Leaders AND Coaches

There is a lot being written about leaders and coaching these days. As I wrote in my goodreads review of Co-Active Coaching: Changing Business, Transforming Lives, many people suggest all leaders have to be coaches or all leaders can be coaches. I disagree on both fronts. 

First, all leaders do not have to be coaches. They are different roles. An organization can have effective leadership complemented by internal and external coaches. This approach lets both the leader and the coach play to their strengths. It is the strongest combination an organization can offer its people. This approach also frees the coaching relationship of organizational reporting relationship complexities. The leader does not have to wrestle with which hat they are wearing. The person being coached does not have to ask themselves whether they are now talking to their boss or to their coach. 

Second, all leaders cannot be coaches. Leading and coaching are very different skill sets and different approaches. A leader can use coaching habits and use them effectively to have different conversations with those they lead. Still that is far from a co-active coaching engagement where the coach comes alongside the client and is in service to the client. I have seen two critical gaps with "all leaders can be coaches":

1. Knowledge -- Most people in leadership positions do not know coaching. How can they provide what they do not know?
2. Training -- Most people in leadership positions have no training in coaching. How can they effectively provide coaching when they have not been equipped?

These gaps are tell-tale signs that your organization does not yet understand the power of coaching. To learn more about coaching and the power of coaching, connect with me. 

Captain Scrub: The Origin Story

No, Captain Scrub isn't a low-rent superhero. Nor would most people want to use that alter ego for personal branding. But for a few years, I had the nickname of Captain Scrub. I was the second team quarterback (QB) on my 9th grade football team. (These days I could say QB2, although that isn't a role people are chasing.) The second team or B-team played another night of the week against the B-team players from the other school. We played to smaller crowds. But still, being the QB for that second team thrust me into a leadership role. Somewhere along the line we got called the scrubs, no doubt from someone on the starting team. I don’t remember it as term of endearment. On the bus ride home from our second B-team game of the season -- our second straight win I might add -- I somehow gained the nickname "Captain of the Scrubs" which eventually was shortened to Captain Scrub.

That is me, #14 Captain Scrub, middle row 3rd from the right 

Even leading the so-called "second string," I had a lot to prove. Our school's football team had a serious winning tradition. The Jerstad-Agerholm football team was the 7-time defending city champion by the time we got to 9th grade. More so, the Jerstad-Agerholm Jaguars football team had not lost a game in 7 years. I remember talking about that tradition over the few years before our 9th grade year as the streak extended from 5 straight city titles without a loss to 6 straight and finally 7 straight seasons undefeated and untied with 7 consecutive city championships by the time we entered 9th grade. We knew the expectations. We welcomed our shot at continuing the Jerstad winning tradition. We were not going to be the team that blew the streak. 

By late fall, we were the undefeated city champions, running the streak to 8 years. Meanwhile our "scrub" team matched the first string win for win week for week. We too went undefeated just like the first string. As the season went along, we gained more confidence with each win. So much so that we would talk of playing the first team and believed we could beat them. Predictably that epic showdown never took place. 

What I remember most about that season long ago are the bus rides, both to and from the B-team games. On the bus to the games, our team of "scrubs" talked about what we wanted to do in the game, how we would win. On the bus rides back to the school, we were even louder as we recalled the big plays and celebrated each win. In 9th grade, you aren't thinking about enjoying the journey. You just want to win. When I look back though at any accomplishment of note, it's the journey that brings joy. It's the journey and having people with me.

Memories like the season my teammates gave me the Captain Scrub moniker feed my desire to coach others. I have always enjoyed helping others achieve their goals. I would welcome the opportunity to come alongside you in your journey. We don't have to talk football. You pick the topic. It's your journey. We can swap the school bus ride for a phone call, Zoom meeting or in-person meeting. If you really want to,  you can call me Captain Scrub.

A Front Seat View of Living Leadership

One fall Saturday years ago, my dad and I were running errands together. I was a high school student still trying to figure most things out, the fourth of five children and the second son. My dad was a senior manufacturing executive with J.I. Case (i.e., what is now Case IH). Someone who had been reporting to him had recently left that part of the organization for an opportunity that could lead to that person going higher on the org chart than my dad. I asked my dad how that felt. He had hired this man. He had led him, given him opportunities. I figured it might be discouraging to my dad or might feed self doubt. I still am not sure what drove me to be that bold with a question to my dad that morning. For whatever reason I asked.

My dad's answer that Saturday morning surprised me. He said his job was to find good people, pour into them and help them succeed whether that meant they stayed in that team, moved to another team or business unit or left Case altogether. It was his job to help these people develop even if it meant that man or woman went higher or farther in their career than my dad did. I didn't know what to say. So I said, "That must be hard." My dad replied, "Yes, it can be hard. But it is my responsibility to help them." Now I really did not know what to say. I was quiet.

My dad's answer was candid. He did not deny that living out that purpose could be hard, really hard. But he did not let the hard stop him from being a people developer. My dad's answer that fall morning shaped the type of man I would become. I wanted to be a leader. I wanted to help others develop.

I never told my dad how much that short but poignant conversation impacted me. I wish I had told him. His earthly life came to an end 21+ years ago just 3-1/2 weeks after being diagnosed with liver cancer. Hopefully he saw it. I trust he did see it. I say that because my dad practiced the same approach with me. He had high expectations. He was in my corner. He listened to me. He helped me plot my university and career plan. He was my biggest cheerleader. While I missed the opportunity to tell him about the impact of that conversation, I still have opportunities to be a good steward of Dad's investment in me. I welcome those opportunities. I choose to help people develop wherever I can.

My dad's answer that Saturday changed my definition of success. It still drives the type of leader I strive to be.

How to Peel a Banana

Bananas are a staple at our house. Many days I grab a banana and throw it - make that gently place it - in my backpack on the way out of the house to catch the train into the Loop. As I went to peel that banana one day - I did a good job of placing it in the backpack that morning so no bruises on the banana – I was reminded of a conversation my wife and I had. She saw an article on her home page about the best way to peel a banana. The article said the best way was to pinch the end – not the stem – of the banana between two fingers and start peeling down toward the stem. By leaving the stem, you have a natural handle at the bottom of the banana. I heard the same advice on the Paul Harvey radio show years ago (a good example of the vast changes in how we get our information). Before hearing that from Paul Harvey, I peeled bananas starting with the stem, which after all is the "natural" or "default" way. But I tried the new way that day and never switched back.
My question is not "How do you peel a banana?" Rather my questions are:

• Why do you peel a banana or do other things the way you do? Where/when did you learn that?
• Are you open to doing something you have always done one way - like peeling a banana - another way?
• Better yet would you or do you think of different ways of doing things that have always been done a certain way?

It comes down to cultivating an eye for continuous improvement and always asking questions about why things are done a certain way and maybe even whether that step or process or report even needs to be done.

(That reminds me of another conversation I had with my sons and my wife about the best way to eat a grapefruit – cut in half, sectioned, then bite by bite with a spoon or peeled and sectioned like an orange – or an orange – peeled and sectioned or with the peel (yuk!) – but I digress.)

I encourage you to look for a different, more efficient way of peeling the banana going forward.

Make the Move Sooner

Early in my career, I made a move that meant leaving a role after less than a year and moving from the IBM R&D lab and manufacturing plant location I had "grown up" in to the client-facing IBM marketing organization. News of that move elicited two responses from my co-workers at the lab and plant. Some were excited and congratulated me on the move and the new opportunity. Others struggled to figure out how to politely ask me why I was making the move. The second group, certainly the more vocal and probably more numerous, thought I was making a mistake.

But that move propelled my career in a lot of ways. It took our young family to Chicago, a world-class city where I have been blessed with opportunities with some of the best organizations in the world. My thinking in that early decision -- actually "our thinking" since these big decisions have always been made with my wife -- was to make a move while I still enjoyed my current role, organization and company/firm and was succeeding. In that instance, I wanted to the challenge of working in IBM's marketing organization at a time it was considered the best in the world.

Sounds good, right? Problem is I forgot or did not prioritize these same factors in the next job. That job never turned into what I thought it could. I could go into detail, but suffice it to say that I stayed in that role too long.

Eventually I realized I needed to make a move. The expectations for a Systems Engineer at IBM were changing and changing drastically and I needed to get in front of it. So I raised my hand and asked my manager to help me (more on the value of asking for help in a future post) find a role -- even an opportunity to shadow another system engineer -- on a consulting engagement knowing that I would be stretched and could be in an uncomfortable position for a while. Within weeks, I was staffed on IBM's largest reengineering project to date and was out at a client site in a small southern town a couple weeks after being staffed. My concern about being stretched and even uncomfortably out there was well-founded. Still the experience I gained in what became a 1-1/2 year engagement after the client extended my time on the engagement was foundational to the next two career moves for me.

Fast forward to my most recent career move 2 years ago which saw me leaving a global leader, an organization I had been with for years and where I had been promoted to and entrusted with a senior management position. When an incentivized, time-boxed opportunity came up to leave that organization, I initially asked myself, "Why would I leave?" The change in the playing field, especially the time element, prompted a quick shift in my thinking. On the second day after hearing about this opportunity, the question became "Why wouldn't I leave under this program?" So I aggressively analyzed the decision while starting to prepare as if I might leave. By the end of that week, after praying through the decision and getting counsel from a small group of people I trusted, I decided to make a move.

Four months later, with a much-appreciated, six-week break between companies, I started as a Senior Product Manager in Deloitte's global IT organization responsible for a large product portfolio across two major technology initiatives in a Global Tax transformation program. The move was energizing to my career and continues to provide opportunity and challenge.

With this most recent move, a time-boxed opportunity forced me to think in a way I hadn't thought in a while. The challenge for me now is to remember the thinking and approach that led me to make that first bold career move and my most recent career move and then make my next move -- whether internal to the network of firms or external -- sooner.

How about you? Do you need to think through your next career move? If your answer is "I Don't Know" or really anything this side of No, I encourage you to get going so you can make the next move sooner.

My Commentary on Commentary

With 24-hour news, 24-hour sports news, 24-hour entertainment news (is there such a thing?), the publish-your-own landscape of the internet, and the legitimization of social media and instant messaging as business tools let alone our own "personal" social networking, we all have become commentators. The commentary starts before the actual event, carries on alongside the event and lives a life of its own long after the event. The commentary can be interesting and thought-provoking. The commentary can be refreshing, funny, entertaining. But sometimes the commentary is really more than just commentary.

Commentary or Complaining?

Sometimes our comments alongside the event or afterward fact are not commentary. Instead, we are complaining. Let's be clear about what complaining is. Complaining is focused on the circumstances. Complaining takes the form of "This is hard" or "This stinks." And while those might be accurate assessments of the situation, repeated over time, they quickly become unhealthy.

Unchecked complaining goes from occasional comments to the soundtrack of that part of your life -- and a negative soundtrack at that -- to emboldening yourself in this "life is hard, this isn't fair" thinking by enlisting others in that complaining. Instead of this running commentary -- er, complaining, we need to make a choice:

• Accept the circumstance (because the good, the pay, the benefit outweighs the bad) and cut off the complaining
• Change the circumstance (the old "you are either part of the problem or part of the solution")
• Leave the circumstance (e.g., changing jobs, employers, organizations because the ups no longer outweigh the downs for you).

Commentary or Criticism?

Sometimes our comments alongside or afterward are not commentary and are not complaining. What is really going on is criticism focused on a person or a group of people.

Criticism can quickly ramp up from one-time or occasional comments (e.g., the "Can you believe this? Why don't they get it?" conversation alongside the conference call) to a low buzz (e.g., the "here we go again" IM or email conversation alongside or after the conference call or meeting) to an all-out attack (e.g., the flat-out argue like you would never argue if you were face-to-face with these people Facebook or blog post which is the modern version of talking behind someone's back at the water cooler).  

Again, instead of ongoing, escalating criticism, we need to take action in one of two directions:

• Accept the person or people and their behaviors as is ... and stop talking about it.
• Go to the person 1:1 to give him the feedback (e.g., opportunities to improve), to confront her (i.e., if the behavior is actually harmful and needs to stop) and/or to better understand where the person is coming from and what is driving the behavior.

I have been focusing on less running commentary -- whether just in my head or with others -- and an accompanying growing gentleness and commitment to invest in people by providing feedback and confronting them when necessary. I encourage you to do the same.

As you prepare for another week, step back and think through where you are carrying on a running "commentary." Ask yourself whether it is really just commentary. Is it complaining? Is it criticism? If so, stop talking about it. Do something about it or be quiet.

Your Very Own Utility Belt

It seems lame now -- and honestly it probably seemed somewhat lame then -- but there was something cool about Batman's and Robin's utility belts in that campy, 1960s, Adam West version of Batman. What tool or gadget would they pull out of their utility belt each time that would be just what was needed to avoid something dangerous (e.g., the exploding shark) or to escape the overly-complicated, criminal "genius" plan to do away with the Caped Crusader and Boy Wonder? Think what would have happened if Batman and Robin always pulled out the same tool from their utility belts in response to every criminal plan. We wouldn't have had to wait to "tune in tomorrow -- same Bat-time, same Bat-channel!" to find out if they would once again escape the harrowing death-trap plan of that episodes "special guest criminal." While it might be a long and weird leap from the campy, 1960s "Batman" TV series to your office, I would argue many of us are guilty of pulling out the same tool day after day, hour after hour in the work world. You know it. You love/hate it. Everyone now ... email!

Why do so many of us pull out that same over-used, email tool in 99% of the situations they face each week in the work world? After all, email isn't the only tool in our utility belts. We have many productivity tools available to us -- IM, text, OneNote, EverNote, Outlook tasks, not to mention all those other programs loaded on your laptop/tablet/phone. We have many meeting/communication tools available to us -- WebEx, Instant Meeting, Lync calls, Lync IM chats, video calls, Skype for mostly free! Email typically isn't the most efficient tool in our utility belts. We have faster tools. We have tools that do the job in less time. We have tools that are lighter weight. Email often isn't the most effective tool in our utility belts. We have tools that are more fit for purpose.

But we use email. Why?

• We use email because we are comfortable with email. After all, we have been using email for -- brace yourselves -- decades.
• We use email because we are addicted to the sense of accomplishment, of a task completed, of putting the ball in someone else's court when answering and filing or deleting email.
• We use email because it is less confrontational than an in-person meeting or a discussion over the phone.
• Finally, perhaps most annoying of all, we use email because we can include lots of people in email with -- ugh! -- Reply All (which by the way is not always a benefit or positive).  

Here is my challenge to you. When you get back to the office Monday, check out all the tools in your tool belt -- even some older ones like meeting in-person -- whether planned ahead or ad hoc -- or calling someone on the phone (or updated to a Lync call). Dust some of those tools off and give them a try. Go crazy and "reply" to an email with a phone call or in-person discussion. My gosh, even try using those tools that your company's processes say you should use like a risk log, an issue log, a defect tracker, the change request system. Actually think about which tool you should grab from your utility belt. Don't just grab the same old, worn-out, dulled email tool. And save yourself, those you work with and your customers from the long-running, harrowing, tune in tomorrow, tune in next week, tune in next month, tune in next year, same email-channel to see whether we can all escape the stranglehold of our inboxes and the send button. "To the Batcave!"

Career TPOV #2: It Isn't About Comfortable

Have you ever had to learn something multiple times? I am not talking about a math equation or a definition. Rather I am talking about a life or career lesson that you had to learn more than once. The second point in my Career Teachable Point of View (TPOV) is one of those lessons for me. My job and my career isn't about being comfortable. The same goes for your job and your career unless you have determined to settle in.


I have seen that lesson play out -- both in a positive and negative way -- at a few key points earlier in my career. Perhaps I will share more on those in another post. For now, let's focus on the last few months of 2010 as I was going through my latest career move -- a major move where I left a company that I had been with for a number of years. When the company offered a voluntary separation package, the element of being comfortable -- as comfortable as you can be in the corporate world these days -- was upended for me. It raised a number of questions (e.g., What was driving the company to offer this package? What follows a voluntary separation package? Should I take the package?) which forced me to move comfortable down in my priorities as I made the decision first to take the package and then to work through a career transition.

The result now a year in with a new position at a new firm is a great opportunity partnering with a major global function on a multi-year transformation initiative. I own delivery of all technology projects in one of the two largest programs within that transformation initiative. That, of course, comes with challenges. But aren't opportunity and challenge two sides of the same coin? The newness -- even a year in -- plus the program, project and organization challenges keep me learning, stretching and, honestly, uncomfortable.

Clearly comfortable remains lower on my list of priorities. As strange as it sounds, my goal is to keep it there. I recommend the same to you.

Career TPOV #1: It Probably Won't Come from Where You Think It Will

Last August, after a number of years with the same company, I decided to take an incentive package to leave the company. I was blessed to not only have a generous payout but also to have 2-1/2 months before my last day with the company. In the job search journey that started last August and ended just weeks after my last day with that company in mid-November, I learned some things and was reminded of some others about making a change in your career, whether that change is to another company or within the same company. This post is the first in a Teachable Point of View (TPOV) series on those things.

Within a few weeks of making the decision to take the program and leave the place I had worked for 15+ years, I reached out to a co-worker -- a Product Manager who had worked for me a couple years before -- to see what his plans were for the new fiscal year and to see if/how I could help him, only to find out he was leaving. We agreed to have lunch the following Monday.

It was at that lunch, within the first five minutes of our conversation that I got the information that led to my current job as Senior IT Product Manager in the global IT organization of a Big 4 firm. I could simply wrap up this post by pointing out how I got the lead and the help that led to my new job when I thought I would be helping a co-worker. But there is more to this "It Probably Won't Come from Where You Think It Will" point.

A year ago as I considered what to pursue in the job search, I focused a lot of attention on opportunities with much smaller organizations that would have me in roles very different than what I had been doing. The newness and the unknown intrigued me. I was thinking that if I was going to make a change, it was going to be a big change. However, this journey wouldn't play out that way.

Move ahead a month or so. I remember an October 2010 phone conversation with a consultant at Right Management (http://www.right.com/) -- an organization that was very helpful to me in this career transition. As we discussed three opportunities that were in front of me, she made the analogy of of my current company at the time being a green apple and the Senior IT Product Manager opportunity at a Big 4 firm being a red apple then suggested I needed to figure out whether I even liked apples. There was no point in just trading green for red. I was going to have to really think about what I liked to do, what was a good opportunity and fit for me.

Even though I spent a lot of time thinking about, asking about, discussing, praying through and trying to get ready for a role that would be very different and would be with an organization  of a different size and shape, I was drawn to the Senior IT Product Manager opportunity. If you know me, you know that is what I chose and that I started that job with a Big 4 firm at the beginning of 2011.

Fast forward to now, early September 2011, just over a year after I made the decision to take the package and leave the company I had worked at for several years. I enjoy the new role which has forced me to learn a lot -- about the firm, the global IT organization, Global Tax (i.e., my client), the member firms around the globe, etc. -- and has taken me out of my comfort zone. This new role has also given me the opportunity to have more autonomy and to make a larger impact, aspects that had been missing for a while.

Had you asked me a year ago what I would be doing now, my answer wouldn't have matched this. The lead, the help and this opportunity all came from people and places I wouldn't have expected. It doesn't look like I thought it would then. But I am grateful for the opportunity and how it came to me even though it definitely did not come from where I thought it would.

So be open in career moves. Don't think you have it figured out. Look to other places. Listen to people. And watch for something different than what you have pictured now.

Bridge Out

As of a few weeks ago, the Madison Street bridge I often cross on my 5-minute walk from Union Station to the Deloitte Chicago office is closed. So now I have to go south one street and cross at Monroe. I often took that route before the Madison Street bridge was closed. It is basically the same distance. So what is the big deal? (After all, I am blogging about it.)

The big deal is that many people -- if you have walked through the Chicago Loop during rush hour you have an idea how many -- normally take that Madison Street bridge over to Wacker or crossed Madison to head north. Now all those people have no choice but to re-route to one of basically three remaining alternatives (i.e., the afore-mentioned cutover to Monroe Street, going west to Canal Street or going into Union Station and out Adams Street). So everything is slowed down. And there is a lot more foot traffic squeezed into the same area.

So how does this apply to anything other than my now slightly more than 5-minute walk? A preferred and oft-taken option is off the table for a few months. It won't do me or anyone else any good to grumble about it, wish it were still there or whatever. The Madison Street bridge option isn't an option. All of us commuters have to choose from the still available options. There is a very real constraint that we can do nothing about. We have zero control over that. Remember this principle on your projects. Don't be the team member -- or worse yet the team leader -- wasting time and energy talking about an option that is no longer an option, "fighting" a pointless battle you cannot win. Move on. Or else you risk coloring much of the project team and the project itself with negativity.

But remember that many of these constraints are time-boxed. Eventually the Madison Street bridge will be open again. And I for one will move right back to that option as one of my preferred routes.

When a bridge is out, adapt. No whining! But pay attention to the signs for when that new and improved bridge will be ready for traffic again. I recommend flexibility mixed with reality -- both for your projects and for your commute.

Bike Messenger/Project Manager

Would a bike messenger make a good project manager? I don't think so. Let me tell you why.

At the end of a work day last winter, as I was headed to Union Station (http://www.chicagounionstation.com) to catch the train home, I was almost taken out by a bike messenger who ran a red light as I crossed Wacker Drive. After thanking God that there was no collision -- we both would have lost big time -- I thought about an application in project management.

Sometimes in our efforts to deliver a project on-time, we can get into a bit of a heads-down, blinders-on, singular focus. And while some of that might be needed on a project, it can be dangerous. If project leaders and team members are not regularly looking around and thinking through issues and risks inside and outside the project, the chance for a delay, a negative quality impact, a budget hit, etc. increases. Worse yet, what if more than one project takes the heads-down, not looking around approach? There may be a big collision coming that could impact multiple projects.

Straight-ahead speed is not the only thing needed to deliver a project. Make sure you are looking around, checking the mirrors for others. Keep your eyes up for yellow lights, let alone red lights. And heed them. Have your project team members do the same. Help them to do so. Otherwise you could be the bike messenger -- er, project manager -- speeding for that last delivery of the day, going through a red light and taking yourself and others out, because you assumed everyone would see you and your "obviously the most important of all" delivery coming.

One final point. Whether you are a former bike messenger wanting to move into a project manager position or vice versa, I recommend you think twice before including that experience on your resume.

Take the Spork in the Road

Former New York Yankees and New York Mets player, manager and coach, Yogi Berra (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yogi_Berra), is known for his outrageous quotes. Yogi once said, "When you come to a fork in the road, take it." While you struggle through thinking what Yogi might have meant, let's talk about decision making.

A fork in the road usually means a choice between going left or going right. Sometimes the decision is obvious and easy. Sometimes the decision takes more analysis. For those bigger, far-reaching decisions, get appropriate counsel. (As Solomon wrote in Proverbs 24:6, "... in abundance of counselors, there is victory.") Sometimes both left and right are good decisions. Here is the thing. When you come to a fork in the road, you have to make a decision and act on it. Because, as my senior pastor, James MacDonald (http://jamesmacdonald.com/), said in a sermon a while back, "Not making a decision about something you need to make a decision about is making a decision." Analysis paralysis is a decision. It is not a good decision, but it is a decision.


So as you approach a fork in the road, avoid analysis paralysis. Instead think through and discuss the pros and cons of going left versus going right, make a decision and move with appropriate speed down that path. If you get down that path and realize going right would have been better than going left as you did, admit the error, learn from it, course correct and keep moving. Remember no decision is a decision. See there is some bit of wisdom in what Yogi Berra said about taking the fork in the road.


On a somewhat related note, if you ever come to a spork (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spork) in the road, follow Yogi Berra's advice completely. Take it. Sporks are great. More on that another time.

You Chicago People Say It's Close

As I came off the elevator at 111 S. Wacker with my Jimmy John's #6 and Thinny Chips (isn't that a comical name?), a woman asked me how close Jimmy John's was to the office. I quickly explained it was close and that it was east on Monroe just a couple blocks. Her response was, "You Chicago people say it's close, but it will probably take me 10 minutes." Obviously, Chicago either isn't her home office or she is new to the Chicago area altogether. Either way, it made me think how familiarity can breed quicker, but sometimes sloppier, communication.

You know what happens. We work together long enough that we have a shared lexicon of acronyms and analogies. It works great for us speeding up our communication, because we don't have to stop and explain all that. But what happens when we are talking with and listening to our customers?

Do you know your customer's language? Do you speak your customer's language (for me these days, that means Tax) as best you can even if it isn't your native language (for me, a process guy used to operating in a techie world)? Be careful before taking shortcuts in your communication with customers. Pay attention when new stakeholders join. Remind yourself to step back, explain things and create opportunities for questions. And maybe become "multi-lingual" along the way.

Shamrock Shake Circa 2011

Recently as I walked out of McDonald's with my lunch (you have got to like the Angus Deluxe Snack Wrap for $1.99), I noticed a man in front of me carrying a drink tray with four very green drinks. He was either off to set some sort of Shamrock Shake drinking record or was about to make three co-workers very happy. Here is the thing. These didn't look like your old-time Shamrock Shake. They were topped off with whipped cream, the proverbial maraschino cherry and the clear domed lid found on all foo-foo drinks. This was Shamrock Shake meets McCafe.

Seeing those shakes -- and writing about it now -- makes me want to buy one. I haven't had a Shamrock Shake in years but always enjoyed them partially, I am sure, because of the "available for a limited time" thing. Think of something you enjoyed as a kid -- some type of food or drink, a favorite place or family vacation spot. In many ways, we like to keep those things unchanged in our mind and get a kick out of the nostalgia of an old-time fill-in-the-blank or finding something just like it was back then. But do we really want things to stay exactly the same? At some point, the nostalgic, as-it-always-was feel limits the demand for these things. It's fine to keep the basics the same, but products and services need to improve and diversify.

So as the Shamrock Shake has undergone a makeover, think about a product or service you support or provide. Is it the same as it ever was? Is it time for some improvements, some updating, getting ahead of the curve? Or will you let that product or service be pushed into a smaller and smaller box and further back on the shelf away from view? I trust you will come up with something better than whipped cream and a cherry on top. (The domed lid on the other hand is functional.)

Now off to get a Shamrock Shake while supplies last.

Unusually Under-Booked

Nearly a year ago, I had calendar sync problems between my Blackberry and my Outlook calendar. So I had to get some meetings back on my calendar. As I asked one of my team members to resend the invitations for a couple meetings, she commented that my calendar looked "unusually under-booked." It was a funny yet scary realization of how busy my calendar is every week. That comment plus the fact that it was still January -- and not too late to get those New Years resolutions in -- got me thinking about re-implementing a quarterly administration day.

What is an administration day? I got the idea while reading one of John Maxwell's books. Maxwell encouraged his readers to take a day every quarter to get away by yourself to reflect and plan. With our busy schedules, it is way too easy to just be taken along by life as weeks and months and even years pass by on the calendar without really implementing lessons learned and needed changes.

I started taking quarterly administration days a few years back. I would take a day or half day of PTO, grab my journal, my calendar -- that might mean your laptop or smartphone so be careful not to get sucked into work or surfing the web -- and my Bible and go to a forest preserve (if the Chicago weather cooperates), a library, a Starbucks or my quiet time spot at home.

The idea is to look back at the previous quarter to reflect on how you dealt with the day-to-day things, how you handled trials and changes, to pull out lessons, to see themes and trends you wouldn't otherwise see. For me, it also means spending extended time talking to and listening to God.

Once you have done that, it's time to move on to the "So what?" Based on what you have seen looking back at the last quarter, how are you encouraged? How are you challenged? What things do you need to continue? What do you need to do more? Do you need to make some major changes, maybe in how you prioritize and spend your time? Do you need to move more of your attention and energy from the day-to-day (operations) and week-to-week (tactical) to longer-term planning (strategic)?

As I write this, another calendar year is coming to an end. It's time for me to take that quarterly administration day. It's a discipline I had and let go in my life. Through some changes and new opportunities this year I have been reminded of the value of this discipline. So after I post this, I am going to block out a good chunk of a day yet this week -- since it's December and this is Chicago, the forest preserve isn't an option -- and set it aside for reflection, prayer and planning. How about you? Do you need to implement a quarterly administration day for 2011?

Customer Service Lessons

You know it's good customer service when you find yourself telling others about it. Here goes with 2 stories from last week that pushed my thinking in terms of extending and expanding customer service:

1. As our team sat down to a welcome lunch at Fulton's on the River for a Manila manager starting an assignment in Chicago, the waitress came to the table with a neatly folded pile of black napkins. She explained that she offered black napkins to her customers who were wearing dark pants as an alternative to the white napkins set out on the table. What a great idea! With her experience in food service, she -- or the restaurant -- offered a simple solution to a problem I don’t typically think of until returning to the office and seeing all those white specks on my dark dress pants. By offering that and being prepared to deliver it right away, she quickly established the restaurant as a high-touch, value add service. And it costs the restaurant very little to offer that to its customers.


2. Half-way through a meeting the next day with a Senior Executive who was my customer a few years back, he asked me point blank, "How can I help you?" The direct simplicity of the question along with the genuine intention behind it really hit me. He saw this meeting as an opportunity for each of us to help or serve the other. That question reminded me to think of everyone as a potential customer/someone I can serve and to directly ask "How can I help you?" instead of just thinking and assuming they must know I would help them.

So I challenge you -- and me -- to look for and be ready to meet opportunities to add value in incremental, quick ways helping your customers in areas they might not have cycles to think about and to expand your definition of who the customer is.

Commuting Activities

A number of years ago as I considered two job offers within a couple years, I had to think through making the switch from driving between Chicago suburbs as my normal daily commute to taking the train into the city every day. I did the math and the number of "lost" hours on the train at first deterred me from seriously considering the job in the Loop. But then a friend of my dad said I should look at it differently. Instead of thinking of this extra commute time as "lost" time, I needed to ask how I could use that time. And I quickly realized that there were definitely things I could accomplish riding the Metra train in and out of the city that I could not do driving my car.

Years later, I am still surprised or at least question when I see someone playing Solitaire on their laptop or mobile device as the way to pass the time of their commute. And I don’t mean casually playing either. They look to be "all in" for Solitaire. That doesn’t compute with me. I have some regular train activities that I prove more valuable to me And to no one's surprise after reading this far, they don’t include Solitaire or other games. Rather I typically have my quiet time reading the Bible, journaling and praying on the morning ride in and working through email, creating deliverables, doing some homework for a class at church or reading a book or article -- whether for career or to push and grow me spiritually -- on the ride home. Those activities make my commute time valuable to me.

How about you? What are your favorite commuting activities? What is your approach to all those hours every year? Why?

Keep It Short

We all get pounded with so much information. We need to devise ways to process it all.

What do I absolutely need to pay attention to? What can I afford to delegate, delay, delete?

Many times we turn to quicker, shorter, more immediate communications (e.g., IM over Office Communicator). And we eliminate much of the extra information in those chats. I propose we start doing the same in Outlook meeting invitations. Many of us now have our calendar synched to our mobile device. Often the meeting subject is so long it cannot be viewed easily from a smart phone or other mobile device. So here is my short list of words -- I could come up with more but I don’t want to give you too much information to wade through ;-) -- to eliminate from Outlook invitations Subject and Location:

• Daily, weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, etc. - This is evident from how often it shows up on the calendar.
• The Month or Day -If the Service Review is scheduled in October, chances are it's the October Service Review.
• Meeting - If there are other people invited, assume it is a meeting.
• Conference Call - If there is a dial-in number or an OC link, it's a conference call.
• Discuss - This happens in most meetings. Otherwise I am not sure why several people would be meeting.

Feel free to add to the list. But remember to keep it short.

9/11 9 Years Later

I spoke at the monthly Men's Breakfast at my church earlier this month. This ministry year, we are focusing on being prepared for spiritual warfare. When I picked the month to speak at Men's Breakfast, it occurred to me that the first breakfast of the new ministry year would be September 11th. And immediately I thought there could be a tie between the September 11, 2001 attacks on America and the spiritual warfare theme.

As I finalized my message Friday night it struck me that I would be getting up to speak at about the same time that United Airlines Flight 93 took off from Newark on September 11th nine years ago. United 93 was the plane where the passengers stormed the cockpit and forced a crash landing in rural Pennsylvania to thwart the terrorist attack on the US Capitol building 124 miles away in Washington, DC. So I used the story of the American heroes on United 93 that had to make a choice very quickly that morning that they could have never imagined -- whether to strike back against terrorists and give up their life to win out over evil -- to open on Saturday morning. As I told the story in a summary timeline of the events on United 93 on September 11, 2001, and showed pictures of the WTC towers on fire, many men listening Saturday morning wiped tears away from their eyes. The emotional clarity that comes with a crisis or crucible like those attacks is hard to match in everyday life. But I challenged the men Saturday morning to be continually preparing spiritually for whatever may come their way from the enemy. We cannot wait for a crisis. There is no time for preparing in the crisis.

The time for preparing is now. The time for major decisions -- some of which if we are honest with ourselves we should have made already -- is now. So when we walk into a crucible event -- even one as small in comparison to September 11, 2001 as an application outage, a major customer issue or a big one like an ethical choice when no one is watching (well, when no other person is watching) -- we have to know already what things are up for negotiation or decision and which are not negotiable because we have already prepared and decided. So the lesson for all of us from 9/11 nine years later is prepare now, make the tough and foundational decisions now.