The Aboriginal Legacy

I wanted to say kudo's to Australia.  Specifically Qantas, the national airline of the land down-under.

I live in a country that has a hard time admitting they were wrong for raping and pillaging the native people, and here's Australia with a not-so-different history celebrating it's indigenous peoples.

They paint their planes up in designs specific to their people, and they are indeed uniquely Australian.  I admire that on a few levels.  It says - "We have a great native people, and we're proud of them."  What other country that has a questionable history does this ?  Umm.. None.

Australia deserves recognition.  Not for the way they treated the aboriginal peoples, but for how they acknowledge today that their culture is richer for these people, and the native Australians are an intrinsic part of Australia's future as well.  We could all learn from this.

Asking the Right Question

A friend asked me an incredibly astute question about a big purchase I was considering.  So insightful was this question, that it made me think of my purchase in a whole new way. In fact thinking about his question and my answer meant I'm ready to make a decision now, something I hadn't been able to do before.  Often customers find themselves unable to make a decision to buy something as they aren't clear, just like the situation I found myself in.

The purchase I've been thinking about concerns a new car, and a fancy, sporty one at that.  As it's obviously not a need, you're probably listening to yourself think "mid-life crisis", just the same way I'm saying that to myself. I can live with that though.

When considering one of these it can either be a frivolous toy or it can be serious, and I've tended to look at it the latter way, trying to validate that I use a car daily and having a sportier one could fit my needs and provide some fun as well.  I've been hesitating for a long time though, and have looked at a used car for less money, or a newer, shinier one. Pro's and cons to both and I have been on the fence for a while on the decision.

My friend hit the nail on the head with his bright question.  It was: "which one are you more likely to drive in bad weather / winter?"  I live in an area that has a serious winter, and let's call be frank, few fancy little sporty cars are designed for winter, or even very usable in snow.  Underneath the question wasn't a query about traction or winter tires though, it was about use cases and value - depreciation vs usability.

You see the used car will cost less, but I think I'm less likely to drive it in winter (assuming it performs equally poorly as a new car) as I'll be looking to maintain it's value for a resale situation in the future.  A new car could be leased and if it's just mine for a defined period, I'm more likely to drive it wherever as depreciation won't be my concern.  I hadn't looked at the decision in this framework at all - and my friend knew that - as he's also gone down this road (no pun) lately, albeit on the frivolous toy justification side.  My indecision was based on the fact I couldn't figure out the question to myself that would differentiate the choices to be made - so I was waiting.  Now I actually feel very clear on moving forward.

The value of asking of the right question is incredibly high.  It can provide quite a bit of relief to your customer/friend, as it allows them to move past a log-jam in their own minds.  It does require knowledge of their situation and insights into their motivation though.  And that is almost impossible to do without discovering a little about them.

The American Situation

The government is locked out, shut down.

The congress doesn't agree with the executive branch, and the idea of compromise isn't in the air.

The country's population is divided almost 50/50 along red and blue lines, and the Tea Party and Far Left each have tremendous power.  Discourse is disagreement.

Seems a setting for a futuristic novel about some totalitarian state, where chaos reigns. Instead it's the state of the US today, sad as it is.  When things done't go right, blame is the rule, but really - it isn't the answer.  It's not about denouncing and revoking Obamacare, or election manipulation via re-districting.

Instead, what's been lost amongst the loud voices arguing is the idea of leading.  Leading the world by example of how powerful a force democracy is.  Leading though selflessness and compromise.  Like a good parent leads their family, like a good spouse or good friend leads a relationship.

If I take a "in order for me to win, you HAVE to lose" approach, then I doom us both.  That's what was allowed to happen, and that's the idea that's been sold to the American public - our side has to win, and the other side must lose.  It's sad that this wasn't questioned, but the pursuit of power tends to to avoid sound consideration.

The left isn't correct, and neither is the right.  They're both wrong in the way they've participated and manipulated the process.  They're both wrong in the lack of compromise to make America better for the people of America.  Somehow this was lost in the need to be 'right'.

The situation in America won't get better until the people demand leadership and compromise to help them all out of this situation.  I fear that the voices saying this are too softly spoken, and overshadowed by their own red-ness or blue-ness.  Why would I listen to a ...  (insert Republican or Democrat) - even if they are correct.

No, the situation in America won't get better soon .. and the loss will be felt by the American people for a long time to come.

Fire, Ready Aim

I've been around some people lately that have a real bias for action.  I enjoy that phrase, though the people who (only) have that approach can be speed-blind at times.

It's been interesting to watch them in this effort we're involved in, as they MUST do it fast, even though it's clearly acknowledged that we'll have to "tweak" the output afterwards.  I think they've sold themselves up the river, as we all know they won't be tweaking, but rather doing full blown determination of what it is that they're trying to achieve exactly. Or 're-achieve' to be precise.

There's a 0% likelihood that we'll actually get to their overall objective with this approach, and yet it's also unacknowledged at this point that they need to be seen to be doing something.  That's a powerful motivator for action - even if we can all agree its the wrong action to take.

It's fascinating to be part of efforts like this, the way a slow-motion car crash in a movie is fascinating.