Be an Agent of Change

We all struggle with change.  I am guilty of being happy with the status quo.  While I enjoy analyzing a system or process and finding methods to improve it, to make it more effective, I am always reminding myself not to fall into the trap of saying  “If it is not broke, don’t fix it.”  As a leader in my organization I have a responsibility to make continual improvement in the processes and service that we deliver to our customer.  If I stop looking for ways to improve our company, our movement, then I am starting the process of decline.
 
In his book Tribes, Seth Godin shares an amazing analogy about making the choice about being a person who is happy with the status quo or being someone who wants to initiate change.  Seth shares:
 
A thermostat is far more valuable than a thermometer.
 
The thermometer reveals that something is broken.  The thermometer is an indicator, our canary in the coal mine.  Thermometer tell us when were spending too much or gaining market share or not answering the phone quickly enough.  Organizations are filled with human thermometers.  They can criticize or point out or just whine.
 
The thermostat, on the other hand, manages to change the environment in sync with the outside world.  Every organization needs at least one thermostat.  These are leaders who can create change in response to the outside world, and do it consistently over time.
 

WOW!  How great is that.

The world is filled with thermometers, you are probably thinking of a couple right now.  You know the people, the ones who are always judging and complaining about how things are without being willing to take action to make a difference.  Thermometers always find the problems but are unable to find a solution.
 
Image yourself being a thermostat.  You are always aware of the environment you do business in. You see the ups and downs, the opportunities and the challenges.  What makes you unique is that you take action.  You turn on the heat to take corrective action or to initiate change.  You are making choices to take action that will result in improving the environment you do business in. 
 
When we are willing to be an agent or change in our organization, we succeed in reaching Peak Achievement Today.

Maintain Forward Focus – Lessons from Mountain Biking #2

Today’s post is my second post in a series on lessons learned from mountain biking. In an earlier post I discussed the need to focus on where you want to go, to pick the path and focus on the “line” that you want to travel. Remember not to focus on all the obstacles you do not want to hit because they are irrelevant, you are not going to go there. Once you have practiced this skill you are ready for the next aspect of focus which is maintaining a forward focus.

When I started mountain biking I found that my focus was on where my tire was going now. I looked over the front of my handle bars and down at the ground directly in front of my tire to choose my line and steer into the clear path. To become an even more successful rider I had to learn to truly have a forward focus.

In mountain biking this means that you move your focal point forward so that you are looking ahead on the trail, selecting the path that you will travel in the next 5 to 15 seconds depending on your speed. You then let your well conditioned brain take charge to guide your body to take the right movements to take you there. This forward focus allows you to prepare for the trail ahead, to change your gears as necessary and to take appropriate coarse corrections as needed.

Think about your typical day. Are you focused on the interruptions and “emergencies” that pop up every day of our life? Do you feel as if you never have time to do what it is that you really want to do in your business? If you are then you are most likely focusing on the few inches right in front of your tire.

The challenge there fore is to force your focus further away from that front edge of your tire. This is something that takes time to make a new habit. You gradually move that focus further away from where you are right now. You can first focus on where you want to be at the end of the day, then where do you want to be at the end of the week, month, and year and so on. You have to allow yourself the opportunity to view your course of action and allow your mind to take you where you are focusing.

When you are going down a mountain trails that is only as wide as your shoulders at 25 to 30 miles per hour you do not have any other option than to move your focal point forward, and to trust your training and conditioning to take you where you want to go. Life is frequently moving much faster than a mountain biker so we have to push our focus further out if we are going to achieve Peak Achievement Today.

Book Review - Tribes: We Need You to Lead US

Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us by Seth Godin


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
A very thought provoking books with great wisdom about taking leadership in groups and situations with leadership voids. I enjoyed many of the concepts and ideas related to the use of emerging technologies. There are groups of people with the same common interests that are now finding each other because of these new technologies, but do not know how to organize. This book has inspired me to take actions on several different action items to provide leadership to groups I work with and in. I am really glad that I read this book and think it is an important way to look at leadership in our society today.

View all my reviews >>

Take a “Time Out” Before You React

What do Joe Wilson, Serena Williams and Kayne West all have in common?  They have all made the mistake in the last week of not exercising one of the most powerful options we have as human beings.  We each possess the unique ability to choose how we react to the events that affect us every day in our lives.  Each of these three famous individuals have chosen to react to an event in their lives in a way that has embarrassed them, cost them personal respect in their respective arenas, and have acted in a way that has hurt others in doing so.

One of the most important lessons we can learn is to take control of the moment between an event that happens to us and when we react.  Our brains are powerful tools if we train them to pause and choose.  That is right; it all comes down to creating a moment of time, a pause in reacting, between the event and our reaction to it.  Once we create a moment of time to think about how we are going to react to a situation, we will almost always make a better decision than if we react right away.

Joe Wilson blamed his outburst calling President Obama a lire, on the power of “his emotions” getting the better of him.  Our emotions affect the choices we make and can sometime seem very powerful, but we still have to make a choice to stand up in a joint session of Congress and disrespect the President of the United States.  I believe that if Joe took one or two seconds to think about the choice he was making he would certainly have chosen not to have to apologize for his action, be the talk of every news network and to have a resolution passed in the same congress reprimanding his behavior.

So what can cause us average human beings the same kind of issues.  Well how about that email that you received today where the person writing the email was accusatory, shared bad information and best of all carbon copied it to their entire address book.  What is your first response?  Do you want to jump on your key board and tell them how things really are and point out how “stupid” they actually are?  You know if that email goes unanswered to that entire distribution list without a quick rebuttal from you everything in it is bound to come true.

I say take a deep breath, wait an hour; wait till after lunch; you may even want to wait until tomorrow before formulating your response.  I learned in First Aid Merit Badge that unless the person is not breathing, their heart isn’t beating and they are not bleeding to death – you have time to evaluate the situation and make a good decision. By giving ourselves time to think it over, let our emotions settle down, maybe event seek the input of a mentor or trusted confidant (my wife always provides me with good perspective) we will make a better choice of how we react.

Serena was “in the moment” and ended up with three days of coverage of a 12 second obscenity filled tirade.  Who knows what Kayne West was thinking he was going to prove, but I am sure that he enjoyed being called out on (as he should have been) the season opener of the new Jay Leno show. The highest viewer ratings since the finale of America Idol, that's over 17 million people.

Take time to make your choice.  Time brings things into perspective, and if your can consciously work on taking time to think about your reactions your life will be fuller and you will be able to achieve at your own Peak Achievement levels.

Focus On Where You Want to Go

As an avid mountain biker I have learned that the most important skill is to focus on where you want to go, not on the rock that you want to avoid.  This is one of the reasons that I like mountain biking as much as I do.  When I am out on the trail I have to let go of all the other things that are going on in my life and focus on the here and now.  I can not be distracted because to avoid ending up with dented helmets and a broken collar bone I have to focus on the “line” or path that I want my bike to travel.

Sometimes the path you need your tire to take is just barely larger than tire it self, and when you are riding along at 20 miles per hour you really do not have a lot of time to think.  Once I learned to focus on the path I needed to travel I became a stronger mountain biker and found that I was much less likely to hits the rocks that I needed to avoid. The opposite is still true, every time that I focus on the obstacle that is in my way I hit it.  These are not usually glancing blows, but straight on collisions with the items that I new I needed to avoid.

This same theory is true in life.  I have found that I have to focus on the path that I want to travel and not on all the obstacles or hurdles that stand in between me and where I want to be.  Our minds are extremely powerful machines and when we focus on the goal or objective we want to achieve, our minds will work faster than we can think to help take us there.  Many of the obstacles we hit along the way could be avoided if we focused on the path we want to take, or at least their impact on our trajectory towards achievement could be minimized.

Now I still hit rocks when I ride my bike, and I usually have at lease one good crash a year. This is just like the project or goal that has challenges you need to overcome, they will always be there.  A strong focus will make sure that you get to the desired outcome with a minimum about of pain.