Self Discipline–Why You Can Never Reach Me Instantly

Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand. The sun's rays do not burn until brought to a focus. - Alexander Graham Bell

We use our gadgets for distraction and entertainment. We use them to avoid work while giving the impression that we're actually working hard. - Meghan Daum

The moment of drifting into thought has been so clipped by modern technology. Our lives are filled with distraction with smartphones and all the rest. People are so locked into not being present. - Glen Hansard

I have a confession to make to the many people who wonder what the secret is to getting me to answer my phone.

If you’re not in my calendar today, then don’t bother calling / SMS’ing me if you expect an immediate reply / comment.  I won’t even know you called me until the end of the day.

In our world of always being connected, always reachable, I have noticed that a lot of people who complain that they never get anything done appear to exist to be at the beck and call of everyone around them, whether it be via phone call, SMS, Facebook, Twitter or whatever the current distraction du jour is.

That’s fine if you believe that you exist only for the needs of others or that you are willing to sacrifice your priorities in order to meet everyone else’s.

However, if you believe you exist to serve a Greater Purpose, using your strengths, gifts and talents to the greatest potential possible, you cannot exist this way at all.

When I plan my day (right after my Quiet Hour), I note who needs to call me that day and I set up my phone to allow calls and SMS to come in from those people or people associated with them.

Family members, my closest friends and colleagues / friends who are currently in trouble and need support are always on this allowed list.

If you didn’t make it to that list for the day, when you call or SMS me, you will be redirected.  I won’t even be aware you reached out until the end of the day when I do my end-of-day wind-down.

While many have told me that this is unfair or uncaring for the people who might want to reach out to say hi, to ask advice or to complain incessantly about something they have no interest in addressing themselves (using me as the whipping post for their complaints), I reply to the criticism with these observations:

If I exist to be everyone else’s entertainment, company, source of knowledge or whipping post, at what point do I get to focus on who I am and why I exist?

If I have to be at everyone else’s beck and call “just because” but the other person reserves the right to reject speaking to me because they are busy or don’t feel like chatting, where is the fairness and balance in this exchange?

If I allow everyone else to monopolize my time, who is to blame when my work / play doesn’t get completed to my satisfaction or for the needs of someone else – the people who called me or the person (me) who allowed them to overrun my day?

Is my ego that weak that my sense of worthiness and self-value is established by the number of people who reach out to me?

If it takes me 20 minutes to get back on track after a distraction, how much work can I really get done if I allow distractions to flow in through the day?

How respectful am I to you (or to someone else) if I keep pausing myself or interrupting them to check my phone?

Do the interruptions contribute to my day or do they just burn time that can never be reclaimed?

I chose one person in particular who didn’t understand any of these ideas (he called them selfish) and I called him daily “just to chat”.

After a few days, he understood, but not before getting angry with me first.  After he calmed down, he got it.

According to my mobile carrier, my phone sends / receives 22,000+ SMS messages a month.  I use SMS more than voice (unless the person I am interacting with prefers voice chats) because I’m busy and focused on meeting my goals as well as serving the needs of the people around me.  I keep communication brief, direct and fact-focused.  People not used to this eventually come to appreciate it and often adopt the same approach themselves.

If you choose to spread yourself across your entire network without any sense of focus or discipline, how do you expect to meet your goals or the goals / needs of those whom you serve (unless you don’t have any goals, in which case wasting your time or having it wasted for you won’t feel like a crime to you)?.

By the way, many times when people call you to kill time, there is a possibility that you were the last person available to them.  How does it feel knowing that your time is of such little value to them that spending time with you is only slightly better to someone than having absolutely nothing to do at all or that they called you simply because they were bored (regardless of what is happening in your day)?

The Bottom Line

The people who complain the most about not having enough time to get things done are often the same ones who have no sense of focus or prioritization in how they use their time or how they allow others to use it.  They also don’t care if / how they waste the time of others.

Those of us who have the discipline to protect our time / results by shutting out distractions believe that we don’t have the time to complain and we don’t have the right to tie up other people’s time “just because” (since we don’t like them doing that to us). We’re too busy being grounded in gratitude to have the opportunity to create and collaborate and we are focused on creating results (whether for work or for play).

And besides, if I have a complaint to make, making it to someone who can do nothing about it infects two people with a negative attitude (instead of one) and meanwhile, my problem still exists.  On top of that, the person whom I have just infected is now distracted, unproductive or spreading my negativity outwards like ripples in a pond.

We all have 24 hours in a day.

Do you use those 24 hours for balanced work / play / learning / sharing / loving effectively, do you waste them or even worse, do you allow someone else to steal them from you?

Are you sure?

I’d love to hear your thoughts but don’t bother calling / SMS’ing me to tell me unless you know that you’re on my calendar today!

In service and servanthood – create a great day for yourself and others because merely having one is too passive an experience.

Harry

PS When I do entertain the complaints of others, I remind them that I am a “touch-once” person.  When a problem comes up, we can avoid it, talk about it or do whatever we want with it.  However, if we don’t adopt a “touch-once” policy and address it as soon as it comes up, it will always be there tomorrow.

So when someone comes to me with a complaint or they are seeking advice, they can only bring it up once.  If they want to discuss the same topic later without having tried to resolve it, I shut them down.  Lack of intention or effort on their part is not an excuse to burn up my time.

If we don’t focus on solving problems at the earliest opportunity, we may find we don’t have much energy / time left to address opportunities for creating and collaborating because we’re too busy being burdened down by the noise of unresolved problems.

And that only leads to more complaining.

Bullying – Is Pink Shirt Day Solving Anything?

Not everyone has been a bully or the victim of bullies, but everyone has seen bullying, and seeing it, has responded to it by joining in or objecting, by laughing or keeping silent, by feeling disgusted or feeling interested. - Octavia E. Butler

The solution to putting an end to bullying is to stop it at the source but also to find out what is causing the person to behave the way that they do. - Hunter King

Today is Pink Shirt Day, the day when politicians, businessmen, schools and churches call upon everyone to wear a pink shirt to send a statement about bullying and how it must come to an end.

We are told that to do so makes a difference.

Statistics tell us a different story, that bullying, battery, cyber-bullying and other forms of intimidation (and sometimes violence) continue to grow unabated, regardless of whatever feel-good actions we take and whatever legislation we pass.

And as I reflect upon the collision between feel-good intentions and reality, I reflect upon my own Life.

I spent my entire childhood hiding from bullies.  As part of an education experiment growing up, I had some grades combined which meant that I was accepted in college at the age of 15.

So being much younger than my schoolmates (and therefore much smaller) and more gifted academically (as evidenced by school grades), this left me ripe for bullies.

My bully from grades 2 through 6 was Cliff, who verbally and physically abused me relentlessly and incessantly.  His house was between mine and my elementary school so avoiding him was rather difficult.  <<I understand that Cliff moved on to a cocaine-filled Life filled with many complexities.>>

Poor grades on Cliff’s part caused him to be in a different part of junior high school and so he was replaced by Barry who relished his role as the destroyer of worlds (at least my world).

Barry’s bad grades separated Barry and I in high school but other people were there to fill his shoes.  Paul, Steve, Stewart, Tony, Randy and others took brutality to a new level, often mock-raping me in the shower-room, holding me down and taking turns dry-humping me.  After they finished high school, they moved on to blue collar businesses and are reasonably successful by their own definition although a trail of broken marriages and such would speak differently.

Having been accepted in college at the age of 15 in a classroom of twenty-somethings and being adept in the early world of Computer Science, I became the victim of people like Dennis, Dwight and others who assumed the role of my bully du jour before poor grades caused them to drop out.

It took a lot of years to overcome their damage but I did and I was driven to create success for myself and others.  I was also driven to lift others or to lend a hand when no one else would.

Did the bullies drive me to this?  Could it be argued that what they did to me drove me to experience the blessings that I later experienced in Life and to serve the downtrodden, the oppressed and those without a voice? 

It’s possible but I’m sure there were easier ways to experience the Life I am grateful for now.

I doubt the bullies that I experienced in my early days remember or care what they did.  Statistically, many of them are creating or have created a new generation of bullies.

I wonder if they are cognizant of this or if they care.

I doubt it but who is to say for sure.

And so as I reflect upon Pink Shirt Day today and I look back upon my early days, I wonder if such a campaign would have helped me feel better back then as I suffered in silence and humiliation?

Would Pink Shirt Day have prevented the bullies from chasing me relentlessly, somehow convincing them that they were doing the wrong thing?

I doubt it.

The reason is that they were mentally broken, many of them damaged by broken fathers or other family members.  Feel-good moments rarely have an impact on those who need to be mentally rewired.

The reality is that we need more than feel-good moments to stop the ever-increasing frequency and brutality of bullying.

We need to neutralize the process that creates the bully in the first place.

To accomplish this, we need many things, not the least of which are better role-models in the worlds of business, politics, religion and in the home because this is often where bullying starts or is identified as an acceptable practice.

For example ….

I recently disconnected from a colleague of many years because he was incessantly consumed by pointing out what a mean bully Donald Trump is.  In fact, he was so consumed by proving this that he would tear layers off anyone who dared to suggest that he move on to something more productive with his Life and he spent his days on social media sharing hateful messages designed to intimidate.  Ironically, his actions were directed towards a man who didn’t know and thus didn’t care what my colleague thought, making my colleague’s actions one of futility.

When I pointed out to my colleague that I found it ironic that he was using bullying tactics to fight alleged bullying, he and his colleagues beset upon me with insults.

When I quoted one of his countrymen, Gandhi, that “we should be the change we wish to see in the world” and I asked him if he felt that he was being a good role model for his children in solving the problems of the world, the level of brutal taunting from him and people who thought like him escalated to the point where a 25-year friendship came to an end.

He missed the irony that he was modeling the very thing that he claimed to be against.  In fact, pointing this out merely made him more angry.

Reality can be a brutal teacher.

Another example ….

Many (not all) politicians who cite being bullied online or within their political party have a dark secret themselves.  Many of them are known to their colleagues and victims as brutal bullies themselves, often firing the first shot and not merely being “strong” in an act of self defense.

Ironically (or maybe not), they can dish it out ad nauseum but it serves a useful political tool to come forward and tell people that they were bullied.

The funny thing is that if you name them publicly as bullies once they leave public office, then they will hit you with a SLAPP suit, a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation intended to censor, intimidate, and silence critics by burdening them with the cost of a legal defense until they abandon their criticism or opposition.  They do this under the guise of self defense to protect their reputation but the reality is that their need to bully is just manifesting in a different way (or the need exists to stifle public awareness of their true self).

Meanwhile, the easily guided (or misguided) fall prey to the politician’s call to rally the troops around their defense, only to realize later that they have been supporting an aggressor and not a victim.

So is wearing a Pink Shirt helping today?

Look at the statistics and answer the question for yourself.

The Bottom Line

Awareness of an existing problem is all fine and good and it is important to an extent.

However, anyone who is not aware of the scale and impact of bullying has likely been transported here from another planet.

It’s fine to get all stoked up by feel-good campaigns promoted by businessmen, politicians, church leaders and various not-for-profits.

But after you have felt the love and camaraderie that comes from wearing a pink shirt like everyone else, ask yourself what you need to do to stop bullying.

Ask yourself what kind of role model you are for others.

Ask yourself what you should do when you see a failed role model in action.

After all, it’s only when we get to the core of where bullies are formed and allowed to do what they do and then neutralize the bullying at the source that we will start solving the deep, complex issues created by bullies (and how the bullies were created).

It will also give us an opportunity to heal the bully, many of whom have been broken themselves by others who are broken, thereby breaking a chain of generational bully creation.

To do otherwise would be akin to feeding a diabetic Twinkies because he aches for them while simultaneously amputating his limbs one after the other.

Feel-good gestures and awareness are fine motivators but they don’t solve much.

Action does.

Are you ready to take action today?

Are you ready to move past the feel-good of wearing a specific shirt and lazily sharing a few social media posts and instead, to become a model human being, exhibiting the traits and behaviors that you want others to emulate (especially our children) and to demand the same from our leaders in business, politics, the church and other areas?

Are you ready to do what it takes to be that model where you work, where you live and in your family?

Good, because the world is waiting for you.

What are you waiting for?

In service and servanthood,

Harry

PS I’ve often engaged in conversations with people who cite the importance of feel-good actions while simultaneously dismissing the importance of follow-on action with measurable results.  When I ask them to cite the data that shows that they are solving the problem that they intend to solve, they eventually admit that there is no data and with that admission, the conversation eventually devolves into a shouting match instigated by them.

What, if anything, does this tell us?

What, if anything, does it do to help those who are in need?

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Addendum - Irony - February 22, 2017

Someone was reading this blog while attending a Calgary Hitmen game this morning.  The purpose of the game is to promote anti-bullying and pink shirts were distributed to all the kids who were in attendance.  What was ironic according to the person who texted me was that the kids were chanting in favor of fighting when some fights broke out on the ice during a game meant to promote an end towards bullying.

Ironic indeed.

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Addendum 2 - Our Veterans - February 22, 2017

Twitter user artocracy made what I thought to be a powerful observation in comparing feel-good notions like Pink Shirt Day to Veteran's / Remembrance Day when we take one day out of the entire year to honor those who have served and made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom.  I found the observation to be a poignant one.  In that case, we leave our vets to suffer from PTSD, homelessness, starvation and everything else for most of the year but on one day, we honor their sacrifice.  Honoring them should include daily action to take care of those who have blessed us with freedom.  We instead opt for one day of easy, result-less feel-good "stuff", honoring them with parades, wearing poppies and the like while we forget them for the rest of the year. 

A sobering thought.

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Related Posts:

• The Significance of Insignificant Events (how bullies contributed to my career choices)
• After the Candlelight Vigils and Demonstrations … Then What?
• Harnessing the Power of an Abuser to Defeat Them
• Lip Service–The Solution to Everything
• Mitt Romney, Bullies and Red Herrings
• Bullying is Completely Fine ….

If My Question Offends You – A Remix

An offended heart is the breeding ground of deception. - John Bevere

Being offended is part of being in the real world. - Courtney Love

When you are offended at any man's fault, turn to yourself and study your own failings. Then you will forget your anger. – Epictetus

Yesterday, I observed a long time colleague terminate a 25+ year friendship with me because I dared to ask why he focuses on spreading doom and gloom, often referencing fanatical, fear-laden rhetoric written by people who are pushing their fear and paranoia onto other people.

Merely asking the question of why he does it caused him to terminate the relationship and as I reflected upon this with another long-time colleague this morning, A. made an interesting observation.

A. said, “Well, you know that you are very intimidating when you ask questions and these questions can be easily misinterpreted”.  He meant well by the observation and stressed that he wasn’t trying to insult me (and I wasn’t insulted by the observation – his heart and mind are always solution-oriented and I have deep respect for him for that).

I found the observation fascinating because the question that I asked that launched the relationship termination was “Why?”.  I didn’t even get a chance to follow-up with the often misunderstood, more detail-specific “How do you know?”.

When we are immediately offended by someone asking “Why?”, we forget that we are being invited to explain something, to strengthen support for an idea, to more fully flesh the idea out or perhaps to win a “convert” over to a new cause (or perhaps correct an incorrect behavior that is adversely impacting ourselves or others).

Conversely, when we get our backs up over someone asking “Why?”, we assume that our answer (or ourselves personally) will automatically be judged (or have been judged already).  It’s as silly as assuming that because someone asked you for the time of day that they are accusing you of being late for something.

So the same question of “Why?” is both a blessing and a curse, depending on how our ego chooses to respond to it.

Examples from the “how dare you?” camp …

A short while ago, colleagues of mine had an opportunity to invest millions in a small company that had run out of cash and the company chose to give priority to a $25,000 sale in lieu of accepting the investment.  When I asked “why?” they had made that choice, what was sent back was a barrage of “You don’t understand” excuses and insults.  They took burning bridges to a new level.

Last week, an investment opportunity for colleagues of mine that had been a year in the making went off the rails when the person, after taking more than a year to get to a decision on investment, went off the deep end when merely asked why it was taking so long for him to make any decision.  The investment decision had already been approved but the person in question went about convincing myself and others that the investment should not happen.

Examples from the “thank you” camp ….

Colleagues of mine in the middle of creating a game-changer in the area of predicting human behavior listened to my questions of “Why?” and “How do you know?” in November and the light came on.  They knew exactly why I was asking and enthusiastically set about answering the question, knowing that their offering would become stronger as a result (Well done, Greg and gang – you are changing the world).

A new colleague of mine, in exploring approaches to strategy, told me last night that answering these questions will make his organization stronger and will enable he and his team to serve others better. (Well done, Don – your work will impact generations).

The difference between the two camps is self-confidence in themselves and what they are building, the belief that what they are building will serve themselves and others well, the knowledge that anything that strengthens their offerings creates a win for everyone and the belief that what they are doing is so important that it is worth defending and strengthening.  These men, in their brilliance, know that ego is important for self confidence but can be a destroyer of worlds if not managed well.

The others are either not confident in what they are building, not confident in themselves, are unwilling to fight for what they believe in, know they have made an error, surround themselves with naysayers, compensate for insecurity with a projected overconfidence or have become so accustomed to being judged that they believe every question that is sent their way is in fact a judgement.

Such a heightened level of hypersensitivity robs people of the opportunity to learn, to strengthen their offerings, to improve their results and to connect with other people who want and need to collaborate in creating a better world.

And with that, and for those who don’t understand the importance of answering questions that are asked with an intent to understand and strengthen, I offer a remix of a post I originally shared in April of 2011.

If My Question Offends You

As a long-time strategy and global technology adoption architect, my opinion is often solicited, whether it be by a start-up, a not-for-profit, a Fortune 25 company or anything in-between.

Fortunately (or unfortunately) for the people who solicit my help, I am known as the “asker of audacious questions” (thanks to Barry G. for the title which I wear proudly).

People come to me expecting to ask a lot of questions of me, get a lot of answers from me and move on.

However, many are surprised that I may have more questions for them than they have for me and if they are unprepared or have weak egos, they will be offended by those questions.

Most often, I have two key questions but those questions are often more complex to answer than the questions others have for me.

The questions are “Why?” and “How do you know?”.

There is a little secret about why I ask these questions.

It’s not an attempt to assert one person’s intelligence over another.  We are all gifted in intelligence in different forms.

It’s not an attempt to embarrass them, create a contest of wills or play ego-Olympics.  What a waste of time and energy that is.

I ask the questions so that I can understand what is being presented to me.

The truth is that I find everyone’s ideas and potential to be fascinating.  I am curious to know if people find their own story as compelling and based on reality as they would like me to believe it is.

However, the most important reason I ask so many questions is because I believe, as I learned from Gerald Weinberg’s writings many years ago, that when people come seeking advice or a solution to a problem, they as the subject matter expert often have within their mind the very solution they hope to obtain from someone else’s mind.

Mr. Weinberg posited that if one listens carefully, the owner of a problem will actually state the solution in the first five minutes of dialog.  Mr. Weinberg named this rule …. gasp … wait for it … The 5 Minute Rule.  It is brilliant in its simplicity.

Many times, the owner of a problem or position is so buried with mental baggage that they don’t know the answer or their ego warns them that any answer has already been judged before it was even expressed.  They become so focused on proving that they are the “right person for the job” that their hypersensitive ego steps in and their effort to demonstrate intelligence, qualifications, rationalization or justification drowns out the person trying to help them.

However, if the right questions are asked, probing the mind of the person with the problem, if the problem holder listens carefully, if the problem holder respectfully / factually offers an answer and if the querent listens carefully to the answers, then answers / solutions often present themselves.

There’s a lot of listening there, isn’t there?

People like me don’t just help others find a solution or discover their strengths.  Oftentimes they have it within themselves – they just needed a little help finding it, bringing it out and expressing it.

Asking appropriate questions provide an opportunity to explore within another, the strength of an idea, the thoroughness of the foundation that converts the idea into a result, the willingness of an individual to collaborate in making the idea into a reality and in some cases, offers the opportunity to correct a behavior before someone gets hurt.

It is also an opportunity to assess how strongly someone feels about their willingness to do whatever it takes to make their dream come true (or to correct information on which execution is based).

If someone is offended by a question, there is a good chance that they prefer not to deal with realities, that their ego doesn’t want to acknowledge that they may need some help or in fact, they may have discovered a foundational error that can’t be corrected or is not based on reality, ethics, morals, etc (but their ego doesn’t want to admit this).

For those people, being offended by simple questions should sound an alert that they are either not prepared for success or are not hungry enough for it.

And so if my question offends you, forgive me if I tell you that I won’t apologize to you. 

If you are offended,  you, me or both of us may have been saved from a disaster.

Maybe ……. unless you choose to go somewhere else where you hear what you want to hear and not what you need to hear.  After all, there is comfort in hearing what you want to hear from a bunch of yes-people who have their own agendas or biases in play, often to your detriment.

Unfortunately in those situations, reality is a persistent beast.  It tells us what we need to hear repeatedly until we get it.

Or … if we ignore it too long … it gets us.

But then, you already knew that … didn’t you? :-)

In service and servanthood,

Harry

Related Posts:

• If My Question Offends You
• The Most Important Question of All
• Hope or Gloom – We Thrive and Die Together

PS: I am reminded of a similar phenomenon, being offended by what is not said. For example, if I make an anti-Clinton comment, people should not infer I am pro-Trump (or vice versa).  Too many people intentionally make this error in an attempt to be deliberately offended, thus rationalizing and justifying a feeling of anger or hatred.  Such actions are equally damaging if embraced.

Self Discipline: Shaving, Life and Attention to Details

Self-discipline is an act of cultivation. It requires you to connect today's actions to tomorrow's results. There's a season for sowing, a season for reaping. Self-discipline helps you know which is which. - Gary Ryan Blair

In reading the lives of great men, I found that the first victory they won was over themselves... self-discipline with all of them came first. - Harry S Truman

Never neglect details. When everyone's mind is dulled or distracted, the leader must be doubly vigilant. - Colin Powell

I was relaxing during a break in a meeting recently when I noticed that one of the attendees was staring at my face intently.

Assuming that I had food or something stuck to my face, I asked him what he was looking at and he replied, “I’m sorry for staring, but I know you have a thick, coarse beard and yet your face is always shaved so clean and smooth.  How do you do that?”

I thought this was a prelude to a joke and so I stared at him for a moment before he realized he had said something potentially awkward and he quickly followed up with, “I’m serious.  How do you get your shave so close?”

While guys aren’t generally ones to share the intimate details of their personal grooming routines, I shared my shaving regimen with him.  Here it is – bear with me a moment:

1. As I shower, my shaving brush soaks in distilled water in my shaving mug (the local city water is too hard for a nice shave) while a wet towel cools down in the freezer.
2. After my shower, I choose a double edge razor / blade combination or my straight razor for the particular type of shave I want and how aggressive (close) I want the the shave to be.
3. I apply pre-shave oil or lotion to my beard.
4. While the pre-shave oil softens my beard, I choose a shaving cream that matches my need for the morning (level of closeness, fragrance, etc.) and I whip up a batch in my shaving mug.  I don’t use stuff that comes in a can – it is not effective or healthy.
5. I shave in three passes, with the beard grain, across the grain and against the grain, applying shaving cream for each pass.
6. I rinse off the shaving cream residue left on my face and apply the ice cold towel to my face for a couple of minutes.
7. I remove the towel and clean my shaving mug, brush and razor carefully.  If this is the third shave on a particular blade, I disassemble the razor, dispose of the blade in a sharps container and polish the razor before putting it back in its stand.
8. I wet my face again and apply alum block, a form of salt that closes pores and reduces potential for ingrown hairs.
9. After a few minutes, I wash off the salt, reapply the cold towel for a couple of minutes and then apply a high quality, alcohol free, aftershave balm.

After I finished explaining my morning routine, he said “Wow, that is WAY too much effort for a shave.  Give me my Mach 3 cartridge and a can of Barbasol any day.  Five minutes is all I need.”

“That may be so”, I replied, “but the quality of my result caught your attention enough for you to ask me how I accomplished it.  My morning routine is alone time for me – I reflect on my day, I focus on what I need to do and I pamper myself.  In short, I am honoring who I am and what I can create today ….. and I am worth it.  It sets a tone for attention to detail and effort that will matter at different times during the day.”

“That’s true”, he said, acknowledging the point.  A couple of weeks later, he sent me a picture of his new double-edge razor, shaving brush and all the other accoutrements necessary for a quality shave.

“I’m worth it”, read the caption underneath the photo with a smiley that followed it.

A shave that takes 20-30 minutes to take is not for everyone.  Some may even say it is over-indulgent.  To them, it’s like taking 15 minutes to figure out who makes the best kind of baked beans when they are mostly the same in content, flavor and quality.

I would posit that this is different.  I don’t get caught up in the minutiae of everything in Life.  In fact, in a lot of things, the details of something don’t matter to me as long as I know competent people are creating solutions and results.  I don’t micromanage people nor do I spent time, energy and money on what doesn’t matter or doesn’t warrant extra resources on my part.

But some things are worth slowing down for, savoring and doing right if you’re going to bother doing it at all.  Things like career choices, partner choices, election choices, business choices, etc., are things that too many people make cavalierly as if they are buying a can of baked beans

These are the things that have the potential to change lives and the world and so attention to details for such things that matter is worth it.

My shave sets the tempo for my day and therefore influences how my day will flow.

And if how my day starts determines the quality of my result for the day, why wouldn’t I want that start to be of the highest quality possible?

After all, my results are worth it …. the results for myself and the results for the people who rely on me or who are influenced by me.

The Bottom Line

Attention to excellence and self-discipline is a habit.

So is failure and mediocrity.

If we think of excellence and self-discipline as a muscle, we realize we need to work it every day for it to get stronger.

Every choice not to make our results stronger has the potential to make our results weaker.  If we accept mediocrity in the little things, we eventually accept it in all things.

Who amongst us actually sets out to create a lousy day for ourselves and others?

Do you?

I didn’t think so.

Now, how do your actions demonstrate your words and intentions to creating the best result possible in your day?

I think the little things add up to the big things.

What do you think?

In service and servanthood,

Harry

PS Just for fun, here is what my preferred shaving stuff looks like (I’ve tried a lot of stuff that I won’t bother mentioning):

One doesn’t just go grab a pile of stuff from Amazon unless you are experienced in the space.  One needs expert advice – when I need such advice, I turn to Nathan, Doug and the great folks at Kent of Inglewood in Calgary.

Preferred shaving creams / soaps:

• Castle Forbes Cedar / Sandalwood Cream
• DR Harris Arlington Cream
• Truefitt and Hill 1805 Shaving Soap (the official soap of the British Royal Family)
• L’Occitane CADE Cream
• eShave Orange Sandlewood Cream
• Kiehl's Lite Flite Shaving Cream (smell won't appeal to everyone)
• Pro Raso Soap (Red and Green varieties - surprisingly good for the price)

Preferred Preshave Oils / Lotions

• Castle Forbes Preshave Lotion
• Taylor Aromatherapy Oil
• L’Occitane CADE Preshave Oil
• Pro Raso Preshave Cream (again, surprisingly good for the price)
• eShave Orange Sandlewood Oil
• DR Harris Arlington Preshave Splash

Preferred After Shave Balms:

• Castle Forbes Lavender Balm
• eShave Orange Sandlewood Balm
• Kiehl's Close-Shavers Squadron Post-Shave Repair Gel
• Pro Raso Preshave Cream (yup - as a post-shave)
• L’Occitane CADE Balm

Preferred Razors and Blades

• Edwin Jagger Briarwood Razor
• Merkur 38C (HD) Razor
• Merkur 46C Travel Razor
• Merkur Futur
• IKON X3 Slant
• Feather DX Folding Wood Handle Razor (straight razor – not for the faint of heart, the shaky of hand or where kids are likely to bump your arm or find it while you are out of the house)
• Blades – Feather, Kai, Personna and Shark are my favorites but I’ve tried a bazillion.

Preferred Brushes

• Muhle Edition No. 1
• Edwin Jagger Travel Brush in Chrome Case

And yes ... I do match my cologne to my shave scent (I won't get into that here)!  And no ... I'm not high maintenance - I pay attention to details!

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A New Entry to My Favorite Product List - Midnight and Two

A company that came to my attention after I wrote this post is a company called Midnight and Two in Calgary, Alberta.  I met with Tim Gutwald, founder and owner, and found his approach to creating high quality grooming products to be innovative and intelligent.  While I haven't tried all of their products, this smart company has produced one of the most intriguing shaving products I have ever tried.  The 4-in-1 line of shaving creams, which can be used as a pre-shave, a shaving cream, a post-shave and a moisturizer, provides me with the closest shave I have ever had.  I would highly recommend these products as products that hold their own against any of the larger, older, international brands!

Data–The New Four-Letter Word in Politics

It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. - Arthur Conan Doyle

People who were driving a school bus blindfolded (and crashed it) should never be given a new bus. - Nassim Nicholas Taleb - Black Swan Principle #3 (from “The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable”)

Some years ago, I was walking home from the office very late with a colleague and while we knew the streets of Brooklyn warranted a cab at that hour, we chose to walk to the subway station.  Along the way, we were confronted by a group of young men who, through word and action, made it clear that they were taking our money and then beating us up (or worse).

Since I had just been informed that I was about to be beaten up or killed regardless of whether or not I turned my wallet over to them, I informed the group that they were welcome to take my wallet but in the process, I would kill the first guy that approached me.

They laughed and informed me that given that we were outnumbered, I couldn’t take on all of them to which I replied that I didn’t have to take on all of them – my intention was to kill the first one.

They looked at each other, exchanged a few words, someone yelled “Let’s get the F*^# out of here” and they ran down the street.

We weren’t worth the risk.

As we hastily made our way to the subway, my colleague told me that I had a lot of guts.  I laughed nervously and told him to tell me that again after my knees stopped shaking.  When he asked me why I had taken that approach, I responded by telling him that based on what I saw, certain realities were present, not all of which were known to the other side:

1. Regardless of what happened, my colleague and I were going to be beaten up (perhaps killed).  This had been expressed by the other group and I believed them.  Turning over our wallets, talking our way out of the situation or running away were not going to produce a positive result for us.  This was apparent to all present.
2. I had enough martial arts training in my background to defend myself against multiple attackers.  While talking / buying / running my way out of this situation was preferred, it was clear that none of these actions would produce anything of value for my colleague and I.  My training was known only to me.
3. If I was going to die anyway, I had no qualms killing the person who had so little respect for me that they would potentially take my Life with no respect for me as a fellow human being. My belief was known only to me.

So, I explained as we rode the subway to the World Trade Center, I had evaluated the data and had come to the conclusion that led me to say what I said.

“Would you have killed someone?”, my colleague asked, wide-eyed with curiosity.

“Absolutely”, I replied, “although it would not have been my preferred intention or result since violence is never a viable solution.  However, I assertively placed realities in front of them and allowed them to make their own choices.  They made their choice and we are all the better for it.”

“And besides”, I concluded, “I figured if I looked crazier than they were, they might believe me and leave us alone.  It worked for Reagan.”

We both laughed at this and our chatter returned to a rehash of the day.

Crazier … or more informed of the realities that were present at the moment.

It’s difficult to tell the difference sometimes.

On a less dramatic level, I tweeted this little ditty yesterday in regards to the current political environment in Alberta and Newfoundland.

<<Note: There are grammar errors.  It’s Twitter … stay calm>>

Of the many interactions on different social media platforms and via SMS and email, the single largest group that believed that I was wrong told me I was wrong without asking how I had come to that conclusion.  They never asked for the data, analysis, etc. behind the comment.  They just said “you’re wrong”.

Intriguingly, they are in large part the people who represent the political parties who are trailing in the polls in their respective provinces.

The problem with their approach is this:

While someone can scream passionately and emotionally about how they perceive their world and their realities, the data and results are screaming louder and don’t support their perception.

Or as someone once humorously noted:

A pessimist sees a dark tunnel.
An optimist sees light at the end of the tunnel.
A realist sees a freight train.

The train engineer sees 3 idiots standing on the tracks.

In such situations, whether in business, politics or Life, it’s ok to have dreams and beliefs as long as your results are in line with those dreams and beliefs.

Because when your dream carries your mind, heart and soul in one direction and the results are clearly taking you physically in another direction, pretending reality is not reality makes you look pretty silly.

Or worse.

The Bottom Line

It is important to trust your heart, your instinct, your faith, your talents, your strengths and the same in your colleagues when facing difficult situations.

However, it is also important to listen to data and reality, especially if someone appears to know something you don’t.

Failure to do so could prove to be fatal.

Many politicians and their minions believe that we can’t handle the truth (that it’s too complicated for mere mortals to understand) or that truth in reality makes everything too complicated for everyone.  I would posit that it is these beliefs that are making our world more complicated.

I think that when you examine the motivations and qualifications of many politicians, it becomes clear that in many (not all) situations, we are better equipped to understand the truth than they are.

I think that the people who navigated themselves into a problem (the bus driver as described by Taleb) need to prove with more than emotion that they are worthy and capable of being entrusted with a position of responsibility moving forward.

I think that a winning result is often used to rationalize an approach as being effective (whether this is accurate or not is another thing) whereas rationalizing an approach as being effective when it has produced a losing result is problematic at best.

And finally, I think we have more to gain or lose than politicians do when we (and they) choose to understand or ignore reality.

What do you think?

In service and servanthood,

Harry

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Addendum – Being a Stickler For Data

As I just noted to a colleague:

When it comes to data, I'm an ass*#&$ ... and I make no apologies about it because actions in absence of data are screwing this planet up.

Which reminds me of posts I made a short while ago – Confessions of a Gentle Arsehole and The World As Seen By The Objective Observer.

Follow your passion.  Be grounded in reality.  Create new realities when you have to but know when it is not possible or when the timing is not right.

Create a great day for yourself and others.  Help others.  Allow yourself to be helped by others.  Make a difference.

The world awaits your gifts and talents – what are you waiting for?

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Everyone Makes Mistakes–Leaders Learn From Them

Mistakes are always forgivable, if one has the courage to admit them. - Bruce Lee

A man (or woman) must be big enough to admit his mistakes, smart enough to profit from them, and strong enough to correct them. John C. Maxwell (I added “or woman”)

My blog Newfoundland–A Leadership Crisis, Not An Energy One, with my criticism of Premier Dunderdale’s handling of the electricity outage in Newfoundland, was hotly debated by a number of people in recent days with the vast majority agreeing with my musings.

A lot of people believe that my blog and similar musings prove that the final nail has been driven into her political coffin.

But I’m not so sure.

Few of us can claim that we have never made mistakes in our Life.  Some of us, including myself, have made some humdingers that we wish we could have taken back.  Most of us are fortunate that our worst mistakes have been mostly or completely kept out of the public eye.

But we move on, asking, pleading or demanding for forgiveness under the notion that we are only human and that we did the best we could with what we had at the time.

And now Premier Dunderdale has called for a full review of the decisions that led to the massive near Island-wide outage and the events that took place during and immediately after the event.

As a strategy guy and as a human being who has made mistakes, I offer this thought for consideration.

I posit that the people’s confidence in the electricity generation and distribution system of the Province could be restored IF the review’s terms of reference:

• include full access to all information (including not being blocked by Bill 29 legislation)
• include access to all required individuals, unhindered by the fear that their career is at risk for speaking transparently
• have clearly defined measurable outcomes set out before the review begins
• are fully transparent in execution
• are acted upon with appropriate strategy, actionable items and measurable outcomes that survive the vetting process of “why” and “how do we know” for every action defined
• provide a roadmap that illustrates that such incidents are unlikely to occur again and that the solution(s)can be measurably proven to be the best that is reasonably possible
• are designed as a fact finder / strategy creator / problem solver and not as a finger pointer / political hammer / political “saviour”
• are not a means of establishing a scapegoat who is willing to “take one for the team”
• are conducted by verifiably credible, independent experts in the industry who can be proven to be outside circles of interference and conflict of interest.

If these conditions are not met, then the review is a political tool (or an exercise of the incompetent) and will be a waste of time and money.

Premier Dunderdale is making a significant roll of the political dice, with her personal credibility, her political future and the future of her party on the line.

As someone who has made mistakes, I am willing to hold off on an emotional assessment of her upcoming actions until the measurable result potential of the review can be established.

After all, it is the measurable results as defined within the review and the execution that follows that will show Newfoundland if its Premier is willing, able and capable of learning.

Such learning is what separates leader wannabes from true leaders.

I have been strongly critical of the Premier but as a fallible human being, I am willing to put emotion and political analysis aside to see what happens next.

How about you?

Besides, if we are unwilling to explore every option available to solve the problem or if we actively block exploration of such options, don’t we become part of the problem?

If she does well, learns from the experience and produces positive, measurable results, the people of Newfoundland win.

If she doesn’t do well, she will have sealed her fate as many believe she has already done.  In that case, I wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of one of the most passionate, politically-engaged groups of people on the planet.

Bottom Line – Fairness With a Warning

She deserves an opportunity to prove she is part of the solution and not part of the problem.  And besides, since she has almost two years left in her mandate, do the people have much choice at this point but to allow her to try?

But she better not take too long (with time and past performance not being her friend) otherwise she deserves what she gets, possibly and unfortunately damaging the future of the Province in the process.

In service and servanthood,

Harry

Addendum – Intentional Redundancy? - January 10, 2014

With the Premier and the Public Utilities Board both announcing separate, independent inquiries, I wonder what happens if they produce conflicting results.

Who would break the tie?

Who would have enough knowledge and context to know which action items would produce better results?

What happens if the Government uses the deadlock as justification for not taking action or for “needing to explore things further”?

The fun begins.

Addendum 2 – Premier Dunderdale Resigns – January 21, 2014

The press has announced that Premier Dunderdale will be announcing her resignation on January 22, 2014 and that Tom Marshall will be taking over as Interim Premier.  With public opinion significantly against her, this appears to be the only viable option available to her and she is taking it.

I am reminded of this blog post I wrote over three years ago when the previous leader, Premier Danny Williams, stepped down and I warned about the lack of strong leadership candidates to succeed him - Premier Williams and His Legacy.

Whether she was responsible personally for her political demise, she received poor advice or she failed to accept good advice, the world is not kind to leaders who appear to be weak as far as being strategic, tactical, fair, competent or empathetic is concerned.

I wonder whether history will be to Kathy Dunderdale.

As for her departure, it is unknown what is best for the Province – that a leader be burned, learn from the experience and come back better than ever or to go with an untried leader who, as an unknown, could be far better or far worse.  That’s why I think “celebration” regarding her departure is both unfair on a personal level and premature.

Strategy - Have You Hired a Million Monkeys?

“We've all heard that a million monkeys banging on a million typewriters will eventually reproduce the entire works of Shakespeare. Now, thanks to the Internet, we know this is not true.” - Robert Wilensky

I was asked to observe a group of people today who have been tasked with solving a particular problem but who up to this point seemed unable to solve the problem despite the amount of time invested in it and despite glowing references of their past successes.

After watching them participate in a fascinating but pointless stream-of-consciousness session for about an hour (I was asked to observe, not participate), I asked my client if they had ever heard of the one million (or infinite) monkeys theorem:

A monkey hitting keys at random on a typewriter keyboard for an infinite amount of time, or an infinite number of monkeys hitting keys at random, will almost surely type a given text, such as the complete works of William Shakespeare.

When they indicated that they had, I commented that they were observing the theorem in practice and that if they had an infinite amount of time, they would eventually hit upon a solution.

They weren’t happy to hear this but they had asked me to tell them what they needed to hear and not what they wanted to hear.

More and more often I see people and organizations attempting to solve problems using random execution with no awareness regarding end goals, intentions, objectives, resource availability, resource leveraging, environ concerns, constraints, deadlines, etc.   Many people don’t seem to know why these elements matter (despite their vehement protests to the contrary) nor do they seem to know how to create the strategic and tactical roadmaps that illustrates how one gets “from here to there”.

It is certainly not for lack of available information.  We are overloaded and overwhelmed with theories, best practices, methodologies, frameworks and the like for how to solve most problems.

The reasons for inappropriate or inadequate problem solving are many and diverse.  A quick Google search reveals a bazillion theories as to why such problems exist and how to compensate for or nullify them.  I can cite a number of cute sayings, expressions, theories and cartoons (I am guilty of having done so on occasion) as to why this problem is still so pervasive.

But for all the explanations out there, there is something that I don’t see enough people talking about.

It’s in how problem solvers are evaluated and selected

For many organizations, their quick-hit interview or selection processes don’t objectively determine whether the person or organization being considered can actually solve problems consistently.  A candidate’s past performance in solving problems may be based on luck or specific context as much it was on process and knowledge and therefore asking a few questions or asking people to fill out an exhaustive (or exhausting) RFP often doesn’t differentiate between luck and predictable consistency.

It’s like the worthlessness of many of the “top x under x” designations that many people seem to tout, impressive sounding until you realize that for many of them, their ability to win the moniker was based as much on how well they self-assessed themselves as it was on any measurable criteria.

And so the next time you are selecting candidates to solve large, complex or high profile problems, you can entertain yourself with glossy brochures, slick presentations, self-professed “intellectual giants”, worthless, pie-in-the-sky “what was the toughest problem you ever solved” questions, goofy (pointless) “who’s the smartest hominid in the room” questions, questionable “one size does not fit all” psych evaluations or massive but often meaningless RFP processes …. or … you can pick up one of your toughest problems, march it over to a candidate’s facility, throw it on the table and observe how they tackle it.

Doing the latter will often provide better insight than the former as to whether you are hiring problem solvers or a million monkeys.

If you think you don’t have the time to do this, you might be kicking yourself at some point as you wait for words of wisdom to emerge from the monkey house.  While your problems won’t be solved, the upside is that you can pay them in bananas.  The downside is that some people may consider you (and not the people you hired) to be the biggest monkey of all.

And unless monkey business is your business, I don’t think the downside is what you really want.

What do you think?

In service and servanthood,

Harry

The Bottom Line

The quality and effort invested in your evaluation process must always be commensurate with the scale and impact of the problem you are trying to solve.  The crop you harvest is always reflected in the quality of the seeds that you sow and how you nurture them, not just the length of the growing season.

Client Notice

This blog was written with the encouragement of the client in question.  No clients were injured in the writing of this blog. :-)

Two Job Promotion Trends That Worry Me

As an objective observer and strategy advisor to many organizations ranging from start-ups to Fortune 25 companies, there is a growing job promotion trend in the middle to senior management levels that worries me.

It is has been said that “the meek shall inherit the earth”.

I would like to think that those who inherit the earth are those who make the best contribution to it, whether professionally, personally, spiritually, intellectually and the like.

In essence, those who make the world a better place!

However, I wonder if we are heading towards a trend where the people who will inherit the earth either:

- are promoted because they speak the loudest or have been somewhere the longest, seizing more and more power without having the skills or interest to wield that power appropriately

- hire / promote people who will not threaten them or push them to grow, intentionally preventing growth  in their underlings (the principle of negative selection).

These people may not be the smartest at what they do (which is ok to a certain extent).  Unfortunately, many don’t even care about learning or sharing knowledge with others.

They may not be the most collaborative.  Many prefer to do whatever it takes to win the dog-eat-dog world that they perceive.

They may not be the servant leaders that we need more of in the world.  They may see servant leadership as a sign of weakness.

They may not be the most confident in their abilities or in recognizing the abilities of others.  In fact, lifting themselves up by undercutting others may be their preferred way of advancement.

They are, however, very proficient in how they manage their career growth via the use of political or other negative means.  They are so good at it that many who would ordinarily strive to make strong contributions are often discouraged from active participation for fear of being criticized for thinking that they are better than everyone else or with the rationalization of “why should I bother when no one around me cares”.

Many good people leave altogether.

And many otherwise great contributors who stick around eventually become victims of Lawnmower Syndrome and stop contributing altogether.

When good people leave or stop contributing, it is at that point that the ignorant and incompetent relax, feeling secure in their place of perceived power.

Unfortunately, their organization is losing as a result and the feeling of security that the incompetent experience is short-lived as diminished results on their part produce diminished results for the organization overall. Eventually, many such organizations stumble or fall as a result and the sense of security evaporates as many people, good and bad, have to seek employment elsewhere.

This is not just an illustration of the Peter Principle, where people ultimately rise to their level of incompetence.  Many of the people  I am referring to have long blown the lid of that principle in how they have advanced in their careers.

I’m not suggesting that the existence of such people have reached the tipping point where they are the dominant type of management.  I have reviewed a few surveys that say they have and they haven’t so the jury is out when it comes to making such a generalization.

However, many of my colleagues and I notice that they are becoming much more common and influential.

Too much so.

Maybe these people are just becoming more confident as they rise through the ranks of society.

Maybe they feel safer in revealing their true selves in an HR world where we misinterpret the Desiderate mantra “Even the dull and ignorant, they too have their story”, thereby opening ourselves to abuse because we are tolerant of things that we shouldn’t be tolerant of.

Either way, the outcomes of the groups they manage and the organizations they contribute to are suffering as a result.

We achieve what we focus on

It is generally accepted that the values, ethics and behaviours that are tolerated or embraced within an organization are the ones that will grow within that organization, good or bad.

I was reminded of this yesterday in a conversation with a colleague when I was recounting the time I had a grievance filed against me for being too respectful.

The point of the grievance was that anyone as respectful to others as I am must be up to something and therefore I should stop immediately.

It’s a sad reflection on an organization’s leadership when a leader’s insecurity is so strong that a positive human trait represents a threat to them.

It also sends a strong statement to that person’s team that positive traits are to be suppressed or discouraged, not being welcome in someone’s world of insecurity.

As a result, the group in question suffered significantly in results and personal and professional growth.

But at least the leader didn’t have to worry about anyone below them “threatening them” with more knowledge and a healthier outlook.

The Underlying Cause

After studying leaders for many years, I think that the trend of poor or incompetent promotion behaviour is growing because of another disturbing trend.

There is a major disconnect between these people and the organizations they work for.  This disconnect is in regards to how results are measured and understanding how one person’s results impact the layers above and below them.

I believe many people have lost sight of how their efforts, contributions and results contribute to the big picture – either having not been told or because they don’t care to ask.

And when that happens, they don’t really care about who does what when and how they do it because they can’t tell (or don’t care) what the ultimate impact will be anyway.

They confuse activity with productivity.

And that’s not their fault.

It is the fault of their leaders.

Are you a strong leader who helps your people understand their measurable contribution and the impact on your team, business unit, division or company?

Can you measure it?

If you can’t or don’t measure it, then you don’t know.

Period.

The vision, mission, purpose and projected outcomes of an organization demand that we make a proactive effort to put the best people in place within the constraints that we have and that we do so to intentionally produce appropriate measurable results.

Are you making such a proactive effort?

How do you know?

In service and servanthood,

Harry

Life and Software–When The Obvious Is Not So Obvious

Some years ago, I was working on a project on Wall St. where one of the Big 4 consulting companies had just implemented a very expensive IT system.

Its architecture was glorious in theory, perfect in its purity and yet one day, this glorious manifestation took down the entire internal network of a major bank.

What happened?

Without getting too technical, the application was designed to get any message that needed to be displayed to its user from a centralized database of messages.

One day, someone inadvertently took the message database offline and the application realized that an error occurred when it couldn’t retrieve the messages it needed to display.

In order to display the error message describing what happened, the application naturally went looking for the error message in that database and it couldn’t find it, producing another error.

That error in turn caused the application to look for the same database to obtain the same error message to display and then ……

You get the picture.

The application architects and developers had failed to plan for the fact that the message database itself could disappear.

The application “panicked” and tried harder and harder to obtain the information it needed and in doing so, spun itself into oblivion while producing nothing in the way of a positive result.  Thousands of PCs started doing the same thing and the network came down.

A multi-million dollar system had been brought to its knees by a simple oversight.

Life Is Like That Sometimes

Sometimes Life is the same.  Something that we thought should be happening in Life is not happening and so we try again.

But instead of doing something different, we try the same thing and produce the same result.

Getting frustrated (or panicking) we do the same thing again.

It feels natural to do this until someone points out that in fact we are doing the same thing over and over. 

And if n0body points this out or they do and we ignore them, eventually our “network”; our brain, our strength, our courage or our faith in ourselves and others fails.

And then comes the inevitable crash just as the crash that occurred within the Bank I mentioned.

All it would take to avoid this crash is a slight change in our approach or a slight change in our understanding of the environment that we live within.

But sometimes when we are in the thick of things, the slight modifications needed in our actions or our environment are not easily visible – we’re too focused on rapidly finding a solution.

And when we get caught up in our ever-increasing need to find a solution, the solution we seek will evade us with ever increasing speed …. causing panic, pain or failure as a result.

The Objective Observer

In the case of the application I mentioned, the architects came to me and said “We’re stuck – what can we do?”.  They had spent weeks of meetings trying to sort it out.

I looked at the architecture and said “Perhaps if the error routine already had knowledge of the “Message database is not available” message without having to go get it, it could report the error without spinning itself into oblivion”.

A simple answer – easily discerned and seemingly obvious to me because I wasn’t buried in the weeds of the thing nor did I have any concern around admitting I had created the problem.

Life is the same.

Sometimes when we find ourselves buried in the weeds of something that doesn’t appear to be working, we need to find the objective observer who can point out what is obvious to them.

It took the Big 4 consultants with their $2500 per day bill rates a long time to suck up their ego before asking me what the issue was.

But eventually the embarrassment (and potential punishment) from failure was more powerful than the ego that was holding them back.

Einstein’s Law of Insanity applies here, the notion that we shouldn’t expect a different result from the same actions. However, I wonder if it should be renamed Einstein’s Law of Ego.

When we finally push our ego down enough to ask “Can you help me understand why this is not working?”, we open ourselves up to new results that are dramatically better.

Isn’t that better than spinning ourselves into oblivion?

Our level of perfection as human beings may be perfect in potential, just as this application’s architecture was perfect in theory.

But potential means nothing if the results don’t match the potential.

In service and servanthood,

Harry

PS  I was reminded as I wrote this about a conversation I had with an NTSB investigator years ago.  He mentioned that in some situations, a pilot was able to avert disaster when, as an unanticipated event occurred, he took 10 seconds to stop and ask “What is happening here?” instead of just instantly reacting to the situation and possibly making it worse if not fatal.

An interesting thought and somewhat related.

Not-For-Profits Needing For-Profit Discipline

Wikipedia defines a not-for-profit in this way:

Not-for-profit organizations are able to earn a profit, more accurately termed a surplus, such earnings must be retained by the organization for its self-preservation, expansion, or plans. NPOs have controlling members or boards. Many have paid staff including management, while others employ unpaid volunteers and even executives who work without compensation.

Profit is not the primary goal of an NPO, but because an NPO can legally and ethically trade at a profit, the term Not-for-profit is often considered more appropriate than Non-profit. The extent to which an NPO can generate income may be constrained, or the use of that income may be restricted. Nonprofits therefore are funded typically by donations (which may be tax deductible) from the private or public sector, and are typically exempt from income and property taxation. Some NPOs may internalize profit in the form of comparatively good wages or benefits.

One of the primary differences between a for-profit and a not-for-profit is how surplus revenue is generated and how this surplus revenue must be handled.

I have discovered over the years, through serving on the boards of international charities and consulting to international charities of all sizes, that somewhere along the way this basic difference has morphed into something more insidious and disappointing.

For some reason, in more situations than I am happy with, this difference has morphed into the belief that appropriate business processes, methodologies and best-practices don’t apply to not-for-profits because “not-for-profits are different”.

Some examples …..

From the “We’re Different” Camp

1. One international charity whose board refused to take action against their Executive Director who was known to be taking money illegally for the purpose of launching his own organization.  When I vehemently protested this as a board member, it was explained to me “Unlike in a for-profit business where a board provides transparency, accountability and governance, you should realize that the purpose of a not-for-profit board is to support ALL actions of the Executive Director and to provide guidance when asked for”.  By the way, the board was made up of senior lawyers and well known executives.  The board later came to its senses but in firing the ED, had to pay him a “keep quiet” bonus so that the ED didn’t blow the whistle on the board for allowing him to steal in the first place. Say what?

From the “You Business Guys Don’t Understand Us” Camp

2. Another household name in the international charity space that blows through tens of millions of dollars a year without having a single idea where the money is going or whether their use of capital is effective or appropriate.  They garner millions of dollars a year in donations because of their internationally-recognized name and the assumption by donors that this charity must be doing the right thing.  When I asked why they didn’t apply appropriate strategy and tactics to maximize their effectiveness and to leverage this demonstrable success to generate even more revenue, I was gently reminded that such practices only work in the for-profit space and attempting to apply processes to generate strategic, measurable outcomes are impossible in the not-for-profit space. Please forgive me for daring to think such audacious thoughts.

From the “You Should Be Kissing Our Feet” Camp

3. A multitude of charities that pay themselves quite handsomely but lament that there aren’t enough people in the world who are willing to provide them with quality pro-bono work for extended periods of time.  They have the curious belief that the rest of the world should be aching to do for free what they in fact are unwilling to do without being paid extremely well.  In fact, some of these charities have almost no budget for programs because their salaries and consulting fees have swallowed up most of the capital.

From the “I’ve Never Heard of This” Camp

4. A very large international charity that for over 40 years never had its books audited ONCE.  The person in charge of the coffers lifted money from them routinely during that period and now the organization faces bankruptcy.  The cry of “We didn’t know that we should have an auditor come in annually” doesn’t draw much pity in this day-and-age and proves that ignorance doesn’t always produce bliss.

From the “Dirty Little Secrets Aren’t Fatal, Are They?” Camp

5. The dirty little secret of many charities in Canada and the US that are routinely ripped off significantly by their treasurers or other execs.  Why is it a dirty secret?  Since many of these charities keep such events quiet for fear of discouraging donors, they have become a favorite target of some unscrupulous people.  One well-known children’s charity in Canada has been robbed by their last three treasurers in a row.  Charges haven’t been pressed because that would draw unnecessary attention from the media and so the game continues. If you need an extra source of income, email me and I will tell you who they are so that you can apply for the position.

From the “Money is the Root of All Evil” Camp

6. A number of charities, especially in the religious community, who believe that to raise money to maximize their effort is an affront to the true heart of charity or to God.  For this reason, they avoid appropriate means of generating extra revenue because they believe that to generate this money places them in the “all money is evil” camp and somehow their acts of charity will become tainted as a result.  Meanwhile, they constantly lament that they can’t help more people with their meager annual budgets.

It’s Not All Bad

Now don’t get me wrong.

There are MANY excellent, well-run not-for-profits in the world that make a significant contribution to the people and community that they serve.  They are staffed by passionate, talented people who we should be grateful for everyday.

But there is another side to the not-for-profit world that is not as positive, with far too many organizations not living up to the commitments that they constantly promote.

The difficult challenge is that we can’t help these organizations to execute in a better fashion until they accept the need to do so.  And until we help those organizations maximize their ability to serve their target audience, then we are all just pretending to do the right things for others.

The problem is that public disclosure, embarrassment and humiliation doesn’t solve the problem.  In fact, the only thing it will probably produce is a lot of litigation in an effort to hide the ineffectiveness.  Meanwhile, the people who need help are still not being helped and that’s not useful at all.

There has to be a better way – I just wish I knew what it was.  Connecting those who execute well with those who don’t will help some organizations, the ones with enough humility to recognize a better way.  For those organizations whose leaders are filled with hubris and bravado, such techniques will prove to be a waste of time.

Ultimately, it is the donors, board members, affected consumers and people at-large who must hold these organizations accountable to their stated purpose.

Pretty posters, nice slogans, rah-rah presentations, leveraging of international brands and inspiring commercials are all well and good.

But when much of the capital is wasted by people serving their own needs or executing with the belief that not-for-profits can’t leverage for-profit best practices, then we have a big problem.

Meanwhile, we are not making our best effort to put food in the bellies of the hungry, empower the homeless to become self-sufficient, help the downtrodden to feel human again or help children with special needs reach their ultimate potential.

And that is where the real shame lies.

In service and servanthood,

Harry

PS This blog post has only been out for seven or eight hours and I have been bombarded by emails.  A few observations:

1. I cannot divulge the names of the organizations to people I don’t know.  I do, however, find many of the guesses to be both interesting and revealing.

2. For some people who may have figured out that their charity is one of the ones referenced, what is more important … that the secret is out or that you do something to fix it?

3. In many of the examples, the stories shared only touch the surface of what is really happening within those organizations.  I left out the juicy bits to avoid obvious identification.

4. Many of the respondents have shared their own stories, some of which leave mine in the dust in terms of negative impact and audacity.

The bottom line

Change is necessary – do we have the courage to be that change on behalf of the people who need it?

 

Addendum: May 10, 2012

No matter how many times you warn people, not-for-profits will continue to get ripped off, as noted in this headline today - Former Calgary art gallery CEO charged with fraud

The funny (and sad) thing about this blog entry is that some people have recently discovered it and reached out to me, asking if it was charities x, y or z.  They had additional stories beyond the ones I had personally experienced.

What will it take for these organizations to execute with more discipline?

Board Members Need to Be Made Accountable

Every time I see news such as that which was posted today, the first thing I look at are the Board of Directors.  Therein lies the ultimate responsibility for governance, transparency and the overall strategic and tactical thoroughness of execution of an organization.

Unfortunately, too many board members in not-for-profits are there because it provides networking opportunities, resume padding, fellowship, opportunities to make themselves look good in the eyes of the community or an opportunity to obtain a personal feel-good (that they are making a difference to their community).

This quote from the police report for the item in today’s headlines is disturbing and, if you are a board member, embarrassing:

The documents say the board relied on Cooper to run the gallery and board members didn't, and had no reason to, suspect Cooper was misappropriating funds.

It was only when approached by Calgary police that they did an internal audit of the art gallery's finances, and discovered $497,586 was missing.

Many times, governance, transparency and accountability often don’t make it on the agenda and when people are found to be ripping off not-for-profits, usually the person committing the act gets prosecuted while the board members go scot-free.

Perhaps if board members were trained better and prosecuted more frequently when wrong-doing occurs, they would take their job more seriously and situations like the one noted today would become a rarity.

Perhaps.

 

Addendum: June 20, 2013

Canadian entrepreneur and philanthropist Brett Wilson offered this insightful musing in regards to Justin Trudeau and demands of him by a charity that he refund a speaking fee because they did not sell enough tickets to cover their cost.  In his musing, Mr. Wilson provides an interesting viewpoint on encouraging not-for-profits to think in a different, more entrepreneurial way.

The Value of Results - Do We Care Anymore?

I was recently speaking to someone who has a position of influence within the Canadian Government and he was going on and on about how great Canada's influence is in the world.

“After all”, he said, “Canada was a driving force behind the land mine treaty of the 90s and the Kyoto Accord and we both know how fantastic both of those initiatives were”.

I reminded him that the players who own 97%+ of the landmines in the world never ratified the landmine deal and even Canada has never lived up to the measures outlined in the Kyoto Accord.

"It doesn't matter", he said proudly, "It's the principle behind it that counts.".

Is that true?  Do we really believe that results don't matter and that life has become filled with the mantra of "good intentions are good enough"?

As I look back over my professional career, I see some glaring examples that support this theory and so I am reaching out to the readers today to prove me wrong.

I want to be proven wrong for if this is an accurate assessment of where the world is going, then we have greater challenges before us that make our current challenges look pretty tame in comparison.

As I share a few stories, I invite the reader to think of their own stories.

Stories such as the following:

• The business owner who claims that they will do anything to make their business grow only as long as it doesn't include investing in the company or spending any money.  At the end of the year, profits are way down but they have some REALLY cool pens that they highlight in a business presentation.  Next year's goal?  Profits would be good but if they don't manifest, there are some really cool pieces of corporate clothing that can be bought to keep morale alive. After all, I am told, the key is to minimize expenses.  When I remind them that the focus is on creating optimal results in the areas of: service to the customer, impact on the environment, growth for the employees, and enhanced revenue and profit (which should also lead to minimizing expenses), I am reminded that I have my focus backwards.  I wonder what the jacket will look like next year.
• The business unit that passes on the $300 million opportunity in favor of the $1 million opportunity.  The year-end holiday party praises the person who brought in the deal.  They neglect to tell people that the same person was also the reason why the larger project didn't manifest.  He was afraid of something so large so instead of asking for help, he deliberately "opted out" of going after it.  His unit for the year never made it's sales quota but he was the hero for making his individual quota.  When one asks if the $300 million deal is still around to be harvested, the subject of the conversation rapidly changes to something equally important, like who is going to win the Super Bowl.
• Some people on the green-legislation bandwagon that want to pass laws that are not measurable and have no teeth to enforce the immeasurable.  When election time comes around, they tout the incredible legislation that will now prevent people from "deploying unnecessary numbers of galactic framazams in a manner that is bad for the environment".  When one points out that no one uses galactic framazams anymore, the legislator waves off the point as insignificant and goes on to talk about the potential to take this initiative internationally.
• Some of the folks who are drilling wells in Africa who come to you with their hand out for more money to continue this "great and worthwhile project" while talking incessantly about their great results to-date.  What they neglect to tell you is that they have left 50,000 dead wells in Africa also but can't be bothered to fix them or remove them.  Providing clean water to people who have never had it is a good thing - telling us of the people who had it but no longer have it because the wells die quickly seems to be unimportant although in my mind, the latter is more criminal.   And besides, drilling new wells seems so much sexier when it comes to raising money then fixing old wells, doesn’t it?
• Watching the latest stats on people who are struggling financially while hearing the banks and governments announce that the recession is over and that all financial indicators tell us that it's all good from here.  Tell that to the people who haven't found work in a year or continue to lose their homes, their benefits, etc.
• Watching one three-year project fail three times on Wall Street for the same reasons each time and after 10 years, the project scope is reduced by 75%, half of that is delivered before the drop-dead date and a corporate announcement goes out describing the project as delivered ahead of schedule and under budget.  Meanwhile, in the backrooms, people are trying to figure out how to deliver the remaining 7/8's of the work and bury it in a different general ledger bucket so no one notices.
• The people who spend years meeting to discuss some initiative they want to launch.  After many years of meetings, their interest starts to wane as they burn out.  What do they do to compensate for this?  They schedule meetings, of course, to figure out what went wrong while publishing memes that describe the effectiveness of their process.

Do We Even Care About The Results?

I could go on but it seems to me that we have disconnected authentic, measurable information from actual results.

It seems in a world focused on hype and appearance, that it is possibly better to create images of unlimited potential, secure the funding to deliver it, not deliver it (or deliver a small subset of it), disguise the result and then celebrate it as exceeding our expectations.

Maybe that's ok when it comes to the small stuff in life - the important projects that don't really matter.

Of course for those projects, if they don't really matter, why are we wasting our time on them in the first place?

But if we do it on larger scale projects where health, safety, or fiscal, social or ecological responsibility are on the line, then we need to take a closer look at who is delivering one thing while describing the result as something else.  Monty Python's Dead Parrot Sketch comes to mind.  Click here if you want to see it (warning - there are some delicate words in it).

After all, If we accept a description of a result that is not accurate, it is not the fault of the person delivering the inaccurate message. 

It is ours.  They only gave us what we wanted to hear and not what we needed to hear.

Shame on us.

I understand all the reasons people give as to why this phenomena happens.

That’s all well and good.

However, let’s forget about the reasons and look at the results.

Results still matter …. I hope.

In service and servanthood.

Harry

To see my Musings-in-a-Minute version of “The Value of Results – Do We Care Anymore”, please click here.