Good morning, Team! It’s Friday!

I’m in Denver, just another stop in my travels and despite the wind, the weather is gorgeous! 76 record breaking degrees yesterday yet the snow cap mountains provides beauty that feeds the soul.

The blog is a little late, perhaps to make todays point in a demonstrative way. As one close men-tee used to say, “I’m not slow, I’m just an hour behind.” Colorado is known for many things including their fondness for cannabis. The hotel I was staying at provided a waft or two that made it clear to me that more than one were imbibing. Not I. No tats, no dope, no messing around … but the straight and narrow, with head buried and nose to the grindstone may be taking things a bit far.

As an engineer, we find genuine comfort in the fact that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. In business, efficiency is lauded, if not required. The reinforcement to stick to a straight line has been relentless and I have respected the laws of physics, complied with the expectations of commerce and perhaps missed some of the joy in the process.

After 51 years of obediently minding the straight line amid constant reminders of smelling roses, drinking a second cup of coffee, and nurturing my spirit, you’d think an educated man could convert compelling cajoling into practice more easily.

My wife is smirking at this point and saying to herself, I’ve been telling you that for 30 years! Disconnect, pay attention to the people around you, put your feet up and lay in that hammock instead of just looking at it.

Nature demonstrates the need for buffers, transition, cartilage (to keep bone from rubbing on bone). We are compelled to lift our heads, take in the expanse of God’s beauty and … enjoy the journey.

Enjoy this blessed weekend!

 

Good morning, Leaders! It’s Friday!

I heard a tremendous speaker this week!!
Bret Pyle talked to [one of the executive groups I’m blessed to belong to] about significance.

He prompted our thinking by asking about our interpretation of success…was it indirectly considered profit, absent conscience?

He quoted Twain who said “The two most important days of our lives are:
1. The day we are born and
2. The day we figure out why”

He asked us to consider who we need to forgive? (This assumes everyone has someone they need to forgive). From my observations, I think he’s right.

He suggested that the first half of our life is spent figuring things out and the second half is/should be spent helping others (children, coworkers, friends) figure it out as well. Bob Buford writes about this in his book, Half Time.

He told a story about “parenting to perfection” citing his father’s propensity to review his chores and catch everything not done well. He cursed his father under his breath and found himself duplicating the error to a higher degree as a father and shared how he worked to break the cycle. This one sounded like he was talking directly to me. {Kids, I owe you a sincere apology not knowing how to process the disdain I had for my father and as I have spent decades digesting the forgiveness formula for my dad, I unknowingly behaved just as he did. God teaches us to honor our father and mother and I took certain exceptions to this that I ought not have.}

He talked about Viktor Frankl who wrote “Man’s Search for Meaning” (a book my lovely daughter Aarika gave me to read this past Summer while I was adrift and trying to bridge the chasm between striving for success and seeking significance).

We were reminded of salient points through several clips from the movie “Dead Poet’s society”.
-Carpe’ Diem!
-Make your lives extraordinary!
-Find your own voice!

We plotted a graph of the year we were born and the year we think we’ll die…uh huh. Sobering. What year would you pick? Based on what? Once you pick a date, what does that do to your outlook? Perhaps create a sense of urgency? I only have x number of years to __________.

It also inspires inner questions like;
•What do people (who’s opinion I truly value) honestly think about me?
•How do I WANT to be remembered?
(I suggest you google and read about the Alfred Nobel story who one day in Paris around 1888 read his own unflattering Merchant of Death obituary.)
•Why am I here and did I recognize, realize and accomplish my mission?

So, inundated with high caliber data points and thought provoking questions, I began to ruminate over Bret’s presentation and decided to pay the favor forward.

Challenge: take an hour and contemplate what you would have to do: ideas, actions and behaviors, from this point forward in your life for your legacy to be mostly positive. In other words, What would your eulogy sound like?

•He helped me in a difficult time.
•She listened to my concerns when I didn’t think anyone cared.
•He was proactive and kept me out of trouble.
•She saw the big picture and relentlessly compelled me to think big until I finally got it.
•He stretched me to be considerably more than I would have been otherwise.

What are you going to do TODAY and this point forward to help someone else become better?

Have a blessed weekend.

A white space story

Good morning, Team!  It’s Friday!

Carole and I chose to raise the kids in a small town. The one she grew up in. I was far from metropolitan but I learned that “the good thing about living in a small town is everyone knows your business. The bad thing about a small town is…everybody knows your business.”

Carole’s Dad had the snowmobile bug too (I knew there was something special about this chick). A couple of Polaris sleds, well kept, perhaps this was my dowry? (Just kidding, folks).

When snow returned to the plains in 1997, the next generation wanted to go sledding and fired up the dusty rustys. Except for the damn banker. He loved ’em too and decided it was time to invest in new technology. Even worse, he allowed everyone to try out the new ride and every one of us who felt their elbows being pulled out of their sockets on the vintage snow scooters now had to have a new one, too. It was like riding on air, it had hand warmers, the suspension absorbed bumps so your back didn’t have to. It was heavenly.

If you haven’t lived in a small rural community, you haven’t experienced keeping up with the Joneses. If someone else had something nice, we all wanted it, wanted to pay a nickel less and get it a week newer. I was not immune.

I broke the bank and picked up two “hold over” sleds (previous year’s models still in the crate) from the local dealer who nearly crapped his pants when I came back after the Goldie locks incident.

Goldie locks:
I brought the two sleds home, proudly displaying to mamma what I had purchased with our hard earned pennies. She took one quick look and said “but…where’s mine?” “This one’s too big and this one’s too small. What am I supposed to ride?”

So I go back to the dealer the next day and find the kid who ran my credit and told him I needed another, preferably with a second seat. He wasn’t worried about his additional commission check, he was wondering if my credit could take another hit. We found it, borrowed against it and hauled it home.

Eventually, I realized with a family of five, anything less than five sleds was a temporary situation. No one likes riding two up…even if the sled is made for it. Or so it was in my house. I fostered the environment and so I followed through and made sure we had licenses, helmets, boots, gloves, bibs, coats and of course a sled for every but(t).

My Kindergarten teacher said, “If you’re going to bring treats, make sure you bring enough for everybody.”

Have a blessed weekend!
Ride hard and be safe, powder hounds.

Good morning, Leaders! It’s Friday!

Does anyone remember the line in City Slickers when Curly (Jack Palance) counsels Mitch (Billy Crystal)? Noooooo, not the “I crap bigger than you” line. The other line- here’s the set up…”you all come up here about the same time. You spend 50 weeks a year getting knots in your rope and you think you can spend a couple of weeks up here and untie ’em. … What’s your one thing?”

•You gotta figure out what your one thing is.

I have searched all over trying to figure this conundrum out. It’s personal. It’s a quest. Mine has reached a Milestone. My one thing is – Improving.

When it comes to ones self,
•Doctors claim to have originated the concept of continuous learning.

When it comes to business,
•LEAN processes, famous at Toyota, are founded on continuous improvement.

When it comes to helping others,
•Mentoring is often the term used. Maslow referred to this in his later work as helping others achieve self-actualization.

After we stumble our way through life and finally figure out who we are, what we’re good at and what we’re not good at, we make a conscious decision if that’s going to be good enough or not. Do we want to be content with the point we’ve reached in life when we lifted our head long enough to observe our surroundings? Or do we want to be … better?

Do you want to be better in terms of health?
Do we want to be a better human, spouse, parent, sibling, coworker, patient, leader, player, or performer?

I saw a video some time ago where a hulking high school football player was challenged to crawl down field with his coach on his back. The coach blindfolded him to remove the barriers the player would have put on himself. While riding on his back, the coach encouraged him to push beyond what his body was telling his brain. As you might guess, the player went considerably further than anyone anticipated he could. The coach replaced the messages telling the player what he couldn’t do and replaced them with what he could.

Imagine how much easier it is to crawl “down field” without having to carry a sweaty old man on your back. Imagine having that voice in your head pushing you to get better. Imagine changing out the tired looped recording playing in your head telling you all the stuff you can’t do with one that says “Yes, you can!”
You can do more.
You can make a difference.
You can lose that 20 pounds.
You can solve that critical problem, raise a family on a single income, get that promotion, pull the company out of bankruptcy, …prove every last one of those negative voices wrong.

You can be better and no one but you is stopping you.

Once you get there, start showing others how to get there, too.

Have a blessed weekend.

Good morning, Leaders! It’s Friday!

On the front page of the local paper, at least the way it shows up on my phone, was an article about the cost of a recently selected attorney; $1,000/ hour to save $ Millions on a $ Billion + project.

These are numbers we can’t fathom, both psychologically and from a day-to-day pragmatic perspective. We buy cars that are in the thousands or tens of thousands a few to several times in our lives. We buy homes that are probably in the hundreds of thousands on average a couple times in our lives.

Millions and Billions don’t really register.

If you have to dig a ditch:
•Would you use a spoon because you own one? Probably not.
•Would you buy a shovel? Depends on the size of ditch, right?
•Would you rent a backhoe? Might depend on your ability to operate or your confidence of what’s under the surface.
•Would you hire a large general contractor who has the equipment, operators, expertise, reputation and bonding? If it’s a major project-and a $Billion scope qualifies as major in my book-this is the most likely avenue.

The right tool for the right job.

When is a professional service provider the “right tool”?
Whether it is an accountant preparing financial documents (i.e. tax forms), an engineer preparing bidding documents (i.e. plans and specifications) or an attorney preparing legal documents (deeds, contracts, easements, formalized agreements between entities) and the advice of when to say yes and when to say no…professional services, often times looked at as an expense, might best be considered an investment.

There are new television commercials about a certain tax software that doesn’t require a genius. They are clever, humorous and they imply that all tax filings are made simple by the use of this particular software. My guess is that under most individual filings where they are uncomplicated, you may get by with a software tool. There are also circumstances where you may pay a small fee and miss a big deduction and not even know you left money on the table.

The point? Professional services fees are hardly front page news. You (typically) get what you pay for. Big, complicated issues require special solutions to get it right the first time so you don’t have to do it over or make it more difficult than it should ever have to be.

Have a blessed weekend!

Good morning, Team! It’s Friday!

My latest white space/ guilt-free, off the grid time will include a couple of days snowmobiling. If you’re Canadian, you may say “snow machining” or “sledding, eh” but I call it snowmobiling and so it shall be.

My snowmobile roots go WAY back to 1964. I’m on my mamma’s lap in the family pick up as a new born while dads got big sis and big bro on the brand new ski-doo on the Red River of the North-enter the proverbial thin ice and pop dumps it. Saves the kids, apparently gets the sled out too but likely not wearing Gore-Tex back then. I’m guessing Car-hart coveralls from the old Nodak store and Red Wing Wellington boots. Can you say hypothermia?

Turns out Dad’s love affair goes back to HIS childhood walking to a country school in a far north North Dakota town wishing there was a “magic carpet” instead of walking (7 miles up hill each way in a foot of snow- pardon the embellishment, it’s my story) to school – so when Gjervold motors stocks a yellow, one lung sled, it’s destiny.

I took that same soaked sled for a joy ride around the house years later and while looking backwards at big bro and big sis not so politely encouraging me to get off, I straddled the clothes line post between our house and the neighbors. Simultaneously putting my unprotected melon through the plexiglass windshield. Oops! I would have heard tweety birds chirping were it not for the claims of “Wait until your Dad gets home and sees this!” and “You’re gonna get it.” I failed to realize Dad was trying to sell it and needless to say the buyer that came over that evening…was no longer interested due to the body modifications I had just completed.

I’ve rationalized over the years that the primary reason I LOVE to snowmobile is the past time/sport/expensive hobby is one of the only circumstances I have experienced where you can get yourself OUT of trouble by grabbing a hand full of gas. Yee-Haw! As opposed to a number of other times where I began a quick downward spiral predicated by “watch this!” and punching whatever I was driving. More gas meant more trouble.

We have trekked many thousands of miles and spent a good hundred thousand dollars (hurts to even type that) in search of the perfect powder experience where we’ve sought to justify the enormous time and money spent to squeeze a few more horse power and better handling designed to tackle taller obstacles and replicate that initial snowmobile high. I wouldn’t want to calculate the cost per mile but I can tell you, some of the most memorable times I’ve had on this planet were on a snowmobile with buddies, family or even by myself.

I have a Reader’s digest worthy story I could recount, and some day might before I forget it all. It involves sugar snow, elk fajitas and two guys out of nine who were both nick named “cave man”, the town tweeker and a $900 bill I was more than happy to pay.

Remember, this is a white space story so even I can’t tie this one to leadership. It’s meant to demonstrate that even the most tenacious need a breather.

Have a blessed weekend. Go make some memories!

 

 

Good morning, Leaders! It’s Friday!

It’s a new year and while many are focusing on resolutions, I didn’t make any this year. Not because I’m clever or lazy or so perfect that I couldn’t stand to improve behaviors, habits or beliefs…I think that there will always be room for improvement. I’m avoiding short term disappointment, guilt and anxiety. It’s also important to remember that we are running a marathon, not a sprint.

I’m busy enough on high priority items and have decided that a certain amount of white space in the calendar is necessary to incorporate and critical to defend.

From a time management perspective, If you don’t feel like you have the time to do something well, what makes you think you’ll have the time to do something over?

I resolve, by not resolving, to do… less… better and actually get more done. This also relates to delegation. Are you humble enough to accept the fact that you aren’t the best at everything? Even more so, have you identified what you are exceptionally good at and also identified who is best at other tasks you need done whether at work or at home?

A coworker identified these tasks as PtG (Pay the Guy).

Whether it is a renaissance complex or simply getting caught up in the whirlwind of life, we tend to attract tasks like flies to a strip and then get frustrated when we can’t get them all done in a timely manner.

In addition to putting more white space on your calendar, delegating more tasks and identifying what you a REALLY good at, I’ll offer up the prioritization advice reportedly worth nearly half a million dollars today. You decide whether it’s worth that much to you.

Story:
You may have heard the story about Ivy Lee and Charles Schwab (the steel guy, not the investment guy)
Lee offered to increase the productivity of Schwab’s executives by 20%. The idea is very simple and the story goes that Scwab wrote a check to Lee for $25,000 which equates to roughly $400,000 today.

Lee’s idea
1. Before you leave work, write down the six most important things you need to do tomorrow.
2. Go home. Leave work at the office. Spend time with your family. Read books. Write. Have fun.
3. The next morning, start with the first thing on your list. Work at it until it’s completed.
4. Work down your list. Interruptions will happen. Get back to your list as quickly as you can.
5. Repeat. Anything still on your list will probably go to the top of tomorrow’s list, unless it’s no longer relevant. Flesh out the list and go home.

If you are already doing this, Congratulations!
If not, give it a try. It does make a difference.

Have a blessed weekend!

Good morning, Leaders! It’s Friday!

The holiday season is upon us and if we look beyond the wild buzz of retailers, the disruption of the weather that brings us snow and cold as reasons to stay inside and even beyond the charming behavior of our children, nieces & nephews, grandchildren or other youngsters grabbing our attention at the annual Christmas program…we should not forget the reason for the season.

Isaiah 9:6a For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given.

This is a big ol’ birthday bash for the answer-with an after party we can only dream of.

The older I get, the louder the question that nags at me in the dark annals of my subconscious…
What is all of this about?
Why am I here?
What purpose do I serve?
What happens when I am unable to connect my ambition with a purpose like I have previously as a son, husband, father, grandfather, employee, manager, leader, and mentor.

It’s the same answer.

Christ

John 3:16 For God so loved the world (that’s you and me, kids) that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him shall have everlasting life.

This is a broken world we were born into that carries with it sin, pain, death, destruction, and evil. We busily work to rationalize our existence, to minimize pain by pretending it isn’t all around us, insulate our sin with material items, lull ourselves into a false sense of security that we can somehow cheat death.

God designed each and every one of us with strengths, weaknesses, purpose and mortality. He doesn’t make mistakes. He knows everything you have done, are doing and will do…everything.

Jesus’ purpose was to become the way, the truth and the light. Through God’s ultimate sacrifice, he came and conquered sin, death and the devil. Our purpose, while on earth, includes celebrating his birthday like many of us are about to do but it goes beyond that.
Challenge: What if you woke every morning like it was Christmas morning and with child-like enthusiasm, you bound out of bed and instead of looking under a tree, you read a chapter or two from the greatest story about the greatest gift and carried that gift throughout your day with inner peace and joy, sharing it with those who need to hear it most.

Have a blessed weekend and Christmas holiday! May it be filled with laughter and the Fruits of the Spirit; love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.

Note to my faithful readers: I have elected to put down the “drumsticks” for a week or two. The cadence will continue in the New Year.

Good morning, Leaders! It’s Friday!

I spent most of this week in Las Vegas at the PowerGen conference put on by Pennwell publications. With roughly 20,000 attendees (manufacturers to service providers) it was an exciting and enjoyable, albeit huge venue. I probably saw less than 20% of the showroom floor.

What I learned was virtually everyone associated with power generation is trying to better understand what next looks like.

The industry used to be simple; fuel sources were predominantly fossil-based until it was widely believed that coal-fired power generation was detrimental to our planet. The socioeconomic drivers would surprise you. President Obama just finished making promises in Paris based on what I consider selective science. I’d parallel his position on gun control and healthcare with his cabinet’s view on the environment. Simple, uneducated approaches to complex issues with careless disregard for root cause analysis leads to ridiculous legislation and confounds an entire industry, if not the entire business climate.

Power generation is a complicated business and the incredible reliability the typical consumer enjoys is beyond comprehensive reach for the vast majority of the public and among those who have the capacity to understand it, many are apathetic.

I’ll make it really simple …
•When the wind doesn’t blow, wind turbines can’t generate electricity.
•When the sun doesn’t shine, solar farms can’t generate electricity.
•When it doesn’t rain or snow/melt and fish species are endangered, hydro electric dams don’t function to the capacity they were designed for.
•We lack adequate, economic storage
•Gas generation is cheap right now but that will change-I guarantee it.
•Nuclear generation has a troubled past with Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima. Nuclear technology is largely misunderstood and human beings don’t deal with uncertainty well. Thank you, misinformed media.
•Coal supply is plentiful and when the idealists with no regard for the technical aspects of this complex issue (base load generation needs to start) reach for their light switch and it affects their ears but not their eyes, perhaps they’ll come to their senses.

My position is that we require a mixed portfolio of power generation resources.
-There is no single answer.
-There is no simple answer.
-The answer is far more technical than political and needs to balance energy affordability, energy security and energy sustainability.

Leadership includes finding long-term answers that take into account all issues rather than pushing a simplified response through an executive order or a government agency position.

Have a blessed weekend.

Good morning, Leaders! It’s Friday!

One of my junior high foreign language instructors, Mrs. Marks, told us that she took philosophy while studying in France. Her final exam (perhaps thesis-it’s been several decades) was to answer the question, “Why?”, and it was to be presented orally, in French, not her native tongue. She shared that after much deliberation on how to respond, she simply said, “Pourquoi ne pas?” (Why not?) – she recalls that she received a passing grade even though she was supposed to provide 45 minutes of discussion on the topic.

What inspires deep thinking for you?

Have you ever pulled your head out of the whirlwind long enough to contemplate the bigger questions of:

•Why am I here? {Purpose}
•What’s my one thing? {Core Competency}
•What positive qualities have I been blessed with and am I emphasizing those strengths and using them to improve my life and the lives of those around me? {Focus}
•Will the contributions I’ve made and the sacrifices I’ve suffered through be remembered accurately and fully understood why specific decisions were made? {Legacy}
•What brings me joy? {Happiness}
•Does my family really know how much I love them? {Demonstrated Affection}

Perhaps the most important question you should ask yourself today:

What actions and behaviors am I going to start changing for the better as a result of reading this post today?

Leaders are learners, not just while in school. School didn’t pose all of life’s questions and put the answers in the back of the book, at least not the schools I went to. School should have prepared you for life’s questions by teaching you how to become a problem solver;
-State the question completely, yet succinctly
-Gather data and information
-Form an assessment with the tools made available to you
-Take action
-If it doesn’t provide the desired result, repeat the process.

Remember, Edison tried a multitude of attempts to perfect the light bulb (some sources claim 1,000 and others claim as many as 10,000 attempts). When asked how he dealt with that amount of failure, he simply acknowledged that he discovered that many ways not to do it [or that it was a 10,000 (or place your favorite number here) step process].

Have a blessed weekend.