Musings at Altitude

Scene.

Lots of people in a meeting.

Long days of powerpoint presentations.

Very little engagement and dialogue.

Thankfully, some time for questions.

People fade in and out.

Some get up and walk around the grounds…while the presentations are being made.

Others soldier on…listening…engaging…nodding…asking questions…learning.

A small percentage try hard to look engaged but work on other things.

They are definitely physically present, but not really present at all.

Briefers come and go.

Messages are passed.

But no communications or connection occurs.

Question.

Why be there at all?

What message could you possibly be sending by being there and not having any connection to the topic being briefed?

Presence isn’t a physical issue.

It’s mental.

It’s emotional.

It’s spiritual.

Perfect presence is perfect connection.

Period.

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I’ve been in senior executive positions for 13 years now, and I can’t count the number of times even now that I have to go “huh?” when someone else in an executive role tells me something.

I must really be ignorant, because even after they explain to me why something is the way they say it has to be, I’m still left wondering why in the world it’s done that way.

Either common sense rules just don’t apply in the world we live in today with the rules we’re require to live by today, or maybe, just maybe, the rules can be explained in a way to hide the inadequate support that came from the person or team that’s trying to explain it away and the explanation is an excuse to hide what otherwise could only be considered poor support from the person or team making the excuse?

The “love your brother” side of me says that it couldn’t possibly be the latter…it must be a perfectly explainable event that only I can’t possibly understand.  The “you got to be kidding me” side of me says that too often today people try to mask mistakes or complete inaction by hiding behind some definition that seems to match the situation but in no way explains away the action or lack thereof that was taken.

I long for the day where people act because it’s the right thing to do and not just because somebody triggers the event with something they have to get done.  I also long for the day where people look forward and do what’s right for the organization rather that push it aside and hope that it can be handled sometime downstream by someone else who might actually care and get the job done.

Ok…done venting.

Or maybe not.

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My wife has perfected the art of people watching.  She can sense things about people just by watching them that I would never in a million years figure out.  Of course, she’d tell you that even if it was blatantly obvious I’d miss it…because I’m a man…and she may have a point.

Recently, in those few moments where the business of the day allows my mind to settle down and serenity to peek in, I’ve started watching people, and the watching gets me curious.

What is on the mind of that guy standing on the side of the road just staring off into the distance?

What is that mother and father thinking in the dining room of the hotel as they sit there silently staring while their young kids are running around laughing and obviously having a great time?

What is that young lady thinking while sitting on the tailgate of a pickup truck in the parking lot staring at a non-descript wooden fence?

What is that guy in the car next to me thinking as he stares at the homeless man with the “please help, God bless” sign?

Unlike my wife, my mind makes things up because nothing seems obvious.

That guy on the side of the road staring off into the distance is wondering what he’s going to do now that he doesn’t have a job.

That mother and father sitting in the dining room are wondering what in the world it takes to find a moment of peace, and they also wonder if they could sneak off back to the room and let the kids wear themselves out in the lobby.

That young lady sitting on the back of the pickup truck is wondering how she got into this relationship and why the man she loves is sitting in the room watching a basketball game while she’s outside wondering why he’s not with her.

That guy in the car next to me is wondering why the guy just doesn’t go get a job.

But it could be something very different.

That guy on the side of the road staring off into the distance is wondering where that perfect place would be to ask the love of his life to marry him.

That mother and father are wondering how they will tell the kids that their grandpa has just passed away.

That young lady on the back of the truck is taking just a few moments alone in prayer as she thanks God for how blessed she really is.

That guy in the car next to me is wondering where the closest ATM is so he can get a few bucks to help out that man in need.

Each of those four had blank stares, and their faces didn’t give away anything about them.

And the more I watched, the more I wanted to know.

And the more I wanted to know, the more the scenarios played out in my mind.

I envy those who can watch people and see things that I just can’t see.

It’s certainly easier to know who needs help or who’s in pain.

It’s also easier to know who’s sincere and who’s not.

And imagine what would happen if everyone who sees offers help or asks “everything ok?”, whether they can sense something is wrong or not.

Sure seems like the world would be a better place.

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I’ve had a sinus infection for the last 5 days.  I know that now.  I didn’t think it was that when the sniffles started. 

The pounding in the head was a great deterrent to any lengthy thinking or writing.  What little time was there with relief was spent catching up on the endless requests for information and the commitments that had been made that had thus far been unfulfilled.

This happens so rarely that I didn’t want to believe it was anything serious, and I had the always optimistic hope that the next day would prove better than that day before and the allergies, oh wait, cold, oh wait, now sinus infection would clear up with my own concoctions and combinations of over the counter drugs.

Needless to say, the home made remedies didn’t result in any improvement and because of a great fear of flying tomorrow with a head pounding uncontrollably, I now have the needed remedies to hopefully get back to feeling good again.

I’ll know soon.

Hopefully before I get on the plane.

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My car has 233,000 miles on it now.

It’s been about as good a car as anyone could ever imagine.

Reliable.

Dependable.

Enduring.

Sustaining.

Affordable.

Enjoyable.

Even though nothing has gone wrong, I took it in for it’s major maintenance yesterday.

About $2000 worth of routine, scheduled maintenance.

That got me thinking.

Why don’t we have routine, scheduled maintenance?

Why don’t we go into the shop every 10 years or so and come out with a clean bill of physical, mental, spiritual and professional health?

We typically finish formal learning in our 20’s, professional learning maybe in our 30’s, and physical training when our bodies seem to creak enough to encourage us to prioritize something other than that time of exercise.  And most of us never go in for any form of overhaul unless we collapse on the side of the road of life and are forced to put our bodies in the shop for that overhaul.

I wonder what would happen if we were incentivized to honor a scheduled maintenance program for bodies, minds and soul?

Would we do it?

Would our behavior and habits change?

If we knew that by changing our oil routinely and following religiously the scheduled maintenance that would extend our lives from the equivalent of 100,00 miles to well over 233,000 miles, would we actually do it?

I’m thinking probably not.

Some would.

But those are probably the folks that are committed to life extension strategies now.  They work out.  They eat right.  They get physicals.

And then there are the rest of us!

I think I need an overhaul!

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I suck at time management.

I sit down at the start of the day and make sure I know my schedule, do my “to do” list, and identify all those I need to contact in that particular day.

It never works.

I never get through any of the lists…except maybe the schedule…and I often times wish I didn’t get to everything on my schedule!

Why?

Because regardless of what I have on my list, something or someone comes barging in to capture my time so I end up spending more time with the intruders and then have no time for those incredibly important things on my “to do” list.

Which automatically raises the question, “Are the things on the lists that important after all?”

Probably.

The time management classes I took over the years never really told me what to do when the opportunistic interruptions were equally as important as the scheduled and prioritized events of the day.

Maybe I should go to remedial training.

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I flew out of the house this morning, late for an appointment because I was piddling around with things that weren’t necessarily meaningful but certainly time consuming.  As I sped off down the street, I got to the bend in the road and slammed on the brake.  This was crossing in front of me:

Three others had crossed by the time I got my camera ready, and another was still up on the hill headed toward the road.  They certainly weren’t spooked by me, and even in my anxiety, I enjoyed watching them meander down the hill, across street, through the yard and off to the creek below our houses.

Two very different thoughts crossed my head as I sat and watched and waited:

(1) I was late, and this was just making me later

(2) I would rather just sit there and watch the deer rather than head to my appointment

It’s a constant battle for me – the anxiety of making that next meeting versus the wonder of the world and all that’s in it. 

If I truly had the choice, I’d sit and watch the deer walk down the trail, or sit and watch the planes take off, or sit and watch the cruise ships go out, or sit and watch the moon set. 

Actually, I do have the choice, but I don’t make the right choice often enough.

Because I’m in a rush.

From here to there.

All the time.

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It’s almost a given.

As a company gets larger, it loses its innocence.

Youth brings a fresh naivete that allows for questions, permits partnering, admits not knowing things, and seeks mentoring and personal and professional development.

Age brings a stale sense of unwarranted confidence, a desire to always be the lead or do things on your own, a belief that you know most everything, and maybe most importantly, blindness to what may be happening in much of the rest of the organization.

It doesn’t have to be that way.

But more often than not, big means bureaucratic and bureaucratic means blind to the important things happening at the mission serving components of the business.

Across this country, we need to find that innocence again.  We need to admit that genius isn’t exclusive to certain hallways or certain levels of an organization.  We need to think about the impacts at the lowest levels of the organization from decisions made at the very top.  We need to listen to the whispers and open our hearts and minds to mentoring from within and sharing from above.

When we find that innocence, we’ll also find the smiles.

Then life will be good.

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Are you an architect, devising and designing the future?

Are you a builder, constructing and implementing the design?

Are you an occupant, living in someone else’s designed and constructed dream?

Or are you a designer, builder and occupant of your own dream?

There is something very special about being all 3 – the architect, builder, and then occupant of your dream!

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We had a big spring storm come through yesterday, dumping about 12 inches of very wet snow across the area.  It was still in 30’s today when I finally decided to go out and start shoveling.  It was more like pushing icy water rather than actually shoveling.  As I struggled through our very big driveway and fairly long sidewalks, my 22 year old son showed up on his lunch break and grabbed a shovel and started helping.  That’s him below:

Matt, in just shorts and a polo shirt, gave up most of his lunch break to grab that shovel and help me move that very wet snow in about 37 degree temperatures.  He didn’t ask.  He just did it.

That got me thinking.

Wouldn’t it be cool if everyone who saw someone else laboring just picked up a shovel and started helping?

Most of us would ask, “Do you need some help?”  And the majority of those struggling under the burden of work would say, “No thanks; I got it.”  Some would help anyway, but others would accept the “no” and just walk away.

Instead of asking, maybe we should all just pick up that shovel and start helping.

Thanks for helping Matt!

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