Living Life Juicy

While listening to an interview with the author of Hidden City? I was inspired to look for the story behind common things. How often to we pass by something without giving it a second thought. What interesting stories might we be missing? I decided to use this inspiration as a tool to encourage my curiosity and to help me become more present in my daily life. I challenged myself to stop at least once during the week to wonder about something that I would normally pass by. Occasionally I stop by Point Mugu State Beach in the morning before a day of meetings. I use this time to read, journal or just enjoy the ocean. I’m visited by various creatures. I’ve seen sea lions, dolphin, squirrels, and pelicans. One creature I see every time I’m there is “pigeon of the sea,” the seagull. They are intrusive and annoying. Since I was a child, visiting the beach, I’ve learned to loath these birds. This particular morning I was thinking about my challenge to find the story behind somet...

Doing Great Things! I’m a firm believer that everyone could benefit from having a coach. If you have a “growth mindset” [1] you’ll get this idea. Many, however, don’t see the need. “I’m at the top of my profession, why would I want an outsider observing me?” As a coach, I’ve heard this, or something similar, often. [2] As a former athlete and sports fan you can’t help but notice every top performing athlete has a coach. Pro teams have them. Olympic athletes have them. Athletes at all levels engage coaches to move them toward their next step closer to greatness. Atul Gawanda, a surgeon and public health profession, shares a powerful perspective from someone at the top of a complicated profession. Take 17 minutes to listen to this moving story of how coaching moves professionals to greatness… and saves live [3] . Let me know if you want to talk about getting a coach or becoming a coach. [1] Carol Dweck dives deep into this idea in her book Mindset: The ...

Do you feel unappreciated? Did you get passed over for a position or opportunity you deserved? Maybe you’ve been punished for doing the right thing or, even worse, for reasons you don’t understand at all. I know of two people who faced greater challenges and chose differently. These two people didn’t just get punished, demoted or fired. They were imprisoned. One for life for doing right. The other sentenced to death for no good reason.* Nelson Mandela watched the injustice inflicted by the apartheid system of South Africa and set about changing the system. For his stance he was sentenced to life at the Robben Island prison with hard labor. For doing the right thing he faced a life of breaking rocks in the limestone quarry and confinement in a small cell. Most people in his situation define their context as prison and themselves as prisoner. Mandela made a different choice. In his 18 years on “The Island” he mentored many other young activists and political prisoners. He was s...

Change and Transition: 4 ways leaders can help their people We're experiencing great change in my organization right now and I don't think we're alone in this. We prepared our leaders for this by sharing the "J-curve" model for managing organizational change. While helpful for the organization it did not help the individuals who were being asked to change. Organizations can determine a "go live" date when they flip the switch and have a new system or organizational structure take effect. People don't work like that. When the switch is flipped the organization sees this as the end of change (or at least the middle). This "ending" starts a longer transition for our people.  Organizations change, people transition William Bridges (Managing Transitions)points out; "every transition begins with an ending." Organizations need to plan for change and also help people deal with the disruptions that come along with any cha...

 Infograghic and notes from Learning2012 session

 A Visual Blog for How to Find Your Story

 An infograghic from Learning 2012  Good Leader + EI = Great Leader

 A picture blog of how I use Apple TV, Airport Express and a HDMI to VGA converter to present with my iPAd

The Myth of "Work-Life Balance" Looking at my own life and the lives of the people I work with reveals work-life balance is an unachievable myth. When I think about balance my brain pictures a scale, like the scales of justice but with three plates; work, personal/home and sleep. Each day has 24 hours or "chips" to place on one of the three plates.  Balance is achieved by placing eight chips on each plate. Rarely do I experience a balanced day. It's the rare exception and not a sustainable state. Change is the norm. There is too much variance in my life to keep the chips evenly spread across the scale. One unexpected event throws my balance all out of whack. Work-Life Balance may not only be unachievable but undesirable. Maintaining balance implies reacting to change and variance. Balance implies a static state; no movement. Once balance is achieved we do what we can maintain it. A focus on balance can make us "change-averse" in a world tha...

This blog from HBR offers a good collection of how to create an environment where people (including yourself) can choose to change. Which of these are your "go to" methods? Are any of these new to you?   Ten Ways to Get People to Change

Growing into Mastery: 3 areas of focus Mastery of any skill or topic isn't a matter of knowing a lot, having tried it a lot or even having been successful a few times. Growing into a high-level performer in anything requires all three; Education, Experience and Competency. Working on 2 out of 3 isn't bad but it doesn't mean you are prepared for all the contexts you may face. It also isn't enough to qualify you to model and lead others in the skill.  Education : A beginner knows the information.  A performer knows what's behind the information, where it comes from and what ideas contributed to the information.  A Master knows the limits of the information, where it's application stops, where it doesn't fit and what other ideas are competing with it.  Being informed and educated is crucial in developing mastery so that you understand the "why" behind the skill. It will help you become intentional in your performance and increase your flexibility when...

 Experimental Visual Blog

If Feedback is the breakfast of champions than "doing a 360" has become the "Wheaties" of feedback.  As this approach grows in popularity and use, misconceptions and confusion around this process grows . Let's explore a few of the major questions around 360 degree feedback.   What is a 360? 360 degree feedback, also known as multi-rater feedback, is any process that solicits feedback from multiple perspectives. It usually involves a survey or interview with supervisors, peers and direct reports. Often other perspectives such as customers, family and strategic partners are also sought out. The process can be as simple as requesting verbal feedback yourself or as complex as purchasing a research validated tool from a vendor.   Organizations such as Lominger, PDI and The Hay Group have developed statistically validated survey tools that are backed by extensive research. They have a rich data base of material to use in creating credible feedback reports that connect...

My grandfather was an apple farmer. His life was about keeping his trees producing apples. As a child I would visit the farm and walk in the orchards with him. As we walked Grandpa would talk about what help the trees. Things like irrigation, pruning and thinning. Not really looking to become an apple farmer myself these topics didn't hold much interest but now, as I reflect on them, they hold important truths for our journey to become whole leaders. Irrigation: All plants need to stay connected to a source of water to grow and remain productive. Apples stop developing if they loose connection to their source of water and nutrients. If the tree is cut off from the water supply, the branch is cut off from the trunk or the fruit is pulled from the tree growth stops and death starts. (ripening isn't growth it's the start fruit's decomposition). Our ideal self is the compelling reason for us to continue to grow and develop. It is our source. Our progress depends on sta...

When I first met Dave Hopkins he ran marathons, played guitar, sang and worked with Junior High students at a camp. Energy and activity poured from him. He was also a detail oriented person. This made it very easy for Dave to be critical. Often he said that it was a challenge to have a positive outlook and that "every day you choose to develop a critical spirit or a thankful spirit." It was by daily choosing to be thankful that Dave could see the world positively. Multiple Sclerosis (MS) became a part of Dave's world a few years after I met him. At first the impact on his energy and activity was minimal. As he learned to live in this new reality he continued to say "every day I choose to develop a thankful spirit rather than a critical spirit." And he did. I could see him struggle with both his disease and being critical. And I watched him choose thankfulness. As the MS progressed Dave could no longer run so he started riding a bicycle. He lost the ability t...

I received advice concerning walking with lions that relates to emotional triggers as well. "It's not the lions you see that should worry you. It's the lions you don't see." Triggers work the same way. As we become aware of situations, issues or people who are likely to push our buttons we prepare ourselves and guard against an "amygdala hijack." But how can we prepare for the ambush triggers when our guard is down? Knowing what you are feeling removes the bullet from the chamber before the trigger can be pulled. Noticing how you are feeling, good or bad, is a start but identifying what you are feeling, frustrated, content, energized, angry, etc, helps you respond intentionally in the moment. If you become aware of your feeling and identify to what event or interaction that feeling specifically relates you can better manage your emotions. Rather than fighting the urge to react you can use your best judgment to choose the behavior that increases your in...

I just spent the day with a great group of practitioners talking about creating powerful and practical programs that meet real needs. I was the facilitator but the group wisdom truly added value to the program. One exciting part for me was that our discussion was as relevant to one day program design as it was to creating an assessment approach for entire organizations. We had a great mix of people from eduction, camps/retreat centers and corporate consultants. This mix allowed for the sharing of a diverse and practical set of resources for all of us to check out. Thanks to the group for making the workshop truly work.

Is brilliance within our grasp? There seem to be paths to brilliance for us; executive coaching, life coaching, personal coaching, performance improvement programs, etc. I'm pretty sure that the self-help section of the bookstore is still the largest. I googled "self-help" and got close to 25 million hits. Are these the same thing as "becoming brilliant?" I'm not sure. It's about becoming something. Often it seems to be about "becoming dependent." Not that that's the intent of all the authors, coaches and consultants but people who seek these resources often look for the "silver bullet" that will launch them toward success and happiness. They look for an easy external fix. At the first sign of difficulty we blame that failed approach and, since it is external, we need not take any responsibility for it's failure. We then can easily move to the next disconnected approach to improvement. If we experience any hint of success w...

I’ve been fascinated by the word “brilliant” for a while now. Where I might have said “That’s great,” I noticed my friends from across the Atlantic would say “That’s brilliant!” Is it just a different word choice or their accent that caught my ear? I think it might be more than that. Brilliance points us to several, rich images. In this one word we think of light, shining and vivid, excellence and intelligence. To be brilliant is to be a shining example that stands out from the rest of the world. It is to be a model of excellence; to set the highest standard for intelligence and performance. Wow! I want that. I want to be a person who stands out like that. I want to become brilliant. But, with all that tarnishes my image, can I reach that level? What steps can I really take on the path toward becoming brilliant?

Directed initiatives; activities where the facilitator pre-determines the lesson outcomes and directs the debriefing discussion toward those ends. When time is limited this approach can offer an effective way to help people gain a certain level of understanding of a topic or concept. For this approach I would recommend using your own experience working with initiatives rather than looking for a book. For each initiative ask yourself what themes tend to consistently present themselves and ask yourself where and what the bible has to say about those issues. Brainstorm themes and outcomes with other staff/facilitators to create your own personalized activity resource with your own debrief outlines. I did this every summer with my Challenge Course staff. It is a great way to access everyone’s talent and experience and it encourages increased staff buy in. (I have a creative process activity outline in my book Experiential Youth Ministry Handbook that I use). Directed Initiatives off...