposits from her we quickly ran out of that discretionary effort that makes things flow smoothly.  Now, we didn't do anything that was detrimental to the business but this supervisor never got the very best from anyone and she couldn't understand why.

So...as leaders we must make our deposits into our teams.  Deposit and invest so much that we all become billionaires!  Then, when the inevitable withdrawals have to come they seem like a drop in the bucket compared to the deposits.

Write Everyday

I was watching a movie the other day about Zig Ziglar (Zig: You Were Born to Win) and Seth Godin was being interviewed and one thing he said is to blog everyday...that's what he wants to do.  He stated that by doing so you will have many bad blog posts but you will also be improving everyday and at the end of the day have hundreds and hundreds of posts with hundreds of excellent posts.

You build on your "failures"

Dave Ramsey, in the same movie, told a story about the garbage you have to produce in order to be a success and, if you keep going, the mountain you are standing on at the end of the day is built by the garbage.  This also keeps you humble because you can always look down and see the garbage!

So...write everyday

This is advice I am going to follow starting today

Brusha, Brusha, Brusha...

At what age do you decide that your child is old enough to brush their own teeth?  To brush them well...not just to wet the brush, put some toothpaste on it and run it around their little mouths for a second or two but to really brush them properly.

Every kid is different

Every parent teaches differently

Why am I asking this today?  As leaders we have to determine when those in our charge are ready to do things by themselves.

How do you determine when your folks are ready?

March 4th

Today is March 4, 2020

The date is also giving us our marching orders in life

March forth

Keep marching toward your dreams

Keep marching toward your goals

Keep marching...and see what happens!

March 4th