Month: May 2017

leadership dot #1815: extras

May 21, 2017May 12, 2017by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

A great coupon enticed me to drive through and try Popeye’s chicken. I ordered the snack pack: two pieces of chicken and a biscuit.

What I received was two pieces of chicken and a biscuit – AND grape jelly, strawberry jelly, two packets of ketchup, honey, butter, two packets of hot sauce, a fork and two napkins.

I am sure it is good practice to have all these condiments available, but it seems like a big waste to distribute them in every bag. Couldn’t they have first asked if I wanted any of them (just the napkins, please)?

From a cost perspective as well as an environmental one, sometimes more is too much. Bend over backwards to offer your customers what they want, and even prompt them to see if there is something they may not have considered. But to give without want is just wasteful.

leadership dot #1814: let it go

May 20, 2017May 12, 2017by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

At a recent garage sale, the women who were doing the selling decided that they would rather be in their boat on the river instead of at home conducting the sale. So they took a few items inside the house, left all the clothes outside, posted a sign — and left.

The sign said: “Everything 25 cents. Pay the Bratman” (the guy selling brats at his sale next door).

Good for them! You need to decide what is important in your life and let the rest go. For them, being on the river superseded the desire to make money at home.

Where in your life can you post an equivalent sign and let something go?

leadership dot #1813: months ahead

May 19, 2017May 12, 2017by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

Months ago, I put a date on the calendar to visit some dear friends in Texas. It was a trip coordinated with another friend to meet there – something we have been talking about doing for years, but finally did.

Also this month, I took a day to drive three hours to meet other friends for lunch. It, too, was something that we wanted to do for ages, but finally made it a reality with a specific date. This also was planned months ago.

If you asked me now whether I had time for either visit, I would have given you a resounding no. Had I not been in Texas, I wouldn’t have been home either. My trip overlaps with a work assignment where it would be much more helpful if I had been able to be elsewhere. My day-with-friends required several late nights of working to compensate for the lost time.

Yet I am so glad that I made time for both trips. They were of the “important, but not urgent” variety that Stephen Covey describes – things that are most often neglected in favor of the demands of the day.

If you have something really important that you want to do, make a specific date far into the future. Your calendar is likely to be freer, and the length of time you hold the date increases the difficulty in cancelling it. Make “someday” a specific day and enjoy the fruits your planning will bring.

leadership dot #1812: stagger

May 18, 2017May 12, 2017by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

I read a post on Facebook about a lesson that choir members follow. Lori Ahl Cartwright posted:

“Sometimes in band or choir, music requires players or singers to hold a note longer than they can actually hold a note. In those cases, we were taught to mindfully stagger when we took a breath so the sound appeared uninterrupted. Everyone got to breathe, and the music stayed strong and vibrant.”

Cartwright went on to use this as an analogy for keeping up the political resistance and not becoming fatigued. She encouraged readers to take a breath and then rejoin so others can breath, allowing the group to sustain a song for a longer period.

While her advice is certainly applicable, the music analogy is not limited to political movements. Think about how your chorus needs to tend for each other to sustain the whole over long periods. Colleagues can relieve each other during a push on a major project. Families and family can tend to each other during periods of a new baby or extended illness. Teammates can relieve each other during games.

We don’t need to do everything alone. Let the choir back you up instead of insisting on being a soloist.

Lori Ahl Cartwright, February 10, 2017

leadership dot #1811: specialize

May 17, 2017May 12, 2017by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

I was recently offered a free document: “30 Successful Online Business Ideas.” I accepted, thinking that I may glean some information that could help me with leadership dots. What I received was a listing of current online businesses, curated to show the wide variety of niches an independent person can establish to hang their virtual shingle.

Companies currently exist in these narrow fields:
> Training cats to use the toilet
> Reviews on high quality wristwatches
> Training parrots
> Gaining 20 pounds of muscle as a skinny guy
> Style advice for men
> Ex-pickup artist teaches how to connect better with women

It reminded me of an article I read many years ago about the importance of being a specialist rather than a generalist. Dale Dauten shared the story of a photographer who was hired by National Geographic because he was “getting really interested in cannibalistic butterflies.” It seems that everyone else came in with pretty pictures of animals and an interest to do anything outdoors. Nothing made them stand out.

Dauten concludes: “The exciting job doesn’t go to the person asking for something interesting, but to the person offering something interesting.”

Whether you are an entrepreneur, solopreneur or work for an organization – how can you offer something that makes you stand out?

How cannibalistic butterflies can eat up a job search by Dale Dauten, St. Louis Post Dispatch, February 23, 2008

leadership dot #1810: garnish

May 16, 2017May 12, 2017by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

A menu item included a description of a salad: organic chicken, mixed greens, walnuts, dried cranberries, Gorgonzola cheese, sliced apples – and multigrain bread. It sounded delicious!

When it arrived, I laughed out loud because the “multigrain bread” was one oversized crouton, nothing more than a garnish. It would have been dwarfed by a pat of butter!

The salad, service and atmosphere were otherwise stellar. Why did they over promise on such a minor detail?

Think about the descriptions you provide of your products or services. Is there some aspect where you unintentionally exaggerate? Have your offerings evolved but your narrative hasn’t? Align your customer’s expectations with reality and leave the embellishments off the menu.

leadership dot #1809: over time

May 15, 2017May 12, 2017by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

The residence hall experience is often overlooked in alumni tributes which tend to focus instead on sports achievements or academic accomplishments. But last week, I was at Bradley University where their fancy new alumni center contains a display about the evolving nature of residence halls rooms over the decades. Anyone who has ever lived on campus knows that students bring their personalities with them to college and that their rooms become a symbol of the times.

In miniature, Bradley captured these cultural statements and showed their progression from the 1940s to the present. Not only does the technology increase over time, but the amount of “stuff” multiplies as well. In 1940, there was not much more than beds and desks. Now, there are entertainment centers with giant HD televisions and X-boxes along with lofts, exercise balls, and Nutribullets for the morning smoothies.

In one wall, Bradley captures the school spirit and character of students over the course of nearly a century. It is a powerful visual that shows the subtlety of change from one decade to the next, but the enormity of it over the course of time.

Think about how your organization can capture one small element and illustrate its impact on a timeline. It can evoke great nostalgia, but also pride in what has become. Dorothy said: “ there’s place like home.” How nice when you can see “home” as you remember it at that moment in time and still feel like you’re at home in the present day.

leadership dot #1808: Fr. Leopold

May 14, 2017May 12, 2017by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

I thought I had seen Legos for everything, but then I went to my nephew’s First Communion. It was something that looked like it could have come from Spencer Gifts instead of the religious products store, but he received a Lego kit just for the occasion.

Father Leopold Celebrates Mass is an actual kit, not made by Legos but a generic version of the same thing. It comes with the appropriate bricks to make an altar, lectern, gift table and tabernacle. Fr. Leopold has an assortment of vestments in different colors, bottles of wine, a missal and even hosts.

Even more over-the-top is that you can also buy matching thank you notes. What could be better for an 8-year old First Communicant?

Someone with a creative mind put together Legos and First Communion and is making money on the idea. [They probably were wondering what to buy for a boy when the only thing ever on his wish list is Lego kits!]

Great ideas are often the combination of two ordinary things, paired together in a new way. How can you connect the dots differently today to make something new?

leadership dot #1807: in a box

May 13, 2017May 12, 2017by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

The ubiquitous way of serving food at our State Fair is “on a stick” with everything from salad to pork chops to fried Twinkies being offered in a portable format. It makes it much easier to grab ‘n go with little thought involved.

That same idea has evolved to packaging. Everything now seems to be available “in a box.” You can receive boxes of healthy snacks, pet treats, jewelry, clothing, ingredients to prepare a meal – all with items pre-selected for you and designed to open and go.

The latest incarnation of this that I came across offers an event-in-a-box. Campus activities program boards can order a kit with all the educational programming they need to “sponsor” an event. You open the box and it has instant materials for you, such as promoting sun awareness for a Fry Day. (see picture below)

Like with Legos and everything else, I lament the loss of creativity that is supplanted by all these kits. Where is the role for imagination when all you do is open and go? Where do young people learn resourcefulness to gather the necessary materials on their own? What happens when there is no one around to prepare a kit and they need to create their own fun?

There are times when having something pre-prepared is a handy time saver. Just think outside the box more than you reach for what’s in it.

leadership dot #1806: counting

May 12, 2017May 11, 2017by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

I guess Mormon pioneer William Clayton was bored as he crossed the Plains in a covered wagon in 1847. It was during his journey that he invented the odometer. It may not sound like a sexy invention, but “previous to this, mileage was calculated by counting the revolutions of a rag tied to the spoke of a wagon wheel.”

Think of the advantages the odometer had over the manual counting of a rag’s rotations! The odometer allowed for standardization of units and use, greater accuracy in map-making and directions, measurements that ultimately lead to GPS and has become the universal mechanism for recording mileage in vehicles.

I doubt Clayton thought of these implications 170 years ago today when he released his new tool, but his invention lives on and is in use in almost every vehicle on the road today.

What problem or inefficiency do you see that you could improve? What seemingly minor contribution can you make that could actually turn out to have far greater reach? How can you see something with new eyes? I’m counting on you to be like William Clayton and make a little piece of your world better today.

* Source: Chase’s Calendar of Events: Anniversary of Odometer Invented, May 12, 1847.