Good morning, Team! It’s Friday!

No one has been able to predict the future. Nostradamus had a pretty good record for those willing to give license to his poetry but a little digging debunks any myths around real accuracy.

So as we wander through our life, we can’t predict what will happen to us no matter how much we want things to stay the same, or change…If things are good, we long for consistency and continuation. If things are bad, we pray for positive change.

We certainly live in interesting times where the stories of someone working in the same job at the same company their entire career is more rare than ever. Whether challenge or opportunity, change and ensuing disruption seems to be the only constant.

Heraclitus said, “No man steps into the same river twice, for it’s not the same river, and he’s not the same man.”

If someone moved your cheese, are you continually scampering back to where it was or are you charging forward looking for more?

As we consider what made for more might mean in this context:

•Is it a longer day, looking harder for what used to be (i.e. your old block of cheese)?

•Is it a dramatic change of pace where you have higher impact on more people, an increase in influence?

•Is it doing something that resonates so deeply that no matter the amount of time or degree of influence associated, it feels like this is what you were made to do, with more personal significance?

The older I get, the stronger the feeling that everyone has high potential. We are all made for more. You can’t expect to reach your goals and aspirations without being pushed, pulled, scared, coerced or whatever event might serve as the catalyst to get you to realize your full potential.

We are all made for more. To be bigger and better than what we were (or are). It might look like a promotion or it could be a layoff. Regardless, change is inevitable, you can’t predict the timing and how you react is the only thing in your control.

Have a blessed weekend!

Eric

Good evening, Team! It’s Saturday!

Pardon the late post, I did not prepare well enough for a Friday morning blast.

Anne and I have a few places we go to enjoy time together. There’s a little steak place that has a terrific vegetarian menu (if you know to ask for it) that we enjoy going to maybe once every three to four months. The happy hour on the weekend suits us well. The chill in the air, a booth for just us, some soup and our selection…and we are set!

What we enjoy most about this place is not the well-made drinks or the presentation, temperature or taste of their outstanding food…it’s the customer service.  It’s an experience with a lingering feeling. We are made to feel special in anticipation, while we are there and after we leave. Today, I tried to show some appreciation beyond a promise of a return visit. Our waitress, Pascal, was delighted when I called her by her name. The manager with a stylish shave head was a bit surprised when I showed more enthusiasm than he did, and he’s high energy, and shook his hand while reassuring him how good of a job he’s doing.

What I took away from this enjoyable respite from the chill, the wind and the crowds was a full stomach, a full heart and a bunch of questions:

•“How do we show up?” 

•“What can I share with my coworkers, business partners, and colleagues that might get them more engaged, more aware and more excited about how we leave our customers feeling?”

•”Is doing a good job enough?”

•”This place has competition with more name recognition, more experienced staff, a fancier menu – but we haven’t been there in a long time. Why not?”

Customer service.

I will be thinking of ways we can make our customers feel like they’ve had a positive experience. As a colleague shared recently as we spent time in a booth at a local conference, “We want them to like us!” It never hurts to have that brought to the top of mind.

Have a blessed weekend!

Eric

Good morning, Team! It’s Friday!

The concept of Rocks has been around for decades. Sermons, Stephen Covey, Gino Wickman have all made the concept more prevalent. Namely, How do I prioritize my life; work, family, personal…and all of the subsets of issues underneath?

In Stephen Covey’s framework, “Rocks” represent the most important priorities or goals — the key tasks that truly matter in achieving long-term success and alignment with your values. Covey illustrates that if you fill your schedule (the “jar”) with small, less meaningful activities first (“sand” or “pebbles”), there’s no room left for the “big rocks.” By focusing on Rocks first — the vital, high-impact activities — you ensure that what matters most gets done, and everything else fits around it or falls away.

Sometimes we learn more from what not to do. Here’s my story:

I lived in a small community for 16 years where my children’s mother was raised, we raised our children there and her parents lived there as well. Tragedy struck … we learned that my mother-in-law’s beloved brother was brutally murdered in Montana. She called early one morning, after she heard from the investigating Sheriff, and I answered. It was heartbreaking. 

That same morning I was supposed to meet a significant client at a predetermined location to ride together for an electric cooperative meeting in St Cloud, Minnesota. Neither of us had a cell phone and he was assuredly on the road by the time I got the call from my distraught mother-in-law. 

You see where this going?

I should have stayed home and consoled my wife at the time, my mother-in-law, my children and demonstrated concern with my actions, not just empathic words. This was a huge Rock and I was not prepared for it.

Instead, I drove to the meet-up site, a little late, and focused on work on a day that family was clearly the priority.

Identify and prioritize rocks at home, at work, for yourself. It’s the best way to find balance, be successful and live with less regret.

Have a blessed weekend!

Eric

Good morning, Team! It’s Friday!

Excerpt from a new TV series I started watching, two tough guys meet three new tough guys and while they are all standing around sizing up their perceived competition, an even tougher gal walks by and says …”Don’t worry, boys, you’re all equally pretty”

I laughed out loud!

None of those boys were pretty. Literal interpretation aside, the wisdom came from the passerby unloading the sprinter van with a meaning behind the comment, something like…”You all have talents. This ain’t no beauty pageant, we have work to do so stop wasting your time gawking at each other.” 

Straight and to the point. I like it.

Everyone is born with talents and everyone, with very few exceptions, wants to do a good job, make their family proud, and feel good about their contributions…equally pretty.

I believe it is a leader’s job to help others reach their potential. Placing focus on what they are good at rather than spending an inordinate amount of time on their areas of improvement, previously known as weaknesses.

A leader has the job of helping those they are responsible for, to identify the nexus of their talents and their interests, then shape and hone and test and teach until the student grasps the vision of what could be … and self-perpetuates.

No one is identical, but that doesn’t mean that everyone is without the potential to be great at something.

Have a blessed weekend!

Eric

Good morning, Team! It’s Friday!

I was fortunate to spend some time with family in the LA area recently. One of our stops was to grab a bite while grandson was at a friend’s birthday party. We visited a restaurant in a very nice resort. On our way out of the resort we took a moonlit path back to the car. When I looked back on our light source…I saw this.

My travels took part of a day Friday to get there and I worked on the plane. I left Monday and went straight to the city I was visiting that week. While I missed spending time with Anne who couldn’t join, I did not regret the time away in order to see family. It had been over a year since I spent time with them in their home. Calls, texts, emails and FaceTime may help bridge the gaps but they don’t replace the hugs or the one-on-one conversations during a grocery run or a stop on a bike ride or over a meal by the ocean.

I have not been as good at prioritizing family as I should. I love them all and care for them deeply. My focus and prioritization from a very early age was spent on being a provider. Dad and the family business needed me to be a steady hand, always on call, like a fireman. That mode of operation easily transitioned to a young family while going through college. Once graduated, starting the new job…and so on. I had been categorically programmed to be a provider first, and hope that family understood my absenteeism from sports and other social events was ultimately for them. 

What an elaborate story I had authored, maybe inspired by Dad’s prompting of what was most important. He had it wrong. He did the best he could with what he knew at the time, no doubt. But there were other ways to grow up, to be raised, to learn by example how to raise the next generation.

What is the leadership lesson this week, extracted from an old cats-in-the-cradle cliche’? 

You have the ability to change things at any point in your life. The single biggest barrier to change is the story you tell yourself; the justification, the excuses. Instead, you could spend some time reflecting, reprogramming and reclaiming the life you’ve sacrificed. It ain’t over ‘til it’s over.

Make the call

Plan the trip

Take the time

Train your successors so you can step away without affecting the business’ success.

Have a blessed weekend!

Eric

Good morning, Team! It’s Friday!

I was walking through the Denver airport earlier this week and saw a t-shirt that read Lions not lambs.

It caught my eye.

I didn’t stop the traveler to get his opinion, for all I know he got the shirt as a gift, but the statement infers:

• Bold, not passive or silent
• Courage, not cowardice
• Standing firm instead of being easily misled or deceived
• Leading with strength, not just following blindly

The part that gives me pause is this one-sided argument might be enticing to some but it doesn’t read quite right.

It should be Lions and Lambs. Not as provocative, but certainly more practical.

If we view things from a leadership perspective, a biblical perspective or from a sustainability perspective, you can’t be highly effective most of the time if you lean to one strength in every situation. A one trick pony is rather … predictable … and therefore easy to manipulate.

• Shouldn’t we blend courage with compassion?
• What of humility?

A good leader can toggle and a great leader transitions in a genuine and earnest way.  A leader’s leader can do both at the same time. Most people, regardless of age or degree of success, like to search out and push boundaries. You must demonstrate what those are. Then, when the boundaries are known to be firm, the testing slows and an expectation of kindness and benevolence emerges. Once you exhibit both Lion and Lamb, the relationship can and often does mature.

If you don’t have both tools on the belt, get cracking. You’ll need them both, and once familiar, you’ll be able to transition between them with ease or exercise them simultaneously without losing credibility.

Have a blessed weekend!

Eric

Good morning, Team! It’s Friday 

I was having a conversation this morning with Anne about the little things; getting up early, squeezing in a small workout as compared to skipping it altogether, carving out a few minutes to enjoy the pool and hot tub before it closes for the season. She used the term “butterfly effect” and while I’d heard it, I had to google it to make sure I knew what it meant.

Then my brain went to, how does that impact things in the workplace, for leaders, for commerce, for … whatever?

Have you ever noticed how some days everything is a little bit off? You got to bed late, hit the snooze in the morning, spill your coffee, only half a bowl of cereal left and no time for eggs and toast…you get the gist. It trickles to work-you miss a meeting, piss off your boss, drop your computer and think to yourself, I should have stayed in bed today.

Now let’s look at the positive side. You take the time to greet a coworker, show genuine interest, share a story or a recipe or a book you just read. You make a small investment in someone and demonstrate you care. They in turn share the story, make the dish, or read the book and increase their knowledge, their circle of trusted friends or their joy. Lather, rinse, repeat. Every day just a little bit better.

You have the power to influence positive outcomes. No matter how insignificant it seems at the time, it does make a difference.

Have a blessed weekend!

Eric

Good morning, Team! It’s Friday!

Last Saturday, Anne had a bridal shower to attend. I had a free afternoon and was encouraged to do something for myself. I could golf, I could take a spin on the motorcycle, get a workout in or just hang out on the patio. Instead, I sent a text to my youngest to ask if he needed a hand with anything.

We agreed on a time and I buzzed over to help him assemble a she shed for his older daughter. We made it to step 21 of 83 in the time allotted. Instead of pushing for a couple more steps, Zach had the maturity to say, “Let’s put down the tools and go spend some time with the family.” Every parent hopes their kid ends up better than they were. I am fortunate to say I have three, and they all get it way better than the old man could have dreamed of or hoped for.

We headed inside, beckoned the dog who was sun bathing while we were assembling, closed the garage door and paid attention to the reason behind the effort. Youngest just woke up from a nap and I got to read a few different stories as she helped me turn pages, 14 at a time. It was glorious.

Shortly after, we toured the patio project with older daughter, checked out the volunteer squash plant and made our way to the neighbors swing set. Also glorious.

I chose to be a reader, not a golfer, not a biker, not a muscle head and not a bum. I chose to be a builder of things, a listener to my son’s challenges and aspirations, thinly veiled by assembling the most complicated project imaginable. I chose to be Dad and Pa Pa. 

I’ve been a striver for 60 years and my latest lesson came from one of my children whose time together I sacrificed far too often for a project, a client, a work trip or conference.

This is not a note of regret or I was such a dumbass story. It’s a never too late to choose a better path story. Success is fleeting and an angry task master that will leave you burned out and bitter. 

Have a blessed weekend and make time for your loved ones the entire journey, not just at the end.

Eric

Good morning, Team! It’s Friday!

I’m not talking about horse poop today, but I was encouraged by others to use better visual aids, so here you go.

We often hear the phrase when something bad or unexpected happens.

•Not too many years ago, the exclamation came from a source who typically didn’t swear or get excited about … anything. Unfortunately, the person Bob intended as his replacement had been heavily recruited, well compensated and groomed, just resigned … and those were the only words he could muster in the moment.

•I just learned of a close neighbor whose husband has been in the practice of saving lives through surgery his entire career and she was diagnosed with breast cancer. The mammogram showing no issues was completed two months ago. Victoria has a PET (Positron Emission Tomography) scan scheduled this week to get a better idea of how fast and far it has spread and they are in good spirits, considering the shitty news.

•I joined a reunion last week with a group of men whose leader is retiring after impacting others for decades. We shared stories of how Fred had given time, attention, patience and encouragement. We were all thankful to know him and disappointed to learn he was becoming inactive.

I make a concerted effort to avoid Awwwww shit moments., like most of us do.

I am planful, most every day.

I am deliberate, in my choices, words and actions.

I am humbled, by the stories and experiences that reaffirm we are definitely not in charge.

We don’t always get it right when we choose our successor. We don’t always avoid health problems, no matter the effort to live our best life. We don’t get to choose how long someone might be in our lives. We don’t chart our own course, no matter the amount of effort we spend navigating.

OK Lord. What’s next?

Have a blessed weekend!

Stay nimble. Keep the faith!

Eric