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Leadership topic - wonder

about changes in the market and drives innovation. Comes up with a lot of new and unique ideas; easily makes connections among previously unrelated notions;  Is good at bringing creative ideas of others to market;  has good judgment about which creative ideas and suggestions will work; 

Roadblock – Shuts down discussions before they begin, focuses only on what has been done before, Closed judging language versus focusing on questions and learning

executing Joy

executing Joy

Apr 10, 2021 | , ,

Joy has been complex for the last year, and if you think about it, for a long time.  We have been marinating in people either pointing at others who are keeping them from their Joy, or even more dangerous, how could I possibly be Joyful when I am so downtrodden.  The transference of our own ability to manage… ourselves … to others has been spectacularly executed.  It may be why watching the recent NCAA championship was so fun – it was watching some amazing players who have navigated all of the crap this year and now are at the peak of their Joy…

wonder of Joy

wonder of Joy

Apr 9, 2021 | , ,

I am in a season of 35 one-shot coaching conversations with MBA students who had been taped in a simulation that they were set up to fail in… and no wonder, most did.  Told they only have 15 minutes to convince the COO and CTO to take action, they soon realized there was nothing that would please them… because they had not taken time to ask them what they wanted. Some of the students even dreaded coming to our calls thinking that they were going to learn “what they did wrong”.  And of course, that is not at all what happens…

Joy observation

Joy observation

Apr 8, 2021 | , ,

It is a convenient coincidence that the “empower” words come in the order they are in.  Yes, it is easier to make the acronym work, but these “middle” words tie together particularly well.  That became clear a year or so back when I was talking with a partner who observed that I had lost my Joy.  At first, I was a little taken aback, but as we talked through the assessment, she was right

partners with Joy

partners with Joy

Apr 7, 2021 | , ,

As we discussed with Happiness a few weeks back, Joy can be a fleeting commodity. It often arrives when you may or not be even looking for it, but appears with a smile, a laugh, a look.  You may not know what has caused it, but the endorphin rush in your brain confirms it is real..and wants to recreate it again.  For the last few years, all I knew was that something that I used to have, and had misplaced along the way, not in a dramatic way, more like how you lose your keys.  You know there – somewhere – and you slowly retrace your steps to where you can remember last having them…

Joy management

Joy management

Apr 6, 2021 | , ,

Mistakes are the Joy of management,  You read that right, and by the end of this, I hope to help you see that is true. We like to think that we are there to ensure things are done “right” and “perfectly” but if you read these enough, you know that mistakes are what has made both my life more interesting, and also the music I love the most.  Today’s track is a perfect example of this, going through multiple mistakes to come one of the most important and iconic U2 songs.

Can you engage with Joy?

Can you engage with Joy?

Apr 5, 2021 | , ,

I have spent more than a year avoiding writing about one of the most expressed emotions I have seen escalate daily… and I am not going to engage now.  I have always been more of an optimistic person, and people who know me get tired of me saying 2 phrases.  Both are aspirational, and convey a real sense that I really do want to bring to every conversation.  They are a direct antidote to that other thing that has been circulating and now has taken on a fever pitch in all areas of life… but there I go again.  Let’s spend the week on better things – let’s talk about Joy!

wondering about Faith

wondering about Faith

Apr 2, 2021 | , ,

The wonder of Good Friday is back upon us.  The Faithful focus on 3 major events in the year, and you can get a good argument going on which is the “most” important.  It would mirror the conversation in the Upper Room last night – who is the most important Disciple?  Who is the favorite, who has the most important role in the team?  The bickering and fighting, jockeying for position…it is really a wonder that like many leaders, he would have thought twice about going through with the plan.  After all, were they really worth the price that was to be paid?

Happiness renewed

Happiness renewed

Mar 28, 2021 | , ,

One of the arguments I enjoyed using in Debate was “Causality”. It is something that is often muddy – did this particular thing CAUSE this other thing.  We see it all the time now in our reporting, and often is something that is simply correlated.  A famous one is the Number of People who Drown in Swimming Pools and the Number of films Nicholas Cage stars in – have the same shaped graph. You could imply that one caused the other, but I doubt that would stick.  But do you believe that Happiness causes renewal, or vice versa, or are they even causal?

executing Happiness

executing Happiness

Mar 27, 2021 | , ,

Being a “human doing” is easy for me, and probably the closest common denominator to what integrates Happiness into my day.  If you remember fractions, and frankly who doesn’t, denominator means the quality/number that reduces those crazy-looking numbers into something you can combine together.  Without stretching the math metaphor too far, it means that it is present in all of the things you are working with.  All my best stories include, “I was … “ followed by something I was doing… A “human being” …and being Happy at that… a complicated conversation to execute…

Happiness wonder

Happiness wonder

Mar 26, 2021 | , ,

As I crested the hill west of Tyler as a 17-year-old freshman, Happiness was palpable and real.  My favorite radio station would only get stronger, a good stereo to set up in my dorm room was in my trunk, and an easy drive ahead to take me into the…. Future.  I was as prepared as I could be, and now it was only to wonder how the story would unfold.  Looking back 45 years later, wonder is what I can see in each of the various phases and steps that have landed me here… but Happiness… what actually is that? 

observing Happiness

observing Happiness

Mar 25, 2021 | , ,

In the Will Smith movie 15 years ago, we see a man working to pull himself through a difficult period of his life.  Starting as a Stockbroker, he quickly falls into a series of bad outcomes, until he is clearly not “Happy”.  As we watch this true story brought to life, there is a particular phase he observes again and again. “Thomas Jefferson… how did he know to put the pursuit part in there?  That maybe happiness is something that we can only pursue and maybe we can actually never have it.  No matter what?”

Happiness in engaging

Happiness in engaging

Mar 22, 2021 | , ,

As we round the bend on a year of many things, I was looking at my ring finger.  Being old, it takes a LONG time to heal, and about this time last year, I was rebuilding one of my flower beds.  We have a large surplus of rocks, otherwise known as living on a mountain, and they make easy garden borders.  As I was placing one, the point crushed my finger – right on the nail.  About 10 minutes of pain… followed by a year of the nail turning black, and being like that for most of the last year.  Now, it is almost back to normal, with only a few changes… an interesting metaphor.  What reminds you of what has engaged you for the last 364 days?