Jeff Blackman, speaker, consultant, author and columnist recently interviewed me for his column in the Naples News.

The interview apparently went too long, so it was in two issues!

You can read part 1 here and part 2 here.

Because he had read Vantagepoints on Learning and Life his questions dealt with learning, life and other stuff. :)

I hope you'll read it and let me know in comments here what you think.


Also posted in Leadership and Learning.

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On Tuesday, Marc Shiman interviewed me on his Inspiring Discovery blog. He had emailed me awhile back and ask if I'd be open to that and I said yes.

Here are the questions he asked...


When was the first time you realized you could learn from everyday situations? Was it a major "A-Ha" or did it creep up on you slowly? Were you looking for it or did it surprise you?

Looking back at all of your learning, what is the most important ways your life has changed?

Does looking for lessons impede your ability to participate in your life’s events? Do you ever find yourself removed from what is happening around you as you draw out learning?

I'm sure these stories have resulted in a lot of feedback to you from your readers. What have you taken from this feedback?

What is single most important thing you would recommend to people who are looking to learn from the ordinary situations in their lives?


. . . for the answers, and the rest of his post, you'll have to go here.

Also posted in Learning.

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Of our big promotion to take my book Vantagepoints on Learning and Life to #1 on Amazon.com.

You can read a post about it here. (This post will even tell you how you can join me at my Virtual Book Signing).

And you can see how you can - and why you should - participate by buying your book today here.

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Rick Beneteau interviewed me for his podcast released this morning on MentorAudio.com

I talked about the value and power of reflection. I think you will enjoy it. You can hear it here.

Also posted in Learning and Training.

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I recevied this graphic with some other optical illusions in an email from my mom yesterday. I don't know who to attribute it to, though I wish I did.

While it makes a nice optical illusion, it illuminates a profound truth.


Paradoxically, when we teach, we learn.

We typicaly think that we teach to help others learn, but if you've ever thought about it, you have realized how much you learn when you are teaching others.

Perhaps you learn about the other person/people.
Perhaps you understand your topic better.
Perhaps you learn new ways to teach that topic or other topics.
Perhaps you learn a new perspective from a student.
Perhaps you discover the answer to a question you had never considered.

There is much to learn when we are teaching.

So be grateful for the opportunity to teach others. While giving the gift of learning to them you are receiving the same gift.

Also posted in Learning and Training.

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In yesterday's New York Times there was a great article about Rite-Solutions, a software company that builds advanced and classified stuff for the Navy. (Free registration may be required to read the full article.)

Update - click here to read the orginal article without the need to register with the NYT!

The owners of this firm realized that if they wanted their business to grow and thrive they needed to get everyone's ideas and everyone's input.

So they built a marketplace . . . for ideas.

From the article . . .

" . . . an internal market where any employee can propose that the company acquire a new technology, enter a new business or make an efficiency improvement. These proposals become stocks, complete with ticker symbols, discussion lists and e-mail alerts. Employees buy or sell the stocks, and prices change to reflect the sentiments of the company's engineers, computer scientists and project managers - as well as its marketers, accountants and even the receptionist."

Each person is given $10,000 in "opinion money" to invest in this marketplace (they have 55 "stocks" listed currently). People's investments show their enthusiasm, and more importantly, willingness to volunteer to work on the idea. Volunteers share in the proceeds if the stock generates cost savings or a new product.

In case you think this is just a fun and expensive way to automate the employee suggestion box - and that the 55 ideas are small improvements, one former stock on the exchange resulted in a product that is now 30% of the company's revenues. Co- founder Joseph Marino asks . . . "Would this have happened if it were just up to the guys at the top?" And then answers his own question . . . "Absolutely not. But we could not ignore the fact that so many people were rallying around the idea. This system removes the terrible burden of us always having to be right."

Perhaps your organization doesn't want or need to implement a system this elaborate. Either way, the power of having systems that encourage and illuminate ideas can not be overlooked.

Are you collecting, valuing, categorizing, discussing and using the ideas of everyone in your organization?

If not why not?

Valuable questions to ask yourself today.

Also posted in Creativity, Leadership, and Learning.

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Happy Anniversary . . . to me. (well, to this blog).

Last week this blog turned two years old.

In two years I have written over 350 posts. Which means I've averaged almost a post every other day.

While traveling the other day I reflected on two years of blogging.

I realized that sometimes there have been significant gaps between posts, and sometimes there have been several in one day. And I decided that while I would like to be more consistent, that it is ok. Given my schedule, gaps can be ok. I've learned to be a bit easier on myself on this point.

I realized that some of the posts were quick hits or links, and some were more in-depth. And I decided that the mixture reflects me and my goals for sharing in this medium. And I learned that variety can be valuable in and of itself.

I recounted the people I count as friends and colleagues that I would have never met had it not been for blogging. And I feel honored and blessed for those relationships. While this was the last thing in my mind when I started blogging, it would be payment enough for the time spent writing it. (I could make a list, but many of them are on the blog lists to the left - and more will be there when we get the template updated.) And I learned that it is relationships, more than hits or page views or Google ranking that matters the most to me.

I realized that I have learned much from this two year adventure. The lessons include finding a voice in writing, observing, keeping your antenna up, being willing to be playful sometimes, and much more. And so I have learned about the subjects and ideas I've written about as well as the writing process . . . and myself.

And I certainly have learned how much I appreciate everyone who reads these posts.

Thank you.

....

I hope you have read through all of the stuff about me in this post and gotten this far. The purpose of all that is written above is to remind us all of the power of reflection. My learning from this two year adventure is much more complete and useful now - now that I reflected on it.

Take the time today to reflect today on something you have been doing for sometime. Reflect, ask questions, and determine what you have learned from it.

Then, most importantly, put that learning into action.

Also posted in Learning and Training.

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Yesterday I posted about spring.

This morning, about 13 hours after that post, it started to snow.

My kids woke up upset that they had to go to school (if the snow had started as early as predicted, it might have been cancelled)

By noon my favorite weatherman says we'll have up to 5 inches.

This snowy setback doesn't change the fact that it is still spring. The trees will take just a couple more days to bring forth their leaves. The tulips will be delayed a bit, and it will be a few more days before I'll mow my lawn the first time.

But the leaves will come out and the tulips will bloom and the grass will still grow.

So it is with us. We may encounter setbacks and snowy days. But those setbacks don't have to be permanent - in fact, just as the snow will provide additional moisture the plants will use, we can take lessons from our setbacks.

The snow will be beautiful today and gone by the weekend. Think of your setbacks the same way - reflect on them to learn from them what you can... and know they won't last forever.

Also posted in Leadership, Learning, and Training.

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I've written about happiness before (here and here), but after reading a post from Kevin Kelly Unlimited, I had to share it.

In his post titled A Happy source of income!, he relates research that looked at thousands of college students in the 70's and the 90's. When taking out the influences of other factors, the research found that those found to be more cheerful were also making $15,000/year.

That is $60 more dollars a work day, assuming two weeks vacation.

Interestingly, many people might say they would be happier with $60 more each day. I guess they've got it backwards.

Get happy and the rewards may come. Don't wait for the rewards to get happy.

We can all choose happiness. We'll be better co-workers and teammates. We'll be more productive. We'll be better leaders. We'll serve Customers better. We'll have better relationships. We'll be healthier. And apparently, we'll be richer too.

Also posted in Customer Service, Leadership, Learning, Teamwork and Training.

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Spring arrived at 1:26 pm - less than one hour ago as I started to write this (before a bunch of phone calls).

The arrival of spring signifies that we are about 1/4 of the way through the year. Which means we should be one quarter of the way towards our goals for the year.

If that last sentence woke you up and made you shake your head, good. That is what it was meant to do.

Even if you are "behind schedule," there is no time like spring to catch back up.

Consider this lesson of spring:

Things may look dead when in acutality they are storing energy for spectacular growth and beauty in just a few more days.

If it works for the plants, and the flowers and the trees it can work for us.

Renew your focus on your biggest goals today. Use your pent up energy to create miraculaous growth in the coming weeks.

Your thoughts and efforts can lead to a blossoming April and May - tremendous growth, satsifaction, happiness and success.

Spring has sprung
so the flowers will bloom . . .
Your success is in your hands
it's time for you to zoom!

Also posted in Leadership, Learning, and Training.

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. . . comes from the Fast Company blog.

"If you can't feed a team with two pizzas, the size of the team is too large."
--Jeff Bezos, chairman, CEO, and founder, Amazon.com

(Here is the post, thought this is about it!)

Bezos' formula is about right. Everytime we add a person to a team we ramp up the complexity significantly. Too often teams are large because we "don't want to leave anyone out."

Remember that you can invite or get help from anyone whenever you need them - it doesn't mean they need to be on the team or attend every meeting.

Check your teams against the Bezos Formula.

And buy the pizza this week for all the teams that meet it!

Also posted in Leadership and Teamwork.

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There are all sorts of things in our lives that provide us opportuities to learn. Many of them we don't even think about.

Take the water cooler (or coffee pot). People gather there in the morning to get their beverage of choice and typically make small talk. People are there randomly throughout the day, and again, engage in small talk.

Next time you are at the water cooler, ask a question about the other person's project or latest triumph. These questions will engage the other person in a short conversation where you can learn something and build your relationship with the other person at the same time.

The water cooler doesn't have to be simply about some cool H2O . . . it can also be a place to learn something new.

Also posted in Leadership, Learning and Teamwork.

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Over time on this blog I have posed questions - questions that I felt warrant thought and reflection.

Of late I haven't been doing that as frequently, and that will probably change. You see, questions are one of the most powerful learning tools we have. They stimulate our brain to search for answers, they send us to research, they provoke us to think.

Today's question may be as powerful as any we could ask about our development, growth and success.

"What is the one skill I could master that would catapult me towards my goals?"

Ask yourself this question today.

Once you have asked yourself the question though, do more than that - take the steps that will help you take advantage of the question . . .

Reflect on it.

You might have the answer immediately or it might take some time to winnow down a list to the single most important skill.

Once you have the skill identified, write it down.

Then take action.

Do something to begin acquiring the skill, even if it is a very small thing.

Ask. Reflect. Decide. Act.

A powerful question, made more powerful with a powerful process.

Also posted in Leadership, Learning, and Training.

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One of my favorite movies is The Sound of Music, and one of my favorite songs in the movie is My Favorite Things. The song always makes me smile and I think it encourages us to do something extremely useful - to make a list of our favorite things.

I was reminded of all of this this week when I read Holly Power's post called, A Few of My Favorite Things.

There are a variety of reasons making this kind of a list.

1. To make you smile.
2. To remind you of those favorite things - which will help you put more of those things in your life, more often.
3. To help you be more grateful for the things that matter to you. (If fact, you could call this a gratitude list if you wanted to.)

You could also use this idea in the workplace, by having people build a personal list of their favorite things about work and the people they work with, or you could have a team build a joint list.

These organizational exercises would reap the same benefits that we can gain personally.

In all cases making and reading the list reminds us of the good things in our lives. And those reminders will help us create more of those good things.

The list, as Holly shows so well, doesn't have to be big things, and it certainly have to be expensive things. The time investment to make the list is minimal, but the benefits are many.

Go ahead, make your list.

Also posted in Leadership, Learning, and Teamwork.

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A couple of weeks ago I presented a keynote for a group at US Cellular. They brought groups from several geographical areas together to work on collaboration and teamwork.

This in itself isn't all that uncommon. These kinds of events are happening at retreats and conference centers all over everyday.

What is different is that this team built the whole event around a movie theme.

People arrived the first afternoon and were put into groups to work on an icebreaker team exercise - a quiz based on movie quotations.

Then two leaders in the organization presented clips from films they selected and used those clips to introduce conversation and dialogue about collaboration and teamwork.

The evening dinner was like a trip to the Oscars. People were to come dressed as their favorite movie star and bring a famous date as well. The creativity that was exhibited in the costumes and choices was fantastic! I "met" all sorts people and dates.

Each couple were photographed with a life-size Oscar cutout before walking a red carpet into the dinner area. And each person left with their own plastic Academy Award statuette.

I closed the evening with a keynote on Enriching Your Team and Life Through Movies. (If you wonder why I did such a keynote, you might check out this site.)

The lesson in all of this is that this group of leaders could have created a standard event, but with a little creativity they created something people will remember much longer.

The event likely got very high marks from the participants, which is nice. More importantly though the lasting effects in terms of cross-group sharing and relationship building and the application of the things learned during the retreat will be much higher because of some thought and a little effort.

So while I wasn't at the Kodak Theater for the real Academy Awards ceremonies, I did enjoy a wonderful Oscar event in Galena, Illinois with an enthusiastic and talented group of people from across the Midwest.

Hollywood would have been fun, but I think I learned more in Galena.

Thanks to Sandy Peters and all of the good folks at US Cellular for inviting me to be a part of this great event.


Also posted in Creativity, Leadership, Teamwork and Training.

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While I didn't watch any of the Oscars this week because of my travel schedule, I did hear about Reese Witherspoon's acceptance speech from several places.

Here is a great post from Holly Powers, one of my favorite people. And here is a link to the full speech.

She quoted June Carter-Cash who she portrayed in Walk the Line as having said, "I'm just trying to matter."

All of us want to matter.

All of us can.

It is our responsibility to find the best way to use our talents to do so.

Also posted in Leadership.

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A couple of weeks ago I announced that my True Team Building - More Than a Recreational Retreat manifesto had been published at ChangeThis.com. (You can read my initial annoucement here.)

Since then, most days, the manifesto has been there, but no one could read or download it. The technical problems the ChangeThis team faced are history.

Check it out. Read it. Download it. Share it with anyone who can benefit.

Also posted in Leadership, Learning, Teamwork and Training.

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