Musings at Altitude

I woke up this morning with this song on my mind:

“Give Thanks” on YouTube

In this week where we as a nation stop to give thanks, I am so thankful for God’s love, God’s patience, God’s grace, God’s word, and God’s gift, His Son. 

I am also thankful to those that love me in spite of my flaws, in spite of my distractions, in spite of my inappropriate priorities, and in spite of my inadequacies. 

I am thankful for family and friends that remind me of my purpose and get me focused on serving others and giving to those who may at any particular time need a blessing. 

And I’m thankful for each and every opportunity to interact with others.  I’m grateful that in every interaction I find a blessing of some sort and in some form.

As I prepare for Thanksgiving, I’ll spend lots of time in prayer and lots of time giving thanks to others.  Even though every day is a day of Thanksgiving, this week for me brings it all into focus.

Comments Off on Give Thanks

Quite often I walk out of chuch with some very wise counsel that applies directly to business.  Today was no different.  Our pastor was speaking from Galatians 6, and he talked about the importance of restoring those who have done wrong.  And that restoration process involves (1) lifting up; (2) holding up; and (3) building up.  His main point was that when someone gets knocked down because of a bad choice, then it’s important for the fellowship of the church to lift that person up, hold them up during a time of restoration, and then build them up so they won’t make that same choice again.

In business, we have the exact same choice.  When one of our team members makes a bad choice or through their actions causes a significant problem for the company, how do we respond?  So many times we end up making an example of that individual through our chatter and our actions, and because of our response, that person is permanently scarred and potentially even escorted out of the organization.

But what if we took the example that comes from Galatians and applied that to business as well.  When someone makes an error regardless of how costly it is to the business, what if we (1) lift them up; (2) hold them up; and (3) build them up?  The cost of terminating one employee and then hiring a new employee is substantial today.  If we could mitigate those costs by responding in a nurturing and uplifting way when things go wrong, not only do we save the costs associated with replacing a team member, but we potentially gain a loyal contributor for life.

After thinking about this much of today, I want to be one of those who picks up, holds up, and builds up when bad choices are made or serious errors occur.  And, since we all at times by choice or by accident create adversity through our actions, I want to be one who is picked up, held up, and built up when something I do creates concerns or causes adversity in my organization.

Comments Off on Building

About 12 years ago, my oldest daughter who was then in grade school gave me a tie for Father’s Day.  Here’s the tie:

It was a cute tie for sure, but it went into my closet and I never wore it.  For those 12 years and through 3 different moves, it stayed with me though, with the tag still on it.

Just recently, my wife and oldest (now a Mom) were talking about Christmas, and my daughter told my wife that she didn’t know what to get me.  She specifically brought up that tie that she got me 12 years ago and how I never wore that.  Just like her Mom, she remembers everything.

My wife came home after talking to my daughter and told me how hard it was to buy me anything and no one wants to buy me things like ties because I never wear what they buy me.  Then she reminded me how I never wore that tie that my oldest gave me as a gift on that special Father’s Day 12 years ago.

I got the message.  In fact, I got the message big time.  So today, I asked my wife if she knew where that tie was, and she pulled a storage container out from under our bed and pulled out that tie.  Since it had every color in the world in it, it went with just about everything in my closet, so I had fun picking just the right clothes to fit that tie.

I put it on, and then we went to church.  As my daughter climbed out of her car and looked over at me, a big grin broke out on her face as she then looked at her Mom and said, “so you told him”!  But she liked me in that tie.  And I kind of liked me in that tie too!

 

I enjoyed the smiles that were created as I arrived at church with this tie on.  I also enjoyed the lesson I learned about how folks still remember when they went to great lengths to pick something out for me and then I went to great lengths to store it away with no visible sign of appreciation.

I’m blessed to have a family that loves me in spite of me.  I’m grateful that they give me even 12 years to show my appreciation and to in turn tell them how much I love them too.

Comments Off on I Love My Daddy

Over the last 8 months, I’ve been writing about life, faith, and business.  I’ve written thousands of words in more than 200 postings.  But tonight, I want to take those thousands of words and narrow them down to something simple I can hold onto:

• In life – simply love
• In faith – simply obey
• In business – simply sell and serve

I have the unfortunate ability to take very simple things and make them very complex, and thus, I make life, faith, and business so much harder than they really need to be.  By reminding myself of how simple life, faith and business should really be, maybe I can eliminate much of the complexity I create in any of the three, and then through simplicity, enhance my life, expand my faith, and improve my leadership in business.

Comments Off on Simplicity

I blog for therapy – it takes things I’m thinking about at any particular time and moves them from the heavy (sometimes light) thought mode to a refreshing release as the words are written.  In today’s world, there are so many things that create thoughts, or burdens, or passions, or actions, and being able to sit down then and just document the things swirling provide such a tremendous release. 

I have so many very close friends that write such wonderful words in emails, and that’s their way of doing a very similar thing – recording their thoughts, but only to a specifically defined address list.

I’m very grateful for this modern form of therapy!  I’m also very thankful to each of you who read this and in your own way give me confirmation that the thoughts swirling in my head often times have meaning to you when you visit this site and read these words.

1 Comment »

I find so many reasons to smile IN my work, but I find real joy THROUGH my work.  My work is a service to others and I find real joy in serving others.  Every job I’ve had I’ve been blessed with very special people to work with.  Together, we find smiles.  Through steps towards maturity and success as a team, we find joy.  Through steps to overcome challenges and to achieve against all possible odds, we find joy.  Through steps to share with each other and share with our community, we find joy.

Smiles are the often times fleeting necessity for joy, but joy is enduring.  Joy is what binds for life.  Joy is what reflects who we are and our thankfulness for how we got there.  Joy reflects an understanding that we are here for a purpose and in pursuing and fulfilling that purpose, we find joy.

Comments Off on One More Thing on Joy

Although I do my best thinking at 37,000 feet, our 777 went up to 40,000 feet on the flight cross country today.  I don’t remember the last time I was that high on a trip, but I can tell you that with a glass of wine (thanks to a “free beverage” coupon from a friend on the same plane), my iPod with my favorite playlist, and the deep darkness of the night time sky, I was at peace for most of the flight.  Those keenly aware of my habits probably quickly recognize that “peace” means sleep for some of the flight and completely tuned out to others for the rest.  I truly do find peace at altitude.  Not joy though.  Just peace.

I can find peace by isolating myself into my own little world, but I find joy by reaching out and embracing life, embracing others, and embracing that optimistic nature that pervades much of my being.  Ultimately, I find joy from warm and loving interactions.

For example, I smile big time when I look at this picture:

But I find joy when I get to see Audrey after she’s been away for a couple of weeks.

As another example, I smile when I read the weekly reports that come from those that work with me.  But I find joy in going out and visiting those that are doing the critical work of our organization in the field for our customers.

And finally, I smile when my 14 year old sends me a text message and asks, “when you coming home Dad?”  But I find real joy when I walk through the door and she hurries out to give me that welcome home hug which I always look forward to.

I smile when I’m at peace, but I find joy when I embrace others and share this journey of life with them.

Comments Off on Pure Joy

My wife reminds me every now and then of how fixed I am in my ways.  I argue with her, but she’s right.  I am fixed in my ways and very confident in my own ways of doing things.  I struggle mightily with changes to my routine if they are prodded or directed by others – in either my personal or professional life.  Crotchety is probably the right characterization of me.  I really am stubborn and eccentric in a sense.

But in times of great change, being crotchety is the worst possible character trait, even if you are the one in charge.  Change requires adaptations to routines; change requires collaboration with others and letting other great ideas move to the front; change requires giving up on that path that made so much sense just months earlier and focusing on a path that makes so much more sense now; change requires a level of humility that admits that the genius that got you here may not necessarily be the genius needed to get you there.

For any crotchety person, the current times are the “perfect storm” of distress.  The economic conditions are driving change in our personal lives.  The affects of the economy on our businesses are driving change to our professional lives.  Many folks are making lifestyle changes in response to financial challenges that exist, and many businesses are taking decisive action both proactively and reactively to the changing spending patterns of their customers.  All of these changes are an escalating drumbeat of anxiety for crotchety people – me being one of the most crotchety of all.

So I find myself seeking calm amidst this great storm of change, and I find myself praying for wisdom and peace more fervently than ever.  And each time I pray, I find answers, and in those answers I find peace.  Today, as I pondered the latest challenges I face and drilled down on the most recent required changes to my own routines, a song by Jaci Velasquez came on the radio:

So I’m gonna lay it down

I’m gonna learn to trust You now

What else can I do?

Cause everything I am depends on You

And if the sun don’t come back up

I know Your love will be enough

I’m gonna let it be, I’m gonna let it go,

I’m gonna lay it down.

If you haven’t heard this song, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_Hm-RYS4Bs and listen prayerfully.  I think it will touch your heart and bring you peace just like it did for me this morning.

So I’m gonna lay it down.  I’m gonna learn to trust Him now.  That is my prayer for me and for you today.

Comments Off on Lay It Down

One of the blogs I read frequently is www.greatleadershipbydan.com.  This past Sunday, he was musing on the challenges of leadership in times of chaos, and he said this:

“Our managers, like most managers today, are faced with some tough challenges. This is not the time to be pushing anything their way that’s not directly relevant to improving sales, lowering expenses, or improving client service. At the same time, while focusing on the bottom line, they need to keep their teams productive and sane.”

In times of heavy chaos or crisis, exactly the opposite tends to occur.  Increased chaos brings increased scrutiny, and increased scrutiny brings increased distraction for business leaders when they need to be intensely focused on “improving sales, lowering expenses, and improving client service.”

I can’t say it any better than Dan did on Sunday.

Comments Off on Can’t Say It Any Better!

As I sit here at the end of a typical day in my business life, I can’t help but wonder how effective I really am.  Today I spent almost six hours of my eleven hour business day on the phone.  Of those six hours, five of them were spent with more than five people on the phone at one time.  And most of the hour that wasn’t were one on one calls as follow ups to the calls with all the people on them. 

So since I spent six hours on the phone, I only had five hours in this business day to focus on direct and personal contact with people, which is what I really love to do and what I believe is one of the primary purpose of business leaders.  And of that five hours that remained after the six hours on conference calls, about one hour of that was spent answering emails, another half hour was spent on administrative duties (those must do things like open enrollment forms for our benefits), and another half hour was spent getting from here to there where no meaningful interaction could occur. 

That left three hours for the real business at hand – the “how are you doing” visits; the “anything I can help you with” questions; the “what’s the latest on” follow ups with folks who have been on your mind for a while now; the “I really appreciate what you’ve done” talks; and the “I know it’s been tough, but I’m proud of what you’ve accomplished” conversations.

So, for three hours today, I got to exercise my right to be optimistic, to be appreciative, to be thankful, to bring smiles, to get smiles, to shake hands, to give hugs, to want hugs, to give empathy, to seek empathy, to give cheer, to find cheer, and to find joy.  And I did find joy - by wandering the hallways, by joining special friends for cups of coffee, by getting one on one briefings on the exciting business activities going on, by seeking advice, by giving counsel, and by smiling big time as I saw and heard the excitement of business growth.

In my perfect world, I’d go to extremes to have ten hours of my eleven or twelve hour day focused on finding joy.  Yielding to the need for some corporateness, I’d grant the beast of bureaucracy one hour of my time.  And even that hour would be a struggle, but it would be worth it if I could then guarantee that every other hour in the business day would be spent on people and not process.

Comments Off on A Day in the Life