Archive for the 'Life' Category

Gifts: No Unwrapping Required

Published February 22, 2020 Community , Life , Uncategorized 1 Comment
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They say it’s your birthday
Well, it’s my birthday too, yeah
They say it’s your birthday
We’re gonna have a good time
I’m glad it’s your birthday

In November 1968 this Beatles song (Birthday) made its debut when “the White Album” was released. Three short months later, I made my world debut. Legend has it Lennon and McCartney made this song up “on the fly” at the studio during the recording of the album. In a 1980 interview John Lennon characterized the song as being “a piece of garbage.” Perhaps not the best work from the Beatles, but still a catchy song to hear now and then.

I recently celebrated another birthday as those things seem to come around every year like clock-work. While this was not one of those milestone birthdays, it was memorable nonetheless. This one started out in the air. After multiple mechanical issues, my flight from Chicago to Austin was somewhere over north Texas when the clock struck midnight and my birthday day officially started. My first birthday greeting happened around 1:45a when I walked into the house and my loyal Shih Tzu greeted me with a “hug” after waiting patiently for hours for my arrival back home.

The first gift of the day was being able to sleep in until 7a – thanks to my loving wife getting one kid off the early morning cheer practice and calming down the other child as she fretted about missing an early morning flight due to an extremely slow moving security line at the Memphis airport. While I had decided to take the day off from work, I knew this birthday would not be devoid of work.

The second gift of the day was seeing that daughter who was able to catch her early morning flight in Memphis, coming down the escalator at the Austin airport. While we are blessed to be able to travel back and forth to the Velvet Ditch of Mississippi (aka Oxford) on a fairly frequent basis, it is always a lift to the spirits to spend time with child that you don’t to get see on a daily, weekly or sometimes monthly basis. After a quick bite to eat at Whataburger to satisfy a college girls Texas cravings (note the closest WB to Oxford is a 3 hour drive), the work part of the day was about to start.

As referenced earlier the younger daughter is on her school’s cheer squad. For the past 7 years that cheer squad has held an annual event called Savio Cuts for Cancer. “Savio” is the short name for St Dominic Savio Catholic High School – a small 400 person school on the north side of Austin. “Cuts” is in reference to students and others in the community donating 8+ inches of hair to an organization that makes wigs for those fighting cancer. And “Cancer”, well sadly I don’t think that needs a description or definition. Tradition is for the juniors on the cheer squad to essentially chair the event – plan the event, find sponsors, arrange for hair stylists to cut hair, promote the event, etc. This year that meant my daughter and one other cheerleader were given the honor of chairing the event. Planning an event takes a ton of time and effort and these two young ladies were definitely up to the challenge. Part of that planning included cheer parents helping set up for the event and being there to guide people to the right places during the event – an event that this year happened to coincide with my birthday.

That is where my third gift surfaced. One does not usually associate work with a being a gift, but when you are supporting a good cause it certainly does. Setting up tables, moving chairs around, hauling boxes from cars, building a balloon arch…all gifts. And then there was the event itself.

  • What a gift to see a charity event coordinated by teenagers go off without a hitch.
  • What a gift to listen to a high school freshman give her personal testimony on her battle with cancer and the importance of her faith and her faith community in her journey over the past year.
  • What a gift to see girl after girl (including my own daughter) give a small part (8+ inches of hair) of themselves to help others.
  • What a gift to see hundreds of kids come down from the gym stands and write down the names of loved ones that have faced cancer.
  • What a gift to see an entire community coming together to stand against a dreaded disease and to remind each other that we are never alone.

c4c

 

The event was a huge success with close to 150 ponytails collected and over $2,300 raised for St Jude Children’s Hospital. But the numbers pale in comparison to the success of bringing together a community.

My day concluded with dinner and margaritas at an “old Austin” institution – El Patio; opening some physical gifts from the family; and then my traditional yellow cake with chocolate icing. All in all a great day, and a birthday like no other. And yes, I had a good time.

Should I Stay or Should I Go?

Published May 11, 2017 Career Development , Leadership , Life , Uncategorized Leave a Comment

Should I stay or should I go now?

If I go there will be trouble

And if I stay it will be double

So ya gotta let me know

Should I stay or should I go?

 

I am pretty sure The Clash were not singing about career decisions, but the last time I heard this song on The Bat 105 – Austin’s Capital for Classic Hits, it inspired me to ponder a question that almost all people face at some point in their working lifetime.  The question of “should I leave my current job?”

Over my 25 plus years in management roles, I was often asked questions that were in essence “Should I stay or should I go?”  While I never answered the question by belting out lyrics the way Mick Jones did, more times than not I was able to provide some perspective or at least respond back with my own question. In some cases the person asking the question was a direct report or someone from within the same department. In other cases it was a peer in another department or even on rare occasions a person higher up in the organization.  And in yet other cases, the question was posed by a friend that worked for a different company.

In all cases, I am always impressed with the bravery to ask the question and have the discussion. Not everyone is comfortable having a dialogue about potentially changing jobs; so when people engage me on the subject I try and make a true effort to provide valuable insight.  I usually start by asking “why are you considering making a change?”  The answers vary from a desire for more compensation, to lack of career advancement, to too much travel, to boredom, to dislike of co-workers or company, to wanting to make a radical career change, and to long work days or stress eating away at family time.  Depending on the answer to the first question, I might follow up with something like “are you happy doing what you are doing?” or “does your current job make you feel fulfilled?”  or the ever popular “so what do you want to do when you grow up?” These will usually spur more conversation and in most cases that will lead to additional reasons for wanting to make a change or not make a change.

Depending on where the conversation goes, I might even use my own journey from which to pull examples of times I either made the decision to make a change or stay put.  Granted most of my job changes might seem radical to some, but there was usually some point in one of them that could fit the situation.  My first big change from government accountant to Big 4 consultant was driven by a desire to not do accounting, and to lesser extents much better compensation and making good on a “threat” I made to leave the agency I was working in if they moved me on to a team working on what I considered an already doomed project.  My next change to leave the interesting world of Big 4 consulting and land in corporate-America was driven by a strong desire to spend more time with my young family.  The grind of traveling 5 or 6 days every week was too much.  And my latest change from corporate CIO to independent management consultant was driven by the realization the corporate officer role I had chased for many years did not bring the expected feeling of joy.  In short, I was not happy and went back to the role, management consultant, that brought me the most happiness – this time without the extensive travel.

Not once did I look back and question my decision to make a change, but trust me, each decision was not made lightly.  Any time that “stay or go” question creeped in my mind, I stopped and assessed the situation.

What is making me ask the question?

Is my current role fulfilling?

Am I growing professionally?

Is my current job pulling me away from other more important things in my life?

Am I happy?

In most cases I tried to seek out the advice of others.  I also tried to balance that input from others with what my mind and my heart were telling me.  In the end, I always went with my heart because I knew that would lead me to make the right decision.  There were times the heart said “stay” and others when it said “go”; looking back the choice was always spot on.

Ultimately the decision to make a change is yours to make.  Getting advice from others can help bring it all into focus, but in the end you have to make the choice.  You can beg and plead for someone else to let you know, but only you can answer the question “should I stay or should I go?”

Glory Days

Published May 3, 2017 Class Reunion , Community , High School , Life , Uncategorized Leave a Comment

I think I’m going down to the well tonight

And I’m going to drink till I get my fill

And I hope when I get old I don’t sit around thinking about it

But I probably will

Yeah, just sitting back trying to recapture

A little of the glory of, well time slips away

And leaves you with nothing mister

but Boring stories of

glory days

 Glory days well they’ll pass you by

Glory days in the wink of a young girl’s eye

Glory days, glory days

If you recall from my last post, my 30th High School Reunion happened recently.  A part of me thought I would walk in to the opening night festivities at the VFW Hall  to something that resembled this Bruce Springsteen song – a room full of upper 40-somethings stuck in the glory days of the late 80s.

I am happy to report that was not the case.  Instead I walked into a room full of people that were genuinely happy to see old friends and in some cases meet new friends.  Sure there was plenty of talk about our high school antics, but there was also talk about families, jobs, sports, the weather, maybe some politics, and many other topics.  Not once did I talk to someone who thought their glory days peaked in 1987.

Due to family commitments (my own daughter was having her senior prom the same weekend), I was not able to stay for all the events of the weekend, but I was able to catch a couple of them.  After the Friday night VFW mixer, about 90 of us came together to walk the halls of our old high school on Saturday morning.  The campus, part of which was originally an elementary school, had been converted into a junior high school at some point after our graduation.  And as part of some upcoming construction projects, all the existing buildings will soon have a date with a wrecking ball.  Thanks to the current school superintendent, a fellow 1987 graduate, we were able to take a final stroll down memory lane through the halls of our school.  We also gathered in the gym to take a class picture and hear some thoughts from a few classmates.

One of my lifelong friends (Mary Olga) had asked a few days prior that I be one of those to share a few thoughts.  Not being one to shy away from sharing my wisdom, I promptly accepted.  While I totally adlibbed things that morning, I did actually have some thoughts jotted down, so I thought I would share those with you:

30 years ago I was given the honor of standing in front of you at Wagstaff Gym to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance.  If I recall it was some form of consolation for not being quite smart enough to be our Valedictorian or Salutatorian.  So when Mary Olga messaged me to ask if I would say a few words this morning, I thought “awesome, these people are finally going to have to sit through a speech from me.”  Then she told me I was limited to 2 minutes, so I guess you are still getting off easy.

Being back here on this campus where many of us started and ended our time in Whitehouse schools brings back a flood of memories.  Not very many people can say they attended Kindergarten and Physics class in the same room – but I am blessed to say I did.  Thank you Dr Moran for letting us spend a few last moments here before you call in the wrecking ball next year.

And being in this gym especially brings back into focus my pedestrian, at best, basketball career.   Coach Nix was right, I was too slow and too short for the game. That said, I was able to turn that hoops experience into an impressive 13-10 record in two seasons as a volunteer coach for a  girls junior high basketball team , leaving me just a few victories shy of his win total.

Since leaving here in 1987, I have been fortunate to meet thousands of great people from all over the world, but this place and the people here hold a special place with me .  I don’t make it back to Whitehouse very often and I rarely talk to any of you, but the memories from my first 18 years of life are always top of mind. All of you had a hand in forming those memories –  For that, I say thank you. I sincerely hope you all feel the same way about our fellow classmates.

My oldest daughter just finished up four years of high school cheer and my other daughter will be taking her place on the high school squad next year, so I have become a bit of a cheer dad in recent years.  So, in conclusion I am going to ask for any cheerleaders that are in the house to come on down and join me.

We’re from Whitehouse, couldn’t be prouder, if you can’t hear us, we’ll yell a little louder   (3 times)

I need to once again give Heather and Kelly, my varsity cheerleaders, props for being called out of the stands on the spot and joining me in the cheer.

Sadly I had to bolt out of town back to Austin as soon as we were done at the gym, but I heard that the main event Saturday night was nothing short of awesome.  From the pictures posted on Facebook, it looked to be a party for the ages.  More props to all those that had a hand in planning the weekend.

As my oldest daughter prepares to graduate from high school, I only hope that 30 years from now she can attend an equally fulfilling reunion.

Oh, in case I have not told you:  I’m from Whitehouse and I couldn’t be prouder!

Most Likely to Succeed?

Published March 10, 2017 Class Reunion , High School , Life , Uncategorized Leave a Comment
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All hail to Whitehouse High School,

All hail to you,

For truth and knowledge,

We will ere be true,

Always in our memories,

Forever in our hearts,

We will remember,

Dear Whitehouse High.

WHS

My 30th high school reunion is coming up next month.  Even though I have not seen the large majority of them in many years, thanks to the popularity of social media apps, I have been able to keep tabs on many of my high school classmates.  That said, I am looking forward to attending the event and seeing people that were a huge part of my childhood.

As I started to talk about the upcoming reunion, my daughters had me drag out the high school year book so they could check out the teenage version of dad.  One of the things they noticed in my yearbook was the Senior Superlatives.  Specifically, they zeroed in on the page showing me (along with the awesome Mary Olga Ferguson) as The Most Likely To Succeed.  A few days later, my oldest daughter asked me if I thought I was the most successful person out of my high school class.

I am pretty sure the 18-year-old me thought of success only in terms of money.  I am certain I had visions of returning to my high school reunion by private jet, rolling up to the venue in a high dollar sports car while wearing a very expensive Armani suit. And then telling fascinating stories of my exploits as a retired multi-millionaire business executive.

Thankfully, the 48-year-old me knows that money and wealth are not the measures of success.  I may not be able to point to the perfect measure of success, but I know the size of my bank account is not it.  I also know that the only person who’s measurement of your success that is accurate and matters is you.  If you are happy with your life and content with yourself, then you more than likely see yourself as successful.  Your job title, the size of your house, the type of car you drive, the size of your retirement account does not matter.

So, do I see myself as being successful?  Absolutely.  I met and married the love of my life, have two teenage daughters that act like teenagers, have a dog that thinks I hung the moon (dogs have a way of making you feel loved), have had the chance to coach a  number of kids the basics of basketball and to a lesser extent soccer, have seen some interesting parts of the United States and a smattering of other countries, have attended a large number of concerts, have sang Sweet Caroline karaoke style on a bus going through the streets of Manila while drinking a beer at 7:00 in the morning, have been involved with supporting three different Catholic schools, and have met people from all over the world that I count as friends.  I feel like I have in my own small way made an impact on the world.  Life hasn’t been perfect, but it’s been good. So in my book, I’m marking it down as successful.

Do I think I am the most successful person out of my high school class?  That is a question that cannot be answered.  Actually, it is a question that should not even be asked.  No one can say that one person is more successful than another. One person’s success cannot be stacked and ranked against the success of others.  My hope is that there are 200+ fellow Whitehouse High School graduates of the class of 1987 that all see themselves as successful.  I plan on walking into a room full of successful people – none more successful than the rest. A room full of people in their late 40s that have weaved their way through life’s hills and valleys and are still bringing the good fight everyday.

So for any of my fellow classmates that thought they might see the class Most Likely to Succeed recipient flying into Tyler Pounds Field on his personal Learjet and jumping in a black stretch limo and walking in with a high-dollar slick-Rick suit on, I am sorry to disappoint you.  You will have to settle for seeing me roll into town in my well used 2009 Saab 9-3, maybe with an iced-down Yeti in the trunk and perhaps wearing faded jeans, a Ramones tshirt, and flip-flops with a built-in bottle opener.  That might get me kicked out of the Secret Society of Most Likely to Succeeders, but that’s OK.  I’ll be the guy smiling and laughing while reconnecting with my fellow Wildcats.

WHS!

 

A Whole New World

Published January 12, 2017 Career Development , Life Leave a Comment
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A whole new world
A new fantastic point of view
No one to tell us no
Or where to go
Or say we’re only dreaming

I can still remember walking out of the church with my new bride on my arm to this song from Disney’s Aladdin movie back in the mid-90s.  That day was indeed the start to a whole new world; a world that continues to change to this day.

The latest change to that world came on December 2, 2016 when I walked out of a Harte Hanks office as an employee for the last time.  While leaving a company seems like a regular occurrence these days, for me it was a major decision for two reasons: 1) I had been at the company for 15 years, and 2) I was leaving to go out on my own.

I think back to the middle of 2001 when I was desperate to get out of the constant travel that accompanied my job as a Big 4 consultant. Travel that kept me away from my young and growing family.  Thanks to a former co-worker of my wife, I ended up with the inside track for a director level position at a company I had only vaguely heard of and in an industry that I knew absolutely nothing about.  But it was in Austin; had low travel requirements, and was at a comparable pay level.  I took the job thinking I would stick it out for a year while I found my dream job and more importantly enjoyed time with my family.

Fast forward 15 years and I was still at that company.  During that 15 years, I was exposed to all facets of what turns out to be a pretty fascinating world of data-driven marketing and customer support and was able to advanced my career to the point of being a corporate officer serving as the company’s CIO.  What started out as a somewhat desperate job move to get out of the misery of constant travel, actually turned into what many would consider a fantastic career.

However, the last four years of that “fantastic” career found me in the midst of massive change and upheaval in an 80 year old company – a company that was slow in some areas to latch onto the new digitally oriented marketing channels.  I’ll save the gory details of the change and upheaval for later posts, but in essence I was a part of multi-year turnaround effort that involved 3 different CEOs – 4 if you count an interim CEO.  While that type of environment is full of “professional life” lessons; it is also a pressure packed environment that can weigh on you mentally and physically.

They say that facing adversity and overcoming challenges “builds character”, but as a former colleague used to say after a streak of unfortunate events “I think we have enough character now.”  In mid-2016, I reached the conclusion that I had built up enough character from that extended turnaround effort and knew it was time to start the next chapter of my career.

While I was not a fan of the constant travel that went along with my first stint as a consultant, I did enjoy the work.  The idea of using my knowledge and experience to help others solve problems without getting sucked into the day-to-day administrative cycles that come with corporate leadership positions has always held an allure for me. Using that as a fundamental anchor, I set my sights on breaking free from the corporate leadership world and jumping back into consulting –  but not back into the world of major consulting firms.  This time I decided to make a run at being the independent consultant – a modern day version of the Lone Ranger.

Once again thanks to contacts I have made along the way, an opportunity to turn that idea into a reality presented itself.  So, I took that chance and gave up the “comforts” of corporate officer life.  In late November Nice Socks Consulting was born and on December 2, I took another walk “down the aisle” with that same Disney movie song playing in my head as I departed Harte Hanks for the final time.

A whole new world
(Every turn a surprise)
With new horizons to pursue
(Every moment, red-letter)

Till Gabriel Blows His Horn

Published April 16, 2014 College , Life Leave a Comment
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The eyes of Texas are upon you

All the live long days

The eyes of Texas are upon you

And you cannot get away

Do not think you can escape them

From night till early in the morn

The eyes of Texas are upon you

Till Gabriel blows his horn

Those are the lyrics to the alma mater for The University of Texas at Austin. As you may have figured out by now, I received degrees from there many years ago. For many this is just a song set to the tune of I’ve Been Working on the Railroad, but for Texas Exes it serves as a reminder that what we do with our lives is seen and felt by many people – perhaps not the entire State of Texas or the world, but more people than one would imagine.

A friend and former business associate recently died as the result of a seemingly random traffic accident. He too was a proud graduate of The University of Teas at Austin. While we did not talk as often as we did when we worked at the same company, we exchanged texts throughout the year about the ups and downs of the various Longhorn athletic teams and how things were going in our professional careers.

When I attended his funeral in the small Texas town of Ballinger, it struck me just how many lives one person could touch in their lives. The church was overflowing with people wanting to take a part in honoring his life. As I listened to the eulogies, it also struck me that he was a person that truly lived his life knowing that the eyes of Texas were upon him. As the stories were told of his childhood and on through to his last day, it left no doubt that he had an eye for business from an early age, that community was important to him, and that love of family and God were at the center of every part of his life.

As many of us do, I find myself caught up all too often in the daily work grind. That grind seems to have the ability to consume all our energy, leaving very little for the other much more important things in our lives. The grind gets in the way our relationships with friends and family; it becomes the excuse to not be involved in activities to help those in our community; it even begins to interfere with our faith. In short we let work define our lives. We reach a point where we live to work. What we need to do is work to live.

My friend had it right; he strived for success in his career in order to be a better husband, father, and member of his community. He wanted to make a difference in people’s lives – and I think the evidence is there that he did. I can learn a lot from his short 35 years of life, and the last lesson is to remember what matters most, never lose sight of it and live every day like it is your last chance to impact a life.

Till Gabriel blows his horn…………

I Found Help (and Hope) in Orlando: And I Wasn’t Even Looking For It

Published January 23, 2014 Community , Leadership , Life , Uncategorized 1 Comment
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Help, I need somebody

Help, not just anybody

Help, you know I need someone

Help

“Help” is one of my favorite songs from that lovable British boy band, The Beatles.  As you start reading this you will more than likely be thinking  “what do these lyrics have to do with these ramblings?”, but stick with me.

I had to attend a company conference this week in Orlando, Florida.  And quite frankly in the days leading up to the conference, I was less than 100% enthused to be attending.  I was going to miss several of my kid’s activities during the week; my wife was going to have to play single parent for most of the week; I was on the agenda to present; and overall I thought “been there, done that.  I’ve seen this show before.”

There is still one day left in the conference, but my attitude has changed.  The feel of the conference; the content of the conference; and what I am getting out of it is much more than I ever imagined.  But that doesn’t make a great story, nor is it what spurred me to write about it.

As part of the conference agenda, we had a social responsibility event.  But unlike some other charitable exercises at these types of events, this was not just going out and picking up trash, or working on a house, or beautifying a park.  Now don’t get me wrong, these are all fine things to do.  However, the event at this conference was geared around leveraging the collective marketing expertise that the employees of our company possess.  The event was to create marketing plans for 8 Orlando-area charities, and to then compete in a marketing strategy throw-down in an effort to win $10,000 in marketing services for one of the organizations.

I had the good fortune to be on a team working with Shepherds Hope, a faith-based organization running 5 medical clinics providing free medical services to the uninsured  – and yes despite ObamaCare and all it’s promises there is still and will continue to be a large population of people without medical insurance – in the Orlando area.  The story of the inspirational start of Shepherds Hope, the heart-wrenching stories of patients saved by the services provided, and the thousands of hours of service donated by area medical professionals were awe inspiring.  I think each of my colleagues on the team were brought to tears as we learned about what this organization does in the community.

What changed my attitude was the passion that was exhibited by my fellow co-workers as we in 2 short hours put together a marketing plan for this great organization.  Most of us on the team were not from Orlando, and several were not even from the United States, yet we all felt an immediate connection to this organization.  I was inspired by the collective talent of the group; each of bringing unique skills to the table in an effort to make a difference in the lives of people we will never even know.  To the last person on the team, we all wanted to help Shepherds Hope by providing them the seeds for a marketing plan to attract more medical professionals, attract more and larger monetary donations, and in the end to help them improve the lives of so many people.  This wasn’t about closing a sale for our company, or hitting some financial performance target; it was about using our special talents to help others.

Well it turns out that our team did not win the marketing pitch show-down, but our company graciously donated $7,000 in services to each of the 7 “losing” organizations and the members of my team (without provocation or threat from anyone) all committed to donate personal hours to supplement the $7,000 so that we can help make Shepherds Hope’s dreams for more medical professionals and more donors a reality.

What I thought was going to be just another charitable event where I and others without much effort, thought or connection to help a community, turned out to be so much more.  It turns out, I was the one helped.  I was helped by the dedicated staff of Shepherds Hope and the other charities that reminded me that there are measures of operational success much more important than revenue and OI.  I was helped by my fellow co-workers that reminded me of the passion that we all have within us and the immense amount of marketing talent we possess within our company.  This helped me realize, that while things may not be perfect in our company, we have the passion and the expertise to make it so much better.  I didn’t fly to Orlando thinking I needed help, but I did, and fortunately I found it.

If you would like additional information on Shepherds Hope, you can visit their website (hopefully soon it will be a better site) at www.shepherdshope.org and you can follow them on Twitter @shepherdshope

Weird Science: Your Business Might Just Need Some

Published November 19, 2013 Leadership , Life Leave a Comment
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From my heart and from my hand and
Why don’t people understand my intentions?

Weird science
Magic and technology
Voodoo dolls and chants
Weird science

It’s been several months since my last post, and I come back with some random lyrics from 80’s New Wave band Oingo Boingo.  In case you don’t recognize the song, it is Weird Science, a song that supposedly the members of the band did not care much for and rarely performed live.  The song was also the title song for the soundtrack of a John Hughes movie with the same name – and yes I had a celebrity crush on Kelly LeBrock back in the day.

Today the lyrics serve as an “answer” to something that has perplexed many a person over the years:  what makes a team (or organization) perform at a high level?

I know there have been many books, columns, and Phd. Dissertations written on the subject.  There are all sorts of ideas on how to formulate a high performance team that gives you synergy, i.e. the interaction of elements that when combined produce a total effect that is greater than the sum of the individual elements or contributions. I don’t think anyone is 100% sure how to achieve synergy in organizations, so I am just to chalk it up to a little bit of “weird science.”

I started thinking about this about 3 months ago when my daughter tried out for the junior high volleyball team.  She ended up on the mid-level squad with other girls that were deemed to be average players, but not one of the best 10 that made the top squad.  During early season practices the top-level and mid-level teams scrimmaged, and the mid-level team typically won set after set against the team with the more skilled players. My daughter’s team then went out and won the first game of the season, and then won the next one, and the next one, until we looked up and that group of average players had done something that no volleyball at that school had ever done – they had a perfect season.  11 matches, 11 victories.  Not bad for a group of girls that individually were not assessed as being the best players.  I guess you could called it an example of synergy, but I just called it fun.

Throughout the volleyball season, I kept thinking about what made that team successful.  Perhaps it was that during tryouts the coaches evaluating the players were wrong on all 10 players.  Or maybe it was the sheer coaching talent of volunteer parent coaches of the mid-level team. Or maybe it was just some “weird science” that somehow took a group of average players and turned them into a great team.    I did make some observations during the season that just might be factors in the team’s success:

1)    They did not get overly stressed about the games.  During pre-game warm-ups or time-outs you would see them dancing around sometimes even when no music was playing.  They looked like they actually enjoyed being together on the court.

2)    They did not get mad or angry when a teammate had a poor serve, shanked a return or watched a ball drop in front of them.  They simply chanted “shake it, shake it off” and went on to the next point.

3)    In matches where the team dropped a set, the team always came back the next set with a higher level of energy.  They did not let losing the first set, make them lose the next one.

4)    And before, during, and after each match; they prayed.

I am sure there were many other factors that went into this group having a great season.  Whatever all those things were, they had to come together in just the right levels to achieve the desired end result.  The interesting thing is that there was not a recipe that listed the exact amount of each thing and the order in which to add them and mix them together.  While there was some deliberate things done in order to position that team to excel, there was also a little bit of magic involved in having a perfect season.

Many years ago in the business school, I remember taking Marketing 101 where they taught the 4 P’s:  Product, Price, Place and Promotion.  The professors made it sound so simple:  all you needed was the right mix of those four things and you could have a highly successful business.  20 plus years later and I can tell you that it is not that simple.  Through the years, I have figured out that there may be just a few more factors involved in a successful business and that knowing exactly how to blend all those ingredients is far from easy.  I have also learned that while many people have written business cookbooks, there is no magic recipe that you can just follow and find success.   Yes there are some tried of true things you can do to position a business to succeed, but just like in volleyball, you gotta have a little “weird science” to bring it all together – but maybe without the voodoo dolls and chants.

Great American Hero: A Story of Courage and Heroism in Small Town Texas

Published July 30, 2013 American Heros , Leadership , Life , Uncategorized 2 Comments
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Believe it or not,

I’m walking on air.

I never thought I could feel so free-.

Flying away on a wing and a prayer.

Who could it be?

Believe it or not it’s just me

These are lyrics from the chorus of the theme song from the Greatest American Hero, an early 1980’s television show about a high school teacher who receives a special red suit from space aliens that when worn gives him superhero powers.  He then teams up with a FBI agent to save the world time and time again.  A story about the average man turned superhero.  It’s not quite Batman or Superman but good enough to last 3 seasons on network television.

There are many types of people we hold up as heroes.  There are legendary historical figure; for some there are political heroes, and for others sports heroes. While you could make the case that some of these are not worthy of hero status, they have that status nonetheless.   We look up to them; we make movies about them; we idolize them and we place them on pedestals as these great humans that are somehow superior to the average person.

A little over 90 days ago, an explosion happened at a fertilizer facility in the small Texas town of West.  The night of the explosion and the subsequent days and weeks exposed us to a different kind of hero – the average everyday person that found themselves faced with unimaginable challenges.  The world heard about some of these heroes, mainly the first responders that lost their lives responding to the explosion, as there was extensive media coverage of the event.

We heard about the brave volunteer firefighters that perished at the scene.  Each one not hesitating to rush into danger – not because it was their job, but because they were protecting their community, their friends and their neighbors.  The nation and the world mourned the death of these first responders.  Arenas filled with people from all over to memorialize these brave men.  Reporters scurried about town to get the inside story.  The names of these fallen heroes will certainly not be forgotten for years to come.

But the story of heroes in West goes much deeper.  There were hundreds of people that carried out heroic actions that night and the subsequent days.  There were staff members of a local nursing home that ushered elderly residents to a safer part of the building in the minutes prior to the explosion. There were teenagers that wheeled and carried injured victims to a nearby makeshift triage center.  There were brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, and parents that rushed to houses to pull out trapped family members in the darkness and chaos of the night.  There were firefighters, medics and police officers for miles around that responded to the aftermath of the explosion.  There were untold volunteers that flooded into town that night and the days following to offer aid and comfort to all those that were impacted by the explosion.  We will never hear or see the names of most of these people, but it will not change the fact that they are indeed heroes.

One of those unknown heroes has a special place in my heart.  She is my sister-in-law, Judy Knapek.  Judy is a member of the West Volunteer Fire Department – one of the few females that have ever been a member.  She was one of the numerous firefighters that responded to the emergency call about a fire at the fertilizer facility.  She was there at the facility when the fire triggered the deadly explosion.  By the Grace of God she was not physically injured by the explosion.  But she saw fellow injured firefighters stagger towards her and carried several out of harms way and got them to paramedics.  She spent endless days and nights at the fire station in the days and weeks after the explosion filling out the tons of paperwork that goes along with a disaster like this one, accepting donations from all over the world, and providing information to concerned citizens.  She did all this while knowing that many of her firefighting brothers, including two of her cousins, did not get to walk away from that deadly explosion.

The things these everyday people did are amazing to me.  But if you were to ask Judy or pretty much anyone else in West that responded in some way to the explosion, they would tell you that they were not heroes.  She and others would just say that they did what anyone would do in that situation, but I disagree.  I think Judy and many others in West fit the true definition of “Great American Hero.”

Buckle Up, Buttercup!

Published June 20, 2013 Leadership , Life Leave a Comment
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Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
(Turn and face the strain)
Ch-ch-Changes

You should know by now that I like music, and this time I have turned to David Bowie to lead us in to this installment. I actually used this same lead in back in March 2012 when I penned Business Lesson from a Nurseryman: Change Can Come Up Roses. Back in March 2012, I was talking about changes in a “family” business. Today, the scope of discussion tackles a much larger business.

For the fourth time since I started at Harte-Hanks in 2001, a new CEO has been announced. That means I am faced with working under my fifth CEO in 12 years; so change in leadership is nothing new for me and nothing new for millions of other people working in companies, large and small, across the world. What is different for me is that this CEO, unlike the other ones in the past decade, is a complete outsider.

The day of the announcement I had several people come into my office and ask me if I knew anything about this new guy. While I had not met him nor spoken to him, I had done a quick Google search on him that scored a few interview clips. While I did not know much about him, I shared what little I did know while trying to not throw in any conjecture. I made sure to tell them that I liked his Irish accent, especially since I claim to be (if you trace back enough generations) part Irish and that I was hoping we might see St Patrick’s Day become a company holiday. Sadly our VP of People has since told me that offices will NOT be closing on March 17 each year.

It was the second question I was asked by those people that I knew probably a large majority of other people in the company wanted to also ask:

“Do you think things will change with the new CEO?”

Each time this question was asked of me, I provided the same initial answer:

“I certainly hope so, otherwise why would we make a CEO change.”

I am not sure that was the answer people wanted to hear, but it felt like the right answer to me. Yes, I expect there to be changes. I expect some of the changes will be ones I like, while others may not be to my liking. But driving change is part of what makes a successful leader, so I fully expect a new CEO to make changes. Organizations must change in order to stay competitive and succeed, and leaders, at all levels, must be the champions of change.

I am not sure what the coming months will bring as our new CEO takes the reigns, but I do know it will be different from what it is today. I also know, I will do my part to champion those changes because that is what leaders do.

I hope my fellow co-workers are ready to say “game on” and embrace the coming changes as well. Of course the transition will have its bumps but hopefully we can anticipate and brace for those challenges. In the words an old high school basketball teammate liked to say before the big games against our toughest competition: “Buckle Up, Buttercup!”

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