A Hero's Guide to the Pursuit of Excellence

In 2011 I authored several white papers as part of a company wide contest. The mission of the contest was to promote the company - a worthy cause and an overall fun challenge.

One of the white papers I wrote was on the topic of excellence, and how it is a process to perform rather than a single goal to achieve. To ensure I obtained credit and points for the contest, I used the company as a model on how to incorporate excellence into its culture. The paper also described excellence at the organization or department level, and at the individual level.

I know it's worth reading, because I won second place in the completion and was awarded an iPad for my contributions. Titled 'Excellence by Design", it outlines how we can develop our own mindsets for performing with an attitude of excellence in everything we do, regardless if it is a core value of the company or not. You can download your free copy here.
Some of the key points the paper brings out is that whether you are in a defined position of leadership or one of the rank & file knowledge workers, the principles are the same:

• It is not enough to just deliver a service.
• How we deliver is as important to investors and customers as what we deliver.
• Perfect service delivery is a result of upstream service excellence.
• Flawless execution is about the ability to overcome problems, hurdles, roadblocks, setbacks, and other issues which are standing in the way of delivering results on time, on budget, and on target.
• Striving for service excellence is an individual effort, a team effort, an organizational effort, and a company effort.

The best thing about working in a mindset of excellence is that it's not the same as perfection. In striving for excellence, there is room for me to work in my strengths zone, apply creativity and innovation, and contribute to a greater cause. Excellence is dynamic in nature, therefore it leaves me with satisfaction and fulfillment in my job.

Question: How do you define excellence?

Living Large!

...and what it means to me.

Long before it became a cliché or a marketing gimmick, my wife and a few others in my inner circle described me as one who “lives life large”. Their perception of me at the time was one who made calculated choices, embraced life as an adventure, always exploring, and passionate about experiencing more. I did not set out with the intention of living large. In fact, the thought never occurred to me. How I lived was just a result of a mindset of attitudes and a deep desire to know more about my world. What they perceived was someone doing something bigger than they could see themselves doing and having fun along the way.

I have since embraced "living large" as part of my persona, or my brand if you will. I know what I mean by living large, but what does living large look like? First, here are some key definitions and understandings from a generally accepted perspective that describe the individual attributes:

Living:

• Adjective – Active, Functioning; full of life or vigor
• Noun – the condition of being alive; conduct or manner of living
• Thesaurus – animated, vital, active, dynamic

Large:

• Adjective – Ample, Abundant, having more than usual capacity, exceeding most other things of like kind – especially in quantity or size
• Adverb – In abundance
• Noun – Generosity, free of restraint or confinement
• Thesaurus – above the average of its kind

By combining these two words to form a larger concept, I embody the attributes into a method of living. Right, but what does this mean? It means that I approach everything - every choice, every decision, every activity, and every thing I do with vigor, abundance, generosity, and wonder. I choose to be animated and free of restraint; I act alive as opposed to existing or just surviving. I strive to live above the average of its kind.

Living large is a choice, one that needs to be made daily. Living large requires intentionality. I have defined six focus areas that pretty much encompass most areas of my life where I can live large: 

1. I want to see, taste, and experience large
2. I want to do things large, and I want to do large things
3. I want to think large thoughts
4. I want to sense the largeness of my world
5. I want to give large
6. I want to live large (metaphorically - as in "larger than life")

For me, living large is a standard and is so important that I have incorporated living large into my personal mission statement: To live large in everything I do while serving others.

This is what living large looks like in action -

Serving others by:

• exercising my gifts, talents, and skills
• championing the right cause
• creating sanctuary for others
• acting upon my strengths
• sharing and giving my resources where they are needed

Living creatively:

• through broadened experiences
• through communicative arts
• through expanded thinking
• through my giving

Approaching life with an attitude of living large provides me with fulfillment and returns of equal measure. It's like anything else - the more you put into it, the more you'll get out of it.  

 Question: How do you define Living Large?

Originally published April 3, 2013 at CrashMode.blogspot.com

Living in Crash Mode

Life is good for me, but an unexpected life event caused me to redefine how I live it.

In early 2007, I was in the final phases of testing to donate a kidney to my brother when I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. That was a double whammy – not only was I disqualified from donating my kidney, but it was because I have diabetes. This news took a while to process and be accepted.


In early 2008, I lost sight in my left eye. I learned that while my diabetes may have been a contributing factor, it was not the cause itself. Fearing I might soon lose the sight in both eyes, my wife and I worked hard to come to terms with this – we needed a new perspective on things.  (Pun intended)


Totally unrelated to anything, the perspective change came upon the learning of a fact from the animal kingdom – specifically in the names of animal groups (useless info, I know). We knew that a grouping such as bees is called swarms, and ant’s colonies. Among ocean life, whales are pods, and fish are schools. On land, cattle are herds, sheep and birds are flocks, and a group of lions is a pride. A group of crows is a murder, while tigers are an ambush.


Our attitudes about how we were living each day changed when we learned the designation for rhinos. A rhino is a very large and powerful animal. It can run thirty miles an hour, which is actually faster than a squirrel. What makes this a phenomenon is that rhinos can only see thirty feet in front of them. What made us pause and take note is that rhinos running in concert at full speed plows ahead without knowing what’s at thirty-one feet!


A rhino aligns his sight off the tip of his horn and charges full steam ahead without apprehension. Because of this characteristic, a group of rhinos charging in concert is called a “crash”. In fact, even if they are just hanging about grazing, they are referred to as a crash for their potential.


At this realization, we decided to live each day in a full out tilt, not with abandon, but with only the ability to see what is at thirty feet ahead. We changed our outlook and our attitude on how we live our life, and we decided to be an unstoppable force. 

Since that moment, we have redefined how we live and started living in “crash” mode. As a result, we have experienced things we would never have dared try before. It’s an ongoing process, full of risk and adventure. It's a daily choice to stay focused on what's important just thirty feet ahead. As a result, we have grown to understand that what may be at thirty one feet will come into focus soon enough.

It took the loss of sight for me to discover this. As a reminder of living each day in a crash mode, I keep a toy rhino on my desk. Life has always been an adventure for me, but now I am choosing to see it only thirty feet at a time.

Here’s to living in crash mode with you, not knowing what is at thirty-one feet!

Question: What would living in "crash" mode look like to you?

Originally published March 29, 2013 in CrashMode.blogspot.com

Why I subscribe to G5

....and why you may want to as well

Growing my competencies in the areas of leadership is high on my to-do list. It doesn't matter if I am in a formal position of leadership or not, having these skills is critical to my success in life and my career. Developing leadership skills requires time and intentionality to devote to it, but with a full work week, that’s not always easy to do. As it turns out, ‘time management” is a critical skill within leadership, so I use the following to ensure I dedicate quality time for my development using a 40 hour work week as a baseline:

80% of my time is focused on the needs of work

10% of my time is dedicated to technical training & development

10% of my time is dedicated to personal development

100% of this time benefits the company

To help me focus and identify key areas of development, I subscribe to G5 Leadership. They equate developing one’s leadership skills to working out at the gym; it’s a process, not a one-time event. Like performing a workout circuit at a gym, there are five learning stations on the G5 training circuit. Every station is designed to build specific career and leadership skills. These stations are Execution, Innovation, Emotional Intelligence, Communication, and Talent. All G5 events align to one of the five stations on the circuit.

As a subscriber, I am provided some online tools to help me learn, identify, formulate, and track my development. These tools include a 360 degree survey to obtain feedback from coworkers, peers, friends, and family – or whomever, on how they see me in each of the stations. It’s a real simple survey, but the results help me identify where I should focus my energy and development.

Also as a subscriber, I have access to both live events and on-demand events on topics that align to each of the leadership stations. Their live 90 minute events are selected keynote speakers who present relevant insights and applications that I can adopt immediately. During the live event, I am also able to engage via on-line chat and ask questions during the presentation.

I have been impressed with the keynote speakers G5 have enlisted, as they are heavyweights in their own right. Folks such as Michael Goldsmith, Joseph Grenny, Simon Sinek, David Allen, and Steven M.R. Covey top the charts, as well as many others.

Like anything else, I get out of G5 what I put into it. With an annual subscription of $95.88, I am paying just $7.99 a month for 24/7 access to my leadership development. For what I receive and the lessons I am learning, I am getting a great return on my investment.

One of the ways I get even more out G5 is to connect it as part of my Performance and Development Plan at work. In my plan, I identify key areas of personal development and source it from G5. By doing so, I can access the on-demand sessions from work as part of my 10% training, and use my job to further apply what I am learning.

It just doesn't get any easier!

Question: How much are you willing to invest in your personal development?

Six Key Considerations When Making an Important Decision

I used to be one of those that made important decisions by listing everything out in two columns titled Pros and Cons. Ever do this? It has its place I suppose for evaluating something, but I have since learned that it is a poor tool for the really big things in life.

Back in 1992, I asked my friend Bill to help me with an important decision involving a possible job change and relocation from Phoenix, AZ, to Jamestown in upper New York State. It was great if I took the job, and it was great if I stayed. My Pro’s and Con’s list wasn't providing me with the clarity I needed for such a decision.

Bill asked me six questions. These questions changed forever how my wife and I make life impacting decisions. In fact, since we have adopted these as our own, we have never made a bad decision or lived with any regrets. There is no right or wrong answers, but the key to its success is to be completely honest in answering them.

• Am I called to do this? Is this what I have been trained for? Is this a fit in my life’s purpose?
• Is it my heart beat? Am I passionate about this? Does it excite me as an opportunity?
• Am I obligated? Have I signed anything to stay or go; to do this or not do this thing? Have I made commitments that need to be honored?
• Is it my chance to grow? What will I learn? Will it challenge me?
• Is it in the best interest in the lives of others? Does this help my spouse, my children, my family, and my friends? What about my co-workers?
• Am I experienced in this area? Do I have what it takes?

As you can see, this is not about the Pros or Cons of the job I was considering, but the impact of the decision to proceed forward or not. These questions make us look at a larger picture and consider more than just the moment or our place in it.

We have used these questions to decide on relocations, to change careers, and even in buying our home in a particular suburb. Each time we blow the dust off and practice them, we have made the correct decision.

So go ahead, take these and make them yours. Try them out – modify them to meet your needs and see if they do not work for you. Change the 'I" and "my" to "we" and "our", and apply them organizationally. It’s all about getting the right perspective to make the tough decisions when all the choices look like good ones.

By the way, as a result of our answers in 1992 we did not accept the offer and we did not move to New York. More importantly, we have never regretted that decision or wondered “what if?”

Question: What are your methods for making tough decisions?