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go ahead and jump - @ risk you

Although the word risk can carry a negative connotation, one definition, “the variability of return on an investment” ultimately takes on the challenge of reward.

Why risk? watch the video

Each day every one of us has an opportunity to improve as employees, leaders, business owners, parents and partners. We can improve our businesses through sales building and capitalizing on the momentum of communicating with social media. We improve our working environments by continuing to manage our own personal development, the development of our teams, or the strengthening of the core of our business. And we can improve our interpersonal skills by listening actively and not only asking questions, but also asking the right questions.

However, none of this comes without first taking risk.

What type of investment are we willing to make and how tolerant are we to the variables in the results? Improvements in our personal and professional performance, both incremental and monumental come only after we have evaluated the risk and then we act on it. I am sure that you will find, as I often have, that the rewards often outweigh the hurdles – but you first have to jump the hurdles.

“It doesn’t’ work to leap a twenty-foot chasm in two ten-foot jumps.” ~American proverb

Each day, we are asked to jump. But before you do you should consider these three points:


1.    Know where the ground is before you leap. Anticipate and forecast the landing to the best of your ability. As leaders, whether you are a new leader or just starting a business, there is often a need to take just jump. But if you don’t know where you are going to land with some level of surety, well, just think Thelma and Louise.
2.    Understand your tolerance. Understand your tolerance for risk and your customer’s tolerance. If you’re an entrepreneur there are many levels of risk; as a people manager in a corporate setting there is a risk level associated with what you oversee and it extends to your personal life and ultimately to what you put your customer through. But if you don’t know what you can take, it will take you.
3.    If you miss the hurdle, don’t lower the bar, reassess the jump. Too many times people will see a failure as a loss as opposed to an opportunity to learn and measure a way to prevent it from happening again. And if you lower the bar, it’s like being the tallest short guy in the room. Don’t shortchange yourself,

Leap and make it count. So what risks are you going to take today?

listen. learn. share. repeat.™

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discovery of 'raplexity' era – 10 points to dealing with complexity & speed

I have had the good fortune to meet and work with Warren Bennis. He has authored over twenty-five bestselling books, a distinguished professor at the Leadership Institutes at USC and MIT. He is considered one of the great management thought leaders of our time.

In Bennis’ book, Old Dog’s, New Tricks, Bennis coins the word raplexity to signify organizations and individuals who have to deal with the rapidity and complexity of change.

He mentions several things: organizations better adapt to advanced technology and learn from it every day; Generation Y and Generation X were raised on technology and companies need to take advantage of it; and lastly among many of his points he notes leaders are going to have to be comfortable with technology but at the same time probably even more hands-on in the future.

All of this was said even before we even heard the words social media, much less Facebook, Twitter, Bebo, Ning, et al. I believe very strongly that effective leaders and business owners will have to manage their high tech businesses with a more heightened awareness of the high touch needs of their consumers and employees.

Let me give you some examples in 10 simple points of what organizations can do to cope with raplexity:

1.    Keep learning. Send people to best courses; allow them access to real time learning online during the workday; make sure the training is relevant and applied to the job. It may be as complex as CPA study courses, or leadership mentoring development or as simple as basic training around basic communication skills like “look people in the eye when you ask a question, always be prepared, and never let them see you sweat…”
2.    Make changes needed to make it easy for people to grow. Why in the world would you send a changed person into an unchanged world? I have experienced before many times this statement – “Well, I went to that corporate course before too, but that’s not how things work in the real world, so go put your workbook and get back to work.” An organization, individual, and a system are doomed.
3.    Start coaching or find one. Identify people who are good coaches and mentors in your business or find them outside of your business. But get guidance for the people that need it.
4.    Make it okay to tell the truth. As an organization (or individual) you have to be able to allow your coach or mentor who supply you with feedback to speak with honest power. If they hold back because “You can’t handle the truth,” well… re-read number two.
5.    Reward the straight shooting cowboy. The major reason people don’t speak the truth to people in power is that they are afraid that the messenger will be shot. An organization that plans to move with speed and with speed with others better be ready for feedback.
6.    Provide diverse experiences within the organization. Some of the brightest and most successful leaders worked across an organization in many roles before they took on major leadership roles. This allowed them to have a multi-angled view.
7.    Give people stretch assignments. Most people will be hesitant to take on those assignments because they fear that if there is a failure it’s banishment to Siberia or worse. Think about it, if people are still struggling looking you in the eye when asking a question, they are not jumping at the chance for big risk. Show there is reward.
8.    Keep people surprised. Keep everyone in the organization with their eyes and ears open and alert to what is going on around them. Some of the best ideas or solutions come from keen awareness – make improvisation a controlled yet freeing environment.
9.    Make sure your business is visible. Even in the worst times as a business or an individual, hiding keeps doesn’t propel you forward it takes you backwards and in some cases the questions come as to whether your even have a business or still work at your company.
10.    Reward all attributes of leadership. Whether it is the hard driving and tough, or able to show empathy as needed. Both types of these leadership traits are what are needed in the future.


High touch in high tech.

listen. learn. share. repeat.™

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"a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.…"

Okay, so it was supposed to be a nasty day today. I decided to hunker down and flip between basketball and the Star Wars Trilogy. Yes that Star Wars.

I really just watched one of them. Don’t ask me which one, I get very confused because of the whole sequel/prequel thing. But hey, it wasn’t that bad. In fact I learned a thing or two from that little guy Yoda and thought I should share that with you.

“Do or do not. There is not trying.” ~Yoda

Action and leadership are about doing. Getting it done. Making it happen. Effort with results.

What are you doing?

listen. learn. share. repeat.™

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get your thinking cap on

A little philosophy, logic, and science - ahh Saturday.

I came across a quote from Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947) and thought it was pretty cool and wanted to know more about Mr. Whitehead so I did some digging. Okay, so I get cerebral like that sometimes.

Whitehead, an Englishman, was a mathematician and philosopher. He graduated Trinity College, Cambridge back in 1884. He remained at Trinity as a lecturer in mathematics until 1911.

YOU STILL WITH ME?

At the University of London, Whitehead became a lecturer in applied mathematics and mechanics, and professor of progressive mathematics.The dude had a thing for MATH! From 1924 onward, he was professor of philosophy at Harvard.

Whitehead’s distinction comes from his contributions to mathematics (imagine) and logic (imagine x 2), the philosophy of science and metaphysics. Whitehead is often cited as one of the few thinkers capable of challenging Einsteins’s Theory of Relativity and a consummate observer of human action through the lense of applied science.

“The art of progress is to preserve order amid change and to preserve change amid order.” ~Alfred North Whitehead

In your business – whether you are just starting, a manager with experience or an entrepreneur shouldering many things – your responsibilities as leaders call upon you to be a guide for all times.

Be progressive.

Learn something new. It could come from just about anywhere – just put your thinking cap on.

listen. learn. share. repeat™

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poor poor pitiful me

“I don’t think of myself as a poor deprived ghetto girl who made good. I think of myself as somebody who from an early as knew I was responsible for myself and I had to make good.” ~ Oprah Winfrey

We have all heard it over and over, excuse after poor excuse for poor or bad behavior, for not being responsible, not succeeding. Heck, for not even trying.

There are many variations on the theme: “If it weren’t for the people I had to work with.” If it weren’t for the economy my new biz would be…” “My boss keeps holding me back.” “They don’t get how things have changed.” “How can I get ahead with so much/many against me?”

I could go on, so could you, but central to the message is one thing: “I am not taking responsibility or accountability.”

The ultimate meaning of this abdication of responsibility, is an unadorned excuse for the choices made or not made, actions taken or not taken, blaming anything but one’s self for the failures of our personal leadership and the leadership of others – and the subsequent poor outcomes in our lives.

Act as if you are the victim and you become one. Then guess what happens, that victimization contaminates workplaces, our relationships, and any leadership or partnerships offered.

Eat fatty foods and gain too much weight? Sue the manufacturers. Invest willingly in a high-risk investment and lose money? Sue the investment bank. Make a decision that turns out poorly? Blame the people who implemented it, or the people who advised you with the information you asked for, or anything else but your own judgment.

So how do you stop the cycle and take responsibility and become accountable for your actions and the outcome?

1.    Accept it right now, that you are not something or someone that events happens to. You can control to the best of your abilities the outcome when you happen to take control of the event. Might not always end up the way you want to. But that’s called response-ability.
2.    Wrestle the bear to the ground before the bear makes you ride the unicycle. You can see the bear at the circus (workplace/your business) and you know his tricks. But before you let them over take you, you have to be accountable to yourself and manage the situation. Otherwise you are nothing but another dancing bear, riding the unicycle round and round the center ring – and you only have yourself to blame.
3.    Learn to count. When you take control and own your actions and the outcomes, you are accountable. You become more receptive to the wins and the losses – but the wins will happen much more often and be much more sweet. And the losses just become another reason to fight the bear responsibly.

At the end of the day accountability should sound like this: Eat fatty foods and gain too much weight? Get off the couch and get to the gym or walk, see your doctor or something. You do it. No one else will.

listen. learn. share. repeat.™

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why even bother?

Why even bother asking a leader the question if I already know the answer? Or I know I will be rejected? Or if I know that I will not be taken seriously or get an “audience”?

The answer is all of these things are most certainly going to happen if you are setting yourself up for these outcomes with your initial mindset from the start. Half of what you achieve or accomplish is pre-programmed by what you believe you can achieve.

We have the neurological capabilities to self-sabotage our “missions” by the way we mentally approach any task.

So if you think you already know what the answer to any question will be, you most certainly won’t prepare yourself for the answer you want. And you won’t be prepared to ask for what you want in a productive, quantifiable or sensible way. And you certainly won’t be able to state your position with conviction, because you already don’t believe in the outcome - so how will you convince others. And besides, in all likelihood you have convinced yourself you will be rejected. Not because your idea or question or motive isn’t sound, but because your own personal belief isn’t solid.

My grandmother has always taught me very profound lessons in very simple ways. So from time to time I write about her wisdom and its impact on me. One of the things I remember her saying to me is that “everyone that is so serious, can’t be serious can they?”

Here’s what I take away from that statement – you can have passion and focus. You can have drive and ambition. You can be serious in your purpose, but if you take yourself too seriously, you become less “authentic” and your approach may be seen as posturing versus positioning. Posturing means to adopt a certain attitude as to impress or mislead and positioning refers to a person’s particular point of view or behavioral attitude toward something. How would you rather be perceived by your audience – as a seriously misleading poser or a person who positions their points of view seriously?

^{Understanding the nuances} is what gets you ahead. And that’s why you bother trying, because once you know what you want and can understand the perceptions of your delivery, you get what you know you are looking for. 

listen. learn. share. repeat.™

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challenge me, come on

I posted a challenge for you to put together a list of 3 thought leaders you would get to know better or talk to.

Send me your list, and we will randomly draw a name on April 6, and that person will receive a gift certificate to Threadless.com

Take your time and give it good thought. It will be interesting to see what we get...

listen. learn. share. repeat.™

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they said what? wednesday 3.25.09

It’s Wednesday and and YES it’s time to answer some of your questions. Remember we will answer your questions that you send in via email or upload on video every Wednesday. And if I don’t have the answer, we’ll find someone who does. Another strong variety of questions as seems to be the trend.

So, if you missed this week, you have another week to round up some questions. 

Congrats to all of you for stepping out and expanding your personal social network and knowledge base.

Next challenge: name top 3 thought leaders you would like to meet or talk to?

listen. learn. share. repeat.™

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ford motor company sponsors The Go-Giver Tour

We couldn't be more excited to share the news. Ford Motor Company has generously agree to sponsor the traveling young entrepreneurs and emerging leaders traveling to see Bob Burg, co-author of The Go-Giver and Extreme Business Makeover conference in Orlando in April. With many campus visits and Tweet-ups scheduled along the way, Ford just made the ride another jump up another notch on the adventure scale.

listen.learn. share. repeat.™

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do unto others

How do you explain to an 8 year-old why there is someone asking for money holding a sign that says ‘Homeless, need money, will work for food’, yet you continue driving past them with your windows rolled up, avoiding eye contact - giving them nothing? Well it happened while driving with my niece a while back and we came to an intersection of a busy highway.

I first tried to explain the plight of the homeless. Not registering. I tried to explain the dismantling of much of the mental healthcare systems in many large cities. Still nothing. Just a blank stare, from the toe-headed blond, with ice-blue eyes. I even tried the “sometimes people just can’t find jobs and this is how they earn a living.” So she asked quite simply, “then why didn’t you give her money?”

Why didn’t I? I knew the woman was desperate for something, in need of help in some way. What kept me from reaching into my pocket or my change drawer and handing over ‘something’? I realized my historical biases about how one gets ahead and how one survives the world had kept me from practicing the simple acts that I espouse to others as important skills in providing leadership:

•    Empathy to the person you are relating to and their situation.
•    Make decisions only after you have facts then make them swiftly.
•    Service trumps everything.
•    Lead first.

I know that in some way I thought at that moment, by not handing that woman money, I was not going to contribute to the ongoing cyclical decline of the poor, the homeless, the addicted and afflicted, and instead I was going to force change by not contributing. Quite the leader I was at that moment, and it took an 8 year-old to open my eyes to my hypocrisy.

So later, as we sat chatting while enjoying our chicken nuggets, the subject wouldn’t go away. I think the subject never really will go away. But because the concept that someone would not have a place to sleep or food to eat or a place to work is so foreign to my niece, the subject became even more important to her.

So I did what any good adult would do and asked the kid – what do you think we should do? And she decided that I should always have water in car, in case someone was thirsty. And for me to give them my business card to them and give them a job so they could afford an apartment.

Out of the mouths of babes.

So today I carry a couple of extra bottles of water in my car. I hand out the business cards of a local shelter and a job training and rehabilitation center that also provides emergency funds for crisis situations. I realize it is only a stopgap. But it is a start, and it is not a handout, it is a direction. Maybe it’s my direction. Watch the video and see.

Will work for food.

What are you working for?

Lead first.

listen. learn. share. repeat.™

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