The Fire Within

If you are a runner, you know what a finishing kick is. For those of us who don't run it is the extra burst as you are nearing the end of the race. Timing it right is key because if you go too early you expend all of your energy before you get across the finish line. Start too late and you have untapped resources and probably didn't finish as well as you could have. When you have a project or an assignment due, there is often a push at the end. If things didn't go well in the other parts of the project we think we can just sprint our way till the end. The deadline is fast approaching so we try to kick things into a higher gear. If you are trying to figure out how to do things at the end, you are probably too late, and certainly not conditioned for what is to come. There is a balance and planning that is needed. So many things in our life can be considered a race, and any race has three key components: Start - You want to get out to a fast start. Any journey begins wi...

Everyone talks about the million dollar idea. That spark of ingenuity that creates something incredible. A work of art that others talk about. The tweet that goes viral. The best seller in the sea of infinite choices. Most of us sit around and wait for inspiration to strike, to have an idea hit us that nobody has thought of and have the ability to turn it into something. Unfortunately that is why so many people in the world spend their days unfulfilled, hoping for a spark. We have a lot of people that are stuck in a routine of doing the same thing, day after day, because someone said that is the way it is done. Change, growth, art and advancements come from new ideas and fresh thinking. Sometimes to find quality ideas you have to go through a large quantity of ideas. Look at some of the best known creators in history: Shakespeare produced 37 plays and 154 sonnets in a span of 20 years Mozart composed more than 600 pieces before he died at age 35 Picasso's work includes mor...

Actions speak louder than words. A famous quote that everyone has probably heard. Yes, it means don't talk about what you are going to do, actually do it. It also means, in another cliched saying, if you are going to talk the talk you better be ready to walk the walk. If you are going to have policies, values, mission statements, handbooks and core beliefs, you better be ready to actually hold them to be true. If you don't, the people you lead will quickly see through you and begin taking the things you say as empty promises. It will be hard for them to believe anything you say. What is the truth and what is just another story you tell them? You can't use your policies as a reason to fire the employee that doesn't contribute, yet ignore them and make an exception for your superstar. There is no quicker way to lose the respect of those around you. Once you've lost their respect it is hard to get the best effort from them and sooner or later you start losing team me...

It is easy to see a successful company and have the urge to be like them. You want to implement similar processes, adopt their culture, and share their vision. That rarely works. Your organization is different and needs to come up with its own values, vision and structure. Interestingly enough, what you pick for your culture has less to do with how good your culture is and is more about if everyone in the organization believes in it. For anything to succeed, it doesn't really matter what you pick, it matters that everyone is in agreement and does everything in their individual power to help support it. The people that don't care about or don't agree with your organizations culture, vision or values won't do a lot to make it work. If you are stuck in a row boat in the middle of a lake, how quickly you get to the shore has little to do with which direction you choose to row in. It has everything to do with everyone in the boat rowing together.

Steve Jobs didn't invent the smartphone. Bill Gates didn't invent the operating system with a GUI. Henry Ford didn't invent the automobile. Being first, or inventing the idea doesn't automatically guarantee that you are going to be the one remembered forever. Archie was the first Internet search engine that few people actually know about without Googling "first Internet search engine". So often we want to be the inventor, coming up with something that hasn't been seen before. In our jobs we want to be the person that solves the problem nobody else has. To be remembered as coming up with the process that fixes our issues. Greatness is usually not found in the invention, instead it is found in the daily grind. It is about finding a better way to do something that already exists like what Henry Ford did with the Model T, making the process more efficient and far less expensive. Or it is about taking your creation and making sure every day you continue to ...

In my last post I talked about our responsibility in making sure our message is understood. To change our presentation to make sure everyone gets the message. But that is only when your message isn't understood. If the message is clear then it changes to make sure everyone has taken it into their hearts and minds. That they live it out every day. Think of a company that tries to drive home their core values or a parent that tries to reinforce family rules. The best way to do that is to keep the words the same. To be a broken record. Get it to the point that they sing your message like the song you can't get out of your head.

It is that time of year again, when people start making many goals and resolutions for what they want to get done in 2018. Most are lost or forgotten before January is over. We make it so complicated that it is impossible to remember them all and achieve them throughout the year. A couple of years ago I came across the idea of One Word to define a theme for an entire year for you to focus on. A single word that becomes a focal point. I've done it for the last couple of years and it is so easy to remember, so simple to focus on and definitely life changing. In 2016 my word was Move, in 2017 it was Fire. I'm still working on what that word will be for 2018 but it has me anticipating what a great year 2018 will be. When you look to 2018, I would encourage you to find your One Word. A word to have Courage, Passion, Love or Joy. A word to help you Encourage, Listen, Focus or simply cause a Ruckus. Great things are ahead for you in the new year. There is much that you are meant to...

I've started setting a reading goal each year, to motivate me to pick away at the stacks of books I want to read. My goal for 2017 was 18 books either about business and leadership or walking out my Christian Faith better. I'm not sure I'll get another one done for the year so here are the final results: When I look back through the titles I read I can recall nuggets I pulled from each and how they altered something in me, helping to continually mold me, hopefully into a better person. It gets me excited for 2018 and some of the titles I have lined up. Most people I talk to say they aren't readers, they don't have the time or other reasons that I don't buy. If you read 10 pages a day you can make it through 300 pages in a month, that is the vast majority of books you would probably pick up. That will take you between 10-20 minutes a day (depending on font and page size). Spend less time in front of a screen and pick up a book instead. If you aren't su...

There are times when it is a good thing to change, the old ways just don't work anymore. Too often though we are quick to change without an idea of where we want to go. We try to copy others that we think are successful, if it worked for them it should work for me. Waffling from one thing to another. The football coach that can't decide if they are going to be a run first or pass heavy offense. The manager that changes between the charismatic "I want to be your friend" and the task driven "this is the job we need to get done." The basketball coach switching between the fast break, high scoring team and the half court, defensive minded team. The teacher that sometimes runs their classroom as very structured and other times opens it up and lets the kids learn what they want to. All of these people are basically saying they don't know who they are. You are never going to succeed if you try to copy others and keep changing things.  Who are you? ...

We've all heard that we need to be ourselves. God only made one you so be the best one you can be. Part of needing to understand who we are is being comfortable in who we are, but also consistent. Don't be the person who doesn't know who they are so they either copy others trying to do what they think is right, or they are they are Jekyll and Hyde. Being inconsistent is one of the cruelest things we can do to another person. If you let someone get away with something one day and bring the hammer down as hard as possible the next all you are doing is teaching people to be afraid of you. The fear and apprehension is very real because they are not sure who you are going to be. If you want to be a good manager, parent or leader, be consistent.