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Intention

Barbie Shoes and the Vacuum Cleaner

As my children were growing up, Saturday was “clean the house” day. Everyone participated, no matter their age. For my daughter, Nicole, at age six it meant that toys and clutter had to move off the floor and into their designated storage places so that the vacuum could be run.

In spite of knowing this, the floor would often be strewn with Barbie shoes on Saturday morning. After reminders that escalated to nagging and warnings, there was one thing that was certain to create an immediate surge of frantic activity to put the shoes away. And that was the sound of the vacuum cleaner headed to her room.

Now Nicole was not a naughty or unruly child. She just has at least one thousand things better to do than to pick up Barbie shoes. Until the roar of the vacuum sent a clear message: Run now to save the shoes!

Not unlike most of us. We have many things to do. We aren’t bad or lazy; perhaps distracted and overwhelmed. So the leadership question becomes this: WHAT CAN WE DO TO SPUR FOCUS AND ATTENTION ON THE THINGS THAT ARE MOST IMPORTANT?

Intention

My Wabi-Sabi Life

I’ve worked hard to overcome “the prison of perfection” – which had, in the past, resulted in me never being happy with excellence, which had caused me to stall way too many times in quest of the last incremental improvement, that had stoked fear that someone would notice the slightest imperfection. And it was good to let go of that.

Wabi-sabi, as defined in Wikipedia, is a comprehensive Japanese world view or aesthetic centered on the acceptance of transience and imperfection. However, the notion of wabi-sabi is deeper than just being OK with imperfection. …

Drawing: There is no elevator to success, you gotta' take the stairs.

Intention

How Do You Define Success?

A few weeks ago I friend told me she was “so proud of my success” – which gave me pause. Was I really successful? By whose measure? Why did it make me uncomfortable to consider myself successful?

And in that same day I stumbled across the notion of a continuum of success – that we move from Survival to Stability to Success and finally to Significance. I thought it would be a fine thing to blog about – but the reality is that I’ve struggled for two weeks to pull together some cogent thoughts about the topic.

None the less – the time has come to share. So this post will be a combination of known and unknown, comfort and discomfort. And with that, I’m hoping to spark a conversation so that your thoughts can help me make more sense of this topic.

Challenges

Noise

When I worked in manufacturing, it was standard practice to monitor noise levels and also to test the hearing of those that worked in high decibel areas. We were proactive in managing noise levels, mandating hearing protection and taking steps to avoid hearing loss.

Today we are all faced with incessant noise – perhaps not the high decibel, cover your ears, kind of noise. More of the ever present chatter – of the TV, radio, email, social media. We are bombarded with information 24/7. Some is wanted – like my Pandora radio station, or emails from clients, or Facebook posts from friends, or or RSS feeds that cause me to pause and think about things differently, or texts that transmit information in a few seconds rather than a few minutes. But there is a heck of a lot of clutter or “noise” that one must endure to find that which is valuable.

I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve not found the answer to this. So I’ll share five things I do to build some “silence” into my life – and ask you to chime in and share to help us all.

Accountability

Let it Soak

I’m an expert at doing dishes – thanks to growing up in a family that ate three square meals a day (home cooked of course), that thought the kitchen work belonged to women, and who did not own a dishwasher until long after I had left home. And so, doing the dishes was my chore. Lots and lots of them.

My approach to the dishes is not much different to the challenging work we face as adults. There are many times we do need to let things soak. To give them a bit more time, more reflection, and to avoid doing something rash or premature. And when we do that, we often find that, just like with the pots, that time in the right environment, has performed magic. What would have taken much effort can now be done quickly and easily.

There are other times that “letting it soak” is a mere excuse for avoiding something, for deferring the work that must be done. Getting to “it” in a day or two turns into weeks, then months and sometimes a lifetime. Waiting for the additional data or money or courage or information stalls us unnecessarily and becomes our rationalized excuse for not taking action.

So how do you discern if “letting it soak” is a good strategy or merely an avoidance mechanism? You might ask yourself these two questions…

Dynamics

Learned Incompetence

How many times are good intentions for support and help internalized by the recipient as proof of personal inability? How often is it easier to rely on someone else for something well within our grasp? How can we enable rather than disable those we seek to help? Where in my life am I relying on someone else’s help rather than stretching and becoming independent?

I don’t have many answers – but am struck that these are questions our schools, government and social services organizations would be well served to study and master. I’m interested – what do you think?

Intention

Can you Spot the Differences… and Should You?

What bonds might be created, what dialogs might open if we sought to find what is similar between ourselves and others – especially those others who we paint in colors that are different than ours? What compassion might flow? What relationships might emerge? What might we do differently if we looked for similarities rather than opposites?

Intention

14 Important Reasons to Keep Giving Thanks

I’m an advocate of Thanksgiving 365 days a year. Not the wonderful meal. Not the football games or parades or dog shows on TV. But the practice of gratitude.

So one week later – I encourage you to keep it up. And for good reasons – exactly 14 of them. Learn what they are, here…

Another View on Sustainable Business

In my final post in this series exploring the question of sustainability – of our organizations and the larger world in which those organizations exist – I’ll examine the notion of “constructive capitalism”, a way in which companies can create enduring, meaningful and sustainable advantage that also benefits society.

Challenges

Planting in the Fall

Yesterday my granddaughter and I planted bulbs. Lots of them. 229 to be exact. Tulips and daffodils and hardy little purple crocuses. Today it strikes me that planting bulbs in the fall is perhaps one of the greatest acts of faith that a gardener takes. It causes me to wonder how often, when things appear to be in decline, do we continue to plant in what seems like hard ground?

Evergreen Leadership Blog

Barbie Shoes and the Vacuum Cleaner

My Wabi-Sabi Life

How Do You Define Success?

Noise

Let it Soak

Learned Incompetence

Can you Spot the Differences… and Should You?

14 Important Reasons to Keep Giving Thanks

Another View on Sustainable Business

Planting in the Fall

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