Well 2012 has certainly gotten off to a bang! It had been a very restful holiday, filled with quiet family time and wonderful visits, gratefully absent of extended interruptions from work. That festive tempo completely changed as the first week of January virtually exploded into action. A mixture of customer meetings, market visits, planning work sessions, and fresh volume targets all conspired to raise the tension level a bit as we dove into a new year. I guess every year starts like this but for some reason, these past two weeks have made quite an impact! As I look at the year ahead, absolutely filled with exciting and challenging new opportunities, there are two words that keep coming to mind as I look over the horizon on the months to come; “Determination” and “Abundance.”
de•ter•mi•na•tion/diˌtərməˈnāSHən/
Noun: 1. Firmness of purpose; resoluteness.
2. The process of establishing something exactly, typically by calculation or research.
This important concept, and some of its derivatives, is front and center in the year ahead. The idea of “firmness of purpose” needs to be the foundation for the 2012. As I think about the getting clear on this idea, I have used a simple three step process that has proved very helpful:
1. “Determine” what winning looks like. Often times we are so busy with the work at hand that it’s easy to forget what we are so busy working towards! What does winning look like for you and your team? How would you measure it, when do you measure it, and how do we know if we’ve won or not? What does winning look like for your company and how closely aligned is that to what winning looks like for you and your team? Being clear on these “winning metrics” is the vital first step.
2. “Determine” your current position. Once you are clear with step 1,”determining’ what winning looks like for you and your team, it is then vital to step back and clarify your current situation. Be harshly candid, using any/all outside resources, to identify your current position in the marketplace vis a vis your goals and your competition. There are times where you can be achieving or exceeding your internal company goals and a competitor is beating you in the competitive landscape. As I mentioned above, be aggressively candid in this step! You will ultimately not be very successful over time if you have a false, limited, or naïve view of your current situation.
3. “Determine” strengths to leverage/gaps to fill. Once the first two steps are accomplished, you should have a clear idea of where you’re going (what winning looks like) and where you are (what is your current position.) If you think about it, you have a pretty good “map’ of the road ahead; now it’s time to work on how to get from “here” to “there.” Everyone, every team, and every business has strengths and too often we begin our work in this are by focusing on the gaps, not the strengths of a person, team, or, business. Start by identifying key, leverageable strengths and work on how best to leverage those strengths in the year ahead. What strengths will most help us win? Which strengths should we leverage first or most in the months ahead? Start with the strengths! Once your strengths are identified, then and only then should you focus on the gaps. What gaps lie in the way of you and your team winning in 2012? What are the top three gaps in your current business situation that if not fixed in the month ahead will most affect (negatively) your ability to win?
By using this simple three step process, you can transform the foundational concept of “Determination: Firmness of Purpose, Resoluteness” into a set of actions that will accelerate success in the year ahead!
a•bun•dance/əˈbəndəns/
Noun: 1. A very large quantity of something.
2. The quantity or amount of something, e.g., a chemical element or an animal or plant species, present in a particular area, volume,...
This second idea, the concept of “Abundance” is primarily a sense of tone, or attitude, for the year ahead. Too often we operate with a spirit of “scarcity” in our personal lives, in the current political campaign, or in our business realities. There’s never enough time, never enough money, never enough jobs, never enough people, never enough data, never enough innovation, etc., etc., etc.; and the litany goes on! You might have heard this over the dining room table at home, or in a management conference call at work. This tone of “scarcity” vs. “abundance” unfortunately permeates so many elements of our lives and in my opinion is a massive DIS-abler! Rather than having a tone of “scarcity” guide the year, it’s my strong encouragement to try a completely opposite approach. We are all so fortunate with having the chance to live in these dynamic and challenging times. I think back to the friends, family members, and work associates that have passed away over the past decade or so and I deeply regret that all of them can’t be here now! Think about your teams, and be energized by the talent and enthusiasm that surrounds you. When I take a moment and reflect on the team of sales, merchandising, marketing, finance, and customer service folks that I work closely with today, I am humbled and appreciative to be part of that group! Just as I encouraged you to be aggressive and candid in your assessment above, do the same here. We are lucky to have a chance to live and work in interesting times, with wonderful people and while we have an infinite inability to affect the past, it’s an honor to have an infinite chance to make tomorrow better than yesterday!
My strong encouragement is to dive into 2012 with full vigor, working on the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead. Leverage the two concepts of “Determination” and “Abundance” in order to set an aggressive plan for the year ahead and an appropriate tone to make that plan a reality!
Monday, January 16, 2012
Friday, December 23, 2011
A Christmas Kindness Remembered
I think I have mentioned in previous essays that I lost my mother, Arline Wark Levisay, when I was a boy of 13. With my son Bryson now that same age, this holiday season has brought back many memories and images of those tough and at times very sad years. My mom passed away in early December 1974 and that first Christmas was an absolute blur. I remember so clearly my father on Christmas morning, so sad, seemingly so lost, trying to pull together some sort of a Christmas morning for his three kids. In hindsight I never gave him enough credit for just enduring the deep sorrow and absolute emptiness that my mother’s passing must have left for him. My father often reads my blog so I will say publicly how deeply I appreciate what you had to go through all those years ago, especially that sad snowy Christmas of 1974.
It was actually a few years later when I was in High School that a wonderful experience happened that I wanted to share today. While I had a number of friends in my school days, there were four of us that were nearly inseparable. Rob, Jimmy, Dave and I were all close pals, and I am proud to say remain so to this day. We all did a lot together, Jimmy and I sang in County Chorus together, Rob and I were 8th grade ping pong champs, and we all spent hours over at Dave’s house, listening to Pittsburgh Pirate games on the radio and playing homerun derby. What’s also unusual is that they all knew my mom before she passed away, a rarity among the friends and acquaintances in my life today.
As I said, we all spent a lot of time over at Dave’s house and were often showered by the kindness of his mom, Mrs. Marjorie Carfang. She always had a kind word, a welcoming smile and we all spent numerous meals at her kitchen counter. It was one of those moments that have come back to me this Christmas season. Jim and Dave are both from devout catholic families, Rob and I the troublesome Protestants in the group. Every Christmas Eve, Dave and Jimmy’s families would celebrate the coming nativity with a meal of the “seven fish.”
The Feast of the Seven Fishes (festa dei sette pesci), celebrated on Christmas Eve, also known as The Vigil (La Vigilia), is believed to have originated in Southern Italy and is not a known tradition in many parts of Italy. Today, it is a feast that typically consists of seven different seafood dishes. However, some Italian American families have been known to celebrate with 9, 11, or 13 different seafood dishes. This celebration commemorates the wait, Vigilia di Natale, for the midnight birth of the baby Jesus.
To me this was an unknown custom, yet exotic and religious all at the same time. One Christmas Eve as a high school junior or senior I found myself back at that familiar kitchen counter. Mrs. Carfang, busy in the kitchen, patiently explained the meaning of this special meal and very kindly let me sample a number of her dishes. While I don’t remember all seven, I do remember sitting at that counter tasting all these different flavors and feeling the warmth, kindness and candidly the love of that wonderful woman.
Well Mrs. Carfang passed away a number of years ago, and it was very important to me to head home for the funeral. I don’t get back to Murrysville Pa. very often, but I try to make it back at least once a year to visit my mother’s grave, and to see Jimmy and Dave who still live in our hometown. It was early last summer that I stopped in for a visit and after visiting Rob’s mom, Jimmy and I went over to see Dave and Mr. Carfang. Dave’s dad still lives in the same home that I remember so fondly and the sight of that old kitchen counter literally brought tears to my eyes. After dinner, we pulled out the lawn chairs and sat outside, drinking Iron City beer (actually IC Light) and listened to a Pirate game on the radio; it was fantastic! After a few drinks, the conversation turned to Mrs. Carfang and it was obvious that Dave’s dad was still deeply mourning her loss. I started talking about how much I loved her cooking and how fondly I remembered sitting in HER kitchen as a boy. Well Mr. Carfang went into the house and brought out a well worn recipe book that was filled with Mrs. Carfang’s recipes. As you can tell by previous essays, I am very partial to the history, memories and love of family recipes. We went through the pages, Mr. Carfang commenting on different recipes and little tricks/secrets that Mrs. Carfang would use. That night I wrote down a number of recipes and I have been recreating them in my own kitchen. In another essay I’ll share her meatball recipe or maybe rice and pea soup recipe, two absolute treasures. What follows though is a dish that Mr. Carfang really enjoyed and he remembered it being served as one of the “Seven Fish” oh so many years ago, enjoy!
Mrs. Carfang’s Tuna Stuffed Peppers
6 green and/or red peppers (tops removed and ALL the seeds and pith removed)
1 6oz. can of Tuna (in olive oil)
¾ cup bread crumbs
1tbsp grated parmesan cheese
1 clove chopped garlic
¼ cup chopped onion
1tbsp chopped Italian parsley
1 tsp oregano
8 oz. cooked eggplant (diced small)
1 egg
½ cup milk
2 cups cooked rice
Salt and pepper
Mix all ingredients, stuff peppers and place in a roasting pan. Sprinkle with olive oil, add your favorite spaghetti sauce (I’ll share Mrs. Carfang’s sauce recipe in a future essay)in the pan and lightly on the peppers, bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Enjoy !
Post script: Just this week I talked to Jimmy on the phone (we talk every week) and asked him for a bit of “Holiday Kindness”. My mother’s grave is close to Mrs. Carfang’s and Jimmy’s Aunt’s graves in a lovely cemetery in Delmont Pa. I am so appreciative that Jimmy is able to stop by the cemetery this week to put some Christmas greens on my mom’s grave, with me thousands of miles away in California. This seemingly small act of “Holiday Kindness” means the world to me, and once again Jimmy, I have you to thank!
This Christmas season, try to remember the kindness that others have shared with you across your life and just like Jimmy, maybe find a way to pass that along to others who could benefit from a kind word, a visit to a cemetery, a generous act, or maybe even a stuffed pepper.
Merry Christmas!
It was actually a few years later when I was in High School that a wonderful experience happened that I wanted to share today. While I had a number of friends in my school days, there were four of us that were nearly inseparable. Rob, Jimmy, Dave and I were all close pals, and I am proud to say remain so to this day. We all did a lot together, Jimmy and I sang in County Chorus together, Rob and I were 8th grade ping pong champs, and we all spent hours over at Dave’s house, listening to Pittsburgh Pirate games on the radio and playing homerun derby. What’s also unusual is that they all knew my mom before she passed away, a rarity among the friends and acquaintances in my life today.
As I said, we all spent a lot of time over at Dave’s house and were often showered by the kindness of his mom, Mrs. Marjorie Carfang. She always had a kind word, a welcoming smile and we all spent numerous meals at her kitchen counter. It was one of those moments that have come back to me this Christmas season. Jim and Dave are both from devout catholic families, Rob and I the troublesome Protestants in the group. Every Christmas Eve, Dave and Jimmy’s families would celebrate the coming nativity with a meal of the “seven fish.”
The Feast of the Seven Fishes (festa dei sette pesci), celebrated on Christmas Eve, also known as The Vigil (La Vigilia), is believed to have originated in Southern Italy and is not a known tradition in many parts of Italy. Today, it is a feast that typically consists of seven different seafood dishes. However, some Italian American families have been known to celebrate with 9, 11, or 13 different seafood dishes. This celebration commemorates the wait, Vigilia di Natale, for the midnight birth of the baby Jesus.
To me this was an unknown custom, yet exotic and religious all at the same time. One Christmas Eve as a high school junior or senior I found myself back at that familiar kitchen counter. Mrs. Carfang, busy in the kitchen, patiently explained the meaning of this special meal and very kindly let me sample a number of her dishes. While I don’t remember all seven, I do remember sitting at that counter tasting all these different flavors and feeling the warmth, kindness and candidly the love of that wonderful woman.
Well Mrs. Carfang passed away a number of years ago, and it was very important to me to head home for the funeral. I don’t get back to Murrysville Pa. very often, but I try to make it back at least once a year to visit my mother’s grave, and to see Jimmy and Dave who still live in our hometown. It was early last summer that I stopped in for a visit and after visiting Rob’s mom, Jimmy and I went over to see Dave and Mr. Carfang. Dave’s dad still lives in the same home that I remember so fondly and the sight of that old kitchen counter literally brought tears to my eyes. After dinner, we pulled out the lawn chairs and sat outside, drinking Iron City beer (actually IC Light) and listened to a Pirate game on the radio; it was fantastic! After a few drinks, the conversation turned to Mrs. Carfang and it was obvious that Dave’s dad was still deeply mourning her loss. I started talking about how much I loved her cooking and how fondly I remembered sitting in HER kitchen as a boy. Well Mr. Carfang went into the house and brought out a well worn recipe book that was filled with Mrs. Carfang’s recipes. As you can tell by previous essays, I am very partial to the history, memories and love of family recipes. We went through the pages, Mr. Carfang commenting on different recipes and little tricks/secrets that Mrs. Carfang would use. That night I wrote down a number of recipes and I have been recreating them in my own kitchen. In another essay I’ll share her meatball recipe or maybe rice and pea soup recipe, two absolute treasures. What follows though is a dish that Mr. Carfang really enjoyed and he remembered it being served as one of the “Seven Fish” oh so many years ago, enjoy!
Mrs. Carfang’s Tuna Stuffed Peppers
6 green and/or red peppers (tops removed and ALL the seeds and pith removed)
1 6oz. can of Tuna (in olive oil)
¾ cup bread crumbs
1tbsp grated parmesan cheese
1 clove chopped garlic
¼ cup chopped onion
1tbsp chopped Italian parsley
1 tsp oregano
8 oz. cooked eggplant (diced small)
1 egg
½ cup milk
2 cups cooked rice
Salt and pepper
Mix all ingredients, stuff peppers and place in a roasting pan. Sprinkle with olive oil, add your favorite spaghetti sauce (I’ll share Mrs. Carfang’s sauce recipe in a future essay)in the pan and lightly on the peppers, bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Enjoy !
Post script: Just this week I talked to Jimmy on the phone (we talk every week) and asked him for a bit of “Holiday Kindness”. My mother’s grave is close to Mrs. Carfang’s and Jimmy’s Aunt’s graves in a lovely cemetery in Delmont Pa. I am so appreciative that Jimmy is able to stop by the cemetery this week to put some Christmas greens on my mom’s grave, with me thousands of miles away in California. This seemingly small act of “Holiday Kindness” means the world to me, and once again Jimmy, I have you to thank!
This Christmas season, try to remember the kindness that others have shared with you across your life and just like Jimmy, maybe find a way to pass that along to others who could benefit from a kind word, a visit to a cemetery, a generous act, or maybe even a stuffed pepper.
Merry Christmas!
Sunday, December 11, 2011
The Road Ahead
Over the past year I have had the pleasure to be part of a number of fiftieth birthday celebrations including my own. For those of us born in 1961, it’s been a year of dinner parties, surprise trips, sometimes small intimate affairs and at times large raucous events. Regardless of the format, this event has typically brought friends together to recount events, reflect on the passing years, to tell stories and on the whole “celebrate” this so-to-speak milestone. It was at one of these recent birthday events that I was reminded of a fundamental lesson of life.
It was the fiftieth birthday of a dear friend, a great guy that I have known since 1979 when I met him as a college freshman. As we started making plans for get away weekend to celebrate the event, we had a late night phone conversation that shed a little light on his mindset. With quiet sincerity, he shared that he felt that more than half his life had probably passed by and what had he really accomplished. He wasn’t sure that his professional accomplishments had fulfilled his youthful potential and all in all, was feeling pretty let down by life. I tried all the obvious angles of response, reminding him of his healthy beautiful children, his successful 20+ year marriage, etc., really to no effect. I am certain that many of us in our “middle years” have probably had some sort of this same type of reflection, this same uncertainty about what we’ve accomplished and what this thing called “life” is all about. Indeed the art and literature over the centuries is filled with humanity’s pondering the infinite question of the meaning of life. (If you haven’t seen Monty Python’s film “The Meaning of Life”, add it to you list immediately!) I am not suggesting that I have uncovered some unique insight to this eternal question, but my friend’s fiftieth did indeed remind me of an important “point of view” on this whole topic. That “point of view” is forward!
As I thought about my friend’s comments/disappointments/frustrations, it struck me that all of it was a reflection on what HAD or HAD NOT occurred to this point in his life. It was all in the past tense, all in reflection, all looking at life through the rear view mirror. None of the perspective was influenced at all by what MAY lie ahead. What challenges/adventures/experiences MIGHT be around the corner of life? What new relationships/friendships/acquaintances may be just around the corner? How can we all so easily fall into the trap that the past is somehow more valid that the future. Both the past and the future are real, both true, both important yet with one major distinction. There is an infinite INABILITY to affect the past, while there is an infinite ABILITY to affect the future! With that “truth” in mind, the future is actually a lot more important than the past. It’s “influencable,” it’s“dreamable,” it’s possible, it’s unfinished, it’s clearly yet to be!
It’s here that I want to reflect on the last few months of my friends Bruce Paynter’s life. I’ve written a number of essays about my time with Bruce, his battle with ALS, the amazing conversations I had with him as he approached his own mortality. One thing that I haven’t shared was his zest for life as his disease progressed. I remember so clearly a day when I was with him at the hospice facility just a few weeks before his passing. Through a bi-pap respirator, he not only wanted me to meet all his nurses and the volunteers, he talked with all of them about the challenges in their lives. He wasn’t some sort of passive depressed patient. Bruce was living, having an impact on the people around him, and building new relationships with a clear sense of his limited time. Writing this with tears in my eyes, I not only miss my friend Bruce but continue to be inspired by him!
We must remember that life is precious and fleeting for all of us. It’s truly a treasure to have a chance to affect the “future” of our lives. Keep my friend Bruce fresh in your mind, chatting up the staff of the hospice facility with little time left in his life. Whether we have weeks, years, or maybe decades to live, let’s all try to push away the rear view mirror and stay focused, engaged and inspired by the road ahead!
post script: in an homage to Bruce's love of music, I needed to include these wonderful lyrics from Neil Young ...
Oh, to live on Sugar Mountain
With the barkers and the colored balloons,
You can't be twenty on Sugar Mountain
Though you're thinking that
You're leaving there too soon,
You're leaving there too soon.
It was the fiftieth birthday of a dear friend, a great guy that I have known since 1979 when I met him as a college freshman. As we started making plans for get away weekend to celebrate the event, we had a late night phone conversation that shed a little light on his mindset. With quiet sincerity, he shared that he felt that more than half his life had probably passed by and what had he really accomplished. He wasn’t sure that his professional accomplishments had fulfilled his youthful potential and all in all, was feeling pretty let down by life. I tried all the obvious angles of response, reminding him of his healthy beautiful children, his successful 20+ year marriage, etc., really to no effect. I am certain that many of us in our “middle years” have probably had some sort of this same type of reflection, this same uncertainty about what we’ve accomplished and what this thing called “life” is all about. Indeed the art and literature over the centuries is filled with humanity’s pondering the infinite question of the meaning of life. (If you haven’t seen Monty Python’s film “The Meaning of Life”, add it to you list immediately!) I am not suggesting that I have uncovered some unique insight to this eternal question, but my friend’s fiftieth did indeed remind me of an important “point of view” on this whole topic. That “point of view” is forward!
As I thought about my friend’s comments/disappointments/frustrations, it struck me that all of it was a reflection on what HAD or HAD NOT occurred to this point in his life. It was all in the past tense, all in reflection, all looking at life through the rear view mirror. None of the perspective was influenced at all by what MAY lie ahead. What challenges/adventures/experiences MIGHT be around the corner of life? What new relationships/friendships/acquaintances may be just around the corner? How can we all so easily fall into the trap that the past is somehow more valid that the future. Both the past and the future are real, both true, both important yet with one major distinction. There is an infinite INABILITY to affect the past, while there is an infinite ABILITY to affect the future! With that “truth” in mind, the future is actually a lot more important than the past. It’s “influencable,” it’s“dreamable,” it’s possible, it’s unfinished, it’s clearly yet to be!
It’s here that I want to reflect on the last few months of my friends Bruce Paynter’s life. I’ve written a number of essays about my time with Bruce, his battle with ALS, the amazing conversations I had with him as he approached his own mortality. One thing that I haven’t shared was his zest for life as his disease progressed. I remember so clearly a day when I was with him at the hospice facility just a few weeks before his passing. Through a bi-pap respirator, he not only wanted me to meet all his nurses and the volunteers, he talked with all of them about the challenges in their lives. He wasn’t some sort of passive depressed patient. Bruce was living, having an impact on the people around him, and building new relationships with a clear sense of his limited time. Writing this with tears in my eyes, I not only miss my friend Bruce but continue to be inspired by him!
We must remember that life is precious and fleeting for all of us. It’s truly a treasure to have a chance to affect the “future” of our lives. Keep my friend Bruce fresh in your mind, chatting up the staff of the hospice facility with little time left in his life. Whether we have weeks, years, or maybe decades to live, let’s all try to push away the rear view mirror and stay focused, engaged and inspired by the road ahead!
post script: in an homage to Bruce's love of music, I needed to include these wonderful lyrics from Neil Young ...
Oh, to live on Sugar Mountain
With the barkers and the colored balloons,
You can't be twenty on Sugar Mountain
Though you're thinking that
You're leaving there too soon,
You're leaving there too soon.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Resiliency & Perseverance
One needs only to reflect on the past few months and years and it will quickly be evident just how challenging the recent past has been. I am not speaking only as a business leader, a father, a husband, or as an American citizen. As a citizen of the world, the past few years have been deeply clouded by global financial instability, numerous wars and acts of terrorism, natural disasters, governmental gridlock; all certainly raising concerns and posing challenges to citizens across the globe. Often the headlines reinforce the sense that these imposing issues/concerns are building and that the mere idea of an optimistic vision or point of view seems naïve and misplaced.
While I am certainly reflecting on broader issues, this sense of relentless challenge is often felt very close to home. Over the past few weeks and months, I have been faced with a growing set of issues and challenges in my work and across my extended family. Even this past week, the resignation of a key work associate rocked me deeply, adding new and more complicated challenges to what has felt like my already “full” plate. With all of these local and global dynamics at play, I have been reminded, inspired, and refreshed by breaking news of Aung San Suu Kyi and the potential for democratic progress in Burma.
Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize winner and leader of the pro-democracy movement in her native Burma has long been imprisoned by the ruling military junta. After winning popular elections in 1990, she has spent the majority of the past 20+ years under house arrest by the Generals who rejected those elections’ results. After being released in recent months, she has accelerated her work for democratic progress and reform in Burma. Earlier this week, it was announced that she and her pro-democracy party would participate in upcoming elections. The BBC commented that “The move follows a number of recent changes inside Burma, including Aung San Suu Kyi’s release and the first elections in two decades, a formal handover of power by the long-standing military junta to a civilian administration and the release of political prisoners.” In an amazing quote from earlier this week she commented that “she did not believe she had suffered unduly, saying: “I find it rather embarrassing when people talk about my sufferings … I am thinking about others who have suffered more. In a situation like ours people have died, and it seems to me that nobody who is still alive has the right to complain.” Absolute inspiration!!!
As I have read these inspiring words and reflected on the dramatic changes ahead for Burma, I am reminded of the two words at the title of this essay, Resiliency and Perseverance. These two ideas are often forgotten in our immediate gratification, instant headline world. Now maybe more than ever, we need to keep these concepts front and center:
Resiliency: an occurrence of rebounding or springing back
Perseverance: Steady persistence in adhering to a course of action, a belief, or a purpose; steadfastness.
Take a moment on reflect on both of these rare characteristics. For Aunt San Sue Kyiv, it is simply amazing to me that after years/decades of house arrest, when released from her “prison” in late 2010, she immediately returns to the work that she had left; the effort to enact democratic reform for Burma. No idea of a sabbatical, or an extended vacation to “recharge” her batteries. In fact, exactly the opposite! It is an inspiring testimony of” resiliency” that this individual, persecuted dramatically and personally for decades, would immediately re-enter the fight upon release. Similarly over the course of the last 20+ years, her focus on democratic reform has never wavered. In moments when she and her party were prohibited to participate in dubious “elections”, in the midst of the ruling military junta cracking down on individual freedoms, and most profoundly during the decades of her imprisonment, her purpose never wavered. This profound “perseverance” continues this week as she has announced her plans to participate in upcoming elections. Truly and inspiring story of “resiliency” and “perseverance” in our time!
As we face the weeks and months ahead I am certain there will be more challenging moments for all of us. Whether from global financial issues, or situations and challenges closer to home, I am certain that we will all find ourselves in moments where hope and optimism seem distant. It’s in these moments that we need to remind ourselves of the amazing and inspiring resiliency and perseverance of Aung San Suu Kyi. Let her endurance and progress be a guide to all of us, and be reminded that the challenges that we are facing today likely pale in comparison to those that she has already overcome.
Friday, October 28, 2011
Ownership, Accountability & Discipline
Over the past few weeks, I have had a number of experiences that have brought the three words of this essay’s title to mind: Ownership, Accountability & Discipline. The events have included a national merchandising conference, our annual industry trade show, numerous customer meetings and two board meetings. While it has certainly been a busy few weeks, it has also been a very successful time that reminded me of the importance of these three concepts. It is my experience that successful professional moments are rarely accidental and unplanned. Rather they are the result of planning, hard work in preparation, focused execution, and the adherence to the following three principles:
Ownership
In any specific situation, imagine an important meeting or a major presentation; it is vital that clear ownership is decided up front. Who “owns” the success of the meeting and who” owns” the executional steps required for success? Too often these decisions are unclear and at times muddled by committees or group-think. Clarity of “ownership” is vital to insure solid execution and ultimately the success of the project or event. In a recent situation during our annual industry trade show, this concept was reinforced anew. In our company, I clearly “owned” the trade show and was viewed by our CEO among others as the point person for all questions/concerns/updates regarding the entire event. As part of the overall 4 day experience, numerous elements of the trade show (i.e. the booth graphics vs. the opening night customer event vs. the customer meeting room) all were lead by others. At times I was tempted to get involved in the decision areas that others “owned”, but I knew that clouding decision “ownership” in this instance would ultimately undermine the success of the overall event.
Accountability
It may seem obvious that if you “own” a decision or a part of a project, then you would automatically be accountable for its complete execution; unfortunately my experiences tell a different story. Too often individuals want the authority of “owning” a certain project or event but they fail to realize that this comes with a price. If you truly “own” a part of a project, then you are “accountable” for insuring its successful execution good or bad! The night before a recent customer meeting it became clear that we needed to revise the presentation significantly and that we needed to find a 24 hour Kinko’s for late night reprinting and rebinding. While it was the last thing I personally wanted to do, I went with our National Sales Director and found the all-night location, worked side by side to revise the deck and ultimately to collate and bind copies. I owned the customer call and I was accountable for its success.
Discipline
Having the “discipline” to insure the complete execution of a project/event is required for ultimate success. Too often I encounter situations where the executional focus is very good for a majority of the project/event, but once success is in sight, too often discipline wanders. I recently had the pleasure to attend a conference that was being lead by two great young leaders in my organization. The conference had gone very well and we had come to the closing evening event. Though nothing dramatically went wrong, the executional focus of both young leaders wandered that evening and we had to do some impromptu contingency planning/execution late that night. We must remember that execution is not complete until all elements of the project/event are complete AND you have had a chance to “debrief” the experience looking for ways to improve execution in the future.
As I said above, I am proud of our execution over the past few weeks and I am confident that those successful moments will be drivers to our future success. Equally I am reminded that we need to refresh ourselves regularly with the concepts of “Ownership, Accountability & Discipline” in order to enhance our execution and thus increase our performance and success in the months and quarters to come.
Ownership
In any specific situation, imagine an important meeting or a major presentation; it is vital that clear ownership is decided up front. Who “owns” the success of the meeting and who” owns” the executional steps required for success? Too often these decisions are unclear and at times muddled by committees or group-think. Clarity of “ownership” is vital to insure solid execution and ultimately the success of the project or event. In a recent situation during our annual industry trade show, this concept was reinforced anew. In our company, I clearly “owned” the trade show and was viewed by our CEO among others as the point person for all questions/concerns/updates regarding the entire event. As part of the overall 4 day experience, numerous elements of the trade show (i.e. the booth graphics vs. the opening night customer event vs. the customer meeting room) all were lead by others. At times I was tempted to get involved in the decision areas that others “owned”, but I knew that clouding decision “ownership” in this instance would ultimately undermine the success of the overall event.
Accountability
It may seem obvious that if you “own” a decision or a part of a project, then you would automatically be accountable for its complete execution; unfortunately my experiences tell a different story. Too often individuals want the authority of “owning” a certain project or event but they fail to realize that this comes with a price. If you truly “own” a part of a project, then you are “accountable” for insuring its successful execution good or bad! The night before a recent customer meeting it became clear that we needed to revise the presentation significantly and that we needed to find a 24 hour Kinko’s for late night reprinting and rebinding. While it was the last thing I personally wanted to do, I went with our National Sales Director and found the all-night location, worked side by side to revise the deck and ultimately to collate and bind copies. I owned the customer call and I was accountable for its success.
Discipline
Having the “discipline” to insure the complete execution of a project/event is required for ultimate success. Too often I encounter situations where the executional focus is very good for a majority of the project/event, but once success is in sight, too often discipline wanders. I recently had the pleasure to attend a conference that was being lead by two great young leaders in my organization. The conference had gone very well and we had come to the closing evening event. Though nothing dramatically went wrong, the executional focus of both young leaders wandered that evening and we had to do some impromptu contingency planning/execution late that night. We must remember that execution is not complete until all elements of the project/event are complete AND you have had a chance to “debrief” the experience looking for ways to improve execution in the future.
As I said above, I am proud of our execution over the past few weeks and I am confident that those successful moments will be drivers to our future success. Equally I am reminded that we need to refresh ourselves regularly with the concepts of “Ownership, Accountability & Discipline” in order to enhance our execution and thus increase our performance and success in the months and quarters to come.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Angel Biscuits
It was a great surprise that my sweet wife had planned for me a few weeks ago. I was told to make it home early afternoon on a recent Friday so we could head out of town on a “getaway” trip. Following direction well, I arrived home on schedule and we drove up into the Smoky Mountains, three or so hours north of Atlanta, to spend the weekend at a wonderfully secluded inn. Jennie and I have been married now more than twenty four years and it’s still such a treat for us to have some time away just for us.
Saturday morning dawned beautiful and cool at the inn and after a delicious breakfast, a plan started to emerge for a morning adventure. As a boy my family and I had spent a few summer vacations at a lodge named Tapoco deep in the smokies. It was a pretty rustic sight, with small cabins, a central dining room, the coldest swimming pool (literally fed by the mountain stream) , shuffle board, etc. The “resort” was owned by my father’s employer, ALCOA, and being an employee allowed him access and discounts for our use as a family. Sitting after breakfast a few weeks ago I got the wild idea to see just how close we were to Tapoco. Using my trusty IPAD, I realized that we were only thirty eight miles away … the morning’s adventure was set!
With box lunches in hand, we headed straight into the mountains on one of the windiest roads I ever experienced. The journey took was gorgeous, dramatic vistas of mountains and lakes, and after almost an hour and a half, we came upon the Tapoco Lodge. Many times in life we go back to try to retrace the paths and memories of our youth, often to great disappointment. Thankfully this trip was the exact opposite. The resort was under new management, the old lodge and the dining room had been refurbished beautifully. The cabins were under renovation and while the pool was closed, the stream still ran down that little valley, still as cold as I remember. It’s important to note that while I am not certain of the dates, I think my last visit to Tapoco was as a boy in the late sixties or early seventies.
I found it very emotionally powerful to walk the grounds, remember the sights and sound of the place now four decades removed. As I walked into the dining room I was blown away not just because it looked the same, it actually smelled the same! That smell brought back instant memories of the delicious meals we shared at long communal tables in this dining room; none stronger than the memory of the delicious biscuits that I enjoyed in this room over forty years ago. A quiet woman’s voice interrupted my “biscuit memories” and asked if I needed any help. Slightly startled, I introduce myself and shared that I had visited Tapoco as a boy and I was blown away by how great it looked. She introduced herself as Ann and shared that she worked at the resort now, and had actually worked there as a teenager back in late sixties. Unbelievable! Here was a woman I had just met whom could have worked in this same dining room when my family and I ate our meals here forty plus years ago. Small world??? I was standing at one end of the dining room talking to Ann and we started to share our memories of our favorite meals for “the old days.” She loved the county ham and the fried chicken, both delicious, but my favorite was the clearly the biscuits. As we compared notes she pointed just over my shoulder and said that it was funny that we were having this conversation “in front of the old recipe box.” I turned and saw the small green “treasure chest” of a recipe box (pictured above.) Unbelievable, there it was, maybe two feet away! Almost shaking, I asked her if it was ok for me to “touch” the box and she said “sure, let’s get it down!” I pulled out the first recipe card and it was “Congealed Beet Salad”, not the top of my memory parade. I glanced at the second recipe and there it was, the jackpot, “Angel Biscuits!” I couldn’t believe it, yellowed, creased, spotted by grease, was the small recipe card bearing the treasure map. I didn’t say anything, eyes filling with tears, when Ann asked if I wanted a copy, “oh my gosh yes” I sputtered and she headed to the resorts’ office.
Angel Biscuits
I share this story and the recipe above as just another reminder of the preciousness of life. Here was an amazing experience that was absolutely unplanned just hours before, that has now become a treasured moment. We always need to find the ability, the time, and the emotional space to be “open” to experiences in our life; whether they are new cultures, new environments or the “Angel Biscuits” from the Tapoco Lodge!
Monday, August 29, 2011
Learn to do two things at once
A number of years ago, I was working for a seasoned leader at Coca-Cola, and a group of us young, relatively inexperienced, managers were all trying to perform well and impress the “big boss.” It was in the context of a staff meeting, one day, that the pressure of the business started to get the best of all of us. We were driving results, expanding the business into new customers and markets, while at the same time working to re-engineer our entire “go to market” approach. It felt to all of us that we were trying to do too much at once, that old adage of” fixing the engines while flying the plane“just didn’t feel very good. In a moment of exasperation, one of my peers (though we all were feeling the same pressure), blurted out “Enough is enough - if we can do only ONE thing, what is that ONE thing that you want us to do???” Without pausing for a breath, our boss calmly commented, “Well, if you can only do ONE thing, then learn to do TWO things at once.”
It almost seemed to not make sense –the ONE thing to do was to learn to do TWO things at once? We all sat there silent and a bit dumbfounded, and instead of blowing up at all of us, our boss shared a few well-chosen kernels of wisdom. First and foremost, he felt that business wasn’t going to get easier and less complex, if anything it was trending to do the opposite. The demands, challenges AND opportunities would certainly multiply, not decline over the years to come. (Indeed, truer words had never been said!) Secondly, now this was before Blackberries/Smartphones/PDAs, he felt that technology was not only accelerating the business around us, but it was also accelerating HOW we did business at that moment. So, the tempo of the work and the amount of communications (voice mails and emails at that time and well before texts, blogs, tweets, facebook, linkedin, etc.) were increasing rapidly. Finally, he shared that the expectations of performance were not only rising every year, driven by the ever increasing demands of a large publically traded company, but the annual “increase of expectations” (think slope of a curve) was steepening. What was a great performance last year would probably be viewed as only acceptable in the next year. To say the least, we were all a bit freaked out at the time, but I remember to this day that moment of epiphany, realizing that accelerating performance and increasing capabilities were both required activities at all times!
I share this story today, because once again, I am faced with this same type of situation. In a very busy work environment, where we are accelerating the business, I am pushing myself and others to not only be focused on driving results of the week, month or quarter, but to be passionate about stepping back to work on the necessary capabilities to improve those results in the future. Capabilities don’t get built on their own! You have to work on it just the same way that you had to work at learning Micro Economics, Calculus, Cost Accounting, or any tough subject from your past.
This year, I have found it helpful to formalize the effort by scheduling a capabilities work session, forcing myself to take my mind off the short term business challenges and to work on the capability needs of our future. My encouragement to you is to use whatever approach works, but insure that you are not tempted to think that focusing on only ONE thing at a time is a good idea. Since that staff meeting more than fifteen years ago, the business world is not simpler, slower, less complicated, less challenging, nor less filled with opportunities. We need to be great at doing two things at once, so we can start working on doing THREE at once!
It almost seemed to not make sense –the ONE thing to do was to learn to do TWO things at once? We all sat there silent and a bit dumbfounded, and instead of blowing up at all of us, our boss shared a few well-chosen kernels of wisdom. First and foremost, he felt that business wasn’t going to get easier and less complex, if anything it was trending to do the opposite. The demands, challenges AND opportunities would certainly multiply, not decline over the years to come. (Indeed, truer words had never been said!) Secondly, now this was before Blackberries/Smartphones/PDAs, he felt that technology was not only accelerating the business around us, but it was also accelerating HOW we did business at that moment. So, the tempo of the work and the amount of communications (voice mails and emails at that time and well before texts, blogs, tweets, facebook, linkedin, etc.) were increasing rapidly. Finally, he shared that the expectations of performance were not only rising every year, driven by the ever increasing demands of a large publically traded company, but the annual “increase of expectations” (think slope of a curve) was steepening. What was a great performance last year would probably be viewed as only acceptable in the next year. To say the least, we were all a bit freaked out at the time, but I remember to this day that moment of epiphany, realizing that accelerating performance and increasing capabilities were both required activities at all times!
I share this story today, because once again, I am faced with this same type of situation. In a very busy work environment, where we are accelerating the business, I am pushing myself and others to not only be focused on driving results of the week, month or quarter, but to be passionate about stepping back to work on the necessary capabilities to improve those results in the future. Capabilities don’t get built on their own! You have to work on it just the same way that you had to work at learning Micro Economics, Calculus, Cost Accounting, or any tough subject from your past.
This year, I have found it helpful to formalize the effort by scheduling a capabilities work session, forcing myself to take my mind off the short term business challenges and to work on the capability needs of our future. My encouragement to you is to use whatever approach works, but insure that you are not tempted to think that focusing on only ONE thing at a time is a good idea. Since that staff meeting more than fifteen years ago, the business world is not simpler, slower, less complicated, less challenging, nor less filled with opportunities. We need to be great at doing two things at once, so we can start working on doing THREE at once!
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