Poking through 11+ years of posts I find information that’s as useful now as when it was written.

Golden Oldies is a collection of the most relevant and timeless posts during that time.

Why is happy so often equated with fun, as in “if you’re having fun you’re happy.” What makes you happy? A beautiful sunset? Your kids/grandkids? A quiet walk? Time with loved ones? For most people, It takes more substance than fluff to make them happy.

Read other Golden Oldies here.

Company culture has been jerked around ever since a few pundits decided that “fun” was the primary component to having happy employees.

Worse, “fun” was equated with silly stuff, such as games, pranks and goofs.

While these things do energize some employees, they don’t do it for long and certainly not alone.

It’s well-proven that happy employees are more productive, but creating happy requires substance.

The components of long-term happiness are things such as challenging work, continued learning, opportunities to grow, clear communications, fair bosses, etc.

All of these require more thought, effort and skill from managers than installing a few foosball tables or gamifying the project.

Flickr image credit: CityLineSouvenir

Yesterday focused on the constant opportunities that surround us as we move through our lives.

But in order to take advantage of them you need to be willing to move outside your comfort zone.

It’s always easier to coast than it is to climb.

In the same way, it’s easier to play it safe with what you already know than to put yourself in the position of being uncomfortable and having to learn new stuff — and possibly look foolish or fail

So what if you do?

The world won’t stop turning, nor will a lightening bolt materialize and strike you. Oh. And the sky won’t fall.

I promise.

What will happen is you’ll learn, grow, get braver, and your interests will expand.

And practically a guarantee that you’ll go further in life than you would have otherwise.

Opportunities.

Grab ‘em while they’re hot.

Image credit: Jennifer C.

Poking through 11+ years of posts I find information that’s as useful now as when it was written.

Golden Oldies is a collection of the most relevant and timeless posts during that time.

Long after I wrote this I read something that says much the same thing, only far more memorably.

“Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming “Wow! What a Ride!” — Hunter Thompson

Read other Golden Oldies here.

I’ve always thought of life as a corridor with dozens of doors opening, each one representing an opportunity.

You may open one or pass them by—it’s your choice.

Each time you do open one and enter that door closes forever and you move down a new corridor full of doors.

The door you entered is sealed because whatever lay behind it changed you, so you can’t go backwards, only forward.

Some people to through life opening as few doors as possible, changing as little as possible and staying as safe as possible.

Others launch themselves through the most interesting doors with gusto, taking advantage of whatever opportunities are concealed and then on to the next door.

In honor of all those who are, or lean to, the latter description I dedicate these two Rules. They are especially apropos today.

Watch for big problems—they disguise big opportunities.

Welcome the unexpected! Opportunities rarely come in neat, predictable packages.

You can’t open every door and you don’t have to stay long if you don’t like what you find, but if you pass straight through never opening any doors you’ll stay in pristine condition and you don’t really want to arrive at the end as untouched as you were when you started — do you?

Image credit: (no longer working)

When you’re a boss, one of your biggest responsibilities is to help your people grow.

Doing that requires patience, because they won’t all grow at the same rate.

Some people grow fast, like a hare, others are more in the tortoise category, but that doesn’t make them less valuable.

The hares may grow faster, but the growth often lacks substance. Tortoises, on the other hand, are known to dig deep in order to go beyond the knowledge needed to do something and understand the underlying principles.

Speed is important and the lack of depth may not be a problem until something goes wrong. Finding a solution or work-around often requires the deeper understanding that tortoises possess.

The smart boss knows having a balance of both hares and tortoises yields the strongest team; one that can accomplish far more on time and in budget than a team that is predominantly one type or the other.

Image credit: Inspiyr.com

My life has been very busy as of late. I recently switched jobs and I also have a new arrival on the way.

My wife will be having what we are calling the grand finale baby. I currently have three girls and am being blessed with a little boy this time around. It’s an exciting and busy time but also hectic.

One item to tend to during this planning period is a name for our son. There are so many choices and feelings associated with names. Should we go traditional? Family oriented? Something unique but not too unique?

It’s been tough. With our girls it seemed to make sense when we came up with their names, with the little man not so much.

I have also begun observing my own actions as a father. With girls I have learned how to act. I feel comfortable and confident. I think that they will be such great companions for their little brother. He will be surrounded by dolls, pink and lots of love.

I think we have figured out a name that carries a legacy, but is also strong. Unique but not too much so.

It carries a family line and honors the past while looking to the future.

What’s in a name?

Image credit: chuttersnap on Unsplash

One of Wally Bock’s tips about planning (worth reading) lead me to reread a post I wrote on the same topic a couple of years ago and reposted as a Golden Oldie last February.

The crux of the post is the difference between nouns and verbs.

It is plan-the-verb that distinguishes the winners from the also-rans and it is the verb that keeps you ahead of the competition. (…) Plan-the-verb boosts initiative, encourages taking responsibility and speeds professional growth, providing you with a stronger in-house bench from which to grow.

It is always detrimental to value the noun—plan, leader, manager—more than the verb—plan, lead, manage—but in the business world it can be devastating.

Which are you?

Being a noun involves making announcements, pronouncements, discussions, and shifting paper from here to there — and (often) back again.

Being a verb requires initiative and action.

Verbs don’t wait to be told what needs doing; they actively look for it and each time they find it they move, of their own volition, to resolve it.

In most things in life you have a choice and this is no different.

While we are all part noun and part verb, it is our individual decisions that determine which trait grows and dominates.

Image credit: Jason Taellious

Poking through 11+ years of posts I find information that’s as useful now as when it was written.

Golden Oldies is a collection of the most relevant and timeless posts during that time.

As you know, the blog was dark last week. It was the first time I’d taken time off and, while I needed it for many reasons, one major one was to revaluate the ROI I get from writing a daily blog. As I explain in this post, we should expect as solid an ROI from our actions when investing in ourselves as we do when investing in the outside world.

I haven’t made any hard and fast decisions, but I do know that changes are ahead.

Read other Golden Oldies here.

How many times have you said something like, “I’m not very good at X.” only to be told not to be so hard on yourself, not to put yourself down, or some variation of that theme?

I grant you that sometimes these comments are accurate and that the person is under-rating herself, but, just as often it’s a valid statement of fact.

Maybe it’s partly a function of age, but, it’s mainly a function of knowing one’s self and knowing when a viable ROI on the time/energy investment to change/create/fix something in ourselves just isn’t there.

For example, All my life I’ve been a procrastinator. I was about an 8 on a scale of 10, with ten being the worst. Over the years I invested a tremendous amount of time and energy in changing that—and I did change it, to a 4. When I hit four, I realized that the effort it was taking me to move to 3.8 was larger than when I moved from eight to seven.

That meant the change wasn’t particularly productive, in other words, bad ROI. So I stopped investing in change and learned to compensate instead, meaning I channeled my remaining procrastination into areas that don’t really impact the important parts of my world.

The point of all this is two fold

1. Know yourself well enough to know what you really want to change—change is a very personal decision—because to change successfully, it must be your idea.
2. Recognize when the return on your time/energy being spent is too low to warrant the investment and develop work-arounds to deal with the remnants of the change-item.

Finally, don’t let those pesky don’t-be-so-hard-on-yourself comments push you into actions that aren’t in your best interest. After all, they don’t know me as well as I know me, or as well as you know you.

Image credit: Euro Betting Tips

Poking through 11+ years of posts I find information that’s as useful now as when it was written.

Golden Oldies is a collection of the most relevant and timeless posts during that time.

If you read me often you’ll know I love words. I love them not only because of how they can be used to tell a story, but also because the answers to complex questions are often found within a single word — in the form of an anagram.

Here is one of my favorites.

And join me tomorrow for a six word anagram that comprises some of the best and most timeless management advice you’ll ever learn.

Read other Golden Oldies here.

The Tao of Life

We learn through words and can often learn more by deconstructing them.

Just as one of the most critical managerial (human) actions is found in its own anagram the Tao of another is found within the word itself.

The word is LIFE.

The Tao of life is IF.

IF you think/say/do this instead of that the Tao changes.

The IF isn’t always conscious or obvious.

But it is there.

It’s up to you to choose consciously.

And wisely.

Image credit: gfpeck

I’m here this week in Dallas, Texas for our company’s sales kickoff. Most of my company is remote and this also gives us an opportunity to meet in person for some quality bonding time.

I have found that these face-time meetings can create tremendous value as a company and as an individual rep. As companies continue to find talent from across the nation and world it becomes obvious that some time spent together can make a lasting impact.

Since we’re in Texas there are a few things that we must experience and do as a team. BBQ is top of the list. One of the executives within my company has a ranch in Texas and we had an excellent BBQ on the grounds of his property.

Basically, every cliché you can think of took place. Horses, cowboy hats, country music and great BBQ.

One takeaway that I learned during the evening was this, folks that travel for work get tired of restaurants. When we did the BBQ it was a moment for people to relax, spend time actually talking and not worrying about if we have tipped the server enough to stay longer.

It’s a good lesson to keep in mind when visiting clients as well. Give them some space to roam and you never know what you may find out.

Texas being Texas the week is not complete without going to a gun range. Now I realize that the gun debate is raging right now and even this week we have had another terrible school shooting. However, the experience at this range was able to cross political divides for at least one day. We had folks that are very experienced with shooting and those who have never touched a gun in their lives.

The feedback from the group was they were very happy to have had the experience to learn about gun safety from professionals and build a little confidence in what the weapon can do.

I am of the belief that weapons require respect and I carried that lesson into the events of the day. We conducted this event with clients and many of them walked away with a smile on their face after firing a gun for the first time. My takeaway from this is to get someone out of their comfort zone and you may just see who they really are.

So I went into this week with no expectations but learned three things:

Proximity matters. Give people space to roam. Create opportunities to expand your comfort zone.

They all help in business and in life.

Image credit: bryan…

It can be helpful to look at our past and see the progress we have made. There are also times when a significant event occurred that prompts you to remember it forever. It can be a turning point, a watershed moment or a placeholder of things to come.

Ten years ago on May 2nd, 2008 I was on patrol in Fallujah, Iraq as a US Marine. By this point I had been in the country for about three months and was starting to feel more comfortable with my surroundings and what our role was. I was one member of a 100 member Marine Company and we were tasked to provide security within a given geography. Our Company was made up of six squads. Each squad would have its own mission and area to patrol.

That evening was very similar to most. Our missions were at night so we would not disturb the local population. Typically we would have a late lunch, go into a conference room to discuss the mission for that evening and head out around 8 PM. During the mission briefings all the squads were together, we would meet up and tell each other to be safe, go out separate ways, and meet back in the morning to debrief

While we were on patrol that evening around 1 am in the morning I looked into the night sky to see flares floating down on parachutes about a half mile from my location. Typically this was done to provide light to an area when needed. I remember actually thinking it was rather beautiful. Each flare lasted about 5 minutes before going out and another would take its place. Unbeknownst to me at the time was the purpose of the flares.

When my squad returned in the morning something was off. There were somber faces and I saw our chaplain. As a Marine when you see the chaplain you know something is wrong. We were called into the briefing room and I saw grown men crying. These were hardened Marines who had seen a lot. It was then that we were told the news.

While on patrol during the night four Marines in our sister squad were killed when their Humvee rolled over an improvised explosive device, an IED. The purpose of those flares the night before were to provide light to my fellow Marines so they could recover what was left of the bodies.

That night was a watershed moment for me. I won’t claim I became my best self after; I didn’t. However I use it as a bookend and a beginning.

Ten years later I am a father to three beautiful girls and married to my best friend. I get to travel, I get to help people and I get to live.

For a long time I carried some measure of survivors guilt. Maybe I still do, but I also carry hope with me.

Will every day be my best? Absolutely not. Will I always make the right decision and honor the memory of my friends? No, I won’t. But I do know that I can make a choice everyday, while those four cannot.

I remember them as friends and companions. Mentors and leaders. Fragile and strong at the same time.

You are not forgotten and we will see each other again.

Until Valhalla —

Sgt. Glenn E. Martinez

Cpl. Miguel A. Guzman

Lcpl. James F. Kimple

Lcpl. Casey L. Casanova

Image credit: Richard Potts