PC Party of Alberta – Bless Me, Father, For I Have Sinned

We are moving toward a dictatorship of relativism which does not recognize anything as for certain and which has as its highest goal one's own ego and one's own desires. - Pope Benedict XVI

I believe that the biggest problem that humanity faces is an ego sensitivity to finding out whether one is right or wrong and identifying what one's strengths and weaknesses are. - Ray Dalio

The #1206 “fiction” series continues …

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It was a quiet evening in the church as the parish priest waited in the confessional in silence.  He sighed, looked at his watch and prepared to leave for the evening when he heard someone enter the confessional.

He drew open the small door between them and waited.

“Bless them, Father, but I honestly have no idea how many years it’s been since their last confession”, said a voice quietly.

“Bless them, my son?”, the priest asked quizzically.

“Well, of course”, replied the confessor, “We have worked for a very long time to convince the people that we are the only solution for their every need and they just don’t get it.  Clearly they have an issue that they need to deal with and I am here to discover how to help them.”

“I see”, replied the priest as he frowned in the darkened confessional, “And what makes you think it is they who have the issue when it potentially may be you?”

“I have no idea what you are referring to”, said the confessor huffily, “We’ve done nothing wrong.”

“We?”, asked the priest, “Why don’t we just focus on you, shall we?”

“I don’t see why that is necessary”, replied the confessor, feeling his agitation begin to rise.

“Well”, began the priest, “While I don’t ordinarily do this, I see we are an impasse and so I have no choice but to identify you.  While I won’t name you specifically, my son, I know your voice to be that of a well-known politician in the Province.  Why don’t we begin our conversation again with that understanding, shall we?”

“Hmmmmm”, the confessor frowned, “Very well.  Here is my struggle, Father.  We lost the last election badly and now in the current by-election, people are all over us claiming that we have not changed at all and that we don’t deserve to win this by-election as a result.  Their argument for this has absolutely no merit at all and I am struggling to understand what they need to do to change their outlook on things.”

“Is this in regards to the candidate who has some issues in his background that portray his campaign and your support of his campaign as slightly dishonest?”, the priest asked quietly.

“Sort of”, replied the confessor, “But it’s more than just honesty or dishonesty.  Yes, we are being sort of dishonest about his background and I will admit that we are ignoring calls for transparency around this, but dishonesty for the greater good is a noble principle, is it not?  I mean , when it comes to winning, whether it be in politics or business, isn’t it better to do whatever it takes to win?  A small amount of dishonesty doesn’t hurt anybody, especially when it gets the best person elected for the job.”

“Perhaps”, answered the priest, “but how do you define the difference between a small amount of dishonesty and a lot?  Who defines what is an acceptable amount of dishonesty?  And if we accept a little dishonesty now, can we claim to be disappointed later if other examples of dishonesty are found within the individual or the Party he represents?”

As the priest spoke, the confessor listened carefully to his voice and suddenly a light dawned on him.

“I know you”, said the confessor, ignoring the priest’s observation, “You used to be a well-known politician.”

“Very true, my son”, replied the priest quietly, “But after what I thought was going to be a lifetime of public service, I decided to leave that Life and begin a lifetime of atonement for what I did in my political career and to really serve the people.”

“So you know what I am going through, Father”, said the confessor earnestly, “You should be able to tell me what’s wrong with the voters.”

He shivered in excitement as he realized he was getting closer to the answer he sought.

“Slow down”, replied the priest, “I have been watching the demise of your political party for some time.  I remember some years ago when a member of your party wrote about the struggles within your party and he suggested that there was either a mole in your party who was deliberately tearing the party apart or that your party was the victim of excessive ego or incompetence.  Let me think …… ah yes … if I remember correctly, the piece was called The Trojan Horse of the 21st Century.”

“That’s preposterous”, expostulated the confessor, “There is no mole in our party trying to deliberately undermine us.”

“Well”, replied the priest, “He did suggest that it was either a mole, excessive ego or excessive incompetence.”

“Like I said”, emphasized the confessor, “There are no moles in our Party.  I am sure of it.”

“Well that leaves only two options, doesn’t it?”, the priest asked somewhat sarcastically, “Listen my son, when you come here to seek the forgiveness of our Lord, you must do it with a humble and contrite heart.  Otherwise, I can’t help you.”

“So you are saying there is nothing you can do for me?”, asked the confessor.

“Not at this time, my son”, replied the priest.

“Hmmmmmmph”, grunted the confessor and he stood up to leave, “I expected much more of you than this, Father.”

“I’m sorry I disappointed you, my son”, replied the priest, “Tell me.  I am preparing to retire for the evening.  Is anyone else waiting for confession.”

The confessor opened the door and looked at the long line of people waiting, most of whom being his colleagues.

“There’s a lot of them”, he said as he stepped outside, “Goodnight, Father.”

“God bless you”, replied the priest, “Remember what I said.”

As the confessor walked away from the confessional, the next confessor in line gestured with his hands and asked, “Well?  How did it go?”

“Very well”, smiled the confessor, “He said that I was so good that there was nothing he could do for me.”

The confessor in line smiled and gave him a two-thumbs-up as he entered the confessional.

And with that, the confessor walked to the back of the Church, blessed himself and walked out.

To be continued.

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© 2015 – Harry Tucker – All Rights Reserved

Background

When I watch a group that has been as badly burned as the PC Party of Alberta was in the last election and when I watch that same group show no change in transparency, accountability, leadership, awareness, strategy or execution as they are exhibiting in the current by-election in Calgary-Foothills, I can’t help but wonder if this continued behavior is because someone:

• wants the Party to die (a mole)
• doesn’t believe the Party did anything wrong, either in the past or in the present (excessive incompetence, indifference or ego)
• doesn’t know how to fix the execution and the results of the Party but doesn’t have the humility to ask others for help either (excessive ego).

Unfortunately, unless a cranial defibrillator is applied to members within the Party, any of these will produce the same result, none of which are in alignment with what the PC Party of Alberta desires.

A Final Albeit Important Thought:

Is it fair to throw Calgary-Foothills candidate Blair Houston under the bus for their failings or is he ruining their chances with his failings (or is it a combination of both)?  Either way, by sticking it out when he should have stopped running, he and the Party are inviting people to find more dirt on him in a rabid attempt to skewer him. 

It’s one thing for people to strongly encourage him to stop running.

It’s another thing to ruin him if he doesn’t comply.

In such situations, he runs the risk of being ruined personally and professionally as well as politically if he persists in running anyway.

The question is:

Is he persisting willingly, begrudgingly or blindly?

The answer would be very revealing of both the party and the candidate.

Unfortunately, some answers may hasten the demise of the Party as well as the candidate if they are not careful.

This reminds me of a post I did some time ago, National Security: Saying Everything By Saying Nothing, where I referenced The 9 Ways of Being an Accessory to Another’s Sin as described in the Roman Catholic Daily Missal:

I. By counsel
II. By command
III. By consent
IV. By provocation
V. By praise or flattery
VI. By concealment
VII. By partaking
VIII. By silence
IX. By defense of the ill done

I’d say many people have checked most, if not all, of this list off in this by-election.

What do you think?

This musing is related to earlier blog posts, including but not limited to:

• Politics and the Mutability of Human Values
• PC Party and Blair Houston–Isn’t Honesty Still the Best Policy?
• PC Party of Alberta–Who Will Bell the Cat?
• PC Party of Alberta–Proving Einstein and Churchill Right?

Series Origin

This series, a departure from my usual musings, is inspired as a result of conversations with former senior advisors to multiple Presidents of the United States, senior officers in the US Military and other interesting folks as well as my own professional background as a Wall St. / Fortune 25 strategy and large-scale technology architect.

While this musing is just “fiction” and a departure from my musings on technology, strategy, politics and society, as a strategy guy, I do everything for a reason and with a measurable outcome in mind. :-)

This “fictional” musing is a continuation of the #1206 series noted here.

Excessive Ego–A Recipe For Disaster

I became aware this morning of another company that I had connections with that is in the process of going under.

Sadly, it had followed a recipe for disaster that I have seen so many companies follow.

Recipe for Corporate Failure

Ingredients:

Crust

• Intelligent strategy
• Sharp tactical roadmaps
• Relevant, measurable outcomes
• Leadership humility / self-confidence balance
• A sense of personal and professional ethics and morals

Filling

• Excellent intention
• Powerful vision
• Well-developed product
• Strong market demand
• Phenomenally intelligent, passionate team
• Strong market dominance potential

Steps:

1. Ignore the crust recipe completely.  Foundational stuff that ties everything else together is overrated anyway.

2. Mix all the filling ingredients in a baking dish.

3. When all ingredients have become a sticky mess, proceed anyway even though the result is now predictable (at least from everyone else’s perspective).

4. Bake under high heat and pressure until everything melts into an indiscernible mess.

5. Fire may break out at this time.  This is normal and anticipated and should be ignored.  Such warning signs are for the weak and paranoid.

6. Recipe can still be saved by quickly stirring in balanced amounts of self-confidence and humility and then asking for help. Skip this step for any number of unjustifiable reasons.

7. Act surprised or play the victim when a smoking mess comes out of the oven.

8. Ignore the people who stood by you through thick and thin but were poisoned by the recipe. They didn’t matter anyway.  Better yet – blame the poor result on them if possible.

9. Discard the result, clean up everything, rename the recipe and then repeat with the anticipation that doing the exact same thing over and over will eventually produce a different, more desirable result.

Optional step: Use social media to generate buzz espousing your “success” model.  Call it “The Secret To …” or “The X Steps to Instant Wealth” for higher impact.  Another useful exercise is to cite a “spiritual” or “enlightened”  reason why your failure was actually an anticipated stepping stone to changing the world.  In this way, you can rationalize that you didn’t fail – the world did because it hasn’t caught up to your enlightened way of executing yet.

The danger of excessive ego

I have written and spoken many times about the importance of having an appropriate blend of strong strategy, sharp tactical roadmaps and relevant measurable outcomes in order to create success.

I have watched many companies go under without an appropriate blend of these items.

But the one reason for company failure that kills me the most is when excessive levels of ego cause a company’s leadership to choose corporate death over accepting help of any kind.

Insufficient ego leaves one a doormat to be stepped on by everyone.

But excessive ego is like a runaway train, killing everyone and everything in its path.

Balance is the key … as always.

In many such failures, the leadership will go on to create other failures as their excessive ego also precludes them from learning from their mistakes.

Meanwhile, the great people within the dead organization and their families are left behind to sort out what happened, many times scrambling just to survive.

And that is the greatest injustice of all.

Do you as a leader have the right balance of humility and hubris?

How do you know?

In service and servanthood,

Harry

All people and companies appearing in

or referenced by this work

are not fictitious.

Any resemblance to real persons and companies,

living or dead, is purely intentional.

Don’t be one of them.

Hubris and Humility – Finding a Balance

One of the things I have noticed in the last five to ten years is that we have either discovered a LOT more experts in the world than we thought existed or that current world dynamics encourage people to proclaim themselves as experts even when they are not.

Given the number of challenges that remain unsolved in the world, my bet would be that the latter is a more accurate assessment.

I wonder if we have forgotten the importance of humility in how we relate to others or even how we relate to ourselves.  Many of us have spent so much time overhyping our experience, our expertise or our strengths that we now believe it ourselves – our hype has transformed from self-promotion to core belief.

When that happens, one finds oneself on a slippery slope. 

We tell clients what their problem is before they have had a chance to describe it.

We tell them what the answer is before we know what the question is.

We can solve any problem without acknowledging contributing factors, waving them off as irrelevant to the problem.

We aggressively promote a solution to a problem even if we have never solved a problem like this before.

We believe no one else can solve a problem like we can.

On a personal level, we think that no one understands our challenges – they are simply too complex for mortal man.  “My problems are unique” or “You simply don’t understand” we proclaim to others.

Frankly, we amaze ourselves with our brilliance.  We’re just waiting for the world to finally “get it” – to catch up to our brilliant mind.

Feels good, doesn’t it?

Or does it?

Maybe a client didn’t like how we didn’t allow them to describe their problem.

Maybe someone didn’t like how we provided an answer to the wrong question, making the answer of little or no value.

Perhaps someone got so tired of hearing how we are the best person for the job bar none that they went off to find someone whose credentials spoke louder than their words.

Maybe a friend or relative is getting tired of hearing our stories of how we saved the day again.  The life of a superhero is never dull, after all.

How many times do we wonder why it is difficult to get others to collaborate with us?  It never occurs to us that our bravado, our need to be the best, our desire to “own the whole enchilada” has turned away our potential collaborators.

Maybe, in the deepest dark of night, we wonder why no one is stepping in to help us with something we struggle with.

Perhaps we don’t realize that we have spent so much time convincing the world that we have it all under control that the world feels that we don’t need them anymore.

Maybe the world feels that we are overdue for a lesson and so we are left alone to allow the lesson to manifest.

Strong leaders need confidence.  Without confidence and a passion for moving towards our purpose, leaders lack the ability to inspire others, to motivate them and to push through when challenges and obstacles are significant.

That being said, confidence must always be tempered with humility.

The humility that accepts that we don’t have all the answers.  We may not even know all the questions.

The humility that knows that even if we are in an advanced state of knowledge, that there are always others who know more.  Not only that, but there was a time when we knew nothing and someone else taught us what we now know, which should cause us to stop and think before turning away the person who now looks to us seeking help and knowledge.

We need humility that acknowledges that we need each other.

This is not the humility that calls us to be the doormat to the world.  If we do that, we discover that many in the world are content to wipe their feet off on us as they proceed on their own quest.

I also recognize that arrogance versus confidence is heavily influenced by the perception of others.  In New York City, I am viewed as confident.  To many in my home town of a few thousand, I could easily be viewed as arrogant.

That being said, we know when our balance of confidence versus humility is where it should be, regardless of the situation and location we find ourselves in.

We each bring a unique combination of  knowledge, talents, strengths, insights and life experiences.  This unique combination of gifts means that we are called to bring these gifts to bear in collaboration with others.

There are very few problems out there that we can solve without the help of others.

When we realize this and humbly acknowledge that we need everyone and that others need us in return, then we allow ourselves to temper our hubris with humility.

I have been as guilty as the next person for believing my own “shtick”.  That’s why I am grateful for the reminders that bring me back to reality.

Some reminders have been gently and privately delivered.  Some have not been so gently or privately delivered, which is why I am reminded that confidence empowers while hubris kills.

Which do you embrace?

How do you know?

More importantly, would others agree with you?

In service and servanthood,

Harry

For my Musings-in-a-Minute about “Hubris and Humility”, please click here.

Embracing Each Other

I was sitting in a doctor’s office waiting room a couple of days ago and was observing some children playing.  The children were of mixed gender, race, language and potentially religious background.  Here is how their interaction went:

My name is yyy – what’s yours?

My name is zzz – let’s play.

It was as simple as that – authenticity in its purest form.  Once they had some context by which they could name each other, that was all that was important to having an authentic relationship.

As I have been consumed by authenticity lately, I have started a detailed review of my social network, the hundreds of emails I receive daily from this network, the hundreds of invites I receive to participate in events, etc.  While I am grateful for all of this, my recent focus on authenticity has caused me to examine much of this traffic in a closer manner.

Here are some exaggerated snippets:

I am an 18-year old student and life coach.  I believe my 18 years of life have been invaluable and I would like to share this supreme knowledge with you at a discounted monthly rate of $xxxx.  <<yes – some 18-year olds have lived a full live – however ……>>

I am an enlightened life guru with no job or life experience but I would like to show you how the Law of Attraction can earn tons of money for you.  <<meanwhile a background check on the person shows they are bankrupt and the only thing the Law of Attraction is helping them with is making money promoting the Law of Attraction>>

I am an expert on collaboration and believe that we all need to work together to make this world a better place for all.  By the way,  let me tell  you that so and so has a chance to steal some of our market so if we can find any way to discredit or sue him, there’s more money in it for us.  <<I’m sorry, tell me again how this is collaboration>>

I need your help promoting product xyz.  It’s not MLM of any type but you’re at the bottom, I’m at the top and if you put in 80 hours a week, I will get rich.  <<now there’s an incentive>>

How about gems like these?

I serve on the board for corporation xyz and I know the CEO is stealing money, but if I rat on her, people will not hire me for other boards because I will not be perceived as a team player.  <<meanwhile, that person gets paid to make public presentations about the need for transparency, honesty and accountability>>

“We provide a high quality product to the consumer”, quotes a senior executive of a major frozen food manufacturer to me on a plane one afternoon two years ago.  “That being said, I don’t let my kids eat it”. “Why not?”, I ask.  “Because I know what is in that stuff”, is the reply, the speaker oblivious to the disconnect of that statement from his assertion of the high quality of their product.

Authenticity.

I wonder:

• if the fear of being perceived as not being as in control as the next person causes some people to be less than authentic, since we don’t want to be perceived as weak amongst our peers.
• if the fear of expressing our real selves causes us to repackage our knowledge, beliefs and passions into something the masses will agree with (even if this is not in congruence with what is important to us).
• if the fear of appearing to be too normal causes people to elevate their status so as to be far beyond normal (ah, so you’re just an accountant; well, I am Master of the Galaxy – Well, I’m not just an accountant, I am really the Accountant Guru of the Universe – Oh yeah?  Well I am ……).
• if the fear of appearing to not be able to stay caught up (whether it be in knowledge, money, gadgets or other toys) causes us to overspend our resources while lack of authenticity with ourselves prevents us from putting the brakes on this self-destructive behavior.  Don’t forget – whoever dies with the most toys …… is dead.
• if the notion of exposing our heart, mind and spirit to others may also allow others to see our pain and our weaknesses, allowing them to see that we are in fact human.  Since this demonstrates that we are less than perfect, we present a false persona where we never fret, get angry or cry.
• if the fear of exposing others to our personal belief structure, including our belief in God (or other deity important to us), is so strong that we are ashamed to live by the values of our belief structure, fearing ridicule or fearing being ostracized from our peers, clients and others.
• if the fear of failure paralyzes us and prevents us from trying anything, forcing us to rely on someone else to solve our problems (which then creates frustration because they are not doing it fast enough for us).
• if our desire to climb to the top of whatever mountain we are climbing is so strong (probably to beat someone else climbing the same mountain), that we are willing to portray ourselves as something we are not just so that we can accomplish the journey as fast as we can.

I do notice one thing with these fears.  The more inauthentic someone is with themselves and others, the more they resist even discussing stuff like this.  They will even get quite angry!

I wonder why.

All of these fears seem to be creating a lot of baggage in our lives and puts us on an ever-increasingly slippery slope that leaves us exhausted financially, spiritually, physically and emotionally.  Analyze the events that have led up to any significant negative event in world history and somewhere along the way, you will find one or more events that perhaps have been tied to lack of authenticity.

I’m not suggesting that life is so simple that we can easily strip a lot of these layers away and expect to be as authentic as children.  If it were only that simple.

However, I am suggesting that the number of layers of obfuscation and complexity that we have added are not commensurate with the beauty and simplicity of life.

I wonder if we have made life too complicated and then, being inauthentic with ourselves and others, refuse to take any credit for this complexity.

How about a return to some base levels of authenticity?

Hi – my name is Harry.  I don’t want you to know me as a Wall Streeter, a business strategy guy, a networker, a writer, a speaker (or however else you know me).

I am a human being who believes in God, who is awash in gratitude for his family, friends and life experiences, who marvels at the things we do right in the world, weeps at the things we do poorly, marvels at the complexity and simplicity of nature, is amazed by the power of love, aspires to be more patient and wonders when we will finally realize our true gifts and purpose.

That’s all that is important.  That is the real me – the rest are man-made constructs that are not important.

That being said, perhaps that is not important either.  What is important is that I am a human being with unlimited capacity for loving and sharing.

So are you.

My name is Harry. 

What’s your name? 

Let’s play.

Yours in service and servanthood.

Harry

So You're Successful - Now What?

I am amazed and staggered with the number of life coaches that promise success.  The most extreme statistic in England suggests that in the worst case scenario there is potentially one life coach for every person seeking a life coach - a one to one ratio of teacher and student.

With so many life coaches promising success and unlimited financial abundance, I can only assume that many of us are operating at the peak of our potential and are ready to engage in something more profound in our lives.

After all, unlimited houses, cars, jewelry, sailboats and vacations must get terribly boring.  Excuse me but ... do you have any Grey Poupon?

I wonder how long it will take for us to discover that life is more than a collection of "stuff".  After we have compiled a phenomenal collection of baubles, how many of us are left wondering "Is this it?  Is this what my life is all about?"

If the amount of stuff we amass is the measure of our existence, then I feel very sad for us collectively.  Many of us secretly admit that there remains an emptiness to be filled despite our abundance and despite our public message to others that we are at the peak of happiness.

I can also assume with so many empowered people running around that there are no longer issues with poverty, hunger, homelessness, disease and other challenges.

If only it were so.

So we set about embracing this cause or that one.  We embark on a mission to accomplish some great purpose or to leave a great legacy.  Many of us ignore the fact that there are other people who have the same purpose or objective.  "I am smarter than they are", we reason.  "I have more money, more connections, etc.  They don't know what they are doing but I do and can be successful where others fail.  I have greater insight than the other person. I have a greater sense of urgency than they do. They just want to steal my ideas for their own glory.   or ....   _____insert your own reason why you can't collaborate______."

Ah - the beauty of ego .... and the crippling result of "one-man- band syndrome".

Step 1 to leaving a great legacy is:

                          We need to get over ourselves. 

Individually, we aren't as smart, connected, powerful or anything else as we think we are.  If any of us believe otherwise, we are headed for some incredible disappointments.

However, we all bring incredible gifts to the table.  These gifts are amplified when combined with the gifts of others.  The combination of gifts, the old adage that 1+1 can equal 5, is a powerful concept that we seem to not take advantage of although we sure love to quote it.

"Collaboration is the only way I operate", we say and then we go on to do our own thing because we feel that the other person can't contribute to our great vision and would only hold us back or we don't trust other people, fearing that they might somehow steal our thunder.

Self-promotion seems to be the way of the 21st century.  Don't believe me?  Take a look at Twitter, LinkedIn or other powerful social media - 75% of people out there exist to share their secrets to success with you - at a cost.

What wasted opportunity.

Competition does indeed spark innovation in the right circumstances.  However, oftentimes it diminishes our result because of redundancy, unnecessary competitive undermining or failure to share information - all based on our fear that someone else might actually do something useful with the information (maybe even creating a better result than we could have).  "How dreadful that would be", cries our ego.

Some years ago when I was working on some goal setting projects in New York, I attempted to engage with a leading mentor organization to see if they would partner with me.  Their response was "no".  When I asked why, the response was "Don't you realize that if you are successful then we will be out of business?"  I responded "Isn't that the point - to be able to have a society where someday we don't have a need for such programs".  I was told that that was a magnanimous intention but they had an obligation to their employees first and the people they served second.

Very sad.  Maybe they should be totally transparent and change the mission statement on their website to read "We are focused on providing a good environment for our employees.  After they have been rewarded, any money left over goes to our programs for inner city kids".  I wonder where donations would go with such a message.

What would happen if we turned the volume of our ego down just a shade, turned the volume of our humility up just a tad and then sought out ways in which our respective purposes and objectives were so alike that we simply had to collaborate to produce the result we sought.

After all, what is more important - the result or the recognition?  If I had a choice, I would choose an amplified result and shared or no recognition over minimal result and all the glory.

How about you?  When you think of the life legacy projects that are important to you, what is most important - a phenomenal result or phenomenal recognition.  If the latter, I wish you luck - it's a lonely world out there when you go it alone.

If the former, I invite you to think about your ideal life objectives and desired result of your legacy.  Think about the strengths you bring to the table.  Think honestly about the strengths you don't have but which you need to maximize your result.  Find people with a similar purpose and with the strengths that you do not posses.  Focus on a maximized result instead of focusing on why no one else can help you get the job done.  Focusing on collaborative strengths is far more empowering and productive than focusing on the weaknesses of others (the latter process often highlighting your own weaknesses).

If you are a part of an organization that serves the needs of humanity in some way, look for ways that your organization can collaborate with others to enrich and amplify the result and the sense of fulfillment amongst the organization's team members.

You may run into a lot of resistance since many people will feel threatened that collaborating will somehow reduce the result or their ability to be recognized.  Overcoming this resistance won't be easy for you to accomplish but you will discover that it is worth the effort.

But then again, anything worthwhile in life isn't supposed to be easy, is it?

I'm not suggesting that every individual or organization is focused on themselves.  In fact, there are phenomenal people and organizations who are incredible models of unselfish collaboration as they move unwaveringly towards their objectives.

Let's find these people and organizations and use them as a standard by which we can judge our own intentions and results.

Only after that can we really claim to have done our best for others.  Prior to that, we will have done our best for ourselves and our egos with some residual positive impact on others.

The challenges of the 21st century need collaboration and maximized result stemming from that collaboration. 

What is more important to you - the reward or the result?

Yours in service and servanthood.

Harry

The Giving Spirit Revisited / Wishes for 2009

I am seated at my desk this morning, awash in gratitude as I think about this Christmas season and what may be one of the most spiritually, mentally and emotionally profound Christmases that I have ever experienced.

Our Christmas this year, as always, has been focused on giving back, especially to people who themselves have little if anything to give to others.  In a time when the media is reporting financial gloom and doom, cutbacks in giving and other symptoms of the economic crisis as they like to call it, we have witnessed more giving this year than ever.

The program that we participated in for battered mothers and their children went way above expectations this year as friends collaborated with us to make a phenomenal difference.  The number we helped this year, either directly or through inspiring others to help on their own, is up 700% from last year.

We were blessed to have an opportunity to help feed the homeless, the lonely and the stranded over the holidays, cooking food on Christmas Eve and helping with the distribution on Christmas Day.

On Saturday, the local blood donor clinic was open and I was able to make a contribution that will save up to three lives.

All great stuff.

However, what took place in my heart was even more profound.

This Christmas, a number of events took place within close proximity that impacted me mentally and spiritually.

This season, I witnessed profound stories of personal giving - giving that was taking place under the radar to help take care of others during the season.  I witnessed last-minute miracles for good people as they struggled to make ends meet or worked diligently to help overcome sudden incidents of misfortune. 

So many people sent me emails expressing personal testimonials of receiving help at the last minute, just when they needed it.  We started referring to them in my house as "Jimmy Stewart endings" in reference to heart-moving, wipe-your-eyes, Hollywood style endings appropriate for the season. 

Get-togethers with family and friends were more powerful than ever this year as I took the time to really savor the feelings of goodwill that filled the air.

As if that wasn't enough, I was overcome with profound gratitude as friends and strangers from all around the world, including Europe, New York and other parts of the US, Canada and Australia reached out to us with open hearts when they read my blog about some of our current adventures (and misadventures) - found here if you would like to read it.

During the midnight Christmas Eve service, I found myself powerfully moved as the congregation sang Christmas carols, as the true meaning of the season seized my heart and overwhelmed me.

As I experienced all these feelings of gratitude, I didn't need to ask what it was all about - I knew all along.

For many years, my family and I have experienced what many know as the abundance of the season - unlimited food, unlimited gifts, etc.  However, for all of those years, I felt something was missing in all of this and I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

This year brought the perfect storm of events, generous, loving people, opportunities to share and opportunities to receive to help me discover what I was missing.

Despite my insistence in years gone by that I knew what the Christmas spirit was about, I think I was merely going through the motions, simply checking off the holiday obligations.  Make annual donations to various organizations - check.  Buy gifts for everyone - check.  Organize opportunities for giving to others - check.  Be happy during the season - check.  Check, check, check.

Looking back, I realized that it had gotten too mechanical.

This year, I savored every single action.  I savored every single project that I was involved in and I was grateful for the opportunity to do so.

I was also grateful for the opportunity to do it with others who really cared.

And so as I sat in church service on Sunday and listened to the Christmas carols being sung, I looked up and said a prayer of thanks to God - a prayer thanking Him for my friends, for complete strangers (met and unmet), for the opportunity to share with others, for the opportunity to be humble enough to receive from others and for the strength and courage to continue to follow our intention to make a difference in this world.

Contrary to what the media would like us to believe, the unselfish, giving spirit of people is alive and well.  We see what we choose to focus on.

A number of people came to mind as I sat there in gratitude.  While many came to mind, I will mention some of them here.  Things they have said or done in the last month or so have had a profound impact on me and my family and the sense of deep gratitude we are experiencing during this season.  There is always a danger of leaving people out but if I listed everyone that I was grateful for, the list would be very long (my LinkedIn network alone is up to 16.5 million people at the time I wrote this).  :-)

The people who come to mind include my family (of course), Andrew B., Roberto L., Jonathan S., John C., Jim L., Estean L., Hilary R., Tim S., Bruce MacN.,  Joseph S., Casey W., Gabriel M., Keith B., Don H., Gary J., Daryn K., Ken B., Mac P., Frances H., Marilyn B., Debra P., Peggy C., Lauren M., Iris P., Peter T., Gerald C., Barry G., Peter D., Doreen C., Peggy M., John G., Bret D., Evan G., Tim M., Lew M., Emily H., Jeremy R., Paul S., Deborah W., John Paul W., Gerry O., Ros O., Gina P., John L. (and the gang),  Marvin C., Alex T., Kevin F., Dave M., Ed N., Heather and Mark U., Bill G., Ray J., Larry F., Jackie H., Sharon C., Tony R., Steve B., Linda G., Cathy F., Paul L.,  Jenifer F., Nick S. and John M.

I am grateful for everyone in my life and grateful for their spirit of giving and sharing, their commitment to others and their passion to make a difference in the lives of people around them - even when it means sacrifice for themselves or a sense of swimming against the tide.

As 2009 draws near, we have a choice to make.  We can succumb to the sense of despair as the media would like us to embrace or we can choose to see phenomenal opportunity in everything and everyone around us.

There are incredible opportunities around us for growth, for sharing, for learning and for receiving with humility and gratitude  - phenomenal opportunities for each one of us to leave a legacy of hope and love to the generations that are coming behind us.

2009 will bring interesting challenge and opportunity for me and my family.  We are contemplating a number of programs in alignment with our purpose and passion, including children's education in North America and service to the needy overseas.

Whatever you decide to do in 2009, do it with passion, purpose and a sense of making a difference.  If you want it bad enough, you will be successful, regardless of the challenges you face.

Remember that you are not alone - you are surrounded by people who want to help you be successful.  Be open to their help just as you expect others to be open to yours.

Above all, keep your faith alive.  Whatever you believe God is, remember that in your darkest moments, faith in God will lead you to victory in your efforts to make a difference.

I wish each one of you, a phenomenal 2009 filled with personal victory, a fulfillment of purpose and a legacy that others will learn from and multiply, for the benefit of all.

Yours in service and servanthood.

Harry

I Believe in You

I was reading an email from a friend last night who has incredible vision, passion and heart.  He has everything he needs to be successful - great ideas, an empowered network and a market that will continue to consume his services insatiably.

There is just one thing wrong - one thing that will delay his leap to greater impact on this earth and delay the fulfillment of his purpose.

Bob feels that no one supports the work that he is doing.  Every day he slogs away at manifesting what he believes to be his goals and his purpose.  Few people understand what he is working on as he is rather private and when he does come in contact with others, they are usually asking him for something instead of collaborating with him to manifest something that could benefit both of them as well as others.  There are many who think he should settle down to living a life as dictated by the masses but he believes his calling requires that he not live such a life.

He is losing his faith in his ability to make a difference - it's been a long ride of giving without being helped with his own purpose.

I keep telling him that he needs to make "the ask" more often, to reach out to others to help him manifest his purpose as he has helped so many others.  His response is that that is not his style, that he doesn't want to impose on anyone else. 

And so he waits for others to step up to help him.  There are many around him who know that he is waiting but they don't step up to help.

I wonder why there are so many examples of similar stalled opportunities out there, so many examples of unfulfilled purpose. 

We can all say that the person who is trying to create something owns responsibility for making the ask.  It is always easy to say that the other person is responsible.

However, just for a moment, let's pretend we have the responsibility and opportunity to make a difference.

Perhaps we feel we have nothing of value to offer to someone.

Maybe we feel that that person has it all figured out and so we leave them alone. 

Maybe we are too busy living the recklessly fast game we call Life.  We need to relax more - it's a game where no one gets out alive anyway.

Maybe we are too selfish, waiting for someone to help us FIRST or taking the position "when I have some spare time, I will help them".  How many times has spare time manifested in such situations - almost never.

Whatever, the reason, the person on the other end is wondering why no one steps up to help.

It's a lonely place for them - afraid to ask, don't know how or who to ask, too proud to ask, too humble to intrude ..... all the time frustrated that no one steps up.

I remember being in a similar place back in the mid 80's.  I was struck one day by the power of a song that I heard by Twisted Sister. 

Yes indeed, even the "big hair" bands of the 80's were capable of writing some pretty powerful poetry.

The song struck me because at the time, I was feeling pretty alone and misunderstood regarding my purpose.  The lyrics are at the bottom of this post for those who are interested.

I think that each one of us can name someone right now who has incredible passion and purpose to make a difference.  Many are incubating projects that we are aware of but in many cases, we never take the time to explore their passion. 

The scale of the difference they wish to make is irrelevant.

What is relevant are the dreams and visions of these people to make a difference - to leave a legacy.

It would be really cool and potentially profound if we could all suspend the notion of self for 24 hours.  During the next 24 hours, imagine if we reached out to those we know - family members, an associate, a child or a friend and said one thing.

I believe in you and I believe in the power of your potential and what you are doing.  How can I help you to make a difference?

Note that I didn't say "Can I help you?" which opens the door to a "no".  I said "How can I help you?" which opens the door to collaboration.

As Stanley Marcus once told Tim Sanders - "Everybody is generous during good times, but only generous people give during hard times."  Since one of the most valuable things you have to give is your time, now is a great opportunity to share your gift with others.

I wonder how many wonderful things could be manifested from just reaching out to someone and helping them realize their dreams.

Perhaps you would also unleash the power of some of your own dreams.

Yours in service and servanthood.

Harry

I Believe In You - by Twisted Sister

Why does no one seem to understand
That it's more than love I need
It's so hard to keep your faith alive
When nobody else believes

Oh I need someone there for me
Need someone who can see
Need someone to show me
Ohhhh, that they Are there to help me fight
If I fall, to set me right
Someone there to hold the light

Won't someone say
I believe in you
I believe in you
I believe in you
I believe in you

It's so hard to do it all yourself
Fighting for your dreams alone
When the toy's upon the highest shelf
A child's tears soon become stone

Oh why does no one lend a hand
Why does no one understand
Why I need to make a stand

Ohhhh,it's so hard to carry on
When all your hope is gone
All your dreams have come undone
I need to hear

I believe in you
I believe in you
I believe in you
I believe in you

Why won't someone say these words
Are they really so absurd?
Must they always go unheard?
Ohhhh, if someone needed the light
I'd be there to help them fight

If they fell, I'd set them right
And then I'd say
I believe in you
I believe in you
I believe in you
I believe in you
I believe in you
Won't someone say I believe in you
I believe in you
Won't someone say I believe in you
I need to hear I believe in you
I believe in you

Confrontation - Not Always Bad

We spend a good bit of our life avoiding confrontation for a number of reasons, including but not limited to the following:

• because we don't like confrontation (it makes us feel uncomfortable for reasons we can't put our finger on)
• because we are too busy (even if the confrontation is in an area that is in alignment with our personal purpose and passion)
• because we are afraid of downstream repercussions on us or people important to us
• because we have selfish needs that will be compromised if we challenge what we or others  perceive to be wrong
• because we let something go too long and having done so, to challenge it now may cause some people to say "so why do you care now?" or the more incriminating "You knew about this and did nothing?"
• because we are told that challenging something is just not allowed (for reasons that no one can explain or justify)
• because we or someone close to us may be guilty of something that a confrontation may expose
• because someone has intimidated us into believing that if we confront that which we believe to be a problem, then a failure will result that is our fault for challenging the status quo ("it was all quiet until you showed up")
• because we feel that we are not as competent as someone else and will lose the confrontation, so why waste the time
• because the person to be challenged is known to be a bully and you are afraid to voice your concern, fearing the repercussions
• because we assume someone else will rise up and defend a position that we are passionate about (and we get frustrated, wondering when the white knight will arrive)
• because we live a life of indifference to fixing that which needs to be fixed.

The truth is that sometimes confrontation, when approached correctly, produces purity and security within an organization, process or relationship.  The reasons include the following:

• Challenge  provides clarification on how an organization, process or relationship is run and should be run
• Challenge provides opportunity to change – to improve how organizations, processes or relationships execute
• Challenge provides opportunity for enhanced relationship building, internally and externally
• Challenge purifies organizations, processes or relationships by encouraging appropriate "house cleaning"
• Challenge produces respect in others through appropriate airing / sharing of concerns and realignment of mutual understanding
• Challenge provides security through increased transparency and enhanced execution.

So, confrontation is not bad as long as:

• The information is factual and presented in a non-emotional way
• The problem is tackled and not the people associated with the problem
• The process produces a better service, product offering or relationship as a result of the process
• Transparency and accountability are enhanced
• Everyone on all sides recognize that personal agendas should be put aside, since both sides are possibly in violent agreement on more of the opponent's position then they realize
• Common goals for the greater good are established early and collaboration is used to work towards those common goals.

So, before avoiding a confrontation for one of the reasons listed above, ask yourself this question:

Is the reason for the confrontation one that involves doing the right thing for:

• those who have been wronged and fear standing up for themselves (for any reason)
• those who have no voice and have been wronged
• the purpose of correcting a wrong that people are not aware of? 

If any of the above is true, if fixing it is important for reasons that you are in congruence with and if you are not serving a selfish personal agenda, then don't run from confrontation. 

Take a stand.  Do what most people won't do today so that you can do what most people can't do tomorrow.

Proper challenge can correct issues and enhance future execution if done fairly, factually and appropriately and if we recognize that each person involved is doing they best they can with the talents, strengths and knowledge that they have been blessed with.

Yours in service and servanthood.

Harry

PS 55,000 children died yesterday due to malnutrition.  55,000 more will die today for the same reason and another 55,000 will die tomorrow.  They need someone to take a stand for them if you happen to be looking for a great cause!

How Will You Remember Me .....

.... and how will I remember you?

When our end of days has come, will we remember each other:

• for having given our best for our families, providing for their current and future needs as best as we can?
• for taking care of ourselves mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually, knowing that many people rely on us (including many we will never meet)?
• for having gone above and beyond for our employers (or our own companies if we are at the top)?
• for doing our best to empower our employees and professional peers, enabling them to plug their passion, purpose, skills, strengths and talents into their work, to produce the best result possible?
• for accepting that we all make mistakes?

Will we applaud each other:

• for being role models for our greatest investment of all - our children?
• for investing in our community, our state or province and our country, taking responsibility for the good and the bad and working together to fix that which needs fixing while enhancing that which is already great?
• for seeing the positive in everyone?
• for making a difference in this world, for those who are starving, thirsty, sick, impoverished, destitute, homeless or challenged in other ways?
• for taking care of those we don't know and may never meet?
• for random acts of kindness, the kind that inspire others to make a difference?
• for keeping the Earth in mind as we do what we can to take care of the miraculous life raft that carries us through this incredible universe?

Will we think fondly of each other:

• for doing our best to keep our outlook on life (and the outlook of others) on the positive side, especially when times get tough?
• for reaching out to someone, not only when they need it but often times in anticipation that they would appreciate some unrequested support?
• for doing our best to love everyone, even those that anger us, drive us crazy or disappoint us (recognizing that we do the same to others)?
• for filling our days with positive action to make a difference and not just wishful thinking that we will get to it someday?
• for dropping a coin in the cup of a beggar, someone who may be a descendant of yours or mine?
• for going for the brass ring, seizing a life of excitement, challenge, risk and fulfillment and not just a life of indifference and unrealized dreams?

Will we be proud of each other:

• for being who we want to be and not what others want us to be?
• for being brave and courageous in our quest to find and fulfill our purpose and passion on Earth?
• for taking a stand for what we believe to be right?
• for standing firm in our faith and our beliefs, no matter what the odds?
• for being known as someone that could always be counted on?
• for being the person who always brought sunshine into someone's day instead of darkness?
• for living a life of humility and service to others?

Will we support each other:

• for being the cheerleader who always encouraged others to be and do the best that they can?
• for laughing loudly(and often)?
• for crying when we need to and not being embarrassed by it?
• for promoting a sense of urgency around appreciating everything that Life offers?
• For cutting people a little slack when we see they are doing their best?
• For providing guidance when people could use a little direction?
• for loving ourselves and recognizing that we are a product of our genetics, our life experiences, our faith, our calling and God's Purpose for us - we are living miracles who are to love and be loved unconditionally?
• for not being afraid to say "I love you" to anyone and mean it?

Will we be grateful for ourselves, for others and for the incredible experiences of Life (instead of judging Life as a collection of good and bad)?

The game of Life is the one game where no one gets out alive.

At some point, one of us will stand before a memorial to the other.

How are you being remembered?

Harry

"Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong. Let all that you do be done with love." - 1 Corinthians 16:13-14 (NKJV)

Going for the Gold - the Leadership Difference

I was taking inventory today of smaller information technology companies that I have come in contact with up to the end of 2007 and where they are on the track towards success and some interesting items came to light.  The most interesting thing was that while I believed they all had potential for success, the ones that were most successful now aren't the ones I thought would be most successful when I was first introduced to them.

In fact, some of the ones with the greatest potential are now in various stages of a death spiral that they are in denial of while some of companies that seemed to have less potential are now driving towards success.

When I examine the different companies carefully, I noticed that all things being equal, including size of market, size of competitive space, client size, quality and quantity, availability of execution capital, etc., the companies all seemed to have equal access to success.

However, the one glaring item that stood out between the successful and less than successful companies was in fact the difference in leadership.

The leaders of the unsuccessful companies seemed to share a shortage in some common traits:

• Courage

Unwillingness to take risk, to differentiate themselves from their crowded competitive space - I'll make plans to spend money only if I currently have it in hand.

• Vision

Unwillingness or inability to proactively rally their teams around mission, vision, values, purpose and goals - Why should I have to motivate them any further - I am paying them already - that should be enough.

• Humility

Inability to learn by acknowledging that other people have knowledge that can be leveraged for their success - I am a business owner therefore I am already successful and have nothing to learn from others.

• Greed

Unwillingness to share the pie - I'd rather have all of a small pie than 90% of a much larger pie - I'd rather have my company collapse then give up x% to an investor who could make my company much larger.

• Human Relationship Management

Lack of insight into leveraging the strengths of team members - They will do what I tell them - I don't care if they are happy about it or using their talents.  I just want them to work harder.

• Responsibility

Refusal to take responsibility for mistakes made in the company - If my team has made a mistake, what is most important for me is ferreting out the culprit, not in solving and learning from the event.

• Business acumen

Failure to observe the landscape and adjust accordingly, whether it be in technology, competitors, new opportunities, etc. - My company will be successful irrespective of what the industry calls for, what my competitors are doing, what new technology exists to empower the company, etc.

• Stubbornness

Inability to leverage people who have "been there" - if I do this, then there may be an expectation that I will have to do what someone else tells me or worse, may have to share in the reward. I'd rather go it alone than do that - sheer brute force has and will continue to make me successful.

• Wastefulness of time

Unwillingness to utilize networks containing new clients, industry experts, etc. - I can build my own network when I need it - that way it is mine to control and I don't need to share the rewards.

• Strategy

Lack of interest in or commitment to spending time to be strategic in sales and marketing, competitive analysis, appropriate team building and motivation, partner collaboration, honest corporate self-assessment, articulation of strategy, internal / external communication, etc. (this one shocked me at the scale and commonality of the lack of strategy) - I don't have time for all of that stuff.  If I am planning then I am not executing and if I am not executing, I must be failing.

• Passion (or lack of)

These leaders say all the right things, how they empower their staff, their staff is their first priority, they do all the right things, strategy is critical, etc - but you discover that it's all talk.- If I pretend to do the right things, then everything will correct itself and in the meantime, I buy time by getting the respect of those around me.

Conversely, the successful companies exhibit the following expressions of the same attributes in their leaders:

• Courage

Smart risk is key to my success - I won't waste my money but smart risk will propel me past my competitor and will allow me to establish a beachhead before they do.  I'll find creative ways to generate the income needed to drive this behavior and to mitigate the risk.

• Vision

I promote and live by messages centered around mission, vision, values, purpose and goals - If I don't provide my team with something to rally around, provide opportunities for individual contribution and success and provide a model that establishes our execution standard, why would they even care about contributing to the greater success (and how do they know in what direction they should be moving)?

• Humility

There is much to learn from others who have "been there" - I acquire new knowledge every day from people who are helping me and my company grow.

• Generosity (reverse of greed)

The bigger the success, the more there is to share with everyone - I'd rather have 90% of $100 than 100% of $50.  This empowers me and my team to live more fulfilling personal and professional lives.  If this means venture capital or some other investment vehicle, so be it.

• Human Relationship Management

A critical success factor for success is the ability to obtain optimum results from each team member by tapping into the strengths and passions of each team member -  I understand the passion, talent, strengths and knowledge of each team member and look for ways to get them engaged such that they learn constantly, they are happy and passionate about success and about themselves, they are fully engaged in the big picture and we are mutually successful.  If we are not all winning, then none of us are winning.

• Responsibility

Accepting responsibility for mistakes made in the company - any mistake made is a reflection, directly or indirectly on my choice of leaders, my growth of leaders, my own personal leadership capability, style and execution and the decisions made as a result of all of these.  For this reason, any failure is a direct reflection on me and therefore I own responsibility to produce optimal result at all levels of the organization.

• Business acumen

Strong leaders observe the landscape and adjust accordingly, whether it be in technology, competitors, new opportunities, etc. - my business execution skills will create success or failure.  If I and the leaders that work for me do not have the necessary business acumen for success, I will find or hire the necessary people who bring essential business knowledge to my company.  Our success is more important than our pride.

• Pride (reverse of stubbornness)

Successful people leverage and model people who have "been there" - success is something I am proud of.  If I don't have the experience I need, I will find people who have the experience, even if they are smarter than I am.  Pride in a successful company is far more desirable than failure created through stubbornness.

• Leverage (opposite of wastefulness)

Utilizing networks containing new clients, industry experts, etc. - A strong network can take a lifetime to build.  My window of success doesn't provide a lifetime - why build what exists through other contacts and can be tapped immediately?

• Strategy

Total recognition for the importance of strategy and commitment to building strategic plans, revising them where appropriate and executing faithfully in areas of sales and marketing, competitive analysis, appropriate team building and motivation, partner collaboration, honest corporate self-assessment, articulation of strategy, internal / external communication, etc. - If I can't articulate my strategic intentions, how will I ever translate my corporate purpose into tactical roadmaps.  Failing to plan truly means planning to fail.

• Passion

These leaders model passion in everything they do.  They have a passion for excellence, for commitment, for focus, for mutual winning, for team collaboration, for ongoing learning, etc.- Passion is not something I can fake. I'm either all in it or I am not in the game at all and everyone is clear where I stand by observing what I do and not just listening to what I say.  Success depends on passion throughout the ranks.

I know this is old hat for people who have been there.  My thought is that if knowledge of this is so common these days, why are leaders continuing to make these fundamental mistakes and why aren't they willing to do what it takes to correct them before they and their organizations fail?

I will post my thoughts on that shortly.

In the meantime, where are you as a leader and a person of influence in your company?  Is your company successful?  If so, what can you do to make it more successful and to be a model for other companies to follow?

If not, do you have the courage to do what it takes to take corrective action?

It comes down to how badly you desire success.

As Bob Proctor quoted me in his daily "Insight of the Day" in February of 2007.

"Everyone's life is under someone's control - it might as well be under your own so that you can direct your destiny."

Click here to listen to Bob.

Do you want success in your organization?  If so, get stoked up about it and drive towards it.  Otherwise, everything you are doing is just entertainment.

Yours in leadership service.

Harry

Stewardship

I had an opportunity today to interact with some business associates who over the years have become great friends of mine, for which I am thankful.  Over the course of the different conversations, they expressed gratitude regarding ways I have helped them in the past or continue to help them, inspire them or motivate them.

I sit here tonight after midnight (as I usually do) the solitude of the early morning providing time for reflection on today's events and I thought of something that crossed my mind as I took the red-eye from the west side of the continent to the east side a couple of nights ago.

As I traveled the 3000 miles to my destination, my mind wandered back through my 42 years of life and I could not help but be overwhelmed by gratitude for what I have experienced.

I have been blessed by incredible friends, business associates, family members and people who were important in my heart.  I have been given the gift of phenomenal professional and personal opportunities.  When I have made mistakes, I have been blessed to be forgiven and when I needed time to correct errors in judgement that I have made, it always seemed that God made sure that I had the time I needed to make things right.  As long as I was taking action, I always seemed to get the support I needed and it always manifested at the moment I needed it, not when I wanted it.

I have been blessed by wonderful children.  While I am not always the model father, through the miracles of Life they are growing up to be wonderful human beings.  They are my legacy, not because of what I do or who I am but because of the gifts that they have been given.

As I sat on the plane the other night, awash in gratitude, I was thinking of the concept of stewardship, the notion of making the most of your time, talent and treasure.

When I looked back over my life, it seems that the times when support and help came to me most occurred at the same time as I increased my stewardship efforts (although I wouldn't have called it stewardship back then).

The more I gave away, the more that came back to me.  The more I accelerated my sharing of time, talent and treasure, the greater the rewards that came into my life (and by rewards, I am not talking about "stuff" as George Carlin describes what we accumulate on earth).  I'm talking about the rewards of knowledge, love, life experiences, laughter, wonderful memories, opportunities to grow as a person, courage, strengthened faith and the other wonderful things we take for granted.

It has been said that we spend far more time worrying about how to spend $24 than how to spend the next 24 hours of our life, while the latter clearly has the potential to have far greater impact on more people.

Our "talent cup" overflows with tremendous talents that exist in unique combinations within each one of us, yet we refuse to acknowledge the abundance and quantity of these talents or their value to others.

We have more treasure collectively (however we define treasure) despite the challenging times before us today, yet more people are in need now than ever.  While we live in a world of abundance, hoarding it produces a feeling of discontent or the need to hoard more, ultimately producing more discontent. 

So many of us are blessed with incredible time, talent and treasure.  Are we really using them for the greater good or are we living for today, blissfully ignoring the fact that for each of us, our end of days will surely come?  If we hoard everything up until the end, we miss out on a tremendous opportunity to have used these gifts we have been given to make a huge difference in the world.

With that comes the last thing I believe we are stewards of and that is relationships - how we interact with the world, how we share our time, talent and treasure and how we leverage our network to increase our contribution potential.  I am blessed with a great network but it is of no value if I choose not to use it to make a difference in the lives of others.  To squander the gift of relationships, whether personal or professional, is as great a sin as to hoard time, talent and treasure and not put them to use on this planet.

The scale of your time, talent and treasure contribution doesn't matter - it's what you do with it that counts.  It's not a contest to see who does the most.

Take a moment and honestly ask yourself this question.  Can I name three or more ways that demonstrate that I am a good steward of time, talent, treasure and relationships? 

If the answer is yes, congratulations.  Please take the time to teach others how to do the same thing.

If the answer is no, think about why this is the case.  When excuses "like I have no time because ...." (insert excuse here - job keeps me busy, family keeps me busy, blah blah blah), look for examples where others faced similar situations to yours and were able to be excellent stewards anyway.

Having given it some thought, make a point of being a better steward of your gifts.  Take a "no prisoners" approach to your stewardship efforts, motivating yourself to share the incredible wealth of gifts that I know you have.

As far as time is concerned:

1. We start out with a fixed amount of time allotted to us
2. Once time is used, it cannot be recovered
3. We don't know how much we have left.

We always hear the phrase "live every day as if it is your last".  Today may actually be your last or mine.

Let that notion put a sense of urgency into your stewardship plans.  That is our obligation as participants in the universe.

In service and servanthood.

Harry

Musings on Sour Milk

I returned from a great two-week vacation yesterday, opened the door to my truck and was instantly knocked over by a stench that was indescribable.  Being five o'clock in the morning and being too tired to look for the source of the mystery odor, it was decided that identifying the source of the odor would wait until later. 

Subsequent investigation turned up an open container of milk, left to bake in the truck for two weeks in 80 degree heat.  Having removed the source of the heavenly scent, I wonder how long it will be before the truck is able to shake off the reminder.  In the meantime, I have the constant reminder of the mistake and the potential embarrassment of how it is perceived by others when they sit in the vehicle.

It got me to thinking about the aftermath of a lot of things in life, things that start out well but for some reason, go sour and leave a stench in our life or in the life of someone else.  It doesn't matter if the act was intentional or as in the case of the milk in my truck, completely accidental but profound in result.

It is a reminder to me regarding the notion of living a life more on purpose and less by accident, a life where we are more intentional regarding the actions that we take with the hope that the actions will produce as good a result as possible.  How many times do we take action with little thought regarding the impact or do we take action knowing the potential impact but not paying as much attention as we should (or even caring at all).  The downstream impact on the lives of ourselves and others could be more profound, positive or negative, then we are cognizant of.  Given this, wouldn't it make sense that we would pay more attention to every action that we take?

For me personally, every day brings an opportunity for improvement.  I spend every day trying to improve and while I will never be able to proclaim myself as perfect (or even close to it), I will hopefully be producing a more positive result as a result of striving to do the best I can as a human being.

If we do our best as human beings and we still leave some "sour milk" behind, what do we do?  As with  my vehicle, clean up the "milk" as best as we can to prevent further complications, clean up and air out the "vehicle" in the best way possible and to the best of your ability and then allow time to finish the cleansing process. 

That being said, it is far better to be more proactive in order to avoid the negative result in the first place.  :-)

In service and servanthood.

Harry

Service and Servanthood

Service - what does it really mean? To many, it means the service we receive, whether it's the service at the local coffee shop, the quality of the customer service we receive during a telephone call, how well we are treated at the local auto dealer, etc.

How often do we think about it from the other side as in, how well do I provide service to others? Do I provide the level of service expected of me as a member of my family, my community, my church, my company or client, my country and of course, the earth itself? How well do I serve others?

The real question comes down to this. How much humility do I really have and is my ego small enough to allow me to serve those around me with a spirit of total giving and total commitment. As a leader, does my ego call me to lord over those who work for me or with me or is my humility more powerful than my ego, allowing me to serve even those I lead, clearing obstacles for them and providing ways for them to achieve ultimate satisfaction, contribution and growth. When I experience situations where my life experience has clearly provided me with more knowledge of a particular situation than the people I am serving (or I think it has), how gentle am I in sharing knowledge and constructive criticism? What's winning the fight - my humility or my ego?

I believe we have all been in moments when we appeared to be the lesser equipped and have born the sting of rebuke, sarcasm or criticism as the other person exerts ego-based influence over us. Instead of learning from the pain of this sting, we are quick to do the same thing when we have the upper-hand, both failing to learn a better way of handling the situation while passing on the sting to someone who will in turn, pass it on to someone else. Merely thinking the thought is as bad as committing the deed, as our body language and actions betray our thoughts as thoroughly as if we had spoken the demeaning thought we had considered. In addition, thinking such thoughts does not provide us with the opportunity to grow our humility and shrink our ego.

We have such high expectations of the world, but are we holding ourselves up to the same expectations? Many of us hold ourselves to outrageous levels of expectations on many levels, but how well are we doing as servants of the world?

Being a servant to the world does not mean being a doormat or a martyr to the whim of every person who would crush us as they execute towards their own goals. It means knowing when to hold ego in check, recognizing that none of us are perfect and that we need each other for growth, learning and success (however we measure it).

Larry Spears captures the spirit of servanthood and servant leadership perfectly in these 10 precepts:

1. Listening receptively
2. Acceptance of (and empathy with) others
   
3. Foresight and intuition
4. Awareness and perception
5. Highly-developed powers of persuasion
6. Ability to conceptualize and communicate concepts
7. A healing influence upon people and institutions
8. Ability to build a sense of community in the workplace
9. Practice contemplation
10. Willingness to change.

Ask someone how you rate based on this criteria and you may be delighted or disappointed by how well you score.

As John C. Maxwell notes:

1. Leadership is getting people to help you when they are not obligated to do so.
2. True leadership must be for the benefit of the followers, not to enrich the leader.

Since servant leadership is by far the most effective form of leadership and since many of today's leadership experts consider a leader as anyone who exerts influence (which qualifies us all, in the form of parent, guardian, sibling, mentor, employer, volunteer, friend, spiritual leader, elected leader, etc.), I ask one simple question:

Are we serving others or are we expecting to be served?

Our personal philosophy regarding this question determines the quality of our life, the quality of the lives around us and the legacy that each of us leaves for others to muse upon.

Yours in service,

Harry