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Crescendo

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Good morning, Team!  It’s Friday!
I’ve been navigating through this mid-life … contemplation (crisis too common, dramatic and overused a term).  I’m not a very emotional animal, my self-confidence is in tact (some would suggest too strong) and I’m no longer in “early middle age”.  I’m somewhere beyond center of that metric.
What do I plan to do with the rest of my life, leveraging what experience and wisdom I’ve accumulated?
I recently read some hokum article regarding the average age when people stop working “extra hard”, classified as more than 50 hours a week.  No surprise that the demographics polled showed the younger people happened to be, the earlier age they considered was THE age to slowdown.  Millennials thought 50 was the age you should slow down but boomers thought the age was closer to 60 and retirement had a similar spread.
What does this mean for me?
Every situation is unique.  Some have saved enough early to retire or redefine what a work day looked like at a tender age rather than having social security define their cool down date.  I just spoke to Carole this past weekend about a couple of her family friends, one who is still singing professionally regularly and another still hauling gravel 6 days a week, both well into their 80’s!
So here are three examples of historic figures who reached their prime at the end of their life, not in the middle.
•Charles Flint orchestrated the consolidation of three companies into the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company in 1911 at the age of 61; the company became known as International Business Machines in 1924.  Flint stayed on the board of IBM, retiring in 1930 when he was 81.
•Peter Drucker lived to be just shy of 96 years of age and worked for over 70 years defining modern management.  He wrote 39 books and contributed to the Wall Street Journal for over 10 years and contributed regularly to Harvard Business Review and The Economist.
•Anna Mary Robertson-Grandma Moses began her painting career at age 75 when she couldn’t do needlepoint any more.  Instead of retiring, she took up painting and by the time she hit age 101 she’d painted over 1600 pieces!
Each example appears to have lived their lives in crescendo, getting louder and louder as they aged rather than going quietly into the night.
If I got serious about how much, how hard or how long I “had” to work, I could probably eke out a living without being gainfully employed from now until my ticker stopped.  The quality would suffer but not from whether I had three squares a day or if I had to sleep in a tent…it would suffer because I wouldn’t be maximizing my purpose.  God designed me to fix and solve and reconcile, no matter the stage, the tools or the timeframe.
Yet again I am reminded of the poem “Invictus” by William Ernest Henley
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find me, unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

Indeed.
Have a blessed weekend!

Breakfast

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Good morning, Team!  It’s Friday!
I’m guessing you’ve heard the quote credited to athlete Martina Navratilova “The difference between involvement and commitment is like ham and eggs.  The chicken is involved; the pig is committed.”
So are you a chicken or a pig?
Here are a few examples from history for your consideration:
•Abraham Lincoln started his political career on March 9, 1832 and between then and March 4, 1861 when he took the oath of office as sixteenth president of the United States of America, he suffered multiple election losses; 8/6/1832, 12/3/1838, and 2/8/1855.  We all know that he went on to change the face of history, define what it means to be committed to an idea to make this country better with no easy victories along the way.
•Roald Amundsen, arctic explorer, reached the South Pole on December 14, 1911 with methodical, disciplined consistency.  He followed the famed 20 mile march.  Each day, despite perfect or poor conditions, 20 miles each day until the goal was reached.  The approach compares to his prime competitor, Robert Scott, who perished along with his four men on their 700 mile return.  A commitment to an approach yielded success and survivability.
•Thomas Edison’s business suffered a fire in 1941 that burned ten of his buildings costing him approximately $23 Million (today’s dollars) in losses that the insurance company only covered about a third of.  A significant setback could have been, and often is, the end of prominent businesses but not to a committed soul.  He said, ”There is great value in disaster.  All our mistakes are burned up.  Thank God we can start anew.”  With a loan from Henry Ford he was back up and running three weeks later.
Quitting, changing course, even slowing down are not options for the committed.   There is only picking one self up when knocked down by public sentiment, relentless weather, chemical fire or any number of various obstacles this world throws at each of us…daily.
Have a blessed weekend!  Stay committed.
Oink, oink

Missing the point

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administration american flag country daylight

Photo by Brett Sayles on Pexels.com

Good morning, Team!  It’s Friday!
(Note: for all the ultra literal reading this post the second I publish it and saying, No, it’s Thursday night!  Allow me to explain my thinking…
I enjoy the tag line from (the former) Paul Harvey’s morning radio show even though I have a Team, he had America’s ear.
If I set a standard to publish “by Friday morning” I will catch my friends in Cincinnati when they wake up at 4 am ET, my esteemed former colleagues in all time zones, my friends, family and coworkers on the day and it will be there Saturday morning when my siblings catch up.  It’s meant to provoke thought and carry you across the finish line Friday and into the weekend.)
So I’m watching a few minutes of “No Reservation”-Bourdain stuff and he’s in the Caribbean.  He said something like if you’re rushing around trying to do this or that, than you’re missing the point.  In other words, you’re in the Caribbean, enjoy the relaxation, the food, the peace and quiet…pull up a hammock and swing in the ocean breeze.  For a New Yorker, typically wound tight and seldom willing to relax, that’s saying something.
How else does this apply?
For leadership, if you’ve made it to the room where the decisions are being made; pay attention, speak up AND listen actively.  Don’t be intimidated and don’t be intimidating.  Don’t be an asshole.  Make the best decisions with the information you have at the time, go forth and execute.  That’s what leaders do.
For family, if you work to provide, whether you’re bringing home the bacon or fryin’ it up (or both) Great!…but don’t forget who you’re providing for.  Compelling issues can distract the best of us from our real job.  Don’t get caught up in the game so badly you forget what winning means.
Have a blessed weekend and a safe Independence Day celebration!  We live in the greatest country on the planet, live up to your potential since most of the barriers to prosperity have already been removed.
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Reengaged

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Good morning Team!  It’s Friday!
I’m sitting next to a distinguished gentleman on my regular flight from where I work back to where I live.  He dresses, acts and behaves like someone who was once retired and now reengaged.
After looking for an executive administrative coordinator/business partner for … an extended period of time, I reached out to a former colleague to gauge interest in filling the role remotely.  She respectfully declined indicating she is happily retired.  She reached a point where it wasn’t appealing to reengage.
Today, I modified an offer to a talented technician who no longer felt their efforts were appreciated and sought affirmation and recognition elsewhere.  I don’t normally make a practice of re-recruiting someone who has secured an offer somewhere else.  This was an exception in an attempt to get someone to reengage.
I feel I have a tremendous amount of experience in this area of reengagement over my career but specifically over the past three years and four distinct roles.  I can empathize with each scenario and a few more of my own.
It’s possible to be:
•Engaged and employed
•Engaged and unemployed
•Disengaged and employed
•Disengaged and unemployed
The common point in the examples here is that all people were disengaged for one reason or the other.  The art of reengaging is far from simple or easy and may require much more than a reintroduction.  It requires a level of trust, a reassurance that the environment will be more forgiving than the last reason to disengage and there has to be higher perceived value than simply staying disengaged.
In a new book from a former colleague, Jim Nevada.  He wrote “Igniting Purpose-Driven Leadership” detailing principles of successful leaders
-the need to focus on your purpose
-the need to unleash the creative energy of your people
That’s a detailed and specific way of engaging “your people”
Have a blessed weekend!

The hard way

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Good morning, Team!  It’s Friday!

On Tuesday night after a long weekend with family, I scheduled the latest flight out to spend a little more time at home (and a little less time away).  Enter thunderstorms to delay the flight well past the Sky Club hours, leaving me to generate my blog early and question why I’m compelled to follow through with a well intended plan turned sour.
If I were Goldilocks, I’d burn my mouth on the whole bowl of hot porridge, sit uncomfortably in the chair too big for me and sleep on the hardest bed with a rock for a pillow.
Why?
As one coworker recently put it, that’s very German of you.
-Stubborn?
-Stoic?
-Stupid?
Come to think about it, I’m the one sitting around the table in “those” meetings asking Why not?
-Searching for a better answer and willing to sacrifice (too?) much in order to solve a wicked hard problem?
-Over compensating for fear of ending up destitute?
-Was it ingrained in me as a kid that easy life leaves you soft, vulnerable (in a bad way), hard work is good for you and harder work is exceptional?
-Has it gone on so long that my trigger response is to pick challenge over charm?  Tough love over compassion even when everyone else can clearly see that compassion is the only answer?
I don’t know any more.
I have nothing left to prove.
•Climbed the proverbial career mountain
•Kids are all adults; responsible, educated, paying tax, adding societal value, starting their own families, getting married, pursuing their own dream, no longer in need of the self-appointed disciplinarian
•Dad passed away so the Freud argument weakens
My partner of 33+ years has endured my pursuit of rigor and extraordinary accomplishment with minimal peace.
I grew to believe…
Comfort breeds complacency.  Complacency breeds entitlement.
Entitlement breeds discord.
Discord breeds dissension.
Dissension breeds fracture.
Fracture breeds failure.
Shorten the equation and comfort is the beginning of failure.  Can I afford to get comfortable this far away from retirement?
Conversely, if I continue this hard ass behavior, who will want to spend time with me when me and Uncle Sam jointly declare I served my purpose and now it’s time for a 25 year break?
That all sounds suspiciously “easy”…
I’ll increase my efforts in search for middle ground and a “just right” epilogue.
Have a blessed weekend!

Content

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D2B1607D-9294-475C-AE6E-DFB02B2FD99FGood morning, Team!  It’s Friday!…and the start of a long weekend.

If you took the time to read this, you’re doing it wrong.  It’ll still be here Tuesday.
What do you think contentment looks and feels like?
*An umbrella drink on a cruise ship in the Western Caribbean?
*A big bank account?
*A “staycation” during a long weekend like the one in front of you (or just behind you if you did it right as suggested above)?
*Happy Family?
*Full belly?
*Snuggled in with your sweetheart next to a warm fire on a cold, blustery night?
*Somehow knowing you’re in the right place at the right time applying the right amount of energy and getting the expected results?
I ran into a former coworker at a recent industry event who asked me if I was content in my new job.  I wasn’t sure what to say.  I didn’t take the role to nestle in.  I wasn’t looking for content, I was looking for the opportunity to make a difference.  Content sounded too much like comfortable…and I don’t know how to do that.  Some personalities seek comfort and contentment.  At that moment I realized I seek challenge with intense curiosity so I said I think part of what drives me is that I am, by nature, discontented.  His response, “Words to live by!”
Maybe not or it depends where you apply it.  Life is seldom simple enough to use the same technique in each element of your life.  Different settings call for different behavior.

Now, as I near the end of my working toward the ever elusive completely-rewarding-through-excessive-sacrifice career, I start to recognize the vast difference between content at work and content in life.
Is this some contorted version of a midlife crisis or am I finally waking up?
To be discontented and drive for change, push for “more” in a Steve Jobs or J Paul Getty fanatic kind of way may be how I’m built but what do I look like at home?  A recent picture of family on a tour of Prince’s Paisley Park made me think of a number of things-
•I’m blessed to have such a loving and beautiful family
•Prince died too early as he strove for excellence in everything and has to leave behind fortune and fame
•I look like a guy who’s still wearing his uptight, discontented work face, even when I’m not at work
I can be content being discontented at work but I really need to appreciate how fortunate I am to be with loved ones and start being content in my skin and show it, not just say it.
Have a blessed and long weekend!

Crucible

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Good morning, Team!  It’s Friday!
According to Dictionary.com, the literal definition for crucible is:
“a situation of severe trial, or in which different elements interact, leading to the creation of something new.”
In the macro sense, this describes your life on earth.
In the micro sense, this is each day of your life on earth…
-a visit to the dentist
-a final exam
-your commute home
When you think about your personal crucible, do you focus on the “severe trial” or do you focus on the “creation of something new”?
Is it unusual that we don’t appreciate things unless we work for or suffer through severe trial first?
How hard is it to pick out a spoiled child in the shopping mall compared to one who genuinely values a gift, new clothes or even a candy bar?  While we may not enjoy the process, without it we don’t gain the appreciation and are not active participants in the “something new”.
Suffering through a severe trial sucks and often can leave a permanent mark.  Funny thing is that you might never move past it and gain the value of the the new if you get caught up whining about how tough you’ve got it.
•No crucible=spoiled
•Partially completed crucible= extended trial with no happy ending
•All crucible=agony
Life is designed to have rough patches.  Take your lumps.  Suck it up.  Get through it.  Identify, harvest and cherish the knowledge nugget gained and get on to your next step.
Wallowing is bad.
Floating above deprives life’s real lessons.
Disrespecting the process could result in a perpetual cycle of severe trial.
Have a blessed weekend!

Shine

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Good morning, Team!  It’s Friday!
“This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine…”
Do you remember singing that song as a youngster?
Didn’t we learn early in life we need to be radiant?
What happened along the way between that wonderful message and where each of us sit today?
-disappointment
-discouragement
-fear

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” Marianne Williamson

Be gorgeous-I don’t care if it’s a new hairstyle, new wardrobe, maybe just a crisp, white, fitted shirt, new sunglasses, Invisalign, teeth whitener, a new exercise routine or simply brushing your tongue with the special brush…we can all take steps each day to be gorgeous.
Be brilliant-you don’t need to have a degree from Harvard or MIT to be considered brilliant.  Learn a new language through Rosetta Stone, read new books, subscribe to podcasts.  Hang around with smart people and …. listen.
Be talented-you don’t need permission for this but how many people shrink when they encounter perceived resistance.
-I don’t want to show up my boss.
-I chose not to express my opinion or provide my background and experience.
-I’ll wait for a different time to speak up.
Do not pass up the opportunity to be talented.
Be fabulous-This May be considered expressing self/esteem.  I worked with an HR professional who used to respond each time when asked, “How are you?” With an emphatic, “Fabulous!”  It’s an attitude.  Try it for a month.  When someone asks, “How are you, Eric?”  I will respond, “I am Fabulous!  I hope you are too.”
“…don’t hide it under a bush, or no.  I’m gonna let it shine, let it shine, let it shine!”
Let your little light shine, people!
Have a blessed weekend!

Practice

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Good morning, Team!  It’s Friday!

I took piano lessons for more than a decade while growing up.  Mom was trying to develop we four children with more than just a solid work ethic.  Friday after school we’d drive down to Ms. Ruth Fossum’s home to play what we practiced.  We had a paper sheet where I was to record time spent turning notes to music each day but it became an exercise in rounding up…and it showed every Friday afternoon.
The sweet, skeptical review of the practice sheet and the non-verbal noises of “hmmmm and ahhhhh”, combined with “OK, let’s get started, shall we?” were all indicators of what I was about to lay down in Ms. Fossum’s studio.
It is no different today.  I haven’t played the piano for over 30 years but I gained an extreme appreciation for music.
•”Mastering music is more than learning technical skills. Practicing is about quality, not quantity. Some days I practice for hours; other days it will be just a few minutes.”  Yo-Yo Ma
•Dale Carnegie said “Practice makes permanent”
•Walter Bond, former NBA basketball player and inspirational speaker says, as we look at our professions and compare them to professional athletes, we are all expected to get bigger, stronger, faster each season.  That only happens with practice.
Practice only happens after we recognize we need to get better.  We usually only recognize we need to get better after we get beat; lose a project or client, have a bad financial performance year (or two) or maybe getting fired.
What does practice look like for a leader?
•How about getting quality feedback through a coach?
•How about rehearsing a speech in front of a mirror?
•Have you recorded (audio or video) yourself then watched it?
•I’ve heard karaoke is a good test for public speaking confidence.  Hint: Maybe buy a home version first and practice until you can carry a tune.  It’s hard to learn a lesson while you’re getting laughed off stage.
Have a blessed weekend!