The Art of Destruction...

I have been immensely impacted by quotes.

In one way they are just words, and yet in reality they are so much more!

They are timeless and asynchronous.

Today I continue a series of posts sharing quotes that have been the most influential for me.

"The creative act is first and foremost an act of destruction."

Advertising As Tax...

I have been immensely impacted by quotes.

In one way they are just words, and yet in reality they are so much more!

They are timeless and asynchronous.

Today I continue a series of posts sharing quotes that have been the most influential for me.

"Advertising is the tax we pay for products that are unremarkable."

One Year & Ten Years...

I have been immensely impacted by quotes.

In one way they are just words, and yet in reality they are so much more!

They are timeless and asynchronous.

Today I continue a series of posts sharing quotes that have been the most influential for me.

"We over estimate what we can accomplish in a year, and we under estimate what we can accomplish in ten years."

Society Change...

I have been immensely impacted by quotes.

In one way they are just words, and yet in reality they are so much more!

They are timeless and asynchronous.

Today I begin a series of posts sharing quotes that have been the most influential for me.

"If you want to change society, you have to tell an alternative story."  - Stuart Briscoe

Leadership is about Staying On Point...

Staying on point is difficult.  It requires focus, stamina and a tough shell.

Great leaders are able to do it though.  They are able to stay on vision in a way that enables them to transcend the moment.

When we lead...things will get tough.  There will be a temptation to lose or shift focus.  Ability to run a marathon is essential.

It isn't always fun or easy...but staying on point is a must if one is going to lead.

Leadership & Passion...

Successful leadership is not rooted in pride or pay.

Great leadership is birthed out of personal passion.

Compelling leaders lead things they would be willing to do for free.

This is why it is imperative that leaders first know themselves and then lead from the inside out.

There are far too many "leaders" who sought the position for the wrong reasons and they struggle to understand why they are unsuccessful and unfulfilled.

True leadership is self-leadership...it starts from the inside and flows out.

Leadership is More Art and Less Rocket Science...

Some people would like to think that leadership is rocket science.

They seem to feel a need to make things more complicated than it really is or needs to be.

Whether it is their misunderstanding about leadership or a pride issue, the rocket science approach actually paralyzes.

Leadership is much more art.

Leadership is about being able to put frames around problems and situations in order to allow others to properly see and engage with situations and opportunities.

Leadership is much less of an equation and much more of a creative endeavor.

Can rocket scientist lead?

Sure.

But they will be successful leaders not primarily because of their knowledge of explosive propulsion, but because of their ability to paint a picture.

Leadership of the Humbly Confident...

Some people seem to think leadership is about creating an organization that can't operate without you.  Creating something that hinges so heavily on themselves that if they were suddenly gone, so too would be the organization.

Real leadership is about creating an organization that seems as though it doesn't need you at all.  

Leadership is about working yourself out of a job.

Not necessarily working yourself out of the company or organization, but working yourself out of a job so that you can do what leaders do.  Lead.  Blaze the trail for where things should go, so that the self-operating entity can continue to thrive and succeed. 

The first is a twisted form of selfish ego.

The later is the action of a humbly confident leader.

Why maximizing shareholder wealth ISN'T of most value...

Saying that maximizing shareholder wealth is of most importance, is like saying "the goal is to make a hole in that wall and the way I will do it is to bang my head on the wall repeatedly until a hole appears in the drywall."

The more effective method would be to step back from the wall and use your head to strategize the methods and approaches that could be used to best create the desired hole in the wall.

In business school, when shareholder wealth is presented as the primary importance, we end up discussing things like the value stick.  The idea of the value stick is that a business looks at how they can create value within the industry in which they exist, and then work to capture as much of that created value as possible.

The problem with this attitude towards the value stick is that it makes business and customer into competitors instead of collaborators.

Let me propose a better approach to the value stick.

By all means, a business should think about how they can create the most value, or the biggest value stick.  But here is where things diverge.  What if instead of trying to capture as much value as possible, the business worked to capture enough value?  Enough value to not only keep it's existence, but even to thrive.  But then they simultaneously worked to allow the customer to capture a sizable, maybe even surprising, chunk of the value created.

Why?

Because when a business actively works to give the customer more value than even they deserve, they become fascinated.  And a fascinated customer carries the ultimate value.  They will buy again.  They will tell others.  They will sacrifice for your brand.  They represent Life Time Value.

And when customers truly feel like collaborators, then your true competitors (others operating in your market) have something to fear because the natural result of fascinated collaborators is the capture of an ever-increasing share of the pie.  And when you are capturing larger and larger portions of the pie, you no longer need to obsessive over capturing every last possible bit of created value.

And in the end...shareholders have wealth.

Responsible Living and a Brewery...

I have found myself in the incredible position of getting to lead the startup of a microbrewery/brewpub in West Lafayette, Indiana.

This endeavor is the main thing that has me thinking about this idea of Responsible Living.

One of the phrases we are seeking to grow our brewery brand around is "Where drinking responsibly isn't an afterthought, because living responsibly is our forethought."

By no means is it an easy undertaking, but it is a worthy undertaking.

I have this sense that there are many industries and aspects of our life and world where if responsible living were the forethought, it would cause many things to no longer need to be an afterthought.

Responsible Living and Lying...

Living responsibly implies truth telling.

The fact of the matter is, though, that our world is fully populated with "accepted" lies.  Some lies are to cover over the less than ideal things we often choose to do, but what about the lies that are actually keeping things from improving.

Speaking the difficult truth instead of choosing the easy and comfortable non-truth (lie) keeps people, organizations, and things from improving.  If people and companies are duped into thinking they are better than they really are, then there will be no sense of a need to grow and get better.

Responsible living means there is an obligation to speak truth (in love) so that the world ultimately becomes a better, more holistic place.

Living Responsibly and Child Rearing...

Responsible living removes the need for parents to say "do what I say not what I do".

What one says and what one does become one in the same.

This is also the reason that as a father I am seeking to be diligent in the early years of parenting so that when the later years of parenting comes along the foundation will already be in place.

This responsible living way of parenting is not an easy approach.  But it is the best approach.  No doubt about it.

The Fear of Cops and Living Responsibly...

When I am driving along and spot a cop my blood pressure seems to instantly rise.  There is a subconscious trigger that says "you might get in trouble".

I wonder if most people feel this way when they encounter law enforcement officials in many different circumstances.

The reality is, true responsible living would eradicate the need for this subconscious feeling.

Responsible living on the front end of life removes ramification filled encounters from the back end of life.

It's a simple concept.  But hard to live out.

Worth it though!

Live Responsibly...

As every alcohol commercial draws to its conclusion, the narrator speaks faster and faster and inevitably the last quickly uttered phrase is "drink responsibly".

What if instead the mantra was "live responsibly"?

If "living responsibly" was the forethought would it alleviate the need for "drinking responsibly" to be an afterthought?

And how does this idea expand out beyond alcohol?

If responsible living was the standard, it seems like it would begin to deeply revolutionize our world.

I am going to use this post to kick off a series of writings centered around what it looks like to "live responsibly".

Interested to see what focusing some writings on this topic brings about.

All Progress is Step-wise...

I can be easily tempted into thinking I ought to be able to make progress towards a goal in leaps and bounds.

However, this sort of progress is so rare it might as well be non-existent.

Progress comes by putting one foot in front of the other.  Sometimes the pace of the steps is faster or slower, but that doesn't negate the fact that they are one step at a time.

Babies grow into taking steps and then they never grow through or beyond that phase.  Progress in all other areas should follow the same step-wise format.

The Power of the Ask...

Sometimes we spend far too much time wondering and hypothesizing...

No doubt, there is a place for these activities...

But sometimes we simply need to ask.

Whether it is pride, lack of information, or just timidity...there is a tendency to not ask enough or soon enough.

Just Ask!

The potential of what might result is immense!

Interruptibly Focused...

Working in the start up world comes with seemingly constant interruptions.  Things that need to be dealt with and/or thought about.

There is always something new around every corner you turn.  And something to hypothesize about that might be around the upcoming corner.

Many of these things most be addressed or they will become landmines down the road.

Yet the trick is, if some of the interruptions aren't made to wait, nothing ever actually gets done and the wheels just spin in place indefinitely.

The balancing act is in figuring out how to work in a focused manner while still embracing what the turn of a corner brings.

Hope...

...is dependent on things not yet seen.

People yearn for hope.

Ironically, people also do everything they can to avoid unknowns and ambiguity.

The trick is, you can't have both true hope and a lack of unknowns.

One is dependent on the other.  The system can't be short-circuited.  Yet so often that is exactly what is happening!

By all means, seek hope!  Just make sure you understand the necessary requirements!

Failure is...

...not an event, but a decisive response to an event.

Some might suggest the Wright brothers failed in their first attempts at flight.  They did not.  Without those initial attempts with somewhat negative outcomes, they never would have actually taken flight.  They were not the best supported and most funded attempt at flight, but maybe what they did have was the best perspective and understanding on what constitutes failure.

Failure is not dependent on an outcome to a particular situation.

Failure only becomes failure when the decision is made to not learn, grow and move forward from a seemingly negative outcome to a particular event or endeavor.

Failure is a choice not an event.

Don't be mislead.

The Power of the Crowd...

I am working as part of a team starting a local microbrewery/brewpub.  We are tracking towards a crowdfunding campaign around the end of the calendar year.

I am fascinated by the power that exists within the crowd.  There seems to be a latent energy such that if they are presented with an opportunity they can grab onto, and a structure that allows them to share with others in their crowd, the possibilities are endless.

It seems as though one of the main choices in trying to tap into the crowd is whether you are going to try to push them over the tipping point, or create an environment where they are able to naturally move themselves past the tipping point.

The later takes more work and creative thinking to setup, but it seems the potential to be reached in this approach is much greater!