LEADERSHIP (in 55 words)

Being out front, on top, in the center,

Whatever your model, wherever your place,

Know that others look for you

To share your vision, your values and your purpose.

You lead when you speak, when you act, when you express

Who you are in the midst of their needs and desires.

Leadership is serving others.

ECONOMIC IMPERATIVES: A Clash of Values

Some 50 years ago I was riding on the 5th Avenue bus in NYC, which more appropriately should have been Madison Avenue, when I began to read the signs above the windows on both sides of the bus. Each one conveyed a message and, either to pass the time or just out of plain curiosity, I read each one in detail. As I got off the bus and began walking, there was something about the signs that disturbed me but I could not figure out immediately what it was. After several days of brooding about the experience, it came to me, whether one night suddenly or in a moment of more conscious thought and reflection, I cannot remember. What it was that disturbed my thoughts was that almost all of the signs were in the imperative. They were telling me what to do, and in some cases, when and how. For example, “Get the best mortgage rate available/” “Call now to reserve your place at the hotel of your dreams.” “See the new model at your favorite dealer. “ “Stay at New York’s finest….” “Pay no more than 10% down….” “Eat at Joe’s Diner” “Win a trip to wherever…” and you can think of many more such examples such as a slogan connected to a sports shoe that said, “Just do it!” And a take off on the cover of a business magazine, “Do it. Get Rich.” And from the world of fitness, “Beat the bulge.” And “Lose the flabby look.”

These messages are everywhere and this is no surprise to anyone who has anything to do with advertising or any of us keenly aware of conspicuous consumption. Each of the messages was specific to its own particular product or service but essentially each message had the same intended goal which was to get the reader to take some kind of action and inevitably it was going to cost money. After all, these messages were selling, not simply informing. Maybe these signs had all been created by the same TDI agency that I remembered seeing on the train! I think that TDI was the abbreviation for Transportation Displays, Incorporated. These were among the first sound bytes in my experience because, depending on the length of the ride, there wasn’t much time to get the message across. They were certainly not infomercials! In addition to being in the imperative, I wondered how such messages, advertising of this kind, clearly in the imperative, would ideally affect the behavior of the respondents. In other words, if these signs achieved their goals and persuaded the dear reader to respond “favorably” what would happen? And slowly but clearly, I had the revelation that these subtle manipulations of the mind would result in a sequence of at least five behaviors.

Here are the five imperatives and we may be able to understand them because we have all been active participants at some time and at some level in our typical consumer responses, whether buying a car or the latest techno gizmo. The five economic imperatives are SPEND, BUY, WASTE, WANT, and BORROW. Spend money, buy what you want and even if you don’t want it, buy it anyway for some other purpose such as keeping up with the times or to improve your station in life, waste or throw it away or trade it in or upgrade or get the newer version of whatever it is, thus creating the desire for the “better” or more expensive model, and if you have to, borrow, in order to start all over again on the cycle of spend, buy, waste, want and borrow. There are those in our society who have sufficient funds available that they can leave out the borrow part and simply concentrate on the first four but I contend that these people are mostly in the 1% and are among the very wealthy who may not have to consider cost/price benefits.

Let’s go back to my being disturbed by the messages and why I was experiencing some kind of conflict over a seemingly benign set of messages. Perhaps not so benign! That we now live in the age of information is undeniable but information can take many forms depending upon its purpose and intent. If the information intends to simply give us the facts, such as a news article of what happened, that is one thing. However, advertising is designed to sell, one way or another, if not directly, then indirectly. Classic examples are the television ads during super sports events that cost in the millions of dollars per minute (4.5 million dollars for 30 seconds in Super Bowl 2015) and why do you suppose that is? It is because of the great visibility by the consumers. In fact, this kind of advertising has created its own entertainment value. And the companies who pay the millions upon millions must believe that those kinds of expenses are justifiable. In a similar vein, those who were persuaded by TDI to spend part of their advertising budgets on the placards above the bus windows were also persuaded that they would benefit from that kind of visual and verbal advertising.

This essay, however, is not so much about advertising as it is about the conflict between the message sent and my own internal reaction. Although I was able to identify these economic imperatives, it was some time before I could identify the inner conflict but as mentioned earlier, the reason for the mental and emotional turmoil became rather obvious once I knew the reasons why I felt such a disturbance. It was about the difference between what I had learned as a child and what I was now experiencing as an adult. And it was mostly about values. What I been taught by my depression era parents was a set of values AND behaviors that were in direct opposition to those of the consumer oriented advertising. While the SPEND, BUY, WASTE, WANT, BORROW scenario went to work on my senses, those deeply ingrained values of my parents which were in direct opposition producing the conflict were SAVE, USE, KEEP, HAVE and GIVE. And there you have it. These latter values and practices seemed to be in direct opposition to the former ones. And thus the resulting conflict.

My wife, the curious sort of person who grew up under somewhat different economic circumstances, asked me this question. Do I think that the depression era values I learned came from a mindset of scarcity?  It may true that save, use, keep, have and do not come from a place of abundance, in fact, certainly not in my case. Sure enough, those values come from an experience and an attitude of scarcity rather than abundance because that is how it was for many people. That those people were influenced, shaped, and affected by all of that, yes of course. The bigger question might be how does one transcend or change or give up those things, if indeed, abundant thinking as it might be called is more productive? IF and this is a big IF, an attitude of abundance goes overboard or goes to something extreme this will certainly help produce the spend, buy, waste, want, borrow behaviors, Are those values any better, healthier, or more productive than save, use, keep, have and give? Cannot these latter behaviors and attitudes also come from a place of abundance, especially the GIVE part? It seems to me that philanthropists and other wealthy people actually practice some combination of both sets and it seems quite possible that these attitudes and behaviors do not have to be an either/or proposition.

The issue may be how we choose to allocate our resources, especially financial ones, and these choices reflect our values, regardless of how much we have available to spend or to save or to give. Regardless how much we have available to buy something, how do we use those purchases whether those are real goods, services or the necessities that sustain life such as housing, clothing and food. I remember when a rule of thumb for balanced family economics was not to spend more than 25% of one’s annual income on housing. I heard recently from someone in California that many families there have approached the 40% level on housing alone. Without going into some kind of mind-numbing statistical analysis, suffice to say here that it is hard to give something if you do not save something or set aside a portion to give! If we spend all that we have for what we need or want what about the needs of others? There are families of modest means who find it within their budgets to give something significant because their values include the priority of setting something aside to be shared with those whom they choose to support. That could be the Tsunami that spawned world wide support, or something else big that captures our attention – the environment, health issues, education or hunger, or our own favored, local, national or global charity. So what is the point in all of this?

Maybe the new imperative can be simply, in the words of Larry Mellon, inspired by Albert Schweitzer, “Help life where you find it.” Larry and Gwen Mellon went to Haiti over 50 years ago, started the hospital in Deschappelles and it became their life work. That was their choice and they could have chosen most anything and yet they personified the Save, Use, Keep, Have and Give motif, inspiring others along the way to join them in their efforts to bring better health care to the poorest country in the western hemisphere. One does not have to travel far to find something worthy and deserving of a gift. The question for us may be this. What is it that we would like to give to beyond ourselves? It does not have to be a lot nor does it have to be heroic. Gifts of self and substance are welcome in many quarters and those of us fortunate enough to live in a place of plenty, maybe abundance, can easily find a way to reach out and let someone else benefit from our generosity, however large or small. So much to give, so little time. Places to go, things to do. People to see, work to be done. “To whom much is given, much is required.”

These words of Aristotle sum it up well: "To give away money is an easy matter, and in any man's power. But to decide to whom to give it, and how large and when, and for what purpose and how, is neither in every man's power-nor an easy matter. Hence it is, that such excellence is rare, praiseworthy and noble.”

KINDNESS (in 55 words)

Kindness does not have a price tag.  It cannot be bought or traded.

One human being reaching out to another with love and compassion.

Whether words of gratitude, appreciation or recognition

Or a selfless act of giving with no strings attached

Being kind in one moment makes the world a brighter, better place.

Your turn.

CONSTANT, CONSISTENT CHANGE

Change is inevitable and universal.  It is not a matter of whether or not we wish to change.  It is rather how we wish to design and implement change and how we respond to change that we do not control. Whether your concerns are about an individual, an organization, a community or a country, or the world itself, nothing stands still unless it’s dead and even then, decay and decomposition set in. 
  

Nothing can grow or evolve or improve or adapt or adjust without changing.  Even if the change is simply altering the internal response to what is going on outside, the net result is still some type of change.  And that internal change may not be so small in the end.  I believe that the more you can change your internal structures and behaviors the more you have opportunities to influence the world around you.

  
You may be growing  your self, your organization, and reshaping and redesigning to meet the needs of the future.  You may be engaged in strategic visioning and making projections with some kind of refined business model or using different and creative approaches to solving problems.  Regardless of your goals or your strategies, it is all about change and how you are going to lead and manage that.

A book that has stuck in my head since graduate school days back in the 60’s was The Dynamics of Planned Change by Lippit, Watson and Westley.  (Harcourt, Brace & Company, 1958).  The very first sentence in that book is “The modern world is, above everything else, a world of rapid change.”  How could they have known what lay in store for the world in the next six decades and moreover, how can we know what lies ahead?  

I have relied often on Margaret Mead’s words of wisdom, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world; indeed  it is the only thing that ever has.”  Much depends on your needs, your goals and your commitments.  

Do you work with a small group of thoughtful, committed people?   If yes, what are the results?   Would you like to make changes for 2015?  Can you list them?  What are the top three?   What is your plan to make sure those happen?  Ready?  Set?  GO!   By the way,  it is not a race to see who is fastest, strongest or who works more or harder.   It is about the meaning and quality of your life, at work, at home and in that part of the world where you live and move and have your being.  Happy New Year!

LISTENING, LEARNING AND MOVING FORWARD

I once said to Bill Moyers that one reason I enjoyed his presentations was that he was a very good teacher and I learned so much by just listening to him.  He is a great storyteller.   He responded by saying that he considered himself the student and was always eager to learn from others. As I continued to watch him, I understood what he meant as he is adept at asking penetrating and probing questions that give the conversation resonance and depth.  Thus, I continue to learn from others, from their life experiences, from their fortunes and misfortunes and mostly from their stories.

There are books and articles that speak to me for one reason or another and two recent good reads are Stephen King’s book, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft and Atul Gawande’s significant work Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End.  King’s book is autobiographical and he ends up sharing what he has learned about good writing. Anyone tuned in to current events knows that health care in this country is broken without much hope for a quick fix. Atul Gawande, a surgeon in Boston, gives me some hope, this being his fourth book that I have devoured. I enjoy writing, thus I read widely and write narrowly. I have written two small books in the past two years, mostly for the exercise of sharing some thoughts and experiences more widely with others.  Will I write another one next year?  Time will tell.  Suggestions are welcome.

Many people start a conversation by asking what I do.  I am often tempted to answer by asking another question such as why is that important to you? Or even something more glib such as I do a lot of different things, what do you do? Of course, I know what they mean, so I try to say something that sounds half way intelligent such as I am a teacher or an educator or a project manager or a writer and at least keep the conversation alive and moving along. My goal has been to continue to try and improve the quality of life where I find it. I learned that from Larry Mellon who adopted Albert Schweitzer’s maxims of reverence for life and life being a big canvas on which you throw some paint.

I have learned what works and what the critical variables are in the equation for change and growth. It has taken me back to the beginning. I call it the circle of success: common vision, common values, common purpose. If we are to succeed in our work, in this country and elsewhere, we must learn how to build collaborative energy, listen carefully to what is being said, and just as important, what is not being said, ask questions that are penetrating and honest, discern the real from the superficial and help people move forward with passion and purpose beyond themselves.

My wish and hope for each of you is that you will have a wonder-filled 2015, full of grace and glad surprises. Remember to nourish your spirit often at the wellspring of faith, not any kind of narrowly defined religious faith, but rather faith in yourself and others that extends hope and deepens our humanity.  Let's continue to work toward a more peaceful, just and sane world and enjoy the journey along the way, listening, learning and moving on.

TEN LESSONS LEARNED IN A 50-YEAR CAREER

  

1.    Keep learning alive – Commit to becoming a life-long learner and whether or not you are an early adopter, consider how the world has changed and you along with it. 

2.    Step out of your comfort zone – Whether in learning something new, understanding and appreciating the opposing point of view, or becoming more facile with technology, just do it.

3.    Know yourself to the extent that it is about who you are not simply being identified by what you do.   Your passion is your work, your job allows you to do your best work.

4.    Practice this until it is ingrained in the fabric of every day.  “Tell the

truth, be kind and remember to say thank you.”  

5.    Celebrate special seasons, special days and special people.  It is easy to find them, hold them up for recognition and appreciation.

6.    Set realistic goals and empower others to help achieve them.

7.    Attend to matters of your spirit, your soul, your psyche and make frequent deposits in your savings account.

     8.  Consider each new day as new, a gift to make of it what you will.

     9.  Since change is inevitable, design the change you want and find ways to adapt to change that might be unwelcome.

    10.  Take care of yourself often so you are better able to care for others.

WINTER SOLSTICE IS TODAY

On Sunday, December 21, 2014, at 6:03 PM Eastern Time (for me) the sun reaches its southernmost point before starting back on its northward trek toward Spring.  You can calculate your own time accordingly.  Actually it has more to do with the tilt of the earth on its axis and its elliptical orbit but we will leave that to the astronomers.  I am just one of those who watches the sun regularly rise and set, notice where it is on the horizon, and give thanks, for I am blessed to be able to see the horizon most of the time.  At that moment, the sun is directly over the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere.  That's why the sun appears as far south on the horizon as it ever goes on its journey.

The winter solstice really only lasts a moment in time, and some of the other terms for the day on which this occurs, are "midwinter", "the longest night" or "the shortest day".  It really is not the shortest day or longest night.  It just refers to the amount of light within a 24-hour period.  And, it should not be confused with "the first day of winter" especially here in northern climates where there is  snow and cold since before Thanksgiving.  Ironically, at this moment today I am as far south in the United States as one can go, Key West, Florida.

What winter solstice signals for me is the return of the light as now the days start getting longer or rather there is a bit more daylight each day, just as it has been decreasing slowly each day since last summer’s solstice. This celebration of light is recognized and honored by many religious groups.  From the Roman Saturnalia to the Indian Pancha Ganapati to Hanukkah and Christmas, to the Persian Yalda and the birth of Mithra, and the recent creation of Kwanzaa in 1966, all kinds of cultures have found ways to pay special attention to our source of life and follow the sun.  

Many of us celebrate this season with our families and friends, give gifts and light fires; we might take a walk in the woods or ski down a mountain or through a forest; we might read or pray or sing; many of us will eat and drink around a community table. Whatever we do, it is an opportunity to take some time to do something special that is worth remembering. Stop whatever you’re doing for just a moment in time, for that is what solstice is, a moment in time.  Mark it in your journal or on your calendar with your own special thought and experience and share it with your family and friends.  At the  least, be open to receive the blessings and gifts of the season and celebrate joyfully and gratefully.

WINTER SOLSTICE (in 55 words)

Hours of sunlight increase and decrease, a predictable schedule.

A calendar of days, weeks, months, one more year.

Come December 21, in the northern hemisphere, the sun appears at its southernmost point along the horizon.

The northward trek starts again, lengthening daylight hours.

We burn candles and fires to celebrate solstice. 

It’s about the light.

CURIOSITY

A colleague asked me to write something about curiosity and in so doing I wondered about what it is that makes us curious.  When we see or hear something about which we want to know more, what is it that propels us to explore in more depth and detail toward a greater level of understanding?   There are those who spend their entire lives researching one particular subject or topic, perhaps most frequently in the field of science, perhaps because science is a systematic way of knowing.

When one of my sons was very young he would spend hours watching ants outdoors, had the classic indoor ant farm, watched all kinds of insects and while he did not become an entomologist, he did major in biology and environmental science, became a teacher and one of his current avocations is collecting a particular species of moths.  Why?  What drove his curiosity all these years to want to know more, to explore and discover what it all means in the larger ecosystem?  Perhaps it’s seeing the connections, how one thing is related to another and that to yet another and so on.  And then one day, we realize that we are all species of life who are connected on this same fragile planet.  And what are we to make of that?  It’s a curious thing, this inter-connectedness.

Those who know me well, know that I watch the sun rise most mornings and while it sparks some curiosity about the solar system, and other galaxies, I usually just end up in a state of awesome appreciation for the creation of yet another day.  I watch with fascination the sun’s apparent seasonal movement along the horizon from solstice to equinox and back again, as predictable and reliable as anything I know.  It’s comforting and quieting to be able to participate in something so constant and feel like I am even a part of this most amazing creation.  I am sufficiently curious to see how I can celebrate each season with joyful activities in order to absorb more of nature’s offerings.

I’ve always been curious about whether animals have thoughts and while I am convinced they do, I have not been sufficiently curious to explore the subject in depth.  I just watch them expressing themselves in various ways and I am not sure about how really smart they are; however, it seems they can figure out a lot of things on their own without much or any human intervention. I am an inveterate watcher of both wild and domestic animals.  So, I concluded they must go through some process of trial and error or sizing up a situation and figuring out how to overcome some obstacle if it’s in their way of getting what they want.  Paul Corey wrote a book some years ago, still in print, called Do Cats Think?  The book was mostly about the many cats he had and some of the stories are funny but if cats do think, then why not other animals too?  My donkeys think mostly about eating it seems.  And there are the behavior codes of survival passed from one generation to another in many species.

As for encouraging curiosity in children, it’s easy to put them in many different places and situations and give them numerous opportunities to explore the world around them whether in nature, through travel, in reading, and most of all, by asking them questions and encouraging them to ask questions of their own.  Here are some examples of questions from children.  Why is the sky blue?  Why do people have to die?  Where do they go when they die?  Why are people mean?  Why do parents have to get divorced?  Who invented time and how do we know it’s right?  Why do I have to go to school?  Why is math boring?  Why is ocean water salty? Why is water wet?  Why is our flag red, white and blue?  How does the moon follow us at night when we travel?  Why are there dimples on a golf ball?  What is a light year and how long is it?  What is infinity? What is the smallest animal in the world?  Where does blood come from?  A parent or teacher can respond by saying let’s find out together and see what we can learn and thus the conversation begins.  Explore and discover and encourage curiosity.

Have you ever been curious about human behavior and what motivates us?  What are you curious about?  What would you like to know more about, not only in terms of the human condition but in the world around you?  Here’s an invitation.  Write down six things that you are curious about, things that make you wonder why they are this way or that way.  Then, take the top two or three and put them in a comment so others can see and share.  I am curious as to what you might be curious about!  Thanks!

FREEDOM TO CHOOSE and SCHOOL CHOICE

We grow up in this country believing that freedom is perhaps the most important value that one can hold and cherish.   The following sentence has often been called one of, if not the most famous in the world, and has been used repeatedly to bear witness to that belief.  “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Over the course of our history, hundreds of thousands of people have paid the ultimate price to protect that freedom and our way of life.  It is one where we say that we are a people who are imbued with self-determination and we pledge our allegiance to a society where there is “liberty and justice for all.”   Not just for the privileged, but for all. 

We choose what kind of work we will do, we choose the people with whom we live (after a certain age) and we even choose what kind of transportation we will use.  We choose what foods we eat, what kinds of clothes we wear, what kinds of music we listen to, what movies and television we watch, most of it uncensored and without limits.  We choose what we read, where we go, where we live, what services we use and what products we purchase.   We choose how we spend whatever money we have.  We choose who will govern us and how we will be governed although there is some debate about those issues.  We are free to choose our religious practices or choose none at all.  We choose what we read, what we write and the list goes on and on.

Educating young people is often considered a primary way of transmitting our culture from one generation to the next. Thus public and private education include understanding and appreciating our history and that of the rest of the world, especially as global issues become increasingly important for our mutual survival.  As schools struggle to change to meet the needs of a changing world, it seems ever more important that families have the freedom to choose where they send their children to school.

Preparing children to make intelligent, informed, and wise choices may be one of the most important gifts a parent can give to their children.  They do that, in part, by choosing which school their children will attend and where they will spend an enormous amount of time being influenced by their teachers and the values that the school espouses.   The big question is whether or not the majority of parents make this choice consciously, intentionally and with the freedom to choose which school that will be.

Parents are no longer limited by geography or residence.  Budgets aside, many schools that charge tuition offer financial aid when tuition is a factor.  Perhaps the more important variables are how the school's mission and vision align with the parents, what kinds of teaching and learning are going on in a particular school, what resources the school offers, what the school environment and atmosphere communicate and what the core values are of the school under consideration.   There are now more choices than ever before and it is the well-informed parents who will exercise their freedom in making that choice.

To help parents make an informed choice, I have put together a little book entitled, Your Child, Your Choice: Finding the  Right School for Your Child. (2014)  It's a good investment in making a good match between your children and a school that will engage them in meaningful and productive ways.
A 70 page handbook, it has a questionnaire in the back that provides feedback to parents in helping them make this important choice.  Available on Amazon or from your local bookseller or multiple copy discounts for non-profit organizations directly from the author.