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This video is from a great speech by Steve Jobs.  It’s Stanford’s 2005 commencement ceremony.  You may have read the transcript, but the visual adds much. 

A very powerful reminder of how limited our time is to get done what we were meant to do.

Don’t give up your dreams…

Check out this post from 800-CEO-Read.  Some good titles to investigate and digest.

Guy Kawasaki gives us some innovative advice on getting a better handle our prospective managers/leaders.  In his post on LinkedIn and the Art of Avoiding an Asshole Boss, Guy points us to a tool from LinkedIn.

The game is changing.  I’ve been writing about this for some time and things are changing.  Don’t get me wrong, we’re not going to rid the work world of "asshole" managers overnight, but maybe more people are saying they won’t work for someone who fits that description.  This will increase as we move into the coming worker shortage.  I think another factor is that after 9/11/2001 many began to understand the brevity of life.  Who wants to spend a significant portion of their life working for a…

Here are some tips on being a selective potential employee:

• Be and/or become as valuable as you can.  Be a sought-after free agent.
• Ask your prospective manager how many books (growth and development specifically)they’ve read in the last year. 
• Ask your prospective manager if they have a personal growth plan for the year.
• Ask your prospective manager if anyone follows them besides those they have authority over.  In other words, is anyone following them because of their character and not their position.
• Stay away from desperation…it kills perspective and focus.

The Engaging Brand gives us a post on change.  It partners well with my post on the dangers of turning 50.  What wise advice Anna’s father gives us.

Change before you fade away…

Once heard a great speaker warn an audience about turning 50.  The audience was made up of and directed toward men.  The warning was basically wrapped around the loss of energy and urgency that descends on a person when they hit 50.  He also highlighted the emergence of passivity.  I shutter at the thought of what that says about the majority of senior level executives in America today, but I’ll save my thoughts on that for another post.

This issue is one I’ve observed inside of for-profit and non-profit organization alike.  It usually means the person has settled and has stopped dreaming.  It cripples people in the enterprise and people (usually customers) outside it…not to mention families.

Sadly, our entertainment industry has created a type of drug that perpetuates the problem.  People become more interested in leisure, pleasure and luxury, which deadens the senses.  Senses that are vital in navigating through the entire story of life…not just the first-half.  When we become spectators and audiences, we cease to be interested in playing our part in destiny.

So if you’re 40 or about ready to cross-over to 50, consider evaluating on the following:

• Start accelerating in all aspects of life (for me that means God, family, my health, friends, passions).
• Stop pursuing entertainment (television, sporting events, etc.) so much.  Cut it in half and begin investing in your mental, physical and spiritual health.
• Increase the amount of reading (specifically books) you do.
• Turn off the information machines (computer, PDA, Blackberry, etc.) for one day every week (Sunday works well for me).
• Don’t rationalize that you don’t have time.  Your life depends on it!
• Don’t confuse net-worth with self-worth.  Many people are extremely unhappy because of this mistake.
• Start dreaming again…keep dreaming if the shoe fits.

The folks over at InsideWork have connected us to a new idea/innovation from Jott.  This tool may be a good tool for you "super busy" folks out there.

By the way, take some time to slow down and look around you…life is brief.

Holly over at Worksona was kind enough to mention me and "Waking Up in Corporate America" in their blog.  Worksona helps organizations build internal social networks, which is a great tool to build engagement.  As I’m sure you know, lack of engagement is what’s killing a number of organizations.  It also explains why turnover is so high in many work environments.

We all know what impact social networking has had on our culture…go use it for your company’s advantage.

Tim Sanders has another great post on "Don’t reply to say thanks."  I’ve learned a lot from Tim’s insights on emailing.  With so many portals coming at us for communication its important to consider ways to ease the burden in world we live in.

See my past post on The Art of Email for more.

Van Morrison once wrote; “if my heart could do the thinking and my head began to feel.”  Those words describe the internal civil war we all face at one time or another.  As lovers, writers, investment bankers or pilgrims the battle wages.

Make no mistake, I don’t advocate throwing the brain to the curb.  But the heart is a compass to be trusted.  Some accept and embrace the proper role of the heart…some do not.

In many aspects of life we are programed to believe in the logical and doubt the illogical.  For better or worse destiny pays no attention to either.  Some of my greatest moves were rooted in the illogical, and believe me, I had a number of people walk away because of it.  By the way, opposition to your ideas (or heart) is usually a sign that you’re onto something.

I wish I could spare you the times when you’ll have to trust your heart and face a path that no one will follow you in.  Those are the defining times when legacy is cemented…

Here are a few things to consider as you seek to follow your heart:

• Sometimes your heart will say no.  Life was never meant to be “fantasy island.”
• Prepare for many to think you’re a nut for following your heart.
• Check out the lyrics to Peter Gabriel’s Solsbury Hill and see if you can get a little inspiration.
• Some roads will be lonely and will require you to go it alone, but not forever.

You can trust your heart.

No, this not my bracket update for the NCAA Tournament.  But I did pick Ohio State to be in the Final Four.  Enough on that…

What’s fascinating to me is that three teams, by Tuesday morning, will bitterly disappointed after coming so close only to lose.  Don’t shed a tear for them!  They are actually the luckiest of the group.  Why?  They will have the opportunity to learn and find something few do…clarity. 

According to our culture winning is everything and losing is…well…for losers.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not advocating perpetual losing as a way of life.  Losing, and not repeatedly, is a great teacher in savoring wins.  Like it or not the losses will come in this life, and some of them will hurt deeply.  So why not gain the wisdom found inside the disappointment?

Check-out Mike Krzyzewski’s perspective on losing in the NCAA Tournament.