Month: December 2012

#193 doing it for love

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Last week at a concert, guitarist James Hersch related the story of how one of his former teachers (Mr. Brown) told students “what the world needs out of you is what your heart loves best.”  This led James to pursue a career that combines music, storytelling, inter-generational contacts and service.  James now passes along this wisdom to a generation of students as they wrestle with alignment of interests and vocational choice.

It is a similar line of thinking as the Hedgehog Concept in Jim Collins’ brilliant book Good to Great.  With the alignment of what you are deeply passionate about, what drives your economic engine and what you can be the best in the world at — the intersection of these three conditions form a focus that allows for extraordinary success.

What a great thought — that what matters most in pursuing our career is what matters most to us.  So often the pay scale, job title or even just an employment vacancy coerce us into accepting a position for all the wrong reasons.  We can also be seduced into staying in a job because it is easier than risking a new career path or trying to find another job that makes our heart sing.

Find some time in the hustle and bustle of this season to pause and reflect on what your heart loves best.  Then commit to giving it as a gift to yourself in the coming new year by incorporating it into your life’s work — existing job or new, hobby or paid position — but in one way or another aligning your love and your life.

— beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
leadershipdots@gmail.com


#192 crystal balls

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It was ironic that yesterday’s blog was about surprise.  I think most people where I live woke up to a surprise yesterday — a couple inches of the first snow.  The morning paper read:  “little or new accumulation here.”  The day before they predicted “snow flurries” for today.  They were wrong.

I wonder if the meteorologists woke up to a surprise too.  Did they go to bed thinking there would only be a dusting and wake up with a gasp as I did upon seeing the winter wonderland?  Think of how many times the actual weather wasn’t what you were expecting; does the same happen to them?  Do they keep a secret tally of how many forecasts they got right and how many times they missed?

We spend a lot of time and energy on weather forecasts and in the end we always get what Mother Nature wants instead of what the meteorologists predict.  Some of us also spend a lot of time on sales forecasting, stock market predictions, construction time/cost estimations and the like.  For any activity that involves gazing into that proverbial crystal ball, know that the images there are fuzzy.  Don’t have a false sense of security or certainty based upon a prediction.  Remain flexible enough to handle things when reality and guessing don’t match.

— beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
leadershipdots@gmail.com


#191 surprise

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The notion of “surprise” is top of mind lately as we have been going through a round of interviews for our chief financial officer position.  All of the candidates have asked what it is like working for our boss, and one of the first responses my colleagues give is that she does not like surprises. 

Surprises often infer unhappy surprises — learning that something bad has happened or a crisis has emerged.  Why don’t we think of surprises as being good things — we had more people come than expected; a donor made a large contribution or a customer a large purchase; revenue was up; someone wrote an unsolicited testimonial; a project was approved when we did not expect it to be; a grant was funded; your true love unexpectedly popped the question.

When we experience no surprises, I suspect it is because we aren’t taking enough risks or generating enough initiatives.  Change is replete with elements of surprise — some not so good, of course, but not all surprises mean negative things.  Take steps in your work to ensure that catastrophic elements are minimized or eliminated to the extent that is possible. I also encourage you to develop a comfort level with the unknown.

Yes, you want to be informed about what may be coming down the pike so you can prepare as much as possible.  Just remember that good things may pop around the corner too.

— beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
leadershipdots@gmail.com





#190 go green

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It’s a December Saturday and many will be heading out to do their holiday shopping.  When Santa’s elves check their lists, chances are good that a gift card will be among the purchases.  According to research conducted by the Plastic Jungle*, the market for gift cards in the U.S. is a staggering $90 billion annually!  


A Consumer Insights study** reports that the average value of the cards is $42, meaning that approximately 2,142,857,142 of the non-recyclable plastic things hit U.S. landfills every year.  (Assuming that they are all redeemed which about 10% aren’t.***)  I cringe when I think of how many iTunes cards alone will ride on Santa’s sleigh.  

As if the traditional use of cards isn’t enough, Target has recently started a practice of offering $5 Target gift cards with the purchase of two of selected items.  So another landfill-bound piece of plastic is produced instead of just offering an immediate five dollar discount or sale price.  Sure the gift card is designed as an incentive for people to come back, but what Target shopper doesn’t routinely shop there?  You can bet that the company is counting on you to lose/forget/fail to use the gift card that they baited you into through your initial double purchase.

So this holiday season, I encourage you to go green — literally.  Whenever possible, give the universal gift card; it’s called cash.  Cash may not be as sexy or feel as acceptable as a cute little gift card, but it is the ultimate in reusable and recyclable.  It works in any store.  It deposits in any bank account.  It allows people to shop around and find the best deal instead of being locked into one store.  You can bet that cash doesn’t remain unused in a drawer or wallet.  Likely it isn’t lost either.  Minimize the plastic-mania and tie a greenback around a sprig of holly.  Trust me, they’ll love it as much as any piece of plastic.

— beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
leadershipdots@gmail.com
* news.cnet.com  January 24, 2011  Study: Americans sitting on $30 billion in unused gift cards by Daniel Terdiman
***Time.com  January 9, 2012  Billions Wasted by Brad Tuttle




#189 infamy

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Today is the anniversary of the day that will “live in infamy” as so proclaimed by President Roosevelt.  I was at the Pacific National Memorial on this date 44 years after the Pearl Harbor attack.  To walk across the submerged USS Arizona and to know that the souls of many crew members remain there is a profoundly moving and memorable experience.  I believe the National Park Service has done a commendable job of conveying the horror of the day’s events as well as the heroics that occurred.  Anyone who has actually been there will recall memories every year on this date.

But for most Americans, the day that will “live in infamy” is just another date on the calendar.  The attack happened over 70 years ago, long before most living people were born.  Those who were alive in 1941 could tell you where they were when they heard the news and it often brings back vivid emotions.  But a declining number know that today is Pearl Harbor Day, and even fewer know what events the day triggered.  

You can already see the diminishing impact of 9-11; only a decade later it becomes more like a regular day with each passing year.  Unless you live in Oklahoma, you likely can’t tell me the date of the Murrah Federal Building bombing (4-19-95) even though it was the largest act of terrorism on the mainland before September 11.

There are some events and days that should live in infamy.  National tragedies to be sure,  but on a more micro-level there are dates that are organizationally or personally significant and should be commemorated each year.  Think about the dates on your timeline — which ones deserve annual acknowledgement?  Help your relatives and colleagues and neighbors hear the stories about these days, feel the emotions and know the significance of the dates that altered the events after them.

— beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
leadershipdots@gmail.com








#188 the rhythm of traditions

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Today is St. Nicholas’ feast day.  When I was a kid, we set a pair of shoes out on the steps and then “magically” St. Nick came to fill them with tangerines and mixed nuts in their shells.  It was a tradition that officially started the holiday season at our house.

The holidays are full of traditions, each as individual as the family who hosts them.  They act as a type of pillar that delineates the passing of the year and anchors us to the past with a sense of comfort.  When every year we do this it gives a sense of simultaneous stability and anticipation.

Families aren’t the only ones who can create traditions and pillar events.  Organizations can start, foster and renew pillar events for their groups and employees.  There is so much new in organizational life, that having an annual holiday tradition or events that occur during the year provide a rhythm for those who work there.  Could you be counted on to bring in sandwiches for an impromptu picnic on the first warm spring day?  Buy ice cream the first time the temperature hits 90?  Have an annual office pool for when the first inch of snow will fly?  Wear those gosh-awful holiday sweaters for an annual photo (and post a gallery to show how staff change over the years)?  Celebrate your founder’s birthday?  Recognize National Take-Your-Dog-to-Work Day (June 21)?  The list is endless.

Don’t let your work and routine revolve around externally imposed deadlines. Add some traditional pillars to keep the morale energy flowing and to create momentum of your own.

— beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
leadershipdots@gmail.com




#187 united

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I saw the movie Lincoln for the first time over the weekend, and I am sure it will not be my last.  You know the story before you go, but Spielberg does an excellent job of showing the tensions on both sides of the 13th Amendment issue and on resolution of the Civil War.

After watching the movie, I appreciated democracy maybe more than I ever have before.  Lincoln depended on Congressional leaders of his day to cross party lines and abolish slavery, a practice that was deeply emotional and directly tied to commerce.  I contrast that with the partisan stubbornness of the current Congress and their inability to put the good of the nation at the forefront.  I have no doubt that if today’s media were present in 1865, the amendment would have been labeled a “fiscal cliff” and leaders would have been more hesitant to express their true voice amidst the media hype.  

In addition to the slavery issue was the reuniting of the nation after the bitter war.  Over 600,000 lives were lost and entire cities were burned to the ground.  Most of the casualties were men and boys whose labor would have been directed to help with the restoration of the country.  In the movie, Lincoln tells Ulysses S. Grant to tell the Southern soldiers to “return home” after the surrender, but for many on both sides there was no home to return to.

Yet, somehow, the country came together, the cities were rebuilt and “government of the people, by the people, for the people [did] not perish from the earth.”  The movie should be mandatory viewing for everyone in any organization today.  It is a testament to the power of a compelling vision that transcends any one person.  

— beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
leadershipdots@gmail.com



#186 the key

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For the first time since I was a teenager, I don’t have a key to 937 Superior Street on my keyring.  No more mothballs (see #74) or hangars (see #97) — my Mom’s house (aka where my dad spent his entire life and I lived until college — the house that has been in our family for three generations) has been sold.

For the most part, this is a very good thing.  Still, it is weird to think that someone else will be moving in there.  I know every nook and cranny of that place.  The secret rock that hid the key; the rafters of the garage; the “cubby hole” storage space under the steps; the secret door that disguised the fuse box in the basement.  Now, someone else will be in on my secrets and even create their own.

I see parallels between the new family moving in the house and the new employees joining our staff.  They catch on quickly to the layout and the obvious things, but it takes some time or one of us to show them the next layer of the place.  They will recognize some flaws that had become so much a part of the environment that I failed to see them any more, and they will make some cosmetic changes of their own.  We will keep the same foundation and, for now, the same walls, but it won’t be the same home.  Hopefully in the end it will be better; just as our organization will be better for having the new staff among us — even if they do want to redecorate with vibrant new colors.

All the memories from the past can live between your ears and don’t need to literally exist between the walls.  The key to moving out or having others move in is to embrace the potential both bring. 

— beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
leadershipdots@gmail.com


#185 final

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I am a big college basketball fan and enjoyed watching Coach Rick Majerus throughout the seasons.  He was a very large and colorful man, and sadly, he passed away on Saturday.

What I remember most about Coach Majerus was when he took his Utah team to the Final Four in 1998.  A reporter asked him what was the best part about being in the Final Four and his answer always stuck with me: “a parking place.”  Huh?  Turns out that Rick had a propensity to illegally park right outside the door of the Utah arena.  Throughout the years, as the chief of security was writing parking tickets, he had jokingly told Majerus that he could legally park there if he made it to the Final Four.  So, for the coach, the best part about the Final Four experience was the reward (and likely gloating rights) that came from cashing in on the chief’s promise.

To me, it is just another example of how people value different things and are motivated by different rewards.  Set the goal high, promise the parking place and be happy when you have to deliver it.

— beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
leadershipdots@gmail.com


#184 the old way

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As a journalism major, I still subscribe to the daily newspaper and relish the content it provides.  Sunday mornings spent reading my phone or iPad just don’t have the cache that comes with the newspaper and breakfast.  

But I am surprised that USA Today and most major newspapers still dedicate a full page (or more) to listing the daily New York Stock Exchange daily stock values.  This seems so antiquated.  Do people really still care about yesterday’s stock information when the current values can be texted to their phone (even by USA Today)?  The one line of quote isn’t enhanced by being in print — as is a feature story, photographs, etc. — it’s the same High, Low, Last, Change line in either format.

I guess it is an indication that some things have lasting value and everything doesn’t have to be modernized.  The trick for your organization is knowing which things are which.  It pays to ask before you decide for others what is important.

— beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
leadershipdots@gmail.com