Change for the Peak

This past week saw the culmination of a few months work with multiple clients. They were intertwined in dates, locations and approach. Both presented challenges, some complimentary and some contradictory. I was fortunate to have worked with some excellent other people in both cases and I knew I was never alone. Nonetheless it was a mildly grueling push to the top, with the nature of the work relfecting life - the hardest effort was required to get to the summit.

I was heartened in both cases and pleased with both my own personal results and the overall achievements. Importantly, the customer(s) seemed genuinely thrilled and looked to engage further to help their own people acquire pace in the changes they undertook. This sounds like nose on your face obvious stuff but you would be amazed in a corporate sense how little many care about the creation of success and change. The kicker is the latter, and many of us are afraid of change and even more potently frightened of creating or sponsoring change within their own work. It's risky and it may affect the very job you hold. It rocks the boat and may well be a CLM. That's a commonly held bad thing hence we see the idea of change "talked" but not "walked".

At work, when we get into those situations it's difficult as we want to help the customer discover the upsides of what is possible and at the same time help them bridge their fears. It seems very far off-task when this happens and it's disheartening to see strong efforts go to waste if it turns out the change champion was one-dimensional.

This idea of change affects all businesses as the idea of having a customer buy your offering in whatever form its in, means they are adapting their behaviors to use it. So the issues and challenges surrounding change management are something we should all be aware of and I mean that in a self-aware sense and how my customer behaves as well. It's not limited to the commercial world either. Teachers must change students understanding of a topic to create applicable knowledge. Doctors change our physical being in some way that requires adjusted behaviors - a new diet, walking with a cane, or a drug regimen.

Change is all around us and we all look for it in others regardless of what we do. Look inside first though as it's hypocrisy to prescribe that which you aren't prepared to take inboard yourself. The peak beckons those willing to embrace it.

Inner Peace

I think I've got me some of that recently. Perhaps it's a vacation hangover (the good kind), but lately, I'm able to easily able to see the positive, and calm myself in times of stress. It's as if there's an inner happy place that I'm able to visit at will.

I really like that image, as it seems empowering, scalable and repeatable, though perhaps I'm tricking myself. Much like balance in our lives which I think is a temporary condition we're lucky enough to enjoy periodically. In my head balance = riding a bicycle, invariably moving from side to side a little - never without some motion.

I wish I knew the magic key to this feeling, this 'condition', as it's quite a nice state of mind to be in. My job hasn't changed, but is busier, and my personal life hasn't changed materially except perhaps I'm a little closer to achieving some personal goals I'd set for myself. I haven't won the lottery - notably though I've also stopped trying.

Whatever the reasons, and whether it lasts another hour, day or year - I'm grateful for it. It's a little piece of pleasantness in life that has too few of these (not mine, life in general).

So as my belated new years wish, may all of you enjoy feeling contented at a job well done, and awake with a smile, for there are days when indeed life is good.

Mommy Bloggers

I'm a fan, I'll admit it.

The passion, the frustration and stereoscopic visuals they create about family life is glorious at times.

Here's the punishment (I read today) for breaking a silent "grown-up" moment.

"In fact, if you say one word the security guards will come yank you out of your seat, drag you to an airtight room filled with screaming toddlers covered in peanut butter who have been ordered to try and climb into your lap.

And you have to sit there for as many minutes as you are old."

I think I could love this lady.

Children

That they are our future goes without saying. They are the foundation of any future solution we create. They are the answer.

Anything that people do in the coming years from creating original art & music; to solving the world's greenhouse gases situation; to building the next layer of infrastructure - it will all be done by our children. It's not an exaggeration to say the future of our race is dependent upon them.

So with this acknowledged awareness of the hyper-critical role they will play, why aren't we throwing endless resources at them to ensure their education and welfare is top notch - the absolute best we can make it?

In this perspective is it selfish to want to divert resources from education to Healthcare so some 50, 60, or 70 year old can get a few more years on Earth. Were they your resource decisions to make, would you allocate investment to keeping yourself here or looking after your own kids ... what would you do ?

Just look at the news and current events and issues around at the moment and take the children - first perspective. While I'm not suggesting we throw in the towel on the current adult generations, the debates that occur strike me as very self serving.

• Take the needed funding for UK universities out of geriatric care or lung cancer research.

• Invest in classroom technology and education infrastructure instead of buying new fighter jets in Canada, where their primary role is airshows

• Attend to the principle issues in the 3rd world around infant mortality rather than hosting lavish G20 meeting with their inherent security costs measures in the $B's.

Let's put our money and brains where our future is.

Freedom isn't free

I was very moved the first time I read this - on the Korean War Memorial in Washington DC. As memorials to great sacrifice go, this is one of my favorites. I originally came upon it one cold, very dark night with only one other person around. I don't happen to live in Washington, but always enjoy visiting the city for the stunning depth of significance in it's architecture, monuments and thought about what it means to be American. Capital cities are usually singularly like this, and Washington is very much America's trophy.

Freedom isn't free. Indeed it's not.

It's borne of responsibility, and amongst the most precious gifts we carry. It's very prone to neglect, and misuse, and doesn't suffer the foolish well. It's often confused with democracy, and capitalism, though these three are different, each embodying a variation on a theme.

Freedom rises above the other two I'll offer though, it's supreme in this triumvirate of idealism descriptors. Capitalism speaks to trade and monies only, and Democracy to the participation of the voice of the people, while Freedom embraces these and soars heavenward from there. Freedom can describe a person, a nation or a state of being. It's an emotional feeling and a significant comment upon our ties to others.

I worry about Freedom. I worry that we don't respect it enough. We don't cherish this gift we have, recognizing it's absence only, not it's presence. I read recently that "the air of liberty may be too rarefied for us to breathe". Perhaps we aren't ready for Freedom. Perhaps we aren't mature enough as a race, or even a species to appreciate the gift that it is.

I can imagine a day in the not too distant future when we'll back and wonder at how we didn't revel in the Freedom that we had. At how we didn't see we were in Shangri-La and we squandered it. I'm not certain what to do about this, other than live every day to the fullest, and offer thanks to whatever guides you for the choices we are each able to make.

Because as the sign says - Freedom isn't free.

Pace

Do you know yours ? More precisely, do you know what it needs to be ..

Pace is an idea that would crucially apply if we were all in a race. While there's an argument to be made to say of course we are constantly in a race with each other for life's needs and desires, that's a tad philosophical for a weekend, so I'll let it go for now.

Pace means how fast or how much we need to work to achieve our objectives. Straightforward, yes..? Actually no. You see each of us has a slightly different pace, and without imposing any judgment at all on that, the trick is to understand your own, and then be able to work with it. In the most simplistic example I can imagine, if two people are asked to walk a defined distance - say 1 mile, and they have different paces, then conceivably one will get there before the other - assuming that is that they start at the same time. But what if the individual that walked slower (that had the slower pace) was aware of their own pace, and began before the second individual. Conceivably this person would complete the distance before or even at the same moment as the 2nd individual. On the basis that we don't often find ourselves in walking contests, let's apply the concept to a more realistic situation.

Joe and Bob are both trying to achieve an "A" in a course they're taking. Joe and Bob are different people and handle the teaching thrown at them differently. Joe needs to re-read things to ensure he gets all the details correct in his head, while Bob is more of auditory learners and picks things up from being told them one time. When it comes time to study for a test, if Joe and Bob don't invest time to do thorough reviews (they do exactly the same thing) chances are Joe won't do as well as Bob. He needed to review the content to be able to apply the concepts. The trick if you're Joe is to see that in yourself and make the necessary investment to sure you're ensuring your own success.

A real-life example that always makes me smile is the person who we probably all know that is perennially late for everything. These people don't seem to understand their own pace, and so never leave enough time. I have heard of situations where they set their clocks 10 mins fast to try to equalize their behavior and time - but that doesn't work well either. The key is understanding oneself, and it's really that simple.

Pace is something that once you're aware of it, you can play with a little. In fact, I'd argue it's one of the keys to self-improvement. If I can benchmark myself in some quantifiable manner, then I know what I need to 'beat' to do better. I acknowledge here faster isn't always better, but an understanding of where you are is mildly important prior to determining how to get somewhere else (that's my most obvious comment of the day). Playing with your pace is something I do when running, and it can be applied to just about any work or play task.

Pace is also linked to the idea of cadence which I have to say I think about a fair bit....but that's part 2. For now, your homework is to look inside yourself and try to gain some perspective on your own pace, and then look around and decide for yourself if it's appropriate to your various situations or not. If not...what are you going to do about it, and how will you measure that change.

You Neek

Did you know that there are now somewhere between 6.89B and 7.07B people in the world and it's growing at a rate of almost 3 people per second. This is a mind boggling number, almost twice what it was when I was born, and a clear 1.6B people more than when my eldest was born in the early 90's. Clearly it's a pace that has some incredible implications on all the systems we depend on, but I'd rather not focus on that, instead I want you think about each of these individuals, what they might look like, sound like and what they have in common. With that many people, we must have folks that are doppelgangers surely, and a vast number of extremely similar people, no ?

Actually no. Despite this huge number, you're unique.

I say this because through the course of your life, no one has had or will have the same experiences, walked in your shoes, felt the same emotions or known the same people. They won't have lived in exactly the same places, tasted the same food or loved/liked/hated the same other people. We rarely share the same opportunities and disappointments and all of these things come together to shape our individual characters.

Our experiences make us unique and allow each of us the potential to arrive at different ways of looking at the things around us. We have in fact close to 7 billion perspectives in the world probably. That isn't always clear as while we're unique we do share common issues and challenges and have many things in common.

The next time you're feeling alone and invisible, remember that you're surrounded by almost 7,000,000,000 brothers and sisters and that they can almost certainly identify with the situation you're in...but they may not have the same view towards it - because you're the only you.

Diving

It's flying. Really, it is.

Without moving a muscle, you float high above the bottom, and watch entire civilizations of coral, fishes, and all manner of odd and brilliant colours and shapes parade around. Your task (and it is is difficult) is to remain calm amidst this wondrous world. Just breathe...

I'm a recent convert, a graduate now with my diving certification and it's something that I'd been aware of but never really fussed about pursuing. Id seen the pictures and read articles like this one. Interesting, sure...but it wasn't for me. I needed another 'passion' the way I need a new...well anything I don't really need. But I was wrong.

What I underestimated was the impact the environment has upon you. At first blush it was about getting closer to big animals - swimming with sea turtles, rays or sharks. This is the same drive that takes people to Africa to see the "Big 5" (No, I don't mean KPMG, Deloitte, PwC, E&Y ) etc..) I'm sure. But once you get there it's the small details that speak the loudest.

On one dive, we drifted with the current past yet another coral outcropping - I could never find it again if I tried.. It would be like searching for the building with the apartments in Manhattan. Anyway, on this one little outcropping high over a precarious drop in an area no larger than my fist, circled 20-30 little iridescent blue fish and one orange one. Fish might be too bold a word here - they were small - measuring maybe 2mm each. But for one very brief moment, I was in their world, their entire universe and watched them closely. I wonder still what they thought of my passing.

Diving opened my eyes to places, concepts and ideas that I hadn't realized I was missing. My wish for each of you is that you are able to enjoy that with something yourself - something that right now I'd guess that you don't know you need.

It was the Best of Times

Rarely am I saddened to see the new year dawn, presenting potential and hope and new opportunities. But this year, I can't help but think about what a wonderful, fulfilling, challenging and singular year 2010 turned out to be for me and those close to me. It seemed to go from great to great, and with that in mind, I've spoken aloud the idea more than a few times already, "How can this new year be any better?"

Of course it wasn't all sunshine, daisies and song, but it was a year of real personal accomplishment and growth. On the family side I've rarely been a more proud parent, and I saw significant maturity in those that I care about. In a work sense, I tried something new, and while I faltered and stumbled my fair share, I learned and tried and pushed myself. I was true to the work and therefore myself. In a spiritual sense, I was able to be part of some places in the world that few others see, and they are virginal, untouched and uncorrupted - mountaintops and deep tropical reefs. These places left an imprint upon me that I cherish.

So - with all these wonders - more than any other year I can recall, how does it get better ?

The answer that I both fear and understand is that it doesn't just get better.

There isn't a winning ticket to a good time that can be cashed in, or a price that can be paid to have this experience or that one. Money didn't buy the past year, as it wasn't (and isn't in the future) - for sale.

The year was earned though hard work, focus and pushing oneself beyond what you thought you could do. It was painful, dirty and often unclear if success would be reached. It required flying blind, putting your faith in what you knew and the wisdom of others and taking some chances. It required letting go and watching those around you take flight.

So the question isn't how to repeat 2010, but rather the question is: what am I most uncomfortable with, and how do I tackle that fear of failure to reach beyond myself.

That will deliver a new year's promise and potential.

Go on - try it. I dare you.