Marc's Musings

For as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to live a life, and have such a positive impact on the world, that my grandkids kids would know who I was.

Have you ever stopped to figure out what your great grandparents did? I bet Martin Luther King Jr.’s greatgrand kids know. That’s the kind of impact I want to have.

For over 20 years, probably even before I was 16, I’ve been working on my life mission. Stephen R. Covey’s book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People was a huge help, as was the book First Things First.

Every year I go through my MagnetGoals goal setting process. I find this process really helps me dream up dozens of ideas while allowing me to focus on a few.

I’ve also grown fond of choosing a “theme” for the year. I think of it as a sort of “theme” music. When Luke Skywalker’s theme gets played, you know he’s about to appear on stage. It reminds you about the character. So too with the theme for the year, it brings you back to what you thought the year would be about.

Last year, I came across Chris Brogan’s idea of summing your goals up in three words and I did my own three words for 2009.

I love the process of doing it! And I love sharing these with my friends that are doing it too.

As I processed this year’s three words, I noticed that they have the wonderful benefit of spilling into various areas of my life. They fit in my family relationships, work expectations, and in my fundraising coaching & training business.

Here are my three words for 2010:

Ensembles

By nature, I’m a do-it-yourself kind of guy. I have high expectations and often choose to just get projects done on my own. I didn’t like group projects in school because I felt I’d have to carry more of the load to be sure to get the grade I wanted to get.

But being a solo act can severely limit my impact on the world. Chris & Julien talk about “armies” in Trust Agents but I don’t have a track record of building such a large group of people.

I toyed with the idea of “platoons” as a building step to “armies.” But that too seemed a bit grandiose and a bit too regimented.

So I’m choosing to focus on ensembles . I like the artistic fluidity of the word. Ensembles can be duets, trios, quartets, an occasional quintet—whatever it takes to accomplish a particular goal. This will include ensembles for various fundraising projects at work, those for FundraisingCoach trainings or joint ventures; and even family projects.

Teaching

I feel most alive when I’m teaching. So I want to do it more in 2010.

This includes conducting fundraising trainings, giving keynotes, teaching classes, leading small groups for church, writing blog posts, reading a book with my wife, and learning along side my kids. Teaching is a core part of my DNA. And I love that I’ve been created in a way that people actually learn from what I teach.

I love that the Hebrew word for teach yadah (to cause to know) is the intensified form of the word “to know,” ie. learning. I believe the safest and best teacher is the one who’s committed to life-long learning. Learning is a journey, not a destionation.

In 2010, I want to find ways to do more of both.

Clan

I want to treat my family as well as I treat my donors and my employer. (My wife wants that too. )

“Clan” symbolizes that for me. It speaks of looking out for one another and binding together in a cohesive unit.

My kids are at an age when they still want to talk to me. If I’m not careful, I could totally miss this window of opportunity. I don’t want to be so full of myself that I don’t take the time to be with them.

Even after 15 years of marriage, my wife still enjoys hanging out with me and teaching with me. I don’t want to squander that either. (Plus, I want to be with her for many more decades!)

I envision this including keeping my laptop closed a bit more than in the past…even choosing to close it when one of my kids starts chatting.

As I was writing this, my 10 year old son stood by me to talk. Yep. This laptop screen went down.

Tom Peters writing has had a big influence in my life. So when I saw this list of 46 things to do on the Business is Personal blog, I naturally grew interested!

That blog had you link to Tom’s PDF here.

For those of us who would rather read a list than click on a link, here are Tom Peters ideas of 46 things to be doing during this recession:

1. You come to work earlier.
2. You leave work later.
3. You work harder.
4. You may well work for less; and, if so, you adapt to the untoward circumstanceswith a smile—even if it kills you inside.
5. You volunteer to do more.
6. You dig deep, deeper, deepest—and always bring a good attitude to work.
7. You fake it if your good attitude flags.
8. You literally practice your “game face” in the mirror in the morning, and in the loo mid-morning.
9. You give new meaning to the idea and intensive practice of “visible management.”
10. You take better than usual care of yourself and encourage others to do the same—physical well-being significantly impacts mental well-being and response to stress.
11. You shrug off shit that flows downhill in your direction—buy a shovel or a “pre-worn” raincoat on eBay.
12. You try to forget about “the good old days”—nostalgia is self-destructive.(And bores others.)
13. You buck yourself up with the thought that “this too shall pass”—but then remind yourself that it might not pass any time soon, and so you re-dedicate yourself to making the absolute best of what you have now.
14. You work the phones and then work the phones some more—and stay in touch with and on the mind of positively everyone.
15. You frequently invent breaks from routine, including “weird” ones—“changeups” prevent wallowing and bring a fresh perspective.
16. You eschew all forms of personal excess.
17. You simplify.
18. You sweat the details as never before.
19. You sweat the details as never before.
20. You sweat the details as never before.
21. You raise to the sky and maintain at all costs the Standards of Excellence by which you unfailingly and unflinchingly evaluate your own performance.
22. You are maniacal when it comes to responding to even the slightest screw-up.
23. You find ways to be around young people and to keep young people around—theyare less likely to be members of the “sky is falling” school.
24. You learn new tricks of your trade.
25. You pass old tricks of the trade on to others—mentoring matters now more thanever.
26. You invest heavily in your computer-Internet-Web2.0-“cloud” skills.
27. You remind yourself that this is not just something to be “gotten through”—it is the Final Exam of Competence, Character and, even if you’re not a boss, Leadership.
28. You network like a demon.
29. You network like a demon inside the company—get to know more of the folks who“do the real work,” and are/can be your most important allies when it comes togetting things done seamlessly and fast.
30. You network like a demon outside the company—get to know more of the folks“down the line,” who “do the real work” in vendor-customer outfits and can be your biggest allies and champions.
31. You thank others by the truckload if good things happen—and take the heat yourself if bad things happen.
32. You behave kindly, but you don’t sugarcoat or hide the truth—humans are startlingly resilient and rumors are the real killers.
33. You treat small successes as if they were World Cup victories—and celebrate and commend accordingly.
34. You shrug off the losses (ignoring what’s going on in your tummy), and get back on the horse and immediately try again.
35. You avoid negative people to the extent you can—pollution kills.
36. You eventually read the gloom-sprayers the riot act. (Gloom is the ultimate WMD at a time like this.)
37. You give new meaning to the word “thoughtful.”
38. You don’t put limits on the budget for flowers—“bright and colorful” works marvels.
39. You redouble, re-triple your efforts to “walk in your customer’s shoes.” (Especially if the shoes smell.)
40. You mind your manners—and accept others’ lack of manners in the face of their strains.
41. You are kind to all mankind.
42. You keep your shoes shined.
43. You leave the blame game at the office door.
44. You call out the congenital politicians in no uncertain terms.
45. You become a paragon of personal accountability.
46. And then you pray.

I really like 25 and 38.

What are your favorites?

Check out more free stuff from Tom’s site here: http://www.tompeters.com/freestuff/index.php. There’s lots of great stuff there.

And if you haven’t read The Brand You 50: Or Fifty Ways to Transform Yourself from an ‘Employee’ into a Brand That Shouts Distinction, Commitment, and Passion!yet, go to your local library and get it now! (Or buy it on Amazon.)

Lately, communication doesn’t seem to be as easy as it could be. Simple directions (simple to me) are getting royally complicated by others.

So I’ve been thinking about the scene of a king in Monty Python’s Holy Grail, giving the two guards a simple direction. And how badly they mess it up.

At least it helps me laugh. After I’ve gotten over being ticked off.

Years ago, I blogged about M. Scott Peck’s four stage development theory. In that post, I mentioned I’d heard it first from Dave Schmelzer.

Today I found a video clip of Dave talking about them himself. So, straight from the horse’s mouth…so to speak…here’s Dave!

May your life grow to be an adventure full of wonder and questions!

I love watching Facing the Giants. Tonight, my son laughed, “We’re not even 35 minutes into it and dad’s already bawling!”

Tonight, the part that really hit me was an exchange between the football coach and Mr. Bridges, a guy that had been praying for the school for years.

Mr. Bridges felt God gave him a word for Coach Taylor. It was a good word.

Then there was this exchange:

Mr. Bridges: 2 farmers who desperately needed rain. And both of them prayed for rain but only one of them went out and prepared his fields to receive it. Which one do you think trusted God to send the rain?

Coach Taylor: Well the one who prepared his fields for it.

Mr. Bridges: Which one are you? God will send the rain when He is ready. It’s your job to prepare your field to receive it.

How about you?

What have you been praying for? For a really long time? Some situation where you really need to see God move in your life?

Are you preparing the field?

I finally read the Jim Collins interview from Inc. magazine called “How to Thrive in 2009.”

I’m a fan of his books Built to Last and Good to Great so the fact that I loved this article is no big surprise.

Here are some tidbits:

How do you define entrepreneurship?

I take a broad view of it. The traditional definition — founding an entity designed to make money — is too narrow for me. I see entrepreneurship as more of a life concept. We all make choices about how we live our lives. You can take a paint-by-numbers approach, or you can start with a blank canvas. When you paint by numbers, the end result is guaranteed. You know what it’s going to be, and it might be good, but it will never be a masterpiece. Starting with a blank canvas is the only way to get a masterpiece, but you could also blow up. So, are you going to pick the paint-by-numbers kit or the blank canvas? That’s a life question, not a business question.

I like paint-by-numbers. It’s a great feeling as a first born to “get it right.” But, personally, I’d really prefer to create a masterpiece.

Here’s another one:

It has to do with your ability to handle risk, no?

Not risk. Ambiguity. People confuse the two. My students used to come to me at Stanford and say, “I’d really like to do something on my own, but I’m just not ready to take that much risk. So I took the job with IBM.” And I would say, “You’re not ready for risk? What’s the first thing you learn about investing? Never put all your eggs in one basket. You’ve just put all your eggs in one basket that is held by somebody else.” As an entrepreneur, you know what the risks are. You see them. You understand them. You manage them. If you join someone else’s company, you may not know those risks, and not because they don’t exist. You just can’t see them, and so you can’t manage them. That’s a much more exposed position than the entrepreneur faces. But there’s lower ambiguity on the paint-by-numbers path: very clear but more risky. The entrepreneurial path: very ambiguous but less risk. Of course, the truth is that it’s all ambiguous, anyway. If you think you can predict the future, you’re crazy.

Isn’t the difference between ambiguity and risk a helpful distinction?! Those of us who’ve grown up seeing companies layoff employees know that cradle-to-grave security left the social contract decades ago. Having all your eggs in the “job” basket is indeed risky.

Check out the rest of the interview on Inc’s site. Hopefully it’ll spur your thinking as it has mine!

Today I get to do the invocation for our Rotary Club. Since I did an extemporaneous one two weeks ago, it was time for a more formal one. So I did what any good Gen Xer would do, I googled for other people’s invocations.

Happily, I stumbled across some Irish blessings and toasts. Irish blessings often brighten my day and with all the rain we’ve been getting, those of us in Maine need brighter days!

Here’s one that made me laugh out loud at my desk:

May those that love us, love us.
And those that don’t love us,
May God turn their hearts.
And if he doesn’t turn their hearts,
May he turn their ankles,
So we’ll know them by their limping.

You can find many more at: http://islandireland.com/Pages/folk/sets/toasts.html.

And, if I see you limping, I’ll know why.

During the sermon in church today, David Glusker mentioned a story about Winston Churchill. It’s probably apocryphal, but it went something like this:

An inebriated Winston Churchill to a lady at a party: “Would you spend the night with me for one million pounds?”

The lady, hesitantly: “Well…for a million pounds? I suppose so.”

Churchill: “Then would you do it for 50?”

The lady: “50?! What kind of woman do you take me for?!”

Churchill: “We’ve already established that. Now we’re simply dickering.”

This story really hit me.

What would my decisions have established about me?

Would I ever be in the place of having someone say to me “We’ve already established that…?”

Would you?

This morning, I told job Caleb to stop talking. His sister dropped her breakfast and what he was saying things that would get her worked up.

He looked at me and asked me, “Why do you tell me to stop talking so much?”

Good question.

I reminded him of the gasoline and water analogy our pastor told us. We approach every the fire of every conflict with a bucket in each hand: one full of gasoline, one full of water. It’s our choice which we one we pour on the fire.

I pointed out why I thought he was adding gasoline in this situation.

Frustrated, he said, “You seem to only comment on gasoline. Why don’t you comment on my water ones?”

He went on, “Dad, if you don’t see the water ones, you shouldn’t mention any of them at all.”

He’s right. 9 years old and he’s right. And I told him so.

Isn’t this a great leadership lesson? If we only point out the deficiencies, we frustrate those we lead.

While it’s great to try to prevent fires ourselves, it’s even more important to notice when those who report to us–or when those who look up to us–try to put them out too.

I’ve long been a fan of giving my year a theme. The one word or phrase helps me stay on track long after the rush of my “100 things to do” list is done.

This year’s theme is “implementation.” I love dreaming up grand plans and creating plans. But implementing them is a challenge. I always feel like I have more time to get things done.

Catching up on my RSS feeds today, I came across Chris Brogan’s concept of simplifying your goals to three words. I really like it.

So for 2009, mine are:
Strategize | Execute | Enjoy

Strategize: I love doing this so I want to keep this as a major thing I do, both for my own goals and for my clients.

Execute: I will learn to love doing this, largely because I love the results it brings.

Enjoy: I’m the kind of person that needs to give myself permission to enjoy things. Both work-related and personal.

What are your three for this year?