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A while back, I had the pleasure of doing an interview for KUCI, the public radio station in Irvine, California. As a guest on "Coaching Conversations with Patricia Hirsch," I talked about what it means to get good things done, processing your work, and much more. You can hear the interview here.
When people ask me how I am or how things are going, I almost invariably give the same answer: Life is good. My response is not habitual or rote. Life is good. Life is very, very good.
Consider this: yesterday, I—as an American citizen—exercised my right to vote. No one threatened me or impeded me in exercising my choice to elect my candidates. I was simply allowed to vote as my conscience dictated. Despite all that’s wrong with the economy, I enjoy great abundance. Abundance isn’t wealth, by the way. Abundance is having enough. Enough work, enough security, enough joy. Truth is, my cup literally overflows. Best of all, I am free. Free to choose how I spend my time, what I focus my efforts on. Yes, life is great.
Last night, as I watched history in the making, I thought a lot about hope and optimism and what it means to work for a better future. I’ve predicated much of my life on the belief that one person can make a difference. As one person working to make a difference, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I have helped people. My contribution may be small but it’s real and that’s what gets me up and going everyday—I know for sure that I make a difference for the better.
No matter what your view of the election results may be, you, too, can work to do good things and bring the promise of a better future into being. You can do it in small ways like being kind to someone at work or a stranger on the street. You can do it in big ways by putting your hands to a cause like feeding the hungry or cleaning up the environment. Never doubt that you matter—you matter a lot, more than you’ll ever be able to comprehend. When you use your talents, strengths, gifts, and skills to work for a better tomorrow, you bring greatness into the world and that means the world is a better place for having you in it.
To echo a sentiment expressed so eloquently last night: Yes, we can. We can work for peace and justice. Yes, we can. We can work for fairness and equality. Yes, we can. We can make the world a better place. Yes, we can. And we will. And we will succeed.
Imagine that you are an engineer for a major car manufacturer. You worked your way through school, graduated with honors, and went to work on safety design. At some point along the way, you hit on a design that, in a auto crash, should save hundreds of lives. Your design is adopted. And you go on with your work, seeing the data perhaps, but never hearing anything from the people whose lives were affected by your design. Finally, at the end of your career, there’s a retirement party and you learn that all along, your company was receiving letters from grateful people whose families and lives were preserved because of your design. Letters you never saw or read, letters that were answered by a form reply from your company. How would that make you feel?
This is hypothetical situation has abundant parallels in the real world. People like you do good work and you rarely, if ever, hear someone say thank you, express how valuable your contribution is, or give you the sense that all your sacrifices and hard work are appreciated. Lack of recognition is frequently cited as the root of employee turnover and dissatisfaction with their jobs.
Dan Heath and Chip Heath, the authors of Made to Stick, address this issue in their most recent column in the October 2008 issue of Fast Company. Their point is not that workers need warm fuzzies, however. Their point is that companies make if very difficult, if not impossible, for happy consumers to express that sentiment to the right people, or for that matter, to anyone at all. Into this gap steps Get Satisfaction.
Get Satisfaction is essential a social media tool. With a difference. Here’s the idea: anyone from a customer to an employee can “claim” a site for a company or an organization. Then people can log on to post questions, comments, and engage in dialog. One of my colleagues learned about Get Satisfaction when she found out her customers were using it. Now, she and her developers monitor their site to answer questions and supply information.
Here’s an example: Twitter. Today, when I logged on to Twitter’s Get Satisfaction page, there were 19 employees logged on, keeping an eye on things including the CEO, 3 support people, and one of their software engineers. These folks aren’t just logged on—they are replying to posts. They’re actually present—hearing everything, good and bad. Underlying Get Satisfaction is something called the Company-Customer Pact. Signed by nearly 300 people (including me), the pact is a pledge to act like a polite, thoughtful human being. It’s an invitation to authenticity, integrity, and collaboration. But even here, in the midst of the good karma that the Pact and Get Satisfaction seeks to create, the tabs don’t include “Say Thanks” or “Give Some Love.”
So here’s my suggestion. If you want to be able to say thanks, give appreciation and encouragement, and create good karma, email Get Satisfaction by log on here and lend your voice to mine on their site. Tell them we need a Say Thanks tab. Because somewhere, someday, someone needs to express gratitude—and it will make all the difference in the world.
Oh yeah, one more thing: Thanks for being a reader of my blog. Have a great weekend!
Networking is at the heart of doing business—finding the right people, making connections, getting to know them and allowing them to know you. Done right, networking can be a wonderful way to generate leads, qualify prospects, and build your business. Done wrong and it’s a meaningless exercise in gathering business cards or email addresses, turning relationships into spam.
Now as never before, it’s simple and easy to do your networking (or at least some of it) on-line. There are a lot of tools out there but one of the more well-known (and reputable) is LinkedIn.
The idea behind LinkedIn is that you create a profile—which in essence is your on-line resume—then make connections with other professionals. Through those professionals, you’ll build relationships, perhaps gain introductions, and for certain, display who you are and what you’re about to the world. Along with that comes the opportunity to recommend others and be recommended yourself. This is where on-line networking gets more complicated. As one person put it to me recently, recommendations are quid pro quo—you write one for me, I’ll write one for you. This makes it even harder to know if the guy in your LinkedIn group, who just asked to add you to his network, is legit or not.
What if everyone in your network came with a rating that really meant something? Like a quarterback rating in sports, the rating would be based on actual relationship performance in the world—things like making and keeping commitments, who that person knows (2 degrees away from Warren Buffet, anyone?), and with whom they’ve been associated (the Dalai Lama is good, Enron is bad). Get the picture? It would be like a FICO score—but instead of measuring credit, it would be a quantity that would measure someone’s trustworthiness. Sound like a dream? Not really. It’s almost here.
The Relationship Networking Industry Association (RNIA for short) is about to launch the initiative that will change the way you do networking forever. Put these guys on your radar now, because you’ll be seeing them on the cover of the Wall Street Journal pretty soon. Don’t be fooled by the unassuming appearance of their website: there are some big players behind this organization…and a big vision. In short, what RNIA is going to do is change the way we—all of us—do networking by creating standards that reward good behavior. In doing so, we can go from trying to weigh the difference between 500+ LinkedIn connections with only 68 and instead, turn our eyes to a number that means something and communicates who a person really is, for better or worse.
RNIA is not just going to change the landscape on sites like LinkedIn. Big companies are looking at this as a recruiting and hiring tool. And that’s very good news. What could be more fair than asking do you really keep your word? Are you honest, authentic, real? For me, someone who deeply loves justice, this is music to my ears.
They say that early adopters get the best of new ideas. That’s why I’m telling you about RNIA now, before they hit it big. This is like getting on board with the IPO at Google—you can be one of the “lucky” few. So check out RNIA and put in your membership interest application now. Oh, and get ready to get new business cards, because you’re going to want to show off your rating. You’re going to look better than Eli Manning on Super Bowl Sunday.
Themes of conversations seem to come in waves. Yesterday, the theme was “when have I done enough?” Two conversations, two very different people, both struggling with the sense that no matter how hard they work, no matter how much is accomplished or achieved, no matter what—it doesn’t seem to be enough. What does it mean to do enough? And how do you know when you get there?
At first blush, enough would seem to be an obvious quality. However, if you’re a knowledge worker—that is, someone whose productivity and results come from brain work—the standards of what is enough may be far fuzzier than someone who produces widgets for a living. That’s because knowledge work, or thinking for a living, has a way of being a source of work in and of itself. Let’s take a look at an example.
Work can come from assigned duties—that’s something someone tells you to do—or work can be self-assigned. Self-assignment can be the agreements you make based on requests but often, for a typical brain worker (and this includes small business owners), self-assigned work is self-generated work. You get an idea. You like the idea. The idea is something that is doable. So you decide to pursue said idea. You start writing a blog, producing a podcast, doing the research needed to write a book proposal. Lo, more tasks are generated. The work itself becomes a source of more work and the more you do, the more there is to do. And therein is the paradox. When have you done enough?
One possible key to this conundrum may come from your ability to work hard on meaningful projects. What I mean by this is if you are spending a great deal of time on self-generating work that is linked to a larger purpose--a project that has great meaning for you—you may find that fulfillment comes from the process. Once you tap into the joy of the process, then like any activity you deeply enjoy, getting enough isn’t what you’re after. Instead, your thirst for the doing outweighs the desire to achieve some result.
One thing I’ve noticed about people who stick with one area of focus for a long, long time is that they seem to have a profound love for the activity or subject, above and beyond any achievement or goal. Like the botanist who studies her one genus of plant for 30 years because she just wants to know, the artist who’s been painting since he was six, the novelist who keeps writing stories even in the face of repeated rejections. It’s not that these folks don’t want to accomplish or complete, but rather that they don’t rely on that sort of validation.
A long while back, I had the opportunity to talk to novelist Susan Straight. Susan lives and breathes her stories. When she’s not writing, she’s thinking about her characters, worrying about their well-being. Susan writes wherever she goes, on whatever is handy. She’s a well-published, acclaimed author, but from talking to her, that’s not what drives her. It’s the love of the story that keeps her heart on fire. I’m guessing here, but I imagine that there is no such thing as enough for Susan—she will always hunger for more and she wouldn’t want it to be any other way.
In the end, perhaps that’s the real trick: finding something about your work that feeds your soul. Something that you’ll always want more of, like chocolate, and focusing on pursuing it. There will always be more to do, you’ll always want more of it to do, and too much will never be enough.
There’s a quote I really like that says, “Plans are useless but planning is essential.” Goals can be a lot like that, too. It’s vitally important to have goals, and plans to reach those goals. But goals and plans are like compasses—they point the direction to travel in but they don’t tell you what will happen along the way.
If you don’t reach the goals you set for yourself, it can be disheartening and sometimes, quite frustrating. And when you hit that frustration, it may be tempting to revise goals to be more realistic and attainable. But it’s also important to have goals that take us beyond what we think we can do. There’s an important balance to strike between goals that are easy and goals that stretch. It’s a real art to maintain the right equilibrium.
Many times, people find that having accountability agreements—that is, someone to report back to—helps them to reach for the harder goals more consistently. However, I’ve noticed that sometimes having a tight accountability agreements can actually work against people. There is a balance to strike there, too. Knowing that someone expects to hear how things are going can push you to get things done. The flip side is that when your progress looks different from how you expected it, it can feel like you have nothing to report, increasing the sense of frustration. To make accountability work for you, you might want to mull over reporting any and all movement forward rather than focus strictly on goals or on what you planned to do.
In the end, plans don’t get things done. That’s because the map ain’t the territory. But with the appropriate balance between goals, plans, and accountability, you can make great progress. The joy of the process is that you can’t predict exactly how things will turn out, but by moving in the right direction, you increase the likelihood that things will turn out well.
No matter what you're interested in getting done, creativity is a must. From solving sticky problems to living a full life, knowing how to come up with innovative and novel approaches requires that divinely creative spark. Sometimes it's easy to think that creativity is something you're born with (or not), a gift that only a few can claim. But you're in luck--because two amazing women are about to reveal that creativity is accessible to everyone, not just a fortunate few. Julia Fabris McBride and Trish Salerno have learned creativity from the inside out.
Julia (left), now a life and leadership coach, earned her stripes as an actor then took her background in theater into the world of non-profits. Trish (right), also theatrically-inclined, is the former Executive Director of Arts Kentucky. Both women have facilitated leadership programs at the famed James P. Shannon Leadership Institute. 
Last week, I talked to these wonderful women about how they’ve collaborated to bring the creativity they enjoy to the rest of us. (You can listen to our conversation here.) Coaxing Creative Back into the Light, billed as “A workshop for entrepreneurs, executives, activists and artists,” is designed to provide the all important pause—the space, time, and energy required for the inspirational spark to burst into creative flame. Julia and Trish both know it’s essential to provide creativity with an invitation. “[Creativity] won’t just come knocking on your door and say “Here I am!” Julia says. “You’ve got to come out on the front stoop and invite it in.”
Both women know how busy we all are. That’s why they’re setting aside a Saturday in September (September 20th, to be exact) to give eager participants in Louisville, Kentucky, the opportunity to really stretch their creative legs. Starting with breakfast (and chocolate, Trish was quick to add), twenty or so folks will have Trish and Julia all to themselves to learn the skills and techniques of calling on creativity. (If you want to join them, click here for more information.)
The main thing to remember is that you can choose to become more creative. You have all the talent and resources you need. All that’s required is to put out the welcome mat and invite inspiration in to tell you what’s next. And if you need some assistance, two lovely muses named Julia and Trish are ready to help.
Do or do not. There is no try.--Yoda
When making a commitment, particularly a commitment to yourself, it’s often put as “I’ll try.” I’ll try to exercise. I’ll try to eat right. I’ll try not to turn into a pig in front of the TV when football season starts. Yoda, however, had a good point. There is no try. In trying, no action takes place--you’re either doing or not doing; you never get to try.
What I think people often mean when they say “I’ll try,” is “I’d like to but I don’t know how.” Don’t know how to start. Don’t know how to keep it up. Afraid to start because what if I don’t do it right.
A while back, I was musing over making mistakes. It dawned on me that the only way to avoid making mistakes was to do nothing. Mistake-free performance generally means nothing happened. To try means delaying until mistake-free performance can occur. Which is another way of saying “when hell freezes over.”
The next time you think about saying “I’ll try,” consider saying “I want to,” instead. By stating a preference for doing, you’ve put into your mind a very different picture that includes a action instead of stasis. Once you’ve stated that you want to do something, the likelihood goes up that you will actually do it. And that beats trying every time.
When something significant happens in your life, what’s the first thing you want to do? Most likely, it’s tell someone about it. Not just anybody, either. You want to tell a friend or a family member, somebody who cares. This is a form of what is often called “debriefing.”
Debriefing is an often overlooked method to clarify understanding and to reflect on what’s happened, what it means, and gather insight and learning. I was chatting with a student in my genetics class recently and he told me that his understanding of the subject was greatly improved by chatting with a co-worker about what he was studying. Just the act of thinking aloud, transferring the knowledge to another, made all the difference in his ability to grasp difficult concepts.
To successfully debrief, there are several conditions you need to meet:
When you fail to debrief, many opportunities for learning are lost. You often have terrific insights immediately after events or experiences. If you debrief, whether aloud with a trusted listener, or on paper, debriefing can help you to live your life more fully and more consciously.
I’ve changed careers twice. My first career was as a nurse. I was good at nursing. Yet, I wrestled with a deep yearning that said I was supposed to be doing something else. The something else turned out to be a very dramatic change. I literally ran away from home to become a rainforest biologist. My second career culminated in professor-hood at a large university in the Pacific Northwest. I was a “trailing spouse,” a euphemism used in academic circles which roughly translates to ‘the one who wasn’t hired.’ The transition out of career number two contrasted sharply with my first switch. The first time, I looked after I leaped. The second time, I looked for a long time before deciding which direction to jump in.
I’ve learned a lot from my two career changes. As a coach, I apply that knowledge plus some to help other folks make successful switches of their own. To that end, here are some ideas to contemplate if you’re thinking of a career change.
Get ready to be passionate.
This is the most important piece to have in place before moving toward a new career. If you’re not moving toward a future you are passionate about, the going will get impossibly tough before you arrive at your destination. This message was driven home over and over as I was slogging through grad school. If I hadn’t loved what I was doing with all my soul, the torture would have burned out my enthusiasm in short order.
Play to your strengths.
When I became a biologist, I got to live out a deeply held love of learning. In many ways, I was very lucky. When I chose to go whole hog and pursue my passion, I unwittingly played to my strengths which included acquiring knowledge, teaching, and writing. One plus about making a career choice as an adult is that you know yourself in ways now that you couldn’t have when you were younger. You already know what you’re good at. The secret to making your strengths work for you is harnessing them in service to your passion.
Treat it like a band-aid: rip it off fast.
Ever had a band-aid on a hairy spot, like the back of your arm? How did you get it off? Well, one way is just to rip it off fast and get it over with. Career changes can work the same way. Yes, you may hit a very steep learning curve, but there is truly a magic in being totally committed to a particular aim. Certainty and decisiveness can pay huge dividends if you are not averse to risk. Remember, however, to choose rather than pick. The distinction is that choice is a decision based on what’s important to you rather than picking from a set of available (but perhaps limited) options. Once you’ve chosen, you can make a change very rapidly.
Treat it like a band-aid: peel it away slowly and gingerly.
On the other hand, a slow transition can provide a sense of safety that a rapid, no-holds-barred approach cannot. The upside to a slow transition is bet hedging. The downside to a slow transition is bet hedging. What I mean by that is that you incur less risk if things don’t work out; by the same token, you may not incur enough risk to give your new career a chance to work out. That said, a slow, careful transition can let you iron out a lot of difficulties in relative safety. There are quite a few studies that show that lingering over a choice for a long time does not result in greater satisfaction, however. So don’t dither around forever. Once you’ve studied the details and made a choice, get on with it.
You are the common denominator in all your experiences.
If you are changing careers because your work experiences have all been awful, you’re always surrounded by incompetent boobs, and you’re unhappy everywhere you go, please note that you will be there when you get to your new career. This is another way of saying, if you haven’t been happy anywhere you’ve been, a new career may not be the answer for you. Research indicates the humans are notoriously bad a predicting how happy their choices will make them. That’s because happiness is largely determined by attitude and overall disposition, not circumstances. The take-home message is work on yourself first, then change your career, not the other way around.
The bottom line is that life is short. If the idea of looking back on your life and knowing that you gave your big dreams a shot--even if they didn’t work out--is better than never trying, changing careers may be just the ticket.
