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The Power of Make Believe

"Imagination is mankind's greatest gift. Also its curse."

- J. R. St. John

Daimler, Benz and Maybach dreamed up different versions of the automobile. Then they teamed up, went into the workshop and built an automotive powerhouse.

Henry Ford fantasized about an America where Everyman could mount his horseless carriage, and Go! Then he dreamed up the assembly line that could build it cheaply enough to make it affordable - for Every Man.

Curse: The unbridled imagination of the automotive, oil and tire companies unleashed the initiative which shut down public transportation in every American city, and tore up the tracks... Huge long term profits for three industries - and the L.A. Freeway at 5:30 pm.

Wernher von Braun imagined rocket powered weapons in Germany, then directed the space program in the U.S. (Talk about a redeeming second act...) President Kennedy dreamed of a U.S. Flag on the moon - and the NASA machinery to make it happen.*

Nike - the global juggernaut is not shoes, not clothes, not equipment, but "Just Do It!" Phil Knight has a big imagination.

Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, well - this is being written on an iPad...

Fleece clothing, warmer than wool and hydrophobic (it doesn't like water...) is spun from recycled plastic bottles but first from the imagination. Aaron Feuerstein invented the stuff, but chose not to patent it - knowing that it would go far and wide, owned in the commons... What an imagination!

Cycling Silk - the Silk Road bicycling excursion through Tibet, Nepal, Kashmir and China - has taken two crazy (wonderfully) Canadian women on the adventure of a lifetime through cultures, locales and across difficult international borders.

Linux, GNU, Firefox. Open source software, worked on and improved by thousands of contributors around the world. So stable and inexpensive, they are becoming the firm foundations of corporate and government computing and internet search.

What do all these have in common? They came out of "make believe." Products, adventures and approaches that had never been before - all emerged when someone leaned back and "made them up."

The things that ignite our passions don't originate on spreadsheets. Analytics and budgets are the tools that help us make great ideas viable; yet they are too often the clubs used to beat down the "imagineer" on the verge of a breakthrough - "It'll never work Walt! Give up on that Disneyland thing... It'll break us!"

Imagination is our greatest gift, and sometimes a curse - and it's up to us to decide. Will we imagine ourselves a heaven? Or dream up Hell on Earth?

Applications:

1. Individually:
The life you are living is a monument to what you've been willing to imagine - up to now. Why not start now and imagine better, loftier... free of limitation? When you realize that the lives of everyone you see are simply the chronicles of individual imagination; then you become a witness to the power of imagination for better, or worse.

2. At Home
Familial relationships are group creations; led by the most powerful dreamers and anchored by the fearful, dour and critical - or just the penny pinchers. It amazes us that some people live in a world of scarcity and darkness - waiting for the apocalypse. Others imagine life as an adventure game - a feast - to be consumed with gusto!

Imagine for the better and be responsible for leading your family on a great vacation, a college selection tour, a bus budget trip to the fleece mill, or an afternoon at the museum. Dream Large!

3. At Work
Do offices or factories have to be under lit, dim, hard-edged places without color or fun? Only if we imagine "work" to be, well, "WORK!" What if we instead imagined a career to be sustaining, enjoyable, challenging, playful and respectful? What color would the walls be then? Now you may have to "re-imagine" and "re-engineer" the entire workplace.

We've put this explosive concept to work in a strategic planning discipline that relies on the power of Vision and Ideal Scene as starting points in the planning process. So a lot less, "How do we expand our profit by ten percent?" and a lot more, "Where would we really love to be working in five years?" and "What will it take in income to bring that about?"


Gift or Curse? It's up to you. Imagine your own life, family and career in a loftier way. From right now!

Dessert: Log on to Cycling Silk, and bike through the Himalayas with two crazy Canadian dreamers!
www.cyclingsilk.com


*The two sides of Dr. von Braun's career bear witness to the power of imagination to be used for destruction or reaching the stars. Imagination can go either way...

Corporate Culture & the Meaning of Life

"The meaning of life is to put the meaning in life."

-Anonymous

Have you felt from time to time that life is just Work, Work, Work!?
Have you experienced that "Hamster on a Treadmill" feeling?
Have you mislaid the meaning of your existence?
If so, you're not the first person to have lost track of the key - that your life, your family and your work are the way they are chiefly because that's the way you've built them...
Allow us to explain...


What does Management do?

Management puts the meaning into work. They build the culture - by design, or; by default. As a leader, every action you take or fail to take - contributes to the combined understanding of "How we do things around here." Your actions and decisions define and demonstrate what's expected and tolerated, or conversely; what would implicitly result in termination. People learn by watching and emulating the leaders - you!

Would you like some help with that?

If you were designing a building, you'd hire an architect, but a culture? That's our job. We assist our clients as they build their corporate culture and we help take those cultures from being implicit and puzzling into being clear and explicit - for the betterment of all involved.

Culture is comprised of four cornerstones... Communication, Sales, Management and Strategy. As you master each of those skills as an individual, then as a manager; your individual journey entwines with your teammates to create a unique, shared corporate culture - something of incredible value which can set you apart from all others and make working at your shop a one of a kind experience - or work, work, work.

Building it right, and well - that's not really a one shot sort of thing. It probably starts with a Leadership retreat, which births or re-births a vision and a plan. Then there's training and endless, cheerful repeated coaching. Probably some consulting about the details. Counsel on specific personal issues. A lot of individual handling and many questions. An ongoing journey toward a lofty vision of excellence in practice. If it goes right, the result is a corporate mission which perfectly integrates lofty beliefs with practical servant management and concise, beautifully aligned communication - "One Story, Many Voices!®" And, it must be profitable or you don't get to come back next year and do it again.

So - the "fusion" of training, consultation and counsel is the formula required for your firm as you move forward individually and as teams - building your culture with every step.

It's a noble purpose. Why? Because though much of life can devolve down to the meaningless; work doesn't have to. Because we all spend more time working than any other human endeavor. We should do it right. We should do it well. We should love it and be proud of the outcomes.

The meaning of life is for us to put there.

Applications:

1. Individually
Is there a space in your life where a lofty purpose belongs? Have you lost track of it in the rush to produce, interact and consume? Is it time for a personal pause to consider what's really important, and to re-dedicate yourself to a high purpose?

2. At Home
Kids take over the family and shift the course of conversations, relationships and careers. But most of the great thinkers, inventors, industrialists and tycoons had families. What's the reason for that? Perhaps because family is what keeps us grounded and married to at least one of life's purposes - survival as a species. But maybe a greater reason for family, is to allow us to see and partake of the warmth, support, shared stories and yes - Love that makes life more than work, work, work. Why not decide to love the work that supports the people you love; and love the people that make you want to build a career that can support school, safety and vacations. Families put more meaning into life.

3. At Work
Our choices about how to perceive and construct our work life make the difference between whether we feel enslaved at work, or enlarged. The culture of the workplace is the outcome of all the decisions made by all players right-up-to-now. Management contributes, but so does everyone on the team. If you don't like it the way it is; why not change it? Start the discussion about how to re-inject more, better, loftier purpose back into the workplace and interesting things will happen. Of course, it takes some courage to start that discussion, but this decision alone will make going to work Monday more interesting. It's a risk, yes; but so is going back down into the mine.


The meaning of life? Right there in front of you!
Put your meaning where you want it!!

The Soft Stuff is the Hard Stuff

"I have also a flower," declared the little prince as he tried to describe his planet to a geographer.
"We do not record flowers," said the geographer.
"Why is that? The flower is the most beautiful thing on my planet!"
"We do not record them," said the geographer, "because they are ephemeral."

-Excerpt from The Little Prince
Authored & illustrated by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
(1900 - 1943)
Writer, Poet and Aviator

As individuals, we tell stories to each other, and about each other as a means of gaining, sharing and transmitting insight into who we are, how we operate and what kind of people we are. It's the same with companies. Culture is ephemeral - a living thing which must constantly be refreshed then passed from one person to another preserved in the form of stories.

"Corporation" is a generic business structure. The hottest ad agency is a corporation. So is a sleepy bank, so is a funeral home. We can usually tell the bank from the funeral home, and certainly from the ad agency - not so much by their corporate documents - but by the atmosphere, the attitude, the culture.

As managers, we often find it difficult to create the distinction between our [generic] firm and the [generic] competition. We suggest that this battle is begun and won first in the hearts and minds of the employees (not the customers) and it is won through culture, then through stories. If you win the "battle" with the employees, they will bring the customers and the marketplace along.

Our first job as leaders is to establish the basics: legal form, financial assumptions and structure - building, desks, chairs, etc. But maybe we're missing something. What if the new employees walked in and discovered an office filled with Red Phones - only Red? Of course, there'd be questions - "What's with the Red Phones?" [Step One]

Now the manager says: "Only one thing will make us successful: Getting on the Phones! I want you guys to eat, sleep and dream about getting on the phone with our prospects, then with our clients - to generate the business! It's so important for us that we live and die around how much business you can bring in - hence the red phones. Don't forget this! It's our life blood! Now get calling!" With that, Mark picks up his own handset and makes the first call... [Step Two]

When a recruit later joins the firm, she has a list of questions at lunch: "Where's the Accounting office? Who should I emulate? What's with the Red Phones?" The senior teammate tells the story... "I remember my first day... Red Phones everywhere... and Mark explained the deal... 'Now get calling!'... and he picked up his own handset and started dialing... there was maybe five seconds of stunned silence and then in a rush, we all sat down and started punching in numbers!" [Step Three]

Here's the formula for establishing a culture: Define, Demonstrate, Pass Along

[Step One] DEFINITION
In order for a culture to take form and shape, it must first be defined - laid down in the succinct forms of shell documents, but also as mission and purpose statements. At first it's merely a dream.

[Step Two] DEMONSTRATION
Once defined in writing, the culture must come to life in demonstration - and be proven in practice - by senior players - converting definitions and assertions into fact. Now it lives, but it's ephemeral.

[Step Three] PASSING IT ON
For proven Ideas and Actions to assume the stature of Cultural Cornerstones, they must become immortal in the form of stories - passed along from one generation to the next. Now it can live forever in the retelling.

Most companies define their point of view, their reasons for existing in their charters - where they remain buried in the generic documents that issue from the attorneys and go directly to the secretary/treasurer for burial. Seldom read, rarely understood, they don't rise to the level of getting anyone awake, much less excited. Many management teams let go of the reins right there, never taking the firm beyond the generic state. It's difficult to be loyal to a corporate form.

But what if something made that form unique? Perhaps easier to get with the program? Then what if the management demonstrated the proposition - proving its usefulness? What if they showed a little style, a little fire? Now the employees have an idea, a proven process and a story to tell - and perhaps treasure. They have a shared culture. It's ephemeral yes; but it's also immortal.

There are manuals for policies, networks for electronic communication, and departments for sales, product development and actuarial planning. There are generally accepted rules for accounting, scheduling and ways for treating the boss and the shoeshine guy, and of course; software applications for everything. We need all that concrete stuff to set us up! But to set us apart; it's all about ephemera - culture and stories.

The soft stuff is the hard stuff! Pass it on!

When the Heart Sings

"It's in Apple's DNA that technology alone is not enough. It's technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities, that yields us the result that makes our hearts sing."

-Steve Jobs
(1955 - 2011)
American Technologist, Entrepreneur
Co-Founder and CEO of Apple

Would you rather know "What the man said;" "What he meant;" or "How he felt about it?

"What he said", might be useful in a contract dispute – lawyers thrive on that stuff – the words on the page. "What he meant," might be more useful in forming an alliance, or a service business. But in founding a partnership, managing, coaching, leading a team – or endowing a marriage – it's a big help to know how the other person feels – in addition to the rest.

Words... FAIL!
Our thesis here is that words – wonderful though they are – are merely approximate indications of what a person is experiencing. Your words don't fully convey your intentions, or state of mind. And the other person is similarly hobbled by the inexactitude of words, numbers – text. The written word approximates and abstracts spoken language; and spoken language with all its conventions, grammar, syntax, emphasis and idiom – is but a gross harmonic of actual consciousness – as it existed seconds before the process of composition and transcription began. Text is an archaeological artifact, an attempt to exhume a state of mind that no longer exists.

The challenge? "Thought" is chaotic, unsystematic, holographic, intuitive, logical, visual/pictorial, emotional, instantaneous, then as slow as molasses... Attempting to "freeze thought" into language turns something dynamic into something static. For this reason: "What are you thinking?" may be the most dangerous question in the world – both to ask and to answer. Just as you attempt to describe what you were thinking ten seconds ago, the accuracy of the description fades as the ink dries...

Description relies on Abstraction: (from the Latin "abs," meaning away from; and "trahere," meaning to draw) which is the process of taking away or removing characteristics from something in order to reduce it to a set of essential characteristics.
Thought abstracts experience.
Words abstract thought.
So, right at the outset, we're already twice removed! In "communicating," we're actually manipulating abstractions – not always getting at the true intention or underlying meaning. Language and words are but the carrier waves of meaning – not the meaning itself. We tend to get lost in the words, the facts, the details and our abstractions become obstructions. (For proof of this concept, re-read the last two paragraphs...) Words Fail.

More than Words
Successful speakers are great with words of course, but getting at intentions and feelings, requires one to transcend text and demonstrate! ("Don't tell me that you love me, SHOW me!") This demands a complete array of tools: pictures, graphics, props, music, theatrical performance, electronic aids, emotion, staging, the vaunted and powerful eye contact and sometimes pure physicality and Gesture.

Do it in layers
1. What you say explains what you think: the text is a solid foundation.
2. What you intend is contained in the main idea and the next step.
3. Finally, your depth of feeling is expressed in the delivery of the message.

When you write, rehearse and deliver, don't let the words get in the way. Seek to make the heart Sing! Tell me what it is. Tell me what it does. Show me how it'll make me feel.

Applications:

1. Personal:
Words can't get it done, but it all starts with text. So don't ignore it or short change it, Love the text! Over a few centuries of trying, we've accumulated quite a lexicon of nuances – The Oxford English Dictionary. We both salute and recommend a regular communion with this cultural repository of elected meanings. Put your feelings into words, then writing. "Send an Artifact" to a friend to show how much you care. Cards Count!

2. Familial:
A sad commentary on our culture, is that we have come to rely on texting and email to such a degree that a phone call or (horrors) an actual in-person conversation – is deemed too extreme, too tedious, too demanding...even at home. "Texting, Updating Facebook, Surfing and Streaming while in proximity to each other" does not define a family dinner! Mandate a "Technology Free Zone" and enjoy the ups and downs of real family communion! (Well, at least once a week...)

3. Professional:
When was the last time you touched a colleague? If you want to share your feelings, your intensity, your depth of intention; reach for a hand, a shoulder or an all out hug and be seen as the intense, genuine leader and human being that you are! Yeah, it's a sterile workplace out there; but that's all the more reason to step out of the "Envelope of Acceptability" and Take a Risk! Hug someone!

Also, stand as you deliver, move, gesture and modulate! Give your team someone to watch as you present. Remember, communication is a whole body activity. They won’t be able to gauge your commitment until you show them.

Excellent communication begins with the words, the text and moves on to include the speaker's intentions and desired outcomes, but only achieves its highest ends when the heart sings!


Thanks Steve, for making our hearts sing. Godspeed.

Instant Karma

"And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make."

-The Beatles
British Pop Music Group
"The End"
From: Abbey Road
Apple Records, London,1969
George Martin, Producer

"What goes around, comes around!"

-American Colloquial Phrase

"If you wait by the river long enough, you'll see the body of your enemy floating by."

-Japanese Proverb

"Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you."

-The Golden Rule

So what about Karma?

From ancient times, the belief has persisted that there is a form of "karmic balance" operating in the universe – that what we put out; ultimately comes back to us. What we think; becomes real. Our actions rebound and come back around to haunt or help us. Like begets like.

Maybe you believe it, maybe you don't. It's one of those things that's not easily measurable with an egg timer. So why discuss it?

Hang in here for a moment. What if we had the sustained focus and mental stability of a monk or a Saint and concentrated? Would we likely see that "evil" tends to play out and be overcome? And that "good" tends to pass along from one person to another until, when you least expect it, someone is there looking out for you in a tough patch? Perhaps if we lived longer, we might become more aware of the cyclic nature of things and be more knowledgeable about that larger cosmic machinery. But we don't. And because of either "religious persuasion", or short sightedness, we undertake to sit in a restaurant and argue the reality of past lives or accumulated bad karma – while ignoring (or stiffing) the waitress.

We think such discussion gets too highfalutin and completely misses the point. Let's just be really practical. There's no way one can answer these great questions from the viewpoint of a single lifetime! So don't try. Instead, let's get really low down and practical...

If you do good to your colleagues, there's comparatively less need to look over your shoulder. If you do well by and for your Boss, it'll take some heat from under his pot. If you treat your spouse/partner with love and respect, there's a greater likelihood of calm affectionate cruising ahead. It's not guaranteed, but if you radiate warmth, respect, firm intentions and clear communication; it's likely you're going to get more of that in return. Not later when the cosmic boogie man comes to balance the scales; but right now.

Maybe that's the real "Instant Karma" that John Lennon was referring to: you get it back in exchange right now. And a life of repeated good exchanges is: Pretty Good Karma.

It's a big universe out there. From our vantage point, we can't see the entire thing at work. Maybe someone else's bad juju has slipped over into your fairway. It happens. So rise above it! Maybe it isn't "yours." Decide, without provocation, to demonstrate the greatness of spirit required to rise above the indignity and behave with style and grace. Oh and don't forget – rising above adversity may be the best way to build up positive karma.

Don't start with the undebatable, "No proof of past lives!" canard. Of course there are past lives…yesterday. Get with it. Get out of your head and get down into being both realistic and practical. Of course there's Karma! And while you've been wondering and arguing, you've made more of it to clean up!

Here are some Instant Karmic applications for the Individual, the Family Member and the Business Person:

1. Individuals
Start with the waiter. Make great eye contact. Smile. Speak slowly and clearly. Get into their space. Ask their advice – really. Recognize that there's a person in there trying to get an acting job, college degree, make ends meet… Notice the more substantial service that ensues. And leave a better tip. Then check it out when you return. Karma, neh?

2. With the Family
Go ahead, kick the dog and yell at the cat. See how that works out for you. Growl at the kids and be sarcastic with your mate. Then take notice of the character of the responses. Notice the forming low pressure in the kitchen – how's that singed microwave meal? Feel free to make your case: No karma at home? We don't think so…

3. At the Office
Help a subordinate with a project. "Listen them off the ceiling" with a personal issue. Check in with your boss and ask for some cogent coaching about your career. Ask how you can help the enterprise. Notice the simple arithmetic of favors and strokes given and accepted that makes the office a winning environment or an endless exchange of hostile gestures.

Truth is, it doesn't take a hundred lifetimes to see karma in operation. It's going on all around you, all the time. Next time someone does you some harm or gives you a dirty look; ask yourself: "Have I given that same feeling to someone else?" The realization can be painful. But the real lesson is that you can start creating positive Karma - and a much more complementary workplace… Simply start this second, this moment and send out only the kind of emotion, attitude and vibration that you wouldn't mind getting back. It doesn't matter if you "believe" in it. Act on it anyway. Starting now, remake your Karma!


"In the end, the love you take, is equal to the love you make."

Returning Decorum to Discourse (Spoken Word Division)

"What I lack in decorum, I make up for with an absence of tact."

-Don Williams, Jr.
American Novelist and Poet
(1968-)

"Discourse on virtue and they pass by in droves, whistle and dance the shimmy, and you've got an audience."

-Diogenes of Sinope
(c. 404 - 323 B.C.E)

"Remember this, that there is a proper dignity and proportion to be observed in the performance of every act of life."

-Marcus Aurelius
Roman Emperor
(121 - 180)

Time was, one stepped to the lectern, and delivered one's carefully written, and painfully rehearsed remarks to people who paid careful attention and remained respectfully silent throughout - with the occasional outbreak of spontaneous applause. That was before the Time of the Great Circus.

We're on a dark path here...

How it is...
How it oughta' be...
How to get there...

How it is...

Well, it's not good. The tenor of public discourse has gone south, way south. We're not respectful of one another, or our audience. We're not polite. We don't listen. We're poised for outrage. Everyone seems to be demanding their own private stage (in the middle of the public arena). We are too quick to pigeonhole the other side into a mockery of their actual position. We do not allow one to finish before starting our own pre-planned opposition. It has become a smack down; a mockery of civilized discussion. It's not talk; not discussion or debate. It's something entirely worse. We demonize those who disagree; we steal, dilute and eliminate their humanity. We destroy the notion that we have anything in common... actually we agree about more than we disagree. It really is an embarrassment of bad manners - for all of us. It's enough to make one choose to turn off the media and retire to Walden Pond. There's a complete absence of decorum in discourse.


How it oughta' be...

Many of us can still remember what it sounded like to hear two or more people discussing something important. There was a sobriety about it. People focused their whole attention on what was being said, and did not interrupt. They thought about it for a moment before leaping to a response. They respected the other person, if not their idea: but they gave "the distinguished opponent" the benefit of the doubt; knowing that after the debate, they were going to share dinner at the local grill - as friends and colleagues. We thought better of one another in those days. We granted each other a certain credibility and stature. But enough of the past.

We've lost it. But we can get it back. We can do those things still. There's nothing in the rule book that demands that we behave like a mob. (Actually, the rule book - though dusty - demands just the opposite.)

So what's ideal?
We suggest the middle of the road - not either/or - not an extreme on either side. It's easy to believe that since one is the Honcho of the Home, that one is also Monarch of the Mall and Queen of the coffee bar. It. Just. Isn't. So! We're still in this life, this country, this company, this city/county, family - TOGETHER. The ideal is to respect the whole, more than the sum of the parts; or a single part. You can win an election with a hair-thin majority; but you can't accomplish anything unless everyone gets on board. Ladies and Gentlemen: It's time to remember that we need each other - and we all have to contribute to what's best - each of us. Not just those with corporate jets, Everyone.

How to get there...

It begins with you. Yes, YOU!
Stop pointing at others with blame and outrage as you tune to your favorite brand of defamation. Tuning it out doesn't work. Shouting it down doesn't work. What can work is a simple two-part process:

A. Making yourself felt.

B. Managing yourself and your own corner of the universe to a higher standard.
(Details and applications follow...)

As it took us years to allow our culture to descend this far, it will take years to get it right again.

The sooner we begin...

1. Personally
a. Resist the urge to tune out or shout it down. Call the station and politely tell them how their broadcast made you feel. Write the Congresswoman a letter and tell her how your respect would grow if she behaved in a loftier way. Congratulate your friend at Starbucks for having the courage of his conviction, and tell him he'd be more convincing if he polished up his politeness. (Make yourself felt.)

b. Recognize that the true damage begins when we "think the worst" of any other person or group. The "holocaust" begins in the mind before it comes to the streets. When we consider a living, breathing, human opponent to be somehow undeserving of respect, and begin seeing them as the label we impose; we're on the road to Darfur. Start by seeing your opponents as opponents - not enemies. You'll raise your game, and theirs. (Brighten the corner where you are!)


2. At Home
a. Tell the kids coolly and honestly how their behavior makes you feel - sad and a little embarrassed. Tell them what you'd like to see instead (and model the behavior). Tell your partner coolly and calmly that though you understand there's an upset; the outrage may not achieve the desired result. Maybe there's a softer way to go forward together. (Make yourself felt.)

b. Manage your own perceptions. They're your loving family - not sub-humans. They are not the enemy. See them as the slightly confused, occasionally thoughtless humans they really are - and then notice that you may have given them cause. (Make sure you work from the higher ground.)


3. At Work
a. Reviews happen perhaps once a year, or once a quarter. They're always painful for all concerned, perhaps because of the pent-up truth telling that would more rightfully happen moment to moment or day to day. (Make yourself felt.)

b. Make sure you're seeing your team not through the lens of your last job, or the lens of last year, but through the just cleaned lens of this moment. If you're not sure where they stand just now, invite them to put it out there for you. Look out - honesty begets honesty. (Brighten the corner where you are.)


4. In the Public Sphere
a. No guilt, no blame, no flame. But make yourself felt to your congress, your president and your city council. Let them know how they're doing, and they'll likely do better.

b. When all else fails, try speaking. Brighten the corner where you are and step up to the lectern. Give us something to follow and don't be surprised, if having raised the level of debate, we don't start following you.


Diogenes was looking for an honest man. Make yourself easy to find!