Halftime!

What's the purpose of "halftime?"  To evaluate how the game is going so far and make adjustments that increase the probability of success.  The best coaches objectively compare the game plan against the statistics and if the results are lacking, determine if a revision to strategy is required, or better execution.  If the game plan is working, prepare for the opponent's countermeasures ("pride goeth before the fall!")

For the player, halftime is a time to take a breather, replenish, and tend to equipment.

It's July 1!  Halftime 2018!  With the holiday this week, this is a great time in your coach and player roles to assess and adjust for the rest of the year.  Finish strong!

wanted: Peacemakers

When I was growing up in the 1970s a "peacemaker" was somebody like Henry Kissenger, Secretary of State for the US, hosting summits with leaders of foreign countries, like China and Egypt and Israel, mostly in black and white photos.  It seemed like a pretty prestigious and elite job for somebody really smart, powerful, diplomatic and connected.  

I was mistaken.  Peacemaking is not a job to which a person is appointed.  It is a role, to which we are all called.

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God." 

That's a pretty interesting thing for the Jesus to say!  It seems that if we want to find our true identity, our true place in the family of God, we need to seek opportunities to bridge relationships, conducting summits in offices, conference rooms, schools and home kitchens.

Effective peacemaking isn't about reconciling differences, but recognizing common interests.

Feelings don't matter in your future

The future is not impacted by how I feel.  The future can be impacted by my actions.

How I feel about it doesn't change anything.   So ignore, my feelings?  No. God gave us emotions for a purpose: so we can identify when things are right and wrong. 

If my car senses that it feels something is out of tolerance, it sounds an alarm. At that point, I have a choice:  endure the alarm (misery) or do something.

Sometimes, sensors yield bogus readings...so can emotions.  But usually, they are correct, and a call to change the conditions.  Either way, it's time to take action.  Check the sensor, or do what you can to adjust the conditions.

The future starts now.  Get to work:  pull over and diagnose, seek counsel and support, start the paper, schedule the appointment, do the workout, invest in the relationship.

"I Expected More" is an encouragement

"I expected more" should be received as an encouragement, more than a criticism.

Somebody thinks you can do even better!  Somebody thinks you can deliver move value, more work, more art.

Sure, it hurts, especially if you know it is true.  Then the "buts" arrive:  But I had multiple assignments, but there wasn't enough time, but there wasn't enough budget, but I didn't understand, but I was sick, etc.

It is important not to belabor what was just evaluated:  you can never go back and redo the effort (though you can bring new effort and redo the project.)  The key is to know that somebody believes you can do more, next time!

Giving ROI

In my role as chairman of a non-profit, I’m finding I spend much more time and concern than I anticipated towards donors than the recipients of our ministry (children and poor families in Haiti.)  I don’t enjoy the donor development part of the role.

In that light, I met with a man yesterday, who connects non-profits with wealthy individuals and foundations.  He said “many will no longer give to Haiti, after years and years and tons of money they have seen no change.”

The man is a professional in philanthropy and I’m sure he’s correct.  But the statement pissed me off.  I don’t see conditions upon love and support, especially for innocent children that just happened to be born into poverty.  Maybe I’m missing 1 Corinthians 7(b) in my Bible:  “Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres (b) unless you’ve already given and can’t point to any changes, then you can forget about that first part.”

In his book “Tattoos of the Heart” Father Gregory Boyle writes

Funders sometimes say "we don't fund efforts we find outcomes" we all hear this and think how sensible and practical, realistic, hard-nosed, and clear-eyed it is. but maybe Jesus doesn't know why we’re nodding so vigorously. Without wanting to, we sometimes allow our preference for the poor to morph into a preference for the well-behaved and the most likely to succeed even if you get better outcomes when you work with these folks. If success is our engine, we sidestep the difficult and belligerent and eventually abandon "the slow work of God". Failure and death become insurmountable.

Failure and death do become insurmountable, even assured, when we refuse to work where we think there might be failure or death.  If we focus on the kid with the great smile and leave the grumpy one alone, won't the grumpy one surely grow up to be grumpy?  

Even in the triage of the battlefield or emergency room, the most mortally wounded with the least hope of recovery, gets priority care, relief, and compassion.  They are never abandoned.

Opportunity vs Chance

Last night, at a fundraiser, a man said I could purchase 10 tickets for 10 dollars towards a raffle. Normally, I would decline:  The odds are slim, and I don't really need a gift basket.

But he called these tickets "opportunities", not "chances."

So last night I bought 10 opportunities to win a raffle.  I didn't win.  But I felt good about investing in opportunities.

This is a great framework for decision making and marketing:

Is the decision before you a chance or an  opportunity?

Are you asking people to take a chance on your idea, or giving them an opportunity?

 

Prioritizing the Lost

You know that feeling:  when you discover you have are no longer connected with your credit card (or keys or phone.)

Even if we don’t panic…we prioritize.  Suddenly, everything else can wait.

Because a lost credit card can be the source of a lot of damage and create a mess to clean up.

We retrace our steps, mentally and physically, to find the exact place we lost it.  And when that doesn’t work, we enlist the help of others to help us see what we must be overlooking.  And when that doesn't work, we seek professional help.

So why don’t we apply the same sense of urgency when we have lost connection with our sense of soul?

Because a lost soul can cause a lot of damage and pain.

What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self?  Luke 9:25

Broaden your focus?

"We have broadened our focus" boasts the brochure of a very prestigious consulting company.

Impossible.  Perspective can be broadened (or narrowed), but focus can only be sharpened or blurred.  

The challenge is to keep focus when changing perspective.  Often, when we zoom in, we learn that things aren't as clear as we believed.  When we zoom out, we can lose focus and not realize it.

Podium People

During the flag-raising anthem of the medal ceremony, the camera almost always cuts from the athlete to a view of the proud coach, parent or spouse in the audience.  Their smiles and tears are usually very moving.  They also enjoy the success!

For every medal winner, there are people that encouraged, corrected, taught and invested (not sacrificed!) their personal assets in the future potential of the athlete.

Few of us will get to stand on a podium.

All of us can stand behind somebody on their podium. 

 

Mud Pies and Ice Cream

There are two issues I’ve faced that have kept me from enjoying new opportunities.  I call them mudpies and ice cream.

Mud Pies:  CS Lewis identified this.  We are too comfortable with what we’ve got.  Too afraid of what we might lose, so we don’t act.  We are figuratively, yet deliberately, stuck in the mud: 

“…like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased."  C.S. Lewis The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses

Ice Cream:  Opportunities are usually directional, not specific.  Opportunities always come with freedom of choice.  Because if it specific, it isn’t an opportunity.  It is a command. 

Consider a loving parent providing the child with a great opportunity:

Parent: "Lets get ice cream!"

Child: "Yes!  What flavor can I get?"

Parent: "Your choice!"

The parent makes the opportunity even greater by allowing freedom within it!  Then, like the child, we fixate on making the best possible choice, and sample every flavor.  My experience is that in the genre of ice cream it is impossible to make a bad choice!   After we've finally selected our flavor, instead of enjoying our ice cream, we worry that we could have made a better choice.  This is especially true when our younger sibling seems so happy with her choice, chanting "mmmm…luscious", while orange sherbet covers her face.

"Luscious"?  She's 4!  She doesn’t even know what the word means!  She’s just a brat, trying to increase the sweetness her choice through your bitterness and her joy though your doubt. 

Go to the beach!  You can always return to the mud.  Enjoy your ice cream!  Second-guessing is just a bratty little snot that hates being ignored.

Bonus tip for parents:  never take a young child to 31 Flavors…instead limit their choice to vanilla and chocolate and increase their enjoyment.

Your Best vs. The Best

If you give your best, your parents will be happy.  You might get a trophy for participation that you can put on the shelf, with the team photo, but nobody else cares. 

If you are the best in the world, everybody cares.  You have a platform that you can use for good or selfish reasons (another topic). 

Seems depressing:  there is only one Jordan Speith, one Steph Curry and one Mozart. They can inspire and you can practice, practice, practice, but the reality is they work hard with gifts you don't have and only a very small group will ever compete with them.

However, you can determine to be the best in your world.  That's done with clear vision and and understanding of your world borders, your niche.  The trick is to set that border and keep your work within.  Then you can be the best product for your customers, best church for your demographic, best non-profit for your cause, best Mom in the whole wide world of your family, best author for your audience. 

Sometimes you can, and should, expand your borders.  Sometimes, you should narrow them.  But your work should always remain within.  Any work outside your borders keeps you from being the best. You should still practice your short game, your jump shot, and your chords, but recognize those as hobbies, not work.  Hobbies come after work.   You can have fun, you can be your best, but you will never be the best.

Does your vision clearly define your borders?

Out of tune, unoriginal, terrific Art

All art is inherently generous, because no piece of art ever had to be created.  Life could go on without it.

It is the generosity, the little bit extra you add to the job, that  elevates a task (commodity) to a work (unique) and makes it valuable.

Bob Mosier has a job.  Every parent of a student in our county knows his voice.  We usually don't like it when he calls.  Last night, with his daughter, he produced an amazing piece of art.

It isn't original (but it is innovative). It isn't on key.

But it is terrific!  It is generous.  People love it.  His work brings smiles to a difficult situation, and compels you to listen.  It is effective.  It is valuable.  It is appreciated.

Anybody can be an artist.  You don't need "talent", "giftedness" or "training" (those will help you be a better artist).  You just need a willingness to give of yourself.

https://soundcloud.com/fox-5-news/anne-arundel-co-public-schools-announces-closings-with-adeles-hello

Be an artist.  Produce great work.

Jody@ExhortAdvisors.com

When is Good "enough" or an "enemy"?

I received a very kind email yesterday in response to a speech I delivered.  The writer said  the idea of being an artist and producing great work resonated with him, but he was frequently frustrated when told "don't let perfect be the enemy of good enough." and asked me how to manage that tension.

 I have used the phrase "progress before perfection" myself, many times.  And there is another very familiar phrase, with a completely different meaning: "good is the enemy of great".  So which is right?  And how does the idea of being an artist in your work apply?

The answer, depends on context.  Both phrases can be true, and both can be misapplied.

"Progress before Perfection" assumes the incremental value of the incremental improvement is not worth the wait. There is an implicit shortage of time, or deadline.

"Good is the Enemy of Great" (made famous by Jim Collins) considers effort, not time.  When the resources are available to be great(er), but the cheaper, "good" route is chosen, the product is cheapened and can't be great.  If I choose to be satisfied with a "B"-level effort in my training, I will never be an All-Star.  My "good" effort is the enemy to my potential "greatness".

My exhortation to be an artist doesn't imply perfection.  To be an artist in your work is to add just a little bit more than is required of the job:  the piece of generosity  All works of art are inherently generous:  they did not have to be created.  And sometimes, you must submit work you know could be even better if time or budget allowed...but given the constraints, you still show up, give your best possible effort, and still produce your best possible work.

I remember a U2 concert, when Bono was very sick with the flu.  He couldn't produce his usual quality of vocals.  But he didn't cancel because he couldn't deliver perfection.  He still showed up.  He gave his best effort.  Even though the crowd knew his results weren't his best, the appreciated how much he was giving towards them and they joined in every song, and as he said "carried him through the show."

Compare that to the many infamous stories of musicians that performed poorly because they were sick and wasted with drugs and alcohol.  Or the petulant lead singer that didn't show up, or showed up hours late, or walked off the stage early, because the conditions weren't right.  

What's the difference?  Generosity.  Bono showed up and gave the best he had to give, despite the conditions.  The product was flawed, but he endeared himself to the fans.  The other rock stars weren't giving, they were selfish.  "I am great, therefore I am owed these rights and conditions".

During game 5 of the 1997 NBA FinalsMichael Jordan had the flu and still showed up.  Michael played many terrific basketball games in his career, but that's the first game I think of when I consider his greatness.  https://youtu.be/YIzrYcgfOH4

It's not about their getting their expectations to align with yours.  It's not about trying to change the constraints so you can deliver perfection.  It's not about them.  It's about me.  It's personal.  "Is this the very best I can give under these conditions?"

 

Plumb bob

What plumb-line?  What does it do?

It measures uprightness.  

The only time a plumb-line isn’t straight is when the plumb bob, the weight at the bottom of the string, is not where it naturally should be because some force has moved the plumb bob off its center. If we decide to build something (organizations, careers, families, anything) when the plumb bob is out of place, the structure will be misaligned and the and unbalanced, and probably fall.

The simple carpenter's tool represents the idea that to be re-centered we must first understand what upright truly is.  Upright never varies.  Upright doesn't swing. We should align ourselves, and what we are building, to what is upright.

If we want to get centered, we have to look up, to the top of the plumb-line.  That will tell us where we should be.

Amos 7:7

Process Improvement Recipe

The kitchen in the  apartment we are renting in Costa Rica is hot.  Earlier this afternoon, I was determined to create work at the table, with no air conditioning or fan, while my wife and son attend their Spanish class.  

Sweat inhibits laptop productivity.

I valiantly (stubbornly) attempted, but after a miserable hour I decided to take my laptop to the Oasis Cafe, part of the Spanish language school where Bernice and Eric are studying.

As I walked to the school, I practiced what I learned on Google Translate:  "Mi esposa y mi hijo son estudantes aqui, ?puedo trabarjar alli", pointing at the table, under the fan, in the shade.  The pleasant young lady behind the counter smiled and said "Si!"

I do that a lot:  fight too hard to make a process work.  For months I have been defining a vision of working silently, creating my book, in our rented apartment.  "I paid good money for this (nobody ever pays bad money)!"

But a much better option was available...with a cool breeze, and the ambiance of an outdoor cafe with people speaking a foreign language in the background (the perfect "white noise").

It cost me little...I had to give up my "ideal method", do a little research, walk a few blocks and risk rejection.  I gave up little, the research was at my fingertips, the walk was easy and the risk of rejection was small, given my preparation and the association I had with the school.  

So out of the hot kitchen comes a recipe for improving process:

  1. Let go of process expectations that don't matter to the result
  2. Do your homework
  3. Move!
  4. Risk Failure - the new process might not work, either.

Now I am in a much more conducive and comfortable environment, and I'm already learning some Spanish! (unexpected benefit of new process).

Jody@exhortadvisors.com

Internship Lessons

'Tis the season for students to apply for internships and for organizations and bosses to weigh the value of offering internships.  Consider how Jesus, the leader of arguably the most successful organization of the last 2000 years, approached internships.

The people that follow Jesus are a lot like interns, which brings an interesting question:  if Jesus is all powerful, why does he invite us (even command us) to work for Him?  Jesus doesn't need cheap, temporary labor, does he?

For those of us that follow Jesus, He doesn't need us to do His work.  He invites us to see Him at work. 

When we get hands-on in ministry, especially when we get in over our heads, we get to be eyewitnesses to God at work.  No amount of reading compares to experience (ask the college intern or the medical school resident or the plumber's apprentice).  It moves beyond reading what He did to seeing what He is doing.  From knowing theory, to putting it to practice.

"Go ye therefore" is not our burden, but our benefit. 

Bosses:  We should view Interns not as cheap labor, but as an investment and a personal gift.  (Internship programs would best be viewed as corporate philanthropy rather than HR expense).  The company may budget (or approve) the dollars but you have to budget and give your time.

Interns:  Do the work. Watch and learn.  Give it your all and increase your chances of seeing your leader at work.

(Thank you Emory Moore, for giving me the internship all those years ago...which resulted in a pretty great career, and meeting my really awesome wife). 

@TheJodyGiles     Jody@ExhortAdvisors.com