Red Shoes Views

2010-03-08T16:10:00.001-08:00

ROA on dis-satisfied employees

Job satisfaction has reached pandemic proportions. More than half of all employees report being unhappy with their jobs, with the highest dis-ease (two out of three) being those member-facing employees under the age of 25. If you would like to work this ROA into a budget try this:

Multiply your total number of employees x 22%*. Then multiply that number by 1.5** times those employee’s average annual salaries. For a group of fifty employees earning $30, 000/ year the total cost of turnover would approach half a million dollars.

*Expected employee departure rate quoted in the January 5th PRNewswire report of research completed by The Conference Board

**The average cost of employee turnover according to J.D. Phillips in The Price Tag on Turnover.

The key to this problem lies not in better pay, benefits, hours or incentives, but one of greater understanding. My specific expertise is in helping organizations develop a culture of peak performance through self awareness. Happiness is a skill and like every other skill it must be learned; or to be more accurate, the habit of making ourselves unhappy must be unlearned.

Our relationship with others is always a reflection of our relationship with ourselves, and yet few organizations take the time to teach people how to be happy. If you would like your team to perform at their best, help them rediscover the fact that they alone are in the driver’s seat of their lives.

2010-03-06T20:48:00.001-08:00

The power of story in making learning irresistible

Since the dawn of time we have learned best through story. Story captures
our attention and involves us in an experience instead of submitting us to a
lecture. Stories also facilitate retention by creating neural connections
to familiar expereinces. Lastly well designed stories evoke emotion
providing powerful anchors to new ideas. We are not thinking beings that
have feelings, we are feeling beings that have thoughts. The feeling part
of us is far more powerful than the thinking part.

I have had clients express concerns about my focus on the "Affective"
component of communications as it relates to Content Vs. Emotion. Content
and emotion are inseparable. The emotional component is merely the weight
of the content and the "weight" is the inclination to act. We have all
heard the phrase "knowledge is power" but if we know things we don't act on,
are they really powerful? I believe our responsibility as a meeting
planner, speaker, teacher, parent is to communicate information in such a
way that action is irresistible. Daniel Goleman in his book Primal
Leadership reminds us that the most important responsibility of a leader is
to "Prime good feeling" in those he leads. I highlight this in my
presentations because it is the component most often overlooked primarily
because it is the most difficult. This is particularly true in times of
stress, when our primitive systems kick into high gear limiting our higher
cognitive abilities. A good friend of ours is the man who started Sylvan
Learning Centers. One of the great lessons he taught me, which is really
the foundation of Sylvan, is: "We don't teach people to make them
successful;we make them successful to teach them".

2010-03-06T05:19:00.001-08:00

We all know people who are obsessed with activity. They are the busiest people on the planet and they are going to make absolutely sure you know it. They wear their "busy badges" like awards on a merit belt, and their favorite badges of all are their STRESS BADGES. They can tell you about the ones they got from their kids, their boss, their coworkers, their spouse, they can even tell you about the one they got on the way to work today. They love to tell you about them because they believe stressing and accomplishing are synonymous. The opposite is actually true. The more stressed we become the more our reptilian survival systems kick in reducing both cognitive ability and creative energy. Stress is not a result of our experiences, but our stories. Regardless of how accurate these stories might be or how deserving the "stressors", the physical stresses they generate do not come at us they come from us. Two years ago, this month, we made up our minds to fire our biggest client. The laundry list of their violations was long, egregious and irrefutable, but the stress created was entirely self-inflicted. We spent countless hours proving our "rightness" at the expense of our happiness. The experience was an invaluable, painful and irreplaceable lesson.

Here are seven ideas to reduce the stressing in your life:

1. Don't try and change your behavior, change your awareness.

2. Notice how you are thinking. Do your thoughts bring you peace or pain?

3. If your thoughts bring you pain, you are resisting what is.

4. By the time you resist anything it is already gone, and there is nothing you have ever done that has ever changed the past.

5. Accept the experience and look for the lesson. EVERYTHING happens to teach us something ABOUT OURSELVES.

6. Appreciate the gift of becoming conscious about your thinking. It is our unconsciousness that brings us pain.

7. Take a bigger view. Step back from the abyss of unconscious emotion and view the abundance of opportunity to grow from the experience.

Turn the Lowest Job Satisfaction in Two Decades into good news

2010-01-05T17:56:00.000-08:00

The January 5th lead article from PRNewswire quoted a survey for the Conference Board which found that only 45% of those surveyed were satisfied with their jobs, and that 22% did not expect to be at their current jobs in the next year. The report further revealed the lowest satisfaction ratings were found for those under the age of 25 and that “interest in work” was down almost 19% since 1987.

You might think that with actual unemployment figures hovering around 18% those working might be thrilled to have any employment; but in fact the opposite is true. Dissatisfaction is a contagion that knows no bounds and respects neither position, place, ability nor acumen. The solution is not one of action, but one of understanding.

The Employee Satisfaction Research Application Analysis is broken down into five components allowing you to select the area of interest and time allocated for study. I use the term “study” so you will not be misled to believe these are things you can check off your to-do list and move on to important things. These are important things. To appreciate the gravity of this report just take 22% of your employees and multiply that number by 1.5 times their annual salary and you will have some idea of the financial ramifications of this research, and that does not even include those “retired on the job”. I would encourage you to read the Disclaimer so you understand why this is so different from my keynote presentations, as well as the Ideas in Action article which provides an easy to follow ten-step process for putting these ideas to work for you.

1. Improving Job Satisfaction: an Employee perspective

2. Employers: Ten Actionable Ideas for improving Employee satisfaction

3. Disclaimer: Keynote vs written word

4. Ideas in Action: Ten steps for transforming your organization through Employee-conducted training.

5. A personal case study: How MSI is learning from our newest client.

1. Improving Job Satisfaction: an Employee perspective

2010-01-05T16:24:00.000-08:00

If you are looking for advice on poisoning or dismembering your boss, this will not be the place to find it. I have also chosen not to include tips on negotiation, boundary management, job hunting or dealing with difficult people. The only difficult person I will address in these ten steps is you. Believe it or not this is the best news you have heard in a very long time because the only person you will ever be able to change is yourself. The good news is you are the only person you need to change to have what Kenny Loggins described in his book as The Unimagined Life.

If the ideas make little or no sense or they make you angry, join the club. I have been studying these ideas for thirty years and continue to feel all of the above at times. If you would like to know more about the source of these ideas, read the personal section of this article. If you would like to discuss or debate the ideas add your comments to this blog, or contact me directly at randy@randymorgan.com.

Please don’t just discard these ideas. There are many easier, and as I have just been reminded by my staff, more commercial ideas I could share, but these are the ten I know can make the biggest difference.

1. LIFE IS A LESSON: It does not matter whether you believe there is a higher power or you are in this on your own, believing there is a lesson in all we experience is a powerful tool to opening your mind to new opportunities. Use this as a time not to take new action, but to create new understanding.

2. ACCEPT 100% ACCOUNTABILITY: Accountability is different than responsibility. Accountability has no history, no baggage. It does not matter how you got here, who your boss or coworkers are. You are the creator of your experience.

3. BE SELF EMPLOYED: Regardless of who you work for approach every day as if this is your own business. Whether your employer appreciates all the extra things you do is of little consequence. The important thing is who you become. Everything else can be taken away, but who you become in the process is by far your greatest job benefit. .

4. FORGIVE EVERYONE AND EVERYTHING ESPECIALLY YOURSELF: Resentment, remorse, blame, guilt, shame are on the very bottom of negative energy scale. Using these emotions to “motivate” change is like pouring gasoline on a house to heat it.

5. CHANGE YOUR LANGUAGE: We only have to listen in to any breakroom conversation to hear stories of how stressed, frustrated, bored, distracted, or 100 other _______ed’s people might be. Each loaded with negative energy and each blaming someone or something for their situation. The next time you are tempted to end your favorite adjective with a passive “ed” try an active “ing” for a more accurate description.

6. BECOME AN OBSERVER: Learn to observe your own inner dialogue. No one speaks to us more than we do, and yet most of the conversation goes on unconsciously and unchallenged.

7. TALK NICE: Studies have shown that more than 77% of our own self talk is critical in nature. We say things to ourselves we would never allow others to say, and then direct this dialogue to others as well. Every thought, every word has a resonance, and that energy that either builds us up or tears us down.

8. GIVE UP ATTACK: We never really attack others, but only the projection of ourselves within them. Consider this next time you are playing that mental game of mash the muggle. Is there a part of you that you see in this person? Also realize that when you get angry or depressed your hypothalamus releases peptides that stress every cell in your body. When you attack others you are literally attacking yourself.

9. VISUALIZE WHAT YOU WANT: See what you want in present tense in all the visceral detail possible. We are very good at picturing and feeling negative experiences, but each time we do so we draw them closer to us. Notice how many times you picture or “Fascinate” about a negative outcome. Then gradually catch yourself in the act, and replace the picture with what you do want.

10. BECOME A VORACIOUS STUDENT OF YOU: The average college graduate does not read one non-fiction book after graduation. We spend countless hours learning skills for everything from accounting to social networking, and yet little if any learning to understand how we think. Remember, “We feel the way we feel because we think the way we think”.

2. Employers: Ten Actionable Ideas for improving employee satisfaction

2010-01-05T16:18:00.000-08:00

These ideas apply to everyone. Regardless of role or position we all benefit from a process of inspired collaboration.

1. LISTEN, LISTEN, LISTEN:“Our greatest obstacle to growth is not what we don’t know, but what we think we do know.” Use these Employee Satisfaction results as an opportunity to make sure your employees are enthusiastic, engaged and empowered. Use anonymous employee surveys and ask that all-important question “what do we do stupid around here”? (view this article to see how one manager creates an environment where 82% of employees rate their workplace either a 4 or 5 as a fun place to work, (5 being “it is so much fun I would pay THEM to work here!”). Compare that to the average work environment where only 20% are enthusiastic, 54% are disengaged, and another 17% are actually working against the system.

2. ACT: If you get feedback, whether positive or negative, appreciate it and act on it. Feedback from either customers or employees is a gift, treat it as such. Only one out of ten customers will tell you if they are unhappy; the rest will vote with their feet. Disengaged employees cost the American economy $350 billion per year in lost productivity. (The Gallup Organization)

3. BE 100% ACCOUNTABLE: It does not matter how you got this way, who your employees are or what the rest of the world is doing. Accept the fact that you create your experience.

4. APPRECIATE THE OPPORTUNITY: Deepak Chopra has a wonderful phrase we hold on to when times are the most challenging, “The best thing that can happen, is happening”. To tell yourself anything less is to tell yourself you are not enough and you don’t have what it takes. You are more powerful than you can even imagine, all you have to do is imagine it.

5. FORGIVE EVERYONE AND EVERYTHING ESPECIALLY YOURSELF: We all do the best we can at the time. There is no value in blaming, criticizing or judging anyone. ANYTIME you blame anyone you a physically attacking your own body.

6. TREAT EVERYONE AS A VOLUNTEER - because they are. People will do what is expected because they are required, but they will do the exceptional when they are inspired. Always remember “The deepest craving in human nature is the craving to be appreciated.” William James

7. GIVE UNREASONABLE FREEDOM: We all have rules imposed upon us that we can do nothing about we also have self imposed rules that inhibit performance, stifle productivity and produce unnecessary stress. The European Heart Journal, January 23, 2008 published an article revealing that “Workload or responsibility had little relation to stress levels. Rather it was how much control an employee had over the work he did and how he did it.”

8. DON'T TAKE FEEDBACK (ANYTHING) PERSONALLY: In Step 4 I said you have all the power which is absolutely true, but the only person you have that power over is you. In the same way you determine how you feel; your employees do the same. Great leaders help people understand the power of our personal stories. Stress is not a characteristic of our times, but of our stories.

9. SHARE THE SCORE: Examine your systems for measuring, sharing, engaging and rewarding employees for continually improving the process. 75-85% of the reason we achieve great results is through creating desirable consequences. See http://ServiceWOW.org for a free whitepaper to help you evaluate your systems.

10. BE A GREAT TEACHER: The ultimate goal of every profession is to make the world a better place. As a leader you have the opportunity to help your employees learn the most important lessons of all - lessons about themselves. When asked what people want most from their career they express a wide range of desires from challenge to authority, meaning, money, growth, and opportunity; but when asked why they want each of those things the answer comes down to one - they want to be happy. Great teachers, through experience and example, teach everyone they touch that happiness is always an inside job.

3. Disclaimer: Keynote vs written word or (Where is the fun in this?)

2010-01-05T16:14:00.000-08:00

The ideas in this series are presented without my trademark humor, but rather as a succinct resource for specific action steps. They are also not the easy Band Aid solutions which mask the underlying causation, but an opportunity to explore the core belief systems that shape our perception.

In keynote presentations I am a humorist. Humor and story are invaluable tools to break down barriers of fear and distrust, to reach core insights that allow for lasting transformation. These ideas have often been characterized as soft skills, but there is nothing soft about them. These are some of the most difficult and life changing skills of all. Peter Senge described these as “Master Skills” because their attainment multiplies the impact of all others. My particular skill is making complicated ideas seem simple. Through a process of mutual rediscovery we find they are skills we have had all along and just forgotten to use.

4. Ideas in Action: Ten steps for transforming your organization through Employee-conducted training.

2010-01-05T16:13:00.000-08:00

Each of these Action Steps provided could easily be a chapter in your “Play Book”. If they are things you are already doing take this time to celebrate WITH YOUR TEAM. We all want to feel we are part of something special but in the midst of the “battle” we forget all we have to be grateful for. If any of these ideas “strike your fancy” and you would like to do more here are ten steps for one very Affective* plan for implementation.

1. MAKE EVERYONE A TEACHER: The best way to learn anything is to teach it. Ask members to select the topics that resonate most with them and have them prepare and train the team on that topic. MAKE SURE THEY ARE SUCCESSFUL. One of the key lessons the founder of Sylvan Learning Centers Berry Fowler taught me was, “We don’t teach people to make them successful, we make them successful to teach them”.

2. MAKE LEARNING A PRIORITY: Growing people should not be something you do if you have the time. Make the time and make it important. If your people don’t grow, neither will your organization.

3. CLEARLY DEFINE EXPECTATIONS: If people don’t know exactly what to expect they will instinctively fall into the fear mode. Define the time their presentation should take, whether handouts are required, and what kind of progress you want to see and when.

4. DEFINE PROGRESS: Schedule check-in and status dates to review progress.

5. TEAMS: Use presentation teams to breakdown departmental or personal barriers.

6. ADDRESS CHALLENGES: Assign “opportunity people” with the topic that most fits their personal growth needs.

7. SUPPORT RESEARCH: Provide resources like books, tapes, articles (or have them write me for assistance). The greatest value of this exercise is not in the presentation, but the preparation.

8. DRESS REHEARSAL: Meet with team presenters in advance to review both presentation and materials. You can also assign team members to perform this function therefore giving all members the opportunity to both present and coach. Include presentation skills. Speaking in front of a group is a frightening experience for many. Use this as an opportunity to enhance presentation skills as well.

9. REVIEW PROGRESS: Begin each new training session with a review, quiz or sharing session of how the previous lesson had been put into practice. Remember that it is easy to begin things. It is difficult to keep the conversation going.

10. REWARD EFFORT: Appreciate super success, fabulous failures and everything in between. “Where we stumble, there lies our treasure.” Joseph Campbell (modified slightly by RM)

*We use Affective instead of effective in all our materials to signify the predominant role our emotions play in peak performance. We are not thinking beings that have feelings, we are feeling beings that have thoughts.

5. A personal case study: How MSI is learning from our newest client.

2010-01-05T16:07:00.000-08:00

The job satisfaction report posted on Tuesday January 5th was personally very resonant with us. I look back to my blog in October where I announced our new association client. We were so excited that there were so many opportunities for improvement. But “others” didn’t see it that way. They liked what they were doing things and saw no need for any of these “so called improvements”. In fact they were more than a little incensed that we would have the audacity to suggest there were such needs despite all the evidence to the contrary.

We could use this as an opportunity to become part of the disengaged and disgruntled (and to be honest we have had our moments) or we could be grateful for the opportunity to learn from the experience. It is important to differentiate here the lessons we are learning. In the past they would have been lessons about who to trust, what situations to avoid and how to deal with that certain type of person, but these are merely symptoms. We could cover them up, avoid them, deal with them harshly, medicate their presence from our minds, or use a hundred other crafty coping systems. In the end we would find there is no end. Life will bring another person, place or thing just like the last. We would find no respite from the insults we must endure because they do not come at us, they come from us.

I expect there are some of you reading this now who would like to, as a client I had been working with for several months last summer said, “punch me in the face”. I promise these ideas are not intended to insult or criticize in any way. They are intended to give you skills to be happier and more productive every day. I do not want or expect you to believe them from the outset, but encourage you to study them, experience them. I am not the creator of these ideas, they have been gleaned from my studies of scientists, social and business leaders, spiritual teachers and my own experiences. I was not raised in a particularly religious home, and my passion for science from an early age made me search for cause and effect in absolutely everything. These ideas have become personally credible for me through an iterative scientific process. Each idea has been expressed in many different ways from highly respected resources. Everything in this world and beyond works in interconnected systems of which none of us is set apart.

2009-10-21T17:49:00.001-07:00

Would you be outraged?

You are experiencing the worst economic times in recent history. You have just invested in a complete online employee survey program. The results have been painstakingly analyzed and reviewed, and you have a plan for action. The entire team is scheduled for a nearly unprecedented early morning meeting to give the consulting team ample opportunity to address the issues identified through the survey process. And your entire staff shows up ………………in pajamas.

Would you be?
a) Outraged
b) Upset
c) Concerned
d) Confused
e) Stupefied
f) Elated

If you were Bill Ferrence, Manager of the Boulder Dam Credit Union, the words tickled, delighted, overjoyed, humbled and grateful would never be enough to describe the significance of this gesture. This was not a sign of protest, but one of solidarity to the core principles that make BDCU a special place to be part of for absolutely everyone - Whether you are a member of the staff, the Roto-Rooter man, who would not take a fee for cleaning the drains before a Saturday company picnic, or the member who waits patiently at the door to see a friendly face and, while he is there, conduct some kind of financial transaction.

In case you have not guessed, this is not your average Credit Union. It looks like many others - tellers, vaults, loan officers, and unfortunately a couple of repossessed RV’s outside - but that is where the similarities end. I am lucky; I know the stories, I know that the PJ’s and curlers were a re-enactment of an audacious morning meeting many years ago. Bill had arrived for an uncharacteristically early morning meeting in his three-piece brown corduroy suit greeted by wide grins smeared in cold cream, framed in curlers, and bedecked in vibrant flannel. This was impertinence at its best, but not to Bill, his position, the members or the challenges before them; but rather irreverence to fear.

The BDCU currency of choice is not one of dollars and cents, but one of love and respect. Ask the young woman who lost her mother and, without resources, was unable to pay for the funeral. In just three hours, the staff donated the anticipated funeral expenses of $900. However, this is not the end of the story. When you give abundantly, you receive abundantly. Recognizing the generosity of the BDCU staff, the Boulder City Family Mortuary donated their services, and more than $500 remained to help the daughter provide for urgent needs.

For those of you cynical enough to be searching for the bottom line consider just three facts:

1. The BDCU has virtually ZERO turnover. New team members come as a result of those that have retired or left the community. 70% of BDCU employees have been with the credit union more than ten years, and 30% more than twenty.

2. 82% of employees rate the credit union either a 4 or 5 as a fun place to work, (5 being “it is so much fun I would pay THEM to work here!”). Compare that to the average work environment where only 20% are enthusiastic, 54% are disengaged, and another 17% are actually working against the system.

3. BDCU has more than 22,000 members in a closed membership community of just 15,000, which means more than a third of their members have kept their membership even though they have left the community.

Seven lessons to put the power of BDCU to work for you: These are not things to add to and check off your “to do” list. We already “do” too much and understand too little. Dis-ease is not a call for action, but for understanding. Once we understand our “why” we will each find our own unique “how”.

1. We each operate everyday out of a mindset of scarcity or abundance, fear or love. Whatever you extend to the world will be returned to you. Give that which you wish to receive.

2. Become aware of the stories going on inside your head. Notice whether they give you pleasure or pain, and realize you are the author. If you don’t like the story, turn the page and begin again.

3. Do not write yourself into others’ dramas. Each of us is the star, playwright and director of our own personal plays. All of the other characters are merely projections of the main character. When someone attacks or belittles you, realize they are only attacking themselves. Leave their play on their stage; go, and enjoy some popcorn.

4. We are not thinking beings that have feelings; we are feeling beings that have thoughts. Whether you are leading a business, volunteer group, family or just yourself, “priming” good feelings is your most important role.

5. Cultivate an irreverence to fear. We live in a culture fascinated with failure and dominated by drama. Choose to believe that all things are possible and that will be true for you.

6. Don’t waste time TRYING to be positive. You are, under all the dysfunction, at your core, an eternal optimist. Observe a child learning to walk or a youngster with their first bike. This is who you are beneath the unconsciousness. Change does not require effort, but awareness.

7. Efforts to resist negativity only create more discontent. Instead, become conscious of your choices. Don’t judge, blame or criticize; simply observe how you feel and notice how you think. We feel the way we feel because we think the way we think

Randy

P.s. It may now not surprise you to know that the girl in the story above is still wearing the class ring purchased for her by the BDCU staff when her family could not afford to buy one.

2009-10-13T17:31:00.001-07:00

At 7:47 p.m. on October 11, 2009, our company became the official meeting planners for the California Resource Recovery Association - CRRA. At least that is when we received the call from Bob Gedert, Executive Director. The fact that he called us after a long meeting day, on a Sunday night, was one of many signs of what a perfect fit we are for each other. When we first began looking for a team to be part of we didn’t know about Bob’s easy laughter, childlike exuberance, or how perfectly the goals of CRRA matched our own. We only knew that we wanted to find an organization that was equally passionate about their mission as we have been about ours.

For fifteen years I have been the red high-topped “maniac with a mission” fanning the flames of organizational and personal passion. Throughout this journey I have often struggled with the boundaries of my messages. Where do you separate sales from service, leadership from personal mastery, humor from content? The fact is, everything is part of the same interdependent system. CRRA understands this continuity and is committed to promoting sustainability in the same way we are dedicated to creating organizations designed for sustaining high energy human performance. Polluting the human spirit is no different than polluting oceans and streams. Waste in the physical world and human spirit are inextricably interconnected.

Organizations that treat employees as disposable find themselves buried in landfills of discontent, while those that respect their stewardship of all resources enjoy enduring bounty. Everything and everyone we touch is part of a perpetual cycle about which we have a choice. Whatever we extend to the world will return to us. If we see separation we will find scarcity. If we see connection we will experience abundance.

Consider the abundance mentality of Wal-Mart, the largest employer the world has ever seen. Their Personal Sustainability Project has allowed half a million people to improve their health, the environment, and their company’s competitive performance. Wal-Mart recently announced their next big project, to create a universal rating system that scores products on how environmentally and socially sustainable they are. Many of us read labels to protect our health, imagine if we did the same thing to protect our environment.

Now let’s bring this idea full circle from a leadership perspective. If we consider the people in your “circle of influence” as your environment, how environmentally and socially sustainable are you as an employer or employee? How about family member or community member? What would your label read? Are you part of the solution or part of the problem? Do you give back or do you take away, do you build up, or do you tear down? This is not an exercise in judgment. Judging yourself or others is one of the most non-sustainable things we can do. Judging ALWAYS pollutes the polluter and the polluted alike because we are all connected.

We are thrilled to be part of the CRRA team and know that through “composting of ideas” and increasing awareness we can create both a more sustainable and enjoyable world for everyone.

Power Vs. Force

2009-10-07T12:43:00.000-07:00

Most Nonprofit and Not-for-profits are struggling both with the economy and with a maturing membership; issues of relevance are becoming more of a challenge. Empty nest Boomers with time to reflect and Gen-Ys coming of age are more interested in why and a little less in how. Combining this with our current economic challenges, we have a biologic predisposition to revert to a more primitive focus of attention based on fear and scarcity. Unfortunately “That which we expect we get”. Instead of preventing that which we wish to avoid, we attract what we place our attention on.

These “Attractive Powers” have been measured and quantified through the use of behavioral kinesiology as described in books like Power Vs. Force by Dr. David Hawkins M.D., Ph.D. Powers are universal and energizing, while the use of Force always creates its own resistance and is a negative drain on ourselves, our organizations and the world as a whole. Envy, blame, guilt and worry are just a few emotions that fall under the self defeating category of Force. These are also the habitual tendencies of individuals and organizations under pressure. Our challenge is then one of cause and effect. Is worrying simply the reasonable response to real problems, or is it in fact the very energy that attracts exactly that which we are trying to avoid. To answer that question all you have to do is ask your body. Do you perform better on a test, sales call, an interview or service situation when you are worried about the outcome? Force is always antithetical to the outcome.

Unfortunately for average organizations in times of stress it is often easiest to comfort themselves with the ineffectual attention to behaviors believing that decisive action is the best remedy. Action is necessary, but it is not one of doing, but one of understanding. Once we “know why” the “know how” is easy. Anyone who has experiences a life threatening illness understands this perfectly. What seemed so confusing or difficult before the diagnoses is now perfectly clear. The challenge is creating that same epiphany without the life threatening event. The truth is every act of Force is a life-threatening event that saps the things that make life worth living. The characteristics of Power; joy, peace, contentment, courage and appreciation are not the result of external events, but universal understanding. They are both the cause and the effect attracting like unto like. We all know this, because we have all experienced it. We have all done the unimaginable, simply because we imagined it. Our challenge is to help people remember. My friend John Scherer uses this phrase in his new book Five Questions that Change Everything, “We don’t change ourselves, we become ourselves, and that changes everything.”

Humor and story unlock the door, science inserts the key and remembering helps us rediscover the best that is in each of us.

PROLIFERATING PANDEMIC

2009-09-03T11:23:00.000-07:00

We are hearing about the impending epidemic of the H1N1 virus, but could the far more important pandemic be the spread of discontent that is infecting a majority of the people on our planet. Maybe discontent just needs a catchy title or more scientific name to bring our attention to its destructive powers. What if the news read the D1C1T1 VIRUS HAS REACHED CATASTROPHIC PORPORTIONS? “Families are being destroyed, communities decimated, businesses crumble and countries stumble.” In a very real sense this is true, but it won’t be on any headline, talk show or magazine cover because it is never in their interest for you to be content. Contented people don’t need. They don’t need new cars, houses or clothes. They don’t need a different past, better spouse or more secure future. They don’t have to keep up, they are up. You may say that I am in need of medication and that you are just as content, satisfied, peaceful as “the other guy” and of course just look at the news- you are far better than most. But just ask yourself as you watch most any three year old. Which of you is more creative, enthusiastic, resilient, optimistic, energetic, accepting, loving? This is who we are at our core. Before you were taught to see scarcity you were surrounded with abundance. The problem is not with who we are, but who we are not. The first step in regaining the best that is in us is becoming aware of the “unconsciousness” that dominates us. Learn to pay attention to how you feel. Don’t look at what you are thinking, but simply how you are thinking. Do your thoughts give you peace? Who put them there? Do you believe your discontent will make you more or less effective? If you believe it is better to be discouraged than encouraged why not try it on a child? This is just the beginning. In the next series of articles we will gradually rediscover the best and discard the rest. Subscribe to this feed to learn the second misunderstanding of thought: Do thoughts push or pull?

THE POWER OF THOUGHTS

2009-09-02T08:14:00.000-07:00

Most of us misunderstand the power of our thoughts. . First we believe they are just simply ideas in our heads. Nothing could be further from the truth. Thoughts are energy, resonance or vibrations that are reflected in every cell of our bodies; and the stronger the emotions the greater their disruption. Thoughts of fear (which include every discomforting thought we have) resonate throughout our bodies creating “scarred” clotting factors increasing our chances of strokes or heart attacks and impairing T-Cells reducing our ability to fight cancers. Everything from the membranes that protect our stomach’s acids from eating itself to our ability to think creatively is inhibited by every thought of discontent. This impact does not end at the boundaries of our skin. We have all been with people whose mere presence lifts us up and others who make our skin crawl. I have never seen a study to confirm this but I wonder. I recently listened to Deepak Chopra, one of my favorite authors, who said that every time we exhale we release 10 to the 22nd power atoms from our body. Atoms that were part of our lungs, heart, liver, and blood are shared with those around us through the simple act of breathing. If we breathe in the unhappiness from another, does it become part of us?

THE PULL OF THE PAST

2009-09-01T10:43:00.000-07:00

Even when there are no “others” to justify our discontent we can always look to our past. Who of us has not earned a little regret or deserves just a bit of remorse. We actually find guilt comforting; it is a familiar place where we can justify our goodness by feeling bad about our badness. If we were not to condemn our past behavior, wouldn’t we by default be that the kind of person who would do such a thing? The fact was at that time we were just exactly “that” person and at “that” time it was the best we could do. “We are not our actions; we are those who act and we act on our best awareness at that time.” There is nothing we have ever done or will ever do that can change the past, whether it was five minutes or fifty years ago. More importantly, whatever you did or didn’t do, whatever did or did not happen, was intended to teach you a lesson about yourself. These lessons are never to expose your weakness, but to reveal your greatness. Without failure how could we know that we could do better? Without doing better how could we be reminded we are better? I use the word “reminded” because this is not something new but only something you have forgotten. You are miraculous. You won the greatest lottery with your odds of conception and defied them further learning to walk, talk, ride a bike and a million other seemingly insurmountable tasks. But often having faced something as inconsequential as the morning traffic we choose to forget our gifts and favor our gripes with attention they do not deserve.

The Eye of the Storm

2009-08-31T10:23:00.000-07:00

Amidst the backdrop of post-hurricane Katrina, I met with the members of the National Eligibility Workers Association recently in New Orleans. Besieged by budget shortfalls and increasing demands, this was a perfect setting to remind us of the storms we all experience. Storms may be personal or professional, serious or seemingly incidental. The reality of our storms is that we willingly (if not consciously) enter into them. We of course are absolutely certain these storms are generated by outside sources, bad bosses, unappreciative employees, demanding spouses, defiant teenagers, attacks on our health, position, esteem or even texting drivers. The list is endless and no matter what we do we are all exposed to the “elements”. The advantage we have over those who could not escape the fury of hurricane Katrina is that we can step into the calm of our own “eye of the storm” by consciously making the choice. This is a simple process, but it is certainly not an easy one. We have all been conditioned over a lifetime of training to look for the causes of our turbulence outside of ourselves. Maybe even more accurately we look the solutions outside of NOW. Follow this blog to receive the each of the new updates as they are available.

How does everyone on your team KNOW the score

2009-07-30T13:03:00.000-07:00

Daily financial reports, annual reviews or does that look on the bosses face carry more weight than all spread sheets in China? Despite our illusions of intellectualism we are at our cores creatures of millions of years of evolution hard wired to perceive our world through the narrow window of threats and opportunities. Like members of a baboon troop who will look to the alpha male every twenty to thirty seconds a majority of our attention is spent within our own tribe looking for signs of threat. Threat to our position, status, self esteem, even survival and the more stressed we are the greater our attention on preserving the “I” as opposed to enhancing the “we”. This is very difference between illness and wellness in both individuals and organizations. This is only amplified by the current state of our economy where the whole of our experience becomes tainted with the consistent presence of fear.

Understanding this primal nature is the first step. Simply being aware of our visceral impact on others allows us to make sure our non-verbal communications are supportive of creating a fear-less environment. But that is just the beginning.

Exceptional service organizations:
-Agree on service standards
-Explicitly measure performance
-Share the score with all members of the service team in a timely and graphic way
-Analyze and respond to systemic issues in a transparent collaborative environment
-Experiment with service improvement initiatives
-Incorporate lessons into new service standards
For more tips on enhancing your service delivery systems see the short Service WOW! Video slideshow.

The Economic Crises in Rhyme and Perspective

2009-07-30T12:56:00.000-07:00

Earlier this month I was charged with putting our current economic crises in perspective for a group of financial leaders. They had just sat through several days of dour projections and were about to return home to share the “News” with their employees. With that in mind I decided to wrap the same forecast in a package of rhyme and humor. This is not to diminish the severity of our current economic situation but to add the light of our ability to overcome by maintaining our perspective. We are never upset by what happens to us, but by the story we tell ourselves about the experience. I find this seussical rhythm to be a direct link to the optimism of our youth so please read this out loud or better yet in a group. If a chuckle, giggle or even all out laugh might arise let it remind you that this is the way is supposed to be.

The economy is uncertain
GDP is getting worse
And the length of recession
Makes you just want to curse

Unemployment is growing
And the inverse for wealth
All of this bad news
Can’t be good for my health

Despite all these predictions
And regardless of trends
What you believe in your heart
Is the means to the ends

If you believe in disaster
That is what you will find;
What you create in your world
Begins in your mind

Through all the recessions
The purpose remains
Leverage trust from your members
To find the most gains

Start with your team
Keep your mission in sight -
With clear goals in mind
You drive toward the light

Be bold in your actions
Not timid or tame;
If you are not proud to be special
You’re just more of the same

So lift up your heads
Put a smile on your face
It is your time to win
So get back in the race

Meaning-Full Conversations

2009-07-28T11:05:00.000-07:00

Meaning–Full Conversations

Last Friday morning’s paper included the story of a 20-year old woman who wanted to be a nutritionist. She died on I-84 Tuesday afternoon. Traffic was stopped in both directions while a truck was searched for explosives. None were found, but a 17-year old boy could not brake in time. If my wife had left only ten minutes earlier to see her father in Twin Falls it could have easily been her in that accident. Senseless, tragic, but how much more sense-less is it that we waste our days, conversations, relationships in insignificance. If this had been your loved one, could you say you had left nothing important unsaid? How much time/life do we waste in meaning-less conversations?

M. Scott Peck in The Road Less Traveled wrote; “I have taken the road less traveled by and that has made all the difference.” Every day in every conversation we come to that fork in the road where we can choose between “Meaning-Full” and “meaning-less” conversations; the difference is between energy gaining and energy draining. Are your conversations with others inspiring, uplifting, encouraging and affirming, or are they critical, complaining, blaming, or even just plain boring. We do live in a serious time with very serious issues, and that is exactly why we need to steer away from the familiar path of daily drama that infests our lives with dysfunction and disharmony. I am not suggesting we waste our time reciting affirmations or extending disingenuous approval, as these activities have been shown to actually be counterproductive, producing profound discontent.

I am suggesting we become aware of our conversations both inside and out. It may be safer to spend our days on the wide thoroughfares of “polite” conversation, safe in non-disclosure; but what are we missing in the process? We often have more meaning-full conversations with a stranger on a plane than we do with our co-workers or family simply because we have no roles to play or histories to overcome.

Here are seven ideas for more Meaning-Full conversations:

1. Forget your history and those of others as well. They are all illusions.
2. Don’t confuse a part with the whole. What you see and remember is only an infinitesimal part of the “big picture”.
3. Ask the meaning-full questions; tell the meaning-full truth.
4. Get out of your head and into your heart that is where you find your truth.
5. Choose “We” instead of “I”, it is the difference between illness and wellness
6. Use engaging quotes, phrases or ideas to stimulate your conversations like this one from my friend John Scherer, “You don’t need to change yourself, you need to become yourself.”
7. Live life NOW everything else is just your imagination.

The next traffic stop may be your own; so enjoy the drive.

Tashi Delek: May many good things come to you

Randy

You Meet the Nicest People in the Emergency Room

2009-07-09T13:38:00.001-07:00

Our 4th of July started out like most. The lawn was moved, cars washed, the deck washed for a family gathering in the afternoon. Then it hit. It sounded something akin to the primal roar of a wounded animal, followed by the telltale "splash" of someone's innards being turned inside out. A rough experience for anyone, but particulary so for someone just a couple years short of his 90th birthday. My father in law - "The Hammer".

This continued for close to an hour before we headed off to the hospital. Still retching as we speeded down the hill, he appologized for convulsing in the car, to which I responded "don't worry, my driving does that to lots of people".

My wife had made the typical calls to family, gathering advise on the best course of action. Between hurls, my father in law inquiried as to why she called her brother John. I explained that we were asking whether we should take him to the hospital, or just dig a hole in the back yard and dump in him. Without cracking a smile he said "what did he say?" This may seem cruel or crass, but knowing our patient as well as I do, I know how much he loves to laugh, and he just needed a little reminder that even in the throes of throwup, that was possible.

We saw plenty of sick and injured people that day, along with their moans and groans and dour expressions. but there were two noticeable exceptions. The first was a woman in her seventies, with long white hair dressed in and athletic shoes, sporting a ragged gash in her knee and holding her left wrist near her chin. When she sat down next to me, I caught her eye and said it was a heck of a way to spend the holiday.

She explained that they were riding home from the annual parade when she saw a fence stained much like her own at home. Veering for a closer look, the result was the gashed knee and rapidly swelling wrist.

The next 30 minutes went by in a much shorter time for me as we talked about everything but her injuries. Her husband joined in after parking their car, and when the nurse called for them I found myself asking for their name and number so that I may visit with them again sometime.

My next waiting room acquaintance was a tall woman in her 40s with a round face, holding a wet compress around one finger. She seemed to know the emergency room well, so was either accident prone or worked somewhere in the building - which was later confirmed by a co-worker who visited her from the maternity ward. I had overheard the cause for her visit and said "no fun" while holding up my finger. She had slammed her own finger in the car door.

She said "The kids and I have already worked up a list of what is good about this. First, it was my left hand; second, it wasn't my knuckle so nothing was broken. And the best part of all was that it happened AFTER buying fireworks."

Your environments are perhaps businesses or organizations, and NOT an emergency room. Most of the people you deal with everyday are still sick and wounded. They are sick at heart, having watched their 401-k values dwindle, their spirits broken through losses of jobs or homes...They are bleeding enthusiasm, gouged by the insensitivity of others, evolutionarily pre-disposed to notice, remember, and relive every perceived threat.

Lessons:
Our perception of pain whether physical or mental is a reflection of the story we tell ourselves about it. Patients who are given control of the “pain meds button” experience less pain and tend to use less medication simply because their story is different. They no longer worry about being out of control. The same thing is true with employees. Job stress is not a result of workload but how much control the employee has over the work and how he does it. This is especially important in the “what if” something goes wrong, or the dissatisfied customer category. We need to have specific planned responses to the systemic challenges all organizations have. There will be problems and it is our response to those opportunities that will not only create the stories for your customers to tell but even more importantly they will create the stories the employees tell themselves and each other. If service recovery is a positive experience for everyone involved:
· Improve employee retention through increased job satisfaction and engagement.
· Lower sales costs: Attracting a new customer may cost as much as retaining an already existing one.
· Increase new sales through your most powerful advertising tool: word of mouth
· Create an ever increasing service standard by creating a fear free atmosphere for employee creativity.

This list could go on and on. Reduced turnover lowers, hiring, training, and management costs while continually enhancing the organizational knowledge that drives performance. Consider the example of Ritz Carlton who gives their employees the authority to spend $2,500 without asking the permission of a supervisor. Highly successful leaders seek out and reduce pain wherever they find it while the average believes their position requires the administration of pain to improve performance. Pain produces fear and fear reduces performance. There are no exceptions.

Independence Day

2009-07-03T13:41:00.000-07:00

Independence Day is a celebration of freedom in gratitude for many of the political, religious and personal privileges unprecedented in many other parts of the world. But despite these wonderful gifts many are imprisoned, abused, neglected and tortured. I am not talking about physical abuses or even mental or emotional assaults from others, but from the habitual conversations we have with ourselves. These are not the ravings of someone we might see in the streets, but the equally delusional internal dialogues that play in the background while we go about our daily lives. Considered normal, innocuous and in fact necessary, they judge and monitor, compare and contrast, reflect and project, all in an effort to “make sense of it all”. These activities are in fact the most nonsensical of all. Instead of freeing us to simply “be” as children are, they project a set of requirements on ourselves and others that undermine the pure pleasure of being “here now”. As I write this I am sitting on the deck experiencing one of the most beautiful sunrises imaginable. The quail, mourning doves, finch, even a local peacock are greeting the day with songs of celebration. But my internal judge is hard at work. Shouldn’t I be running? What have I forgotten? Did I look this old yesterday? What will “they” think when “they” read this article? How often do your thoughts take you away from peace? Ekhart Tolle, along with many others, has described our minds as the inner tormentors for which we have developed little discipline to quiet their disparaging monologue. If we are to enjoy the real freedom this holiday was dedicated to celebrate, we must begin with freeing ourselves from ourselves.

Here are a few steps that WILL help you add more celebration to this day and every day.

Notice not what you think, but how you think. Do your thoughts bring you peace or pain? If they bring you pain and they are your thoughts, why did you put them there? You believe there is some value to the pain or you would not give it to yourself. Ask yourself what is the purpose. Do you believe that it would be irresponsible not to worry? Do you believe past regressions require guilt or that those of others deserve blame and resentment? Is the best way to predict your future a reflection of your past?

The truth is we not only believe these things we have proof. We can all regurgitate the childish folly of those who have not followed the path of dower countenance. Or vividly recall the narcissists and sociopaths whose lives lack the moral fortitude of guilt, regret and remorse. And the list we have of those to judge and blame is added to with every transgression multiplied by indignation.

The fact that we have evidence of the value of these destructive thoughts only demonstrates our ability to create that which we expect. Worry does not make us more responsible but less response-able. Regret only draws us toward that which we relive with each remembrance. Guilt and blame are chains to a past that is unchangeable. Nothing you can do or have ever done has changed the past. To resent anything or anyone is a denial of now. When we resist what is or resent what was we are telling ourselves we are “less than” whatever the person or situation presents. Would you want any child to be constantly told they are “less than”? To this day I remember overhearing my third grade teacher Mrs. Griesen in parent teacher conference tell my parents “don’t worry, Randy will be fine”.

Regardless of our age, experience or accomplishments, we all need the same kind of reassurance and we need it most of all from ourselves. The recent death of Michael Jackson is a testament to the debilitating power of our own inner dialogue. Real freedom is not something that comes from a declaration from without but from a dedication within. A dedication to accepting yourself and others unconditionally, to appreciating the lessons life brings and taking action to heal the world by healing yourself.

Affective Leadership: Emotional Intelligence in Action

2009-06-25T11:02:00.000-07:00

It is revealing to see how these ideas have evolved throughout my career. From my years of managing athletic clubs to my work with the Coeur d’Alene Resort, most change efforts, whether they are personal or organizational, fail for the same reason - they approach it from the wrong direction. Whether it is engaging employees or adding fitness to a lifestyle, most people focus on the “doing” first and then the “being” to “have” the results they are looking for.

Do→ BE →Have

We continue to use these same techniques because they do occasionally work, but only with extreme EFFORT. What we fail to consider is the overwhelming power of our emotions. When logic and emotion compete, emotions win. Even those so called logical decisions we make are ultimately driven by emotion.

The key to remember is that we cannot consistently behave in a manner that is inconsistent with the way we see ourselves to be. Any person who has developed the habit of being perpetually late knows this to be true. If our self image is that of a “late” person we can work hard at being on time but will make little progress. The great news is that we can use this same “attraction” to accomplish our objectives without all the EFFORT. The leadership analogy that is often used is that of pulling a rope instead of pushing one.

If we are to be absolutely honest with ourselves and others we would recognize that our results are a direct reflection of what is REALLY important to us. That does not mean we consciously chose these results or that there are not external influences, but that the key to creating different results lies not in what we do, but in how we see.

We literally see what we expect to see. We get what we expect to get.

Real transformation begins with changing how we see, because once we change what we see, changing what we do is easy. Take the example of first time parents. They have little or no experience and are going to do things in a sleep-deprived state they never thought possible. They are not pushed to “do parenting” but pulled by “being parents”.

The key to Affective Leadership is in creating a picture; a story that is so compelling it pulls us to our goals. It was estimated that when John Kennedy made the announcement that we were going to put a man on the moon we knew less than 10% of what was required to accomplish that goal. Once we believed as a nation that we were destined to accomplish this goal, the attraction was put in place to draw us to our destination.

Be→ Do→ Have

Whatever we can vividly imagine we can achieve. This is not motivation, this is physics. What we are creating today is a result of these universal laws. Emotionally Intelligent Leaders understand the predominance of our emotional nature creating a common story, allowing for the diversity of our individual natures, and the universality of our desire for greatness.

Ernest Becker in his book The Denial of Death said; “We have to feel and believe that what we are doing is timeless, heroic and supremely meaningful. The crisis in modern society is that we no longer feel heroic.”

Affective Leaders create an environment where people are allowed, encouraged, supported, and safe to be the best they can be. Not the best version of someone else, but the best that is in them. I like what they used to write on the Southwest Airlines napkins “The freedom to be yourself is the freedom to be your best”.

Transformational Fun

2009-03-09T11:52:00.000-07:00

I managed athletic clubs for many years in my twenties and thirties, and without exception those who were unsuccessful in accomplishing their goals tried to change what they did without first changing how they saw themselves. Changing what we do is only temporary unless we first manage to change what we see. Change happens from without, transformation happens from within. These are not “put on our happy face” platitudes, but the most important skills you will ever re-learn. I say re-learn because we all had them as a child, before we were as Juan Miguel Ruiz says in the Four Agreements “Domesticated”.

Begin by changing your physiology. Thoughts are never just thoughts they all carry with them emotions and all this bad news has taken a terrible toll on our “emotional accounts”. Exercise, read something inspirational, help someone less fortunate, or find a reason to laugh.

Life is supposed to be fun! Last month my younger brother sent me one of Bill Cosby’s first albums, “Revenge”. Just reading the cover I was transported to a different place. Do you remember “Junior Barrrnees…….You Gunky!” How about “The 19th Street Bridge” or “Buck Buck”… If you remember these comedy bits as I do, you are healthier right now than you were a minute ago. Your T-Cells are better at fighting cancer, blood flow has improved and creativity is enhanced.

Everything you experience reaches every cell of your body. The belief that we are whole, solid and separate is an illusion. We are simply energy vibrating at a rate visible to our eyes and palpable to our senses. What we attend to determines not only what we feel but also -+impacts the energy fields and therefore the feelings of those around us. What if tomorrow instead of listening to the news we all started off with our favorite clean comic? Not those who demean and abuse, but those that lift us up, bring us together, and remind us what children already know. All we have is now, and we always have a choice in where to place our attention. The better we understand how we are complicit in the creation of all we experience, the less we are willing to inflict pain on ourselves and others. Less pain = More peace. The question is simple. How peaceful are you?

If the answer is less than you would like, here are some resources that can help.

The Eye of the Storm
Empowerment Inverted
Undisturbable

Managing Attention

2009-03-09T11:49:00.000-07:00

Stanley Kubrick defined meaning not as the think of a thing, but as the feel of a thing. The evidence of this fact could be no greater than our current economy tumbling out of control simply because of fear. We need a renewed set of skills. These are not skills we have never had, but skills we have forgotten how to use. Drowning in relentless waves of doom and gloom, we revert to our primal instincts. Operating out of fear, we then undermine our natural abilities for creativity, optimism, resilience and enthusiasm. This survival mode is not the inevitable response to outside threats but the habitual response of a mind and body working against our very survival.

For the past two decades, I have found that the most important leadership skills are not in managing people or projects, but in managing attention. This is also the most important skill we can develop for our own personal growth. Those who know me have heard me espouse, “Whatever you look for you will find, and whatever you find will continue.” We are not trapped by positions, conditions, our histories or others, but by what we attend to. This focus is something we hold on to very dearly. We are comforted by predictability and find identity in the coherence of our illusions. This identity then becomes part of our story, our boundaries, the “why” that makes sense of us.

I remembering hearing about a banner displayed in the main entry of a high school for troubled teenagers in Southern California. The banner read “Don’t tell me your story.” Stories about your past have nothing to do with who you are today. You are not the same person you were before you began reading this line.

If your attention is bringing you all the success, happiness and bliss you can imagine, hold on to it; but if not, consider what it would be like if you were starting new today. How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you were? Stop trying to force new behavior on an old picture of yourself. Forget your history. It is only an illusion anyway.

Seven "Master Skills" to bring out the best in you.

2009-03-09T11:36:00.000-07:00

Master skills, as defined by Peter Senge, are those skills that influence all others. Take one of these skills for each day of the week.

1. Become aware of your “self talk”. Nobody talks to you more than you do.

2. Notice what you pay attention to. Don’t judge, criticize or justify just be aware of what you notice.

3. Get in touch with your body; it is the best barometer of how you are thinking.

4. Leave the past in the past. Nothing you have ever done or will ever do can change it.

5. Appreciate the lessons. Everything that you have done or that has been done to you has helped create who you are today.

6. Be grateful for the gifts. Everything that happens does so to teach you something about yourself.

7. Forgive everybody and everything…especially yourself.

Inside Solutions to Outside Problems

2009-03-09T11:32:00.000-07:00

We continually look for outside solutions to what are really inside problems. In today’s paper, I learned that the Pennsylvania liquor board is going to spend more than $173,000 to make their workers “friendlier”. Hot topics will include “hello”, “thank you” and even such advanced techniques as where to stand.

Do you think any of these people do not know how to be friendly? If a “friend” were to walk through the door, would they be suddenly bewildered? The problem is not that they are not friendly to the customers; it is that they are not friendly to themselves. Worry, resentment, regret, remorse, doubt, uncertainty, pessimism, apprehension, and anger are all ways in which we are not very “friendly” to ourselves.

How we treat others is a direct reflection of how we treat ourselves. We do not need to teach people how to pretend, we need to teach them how to attend. The first person we need to be better attending to is ourselves. Everyday and in every minute you are operating out of either love or fear. Fear may motivate you in the short term, but thoughts are like magnets. Whatever we picture creates and energy, a resonance, a vibration and whether good or bad that energy attracts to it in its own image. If we imagine scarcity, we get scarcity. If we imagine abundance, we get abundance. Anyone who has ever warned a child not to spill his milk KNOWS this to be true.

Is March 9th really Panic Day?

2009-03-09T11:27:00.000-07:00

Yes, it really is, but this year, despite everything that is happening lets choose not to participate. What if “the best thing that can happen is happening”? This quote by Deepak Chopra may have never been as meaningful as it is now. But how can anyone believe these are the best of times? We can because believing anything else is to resist what is, and we cannot change what is.

Resisting is not only nonproductive, but it reinforces your belief that this situation (issue, person, predicament) is somehow bigger than you. How helpful is it to give yourself that kind of message? Did you intend to discourage yourself when you got up this morning? Can you imagine a small child giving himself that kind of un-pep talk? Children are the most creative, resilient, persistent, energetic people we know not because of their lack of awareness but because of the direction of their awareness. Adults focus on their outsides while children are aware of their insides. This is not a conscious effort on the child’s part in fact it requires no effort at all it is simply the way life is. It is supposed to be that way for adults as well but most of us have forgotten how to listen to what is important and how not to listen to what is not.

Rediscover the Reason CU

2009-03-06T13:27:00.000-08:00

This may be the best time of all for Credit Unions. As markets continue to spiral into the abyss, excess and fraudulence are exposed in every area of the financial sector. Now is the time for Credit Unions to shine in the bright lights of scrutiny. This is the time to remember that Credit Unions are not about the money, but about the moments. It is in those moments we discover the real meaning and purpose of Credit Unions. William James described this often hidden and yet most powerful “attractor” we all long for as “the craving to be appreciated”. We need to dig beneath the ritual and rediscover the reason. This means fighting the expediency of putting the easy before the important, the comfortable before the compelling, and the popular before the purposeful. Now is the time to, as Thoreau said, “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams”. What dream could be more compelling than a place with purpose? This purpose or meaning as defined by renowned psychiatrist Victor Frankl’s premise is that ‘man’s search for meaning’ is the primary motivation of his life.

More recently Stanley Kubrick defined meaning not as the think of a thing, but as the feel of a thing. The evidence of this fact could be no greater than today. We need a renewed set of skills. These are not skills we have never had, but skills we have forgotten how to use. Drowning in relentless waves of doom and gloom, we revert to our primal instincts. Operating out of fear, we then undermine our natural abilities for creativity, optimism, resilience and enthusiasm. This survival mode is not the inevitable response to outside threats but the habitual response of a mind and body working against our very survival.

For the past two decades, I have found that the most important leadership skills are not in managing people or projects, but in managing attention. This is also the most important skill we can develop for our own personal growth. Those who know me have heard me espouse, “Whatever you look for you will find, and whatever you find will continue.” We are not trapped by positions, conditions, our histories or others, but by what we attend to. This focus is something we hold on to very dearly. We are comforted by predictability and find identity in the coherence of our illusions. This identity then becomes part of our story, our boundaries, the “why” that makes sense of us. I remembering hearing about a banner displayed in the main entry of a high school for troubled teenagers in Southern California. The banner read “Don’t tell me your story.” Stories about your past have nothing to do with who you are today. You are not the same person you were before you began reading this line.

If your attention is bringing you all the success, happiness and bliss you can imagine, hold on to it; but if not, consider what it would be like if you were starting new today. How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you were? Stop trying to force new behavior on an old picture of yourself. Forget your history. It is only an illusion anyway.

I managed athletic clubs for many years in my twenties and thirties, and without exception those who were unsuccessful in accomplishing their goals tried to change what they did without first changing how they saw themselves. Changing what we do is only temporary unless we first manage to change what we see. Change happens from without, transformation happens from within. These are not “put on our happy face” platitudes, but the most important skills you will ever re-learn. I say re-learn because we all had them as a child, before we were as Juan Miguel Ruiz says in the Four Agreements “Domesticated”.

Begin by changing your physiology. Thoughts are never just thoughts they all carry with them emotions and all this bad news has taken a terrible toll on our “emotional accounts”. Exercise, read something inspirational, help someone less fortunate, or find a reason to laugh.

Life is supposed to be fun! Last month my younger brother sent me one of Bill Cosby’s first albums, “Revenge”. Just reading the cover I was transported to a different place. Do you remember “Junior Barrrnees…….You Gunky!” How about “The 19th Street Bridge” or “Buck Buck”… If you remember these comedy bits as I do, you are healthier right now than you were a minute ago. Your T-Cells are better at fighting cancer, blood flow has improved and creativity is enhanced. Everything you experience reaches every cell of your body. The belief that we are whole, solid and separate is an illusion. We are simply energy vibrating at a rate visible to our eyes and palpable to our senses. What we attend to determines not only what we feel but also -+impacts the energy fields and therefore the feelings of those around us. What if tomorrow instead of listening to the news we all started off with our favorite clean comic? Not those who demean and abuse, but those that lift us up, bring us together, and remind us what children already know. All we have is now, and we always have a choice in where to place our attention. The better we understand how we are complicit in the creation of all we experience, the less we are willing to inflict pain on ourselves and others. Less pain = More peace. The question is simple. How peaceful are you?

If the answer is less than you would like, here are some online resources that can help:
Red Shoes Views
The Eye of the Storm
Empowerment Inverted
Undisturbable

The best thing that can happen

2009-03-05T08:22:00.000-08:00

The best thing that can happen is happening. This quote by Deepak Chopra may have never been as meaningful as it is now. As markets continue to spiral into the abyss, excess and fraudulence are exposed in every area. This is the time to remember that life is not about the money, but about the moments. It is in those moments we discover real meaning and purpose. William James described this often hidden and yet most powerful “attractor” we all long for as “the craving to be appreciated”.

We need to dig beneath the ritual and rediscover the reason. This means fighting the expediency of putting the easy before the important, the comfortable before the compelling, and the popular before the purposeful. Now is the time to, as Thoreau said, “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams”. What dream could be more compelling than a life with purpose? This purpose or meaning as defined by renowned psychiatrist Victor Frankl’s premise is that ‘man’s search for meaning’ is the primary motivation of his life.

The Eye of the Storm

2009-03-03T09:35:00.000-08:00

This is the perfect storm of our time.

It is projected that we will have 55 million unemployed world-wide by year-end. In that same time our national debt should reach 28 million pounds if weighed in one dollar bills, or if laid end to end they would reach the sun and back…5x over.

Fortunately the primary cause is one we can all do something about……FEAR. Regrets about the past and worries about the future steal the thing we need most…..TODAY!! Now more than ever we need all of our resources working for us instead of against us. I am not talking about bailouts or stimulus packages, but OUR resources.

Though there is a storm going on around us, we can learn skills to help us stay out of the whirlwind and in the calm of our own focused attention. Whether it is growing your business, expanding your membership or enhancing your health this session will help you weather the storms of discontent to find your own personal "Eye of the Storm".

Through humor, laughter and story you will learn seven keys to overcoming the habits of perception that drag us into turmoil.

1. You will learn how your own physiology is designed to distort your reality
2. How regret and resentment are illusions.
3. Learn why your greatest adversary may be yourself.
4. Learn how to use your mind instead of being used by it.
5. How to reduce life’s obstacles by redefining your goals.
6. Why satisfied just doesn’t cut it.
7. How to free yourself from Guilt and Fear.

Here's a side note:

We need to be more like Dr. Tom Amberry. On November 15, 1993, at age 71, he shot 2,750 free throws in a row. I listened to an interview with him several years ago and of course the very first question was “What happened to 2,751?” Does this sound like our current media culture? When asked about the secret he said “I don’t worry about the outcome.” If you want to increase your income, you have to stop worrying about the outcome.

Bill's Recovery Update

2009-02-19T07:50:00.000-08:00

Just a quick update on the recovery status of one of our friends, Bill Ferrence (See Humor, Healing and Bill). He is the manager of the Boulder Dam Credit Union and I have shared his remarkable stories with audiences across the country. Last year he was diagnosed with bladder cancer, and his bladder was removed last week. I spoke to him this morning and in his typically “atypical” style he continues to astound all he touches.

Upon waking up from his anesthesia he asked the nurse, “Will I still be able to run marathons?” She said of course, once the recovery is complete, absolutely! Bill replied “that is fantastic!! This is the best news ever!! Wow, it’s a miracle!! Before the surgery I could barely run a block!” The belly laugh that followed may not have been the best idea considering his incision, but his road to recovery had begun.

Needless to say Bill has never been a marathoner, but the endurance of his spirit through laughter and love is unbounded. Be sure to read the rest of Bill's story in "Humor, Healing and Bill" posted on my Blog.

If you think these ideas are helpful please share them with your friends and members. We may not all have to recover from bladder cancer, but cancer of the spirit is often far more debilitating.

Randy
Ps The staff of the Credit Union have been inundated with questions about Bill’s health and recovery, to which he issued the official BDCU announcement, “Tell them Bill pooped”. If that is not funny maybe you have not spent nearly enough time in a hospital!

Humor, Healing, and Bill

2009-02-19T07:41:00.000-08:00

Many of you have heard stories about our friend Bill Ferrence, the manger of the Boulder Dam Credit Union. Bill was diagnosed with bladder cancer late last year and despite his virtual terror of hospital equipment and all things medical, he has survived chemotherapy with humor, optimism and lots of Xanax. His example demonstrates wonderful lessons about love, laughter and even Angels.

His first doctor treated Bill as a patient and not as a person. From his condescending perch of professional superiority he announced Bill would be admitted for surgery the following Saturday, to which Bill responded “ Saturday? Saturday won’t work for me; that is the Notre Dame/Michigan game.” Somewhat befuddled but still in charge, the doctor relented to Bill’s rescheduling request and asked if he could check his prostate, to which Bill politely responded NO. Undeterred the doctor announced that he would be checking the prostate while Bill was under anesthesia, to which Bill responded “you can repair my ACL while I’m under”.

Every conversation we have had since then has been filled with laughter despite his overwhelming fear of the hospital environment. At one point years ago Bill sat waiting while one of his kids was in the hospital. Sweat rolled down his pale cheeks as he stared across the lobby. How can they leave that medical equipment out in plain sight? That’s just not right. I’m going to pass out, throw up or both. Moments later a young man approached this horrifying piece of equipment, plugged it in and began buffing the floor!

Feelings don’t care about right or wrong, realistic or unrealistic. They just are, and they are far more powerful than our thinking minds. It is important to remember “we are not thinking beings that have feelings; we are feeling beings that have thoughts”.

Fortunately Bill has found those feeling beings in his new healthcare team, and the one I would like to share with you is Angel, a young man in his early thirties. His mother and grandmother had both been nurses and he was born for the role. Sensitive to Bill’s aversion to “all things hospital”, each of Bill’s tests is conducted in one room. Rather than being forced to move from one room to the next for the hospital’s convenience, in every way possible Bill’s needs were put first. Just before Thanksgiving, Bill needed to have an injection in his stomach. Other patients may have been able to do this themselves or with the help of a spouse, but Angel knew this was not even a possibility for Bill. Angel said he was going to drive 40 minutes from Las Vegas to give Bill his shot before from driving to Southern California for the holiday. Instead Bill and Cheryl drove to Las Vegas, and Angel was able to give Bill his shot between continuing education classes at the hospital. When they returned home, Bill asked Cheryl to find a thank you card in which he placed $500 that was to be used for Angel’s children for Christmas.

I don’t know what is next in my friend’s “future”, but one thing I am absolutely certain of is his “now”. I know at this very moment, whenever you are reading this, that he is enjoying his life, his grandchildren, family, community and friends.

Bill has a unique way of putting things in proper perspective so we would like to leave you with one simple rule that could not only change your Credit Union, but might also even save your life. It is called the “one to eleven rule”. (It used to be the one to ten rule, but now that he has grandchildren it is one to eleven). The next time someone comes into your office with whatever crisis has grabbed them at the moment; ask them “with 11 being the death of a grandchild, how important is this?”

Wishing you a life of ones and twos
Randy Morgan CSP

Ps But I wondered about the credit union. “How is BDCU doing?” I asked. 2008 was one of the best years ever. When all of the sub-prime lenders went out of business or quit selling loans, BDCU was there to do what they have always done, take care of the members.

Rediscover the "re-newed" in You

2009-01-26T12:08:00.000-08:00

I just received the "opportunity News” that another conference had been cancelled. It included the typical tight budgets and difficult time’s apologies and promises of new bookings in the better days to come.

I know how hard it is to put on these conferences, especially when you already have a real full time job. These are perplexing times, but these are the times when people find out who we really are. When things are going well we simply blend into the background. When things are challenging, we have a chance to differentiate ourselves. Over the last ten years we have managed our own international association. In 2008 we had the best year ever - and then we fired them. Some would say not the best move in turbulent times; but life is too short to just go along to get along.

We need to be growing or we are dying. Sometimes we have to die first (while we are alive) before we can really start growing again. Instead of working to understand what these changes mean to you, try to learn what they are teaching you about you. The purpose in every event of our lives is to teach us something about ourselves. Where most people miss the boat is that they don't realize it. The only person we can change is us. The good news is that we are the only person we need to change to have all the peace, prosperity and joy we ever wanted. We don’t need to change jobs, spouses, locations or even economies. The most important economy of all is not that around us, but that within us. If we believe in scarcity that is what we will experience. If we believe in abundance that is what we will find as well.

Here are seven ideas to help you use this time “pick yourself up, shake off the dust and rediscover the “re-newed” in you.

1. Remember in every moment you are new. You are not the same person you were six years ago or six seconds ago. In every day the only thing you can change is now. You can never change the past, and worrying about the future is a waste of the present.

2. There is NEVER a need to suffer. Suffering is just a resistance to what is, and you cannot change what is. Accept what is. Appreciate the lesson. Take action.

3. Get out of your head. Most of believe we use your minds, but most often we are used by our minds. Think about how often your “stories” bring you dis-ease. Take a few minutes to observe not what you are thinking, but how you are thinking. Do your thoughts bring you peace or pain? If they bring you pain why would you choose those thoughts?

4. The best indication of what you are thinking is how you are feeling. Learn to pay attention to how you feel. Don’t judge it or understand it, just observe it. All you need is awareness. You will soon realize you can observe your feelings without being absorbed in them, and in that moment you can choose to think differently.

5. The best thing that can happen is happening. This is one of our favorite thoughts from Deepak Chopra. You only have to look back at your own life to KNOW that it is true. The times when you have grown the most have not been in times of ease, but times like right now.

6. It is not what you have or where you are going, but who you become. This is not a journey outward to something you have never been, but a rediscovery of the best parts of you that lie buried under the layers of, as Juan Miguel Ruiz says in The Four Agreements, “Domestication”.

7. Be filled with wonder. Most often we don’t get in trouble because of what we don’t know. We get in trouble because of what we think we do know. Remember these lines written by T.S. Elliot: We must never cease from exploration. And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we began and to know the place for the first time

2009-01-26T11:16:00.000-08:00

Being an Affective Leader in an Emotional Economy

Seven steps you can take to maximize the return on your most important investment

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself”. (Except for maybe snakes, spiders and drivers on cell phones) That statement (minus the comments) by Franklin D. Roosevelt may have never been so true as now. Everything we perceive, “our Reality”, is first filtered through our emotions. When we are nervous, angry, stressed, depressed we only have access to those possibilities. Confronted with a threat we search our memories of previous experiences or similar situations. This only compounds the problem, because we don’t just remember these situations, we re-experience them thus amplifying the feeling we wished to assuage in the first place. The greater the emotion, the more focused our attention and the narrower our possibilities.

Logic and reasoning are vastly overmatched when competing for the center stage of our attention. Long before we were "thinking" beings we were "feeling" beings; and the more “tweaked” we get the more our primitive minds take control. We are barraged daily with messages of fear. The worst “news” about the economy, environment, war, and people are paraded in front of us as objective analysis and conscientious consideration. There is nothing either objective or conscientious about it. The “news” is simply designed to get your attention so they can sell advertising, and the best way to do that is to appeal to your primal fears. We are physiologically designed to notice and remember any imagined threat. Unfortunately we can imagine almost anything. Many are starting this year wondering how they will get through it; and if that is what we imagine, that is what we will create.

What if we were to imagine something different? What if we were not trying to get through anything? The through is all there is. The through is life. To get through a minute, day, week or year is to waste all of those moments; and moments are all we have. Children learn more, do more, and enjoy more because they live in one moment and then the next. Successful, happy people do the same thing. It is not that they do not plan for the future, they do. It is that they do not live for the future. They also do not live in or worry about the past. Nothing we can do, nothing we have ever done has changed the past. Whether it is ten minutes ago or ten years ago, it is gone. There is no value in punishing yourself or others for anything we or they have done. We all do the best we can do at the time. None of us are our histories, UNLESS we choose to hang on to, remember, revisit, and relive them.

Being an Affective Leader means first taking responsibility for how you talk to you. What stories do you tell yourself, about yourself, about others? Are they stories of Love or Fear? It is really very simple. Whatever picture, whatever story you tell yourself, whatever you put your focus on, you will move in that direction. We never move in the opposite direction of our attention. If we picture scarcity we get scarcity. If we look for abundance, we get abundance. Richard Branson, the dyslexic, high school non-graduate billionaire put it this way. “I look for the good in everyone and everything”. Easy to say when you are a billionaire. The key is he is one because he said it, thought it, lived it, and acted on it, when he wasn’t.

The “Secret” has not been a secret for thousands of years. “..as thou hast believed,’ so be it done unto thee”. The key in this emotional economy is not generating and executing a “to-do” list, but in first generating and executing a “to-feel” list. Then using the energy of our desire to pull us instead of using the demands of what is required to push us. Everything we communicate to ourselves and others has an affective component. For years I have used the phrase “You become like whatever you think about most, you move in the direction of your currently dominant thought”. To be more accurate it should say that we move in the direction of your currently dominant feeling.

Here are seven steps you can take to make the most out of your Emotional Economy:

1. Observe yourself: don’t judge, just notice your inner conversations. No one else put them there, you put them there. Don’t try to change them deny them or ignore them just own them.

2. Be honest: Nothing can stop a man who is willing to be honest with himself about himself.

3. Appreciate the lessons: EVERYTHING happens to teach us something. Not about others, but about ourselves. The great thing is the only person we ever need to or can change is ourselves.

4. Forget the past: Whether we pine for things we have lost or regret the things we have done both keep us from being present in the present.

5. Forgive everyone and everything: We are unforgiving only to the extent which we have chosen not to appreciate and learn from our lessons.

6. Choose not to conform: Don’t be a lemming. Earl Nightingale said, “The opposite of courage is not cowardice, it is conformity.

7. Prime your fun pump: Watch, listen to, read, think things that tickle your funny bone. Laughter calms the mind focuses attention, opens up our creativity and is the antidote to fear.
We are not thinking beings that have feelings; we are feeling beings that have thoughts.

Randy Morgan CSP

For more information on Randy’s keynotes like the "Affective Leader" or to receive the free audio downloads and articles, visit www.randymorgan.com