Category: Uncategorized

Malcom Gladwell has a penetrating blog entry on the insanity of the NCAA.  If you’ve read any of his books, you know what a good writer he is.  What he writes in his blog is equally good.

What has always amazed me is how organizations keep rules or "procedures" on the books long after they’ve served their purpose.  When was the last time your organization went through the "manual" to make sure everything was still relevant?  Does anyone believe that time stands still for the NCAA, or any enterprise for that matter?  Yet we tread on…living in the past while punishing those that have kept up with future.

What if we started afresh?  Somewhere the voice of time is saying; "where have you been?"

This Work and Family piece from today’s Wall Street Journal Online describes the ups and downs of telecommuting.  As the landscape in corporate America changes telecommuting is a trend to watch.  The employee’s market is coming…if not already here.

Where do you think this is going?  Give me your thoughts.

CNN/Money has an article titled What It Takes To Be Rich that has some nuggets of wisdom.  Sadly, they missed the importance of what’s in your heart.  You may think I’m stuck on the "heart" thing, but think of what your life will be like if your richness is only measured in net worth.

In this article from Business 2.0 you’ll discover what the "rest" of the world is doing in developing people-specifically graduate students.  I won’t read too much into it (you can do that for yourself), but it definitely makes you think about what IESE is doing. 

What if we Americans could get our mind off of this quarter’s numbers for just a moment?  I am somewhat idealistic, but here’s to IESE and their desire to develop people in more ways than one.

Give me your thoughts…

For those of you in the Central Ohio area, I will be assisting the Violet Baptist Church in a leadership series starting Thursday, September 21st.  The program will be held during the lunch hour.  Basically a boxed lunch, insights from a speaker and a little Q & A.  Most of my duties will be playing the role of host.  I will also be a featured speaker at some point.  Stay tuned

Is your success (you define it) drying up your brilliance?  Have you had a near loss experience, so that you realize that brilliance is a gift (just look up at the sun).  When we’re poor and struggling we can feel all of our efforts and failures.  They make us more appreciative and connect us to things that were with us before we were born.  Then comes success and we lapse into forgetfulness.  As it has been said before we forget from whence we came.

Tom Peter’s blog entry is rather telling about the affect of success on a culture (as it relates to health care).  He doesn’t talk about it from my angle, but the message is the same.  When people, or a country, become successful they can become lazy and dry. 

We should always be pushing the envelope with our growth, be it physical, mental or spiritual.  Pushing forward…

Funny how success can be our enemy or our friend.

Ever notice how some corporations operate more like a cult than a business interested in growing and innovating?  Note that this does not apply to every corporation (just in case you thought I was being a little cynical).  Think about it, don’t cults require that you see everything the way the leadership does?   Don’t cults kind of demand and value conformity.  Does that remind you of the corporation you work for?

Here’s some ways to tell whether you’re in a cult versus a thriving corporation/enterprise:

1. If they haven’t started any new businesses (inside or outside of their core disciplines) in the last five years, they’re probably a cult.
2. If they frown on true diversity (thought, personality, style, etc.) they’re a cult.
3. If they see value in dissension, they’re most likely a thriving enterprise.
4. If they serve their customer’s needs based on what those customers have asked for, they’re probably a thriving enterprise.
5. If they’re more interested, and spend most of their time on, in what happens internally (policies, procedures and meetings that go no where), then they’re a cult.

Which one do you work for?

OK, yesterday you might have thought that I believe that all work has no meaning.  Let me clarify a few things:

1. Some are lucky and fortunate to work in a place where the leader desires to see meaning embraced.  If that describes your situation, then thank that leader because he or she has probably payed a price to create that kind of environment.
2. Some types of work (solving the AIDS crisis in Africa, searching for a cure for cancer or some forms of teaching to name a few) are inherently ripe for meaning.
3. You still must solve the highest issue of meaning…look in the mirror for this one.

Give me your thoughts…

Much talk these days on how to make work more meaningful and finding meaning/fulfillment at work.  I don’t believe it can be found…not at work anyway.  Rest assured, meaning can be found in life.  But work was never meant to be the destination.  Work was one type of vehicle designed to move you to that place of meaning.  True meaning begins with God and flows from there.

I hope I haven’t shocked or disappointed you with the above, but its the secret of my success.  Start with Who made you and then live out what you were made for.  How could anything be more meaningful than living out what you were designed to do/be? 

When you get this right inside, here are a some things that occur:

1. You’ll understand what is truly important.
2. That glass of Merlot will taste that much better.
3. Every love song will make you cry.
4. The sight of newborn child will be awe inspiring.
5. You’ll discover that serving is better than being served.
6. The painful times will be gifts, not debts to be paid.
7. You’ll really understand that people and relationships are what make organizations great.
8. Legacy will be important to you.
9. You’ll value authenticity.
10. Each sunset will remind you that God is an artist.

This wonderful piece from Business Week Online is not only poignant, but inspiring for all who seek to be successful in life and work.  Michelle Nichols provides us with the right amount of reality and vision.

She is a great partner (even though we’ve never met) in the pursuit of helping people discover the "epic" in life.