Musings at Altitude

Over the years, we’ve heard them all…maybe even used them all.  I wasn’t ready.  I didn’t feel comfortable.  I couldn’t find what I needed.  I couldn’t get there in time.  I didn’t think I could do it.  I was worried about who would support me.  I have too many other things to do.  I just don’t have time.

When we take excuse making and rationalization for not getting things done or doing things poorly to an even bigger level, the “I” turns into a “We”.  We didn’t have the right team.  We needed just a little more time.  We couldn’t get our act together.  We didn’t have the support we needed.  We made the right choice but just didn’t execute right. 

When we take excuse making and rationalization to its ultimate level, the “I” or “We” turns into a “They”.  They don’t have a clue.  They didn’t support us.  They are asking us to do things that we shouldn’t have to do.  They are taking up all of our time, so we can’t focus on what we need to focus on.  They don’t want us to succeed.

Many people make excuses when things don’t go as planned.  Many others make excuses before any steps are ever taken.

What would happen if for one month, or one week, or even one day, excuses weren’t allowed?  What would happen if we focused on preparation rather than explanation?  What would happen if we focused on anticipation and expectation rather than procrastination?  What would happen if for that pre-determined period of time we focused on justification rather than rationalization?

I bet we’d get a lot of things done. 

Excuses minimize our strengths and maximize our weaknesses.

Excuses create individual and organizational lethargy and latency.

Excuses drag us down and hold us back.

Let’s focus right now on what we do have, not what we don’t have.

Let’s focus right now on what we can do, not what we can’t do.

Let’s focus right now on who we do know, not who we don’t know.

If we do indeed focus on what we do have, what we can do, and who we do know, we may not need to make excuses!

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Market growth or market share?

New geographies or new competencies?

Team leaders or team members?

Process or progress?

Planning to achieve or achieving against plan?

Strategy or tactics?

Five year plan or annual operating plan?

Getting started or getting done?

Leadership or management?

Hiring fast or terminating quick?

A single superstar or a group of good teammates?

A path with modest success or a giant leap with great potential?

Great pedigree or great performance?

Degrees or experience?

Written or verbal communications?

Proven track record or current success?

A very big pipeline or one very marquee client?

A great performance rating or a contract extension?

Loving what you do or needing what you love?

Warmth in great cold or cool in great warmth?

Friends in tough times or Good times with no friends?

Getting things done and being despised by many or being loved by lots and getting nothing done?

Being awesome at preparing briefings or being very good at conveying a message?

Having lots of breadth with little depth or having lots of depth with very little breadth?

Spending a short time with someone you love or spending lots of time with several you like?

Being convicted or being convinced?

Being certain and then wrong or being unsure but then right?

Being passionate for a short time or being comfortable for a long time?

Being a hero 1 out of 5 times or being ok 5 out of 5?

An hour spent listening or an hour spent talking?

A message received or a message conveyed?

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The Coach of the Patriots spent the last two days answering questions about his decision to go for it on 4th and 2 rather than punt.  He said quite bluntly, “It gave us the best chance to win.”  And even though they came up short and thus gave the Colts the short field to work with which eventually allowed them to win the game, he reiterated, “It gave us the best chance to win.”

If he truly believed that, it’s hard to fault him.  If he fully believed that kicking the ball back to the Colts and allowing their offense to get back on the field was a guaranteed touchdown, then he made the right choice.  If he believed at that point in the game that his offense gave him the absolute best chance to win, then he made the right choice.

As I was listening to the constant replay of Coach B’s comments, I thought of two things:

(1) In Top Gun after one of the training missions, Maverick was grilled about a maneuver he made with a bogey on his tail; amazingly, the maneuver worked, and the bogey was “destroyed; during the debriefing he was grilled for taking such a risky chance when their were safer options for him and his airplane, at one point, the analyst asked him why he didn’t think about it and do something different; Maverick replied, “if you think, you die”; there was no guarantee that his decision to pull that particular maneuver would work, but it did, and he got the kill

(2) In Golf, Tiger Woods is undeniably the greatest golfer in the world today…maybe ever; if his situation was similar to Coach B’s, and he was on the 16th hole of a tournament, had a 3 shot lead just 3 holes before and now it was down just 1 shot, had his short irons letting him down for the entire back 9 thus far even though he was killing it with his driver off the tee, and because of all that, he teed up on this 370 yard hole with his driver to try and drive the green and take the short irons out of play, what would have been the reaction to that?  If he made it, everyone would say, “That’s Tiger”!  If he missed, everyone would be grilling him about why he didn’t take the safer more defensive route and lay up.  I wonder if Tiger would answer, “The driver gave me the best chance to win.”

Making the decision that gives you the best chance to win doesn’t always give you the win…in sports or in business.  Making the decision that gives you the best chance to win and executing flawlessly gives you the absolute best chance to win, but still doesn’t guarantee you the win.  Making the decision that gives you the best chance to win, executing the plan then flawlessly, and having the opposing force (or the market in business) do exactly what you expect them to do and thus allow you to achieve success does indeed then guarantee you the win.

Since hope is certainly not a strategy, leaders must make informed decisions.

History says Coach B is arguably the most prepared and informed coach, and he says, “It gave us the best chance to win.”

I think I yield to the battlefield commander at that particular point in the battle.  If that was my team or those were my forces, I’d want to make the decision that gave my team or my force the best chance to win.

It certainly gave us something to analyze and debate for quite a long time!

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I have an aversion to exercise.

I am addicted to Starbucks.

For one fleeting moment this morning, I considered connecting the two together and making a trip to Starbucks contingent on working out first.

But then I realized how many folks would be hurt by that.

The Starbucks stock would fall due to the loss of thousands of dollars of annual revenues affecting thousands of stockholders.

Those that I take with me or buy for would suffer from the loss of caffeine and the benefit of a hot drink in the middle of winter.

The gas stations that I buy gas from would lose the gas needed to go those required miles to get from my starting location to those perfect Starbucks locations that I frequent.

The people of this nation would suffer because instead of supporting the economy by purchasing Starbucks I’d be pocketing the money thus slowing down the economic recovery.

And the list could go on and on.

So after that brief consideration I decided to do what’s right for the Starbucks stockholders, my friends and family, the oil companies, and the nation in mass and keep frequenting and keep buying Starbucks regardless of whether I work out or not.

I can hear all the thanks coming now!

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Otherwise brilliant people sometimes make really bizarre decisions.  That happened last night when the head coach of New England decided to go for it on a 4th and 2 with just over 2 minutes left instead of punting the ball away.  In punting, he would have stretched the field for the Colts and made them go 70 or 80 yards to get the needed touchdown to win the game.  In going for it, if he made the 1st down, he could ensure the win by running out the clock.  If he missed, he’d give the very potent Colts offense a very short field to get the winning score. 

He went for it; they didn’t make it; and the Colts scored and won the game. 

I have great empathy and sympathy for the coach.  I’m sure he had great confidence in his offense…they certainly moved the ball well all game.  I’m also sure he had some growing concerns about his defense, which had let the opposing offense seemingly score at will in those final few minutes leading up to that fateful decision.  I’m quite confident he quickly weighed the strength of his offense against the (at that time) weakness of his defense, and he put the fate of the game in the hands of his offense.  I’m also quite confident that this coach would have made a very different decision if the Colts didn’t have arguably the best quarterback in the game who had shredded his defense with several winning drives leading up to that particular moment in the game.  I’m also pretty certain that he would have made a different decision if his own quarterback hadn’t won 3 Super Bowls in the last decade and is a sure lock on the Hall of Fame.  And finally, I bet he quickly ran the odds in his head (I sure did when I heard he was going for it), and the 70% chance (just a guess) of making it was good enough for the “go for it” decision.

If he had made it, I’m sure some analysts would be asking, “What in the world was he thinking”?  But with a victory in hand, they’d all be calling him a risk taking genius.

But he didn’t, and now the very wise, incredibly brilliant, student of the game coach has given all of us a case study in decision making and risk taking.

PS.  I’m a risk taker as well, and in that same situation, I may have made that very same call.  In the heat of that moment, the safe call may very well have seemed to be offense over defense.  No decision is without risk, regardless of the odds, and with 3 Super Bowl rings in hand, he’s made enough right ones to warrant an errant one every now and then!  I wouldn’t count them out on a 4th ring this year just yet.

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It’s beautifully white outside now, the result of our latest pre-winter precipitation.  Everything looks so pure, so untouched, so as it’s supposed to be in November – especially in Colorado. 

Since it’s Sunday and we’re bunkered down in the house, I’ve been listening to my favorite worship songs, those with very special words and wonderful meanings.  Right now, Hillsong’s Still is on…

When the oceans rise and thunders roar,

   I will soar with you above the storm.

Father you are king over the flood,

   I will be still and know you are God.

What a beautiful song with such a powerful message of faith. 

Just before that, Hillsong’s At the Cross was on…

Oh Lord you’ve searched me,

   You know my way;

Even when I fail you,

   I know you love me. 

As I stare out my window at the wonderful majesty of this snow covered landscape, I can’t help but smile in acknowlegement of both the Creator and His creation.  And as I listen to these worship songs and let the words penetrate deep into my heart, I can’t help but bow in prayer and thank God for His presence and His love.

This is a special day indeed.

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Over the last few weeks, I’ve had several very good friends drop me a line, give me a call, meet me at Starbucks, etc, and many of them were out of work, looking for work, seeking an ear, needing to talk, asking for prayer, etc.  Regardless of the situation, my heart went out to each and every one of them, and I energized the network, added them to my prayer list, opened my heart and my ears to their issues and their needs, and responded as quickly as possible to hopefully give them an early light in the midst of whatever darkness they may be feeling.

But a quick response is not enough, and I’ve realized that being responsive is not all that being a good friend should be.  In the busy-ness of life today, we prioritize to do something quick, and then we move on, often times letting the heart tugging pulls of the conversations fade to the back as the crisis of the moment in business or life comes to the front.  Hours, days, weeks, months later, we then remember that we had a friend in need who expected and quite frankly deserved more than just an immediate response, and yet we left them needing, wanting, deserving so much more than a quick connection or a timely prayer.

I was reminded this morning in my quiet time approaching God, that we have the ultimate example of leadership and friendship in Christ.  Hebrews 13:8 says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”

That’s what friends should be…not just responsive at the time of need, but the same and always there and always helping, yesterday, today and forever partner to those who we call friends.  If we can’t be that for them, and be there for them, and be part of them and their lives, is that really friendship, or is that just companions on a journey that comes nowhere close to what friendship should be.

In John 15:15, Jesus says, “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business.  Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.”

What an awesome definition and example of friendship.

I have not been the friend I’ve needed to be lately to those who’ve approached me and needed me to be the same yesterday, today, and forever. 

I have not been the friend I’ve needed to be lately to those who’ve needed to know or needed to leverage those things that I’ve been blessed to learn or experience in my life.

It’s time to be the friend that those that call me friend need me to be.

I have the perfect example of friend.

I need to learn from that.

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I’ve spoken to several innovators over the last couple of weeks (aren’t we all in some ways, innovators?), and each has talked about the things they have had to overcome because of bureaucracy to get their innovative ideas and concepts out in the open and legitimately assessed and implemented by those who could gain most from the innovations!  As they talked, I kept thinking back to that amusement park game, Whack the Groundhog!  The bureaucracy is the beast with the mallet, and the young innovators are those groundhogs popping up out of holes with great ideas and great smiles, sometimes not knowing what’s fixin’ to hit them and other times hoping desperately to pop up and launch their idea and then drop back in their holes before the attack comes!

For innovators, every day is some form of groundhog day, and unfortunately for innovators in big time bureaucracies, they pop up with smiles and then crash back into their holes under the whack of the bureaucratic mallet!

We need to love the innovators.  We need to shield them from bureaucratic attacks and allow those contagious smiles and great new ideas to burst forth.

That’s how we accelerate growth.  That’s how we identify efficiencies in business operations.  That’s how we constantly change for the better and make every single person in the organization a participant in the quest for organizational perfection.

PS.  I found the picture on a web site promoting Groundhog Day.  Those are some amusing and obsessed people!

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I’ve done a quick 12 hour and 23 minute survey, starting at the lounge area of the restaraunt I was in near Capitol Hill last night, through dinner, while checking in at the hotel, while checking out at the hotel this morning, through security at Dulles Airport, and now in the Red Carpet Club. 

After watching hundreds if not thousands of people during that short window of time, I can tell you with great confidence and accuracy that smiles are no where to be found.

Since I feed off smiles, I’m hungry right now!

Emotional nourishment is nowhere to be found!

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The plane today was packed…a 767 with no empty seats going from Denver to Dulles.  Because of my “high mileage flyer” status, I was able to board first and then watch as everyone else herded their way onto the plane.  We were on a 2-3-2 configuration, so thankfully, most of the seats were either aisles or windows.

When the plane was about half full, an older couple stopped at the seats a couple rows in front of me, and the wife kissed her husband good-bye and headed across the plane to the opposite aisle and back towards the back.  The passenger sitting next to the husband saw the kiss and heard the good-bye, and he watched as the wife headed towards the back of the plane.  As she got to her seat, the passenger looked at the husband and took the seat next to him, obviously not wanting to give up his aisle seat in one cabin for an aisle seat further back in the plane.

I was stunned at the actions of the passenger obviously not willing to trade seats, so I made my way back to the wife and asked if she wanted to move forward, and I’d trade with the guy next to her husband opening that seat for her.  She thanked me and said, “It will be quieter back here”!  I smiled and returned to my seat, somewhat stunned still by the guy that stared at her all the way back to her seat, knowing what the right thing to do was, but then rejecting that path and sitting back down.

It didn’t take long before another awkward situation occurred.  When the plane was nearly full, another man and wife boarded the plane, and they struggled finding their seats.  They were obviously new to flying, struggling to find their seats and then obviously concerned when they realized they were sitting apart from each other.  The husband passed me two different times before I realized he had the seat next to me.  During the time I was watching and listening, he seemed very agitated and he spoke no English.  He helped his wife find her seat a few rows up in front of me in the middle and he came back and pointed to the seat next to me.  When I realized what was happening and saw how distressed they both were to be sitting apart, I asked if he’d like me to switch with his wife.  He couldn’t understand what I was saying, so I made eye contact with his wife and pointed for her to come to my seat and I’d take hers.  She smiled for the first time since they boarded that plane and walked up and said “thank you” about 5 times as she took my seat.  As she was getting into the seat, the guy across the aisle from me said, “We don’t see people being nice much anymore; thanks for doing that”.  I smiled and took my new seat, wondering if one of those that had noticed the two different ways of handling a very similar situation would then in turn do something nice for someone else that would need it. 

Airline travel today is ripe with opportunities to do the right thing and to be nice to someone else.  It seems like every trip has someone that has been displaced from loved ones or greatly inconvenienced because of the max loads and disrupted travel.  Amidst all that chaos and confusion, wouldn’t it be awesome if passengers thought of others first rather than themselves.  And in doing that, wouldn’t it be cool if the overly stressed and often times very unhappy cabin crews saw those acts of kindness and then in turn also responded to the next challenge with a positive and nurturing attitude.

We never know what any given act of kindness can do, but we certainly know what not doing an act of kindness can do.

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