Seeking Coastal Utopia

“six person walking on train rail surrounded by tall trees at daytime” by Anthony Intraversato on  Unsplash Relationships matter. They help you can get more things done. Having learned this many years ago while in the military, I was quick to realize that knowing the right people was very beneficial. Using just the chain of command was not always the most effective way of getting things done when needed. These were not nefarious relationships like Hollywood tries to show — the ones where the hero or heroine happens to know somebody who knows somebody that provides the much-needed thing or has the inside scoop that they need to be successful. Yet, it is still relationships that allow them to be successful. These are the relationships that are built on trust, on respect. Even the relationships that are built on blood, sweat, and tears. From those deep experiences that you know that you can trust the other person implicitly. Relationships and politics are aligned. Even w...

“painting of man” by Aarón Blanco Tejedor on  Unsplash Face it, we humans are a messy lot. We are a train wreck of sound and fury. Yet we are innately capable of amazing things — and we have opposable thumbs. Because humans are messy, we need to learn to be effective, especially when we need to accomplish tasks. We need to consider and take the effort to walk around in the shoes of others — to be inside of their skin and take on their worldview . Having an empathetic perspective helps us grow and connect. Leaders and managers need to understand the delicate balances of how their direct reports react to information, whilst also understanding the nuances of diplomacy and political marshes surrounding them created by their own peers and superiors. In order to succeed, we need to listen and pay attention . Why? Filters and biases warp our worlds. “person lying down on white surface” by mwangi gatheca on  Unsplash We all have emotions. We also have filters an...

“people working inside white and black room” by Venveo on  Unsplash You can’t lead or manage from behind a desk . Yes, you are right, I am not allowed to say the word can’t — neither are you! Let us introduce another way…as a leader or as a manager, you are extremely ineffective when you stay behind your desk. Stop arguing, it’s true . Unless you are managing a group of automation equipment or robots, then yes, your argument is true. However, the last time I checked, we need humans to do most of the work that we do in business today, and in the effort to keep them involved, they require face-to-face interaction, coaching, and guidance. Humans are messy, therefore we require, no, we demand interaction, and if you are or wish to be a leader or a manager, you limit your ability to actively participate or interact when you are camped out behind your desk. “turned on monitoring screen” by Stephen Dawson on  Unsplash The ability to “see” how the business is ...

“silhouette photo of a mountain during the nighttime” by Benjaminrobyn Jespersen on  Unsplash Okay, okay, before you start getting all “ well we can’t travel at the speed of light so that’s impossible ” as your response to the title, think a little closer to home. Slightly more realistically for the next three minutes. Instead, your challenge is to think about the accuracy of the words that you use every day around your work and your home. It is highly suspect that the word impossible comes up in your normal discussions a few times a day, potentially multiple times each week. Is the effort or the solution to the problem that you were trying to describe really impossible ? Let me get back to the cosmic principle like the speed of light remark above. In terms of impossible , think about the human race. Think about our existence on this planet. Think about the fact that our planet is in the perfect location away from the sun. Those are all impossibilities but yet, these rand...

“grayscale photo of woman doing silent hand sign” by Kristina Flour on  Unsplash This word is verboten in the household. Although the kids have used the word in our house, they know that they are not allowed to say it. There is no such thing as “ can’t ” or cannot , as in “I am unable to do this” or “it can’t be done” — umm, no. Wrong answer. Can’t should not be a part of your vernacular either. Or better yet, can’t can’t be a part of your normal conversations! Even my peers at work know my response, my visceral reaction, to that word when it is brought up in a conversation. It is an easy escape from the hard work . Can’t should be replaced with something more active. Can you imagine a better, more positive response to that phrase? Can if ? Instead of “we can’t do it unless we have more people” change it to “we can if we have more time.” By immediately defining the negative of the situation, the psychology of that effort dwindles — the defeatist mentality begins to ...

“brown dried leaves on sand” by sydney Rae on  Unsplash Keep showing up. Never stop. Keep pressing play. Take another step. Do one more rep. Work for one more minute. Do twenty more miles. Woody Allen once said 80% of life is just showing up. Showing up is that first step forward. It is that challenge that everyone struggles with. If you are consistent and have the discipline to keep showing up, success will follow. You are now one more step ahead of the mediocre masses. You are one more step further from ordinary. You are further ahead than over half of the people that surround you. Yet you need to recognize that just showing up once is not going to make you successful. Yes, it is a great achievement that you actually took that first leap and showed up the very first time, but it is the 2nd and the 3rd and the 10th and the 50th time that you show up, that you repeat that’s what makes you successful. Having the discipline and the urgency to keep showing up and doing t...

“red number neon signage” by Karolina Szczur on  Unsplash A lot of you are probably thinking, what is Rule Number 6? Others are probably thinking what happened through 1 through 5? There are no other rules. Benjamin Zander described Rule Number 6 in his book The Art of Possibilities . Here is a vignette from one of his talks and he describes rule number 6 how it came into play. I have been keeping Rule Number 6 as guidance with the blogs I have been creating. It has been helping me remain grounded (what?!? I don’t have more followers? WTF!) reminding me to keep from being too serious. It allows me to enjoy this more, being slightly less competitive and hopefully making it enjoyable for those that discover these readings. Stop being so serious For that matter, what does it mean to be so serious? How can anyone be so serious? I remember as a younger dude and saying “ serious as a heart attack ” — I suppose that is pretty damn serious. A simple project management trick...