Mike’s Doc Blog

Ok, a dated reference, sure but it is precisely how I feel being out of that last class. I’ve been out for 2 days and my goodness I feel good. I’ve been loading up my paperwork and plans for the coming dissertation class and reviewing my drafts. I’m not ready to get another draft going quite yet but I am getting closer. I feel that getting to the next draft needs a little more literature. To that end, I’ve been hanging out in the online library conducting reviews and gathering up the PDFs and citations in my EndNote.

All work and no play, right? Well, I am rewarding myself with a trip to Philadelphia with some friends this weekend. It will be a time to deprogram from work and school. I get to blow off some steam and recharge the batteries I need for what looks to be a long March ahead of me with both work and school.

So, for now…Calgon take me away. I’ll see you all on Monday for another post and update.

One of the things that I struggle with both professionally and in my doctoral studies is being in conversations with people who lack the skills needed or experience needed to see the vision and help craft the way. The red flag for me is someone who asks for your need, fails to respond to queues about possible enhancements, and delivers exactly what was originally outlined in the need.

Sometimes when I see the end goal or the vision, I cannot always see the intermediate steps or possible enhancements that could make the vision better. It is like seeing that tall building when you are in a city but not knowing exactly how to reach it. I like to work with people who have the skills and experience around a subject, product, service, or process so they can fill in the gaps and help map out the solution.

My last conversation with my mentor was one of the those golden conversation with someone that has vision. She was able to see the end and help me with the steps needed to get there. At the end of the conversation, I had a way and enhancements to make it better (along with some homework to do). Consequently, I am on my way to the proposal and ARB/IRB submission. Tremendous value!

Conversely, I’ve been working on some service offerings outside the classroom and find that the group I am working with do not have the “vision”. The service is being  hosted in some powerful and commonplace software for business knowledge management. However, most of the people that hold the keys are figuring out the software as they go and lack the experience or skills needed to really “get it”. They are well intentioned but just underdeveloped in regards to the software. Consequently, the products that come out look pieced together and rough. Tremendous opportunity cost!

Creative problem solving aside, sometimes we just don’t know what we don’t know and that has a cost associated with it.

There seems to be a value when we get people involved that actually possess the skills and experience necessary to bring a vision to life in a way that the original visionary might not have realized possible. At work this is a project that takes off and delivers outstanding results. In school this is getting over the hump or building an amazing project on something really cool.

I find it easier, more productive, and more valuable to vision with people who have vision and skills enough to help. It might have a direct cost associated with it but the indirect value far outweighs those costs.

Image source: rogiro

I couldn’t sleep last weekend. I’d had a rough Friday and rough week with people who exhibited little or no good leadership ability. It got me wondering if there were any real leaders left anymore of if we’d commoditized leadership for the sake of corporate-speak. I was up most of the weekend wondering about why I view leadership with a strong sense of integrity and committment. Too often, I think people who call themselves leaders do so to make a point, argue a point, get you to do something, or sidestep an important issue.

Saturday night I was up quite late and caught myself in a set of war movies. The first was We Were Soldiers with Mel Gibson playing Hal Moore during Vietnam. In the movie Moore, played by Gibson, gives two great speeches that talk directly to leadership.

Moore: When Crazy Horse was a baby, he nursed at the breast of every woman in the tribe. The Sioux raised their children that way. Every warrior called every woman in the tribe “Mother”. Every older warrior, they called him “Grandfather”. Now, the point here is that they fought as a family. Take care of your men. Teach them to take care of each other. ‘Cause when this starts… each other is all we’re gonna have.

This quote reminds me that leaders call on lessons of the past to support the current and future mission. It shows the importance of the unit, the family, the team and everyone needs to be involved or it just won’t work. The second speech includes this excerpt:

Moore: I can’t promise that I will bring you all home alive. But this I swear before you and before Almighty God: that when we go into battle, I will be the first to set foot on the field, and I will be the last to step off, and I will leave no one behind. Dead or alive, we will all come home together.

Some people mistake leadership for not asking people to do what you yourself would not do. I agree with this to some degree but the meaning has become bastardized to mean something I would be willing to do, not meaning do. This quote and the subsequent scene in the movie showing Moore’s boots hitting the field of battle first, demonstrate that a leader is there with the team. Not just in spirit but in actuality. What benefit does this have? Well firstly that the leader sees first hand what is happening, directs action, makes educated decisions, and ensures that support and resources are committed to the mission at hand.

The second movie I caught was Saving Private Ryan with Tom Hanks. The movie is filled with leadership moments but one toward end stands out. Tom Hanks character is dying on the bridge and pulls Private Ryan close to whisper:

Earn this

Earn this. Earn this! A simple two word phrase that for me sums up leadership in so many ways. Earn this. Too often we think leadership should be thrust upon us for no real effort and many times it is just that and we all suffer the consequences of people who ascend thanks to good PR. Earn this! Leaders must earn it everyday. Leaders must continually pay forward the gifts of strength, characterm judgement. They must build and support the followership at all times.

I’ve never been to war. I am in awe and appreciation of all those who have. Make no mistakes, I do not pretend to understand what it is like on a battlefield and by God’s grace will not ever need to find out firsthand.

I was talking to my Dad today. Himself a Vietname Veteran, successful businessman, and hell of  a Dad. He was apologizing to me for instilling a strong sense of character and integrity. He felt that life might be less frustrating if I could just fall into line with crappy managers who claim leadership and just go along with them. I don’t doubt it would be easier to just lie down and let the system support and fend for me. I don’t doubt it would be easier to lie down and let people without scruples use and abise me for the paycheck I take home each week. I don’t doubt that my life would be awful just lieing down and taking it.

Last weekend’s accidental movie marathon reminded me that leaders support the mission first hand and lead through the strength of followers. Leaders lead with integrity and not just intent.

Image source: j-fin

This is a little sideline of the normal post but I was selected for failblog.org’s voting page. The picture is one I took some time ago but held onto for the comedic value.

Go vote for the picture.

more fail, owned and pwned pics and videos

It is no secret that I am a full-time employee and full-time student. Combine that with being a family man and community servant and there is no end to the distractions that can take me away from my classes and dissertation. The last few weeks have been filled with re-orgs, re-positioning, shortened time lines with compromised quality standards, and removals of job responsibilities only to be told new ones would be coming. These are tough economic times and remaining flexible is mandatory to retain a job.

When the normal routine gets to be extraordinary it poses a threat to remaining focused on other areas of life, namely school (for me). Rick Warren, in The Purpose Driven Life, wrote that when you have a purpose in life you find yourself doing less and more meaningful work. FranklinCovey, in the Focus: Time Management workshop, called attention to using your values to plan your weeks and days in order to remain effective and schedule the big rocks first.

Admittedly, I’ve been pretty distracted these last 4 or 5 weeks and that seems to happen to me enough that I began to reflect on it a bit. My mentor in class gave me the inspiration to do so with a kind empathy. She simply stated that is all I needed when I am trying to get my dissertation going.

So how to get back on track.

1. Ask for help
2. Accept help
3. Re-evaluate the Big Rocks
4. Schedule Big Rocks first
5. Guard your time
6. Break out goals and large tasks into smaller more accomplishable tasks
7. Communicate progress

There is no end to life’s distractions. Some people feel that not going back to school or not staying in school will allow them to focus on the rest of life’s little things and stay afloat. To them I say, going to school is not a weight, it is a set of swim fins. They can be a bit awkward but will help you stay afloat. I’ve learned one thing about being a working student, there is no perfect time to go to school (either enroll or remain in school), there certainly are worse times but there is no perfect time. So just get your swim fins on and jump in.

I’ve got to rework some important elements of my dissertation this week. It will take considerable time and investment or resource. Important? Yes. Urgent? A little. I am following my 7 steps and it will come. It might mean some late nights but that is okay.

Image source: underminingme

All my life, I’ve been told to expand my vocabulary. The reasoning ranges from the fun of new words to the importance of being intelligent. As of late, I’ve been told that the words I use intimidate those that do not have expansive vocabularies. The feedback has come in combination with other feelings that the intelligence I portray in my speaking, writing, and everyday tasks make me appear aloof and intimidating.

I make no apologies for continually developing myself and moving into new realms of thought. My upbringing has encouraged me to be smart and let others know that I am capable of performing the tasks ahead.

What concerns me is that the feedback has been attached to possible negative repercussions associated with my job and performance. It strikes me as odd that people would label intelligence as a bad thing. Especially when working in learning and performance, as I do.

A friend told me last week that he has had to look up words used in some written and verbal communications with me. He said this as possible evidence of what others see but remained thankful for the improvements in his own vocabulary. Heck, I travel with my dictionary and access to web resources so that I can look up words used in communication so that I can both learn and keep up with the conversation without asking for it to be dumbed down. I don’t think that is a bad thing at all. I also don’t associate it with weakness. I see that as living a value of continual development.

I personally don’t think my vocabulary is that expansive. Evidence of this is how poorly I play scrabble and boggle. I truly don’t do well. Moreover, I know people with far more expansive vocabularies and never slighted them unless they were so far beyond normalcy that it warranted some regulation. Even still, I was more impressed than intimidated. I looked at it as a learning opportunity. I guess you could chalk that up to a Jesuit education.

I’m uncomfortable with being told to dumb down my language so others don’t think ill of me. I am uncomfortable with the idea that only simplistic words and phrasing are preferred vs. something more accurate and might potentially expand the vocabularies of others.

In a world that is changing, in an economy that is becoming more of a knowledge economy, intelligence needs to be rewarded. Vocabulary is one (albeit a small) aspect of the new economy. If you have to look words up, good. I do too.

Image Source: Drumaboy

Throughout my career I’ve been exposed to various sorts of management and leadership. The exposure isn’t limited to the working arena either, many of my classes and studies have included intense examination of leaderhsip and management practice. But experience is always the best teacher.

Over the last months, I’ve come across a few management styles that I do not like.

The first is a stlye of Gotcha! Management. This is the person who sets people up in jobs to “earn” the support, resources, and tools to do the job. This manager feels that a total investment in people until they prove themselves is a risk or a waste of money.

The second style is Trend Leadership. You know these people. They have a core style of leadership that is driven by trends and the most recent seminar or book they’ve read. A key indicator of this style is someone who uses far too much jargon, slogans, and mottos to show off their leadership style.

Finally, the Black Hole manager. These managers allow information in, make no decisions, and don’t run information up the chain of command but require it all to come through them. I’ve been managed under this style in the past. This is the severly risk adverse, nay saying, in over their heads manager who needs everything to run through them but does nothing with it.

I’m tired of sitting idly by waiting for these leaders or managers to straighten up. Lead, follow, or get out of the way. I am leading my life, my career, and my home to success. I ask for no quarter or protection. Unlike many managers and leaders, I accept the good with the bad. Decisions need to be made or I will be the victim of others’ bad management styles.

Friday I had occasion to sit through a FranklinCovey’s Focus Time Management Webinar. I’ve been through time management seminars and coaching before and found most of it behavioral modification in nature. In fact, I classified a previous session leader the Time Management Polizei. Her methods were bent on showing me what I did wrong, force me into duplicating my time management tasks on paper and in my computer, then policing it as if I were in desperate need of a time management parent. Behavioral modification to force someone into a system just doesn’t work with some learners. I am one of those.

This was evident to me long ago when a colleague sat me down after some obvious frustration with FranklinCovey’s rigidly enforced system rules. My friend gave me highlights of many systems and showed her method to me. It was from here that I was able to craft my own methods of managing time. Mind you, I’ve fallen away from that to the point where I needed to be refreshed. Moreover, I am looking at incorporating time management into several curricula and needed to consult the master planner, FranklinCovey.

While I resisted and was distrustful of FranklinCovey’s system thanks to a poor instructor some years ago, I do understand and embrace the theories FranklinCovey puts forth. It is the implementations, for me, that become the problem. I use technology so using a paper planner is not effective or efficient. Still, there are things I need to write down (meeting notes on particular days, out thoughts, potential appointments, new tasks, etc). I know, too, that if it doesn’t beep at me it won’t happen (thus, technology). I am an iPhone user and an Outlook user (for work). The blend of the two with FranklinCovey is not seamless. It requires some clunky additional software for both pc and iPhone that is limited to tasks alone.

I think my system will be to use the computer and iPhone for contacts, schedule, and task (for now) and use a daily wire-bound paper system for the aforementioned note taking. If the whole thing is portable and sleek I am likely to use it more often and thus keep my mind straight.

Time is what we make of it and with all there is to balance, I find that I revert to mind-wasting and time-wasting activities. That is something that needs to change.

Image Source: littledan77

I went to Toastmasters last night for the first time in months. I’ve been traveling, working late nights, and just suffering from crisis overload. Not to mention just having a lack of desire to come back to the club and meetings. Last year my friend Bob Brown passed away. Bob had been up and down health-wise for a long while but his death was still a shock to me. He’d always rebounded in a few days or weeks. Bob was an integral reason I came to Toastmasters, got involved, and improved myself. Losing him made the meetings and my experience feel incomplete.

This morning I read an article from Gitomer about who impacted my life and who imparted wisdom. The article was about Jeffrey’s long time mentor, Earl Pertnoy. It was a touching tribute from Jeffrey. As I read through the experiences shared in the article, I found my mind wandering back to Bob and Toastmasters. It is something that has been on my mind a lot lately.

Gitomer wrote about one exchange that touched my heart:

When he noticed me and smiled, I felt compelled to talk. “Thank you. I love you.” I spoke softly, and cried

I never got the chance to see Bob in his final hours. I never got to tell Bob thank you or that I loved him in those final moments. I’d always told Bob how much he meant to me, how much I valued his guidance, humor, and genuine caring he showed me. He often joked that I was his son and in many ways I became Bob’s Toastmaster son. If it takes a village to raise a person, Bob was in my village. He extended his care and love to my family. It meant so much to see his caring for the people in my life. He taught me that loving a person means that you love the people they love.

Last night’s meeting felt empty to me, like others since Bob’s passing. I wasn’t vested in being there and not seeing Bob made it worse for me. It was among the first steps of my return to Toastmasters and the journey to my goals there. I know Bob wants me to stay in Toastmasters. He loved it so much and loved to see his friends and share the learning and growth possible when people care and support one another. He brought a sense of community and continuance to my experience and that guides me as I re-enter the Toastmasters scene.

Gitomer closed his note about/to Earl with this line:

I will do my best to honor your friendship, your mentorship, and pass it on to those that I love. Safe journey.

Thank you Bob Brown. I will do my best to honor your friendship, your mentorship, and pass it on to those that I love. Safe journey. You mean a lot to me.

Image: Bob Brown congratulating me at a speech contest in May 2004.

What a crazy time its been. I’ve had so little time between taking a new job and wrestling with negative issue after negative issue in other aspects of my life. I’m not one to rant on my blog, so here is a bullet list of things people should know.

• When you tell someone the furnace is fine and it is not fine, you cost them money.
• Don’t flush non-flushables down a toilet at a house that is not your own.
• Driving for 13 hours (round trip) for a 20 hour stay and little interaction with the family is a waste of time
• Don’t force people to adjust to your schedule when you have other options available
• Let people know when your kid is sick and don’t invite them over knowing they’re contagious
• Throwing the contents of your basement out is a sad time, especially when it came as a result of someone else’s actions
• Kids fall out of cribs
• Last minute bills at Christmas time suck

It has been a harrowing six weeks or so and I am glad things seem to be turning the corner. Quite frankly, if things got much worse we were going to suspend Christmas so we could enjoy it. With things coming back to normal, I am trying to get my blogging, reading, writing, and other activities back online. My wife says I feel better when I do them and I believe her.