Spooky Action

Change This!

2008-07-12T21:49:00.002-07:00

ChangeThis has been the home for people with great ideas who wanted to spring them on an unsuspecting world.

Two recent essays deserve particular mention. The first is The Connection Culture: A New Source of Competitive Advantage, Michael Lee Stallard's prescription to improve your organization and the world. Reading it is the best use of your time right this minute, unless you have to give someone the Heimlich Maneuver or perform CPR. In all seriousness, if everyone read Michael's message and took it to heart, the world would become a better place.

If your focus is only on creating dramatic, lasting, positive changes in large companies or organizations (something which usually ends in either outright failure or declaration of victory and acceptance of poor results), then you need to read Mike Kanazawa's People Don’t Hate Change, They Hate How You’re Trying to Change Them. This manifesto reveals many of the key tenets found in his book Big Ideas to Big Results. If you can only read one book on the subject, this should be that one book. You still have to decide what you want to change, but Kanazawa’s book, co-authored with Bob Miles, provide a detailed roadmap for HOW to accomplish the change. I’ve seen a lot of change initiatives, and their Accelerated Corporate Transformation (ACT) process incorporates every key lesson I’ve ever learned. I’ll be posting a review of the book soon, but you can read the manifesto right now.

I wish I’d been able to read both of these pieces earlier in my career. They’re clear and compelling and fun reads. I’ll leave you with a pull quote from People Don’t Hate Change, They Hate How You’re Trying to Change Them:

”Think about it…is your goal to get the most out of your people or the best out of your people? You typically can’t get both.”

When Things Become Uncertain, The Certain Becomes More Valuable

2008-07-07T20:33:00.003-07:00

Think about the title of this article. I wrote it in a note to a loved one, and I'm trying to decide if it's profound or trite. Something tells me it's the former. I know that the something is the cognitive bias toward emotionally weighing DOWNSIDE risk much greater than UPSIDE risk. We perceive the potential pain much more acutely than the potential gain. Why?

The video What's Going On In There gives the answer I believe. Downside risk poses a threat to our identity. WE made a bad decision. Aligning that fact with our entire set of existing opinions would be a painful process. Do we really want to do that?

As economic news starts to create a perception of increased downside risk, what will the natural human reaction be? Seek sanctuary in certainty; mitigate those risks! Only this can put our minds at ease. And mental tranquility is the most precious commodity on the planet.

And you know this to be true.

The general mindset, as characterized by the phrase "keeping up with the Joneses", is one of being afraid of being perceived as not as good as someone else, regardless of how good one has it. All downside focus, no appreciation. There is a virtual mountain of literature on how the cosmetic and fashion industries have used such tools against women, but the total spending by those industries pales in comparison to the outlays directed to "male performance anxiety". Entire networks and indeed entire professional sports (e.g., Fox and the NFL), would cease to function without the massive cash infusions from makers of pills that only work in unplumbed bathtubs! (Note: I'd like to shake the hand of the advertising man that made up "priapism"; talk about your billion dollar ideas! "one potential side effect is that you could win the woody lottery" That should have spawned a congressional inquiry. No, wait. I'm sure it did. Just not an official one.)

And that's the perfect proof of my theorem! Sure, there were aging boomers who couldn't fly the flag at full mast anymore, but the volumes of pill and cream sales cover them and everyone who's had a real problem for the last 165,00 years. And that's only THIS YEAR'S sales! All of last year's sales and all of next year's sales will be to guys who are physically able, BUT HAVE BECOME SPOOKED BY THE ADS. So why risk a tepid response when you have a shot at being the poster boy for priapism? When things become uncertain (or just perceived as uncertain), the certain (or even the perceived certain) becomes more valuable.

Well, this post certainly didn't go where I planned, but I think I've made my point. I'd like to say just one more thing. It's a sad day when I think to myself "I wish they'd bring back hard liquor and cigarette ads to television so I can watch football with my kids again".

What's Going On In There?

2008-06-29T09:52:00.003-07:00

Have you ever looked another human being in the eye and wondered "What's going on in there?" Me, too! So I spent years looking for workable models of how the brain works and how to use those models to help facilitate change. Here's what I found:

Enjoy, and let me know what you think in the tip jar or comment box, or just pass it along to two people you think might enjoy it!

The Science of Being Well Audiobook

2008-06-19T21:31:00.005-07:00

Recently my audio recording of The Science of Getting Rich passed the 10,000 download mark. I am grateful for all of you who have enjoyed and benefited from it.

A few months ago Frank in New Zealand asked me to create an audiobook of Wattles' "The Science of Being Well". It seemed a simple enough thing to do. But the Great Trash Compactor of Life had other plans for me.

Painful ones.

I guess I wasn't thinking and acting in the Certain Way.

But today I am pleased to announce that I have completed the audio recording of The Science of Being Well! I took the liberty of recording an introduction:

This book, The Science of Being Well, is the second in a series by Wallace D. Wattles. The first was about how to get wealthy; this one is about how to get healthy. As in the Science of Getting Rich, Wattles advises you to think and act in a Certain Way.

What I found most interesting about this book is that almost one hundred years after its publication, cancer research is bearing out his assertions regarding the Certain Way of thinking. As for the Certain Way of acting, the author discusses the four voluntary functions of eating, drinking, breathing, and sleeping. You'll find his advice straightforward, refreshing, and (in these days) controversial - for the good!

As with the first book, the concepts are simple. The challenge is in having the discipline to apply the concepts with faith and persistence. The good news is that you should see results faster with the Science of Being Well than with the Science of Getting Rich.

Enjoy this book, and when you do, please express your gratitude by hitting the tip jar at spookyaction.blogspot.com. It will reinforce your faith in the Principle of Life, and you'll feel better for it - literally, according to the author.

Wattles does actually say that in the book, though not necessarily about Spooky Action. But I really could use your help right now.

Enjoy the book in perfect health!

Mike

The Science of Being Well

Introduction
Preface
I. The Principle of Health
II. The Foundation of Life
III. Life and Its Organisms
IV. What to Think
V. Faith
VI. Use of the Will
VII. Health From God"
VIII. Summary of the Mental Actions
IX. When to Eat
X. What to Eat
XI. How to Eat
XII. Hunger and Appetites
XIII. In a Nutshell
XIV. Breathing
XV. Sleep
XVI. Supplementary Instructions
XVII. A Summary of the Science of Being Well

The Wrath of the HR Gods Has Me Bouncing and Flapping

2008-05-13T20:28:00.002-07:00

Somewhere in the back of my mind I suspected it could end disastrously, but I went ahead anyway.

I published the The Ten Worst Job Interview Questions Ever and invoked the wrath of the HR gods. A few weeks later, I was asked to participate in a Reduction in Force with many of my co-workers. The timing was bad for this to happen, but I guess it shows that opportunity does knock when you least expect it.

One thing that helped me prepare for the aftermath was Barry Moltz's book Bounce. In a Q&A I had with Barry about the book he said this:

"I get sick and tired of people saying that failure is there is always something to learn from failure. We are continually reminded by those around us that failure is an important ingredient in the next success, possibly even a prerequisite. We tell ourselves that failure “happened to us” so that we could learn some important lesson that would later propel us to even more success.

Sometimes failure just sucks. There is absolutely nothing to learn."

Was there anything to learn from this? Working for an acquiree in the financial services industry wasn't the best place be in early 2008? Analysis over. Time to turn the page and bounce.

One thing I did was create mikedewitt.net. It's a place where I can showcase things I've written and done in more depth than a resume or blog. It'll also be the place where I publish my future experience design work. I've collected some things from Spooky Action and BusinessPundit to start, but there'll be more coming in the future. I'm even finishing up the Business Process Transformation video. Why don't you pop over and give me some feedback (we bouncers have thick skin)? Besides, haven't you always wondered "What does that guy do when he's not bloviating here?"

So now that I've bounced, it's time to start flapping. No, not literally. I'm referring instead to the "Butterfly Effect". Lisa Haneberg, one of my favorite management authors, recently explained the concept in her essay The Butterfly Effect:

"Simply put, the butterfly effect is the notion that something as small as a flap of a butterfly’s wings can make a big impact – like causing a tornado on the other side of the world. The flapping wings move the air and the effect reverberates. If the butterfly hadn’t flapped its wings or had flapped in a different direction or with more or less force, the tornado may not have occurred in the same place or time, or at all.

Actions lead to reactions - sometimes. We flap our butterfly wings and things happen that we cannot predict or control. If we look back on our lives over the past five years we might be able to piece together the small changes that impacted the larger ones, but often we have no idea. People we don’t know and who don’t know us are flapping today in directions that will change our circumstances next week.

Complex systems – they’re fuzzy, enigmatic and wonderful. And we can put the imperfect unpredictable nature of humanity to work to improve our lives and the planet. The key to harnessing the power of the butterfly effect is that small, daily, directionally correct actions can change the world. Our goals define the futures we want to create. When our flaps are focused and frequent, our energies reverberate in a direction aligned with our goals.

Conversations are like invisible relay races. We love to talk about the conversations we have had. We tell our friends about what our others friends are up to and we spread interesting news like butterflies on speed. We talk and things change. If we communicate well and repeatedly, things change quickly – the relay is on and we have hundreds of flapping butterflies on our team. Conversations are the most potent types of butterfly flaps especially when you share your goals and seek diverse input from others."

You really owe it to yourself to read Lisa's essay in it's entirety.

So here is my flap in your direction. My resume and background are over at mikedewitt.net. I'm a technology and change management expert. I love to help organizations leverage technology for big business benefit. Do you need some of that or know someone who does? I'll give 1% of my first year's gross pay to the person who reads this post and whose flap starts the chain that leads to that work (I'm also happy to donate the money to your favorite charity). You can reach me through the comments or e-mail me at mdewitt@alum.mit.edu. Let's brew the perfect storm, shall we?

Special note to Bob Hruzek: I think this qualifies for the mash-up project. What say ye?

The 10 Worst Job Interview Questions Ever

2008-04-01T16:40:00.013-07:00

What was the worst job interview question you were ever asked?

Over at BusinessPundit, I created a list of the top ten worst job interview questions of all time (okay, modern day english-speaking all time). Here's the intro:

Good interview questions can help employers judge the technical qualifications, people skills, problem solving approach, and team fit of prospective employees. Bad interview questions do none of those. Instead, they confuse, irk, or offend the applicant (often in combination). Our ten worst job interview questions exhibit one or more of the following characteristics:

Illegal - Ask about certain topics and it’s “Do not pass Go; do not collect your next paycheck.” Your employer has been advised to reduce its liabilities, and that means you.

Useless - questions test trivial knowledge that has no bearing on aptitude or generate pseudopsychological responses that Dr. Phil could bloviate on for an entire episode.

Hackneyed - There’s an old saying: “If you’re one in a million, you have 1,000 clones in the People’s Republic of China.” These questions were once original, but they’ve been asked so many times that everyone has memorized ‘pat’ answers to them.

Here are BusinessPundit’s ten worst job interview questions, along with the characteristics that got them on the list, and some possible rejoinders. Please note that being asked any of these questions should make you seriously consider whether you want to entrust your livelihood and sanity to this organization.

Find out which questions belong to the following answers:

“No, but I’m always open to new experiences”
“In mirrors and on YouTube. Unless I’m undead; then only on YouTube.”
“I’ve been tested to 12 ft-lbs per square inch”
“Jack”

I'm sure you have a bad interview experience to relate, or try your hand at coming up with snarkier answers to the questions. Come join in the fun!

[UPDATE] After 112,885 hits, 1859 Diggs, and 208 comments (okay, half are mine), I think I can state that the post has some entertainment value. Go on and check it out if you haven't already.

Rules of the Game of Life

2008-03-14T18:03:00.002-07:00

Rules of the Game of Life:

You get to make up the rules
You have to live by those rules
Return to step one IF YOU DARE

Anything you'd like to add?

Bounce! - Q&A With Author Barry Moltz

2008-02-27T14:47:00.002-07:00

Barry Moltz's book "Bounce" may do more to help you understand the reality of career paths and success and failure than anything else you'll ever read. I'd just wish I'd read it backwards, because then everything would have been clear to me on the second page.

That second-to-last page used the analogy of the old text-based computer games like Adventure, where you explored an online world by looking around, picking things up, and trying to use them to interact in that world. It was never a simple linear process. No one expected to solve all the puzzles and win the game on the first try. Customers would probably be angry if they did! Most advancement came from trial and error learning, but sometimes bad things happened randomly. Sometimes you had to backtrack a level or two because of a miscalculation. But that was part of the game experience and no one felt shamed for having made a mistake.

In Bounce! Moltz posits that life works the same way and that we should have the same attitudes about "failures" and "setbacks". I had the opportunity to ask Barry a few questions about the book to give you a flavor for it.

Question: What was the inspiration for the book?

Answer: I get sick and tired of people saying that failure is there is always something to learn from failure. We are continually reminded by those around us that failure is an important ingredient in the next success, possibly even a prerequisite. We tell ourselves that failure “happened to us” so that we could learn some important lesson that would later propel us to even more success.

Sometimes failure just sucks. There is absolutely nothing to learn.

When I lost my largest client because they were indicted by the SEC, what did I learn? That I wasn’t supposed to do business with criminals? I knew this… When my best employee left my company because her husband got a job in another state, what was I to learn? Not to hire people who are married?

If failure was such a necessary ingredient for success, then when we fail we would be sending emails to all the people in our business network that read something like this:

To: Everyone I Know
From: Barry Moltz
Subject: Yippee! Another Failure

“I can’t help but brag that I have failed yet again. I am writing because I knew you would want to share this wonderful moment with me. I am so proud of myself because as a result of my latest failure and all the unbelievable things I was able to learn, I am now so much closer to that big financial success I deserve. I am certain that my time is coming soon since I have failed at an increasing rate lately, and I have learned so much. Please stay in touch so I can share with you when I even have an even greater failure and get that much closer to the success you all want for me.”---Your Close Business Friend, Barry

Failure is valuable only when we realize it is a normal part of the business process even when there always isn’t something to learn.

Question: You identify ten building bands for bouncing. Is there any special order to them? Are some natural precedents of others? Is that implied in the order of the chapters?

Answer: Yes, there are an order to the bands like the chapters are ordered. The first thing you need to appreciate is your environment. Just like your parents told you, it matters where you are from. Culture shapes your individual tolerance for success and failure. These archetypes of success teach you how others define it and the pressure they put on you with their definition. They drive you crazy and hold your back.

Next you need to develop Humility. Our business careers are not linear. Life changes very quickly and bad times will happen to you. We all screw up sometimes. Randomness and luck play a large role in financial success. With humility, we Face the Fear of Failure and Give Up the Shame. Failure is an option, a good one in fact. It is okay to be afraid. Grieve your failures and wallow in it if you need to. Hold a “Pity Party”, but let go whatever shame you have absorbed and deflect what others are placing on you. Remember that Failure Gives a Choice: We don’t always learn from failure. It provides an escape hatch to find a different choice. We need to learn that Process matters more than Outcome. We are too focused on the binary outcome: success or failure. We need to realize business is all about cycles and focus on the process more than the outcome for better decision making that will improve our chance of success.

Finally, we need to set Patient Goals– Reality eventually collides with the dream that has been thrust upon you. Create your own dreams. Set goals before you start so you know what success and failure look like when you get there. We need to define Own Measurement System. This requires that we Value Action. Stop reading my book and see what comes next. Experience builds confidence.

Question: Which of the bands do you think are the hardest to internalize intellectually? Which are the hardest to put into practice?

Answer: The hardest ones are to set patient goals and define your own measurement system. There is a lot of pressure in our society on success. We are all addicted to achievement. We need to pause and be thankful for what we have today. We need to lower the bar a bit because there is always someone that is going to be richer, smarter or better looking than you. We need to downsize our dreams. In this, we can begin to define our own brand of success – not someone else's.

First, we need to set patient, interim goals. I remember when I asked my Zen master when I first began mediating, how long I should mediate for- 15 minutes, half hour or an hour each day? He said that I should try it for a minute for each day for the next few months. If I was successful, I should go to two minutes. This is where I learned when striving for new goals, what we important in the climb was not even to get a foothold. Get a toehold…if you can get some progress toward your goal, you have a better chance of achieving it in the long run.

We also need to strive for minimal achievement. We need to focus on being good at a few things and focus on doing one thing well at a time. This is so difficult in a society of multi- tasking which is really ineffective. There is tremendous power through focus.

Question: You talk in the second chapter of the book about you fascination with One Hit Wonders? I thought being a one hit wonder was a bad thing and how does it relate?

Answer: What happens if you go out there and only hit that big success one time like those one hit wonders? Remember, it doesn't matter how many times you fail. It doesn't matter how many times you almost get it right. No one is going to know or care about your failures, and neither should you. All that matters in business is that you get it right once. Wayne Gretzky said that “You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take.” We can’t get caught up in the failures. It only matters that we met our success requirements that one time. When things go bad, we can think back to perhaps that one time where the planets aligned, and we got to the goal line.

With true business confidence, we can look back a single success and enjoy it for what it was. Maybe there is only one success on a particular path. We may need to bounce to an entirely different path to get another success. The complete answer to this puzzle can’t be known until the end of our lives. The order of successes and failures does not diminish the high point. Hitting it once can help root a sense of business confidence that will carry through whether the rest of the path is filled with failure, success, or a mix of both. It will give us the resiliency spring to bounce through the rest of our business lives.

Question: Who are the most interesting people you interviewed for this book?

Answer: They are all interesting. But one that stands out for me is Brett Farmiloe. Here is a guy that graduates college and decides that he will travel around the country in a Pursue the Passion Tour to discover what really makes people tick. There is also Scott Jordan, who left being a lawyer and started Scottevest to carry all those gadgets in pockets we didn’t have! He actually now has a clothing line that really is second to none if you travel so much like I do.

Question: There's a lot in this book. In the span of a page and a half you cover IBM's F.U.D., Escape from Cubicle Nation (a fave of mine), and the 'prevent defense'. If I only have an hour to spend with the material, what would you suggest (aside from learning to speed read beforehand)?

Answer: Skip around. Skip entire parts of the book if you want. The short sections have bold headings so this is easy to do. Only read the parts that interest you and will make a difference for your life. Then throw the book away and take action on how it fits into your life.

Thanks, Barry; both for writing this great book and for taking the time to answer these questions. I think people in any point of their career will benefit from reading Bounce!

xyzzy

The End of the Rob May Era at Businesspundit

2008-02-21T06:25:00.000-07:00

For the past five years, one of my favorite blogs - for the subject matter and the quality of the content, has been Rob May's Businesspundit.com. I was disappointed to learn a few months ago that Rob was growing weary of the daily grind and was selling the blog. Today he published his last Businesspundit post. As BP readers would expect, it's excellent:

"I am sitting in a coffee shop this morning breathing a sigh of relief. After almost 5 years of blogging, I am done. This past year, my heart just hasn't been into it, and I think that is reflected in the lackluster posting compared to previous years. I had a contract to fulfill with Creative Weblogging, and it ends today.
...
Five years ago, my views on business were very very different than they are today. So I thought for an appropriate last post, I would examine the top 10 things about business that I view differently than I did 5 years ago. I am not saying these are gospel, or even that they are correct. I think absolutism is a sign of closed mindedness and that any intelligent person should always be adjusting their views slightly in light of new evidence and changing times. Five years from now, I will probably read this post and think that I was wrong about some of these. Nonetheless, this is where my mind stands today."

You can read the top ten here. I'm not so sure he'll change his mind on any of these, but we'll see. He'll still write an occasional post over at BusinessPundit, and he's got a great new blog, Coconut Headsets, where his posts are more in-depth if less frequent.

Thank you so very much for all you've done, Rob; and best of luck on all your new ventures!

P.S. You can watch a video interview of Rob by Jason Falls where he talks about his Businesspundit adventure in part one and gives advice to new bloggers in part two. Great stuff; nice kitchen! ;-)

The Three Timeless Secrets to Firing Up Your Employees

2008-02-18T22:40:00.004-07:00

What if I told you that there were three sure-fire keys to firing up your employees? Would you believe me?

What if I told you that I had collected extensive scientific research supporting those conclusions. Would that convince you? No?

Okay, what if I recounted dozens of stories from throughout history and across industries and disciplines showing how people applied these three secrets again and again to succeed beyond all reason. Would you want to read them?

Imagine if you had the secrets, the research, and the stories. What could you do with all that?

Find out be reading Michael Stallard's Fired Up or Burned Out. You'll be glad you did.

You're still here? What more do you want? For all you left-brained logical thinkers the research is all laid out. For you right-brained thinkers there are enough stories for everyone in your organization. For knuckle draggers like me there are the stories of Ulysses S. Grant and the Marquis du LaFayette. For the more enlightened you have Anita Roddick of The Body Shop and Dr. Fred Epstein (don't know Dr. Fred? His story alone is worth the price of the book!).

Why is the diversity of stories important? Because unless you're raising a clone army your team consists of people with a variety of experiences, learning styles, and values. The beauty of this book is that it gives you specific tools to address all of them in their own terms.

And THAT is what makes this book such a powerful transformational tool. Ready to click on THE LINK NOW?

Of course, if you don't want to attempt this type of transformational work yourself, E Pluribus Partners will gladly offer their assistance.

But you don't NEED them. The book has a section with specific, concrete steps on becoming a leader with can make this happen.

I have been burned out and I have been fired up. I've managed fired up and burned out employees. So have you. Life is too short to be lived 'burned out'.

Remember what it feels like to be part of a fired up team? How alive did it make you feel? How energized were you each day when you woke up?

Think about what a totally fired up life would be like.

It's there for the creating. Here is the map. You need only to be bold enough to follow it.

DO IT NOW!

P.S. On a personal note, I have mixed feelings as I write this. One of my own writing projects focused on much the same principles; so I'm a day late and a dollar short. Rats! On the other hand, my own research galvanizes my endorsement of the ideas in this book. Get it. Use them. Live long and prosper (or something to that effect).

P.P.S. Michael has started a blog which is as well written and engaging as the book. You should check it out.

P.P.P.S. Full disclosure: the links above are Amazon Associate links, which means that when you click through, buy the book, and transform your work life, I'll get a dollar.
Wait. You get career fulfillment and I get a Whopper Jr?
I'd be disappointed, except that I know that someone who benefits from the book will need the services of someone like me, and all will work out in the end!

Science of Getting Rich Free Audiobook - 5,000 downloads!

2008-02-04T12:36:00.001-07:00

This weekend the free audio version of The Science of Getting Rich reached the 5,000 download milestone! That's about 4900 more downloads than I expected when I recorded it.

I would like to thank Rick Cockrum and Lyman Reed for linking to the program; I'm sure that's where most of the hits came from.

If you are interested, you can learn more about the program at the original post. And thanks to everyone who took a listen!

UPDATE: You can now listen to The Science of Being Well, courtesy of me! And please hit the tip jar. Or else it's all cat pictures all the time...and I'm not kidding. Okay. I am.

Wrath of the Football Gods - The Cold, Dark End of the Harlan Era

2008-01-21T06:25:00.000-07:00

Back in November of 2005, Spooky Action broke the news about a curse on the Green Bay Packers

"Green Bay Packer Fans: Do you get the feeling the Pack is cursed this year?

I have good news and bad news for you.

The bad news is that the team IS cursed.

The good news is that the curse could end as soon as 2007."

The specifics of the curse:

"I don't like what I'm seeing here. At least they didn't include a team beauty salon. But they're turning this place from a stadium teams used to fear into the Green and Gold Resort and Day Spa. Those guys are about this far away from invoking my wrath!"

Time passes...

"That's the last straw!!"

"What?"

"See that little plaque in the middle there?
It marks the fact that we are standing in Harlan Plaza!"

"But isn't he still alive?"

"Very much so, but he and Sherman are going to get the Moses treatment for all this. They'll never get to the Promised Land of football. In fact, they'll never win another playoff game!"

And aside from two wins over Mike Holmgren (who committed the larger sin of making Super Bowl XXXII all about him), Green Bay has played in four playoff games (3 at Lambeau where the team had never lost), and each has ended in bitter disappointment.

Harlan, who extended his term as President of the club after unspecified 'issues' forced him to fire his hand-picked successor, is now officially retired after the Packers' season ended in a 23-20 overtime home loss to the New York Giants.

But is this the end of the curse? Let's check in with Vince and Curly...

"Well Vince, no mercy for Harlan?"

"What part about 'The Moses Treatment' wasn't clear, Curly?"

"But now he's retired. Is this the end of the curse?"

"Technically, yes, but there's another problem."

"What's that?"

"The new Lambeau Field has been an economic boon to the community as a year-round attraction - a sort of football theme park, but as a venue for professional football it's about as intimidating for opposing players as a trip to Disneyland. The new Lambeau turned out to be a Faustian bargain for the team and the community.

Take the preparation for last night's game. Both teams knew it was going to be very cold. So what did the Packers do to prepare?"

"Practice outside to prepare for gametime conditions?"

"Not exactly. That would have been the obvious choice, but instead Mike McCarthy had them practice indoors with footballs that had been stored in a freezer!"

"That's just wrong..."

"Too clever by half, if you ask me. But McCarthy and Ted Thompson have made a lot of good moves this year, and progressing this far with the youngest team in the league was great work! Hopefully they'll learn from this experience. If you're going to play home games in January in Green Bay, you'd better be able to handle those conditions..."

"...but I hear the weather in Tampa is nice in February. That sounds like a nice place to plan a team trip next year!"

A Moron I Want to Learn From

2008-01-07T15:07:00.000-07:00

Mark Joyner, who I figured was a guru at anything internet, has confessed to being a blogging moron. That hasn't stopped him from creating a new online course about blogging, which he is making available free to get feedback and blog plugs. If you insert the following text into a blog post, you can play, too!

I'm evaluating a multi-media course on blogging from the folks at Simpleology. For a while, they're letting you snag it for free if you post about it on your blog.
It covers:
The best blogging techniques.
How to get traffic to your blog.
How to turn your blog into money.
I'll let you know what I think once I've had a chance to check it out. Meanwhile, go grab yours while it's still free.

I'm guessing the blogging moron has turned out something pretty compelling, but as the boilerplate says: I'll let you know...

"it recreates the experience of being a unicorn with a rocket-launching horn"

2007-12-13T12:06:00.000-07:00

Popular Mechanics has its list of the Ten Worst Gadgets of 2007. The writing is priceless, such as the title quote. Check it out and comment on any products you think should have made the list!

What I Learned from Youth Hockey

2007-12-10T00:29:00.000-07:00

Growing up in Green Bay WI, I spent plenty of time on ice skates. I probably was smaller than the kid in this photo when my dad first "laced 'em up" for me. But it wasn't until I was ten that I got involved in a formal hockey program. At the time, I was one of the smallest kids on the team, but I did have two things going for me:

I was lightning fast
I was fearless

Hockey has been called a 'collision sport' as opposed to a 'contact sport' because of the technique of 'checking' opponents. If you've ever seen a hockey game, you will no doubt recall players slamming into others and knocking them into the boards. That's checking.

Anyway, during one of our early practices our star oversized player had the puck in one corner and I flew almost the length of the rink and decked him with a perfect check. Unfortunately, his buddies were watching and laughed uncontrollably because a pint-sized teammate had just leveled him. I was pretty proud of myself, but he knocked the smerk right off my face by hitting me from behind a minute later, sending me crashing into the boards head first.

And he got sent to the penalty box for it.

As we were warming up for our first game, the coach pulled me aside and pointed at a large player on the other team. "Mike," he said, "the first chance you get, give that player the hardest check you've ever thrown."

The game started and it wasn't a minute into the first period when I had my first chance. The guy took the puck in one corner and was looking to make a pass when I streaked across the ice, jumped, and sent him sprawling to the ice. The opposing bench broke into peals of laughter and jeers. I turned and started to skate toward the action. My checkee got up and tore after me and executed a perfect, but illegal cross-check in the back (sending me flying).

Of course, he got sent straight to the penalty box, we went on a power play, and with five skaters to their four we easily scored!

You can guess where this is headed, can't you? Yep, I used the same tactic all season long and in nearly every game the exact same thing happened. Sometimes my 'taking one for the team' helped, and sometimes it didn't. The tactic was good for one goal only.

So what did I learn from this experience? A few things, actually.

First, you can gain an advantage on an opponent by getting inside their head. My coach knew that the best kid on each team had a super-sized ego and would not stand for being embarrassed by a much smaller opponent. They were also not mature enough to wait for a legal opportunity to retaliate.

Second, there is always a way to make your mark in any endeavor. I was 'just a guy' (as the scouts say) aside from my 'special talent', but I was able to make a meaningful contribution in an unorthodox way.

Third, your helmet, pads, and mouthguard are you best friends on the ice! I got tossed around like a rag doll on some of those cheap shots, but I never broke anything (for which my mother was very grateful).

This post is a late entry into Robert Hruzek's What I Learned from the World of Sports group writing project. Check out the other entries; [Tony the Tiger voice] they're great!

Photo courtesy of fatal Cleopatra at Flickr.

The Best Business Book of 2008

2007-12-07T12:05:00.000-07:00

Yes, you read that right. Below is my review of David Maister's upcoming book Strategy and the Fat Smoker. No offense to any other authors with upcoming books, but this book is truly remarkable. Check it out:

Online Videos by Veoh.com

[Note: If you're having trouble with the embedded version, try this link to the video at Veoh. And sorry for the inconvenience.]

You can also find out more at David's website.

Another Inconvenient Truth - The Roots of Illegal Immigration

2007-11-15T12:03:00.000-07:00

Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata
Alvaro Vargas Llosa goes to southern Mexico to meet with Emiliano Zapata's grandson, and provides you with the context you need to understand the roots of illegal immigration:

"What has been the consequence of a century of collectivization of the land? In the 1990s, when trade policies became more liberal, Mexico's rural population found itself caught up in an extremely inefficient system that was undercapitalized, making it very difficult for Mexican peasants to compete with the outside world. When the government finally allowed the villagers to sell the ejidos, something they had been prevented from doing since 1917, many of them put their land on the market and left for Mexico's cities. When the urban areas did not offer improved conditions, they migrated to the United States. "If my grandfather came back," ponders Emiliano, "he would die of sadness."

Read the whole thing.

Book me, Dano!

2007-11-14T05:09:00.000-07:00

Rick Cockrum, of Shards of Consciousness tagged me with a book meme. Okay, Rick. Here you go:

How many books do I have? A couple hundred.

What is the last book I read? Strategy and the Fat Smoker, by David Maister. It doesn't officially ship until January, but I'll be putting up a review soon! Quite possibly the only book on management you will ever need...

What is the last book I bought? A Crack in the Edge of the World, by Simon Winchester, one of my favorite authors. The story of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, as only the author of Krakatoa can tell it.

Five Meaningful Books:

Are You Ready to Succeed, by Srikumar Rao. Incredibly powerful book that will change the way you look at life and the world.
Critical Chain, by Eli Goldratt. You have probably read The Goal, but this (and It's Not Luck) are better. You will never look at a project plan the same again!
Influence, by Robert Cialdini. If you can only read one of these books, get this one! It will change the way you look at how your brain works.
The Science of Getting Rich, by Wallace D. Wattles. I'm partial to this free audio version of a book that lays it out plain and simple. It's like Strategy and the Fat Smoker in that respect!
Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson. A ripping yarn, magnificently written! Wonderful for all ages.

I don't tag people, but feel free to create your own answers to the questions!

Audacity for Podcasting Video Primer

2007-11-13T12:00:00.000-07:00

Joanna Young recently posted What I Learned From Podcasting over at Confident Writing. In the post she mentioned being challenged when editing the audio. I commented that I liked the freeware audio editor Audacity, which made podcast editing simple. I offered to create a quick tutorial if she was interested, and she took me up on it!

So I grabbed my freeware screencam application, CamStudio. I hadn't had much practice with it, but was able to create something workable (although you be the judge of that). There's a little problem with screen/audio synchronization in the middle; I've still got things to learn.

Topics covered in the video:

Recording speech
Trimming vocal tracks
Time shifting tracks
Adding additional tracks
Splitting tracks
Adding bumper music
Exporting project as an MP3 file

Online Videos by Veoh.com

Any comments and suggestions are cheerfully accepted in the comment box!

What I Learned From a Hole in the Sky

2007-11-08T06:51:00.000-07:00

The scene: a mill town in the upper Midwest. A sunny spring day with a warm breeze hinting at the promise of impending summer. A high school track abuzz with activity. Junior high schoolers running and jumping and tossing heavy objects.

At one end of the track infield a group of boys were using tape measures mark their steps for the pole vault event. There I was, a smallish lad, going about my pre-competition routine completely unaware of the magnitude of the events that were about to unfold.

There are a couple of facts that will provide the proper context for the rest of the story.

1) I wasn't a very good pole vaulter. In 7th grade my highest vault 7'6'' (world class high jumpers were doing that). In 8th grade, my best was 8'6''. Here, at the final meet of 9th grade, my best was - you guessed it - 9'6''. That wasn't awful, but our team's top entrant (let's call him Jim), had a best of 10'6'', and had been clearing 11'' in practice.

2) Improvements in vaulting occurred in small increments; usually 3'', but sometimes 6''.

3) I loved to pole vault. Winning would have been nice, but I did it for the sheer fun of flying. Despite plenty of injuries and the drudgery of setup and teardown of equipment each day at practice, I never once gave thought to quitting.

The other important thing about pole vaulting is that while it requires a unique combination of speed, strength, and agility (which I didn't then possess), the greatest challenge is mental. When you stand at the end of the runway, you know all the things that can go wrong (these were pre-helmet days, but that's another story). And when you look at the bar you have to clear, it's usually floating up in the air, with only the blue sky or an occasional cloud behind it. Perspective-wise, it's WAY up there! And if you let those thoughts seep into your mind, you're sunk (he says from experience).

But not on this day. There was a large berm behind the other end of the track, and on that berm stood a massive old elm tree. When we started vaulting at 8' (you always start low just to get on the board), the bar was in the middle of the tree trunk. It looked like I could high jump it! I cleared 8' on the first try. I cleared 8'6'' on the first try. I cleared 9' on the first try, too. So did Jim, for whom it was the first height of the day.

Next up was 9'6'', my best height ever. The bar was now at the first row of branches. A little too high for me to high jump, but definitely vaultable. And I cleared it on the first try. So did Jim, only he cleared it by a foot.

The bar was moved up to 10'. I missed the first time, but easily cleared the bar on my second attempt! My family and friends were both excited and completely befuddled (I know this because they later told me so; they were kind enough to express only excited on the track). Jim cleared the height on his first attempt. But nobody else did. He was feeling pretty good, because his primary competition was gone and all he had left was one scrub who was now in completely uncharted territory.

10'6'' was next. I was up first. Good thing I'd forgotten I was a scrub and focused solely on that bar in the lower limbs of that elm tree. Piece of cake! And I cleared it on my first try. Nobody was more suprised than my mother - except Jim, who proceeded to miss on his first attempt, which put me in the lead (!), but he cleared the bar on his second attempt.

Now the bar was set at 10'9''. Since this was such a higher height than I was used to, I had to adjust my hand placement on the pole and lengthen my run a bit. This isn't an exact science, and a major contributor to why incremental improvements are generally small. On my first attempt at 10'9'' my steps were wildly off and all I could do was run through the pit. Jim narrowly missed clearing the bar. On my second attempt I hit the bar on the way up, but so did Jim.

I tried not to think about it, but if we both missed our next jumps, I would be city champion based on misses at 10'6''!

Before my last attempt, I focused on that tree, and the conviction that the bar was still in my range. I flew down the runway, planted the pole, rocked back, pulled hard, and flung myself over the bar! I laughed on my way back down to the mat!

Jim didn't look so good, but he dug deep and executed a beautiful jump that easily cleared the bar.

Eleven feet, a height neither of us had tried in competition, was next. I nearly crashed into one of the standards holding up the bar on my first attempt. That must have emboldened Jim, because he scraped the bar on the way up on his first attempt, but it stayed on the pegs, and he had the lead.

But I wasn't done. On my second attempt, I knocked the bar off with my elbow, but I got the necessary height. Before my third and final attempt, I visualized myself easily going over the bar with perfect form several time before opening my eyes and starting my run. When it works, that visualization stuff is amazing, because the vault was just as I pictured it. I had now jumped a foot and a half higher than I ever had before! By this time all the other events were complete, so there was a pretty good crowd, and their cheers felt thunderous!

11'3'' was next. The bar was still in the branches of the tree, but when I stood my pole up next to the bar to judge hand placement, there was no denying I was well out of my comfort zone. My first attempt was another aborted run-through. Jim barely missed. Second attempt for me was another run-through; I was starting also get tired. Jim hit the bar on the way up and looked to be losing steam, too.

On my final attempt, I got a great approach and got up to the height of the bar, but not over it, and missed. Jim, knowing he'd won the meet, ran though the pit on his final attempt.

I was a fiercely competitive kid, and was torn between disappointment at not winning and amazement at doing what everyone at that track, including me, would not have believed possible. Heck, I think about it now and it's still hard to believe. If someone just told me the story, I'd be incredulous. I guess truth is stranger than fiction - at least that's been my experience over the past few decades.

So what did I learn from this pivotal event in my life?

Change happens discontinuously. That is: we all like to have goals and plan for incremental, manageable change. Life, however, doesn't work that way! Circumstances and opportunities seem to come unexpectedly, at a time and place of their own choosing. There's an old saying: Luck is where preparation meets opportunity. We can plan the preparation, but can only be on the lookout for opportunity.
How we frame our perception of the world makes all the difference in life. The elm tree created a hole in the sky that changed my perspective dramatically (if temporarily), and opened up the pathway to doing the improbable.
Doing what you love can power you past unbelievable obstacles. My parents humored me and allowed me to stay with pole vaulting even though it was abundantly clear that I was unsuited for it (based on almost three years of performance). But if I'd done the reasonable thing and found another event or sport, I would not have learned that on any given day, the unbelievable can happen - to each one of us.

On that pleasant May evening, I didn't have a full appreciation of those important life lessons. And if I don't focus, it's easy to lose the benefit of that experience in the machinations of everyday life. Thanks, Bob, for challenging me to WILF (yes, it's now a verb) something important, because now it will be easier to remember.

This post is part of Robert Hruzek's ongoing group writing project: What I Learned From. Click the link and check out all the entries. They're fantastic! And you can still participate, too. Click here for more details.

[Photo courtesy of Latvian on Flickr]

Business Process Transformation Video

2007-11-06T21:10:00.000-07:00

Several moons ago Troy Worman asked if anyone could recommend good process design books. I bloviated that I knew a thing or two about the subject and would grace y'all with my wisdom. I thought a video primer on the topic would be novel, and set about creating one.

My old boss Ray Fordyce used to say "He may not be too bright, but he makes up for it by being a slow learner".

Over the past couple of decades I've spent an inordinate amount of time designing and redesigning business processes. I've studied the work of the Japanese manufacturing masters and seen how their work could be adapted in corporate legal departments. I've learned secrets of Chilean political prisoners and Israeli creative masterminds. And I've synthesized them into a cohesive and straightforward system for business process transformation.

Normally I'd charge a premium for this kind of insight, but because I'm experimenting with new media, I'm going to ask you to watch the video (17 minutes) and give me some feedback. I guarantee it'll be time well spent for you, and I'll benefit from your comments. I look forward to hearing from you!

Online Videos by Veoh.com

Think and Grow Buff?

2007-11-01T17:16:00.000-07:00

From Jonathan Fields:

Can your brain make you buff? Imaginary workouts can build strength and fuel weight loss

"Building muscle, it turns out, is not nearly as mechanical as we thought. And, in fact, a recent study by Erin M. Shackell and Lionel G. Standing at Bishop’s University reveals you may be able to make nearly identical gains in strength and fitness without lifting a finger!"

GO READ THE WHOLE THING!

At the end of the article, Jonathan asks:

"If I created an mp3 with a 30-minute, full-body visualized workout to test this research, would you be willing to commit to listening to it 3 times a week for a month and then reporting back your results? If so, let me know in the comments below and if there is enough interest, we’ll run our own study."

This is the kind of experiment that I will gladly be a lab rat in! You can, too. Go leave a comment at Jonathan's post. He needs another couple dozen people to get a quorum. How about you? C'mon, it'll be fun! And when it works, you'll have plenty of conversation fodder for those holiday parties coming up. In fact, by being on this program, you'll be able to keep yourself in better shape during party season...

Two Satirical Gems

2007-10-26T17:06:00.000-07:00

Came across two brilliant works of satire today.

First, via David Maister, is Jonathan Copulsky's Smells Like the Publishing Spirit, which describes his upcoming bestselling book Who's Buying Our Guano.

Second, America Can't Win the War on Fire, by Harvey. The attention to detail is what makes this one special.

Enjoy!

Either Yahoo has a data problem, or you need to sell short RIGHT NOW

2007-10-21T22:10:00.000-07:00

It's 12:09 EDT on Monday, and I noticed something very strange this weekend. Yahoo Finance tracks analyst recommendations of Strong Buy, Buy, Hold, Sell, Strong Sell on thousands of stocks. This weekend a great deal of those recommendations disappeared; zeros across the board!

How could this be?

There are two obvious explanations:

1) This is a computer feed problem at Yahoo that has persisted for a couple of days. Okay, the guy in charge is on vacation, and he'll get to it when he's gone throug the other 200 e-mails he got while he was out.

2) Analysts know something they're not saying out loud. Research shows that the Thompson database of analyst opinions was significantly altered following the dot com crash. If I'm an analyst, do I have any reason to tout stocks (after all, that IS my job) if I don't believe the trend is with me or that a particular stock is a great buy? Yet for the top 25% of stocks in the top 25% of industries in the stock market, most have no analyst recommendations.

Could be nothing; a data glitch. I'm just saying keep your eyes peeled.

UPDATE: I guess the guy got through his e-mails, because the analyst data is back at Yahoo Finance. Darn; it was such a fun conspiracy theory!

Asset vs. Liability Processes

2007-10-10T16:55:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I posted anything here. I've been working on a few things, including a primer on business process redesign. This snippet describes the difference between Asset and Liability processes. I grabbed this great photo from Steve Evans' amazing Flickr photo collection, and then Blabberizedd it. This was a first try, but the results came out irreverently productive enough to post. More soon.