John TV: Episode #53 ANCHOR

There are times where you need to move … and times you just need “to be held.”

Reflecting on a Dream

Today’s post is the featured article from the September 2011 issue of The Front Porch Newsletter. If you would like to automatically receive The Front Porch e-newsletter on the last Thursday of each month just click here to sign-up for your complimentary subscription.

Day-dreaming is one thing. Deciding to follow your dream is another. In my days at Arthur Andersen, I would often counsel our professional staff that it was paradoxically best to pursue a new opportunity when you are loving where you are. I reasoned that in doing so, it guaranteed that you were running to something rather than running away from something. Little did I know, I would eventually follow my own advice. People have often asked me about what was my most difficult challenge in pursuing my dream to become a professional speaker. My reply has always been the same … having to leave behind a firm, position and people I loved to pursue it. That was September 1996.

It is exactly 15 years later. It seemed fitting to stop for a moment and reflect.

More than pursuing a dream, I remember it felt more like being called to adventure. And “adventure” has proven to be a more fitting analogy. Dreams sound so, well, dreamy. You know … perfect. Adventures are full of surprises. Laced with challenges. You arrive in a dream and live happily ever after … unless, of course, you are in the midst of a nightmare. I suppose you can wake-up from a dream. In an adventure there is no escape. You simply live in the middle of the adventure day-in and day-out. Adventures have a way to form you and transform you if you let them. There are no givens … but adventures will give you more than you could ever imagine.

Adventures are rarely straight paths. More than likely, they provide you twists and turns … with highs and lows. It’s what adventures are made of. An adventure won’t cling to you … you have to cling to it. More specifically, you need to hang on for dear life. An adventure never lets you get comfortable, but will teach you to get comfortable being uncomfortable … if you are willing to be its student.

Most importantly, an adventure teaches you to take nothing for granted and to be grateful for everything and everyone along the way.

And as I reach this 15th year milestone I am certainly grateful.

I am most grateful for the people who have believed in me and my work. There are those who have hired me, encouraged me, prayed for me and inspired me. Each of them has been with me on this adventure. And I am deeply grateful for each and every one of them.

Adventures are similar to books. They have numerous chapters and while the chapters continue to change, each chapter builds upon all that has come before. So have gone the years of this adventure.

As I turn the page to another chapter of this adventure, I look forward to what awaits. We live in incredibly interesting times. Like an adventure, little can be taken for granted. But I also believe we live in a time of incredible possibilities if we choose to find our core.

Adventures demand numerous things from you … but nothing more than a dose of courage and your complete trust. Those who have helped me along this journey have given me both. Adventures give the gift of vulnerability … and leave you with no doubt you will need help along the way.

What is best about an adventure is when you feel the best is yet to come.

I begin this 16th year extremely excited and fully engaged in speaking with organizations who want to strengthen their core values. If there was ever a time we needed to return to our core … this would be it!

When I was first thinking about leaving my career at Arthur Andersen, to follow my “dream” into the world of professional speaking, I prayed I would meet someone in the speaking profession who could and would authentically give me a real inside look into that life. Those prayers were answered when I met Kevin Freiberg. Kevin and Jackie had me to their home, in San Diego, more than once as I pondered the decision. One day, after spending the whole day with me, Kevin said, “John, a lot of people ask me about a potential career in speaking and I tell about 95% of them not to do it. You are in that other 5%.” Yet, in his caring honesty, he also told me it would be much more of an adventure than a dream.

This Sunday night, Kevin and I are scheduled to have dinner together here in Chicago. Fifteen years later there is reason to celebrate everything that has defined that adventure.

What’s the Matter?

Today’s post is the featured article from the May 2011 issue of The Front Porch Newsletter. If you would like to automatically receive The Front Porch e-newsletter on the last Thursday of each month just click here to sign-up for your complimentary subscription.

It’s a really important question for us to ask every now and then. In other words … does what I do really matter? And do I know what really matters about it? It is easy to get caught-up in the inertia of our schedule, our to-do’s and our endless list of commitments. It is just as easy to get caught-up in our routines … simply going through the motions of each 24-hour cycle, each week, each month and each year.

But with what you do … does it really matter? Does it really matter to you? If you stopped doing “it” would it matter to you? Would it matter to anyone? It must matter or you would have stopped doing it a long time ago. Maybe.

Imagine if you got up each morning and decided to do only what really mattered.

But would you know? Would it be clearly evident to you? Could you make a quick list of your “what really matters” and eliminate your “matterless?” We might have more free time on our hands than we would think!

What we do has the potential to really matter … especially if we stay connected to understanding the matter at hand. That is if we remain intentionally aware of why we do what we do. In a world of endless measurements, it is easy to let reports, results, and efficiency be all that matters. We can get very efficient at a lot of things that really don’t matter. We can also become ineffective at the things which really do matter.

Without understanding what really matters, it is also hard to nurture passion for what we do.

I think this is harder than it appears to be. I know, because I often fail at getting it right. In a profession where I am constantly faced with which projects and clients to invest my focus, time and energy … I can easily get foggy on what matters and go down dead-end pathways.

Part of the disconnect has to do with genuine gratitude for the gift of each day … or I should say the lack of it. Do you get up each day with a keen appreciation for a new day? If we did, I think we would, more often, think harder about what we might be willing to trade for the value of this 24-hour period. We get this when someone asks us how we would spend our time if we only had one day left to live. But that is artificial … it eliminates many of the pressures of our day-to-day life if we are here today and gone tomorrow. I’m talking about truly appreciating today knowing there may be thousands more days to follow … yet seeing each one as incredible in and of itself. For it is incredible … especially when you know that each and every one of them has the potential to matter in whatever season of life you currently happen to be.

Beyond gratitude, I think another disconnect looms. It is challenging, if not impossible, to understand what really matters if we are not specifically aware of the core values which drive us … both personally and organizationally. A lack of understanding of our core values is often the missing link to understanding what really matters day-to-day. Core values exist whether we understand them or not. If we are not intentional about them, they still evolve and drive our daily actions. And without core values being intentionally selected, we still live them but are not passionately connected to them. And they can lead us to do a long list of “matterless” stuff.

Leadership has never been more important. In a world filled with exponentially increasing capabilities of technology to monitor and drive our behaviors, substantive leadership is critical. Leadership gives birth to core values.

Leaders of substance are nothing short of the keepers-of-the-core.

Leaders of substance keep us focused on living from an intentional core that allows us to put our day-to-day efforts around what is most valuable. This is easier said than done … whether as an organizational leader or in leading our own life. Distractions, expectations, metrics and rewards disconnected from the core can easily cause us to drift. Measurements and rewards are a responsible tool when they are connected to the core. They are tragic undermines when not.

Gratitude for each day and an intentional set of core values provide a solid framework in helping us know how to use the next 24-hours on what really matters. They may not immediately eliminate the “matterless” tasks of our life, but they will certainly begin to move you towards a daily life that really matters.

I remember in the 8th grade, when you raised your hand, my teacher would always ask … “What’s the matter?” I think she meant “what’s wrong.” As a matter of fact, today, I see it as an excellent question for asking … what’s right!

Too Much of a Good Thing

Today’s post is the featured article from the January 2011 issue of The Front Porch Newsletter. If you would like to automatically receive The Front Porch e-newsletter on the last Thursday of each month just click here to sign-up for your complimentary subscription.

Sometimes truth speaks when you don’t expect it … in a place you wouldn’t plan to find it. Last week, I was on Facebook. I tried to “friend” someone (we will call him Jack Smith) … to which Facebook replied:

Jack Smith has too many friends.

I understand the mechanics and that Facebook limits you to 5,000 friends. Mechanically, Jack needs a Facebook “Fan Page” with unlimited “likes” to stay connected. But that wasn’t what I was thinking. I was thinking Facebook’s automated message probably speaks more truth than they had intended.

Jack Smith probably does have too many “friends.”

We live in a world that reaches far and wide. And I have no problem with that … unless it replaces our ability to reach narrow and deep. Maybe Facebook simply picked the wrong term in using “friends.” It risks diluting the concept of friendship. Maybe “connection” would have been a better term. LinkedIn was probably more appropriate in labeling your connections as “contacts.”

Don’t get me wrong. I think Facebook is packed with potential. It has provided the ability to renew meaningful friendships that have faded through the passing of time and the distance of miles. But it also demands of us.

It would be fine if there were only Facebook.

The evolution of all types of technology creates an ever-expanding and demanding reach of our awareness and attention. Picture your “ability-to-focus” as a small glass filled with dark-blue food coloring. Picture Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, You Tube, email, and websites as an Olympic-size swimming pool filled to the brim. Poor your “focus” into the pool and you know what happens. At first it is visible exactly where you poured it. Slowly, but surely, the contents of the pool begin to break it down and dilute it. With the movement of the water, our dark-blue “focus” begins to drift and dilute losing its potency.

Our ability to focus, in the midst of ever-increasing stimuli, will likely become one of our most critical attributes. We have evolved from local communities to a global village … from print to airwaves to the internet. The trajectory has continued to be faster, more immediate and wide-spread. And we have just gotten started compared to where we are headed. There may be little more important, today, than increasing our ability to stay focused. Some would say “focus” is a developed skill. I would say not.

Focus is a result … of something much deeper.

It is our values that become the core of our ability to focus. Nothing more. Nothing less. Our decision to get more focused is comparable to most New Year’s resolutions. It works for a while and then like dark-blue food coloring … it slowly fades away. Values don’t organize our “to-do” list … more importantly, they determine our priorities. Our priorities in-turn fuel our focus. They determine who and what is most important. Johann Von Goeth simply put it this way, “Things which matter most, should never be at the mercy of things that matter least.” This, of course, begs the values-driven question: What really matters?

The trajectory of the on-going development of technology has already created an existence beyond our ability to keep-up. That is not a problem if we commit to the hard work of truly understanding our values. It is true in organizations and in the organization of our individual lives.

The efficiency of business and the quality of our lives will increasingly depend upon it. It may be our only hope that, in the end, technology will have served us rather than vice versa.

John TV: Episode #32

 As the clouds of this “great recession” begin to clear … it might just be time to come out and play again!  The ultimate recovery may very well be in your own mindset … what are you playing for?

Engaged to the Core

Today’s post is the featured article from the August 2010 issue of The Front Porch Newsletter. If you would like to automatically receive The Front Porch e-newsletter on the last Thursday of each month just click here to sign-up for your complimentary subscription.

The research should be disturbing. From a corporate perspective it is about productivity. From a personal perspective it is about fulfillment. They go hand-in-hand. It is the issue of employee engagement. The well-publicized research by the Gallup organization should open our eyes:

54% are not engaged and 17% are actively disengaged.

A fair amount of thoughtful insight has been written on this topic in the last five years. As with many issues, the question becomes … are we addressing the symptom or the root cause of the issue?

The seeds of genuine employee engagement are at the root … or, shall we say, at the core. Engagement is an issue of connection. Think of it as inserting a plug into an electrical socket. Insert a plug into a loaf of bread and nothing happens. Insert an inappropriate object into a plug and something happens … but it won’t be good. It is only through the appropriate connection that electricity can flow. Oh sure, there can be a strike of lightening, every now and then, that gets things moving. The lightening makes a big impact for a moment. But it doesn’t last.

Employee engagement is not only valuable. At the very core … it is an issue of values.

Corporate values are the socket and personal values are the plug. When properly connected the result is flow … there is engagement. Of course, a socket itself can be inoperable without being properly wired to a fuse box. Which is exactly where we find leadership … fueling the flow or not.

In GOOD to the CORE, I noted the overwhelming percentage of companies that either do not have stated values … or, for those who did have stated values, the overwhelming number of employees who could not state them! I also noted that the likely reason the employees couldn’t state them was rooted in their inability to state their own personal values. Gallup’s research notes that two-thirds of the work force is only moderately engaged or disengaged. There seems to be an interesting correlation to a work force that only has a moderate gut feel or intuition about their personal and corporate values … or have no idea about them at all.

Many would think of “values” as one of those “soft issues.” In organizations, “soft” is code for “one of those nice things … but not a business imperative.” Leaders who prescribe to the idea they are “soft,” rarely provide the electrical current to create employee engagement. They more likely are like bolts of lightning that create amazing moments with serious collateral damage. And they look at Gallup’s numbers and wonder what is wrong with the employees. When leaders boldly harness the value of values, something very different begins to happen.

The possibility for flow begins.

Employee engagement is nothing short of a “values” proposition. For organizations and the employees who work there, the bottom-line question might very well be … how are you wired?

Making Old … New Again

Today’s post is the featured article from the June 2010 issue of The Front Porch Newsletter. If you would like to automatically receive The Front Porch e-newsletter on the last Thursday of each month just click here to sign-up for your complimentary subscription.

Warning: There is not one new idea in this article. But then again new ideas are often over-sold. Recently, one of my clients shared with me some great wisdom on development:

People don’t need to be taught as much as they simply need to be reminded.

This is so true! In July, I will take time-out to attend the National Speaker Association’s National Convention in Orlando. Most participants will arrive hungry for new ideas and insights. Many looking for that “silver-bullet” to skyrocket their business. I will be among them. But I’m going … just to be reminded. Maybe participants should consider taking an extra suitcase filled with all of their handouts and notes from all prior conventions. You know, all those files you created with great intentions to “go back” and take action!

I realize one of the great benefits of any meeting is the face to face conversations and the relationships that are started or further nourished because our paths have crossed. Participants might be best served by just attending all the social events but stay in their hotel room during all scheduled sessions. That’s right, sit in their hotel room and pour over all those previous great ideas that have wilted from being fed with the junk food of great intentions, but starved from the lack of the real nourishment of taking action.

Learning new things demands little from us. It is like “brain candy” that feels good in the moment, but is quickly followed by the sugar slump. I have often felt if I would put into action only half of what I already know … I would be amazed at the results.

Maybe you can relate. Or maybe you just need to be reminded.

I want to put out an unlikely challenge. I am sure I will hear from all of my friends addicted to innovation! But here goes anyway. For the next month … try to learn nothing new. That’s right … it is the hot and lazy days of summer in some parts of the world and the sleepy winter in the rest. Seriously, “chill-out” and learn nothing new!

Instead, starting on July 1st … for the whole month, create your own “reminder retreat.” Schedule a few moments each day to pour over what you already know … but haven’t yet embraced in your work and in your life. Some days it might be a few moments just to sit on a deck or look out your office window and think about great ideas and insights that have faded. Some days it might be actually pulling out those fading notes of wisdom that have been filed away. Other days it might be lunch with a friend or spouse discussing what you have known … but forgotten. Another day might be creating an ice-breaker for your monthly conference call or department meeting with a simple question: What are some great ideas we have forgotten?

You will likely be surprised just how refreshing old ideas can be!

There is an inherent risk this “reminder fest” will lead you down the deadly path of guilt. Don’t you even think about it! Rather, let it fuel your engines to rediscover the gems you can best see only by looking back over your shoulder. You see … old ideas can always be new again. Not because they have changed, but because you have. In fact, I should probably warn you. If you choose to take up this challenge to learn nothing new … you will probably fail no matter how hard you try. For you will quickly learn that your “reminder retreat” will make it virtually impossible to avoid learning something new!

I look forward to my upcoming convention. Alright, so I will attend the schedule sessions. They are always incredible. And as the presenters share their “new” ideas, I will have my notepad ready to take notes … on what I rediscover and hope this time to remember!

As you ponder to rediscover … make a new list of your old ideas. By the end of the month you will have created a great list of reminders … making them easier to remember. Don’t you dare file it! For August will be patiently waiting … for action!

Refusing to Snooze

So often, when we come upon disruptive circumstances in our life, we just want to hit the “snooze” and just “get back to normal.”  We think the change, and the process of that change is going to be painful.  But what if it wasn’t?  What if it was an unexpected gift?  My friend, Nancy Berry, didn’t choose her job transition.  It chose her, as it has so many in the last 18 months.  But she didn’t hit the snooze.  And as she nears the end of this transition, she decided to reflect on her experience and to share it with those who helped her along the way.  She shared a copy with me.  I was so taken by reading it, I asked if I could share it with you.  I hope you will enjoy letting it sink-in to the circumstances in your life:

So often in the recent years, I longed for the opportunity to step off the treadmill and catch my breath.  I never really thought it would happen so I hadn’t considered how that dream might actually come to fruition.  If I had planned it, I would have won the lottery I never play or I would have married the wealthy man I haven’t yet met but I certainly wouldn’t have wished to be laid off.  While the means through which my prayer was answered certainly wasn’t in my master plan, the experience has turned out to be one of the greatest gifts and opportunities of my life.

From the very beginning, I was able to focus on the silver linings of this experience  - a quality to which I owe my always optimistic mother.  Far and away, the best part of this experience was spending 11 months as a full-time mom - there to get my boys off to school in the morning and to hear what was on their minds when they walked in the door after school.  I have enjoyed beyond measure the ordinary moments and tasks that everyday life brings with them in it and I was able to enjoy infinitely more of those moments over the last year.  What a blessing!

I met over 100 new people through my networking efforts.  These people opened my eyes to the wide world that extends beyond the legal industry as they talked to me about their work, their organizations and their industries.  I reconnected with countless people who I am thrilled to have back in my life - mainly former colleagues but a few old friends as well who I won’t lose touch with again.  I took a class to prepare me for the Senior Professional in Human Resources certification test, which I passed in January.  While I didn’t want to become an HR generalist, I wanted to shore up what I considered to be a lack of HR knowledge in my background.  I extensively researched a topic about which I have become passionate - that law firms need to have more rigorous interview techniques like those utilized by top accounting and consulting firms and UK law firms.  I have spoken on that topic a few times and have written a soon-to-be-published article for Am Law Daily.  I worked on several projects that I was interested in for different firms and organizations and I was able to do so at my pace. I attended two conferences, numerous webinars and monthly professional group meetings on recruiting and professional development to keep myself immersed in the industry to which I became so eager to return.   So many opportunities!

It wasn’t all work - I took naps and lots of them and have the worn couch cushions to prove it.  I became reacquainted with the gym.  I got to breath fresh air in the middle of the day.  My faith was tested.  I often passed but occasionally failed.  I learned to single task and even enjoy it.  I stopped driving 10 miles (ok, often more) over the speed limit at all times because I was no longer in a perpetual hurry, though I admit, I was awfully slow to realize that.  I read voraciously, enjoyed every word along the way, learned so much and was reminded of how little I know.  I started writing for pleasure and for profit.  I learned I am passionate about painting - but can only do so with a paint by numbers kit typically used by young children.  Seriously.  I was reminded there are some things I can control and many more I can not.   I was able to be still - a skill I did not know I had.   I was able to think - sometimes too much.  I was able to reflect - again, sometimes too much.  I was able to plan.  I was able to organize - but not enough. And I did an awful lot of nothing.  Such gifts!

No one has been more surprised than me at the quiet confidence I had throughout this journey that everything would work out and for the best.  That said, there were some days when my confidence wavered and others when it flatlined.  i have been carried along this journey over the last eleven months by the cheerleading, support, generosity and kindness of so very many people.  Some people who had never met me and many who had just met me went out of their way to help me even when I could offer them nothing in return.  There are 76 of you who have gone above and beyond on my behalf and for that, I’m genuinely eternally grateful.  Whether you introduced me to people with whom I could network, watched my kids while I was networking, asked how you could help and meant it or sent me an email out of the blue asking how I was doing and encouraging me to hang in there, I want you to know how much your efforts were and are appreciated by me.

I have said … “often times the circumstance in which we find ourselves is beyond our control, but the response we choose is not!”  Nancy chose not to snooze, but to wake-up to her experience … and it has paid-off.  Nancy will begin the next chapter of her professional  life later this month as she joins  Katten Muchin Rosenman as the Director of Professional Development.  Fire up the treadmill … I think she is ready to jump back on … with a whole new perspective.  In fact, reading her reflection today has refreshed mine.  Thank you, Nancy!

From Ordinary to Extraordinary

Paul Zientarski (right) with John Blumberg at Naperville Central High School

It is just not how I remember my experience.  And probably not how you remember yours.  I never cease to be amazed at how the ordinary can be transformed into the extraordinary.  I was reminded of this while I was speaking to the Leadership Classes at Naperville Central High School a couple of weeks ago.  The Leadership Class is part of the Physical Education Program.  Yes, you read that correctly.  PE. 

This is no ordinary PE class and this is no ordinary PE program.  In fact, it is becoming know worldwide.  CBS’s The Early Show featured how this Physical Education Department took what most would write-off as the “goof-off” period during the day and turned it into what is proving to be the most important.  Paul Zientarski is in what most might consider the twilight years of their career … yet he will tell you he is more excited about his work than ever before! 

It makes sense.  How much do we talk about the importance of adults engaging in regular exercise.  You know how much better you think and feel when you are exercising.  They are continuing to build a case to show how PE makes a real difference in how students think and feel as well.  Take a look at the feature on CBS … it just might inspire you to go exercise!  Or it might inspire you to take your own ordinary and make it extraordinary!

The Significance of Insignificance

Ft. Myers Beach FL

I love the early morning hours … even on vacation!  I’m down on Ft. Myers Beach near what I think is the north end of the beach.  I actually love being at the beach any hour of the day. I like to make the most of the visit which translates into I tend to overdo things at the beach … too much sun, too much walking.

My other love is the mountains.  The ocean and the mountains are very different … yet they have one thing in common.  They put you in your place!  They remind you of the reality of your insignificance in the whole scheme of things.  I know that sounds kind of negative … but I don’t see it as negative at all!  I see it as important.  It keeps things in perspective!

Stand at the bottom of a huge mountain and look-up.  Stand anywhere on the beach and look-out.  What you see is something bigger than you!  So much bigger! 

Mountains with their slopes … oceans with their beaches and waves make great playgrounds.  They draw us in with their fun … maybe so they subtly remind us that life is about something much bigger than you!

If you don’t have a mountain or ocean close by … no problem.  Just go take a look at the night sky!  It has the same potential lesson if you will choose to see it.

It is from this reality of insignificance that we are most likely to do our most significant things!