Making Thanksgiving Dinner

I have prepared the Thanksgiving dinner at our house for many year now.  In fact I've taken on the role of meal preparation pretty much altogether.  Along the way I've learned a lot and developed some recipes which have become family favorites . . . as well as made some definite failures - who knew potato and sauerkraut tacos wouldn't work????

Anyway, I've learned to follow recipes and directions on boxes and discovered an amazing thing:  if you are careful to follow the directions the result will almost always turn out OK . . . and with some practice you might even be able to improve on the original.  I suppose this isn't really amazing, after all, the whole point of the directions to begin with is to produce the intended result.

As I was essentially learning to cook, it became obvious to me that the trick isn't in the preparation of any single dish (just follow the directions); what sets apart the true "cook" is the ability to get everything done and on the table AT THE SAME TIME.  It is all about sequencing the work to achieve the intended goal, which is greater than any single dish - no matter how wonderful.  Just because you can make a great Turkey is pretty meaningless if it gets cold waiting for all the other parts of the meal to get finished.

I think I was actually exposed to this lesson as a boy growing up watching my Dad.  Dad was a building contractor who built over a 100 homes and many churches.  Watching him coordinate the flow of sub-contractors and supplies to his own crew made a deep impression on me at an early age.

This is the same thing is most areas of life, including business, education and faith.  It is the difference between success and failure.  Identifying the goal (e.g. having ALL the items on the menu done and on the table at the right time), and then sequencing the work so that each part is started in proper relationship to all the others defines the true "cook" or contractor, or LEADER.

So before you begin, take a moment to think about the end, the parts that have to come together for the "end" to be gauged a success, and develop your plan to sequence each part to reach that goal. 

The Battleground: Holiness and Spiritual Warfare - excerpt1

Excerpt  from the introduction of my upcoming book:  The Battleground: Holiness and Spiritual Warfare

I am not sure when I first noticed it, but there was no doubt in my mind as I stood to preach that Sunday night what had been happening. We had just prayed over a cloth anointed with oil for the healing of one of the body of believers where I served as pastor.  A young lady stood to sing; as she sang her praises to God, I felt His spirit wash over me in a powerful way. I sat there, practically overwhelmed with a sense of the Spirit and power. In those moments, God revealed to me what I had seen, but not understood. 

A few months ago I had begun to teach a series of lessons on spiritual warfare. About that time things began to happen in the congregation: deaths, sickness, personal trauma, financial disasters. You would think I would have made the connection; after all, these are merely the manifestations of warfare in a higher realm. Within a few weeks, however, even though the negative effects of the battle were still being felt, God’s power began to break through into the life of the congregation. Four individuals over the course of two weeks, individuals with little or no contact with the church, were saved. The previous Sunday, six people came forward to be sanctified, baptized by the Holy Spirit. Worship, an important part of what goes on at our church, became endued with a special power, even though those leading were untrained and developing their own style. As I stood to preach, God redirected my message to unity in the battle and perseverance.

                Over the next few months and years God has shown me some aspects of the battle and how to be effective as a spiritual warrior. This book is about those strategies, tactics, and weapons. I believe in the final victory but I also want to be as effective for the Lord as possible on a day-to-day basis. The lessons contained in the following pages will give you a different way of looking at life, and, I hope, new tools to be victorious in your own personal battle.

This book should be available on Amazon in print version within the next month.  I'll post an an announcement at that time.  If you have any comments or thoughts, please feel free to share.

 

Think Oblique

Several of the books I've been reading lately have got me thinking about problem solving.  Two of those that come immediately to mind are Decisive by Dan and Chip Heath and David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell.  Although I don't remember either of these books mentioning this precise term, the concept is there. 

By Thinking Oblique, I mean that when faced with a challenge, instead of following the normal and expected road to the solution, head off at an angle.  Some might call this "thinking outside the box" but for me that isn't quite right.  I respect that concept, but when I say Think Oblique, I have a slightly different context in mind.

An oblique angle in geometry is any angle which is not 90 degrees.  Acute angles are less than 90 degrees and obtuse angles are more than 90 degrees.  In actuality my focus on Think Oblique is really focused on the acute angle.  The idea goes like this:  If linear thinking is hitting a dead end or a barrier, then take a different track, one which may require re-conceptualizing the problem as


well as what the solution "should" look like.  Try to remove the constraints of the linear and Think Oblique.

David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell - book review

David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell.  I just finished reading this book.  Honestly I found it, like all of Gladwell's books, to be thought provoking and I'm pretty sure it will take a while for the information to process inside my brain.

The  premise of the book looks at the disparity of the David (underdog) in contrast to Goliath (Giant - favored winner), and how things are not always what they seem.  I particularly liked the interpretation of the original story of David and Goliath.  Like most of Gladwell's books, I'm pretty sure I don't agree with all of the applications he makes from the foundation, there is plenty there to make you stop and think.

There is a connection here, for me at least, between how we perceive strength and weakness WITHIN the context of Family System's Theory.  By that I mean there is an interconnection within a system which understands that the part of the system with the least perceived power, is in fact the most powerful in the system or can be the most powerful, because of the impact upon the whole.  That may sound complicated but as you read through the various accounts in Gladwell's book it becomes obvious that what we have always understood as power and its application may actually be wrong.

I think this took a lot of strength to write and I am impressed with Gladwell for tackling a subject which forces us to literally come face to face with our humanity, and to do so in such an interesting and intriguing fashion.  On more than one occasion I found myself wondering how I would have responded and feeling uncomfortable with the truth I suspected.  It challenged my understanding of power and my response to, and use of power.

Get the book.  Read the book.  Find someone else who has read the book and Talk about it.

To Tweet or Not to Tweet, that is the Question!

I'm confident that most of you reading this blog (yes, both of you) don't tweet.  In fact you might not even be sure what to "tweet" even means.  So, first a quick definition.  Tweeting is the 140 character post available to be made through Twitter.  "Ahhhh, now you say, of course, Twitter. No, I don't do that."  I often wonder about the amazing ability of intelligent people to stick their head in the sand in an attempt to avoid having to deal with change.  Of course as it is commonly used by most, Twitter is meaningless drivel suitable only for people who are sycophants or narcissists (yes, you'll have to look those up). 

HOWEVER, as with most technology there is a way to redeem this brilliant software application and make it truly useful. 

• For instance because almost every news item or article appearing on the internet already comes with a link to "tweet" it is amazingly easy to share these items with other individuals.  My twitter account (@rlupchurch) is targeted at sharing leadership thoughts, and articles I feel are relevant for the church and higher education.  It allows me to add my voice to the conversation.  
• Using twitter also serves another purpose, every time I tweet, whatever I post is saved in my account so I can always find the articles I liked or the comments I've made.  
• I also have the ability to follow others who use twitter and see what they think is important, and I restrict who I follow tho those I feel will enrich my life in some way. 
• If you coordinate your work group, your church, your family, it is possible to use the medium to pass along useful pieces of information that keeps the whole group on the same page and focused on the goal.  CEO's and other leaders should be making intentional use of this application to make sure they are passing along vision to their organization and keeping their team on track. 
• Finally, if I know another individual's twitter account name, I can intentionally post something which will show up in their feed

There are probably alot of other interesting things you can do with Twitter.  The important thing is not to write off any new technology simply because it is new or being used in ridiculous ways by others.  Instead think about how to redeem it to a better use for you and your organization.

The 4 Disciplines of Execution - book review

I'm nearly through this book:  The 4 Disciplines of Execution by Chris McChessney, Sean Covey, and Jim Huling.  I'm a big fan of Execution and I'd have to say that this may be one of the most practical and useful books I've read on the subject. 

The authors focus on four specific disciplines that, if embraced, will drive execution toward ANY goal, especially the WIG (Wildly Important Goals) you and/or your company need to accomplish. 

I like how the book is divided into sections that focus on explaining the disciplines, then on how to install the disciplines at the team level, and finally how to install the disciplines at the organizational level.  Honestly this is a great practical book for anyone or organization serious about strategic planning AND achievement of strategic goals. 

The 4 disciplines are:

1. Focus on the Wildly Important
2. Act on the Lead Measures
3. Keep a Compelling Scoreboard
4. Creat a Cadence of Accountability

The authors are candid about the pitfalls faced when installing the 4 disciplines as well as provide concrete examples of how how to address them.  This is a book to inspire any leader and become one of the often consulted manuals on effectively leading teams and organizations.  I know I will consult it often and use theses disciplines.  Honestly this is almost like having the secret ingredient to success, except putting the 4 disciplines into effect will require some serious work, which most will avoid unless the urgency is great enough.

It always comes back to urgency.  If we don't feel the iceberg is shrinking under us we neglect to act, often until it is too late to act at all.

Good read - highly recommend to read and to buy - you'll want to underline it and refer back to various parts over and over again.

Behind the Leader's Perception & DEFAULT MODE

I may have mentioned this before, I can't remember; my Myers Briggs personality type is ENTJ.  There are a lot of positives about this personality type and just about as many negatives.  I've taken the personality profile several times over the course of my life and, with a slight variation of the strength of each of the areas, the final result is always the same:  ENTJ.

I like that my personality is typically well adjusted to making decisions and taking stands.  I don't like that I am more committed to goals than relationships.  This list could go on and on.

One of the things that comes from this is the fact that I have an innate need to be perceived as competent, in fact that may be an understatement: I have an innate NEED to be perceived as EXCEPTIONALLY competent.  This can drive me to learn more and exhibit high performance attributes.  It can also undermine my motivation when it becomes obvious that I simply don't have either the skill, knowledge, or stamina to excel. 

A perfect example which I only understood in retrospect, was playing video games with my children.  In those early days we had a nintendo (first generation) game system and the children were quite young.  I could win easily and even enjoyed losing on purpose sometimes to build their confidence (I know you may not agree with this).  As the children got older, particularly the boys (no I'm not a chauvinist, my daughter just never seemed to have much interest in video games - ahhhhhhh!! now I see it - perhaps she suffers from the same affliction as do I!!) would begin to beat me more and more, no matter how hard I tried.  Finally it reached a point where I began to suspect they were actually letting me win sometimes to boost MY confidence.  At this point I began to find more and more reasons why I couldn't play until I stopped playing these games altogether  (we still played board games, etc.).

Let me bring this into the area of leadership.  Our personalities will often drive behavior which we attribute to one thing, which in actuality has its source in something else altogether.  When we don't understand this we are likely to make decisions contrary to our, or the organization's, best interests and when things go wrong be completely baffled as to why. 

I recently heard a quote which goes something like this: "Understanding others can lead to wisdom, understaning yourself can lead to enlightenment."

Now I'm going to describe DEFAULT MODE to you.  I made this up although I'm sure there is a psychologically correct term.  Default mode has two parts:

1. You will operate within the strengths and WEAKNESSES of your personality unless you consciously make an effort to understand and overcome those weaknesses.  When you make this effort you demonstrate enlightment and increased ability to lead yourself and others.
2. Even when you know and are attempting to overcome your weaknesses, under times of stress, weariness, or pain you will revert back to Default Mode unless you expend exceptional energy to avoid it.  Knowing this means being aware when any of the the terrible three (stress, weariness, and pain) are present and taking extra precaution to prevent them from derailing your control (enlightenment).  Figure out now how to de-stress when stress comes (and it will).  Figure out now how to get sufficient rest and protect it as much as possible.  Figure out now how to control your pain appropriately so that you can respond at the time of need.

This may be one of the most important things I know.

Secret of the Interruption

Have you ever hear statements like these:

"As soon as we can afford it we'll . . .

• get married
• have children
• retire
• take a vacation
• etc."

or, "As soon as things calm down . . . "

You know what's coming, don't you?  If you wait until you have enough money to do any of the things listed above, you certainly won't do any of them.  Same thing with waiting until things calm down - they don't (calm down), in fact if anything things seem to keep moving faster and faster.

This the secret of the interruption - There will ALWAYS be interruptions!  You can moan and complain about them or you can learn to manage them for success.  Here are four ways to manage your interruptions.

1. This is first on purpose:  Of all that you do, do you know which pieces or parts are used by others (customer, peers, and supervisors) to gauge your competence and success?  I call these the Non-Negotiables.  In one of my previous positions, among the many responsibilities I had was the responsibility to schedule faculty for classes.  My perspective was that if an Instructor was incorrectly scheduled or not scheduled, students might forgive the first time, begin to suspect incompetence the second time, and start looking for another institution the third time.  My goal was '0' instances of scheduling errors; this was a Non-Negotiable.  Because of this I knew of the many things on my plate which one to push up to the front, even if other things didn't get finished.  There are not enough hours in a day to finish everything, even without interruptions.  When you know which parts mean the difference between success and failure you can better focus yourself to make sure those parts always get done, regardless - and that may mean coming early, working late, etc.
2. Make the interruptions an opportunity for enhancing relationships.  All of life can be reduced to relationships.  Instead of making those who have interrupted you feel like time-wasters and annoyances which you have to put up with, change your perspective and welcome the opportunity to build a stronger relationship.  I admit there is a balance in this but people who feel valued are more likely to be fully engaged themselves and it definitely creates a better work environment for everyone.  When you are working against a time-line and are interrupted, be candid about the time-line and setup a time for a later meeting.  If the interruption is unavoidable, keep in mind number one above and make sure you deliver the non-negotibles . . . without damaging relationships in the process.
3. Look for opportunity in every interruption.  I'm a big beliver that all things happen for a purpose (Rom. 8:28), even when we can't see or understand what that purpose might be.  Instead of whining about the interruptions, look and see how the interruption might bring a benefit to you, or the circumstances, or the company, etc.  Sometimes the interruption may truly be described as a catastrophe, even here, for those with the right attitude, there is the possibility of opportunity.  This perspective also has the effect of allowing some calming energy to come into what might otherwise be stressful.  Let's face it, the interruption has happened, very little you can say or do will change that, so instead of wasting emotional energy on what can't be changed, focus instead on what might come of the interruption.  Many of the major breaktroughs in science might be considered interruptions, e.g. Penecillin, post-it notes, etc.
4. Be aware that you cause interruptions for others! Try to make sure your interruption isn't just a gripe session but brings some kind of value.  Keep in mind that your interruption may be impacting their Non-Negotiable and be sensitive to the demands on their time.  If you need to vent, be careful to do that appropriately.  If you believe that whatever you say, no matter how good the friend you are speaking with, will eventually come back to you from another source, you will be wise.

These are the four ways to manage interruptions.  Since I'm sure you will be interrupted soon, practice them and let me know how it goes.

Interrupted

Interrupted again!  I began to think I was never going to get this job done.  It seemed like every time I started to make some progress something always interrupted me.  I was sooooo frustrated and beginning to let it show to everyone.  Why couldn't they just leave me alone and let me do my job!  First my boss wanted something and then one of my direct reports needed some guidance on another project.  Throughout the day various peers from other offices stopped in to ask questions or talk.  Before you know it the day was slipping away and my good intentions on getting this project done were nothing more than good intentions.

Did this sound like you?  Did it describe too many of your days?  Do you feel as if most of your projects are always nearing but not quite completed?  Worse, are you getting a reputation for NOT getting your projects done, or with a complaining, negative attitude?  Have you ever wondered how your co-worker seems to get all her jobs completed on time and still have time to talk to everyone, and actually seems to enjoy her job?

If so it is possible you may not have discovered the secret of the interruption.  Probably not many know it by this name but those who understand this secret, and have reasoned through the implications, are usually identified as:  "those who get the job done," "doers," "leaders," "highly competent," etc.  In fact they may not be as capable or competent as you are BUT they have figured out the secret of the interruption.

Would you like to know the secret?

The Difference

A few weeks ago my wife and I met my extended family for a week's vacation.  We all met at a rented house in Monticello, KY, near where my Mother was born.  Altogether there were 18 of us including brothers, sisters, nephews, nieces, grandchildren, parents . . . you get the picture.  Everyone came and we enjoyed an amazing week where everyone go along and laughed and had a wonderful time.  For nearly a year before the event I had been working on a family story from my Mom and Dad's rememberances, with contributions from an aunt and my brother and sister.  This was no mean feat since everyone in our family has terrible handwriting!  Included with this was the inclusion of a selection pictures which Mom had been collecting all her life which had to be scanned and edited. 

Prior to the family vacation I had a draft version of the story printed and bound in book fashion at Office Depot.  I had formatted it with the page numbers on odd and even pages so the numbers would be at the outside margins.  The individual at Office Depot took my file, printed my book and I picked it up and brought it on vacation.

As I opened the book I realized that it was printed so that the page numbers were located on the inside margin and obviously wrong.  While we were in Kentucky we read portions of the story in the evening and then during the next day actually went to see some of the sites mentioned in the story.  This was interesting and made the history of my parents come alive for the grand- and great-grandchildren who had never visited any of these places or were aware of what being in the hills of Kentucky meant.  This made a great experience, i.e. being family and renewing relationships, even better!

When I got back home I made several changes to the story which had been mentioned while on vacation, added some pictures from the trip, and took my book back to Office Depot.  I didn't mention the pages being printed off, but there was a different individual at the print station who took my file and while I shopped around, printed the book.  When I came back to get it she told me that it had printed with the pages wrong but she re-printed it the correct way and asked what color I wanted for covers and the wire.  In other words, she was engaged in her job and concerned about providing a good experience to her customer.  I later found out she was a manager . . . and I wasn't surprised they had promoted someone who had these qualities.

So what was the difference in the printing experience?  The fact that one clerk was a manager and one wasn't?  That one was observant and one wasn't?  I think the difference is that one perceived the job as a job, nothing more and nothing less, while the other perceived the job as an opportunity to enrich someone else through a positive attitude and attention to detail.  That attitude and attention to detail impressed me.

So what is the difference in how you do your job?

Assuming can make an A_ _ out of U and ME.

I stole this from an old sitcom, The Odd Couple, staring Jack Klugman and Tony Randall where, as I remember it, Tony Randall was presenting an argument to a judge regarding a traffic accident and in the course of the argument made this classic statement using a white pad:  ASS/U/ME means to make an ASS out of U and ME.

I know I make a lot of assumptions, and because of my nature, most of the time my assumptions are positive.  This can be good, but it can also cause me to ignore signals that things aren't as positive as I have assumed them to be.  On the other hand I know someone whose basic assumptions are, for the most part, negative.  In this case everthing is cause for "doom & gloom."  The classic glass half full / half empty personality types.

Regardless of where you stand on how full the glass is, making assumptions can truly accomplish what Tony Randall described.  Because of this it behooves us all to be more attentive to recognizing and acknowledging the contributions of others, as well as confronting poor performance when in our area of responsibility.  It means being sure to articulate more clearly our expectations as well as our accomplishments.  It means participating.  It mean engaging.

At one point I had a Dilbert cartoon taped to my computer monitor where the Boss was saying to Alice at her annual review something like "I'm pretty sure I remember telling you last year you were doing a good job."  The look on Alice's face isn't one of appreciation but frustration at only getting feedback annually (or less) on her performance and "fit" within the organization.  I don't want to be guilty of that kind of leaderhip, but it means that I have to participate.  It means I have to be engaged.

Being engaged, at least from my perspective, means to fully be present in the NOW with clear values of Relationship, Excellence, Leadership (see my other posts about the principles of life).  When I do this, I value the people around me and communicate that value; I set a standard of high performance, and I model that for others to see. 

Of course, being human, all too often I assume I'm doing these things . . . .

Dashboard Design

According to Stephen Few, every dashboard should have a clearly designed purpose.  This is so basic I'm sure I don't need to mention it . . . on the other hand, sometimes it is possible to get so excited about creating this "flashy" thing, that not enough thought is put into what is the purpose, as you can see at the end of this post, I've made that mistake.

Effective design begins with questions.  Here is a short list of questions which, according to Few, are common to getting started in the design with most dashboards.  Note, this is not an exhaustive list and I refer you to his book mentioned in a previous post.

• How frequently should the information be updated?
• Who will use the dashboard?  Is it for a single person, a single group, or people in several different departments?
• What will the dashboard be used to monitor, and what objectives will it support?
• What questions should the dashboard answer?  What actions will be taken in response to these answers?
• What specific items of information should be displayed on the dashboard? What does each of these tiems tell you and why is that important?  At what level of summary or detail should the information be expressed to provide the quick overview that's needed?

Few lists a few more questions in the book which are also useful.

Interestingly he says a dashboard is not a report and it is not a tool for exploring and analyzing data - it is an information display to keep relevant parites aware of what's going on in their specific realm of concern.

This was a new thought for me.  I realized dashboards weren't reports, but I hadn't thought about them separate from tools for exploring and analyzing data.  I think I have been confusing the two and need to go back and provide some better answers to the questions above.

Decisive by Chip and Dan Heath - review

I posted earlier about Decisive, by Chip and Dan Heath.  Actually that post was really a link to a thorough summary and if you are looking for a summary of the book you should check out that post.

I've generally enjoyed the other books by Dan and Chip Heath.  Switch is probably one of my favorite books and I recommend it often to others.  I also liked Made to Stick and found some useful tips in it which I think have improved my ability to communicate. (I think it ought to be required reading for Pastors).

In both of these books and now Decisive, the Heaths tackle a complex subject and attempt to reduce it to a formula.  Because I am analytical by nature this appeals to me.  I like to believe that almost everything can be reduced to a formula, if you can just figure out the right components.   Switch certainly accomplished this in my mind and I feel the information and the formulas provided are useful paradigms for confronting my world.

In Decisive, however, I'm not as convinced.  To find the right formula for making decisions is a complex process and the Heaths' have provided some components which certainly seem to be part of a formula,  The problem is that making decisions is so complex to begin with and while there are some commonalities there are also distinctive components which defy the ability to put it into a formula.  I had a friend who always used to say to me "Hindsight is always 20/20." and that's what this book feels like.  Looking back I can spot where I should have thought of "this" and did "that" and I had done so I would have definitely made a better decision in the long run . . . but I didn't, even though I did think of "that" and did "this," which at the time I thought was the right thing to do

Still, there are some interesting techniques in this book which I will incorporate into my decision making process, and perhaps that is all the authors were striving for in the first place.  Things like:

• Avoid a narrow frame:  don't neglect other options outside the narrow frame of obvious options
• Find someone else who has solved your problem (or a similar one) and adapt their solutions
• Consider the opposite of your initial instinct
• Ooch: "construct small experiments to test one's hypothesis." 
• Overcome short-term emotion: "We need to downplay sort-term emotion in favor of long-term values and passions."  Use Suzy Welch's model of 10/10/10 (How will we feel about the decision in 10 minutes? in 10 months? in 10 years?)
• Honor your core priorities.  - For me this might be the most important one for reasons cited in earlier posts
• Bookend the future:  Think about the worst case scenario (one bookend) and the best case scenario (other bookend) and the ramifications of each so that you won't be totally surprised when either happens.  I have a friend who likes to say to his subordinates, "Does that surprise you?" meaning if you had followed this process you would have prepared for the worst and the best and not be caught off-guard.
• Set a tripwire.  This concept of  setting deadlines or partitions is pretty much second nature to me at this point but still a useful concept if you aren't aware of how to do it.

Overall, I'd say it was worth reading, however, it doesn't flow as well as the other two books and probably won't have the same impact on the large scale, however, implementing even one of these techniques could have a profound impact on an individual's life.

Dashboards

I received some sample "dashboards" the other day which literally made me sad.  I think the intent was genuine, i.e. find the right information which will facilitate decision making, however, the execution was so poor that it was depressing.

If you are really serious about dashboard design, you should check out the new edition of Information Dashboard Design by Stephen Few.  This one book will change your perception of dashboards and give you insight into how to construct a dashboard which will be truly useful.  Few provides a definition of dashboards, which I think helps guide the conversation:

A dashboard is a visual display of the most important information needed to achieve one or more objectives, consolidated and arranged on a single screen so the information can be monitored at a glance.

The book provides a lot of examples of both good and bad dashboard design along with sufficient commentary to begin to understand what it takes to put together a dashboard that can be used to inform decisions.  I especially like that he devotes chapter 2 to the "Thirteen Common Mistakes in Dashboard Design." (see the article at the link)  This is a carry-over from his first edition and articles but well worth repeating.  Those thirteen common mistakes are:

1. Exceeding the boundaries of a single screen
2. Supplying inadequate context for the data
3. Displaying excessive detail or precision
4. Expressing measures indirectly
5. Choosing inappropriate display media
6. Introducing meaningless variety
7. Using poorly designed display media
8. Encoding quantitative data inaccurately
9. Arranging information poorly
10. Highlighting important information ineffectively or not at all
11. Cluttering the display with visual effects
12. Misusing or overusing color
13. Designing an unattractive visual display

Obviously, dashboards are tools and should not be considered an end unto themselves.  A well designed dashboard should draw attention to the pertinent data.  However, for this to happen some serious consideration has to go into the design.  If this is of interest, get Few's book and begin to explore the wide diversity of what an effective dashboard design looks like.

President's Plan to make College More Affordable

The White House issued a news release today entitled: "Fact Sheet on the President's Plan to Make College More Affordable:  A Better Bargain for the Middle Class."

I encourage you to take the time to read this. 

Regardless of your politics, the issue of rising college costs and low graduation rates coupled with high debt should be a major concern for us all.  President Obama's proposal addresses some of these concerns and exhibits innovative leadership in an area which is complicated and caught in a quagmire of bureacracy . . . depending, of course, on what these proposals will actually look like once implemented.

Some of the highlights from my perspective:

Paying for Performance

• If the new college rating is actually balanced and takes into account the demographic of today's college student (which IPEDS does not) then this would be great benefit to students.  I'm not as hopeful that the DOE can pull off a balanced and fair metric.
• Tying state and federal funds to performance should be interesting to say the least as gauging performance has always been a challenge for academia.  I can see this being resisted by many four year public universities some of whose faculty have not had to face the challenge of relevance for their entire career.
• I truly like the part about holding students and colleges receiving student aid responsible for making progress toward a degree.  Honestly this is the way the funding should have been setup in the beginning and most of the real problem (which is focused on blaming some schools for abuse) is because the system wasn't setup correctly in the first place.  This has the potential to fix it, although there will be a lot of individuals who have been "playing" the system who will be disappointed that they will actually have to make progress on a degree to keep getting the funding.  Who knows, they might even graduate.

Promoting Innovation and Competition

• I think this area is a little scarier.  According to the news release there will be some money available to community colleges and "approved" universities to explore innovation.  This, in concept is a good thing, however, I can see some pot-holes in the road ahead as the implementation of almost all innovation in higher education finds significant barriers in faculty acceptance and administration budgeting.  Also a consideration is the small school who is comfortable doing things as they've always done them now being confronted with the challenge to change and change radically.  This will, I believe, catch many unaware and could result in some serious competition leading to closing schools (maybe a good thing??? I don't know, we'll see).

Ensuring that Student Debt Remains Affordable

• I applaud the initiatives in this area as I know many personally who are carrying significant debt and I think this will help.

Altogether, I am hopeful that these initiatives will make a difference, but I can also see some difficult days ahead as colleges and universities try to get a handle on what this new future will look like once the dust has settled.

Create Distinction - Book Review

Create Distinction: What to do When "Great" Isn't Good Enough to Grow you Business by Scott McKain

I'm not sure where I heard about this book but had put it on my Amazon wish list  (I use this all the time to keep track of books I might eventually want to read) and have finally gotten around to reading it.  The book is well written and interesting.  The focus, as you can gather from the title, is about creating distinction for your business, whatever business, with the intent that the business would thrive.  I picked several useful ideas from the book which I plan on incorporating in various projects I'm working on.

"...having a passion for what you do does not mean you will have a successful business."  (p22)  I really liked having this quote early in the book because we hear so much about the importance of passion (yes, it IS important) but we often overlook the other parts and pieces needed to make a business SUCCESSFUL.  This is followed up with "...we tend to pursue new customers with more enthusiasm than we prize existing ones." (p27) and "...few companies or professionals have a retention strategy, a precise program that outlines specific steps for retaining our current customers, for growing and expanding the business we are obtaining from them." (p27)  Wow, this really got me hooked because I see this almost every day.  It seems that a LOT more effort, time and money go into securing new customers while current customers seem to disappear and we don't know why.  According to McKain, creating distinction is, at least, part of the answer.

At the end of each chapter he provides an Executive Summary which is very helpful for reviewing the material or possibly even pre-viewing the material.  In this first two chapters he talks about the Three Destroyers of Differentiation:

1. Copycat Competition and Incremental Advancement.  
2. Change that Creates Tougher Competition
3. Familiarity Breeds Complacency

This was interesting and certainly seems to make sense. Next he expands upon the Three Levels of Differentiation and their application in creating distinction for any business.  McKain states that businesses can differentiate themselves in only three ways:  You can create distinction by product differentiation in which you have a product which no one else has, or you can differentiate by price, either by being the highest or the lowest, but this is a sharp sword which can destroy as easily as it can bring success.  Finally you can differentiate on the basis of service.  "If you cannot impact the design of your products, and if you cannot choose or control the price, then your primary point of differentiation must become service." (p65)  However, before you say, "That's us, we provide great service," read this:  "what will not differentiate you in today's world: product quality (because there is little real difference in the quality of most products), customer service (because everyone has learned how to provide competent customer service - well, almost everyone) . . .."(p.65)

The point is that unless there is something truly distinctive about your service, customers will find that distinction somewhere else.  McKain calls this the "Ebert Effect" after the film critic Roger Ebert.  Here is his definition of the Ebert Effect:  when customers - from their perspective - are inundated with indistinguishable choices, they tend to perceive a product, service, approach, or experience with a specific point of differentiation to be superior." (p.77)  And that differentiation must be at a point that matters to the customer. 

Most of the rest of the book is devoted to expanding on "The Four Cornerstones of Distinction."

1. Clarity
2. Creativity
3. Communication
4. Customer-Experience Focus

I think this is a good book for the leadership team to read together and discuss, perhaps even to work on together at an offsite location for a few days.  The bottom line to all this is that all the talk about distinction ultimately has to move from planning to action.  Execution and resolve to commit, as I've stated in other posts, seem to be the sticking point upon which this hangs.

The WHY is more important than the WHAT

Someone referred this to me a few months ago and I've watched it, made notes one, placed stickers on my monitor to remind me of the importance of these concepts and re-watched it.  I think this is important.



It speaks back to what I've discussed in other places - passion.  Do you have it or not, and if not can you get it or should you try to find it somewhere else?

2013 Global Leadership Summit, Day 2

The first presentation this morning was Joseph Grenny.  Dr. Grenny co-authored two of my favorite books:  Influencer and Crucial Conversations.  He began with a definition:  Leadership is intentional influence, a definition which I definitely agree with.  He then began to define six sources of influence which when combined enable change to occur.  It was a powerful presentation and this is a subject anyone who is truly interested in leadership should study.

The next speaker was Vijay Govindarajan, who was interviewed by Jim Mellado, President of the Willow Creek Association.  His premise:  Strategy is about leadership in the future.  He used a model which breaks strategic thinking into 3 "boxes."  First is managing the present, Second is to figure out what to selectively forget, and Third is to create the future.  Both the second and third boxes are truly strategic thinking which prepares us to enter the future.  This was an interesting presentation and I'll likely buy one of his books to dive deeper into this.  It sounds a little like the sigmoid curve material I've posted on, specifically the transition pieces associated with the introduction of a new inflection point. 

Dr Brene Brown make the next presentation.  I wasn't sure what to expect from the description but came away impressed with how she clearly related leadership with relationship.  The word which kept going through my mind as she spoke was becoming truly self-differentiated and from there being able to fully enter into productive and fulfilling relationships.  Her premise is that you can't truly lead or love others until you are able to do so with yourself.

Oscar Muriu spoke next and shared five leadership truths.  This was challenging and focused specifically upon the importance of developing the leaders who are coming after us if we would have any hope of real accomplishment. 

There were two more speakers on the schedule which I really wanted to hear but had to leave due to a schedule conflict.

Will I attend again next year? YES, if at all possible.  Did I get receive at least the value of the registration?  YES!  Should you make every effort to attend either the live Global Leadership Summit in Barrington, IL or one of the simulcasts across the country?  YES

2013 Global Leadership Summit, Day 1

I arrived at the simulcast location for this year's WCA Global Leadership Summit in Rapid City, SD.  Fountain Springs Community Church was hosting the event and did an excellent job with everything.  Today's sessions included:

• Bill Hybels - He set the stage with a profound message of moving from vision casting to execution.  This from a man with 38 years as the pastor of Willow Creek and with a legacy of literally world changing impact on the church, he is still setting the pace and calling for virtues to move from the ethereal to the forefront . . . and he is practicing that with an emphasis upon ministry and caring for WC along with serious financial commitment.  He is also wise enough to begin to engage in succession planning so that they church can continue to move forward even after he steps down.
• Colin Powell - Leaders, according to General Powell, who get the work done are those who create a sense of purpose and then create the environment where success is possible.  According to him successful leaders infect their people; successful people are force multipliers.  He is a powerful speaker and communicator. 
• Patrick Lencioni - This was perhaps my favorite presentation so far, although, in this crowd there are no bad presentations.  He spoke from his new book "Three Signs of a Miserable Job."  His style of delivery was exactly like I like it.  He talked fast and with some signs of being HDD.  The three signs are Anonymity, Irrelevance, and Immeasurement.  As he went through these points I could see in my mind's eye different individuals who had made me feel one or more of these things in the past . . . and I could see where I might have been guilty of not providing enough in one or more of these areas to those I have managed.  Definitely insightful and will have to get the book.
• Liz Wiseman - I wasn't sure what to think about her presentation but the further she went the more I began to understand the premise.  Namely, that managers/leaders fall into four camps:  true diminishers, accidental diminishers, accidental multipliers, and true multipliers.  Here again, as she explained each group I could see several people I have worked with in each of these camps and understand the impact they had upon me, and began to reflect on the impact I have had on those I have lead/managed.  Another book to buy!  I'd like to give this one to some people but I'm pretty sure they wouldn't "get it."
• Chris Brown - Chris delivered a powerful message about succession planning, about developing the leaders within your organization, and empowerment.  This was more of a sermon but powerfully delivered in a style that was interesting and challenging.
• Bob Goff - He is an ALWAYS on kind of guy!
• Michael Jr. also did some stand up comedy and was very entertaining.

I'm not sure why there weren't more at the Rapid City site except perhaps that most in this region don't recognize the benefit these kind of experiences can have on professional development and/or they are unsure of the impact of a simulcast, which I found worked well.

I do know I listened to these speakers with a profound sense of awe, guilt and inspiration.  Awe because I saw and learned new things which I didn't know and to see these leaders who have persevered and are still leading is impressive.  Guilt because I'm not leading as well as I thought and may have actually been having a negative impact. Inspiration because I can go forth and do better . . . and will.

In the weeds, again.

I've been re-reading "The Truth About Leadership" by Kouzes and Poser for a Leadership Development Group I am facilitating.  This is probably one of the top five books I would recommend all new leaders read; no not read, STUDY if they are serious about being an effective leader.

Kouzes and Posner identify ten "Truths about Leadership" and go into detail about each of them.  I will not take the time in this post to list them or go into detail (get the book, read it, study it, apply it!), however I do want to reference one of the truths in connection to a discussion I had this morning. 

I was making a presentation to a group of individuals with responsibilities for one aspect of our University system for a region composed of several educational sites/campuses.  As I was going over some of the statistical information related to their area of focus I mentioned the need to block some time each month to do nothing but review trend data from the 10,000 foot level; to spend time thinking about what the trends mean and to be able to look forward enough to spot opportunities and potential problems.  My quote was that if a leader spends all their time down in the weeds then they shouldn't be surprised when they get bit by a snake. 

This resonates with one of the "truths" from "The Truth About Leadership:"  Focusing on the Future sets Leaders Apart.  According to Kouzes and Posner "The capacity to imagine and articulate exciting future possibilities is the defining competence of leaders."   Their research has indicated that this ability to look forward is second only to honesty in being desired by followers from their leaders.  I can understand that.  However, this doesn't happen accidentally.  To develop in this area means taking time away from the pressure to deal with the situations in the weeds and rise to a higher level.  It means resisting the urge to deal with the crisis and plot a course which will avoid future crisis (if you are like me you can also see a bit of Steven Coven in this concept).  Too often we become trapped in the weeds of our daily grind. 

The answer is to purposefully schedule time to step back from the immediate and focus on the big picture. Spend time looking at trends in key areas of your organization . . . and then think about what they suggest for the future.  More than this, consider external and internal factors which affect your current processes, and goals.  What will the future look like if you do nothing different?  What action will have the greatest impact on your goals?  Which external or internal factors will affect you in the short and long-terms, and how can you mitigate or exploit those factors?

Sigmoid Curve, part 3

Let say that you have figured out that nothing lasts forever and that you have introduced an inflection point into your system.  Congratulations, this is a good thing. . . or at least it has the potential to be a good thing.  There are two basic assumptions about your inflection point:

1. That you are committed to it.  Without your commitment and passion, as the leader, what will follow will erode your resolve and leave everything worse off than before, as well as making your position precarious.
2. That the new direction has the strength to move the company forward.

IF both of these assumptions are true, then begins the "fun."

As I mentioned in my previous post, what is labeled "Doubt and Uncertainty"  in the diagram above has been described by others as "hell" and "chaos."  This is because of two factors:

1. Ruts - i.e. the comfortable patterns which have produced success in the past have lulled some into assuming that such patterns, if continued, will always produce the same or greater success, while others use that same concept as a clear definition of insanity.
2. Resource allocation - i.e. there are only so many resources and now with two tracks you can depend on conflict to arise as to where the limited resources should be expended: toward the already successful track, or toward the "hair-brained" new track.

The ultimate answer to this is also two fold:

1. Administrative resolve at the highest level.  If the top officers of the company are not fully convinced in the need for the new initiative and fully behind it, you can be assured that the political struggles which will arise will undermine its implementation and perhaps even scuttle it completely.  DO YOU BELIEVE THIS NEW DIRECTION IS THE FUTURE OF THE COMPANY? If you can't answer that with conviction. . . disaster looms.
2. Vision casting.  Here is where I find most leaders struggle.  They have announced the new direction of the company and gotten a lot of fanfare, and then left the implementation to their teams without realizing that vision has to be cast, and then re-cast, and then re-cast repeatedly . . . and it has to come from the top as well as at the managerial level.  It has to be prominent, and consistent, and often.  It has to be presented in different ways using different pictures and different stories.  It cannot be neglected or delegated.

With these two pieces in place then the movement through the period of transition, although still rocky, will be traversed with success.

I have seen and experienced this personally and know it to be true.