There’s a reason I take a shower every day – I collect and produce things that really don’t need to stay with me. Some things are so bad, I can’t wait for a shower and decide to wash in the sink instead.
Work is a lot like that – at least the part about collecting things that really don’t need to stay with us. That rude email from someone on the 2nd floor, or that knife twist in our back at the staff meeting sticks with us for a long time.
Have you ever had someone do something outrageously cool for you? Not just “made me breakfast in bed” kind of cool but seriously outrageous?
I am blessed in that I get to see cool in action almost every day. I have awesome friends. But it wasn’t until my 50th birthday that I felt it to the outrageous level. Sure, there are lots of surprise parties in the world, but the stories behind this one were over the top. Whether it was Paul & Carrie driving 400 miles just for the event, or listening to John Carrozza behind my mother-in-awes piano, everyone had a beautiful part. I enjoyed the party for weeks afterward, listening to the stories describing all the tiny miracles that Beth and her cohorts pulled off.
I have no idea what my face looked like when I saw everyone in the house, but I suspect it looked something like Caine Monroy’s. Caine is a 9 year old boy that has become the talk of the internet recently. Take a look at why… (more…)
Ignorance is bliss – until you realize you are ignorant.
Ignorance, the lack of awareness or knowledge about something in particular, makes up most of who we are. We are all ignorant about most things at some level. To quote the great philosopher Thomas Dolby.
What is it about ignorance that is so blissful? (more…)
What word would you use if your boss just told you that he resigned? Was that a wishful smirk on your face? Are you off creating mental images of green fields, warm sun and unicorns all around?
I’ve been fortunate to only have one boss from hell. Most of the others were either very strong leaders, or at least managers that I could work with to develop a strong working relationship.
This week, unfortunately, I lost one of the best. My heart sunk when I heard the words “Joe, I’m resigning.” It was an unusual feeling, something that I had felt only once before in this type of situation.
I was driving in to work one morning in a very dense fog. There were a handful of cars heading down a fast stretch of road. The speed limit said 55, but it would have been dangerous to do anything over 25. It was tough to see more than 10 feet.
I tried the same thing I always do in heavy fog – the high beams. Yes I know it makes it worse, but yet I still try it every time. It’s like watching a recorded football game expecting a different score at the end.
Back to the low beams.
I was getting annoyed with drivers riding my bumper, obviously thinking I was going too slow. Then I noticed a pattern develop. These cars would tailgate for a bit, pass me, and then slow down to the same speed we were originally going. I would appreciate this if we were on bikes – it’s called drafting. I doubt that was their intent.
It was Sunday morning at North Point Community Church. Andy Stanley had just finished his sermon and was about to pray when a voice from the back took center stage.
For about 45 seconds an unknown man had the opportunity to reach thousands of people and enlighten people on why Andy was not preaching the way God intended.
If you were Andy, how would you have responded?
The PR handbook teaches us to ignore the distraction and move on. No sense in giving credibility to the event by acknowledging it happened. Or would you simply look to the audience and say, “My apologies for the distraction?” Maybe just look up and shrug your shoulders and a bit of a perplexed look? How about a quick heckler comeback?
Would 75% of the people in the world writing vision and mission statements please stop.
Seriously. Just stop now. They are bad and doing more harm than good.
If you are president of a company and want to know if yours is worth a sparrow’s fart, just ask your employees. Scared to do that? Try the Mission Generator website and see if it sounds anything like yours.
It shouldn’t.
As this year closes out I have a very simple wish for each of you. I pray that you may have hope. Great hopes. The kind that you can’t tell anyone for fear of sounding like some kind of nut job.
I am not praying that you get what you want. Looking back there are a lot of things that I wanted that I am glad I never received. I want you to have more.
I want you to believe in something; to have hope that something that seems so far fetched right now is possible.
I wish for you a drive to do the unexplainable in the name of the impossible.
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You know those days where you are in a real funk and everyone knows it but you just don’t know why? I’ve had a few of those this past month.
What makes it worse is when your friends and family all try to help you “perk up” and it just doesn’t work. It’s like spinning your car tires in the ditch. You love them for their effort but only a snarl comes out when you say thank you. (more…)
My mom is an amazing woman. Actually, she’s not my mom, she’s Beth’s mom. I just refuse to add the “in-law” tag as she defies all the imagery of a typical in-law.
This week Mom reminded me of how important it is to show your homework.
Mom and her family business bank at one of the mega corporations here in Atlanta. She loves this place. She loves the people, the service, and the way they make her feel special when she walks in the door. Not your typical mega-bank.
I love the moon. There are so many amazing sights in this world but nothing stops me in my tracks like a huge, glowing circle of orange light sitting on the fall horizon.
Not only is it beautiful, it often feels so close that you could actually touch it – and we did back in 1969. We will not be able to say this about any other celestial object in our lifetime.
This neighboring orb has always fascinated me. Many times I’ve pulled over on the side of an empty road with its radiant light directly in the center of the windshield (yes I get up early). It was always the perfect, solitary moment to sit an offer a prayer of thanksgiving. (more…)
I overheard a conversation between two young women the other day. One of them had asked the other, “Wow, he finally asked you. Did you say yes?” To which the other replied, “I told him that I needed more data.”
Seriously?
No. That conversation never happened. But imagine the look on the guy’s face if she had given him that reply.
One of the challenges we now face is that data is everywhere and we are often paralyzed by it. We even have a name for it – it’s called “big data.” Being the resourceful creatures that we are we assume because it is available, we should use it.
Beth and I have two high school seniors that are going through the process of deciding which colleges will win the lottery known as Mommy and Daddy’s savings account. The options available are amazing. What makes it even more complex is that like nearly all high school seniors they have no idea what they want to do when they grow up. (more…)
We have a great expression in the South that you never want to receive from a friend – “Bless your heart.” It’s somewhere between “he just doesn’t know any better” to “that boy is as dumb as a ‘possum.”
I hear myself saying this a lot when new managers enter the ranks. I definitely heard it a lot when I started. Usually it is because they believe one thing to be true about how to lead and you know that in time they will discover otherwise.
The one that I wish I could get others to appreciate is to not judge their success by the size of their team. So many managers think that they are more important if their team is bigger. I once thought that as well. (more…)
Why is it we often think we have better answers than those that know more about a situation? I ask this of myself often and never get a satisfactory answer. This came to a head this week with the recent events in the execution of Troy Davis.
What makes us believe that we are smarter than a jury of 12, countless appellate court judges and an investigative panel? Why is it that we think we know more than the commanding military generals in Iraq? Considering that the President of the US has far more confidential information about a situation why do we still think we have a better answer? Even as a teenager your mom was always wrong despite her years of experience.
Why is that? (more…)
Pet sitting for friends is like being a grandparent – spoil them rotten and then send them home to be disciplined by their owners. We get great joy out of being the spoiler with Cassie, my brother-in-law Brian’s beautiful dog.
Rescued later in life, Cassie was clearly abused in her younger years. She is extremely skittish whenever someone moves near her, having her head down in fear for any human contact other than Brian.
Cassie has no reason to behave like this any longer. Brian is a wonderful, loving caretaker and we are equally loving with her every time she comes over. Yet Cassie is still scared after many, many years of interaction with us.
Cassie is afraid because she knows what a human is capable of doing. She has experienced something that she cannot forget – something stuck. It may have been a series of events or one really bad moment – we don’t know. (more…)
I think some of the most dangerous husband and wife arguments start from the simplest of questions. I’ve seen first hand the graveyard of beaten egos that came as the result of an answer that seemed harmless at first. You can tell it is the wrong answer when you find yourself asking “Did I just say that out loud?” the minute the words come out of your mouth.
So as a service to you men out there that haven’t yet experienced one of these character building sessions, let me present to you the five questions that have only one acceptable answer. (more…)
Why is it we seem to allow behavior in executives that we won’t tolerate in first level managers?
I’m not saying that all executives behave poorly; I think the vast majority are excellent role models. But why then do I see the screamers, the plotters, the hard-asses, the dictators, the debasers and the inherent desire to weaken others, in much larger proportion at the higher levels of management than the lower levels? It reminded me of why I stopped playing competitive tennis many years ago.
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I spent time this week with my boss and peers reviewing a difficult situation that we had to face. I am betting that you have had a similar circumstance – one where many people over a long period of time have made many mistakes that now culminate into one much more difficult problem. You really can’t point at one person and say this is why we are here today.
At the end of the conversation my boss looked at us and asked
I was thinking back to a point 15 years ago when my kids were 2 and 3 years old. I thnk the first word they learned was “mine.”
That stuck-in-my-head memory came as a result of listening to two managers talk about moving an employee from one group to the other. I was fully expecting to hear “I’ll let him join your group if you give me a bushel of corn and a couple of otter skins.”
What is it about being a manager that makes many of us so territorial and possessive? It’s almost as if deep down we feel we own our employees, as if our value and importance rises by the number of people we manage. (more…)
Instincts are a funny thing. Some of the greatest breakthroughs in history have been the result of trusting one’s instincts yet I can’t imagine any acceptable business plan that has “my gut tells me” as part of its rationale.
Why do these instinctual feelings that seem to point to the right answer need more solid reasoning before we move forward? What if we can’t find that solid reasoning – should they be abandoned?
What happens when we demand reason over instinct? (more…)