Epic Living - Wellbeing Expert, Entrepreneur, Author, Man on A Mission

The Hard Choice

Daily, we all face a multitude of choices. Human nature drives us to the easy ones. Defining moments are found in the hard choice. You know, the one you'd rather not do or would rather ignore.

The problem is really on the front-side pain. The initial struggle and dislike associated. Many lose out on their dreams by giving into their fear and avoidance.

It would be great if there were a voice telling us "it's ok, the pain is worth it." The truth is we do-in one form or another.

The listening and doing part is the crux. 

Output and Input

A post from 2008 that I got to thinking about this week. To this day, I'm struck by the silence on the input side of things.

It's easy to get excited by the output of one's work.  In many ways, a leader can feel a sense of justification for what's flowing from their perspective tributary. 

If you connect with glowing about your output, then you could be missing something vital.  You could be missing the input.

Here's why you might not think, or like to think about, you input:

• The input part is the hard work of your endeavor.
• The input part is the pain of your endeavor.
• The input part is the fears you've dealt with in the journey.
• The input part is the hope within your heart.
• The input part is the sense of destiny you feel deep inside.

There are times I still have to look away from my own "inputs."  But we must look and examine what has gone into what has been produced.   

There are some valuable benefits to embracing the input: 

• It will keep you from thinking your management style is a 10.
• It will humble you and bring a sense of thankfulness.
• It will redefine how you define success.  You'll discover that the journey is where the gold is.  Think about a marvelous road trip and what you see along the way.  The destination can never compare.
• It will help you know who really digs you.  People who are for you are the ones that have time for you when no one can see the tangible (fame, wealth, influence, etc.) benefits of the output.
• The world will smile at the thought of you because embracing input implies an inside-out approach.

The input is the gold found in our lives.  Ironic how our age worships output instead.  Some longing for meaning I suppose.

Corporate Madness

Corporate madness is a malady that often goes untreated. We are paying a price for this.

I wrote last week about the dangers around the status quo. I have been struck over the last few weeks of the madness within the corporate world around this. It's as if hope has replaced the action of fixing what will eventually kill. Hope has turned into do-nothing.

By the way, the one with the best and biggest retirement package does not win. Never has, never will.

The erosion continues.

Fear and Greed

This post was originally written in 2006, it was timely then and timely now. Is your organization paying attention?

I read today that Jeff Skilling of Enron fame wasn't in "it" for the money.  He just wanted to build a solid business.  I'm not here to judge him, but his comments are telling...as it relates to fear and greed.

Oh, how great it would be if every junior executive/manager got the workshop on fear and greed.  It wouldn't guarantee total bliss, but it might reduce the wrecks.  Sadly, corporations fail to talk about this due to their own addictions.  You see fear and greed can be habit forming.  They seem OK when you first taste, but leave behind ruined lives afterward.

If you're new to management or ownership, take some time to deal with the issues of fear and greed.  No matter how well you think things are going.  Your employees/subordinates will thank you for it.

Faith in Business

What level of faith (belief in something that is real, but unseen) do you have in your business? How about your people? Do you act on this faith even if the brilliance is not seen by many?

The answer to the three questions I posed will tell you a lot about the soul of your business and its true health.

This is the "hard" in hard work.

Scarcity

Convinced more and more that our search needs to be toward scarcity. In such a way that our abilities, talents, strengths, etc. are called upon to remedy the need for what is scarce. Economics reveals this too, but we can apply across platforms. Your ability to change the world for the better is linked here.

This assumes, like me, that you want to shake things up where you're at.

The Collision of Profit Motive and Meaningful Work

I'm all for profit, wished I had more.  And I'm very into meaningful work. The problem is found in the collision of profit motive and meaningful work.

The problem rears its ugly head when the profit motive starts taking greed steroids.  Meaningful work exits when this happens.  I wish this scenario was rare, but you and I know it's not.  The crazy part is profit and meaningful work can coexist and thrive.

In many ways we live in a tale of two cities.  One city is a place where management (entry to executive) is focused on profit, expenses, quarterly news, and the like.  The other city is a place where the employee is looking and longing for meaningful work.  They're not immature children or idealistic dreamers, just people who understand that life is a limited time offer and they desire to make the most of the time given.  This is the reality and the reason we're in such a mess, relating to how we do and live out our work.

So why are the two at odds?

1. At some point we put a higher value on things (money, possessions, titles) versus people and the lives they lead.  And what is valued most, is what will get the lion-share of attention.
2. Greed and power can be just as addicting as any drug.  The person is overtaken and refuses to give it up.
3. We started telling our children to fit in a box.  See standardized testing as a measure of intelligence, for example.  We've all but poisoned their ability to recognize meaningful work.
4. Wall Street (for those entities in the publically traded realm).
5. The absence of courageous leadership inside the halls of management.

I've always been about people-for better or worse, so I'm not writing to offer solutions on how to fix corporate America.  In the spirit of giving you a place to start, a place to begin discovering where meaningful work may be found, I want you to take a look at the following video clip:

 

 

 

The End of Trust

Who do you trust? What do you trust? How do you trust? This is a difficult time for trust in America. Seems like just about everyone is pitching an angle or spin. Many have shrugged and found themselves saying hello to their jaded self.

We've arrived at the end of trust.

It's not so strange when you look back over the last 30 years. In my land of America, we made the mistake of thinking trust didn't need attention. We thought it would take care of itself. Like so many other things in life, trust doesn't just take care of itself. It requires priority and work.

I'll never forget a mentor asking once if I could be trusted with the gifts and talents I'd been given. It cut right through me because I knew he was referring to my ability to understand the meaning of given and my responsibility to live out the trust I ask for from people. That question has been part of my psyche ever since. A gut check for me.

Can you be trusted?

The conclusion is found in the wieght we assign to trust. If it's like a feather, then I hope you'll always be protected because you're going to need it. If it's heavy, I since you'll treat it with great care and respect wherever you give or ask for it.

Trust is a verb like no other in a world that's lost, not found.

7 Things Your Manager Wants You To Know

 

I spoke with a friend yesterday about the role of her manager in her job.  He's an advocate for her and a buffer.  The buffer part was what struck me.  He's a buffer between my friend and senior management.  Sadly, senior management in this organization is living in an alternative reality, so they need someone who is deft at translating this reality into real world application.  This happens a lot in the corporate world.

This post is not a defense of the middle-manager, nor is it a rant about how bad they sometimes can be.  In the spirit of balance I want you to consider 7 things your manager wants you to know:

1. Your manager is afraid.  In many ways this makes them like everybody else, with one huge exception.  Your manager has power and influence over the work of human beings.
2. Your manager thought they wanted the job when it was offered.  Many managers are conflicted.  The organization dressed everything up well, put on the nicest face, but decided to let themselves go after the honeymoon.  Now your manager sees themselves as stuck.
3. Your manager wants to do the right thing.  She realizes she can't please everyone.  She knows that making a decsion swiftly and resolutely is sometimes needed, even if you don't see it or understand it.
4. Your manager wants ongoing learning and growth.  But it's very difficult when profit tries to push an unseen opportunity out the door.  Or worse, the organization doesn't care about learning and growth.
5. Your manager has been a bully all their life and has no intention of stopping.  Unless, of course, someone decides to push back.  He believes the organization is weak for not putting a halt to his behavior.
6. Your manager is intimidated by people who are smarter and wiser.  They see vulnerability (being ok with not being the crown jewel in the room) as something to be avoided.
7. Your manager feels like their life is ebbing away.  The other parts of life are demanding much from her, just like the organization.  In many ways she wonders where is the life she dreamed of.

Your People Are Smarter Than You Think

If there is any statement I would want a manager/leader to understand, it would be the following:

    "Your people are smarter than you think."

I feel sorry for those organizations that promote, deify, and plain flatter the pants off of management candidates and new hires (including senior management).  I feel even sorrier for those individuals because most of the time they are not prepared to lead.  It's often a case of letting words on a resume or some performance metric around revenue generation that leads to this ride to hell.

On face of it, you might say congratulations are in order for the recently hired or promoted.  I wouldn't want to stop the celebration and I certainly applaud those who desire to lead people.  The problem rests in not taking time to explain some key and essential truths.  And one of those is:

    "Your People Are Smarter Than You Think."

So You may be wondering why the emphasis on that statement?  Here are the reasons why:

1. People are tired of corporatese (a language that many organizations use to unknowingly frustrate) and false pretense.
2. People are tired of managers who feel compelled to remind the world that they are the smartest guy or gal in the room.
3. People often want to do their jobs with excellence, but they now know that Wall Street is often the prettiest girl in the room. And leaves them feeling the need to watch their back while the CEO gushes over the past quarters numbers. I think you get my point here.
4. People know the world has changed, but often their leaders are vague on the subject and how it impacts them as an employee.
5. People know that a title and position do not equal leadership. Thus, they won't really follow if they since an embrace of those two.