Passages, Experiences, Themes: Happy New 2012!

Noted poet Frederic Ogden Nash (1902 – 1971) once said, “Every New Year is the direct descendant, isn't it, of a long line of proven criminals?” While that assessment may seem too harsh, the general sentiment is that the past couple of years have not been the best. Some have branded 2011 as the most tumultuous year in recent memory. Actually many could easily take offense at the performance of several of the last few years. The story of two Australian explorers, Messrs. Hume and Hovell, captures this well. In 1824, the two explorers led an expedition whose goal was to find new land in the colony and a route from Sydney to Melbourne. After endless hiking they crested a mountain only for faulty equipment and expansive vegetation to dash their hopes. All they could see before them was an unending corrugation of hills and valleys. Dejected by the experience Hume named the outcrop Mount Disappointment.

Start Afresh

As we approach 2012 it is tempting to look at previous years and end up dejected by the disappointments. Traditions like setting New Year resolutions and creating new goals become distasteful in the face of numerous experiences of strong starts with poor endings. But this time around it is different. I am hesitant to lump this particular New Year in the same gang as the long line of underperforming years that have left families, individuals, and nations alike frustrated and wary at the experience of another New Year. 2012 is not part of “the same old story”. This New Year brings freshness in a vastly unique way. If there were a time to begin afresh this is it!

Passages

Years ago while at the University of Nairobi in Kenya I made a habit of engaging in the practice of creating a theme for the New Year at the end of every year. I had a mentor at that time that did the same and he encouraged me to implement this practice. I found it to be a refreshing practice while in college and continued to implement it through the entire four years of my stay at the university. However, on coming to the US in 2001 the move signified a wholly new passage. The move brought about uniquely transformational stages of adaptation, and a number of transitions that necessitated less focus on the habit of continuing with this practice.

Experiences

Even after moving away from the practice, the past ten years of my experience in the US have been magical. I came here with $140 in my pocket, a small 21-inch suitcase, and knowing only one contact that I had only talked to once on a transcontinental call. Ten years later, I have had amazing experiences in numerous states. The best of these being my marriage in Ashland City, Tennessee in 2004; my son’s birth in Omaha, Nebraska in 2006; and my daughter’s birth in Cincinnati, Ohio in 2009. Other experiences include my graduation from Regent University in Virginia Beach, Virginia in 2004; and Indiana Wesleyan University in Marion, Indiana in 2010.

Themes

As 2012 approaches, the New Year marks the beginning of my second decade in the US. I’ve gone through all the stages of adaptation as I’ve embraced the passage into a new culture: honeymoon, rejection, isolation, assimilation, and acceptance. Though my family and origins are close to 9000 miles, almost 14,000 kilometers – or roughly an eighteen hour flight away, I’ve been privileged to travel back home six times over the course of my first ten years in the US. As I start this second decade of life in the US, I am encouraged to revive the practice of creating a theme for the New Year.

In this spirit, I am naming 2012 as my Year of Values and Virtues. Why values and virtues? This theme is inspired by the passages and amazing experiences that I’ve had in my first ten years in the US (see above). When my wife and I got married, we created a document that we referred to as our “nuptial values”. These values have held strong and as our family grows we want to further establish these values within the core of who we are. Towards this end we have fleshed out the values into a series of virtues which we will be focusing on through some pet projects.

PET project one: NAJETS

In marking this new focus and a new beginning, starting with the month of January I will be engaging in a fun experiment, PET project one, involving the maintenance of a video blog titled Najets. The Najets project will be a learning vlog delivered five days a week with nuggets on a variety of life and leadership topics that are critical to personal development. In this fun journey Najets simply represent ideas and insights that relate to personal passages, experiences, and themes which are communicated through the medium of online video. Though this will be a fun project the goal is to make the Najets empowering in nature and ultimately a helpful venture. (Okay, NAJETS is also an acrostic for Najoli - Educator, Trainer, Speaker).

Closing

I hope you are ready to make 2012 your best year yet. For me, the highlight will be completion of my doctoral studies at Indiana Wesleyan University. This will create space for even more PET projects. If this post resonates with you, my esteemed reader, do let me know some of the passages, and amazing experiences you’ve had over the last few years. Also, share your theme and any sharable projects you will be undertaking in the New Year. Just write in the comments section of this blog or reply to the note. Given that I started this post with a poet’s perspective I’d like to end it with another poet’s take on the New Year. Thomas Stearns “T.S.” Eliot (1888-1965) said, “For last year’s words belong to last year’s language. And next year’s words await another voice. And to make an end is to make a beginning”.

Happy New Year!

Develop A Concrete Philosophy About Helping Others

Zig Ziglar famously said, “You can get anything you want in this world if you can just help enough other people get what they want”. The truth is that if you do something nice for someone else, they will feel obligated to do something nice for you. That’s the power of reciprocity. I learnt this with a friend of mine a while back when I invited him and his family for a fully paid tour of an exhibition in our city. He was so delighted that all evening he kept on asking if there was anything he could do to help me.

You should always be looking for opportunities to help other people. Make it your goal that you will go the extra mile in helping people attain what they desire. Make it your personal goal to do more than you are paid for. Be committed to putting in more than you take out. When your input exceeds your output, your upkeep will be secure. By extending yourself, you improve your positioning in the other person’s mind. Few people have a concrete philosophy for helping others. Develop one for yourself and you will stand head and shoulders over many.

Unleash your full potential!

We live in a day when too many people are comfortable with the average. Few stretch themselves beyond the norm. I know many people who are paid just enough to prevent them from quitting and they work just enough to prevent them from getting fired. Many began their careers with expectations of rapid growth and progress and life somehow made them settle for the ordinary and mundane. We need to learn to live beyond average. Soar above mediocrity! We were engineered for excellence and born with greatness within us. You can achieve more thanthe norm. Stretch yourself. Unleash your full potential! Live above the level of mediocrity!

Stretching Our Minds

One of the things that puzzles me is why we sometimes close our minds to the entry of new ideas. If we are to grow we need to continually stay open to the entry of new ideas and information. New ideas and information allows us to grow and break out of our comfort zones. Man’s mind, one’s tretched by new ideas and information, never goes back to it’s original dimensions. One of the assumptions we sometimes live by is that we have no time to learn new ideas and gain new information. Sometimes we tend to think that we have mastered it all and need no new information. The truth is that it is what we learn after we have known it all that counts. So, stay open to new ideas.

Four Stages of People Development

People development is crucial to the success of any organization. People are an organization's greatest asset and therefore their development should be given a priority. There are four key steps that a leader can use in developing the people around her.

1. Stimulate Development

Leaders are like gardeners. A gardener takes a seed, plants it in good soil, nurtures the young plant with water and/or fertilizer and takes care of it into its maturity. The first requirement in stimulating development in people is being able to discern what their gifts and talents are. A person’s gifts and talents are the seed of his or her potential. Employees or followers need to be placed in environments where they will be most effective based on their talents. Personnel departments and leaders should specialize in being able to equip people with resources that build on their strengths. Only then can you begin to motivate development in people.

2. Motivate Development

Good leaders find ways to motivate development in others. I have found that the easiest way to do this is by painting a picture of the future for your people. People want to be associated with success and when they see that you are headed towards greatness they will jump aboard. Lasting motivation comes when the people you lead buy into your leadership. One thing that many leaders miss is that people must first buy into the leader before they can buy into the leader’s vision for the future. Find what can connect you and your people and that will be the glue for your continued motivation of them.

3. Encourage Development

When I was in college I read a quote that I have come to really love and appreciate a lot. I can’t remember who gave us the quote (…might have been Socrates or Plato … or one of those profoundly wise sages of the 16th Century). The quote was, “Encouragement is the oxygen of the heart”. In terms of people development I’d say encouragement is the fuel of continued growth. Leaders encourage people by offering them incentives that induce a commitment to the growth process. Now, a pay check provides limited inducement for true growth. People need to see a bigger cause than just putting bread on the table. Are you encouraging your people? You’ve got to encourage people!

4. Celebrate Development

People need leaders that will celebrate good performance more often than they criticize or give feedback about shallow performance. Celebration means fun. When people are having fun, nothing hurts. Are you having fun with your people?

Crossing Bridges

Some wise sage once said, “We are told never to cross a bridge until we come to it, but this world is owned by men who have ‘crossed bridges’ in their imagination far ahead of the crowd.” I’m thinking of leaders like Martin Luther King Jnr, Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela. These men crossed bridges way ahead of the societies and times they lived in. Life demands of us to be prepared for our time when it comes. But the truth is that in order to be prepared we must be able to cross bridges before we get to them. Crossing bridges before we get to them means having a healthy imagination full of ideas on how we can solve the challenges of today and avoid the obstacles of tomorrow.

I’m at a point right now where I’m beginning to develop that capacity to block out time in my day where I can get into my creative space and do nothing but cross bridges in my imagination. Any thinker should be able to do this. That’s the key to leadership - being able to see farther than everyone else and then communicating the dynamics to those around you. I think that we can all develop that capacity to cross bridges before we come to them. Putting in that extra effort in the beginning will save us from lots of trouble and heart-ache in the latter part of our various missions in life.

Long-Range Vision and it's Impact on an Organization

After many years of research being done and business books being written, the jury is out on the idea of organizational vision: companies must have a vision. Over the past two or three decades many companies have done a lot in terms of developing their vision/mission statements along with core values that guide them towards that vision. Go to any company website and nine out of ten times you will find some form of a mission statement, vision statement, guiding philosophy or core values.

While it is commendable that many organizations have a vision to justify their existence, it is worth noting that most of these visions are short-range in nature. The vision enables them to get on track with their plans but it is not sufficient enough to take them into the future. Let me use the analogy of a train going through a tunnel. Physical vision (along with the train’s lights) enables the train operator or engine driver to see as he goes through the tunnel. An experienced driver, however, has the mental vision that enables him to see beyond the tunnel. I would also venture to use an example from the nation of South Africa. Nelson Mandela had the vision to take the people out of apartheid. Thabo Mbeki had the vision to take the country into reconciliation and a future of mutual existence. Actually, Mandela did initiate the reconciliation but it took Mbeki’s leadership to sustain it beyond the euphoria of excitement.

Here are some thoughts on how long-range vision can transform your business:

1. Provides a focus beyond “tomorrow”

Vision is great because it provides you with a general strategy for handling tomorrow. Beyond tomorrow though, you need to be able to handle “the future”. Tomorrow belongs to those organizations that have a vision of what is coming ahead. The future belongs to those organizations that can shape what is coming. We see what’s ahead through vision; but we shape what’s coming through long-range perspective.

2. Ensures the continuity of the group or organization

Vision gives power to an organization’s mission. Long-range vision, on the other hand, breathes life into the organization’s mission. Any organization can make it a couple of years but it takes long-range thinking to survive a future that threatens the very life of organizations. Vision can sometimes guide an organization to it’s level of incompetence. The Swiss watch making companies for example, were overtaken by Japanese digital watch companies because they did not have long-range vision. They had vision, yes, but that alone could not take them into the future.

3. Envisions potential pitfalls and their solutions

Henry Ford is noted for saying that the masses could have any car they wanted so long as it was black in color. Ford had great vision for the automobile industry but he could not see beyond the tunnel. He could clearly see the light at the end of the tunnel but little did he know that it was the headlight of an on-coming train. Now, he had experience and should have been able to see beyond the tunnel. However, he didn’t. If organizations are going to make it into the future, they must have long-range vision, rather than just “a vision of tomorrow”. They must be on the cutting-edge of shaping the direction in which society is going rather than putting themselves in a place where they will have to play catch-up.

How’s your organization doing? Do you have a long-range vision? At the Better Life Company, we have started aiding businesses in developing training programs that empower it’s employees in working with leadership to develop long-range vision. It takes more than observing trends. It takes more than a “visionary” person climbing to the top of the mountain and declaring the vision to the team. Are you ready to maximize your organization’s future and ensure it’s continuity?

Going Back to My Childhood

Tomorrow I will be celebrating one of my many birthdays. One thing that always comes to mind every July 21st is the fun I had as a child, running through green pastures (metaphoric), enjoying my friends and living it up. As I have advanced in age, I have unlearnt so much of the fun I had as a child. A mentor once taught me that it’s what we learn after we know it all that counts! That was an eye-opener! It really made me think about how becoming a man has robbed me of so much that I had as a child. Many times we advance in age and so much changes that we lose touch with the things that make life worth enjoying. Certain activities and pursuits are shunned because they are for ‘children’. But being childish and being childlike are two very different things.

Children are learners. True learners never say that they know it all. Childish people are stuck in their mannerisms. I want to go back to my childhood days because that is when I learnt the most. I want to walk in the rain, I want to jump in mud puddles, I want to collect rocks, I want to enjoy rainbows and roses once again, I want to smell flowers, I want to blow bubbles, I want to stop along the way just for no reason, I want to build sandcastles, I want to say hello to everyone, I want to go barefoot, I want to go on adventures, I want to act silly, I want to fly kites, I want to have a merry heart, I want to talk with animals, I want to sing in the shower, I want to read childrens’ books, I want to take bubble baths, I want to get new sneakers, I want to hold hands and hug and kiss, I want to dance, I want to laugh and cry for the health of it, I want to wonder and wander around, I want to feel happy and precious and innocent, I want to feel scared, I want to feel sad, I want to feel mad, I want to give up worry and guilt and shame, I want to say yes, I want to say no, I want to say the magic words, I want to ask lots of questions, I want to ride bicycles, I want to draw and paint, I want to see things differently, I want to fall down and get up again, I want to look at the sky, I want to watch the sun rise and sun set, I want to watch clouds and name their shapes, I want to watch the moon and stars come out, I want to trust the universe, I want to stay up late, I want to climb trees, I want to daydream, I want to do nothing and do it very well, I want to learn new stuff, I want to be excited about everything, I want to be a clown, I want to enjoy having a body, I want to listen to music, I want to find out how things work, I want to make up new rules, I want to tell stories, I want to save the world, I want to make friends with the other kids on the block, and do anything else that brings more happiness, celebration, health, love, joy, creativity, pleasure, abundance, grace, self-esteem, courage, balance, spontaneity, passion, beauty, peace, relaxation, communication and life energy to…all living beings on this planet.

The Power of KUDOS

The other day someone gave me some kudos and I was tickled because kudos is a rarely used english word. It simply means giving compliments to another. Maybe the rare use of the word signifies the need for more kudos in workplaces. In an effort to contribute towards this, I would like to suggest a KUDOS formula for leaders and supervisors in organizations.

Here’s the KUDOS formula:

K - Keep your focus on finding acts worthy of encouragement in your people.
U - Underscore the vital necessity of a climate and culture of encouragement.
D - Discover the 101% principle (Find the 1 thing someone is good at and give 100% encouragement in this area.
O - Outline your expectations, knowing that people soar higher once encouraged.
S - Seek to encourage with a desire for the other person’s benefit, not your own.

Five Key Results of the KUDOS formula:

1. Increased productivity in service and results.
2. Generates motivation and keeps momentum going.
3. Cultivates energy for input of effort and hard work.
4. Maintains synergy as the power of teamwork is enhanced.
5. Leverages the final outcome of a desired target or objective.

Small Stuff Can Make A Huge Difference

Richard Carlson contributed immensely to de-stressing the human race in his masterpiece, Don’t sweat the small stuff. I personally have benefited immensely from his work. There have been many situations when I would get close to allowing small stuff to ruin my attitude. In those moments I’ve thought of his work and the potential of stress always ended up dissipating. But then I would also like us to consider getting serious about the little things that, if not properly handled, can derail our purposes, marriages and organizations. As I advocate for getting serious about small stuff, I’m not saying that you should sweat the small stuff. Sweat is a waste of energy (mere rearrangement of the letters) while getting serious is conservation of energy.

Think about your home, your job or your schooling. Supposing you decided not to be serious about the little things, what would happen? Would your home be successful? Would you continue working at your job for long? Would you do well in school and graduate? Little things do matter. Small stuff may not matter but little things can become big things. Think of the nanotechnology industry. Something extremely small is rapidly becoming a big thing. Nanotechnology is simply the manipulation of atoms and molecules. The particles that are produced are a thousand times smaller than the width of hair, a hundred times smaller than a red blood cell - small stuff, huh!? Yet in the next few years nanotechnology will be driving almost everything - from computer chips to fuel cells. When the entire process of manipulating this small particles is fully undertood we might have robots creating things out of nothing. Picture a car or a hamburger appear out of thin air as the molecules are arranged by nano-scale robots!

Let’s get serious about the little things. Little things become big things. Don’t sweat the small stuff but get serious about the little things.

Handling Change: The Three Dis's that Prevent Disaster

Change is a constant. You can’t step into the same river twice. People need to understand that change is part of life. Most people struggle with handling change because it causes the 3 D’s - discomfort, disruption and dislocation. A crucial part of the process of handling change will involve helping people handle the dis’s and get pluses out them. Let us explore how we can do that:

Discomfort

Change requires difficult adjustments by people. Adjustments can cause stress and bring tension to groups. In some cases change has been known to lead to depression in some people and a mutiny from others. Uncertainty about the results of the change can bring fatigue and frustration. The key to avoiding all this is to ensure that people know in advance what to expect and how to deal with it. The discomfort of change can be prevented by preparing people adequately for the coming changes.

Disruption

When significant changes are made, some people experience personal pain at the loss of familiar things to which they had become very attached. This can be a source of great trauma. Leaders can help people by allowing them to verbalize their sense of loss and grief, and then gently pointing them to the benefits of the change and the bright new future ahead of them.

Dislocation

Any change, whether it involves new strategies, new programs, new equipment, new work procedures, new facilities, new management practices or new leaders, disrupts an existing order and leads to discontinuity. In a time of change, leaders should frequently explain what is happening and keep their people informed. People will be more optimistic if they know the change is progressing successfully. Leaders should frequently communicate what steps have been initiated, what changes have been completed and what resulting improvements have occurred.

Handling these three dis’s appropriately will be the key to avoiding the dreaded dis of change - disaster! People must be helped through change seasons, otherwise they will see a lack of help as a sign of impending disaster within the group. In tomorrow’s blog I will address how you can empower people to lead the change process themselves.

Character, Reputation and Human Personality

Every day we are faced with a myriad opportunities through which our personality is developed. It is in these moments that our character is developed and our reputation is enhanced. However, our problem is that we tend to confuse the two. Reputation is simply what people think about a person. Character is what the person really is. When it comes to human performance therefore, character is the bedrock of achievement. Reputation is what precedes a thing while character is what outlasts the thing. Reputation changes but character does not. Reputation is like the shadow of a building. It moves in different directions throughout the day. Character on the other hand is like the building itself. It forever stays the same. Today, I’d like to encourage you to be more focused on your character rather than your reputation. Your character will outlast your reputation and shape your personality.

Carpe Diem? Surge My Friend!

I had a friend in college who had a lot of fun walking around campus and urging everyone to “carpe diem” - seize the day. For all the laughs and ridicules he got, his advice was awesome because many people tend to procrastinate instead of acting immediately. In order for us to attain the fulness of our objectives I’d like us to consider the joy of surging ahead. Consider this: 4 + 4 = 8; but 4 X 4 =16. That’s the difference between seizing and surging. Seizing the day enables us to make arithmetic progressions in life while surging enables us to make geometric progressions in life. It’s like making quantum leaps as opposed to taking baby steps. Bottom-line … are you making progress?

Thinking and Credibility

The key to success is the quality of one’s thinking. One of the main obstacles to success therefore is the state of one’s mind. In order to achieve the full potential of one’s capabilities, the mind must be guarded and consistently refreshed with insight that allows it to flourish. We’ve all heard of the saying, “Garbage in, garbage out”. That’s true. We need to feed our minds with the good, the powerful and the great. I encourage you to commit to feeding your mind with good stuff on a daily basis. Find books that inspire and read them. Stock your car with motivational tapes that you can listen to while driving. Manage your mind. It is the key to your accomplishments.

I am currently reading a book that was written over 25 years ago: In Search of Excellence, by Tom Peters and Robert Waterman Jr. Tom and Robert share some findings from a psychological study that really made me think. In the study, a random sample of male adults were asked to rank themselves on “the ability to get along with others”. All the subjects put themselves in the top half of the population. Sixty per cent rated themselves in the top 10 percent of the population, and a full 25 percent ever so humbly thought they were in the top 1 percent of the population.

In a parallel finding, 70 percent rated themselves in the top quartile in leadership; only 2 percent felt they were below average as leaders. At least 60 percent said they were in the top quartile of athletic ability; only 6 percent said they were below average. The truth is that we all think we are tops. Thinking of ourselves as winners is awesome. It shapes our perspective. However, it is also important to have an honest view of ourselves. That is the key to credibility. Being humble should not mean that we see ourselves as less of who we really are. Be humble and people will see you as very credible.

Generate some heat: How focus fires up your purpose and plans

When I was a kid my dad bought me a couple of magnifying glasses of varied colors. I enjoyed playing with the glasses and feeling like a serious detective as I roamed in and out of the house looking for clues to mysteries that I created in my overactive imagination. Perhaps the greatest power of those glasses, I came to discover, was that when I held them over a piece of newspaper and allowed the sun’s rays to stream through, pretty soon I would have a fire (I was a little older and understood the need for safety). We lived directly under the equator and the sun was always hot and directly above us for most of the day. However, it’s rays never burnt anything until when they were brought to a point of focus.

While bringing those rays to a point of focus might seem like reducing the sun’s power, it actually increased it’s intensity and resulted in the generation of heat. This is the same thing with our potential. When potential is brought to a point of focus it results in greater output and results. Activity is not necessarily productivity. It’s what you focus on that brings about your greatest productivity. Much has been said about the Pareto Principle, which I believe to be true. According to Pareto, 80% of your productivity will come from 20% of your activity (paraphrased). Here’s the key to generating lasting results: find the 20% of what you are most effective at and give it 80% of your time and resources.

Constant Positive Input (CPI) vs. Constant Negative News (CNN)

With the onslaught of major media, we live in a day when there’s too much negativity coming across all day. The only news coming through seems to be CNN - Constant Negative News. Everywhere you turn it’s negative news - in the newspapers, on theweb, on TV, on radio, at the mall, etc. Our only recourse in this day and age is to turn on what’s positive. Researchers have said that it takes one correct input to overcome eleven incorrect inputs. That basically means that for every negative bit of information that comes your way, you need eleven positive bits of information in order tocontinue progressing towards success in life.

How can the ordinary person then attain success given this situation? I think the most effective way to do so is to engage in a lot of positive self-talk. Learn to speak the good, the powerful, the positive to yourself as you go through the various activities of the day. It doesn’t have to be loud. This act alone can guarantee you tremendous success in your daily life. Constant and consistent positive input is the key to realizing the fullness of your personal potential. You’ve got to feed yourself with material that will enhance your quality of life. Let’s turn off CNN - Constant Negative News and turn on CPI - Constant Positive News.