Despite my marginally clever play-on-words, this isn’t a post about Pope Francis I. (A man whose qualifications for the job he has just been elected to I am woefully incapable of evaluating.)

What it is a post about is a dangerous phenomenon:  one that I have witnessed in nonprofit associations, in city governments, in businesses large & small, in families, in volunteer committees of all shapes and sizes.

It’s a phenomenon that – given its pervasiveness in society – I could surmise might have plagued the Papal Conclave as well.

It’s His Turn

You’ve surely witnessed this plague in action:

• Susan was the Vice Chair of the event last year, so she’ll become the event Chair this year.

• Max has ‘paid his dues’ on the board for 5 years so he should ascend to the Vice Chairmanship.

• Mary has been the Coordinator in that department for 3 years, so now that Bob has been promoted to Director, she should logically take over his position as Manager.

• The current city council members have an off-the-record conversation that “If Gene wants to run for Mayor, we won’t run against him…”

• He’s the first born (son), so he’s going to take over the family business (country).

I suppose it is statistically possible that the ‘next in line’ actually IS (by coincidence rather than design) the best person for the task at hand.  But particularly given the pace of change in the world today, my observational experience says it’s more-than-likely not to be the case.

Worse than just not ideal – allowing an “It’s His Turn” philosophy to flourish can truly be a kiss of death for an organization. Even the perception of this ethos at work can signal that the company is not actually responsive to client/constituent needs. That merit and skill are less valued than time served. That we are out of touch with what is actually going on in our community. That we are not transparent about our process.

For the sake of the Catholic Church and the 1 billion + people worldwide that they serve, I hope that the College of Cardinals asked questions like these when considering whom to elect:

What specific skills does the organization need today?

What are the biggest obstacles we face on the path to success?

What kind of personality traits are best suited to address our needs and challenges?

What communities will be emboldened or disenfranchised by the selection?

What changes are coming rapidly that we need to prepare for, who has the vision to see them clearly?

To the public eye, the College of Cardinals had the opportunity to choose anyone (well, any Catholic Male) to lead them.  I am hopeful that with days of prayer, reflection, holy wisdom-seeking that they didn’t simply select the person who was the ‘first runner up’ to Benedict during the prior voting. Given the secrecy and lack of transparency surrounding the process, we can’t know. Surely he is being lauded by the media (and Catholic friends of mine who are more equipped to gauge) as the “right man for the job” – with traits that do seem to answer at least some of the questions above.

Decisions in your world may not attract such scrutiny or media attention, but if it feels like “It’s His Turn” for something in your world, ask yourself – ask your team:  SHOULD it be?

And if the answer is no, I pray that you have the courage to vote differently. Your business depends on it.

Today – right now — imagine your association in a fight for survival. It’s not far-fetched. Many associations already are seeing “the end of times,” whether they acknowledge it or not. It’s time to consider what you need to do in order to survive. For many groups, cooking sacred cows for nourishment will be one option. Be ready to build a sizeable bonfire and build a plan to carry on.

1. Understand what nourishment looks like. You first must commit to keeping the enterprise fed, even if that means eating bugs and chewing up the sacred cow. Create an environment whose mission is to provide sustenance to the organization at any cost. This includes not only allowing but cultivating the “crazy ideas” – the 10% of ideas that may, at first glance, seem bizarre and unpalatable. All edibles are on.

2. Identify your sacred cow(s). Every client I have worked with has programs and processes that continue to move forward, unquestioned, “because that’s how we do it.” To find yours, ask three questions:

Where are the non-performing SKUs?: Borrowing a term from retailing, profitable retailers must ensure that their square footage is returning the best margin possible, regularly discontinuing the bottom 10% of products to create space for higher-producing inventory. In associations, your “shop floor” is your staff and budget. In these lean times, most are pushed beyond capacity fulfilling the programs (products) you’ve already got. Reconfigure now to create space for programs and services that will return a better margin, audience, or connection.

Whom do we need to alert? Before you discontinue any program, be candid with those customers who will be affected. Most are probably business people who have made difficult decisions of their own and they will understand.

Who’s got a cow to proffer? To create a culture of identifying the tastiest sacred cows, turn to staff and volunteers, conducting a monthly or quarterly “What should we stop doing?” inquiry. Incent them for their suggestions.

3. Know your enemy. In any post-apocalyptic environment, you’d be aware of the marauders around every corner. Have you considered enemies like these?

Competitors: Associations today have many competitors. In fact, besides the Internet, the growth of competition is the most significant challenge to association management I’ve seen in 20 years. Formerly supportive sponsor organizations launch their own programs and services to reach the membership base. Once collaborative trade magazines, in a scramble for revenue themselves, are launching online and print products that compete aggressively for a shrinking ad revenue stream. In a world with fewer geographic boundaries, other state/regional/national organizations are claiming new ground. Your members are already finding value elsewhere. Do you have a “Chief Competition Officer,” someone whose job it is to know what these others are doing?

Nelly & SALY: “Negative Nelly” shoots down any idea presented and creates an unpleasant work environment. Get rid of her, and watch the rest of the team’s productivity skyrocket. SALY, “Same As Last Year,” is not a person, it’s a philosophy. SALY breeds in places where too much workload & too few resources produces little incentive for the team to innovate. A “no-SALY” policy gives new products and services a fighting chance.

4. Stop biting the hand that feeds you. Sponsor neglect is rampant in associations, a recipe for disaster in a competitive environment. Senior executives should regularly sit down with the top 20% of sponsors. An open dialogue will disclose how – and whether – your association’s products and services are meeting sponsor needs. In many cases, sponsors are more attuned to member needs than staff and can bring compelling ideas (and funding) to your table.

Through honest & aggressive consideration of these four areas, associations can be well on their way to a sustainable future. It’s not too late to start: your survival, literally, depends on it.

Part I of the “Scorched Earth” series was published in the October issue of Marketing AdVents, the monthly newsletter of the Direct Marketing Association of Washington (DC).  Part II – “How To Start A Bonfire and Grind Up the Sacred Cow” was part of the February 2013 issue in the association’s monthly column addressing trends in direct marketing within trade associations and nonprofits.

I had a full blown case of red, itchy hives my first day of High School. Twenty-five (plus!) years later, the memory of that moment lingers long and sneaks up on me every now and again. It taught me a lot about how to suck it up and get through a tough situation, and that only rarely is anything as bad as we think it will be.  We are often our own worst enemies when facing change or uncertainty.

I watched pruriently as the parade of young neighbor families did the end-of-summer shuffle down the street to the bus stops this morning: proud parents with leashed dogs accompanied their little ones back into their school year routines, pausing to ply an iPhone-captured “SMILE!” out of a backpacked child in new shoes.

Some kids surely were eager to return to learning and their friends, others were likely anxious about going off to new schools where they don’t know anyone.  I reflected on the helicopter parents whose nerves (“Will they have fun? Will the other kids be nice to them? Will there be a meltdown?”) are likely just as frayed as the kids’. Change is hard. Finding your way in something new or different is never as much fun as the carefree slip-n-slide and popsicle-filled days of summer.

It’s a great metaphor for life, the back-to-school ritual. Whether you’re excited or petrified, whether it’s sunny or rainy, whether you have shiny new shoes or a scratchy uniform, whether you were in hysterical tears or sleepless from excited energy the night before, you must plow forward. Life lives in one direction. The day comes on the calendar and you walk into the new year and everything it holds. You say a little prayer that all that has come before has prepared you, and you go forth and do your very best with what you have, where you are. Because that’s the greatest gift we receive in life: an open invitation to go forward and DO SOMETHING with ourselves.

Kids, parents, anyone starting ‘something new’ today: the butterflies in your stomach are natural and powerful. Don’t shy away from them – lean in and pay attention to them. They can work for you if you let them: learn to harness them, they will teach you to fly.

(Attributions & Appreciations:  this blog was inspired in part by  Jonathan Fields‘ book Uncertainty & Marty Whitmore’s illustration, “Riding the Butterflies” which will be hung in my office shortly, when painting is complete!  This article is a great recap of some of the lessons in the book, which was a KaneCo BookClub reading this year.)   

Do you have a cringeworthy teenage moment captured forever on film? I used mine as an inspiration last week when I was honored to guest post on the 5 by 5 Design “Inspirations” blog.  Thanks to Wendy & Diana for the opportunity, and for the work you do every day to help your clients look “wow”! (Go ahead, click through to read the entire post!)

Image credit to Clara Natoli

(Images of my own angst-filled teenage years will remain unindexed by Google) 

The best ideas, and the truest epiphanies, come to you in the shower  (or so ‘they’ say.)

This morning, I noticed that I held my breath for a moment as I washed my hair.

A new client has given me the opportunity to join a team helping a small business launch a line of organic, toxin- and silicone-free beauty products. Our role is to help them craft a strategy to go from startup to success – to help get them  from where they are to where they want to be. At the conclusion of the first meeting, the team was sent home with sample sized versions, to “see for ourselves.”

I really like the business owner. She’s passionate and genuine, and her product seems to be compelling, legitimate, and fit a need in the marketplace. She’s got incredible energy, a great story, a vision, and is willing to do the work. She knows she needs help. As I poured a quarter-sized dollop into my left hand, I realized that for me, it was the moment of truth.

What if I hate it?

What if it smells funny? What if it leaves my hair feeling limp and disgusting? (One of my few true vanities is my hair.)

I chastised myself for being overly dramatic; I made quite a ridiculous picture standing there stark naked debating this dollop of gel in my hand: “So what? It’s shampoo. There are a million.  If you hate this one, there are others.”

… but my job is to help THIS one.

I found myself whispering a little prayer that it would lather.  As the bubbles formed beneath my fingers, the tension in my shoulders eased and I took a deep breath. I was palpably relieved when the scent of the shampoo mixed with the steam was a pleasant herbal – citrus, the resulting effect a kind of aromatherapy sensation. I’m pretty sure I have never paid that much attention in the shower in my life.

I’m not arguing that every piece of work we do has to be an all-encompassing, life-fulfilling, purpose-driven one, but rather proposing that (for me, at least) I do my best work when I care about, believe in, and like the people / products I’m working with. I recognize how fortunate I am to have a career that has provided me a wealth of opportunity to work with products and industries I genuinely like, doing work that makes a difference in the lives of individuals who I care about.

There are only so many hours in the day, and so many days in a lifetime, a number which none of us can know. Can you pour your heart , effort, and your most precious resource of time into something you don’t genuinely like or believe in?

Some people can: they believe in the process or art of what they do without necessarily finding a kinship with or liking the product, company or person itself (criminal defense attorneys, for example, representing a distasteful or possibly-guilty client – but believing in the bigger picture of the justice system). Others can’t detach their personal self-identity from the specific people & products they choose to work with.

Can you?

For me, the answer came in the shower.

Photo credit: Alex France

By the way,  the client here is anonymous, in keeping with the ‘Rules of the Game’. 

A few years ago, my husband and I became fascinated with the TV show The Colony. It created a mostly-realistic (it’s TV, people, let’s suspend a little disbelief) post-apocalyptic disaster environment, put real people with a variety of skills in and told them to figure out how to survive as a group over a series of weeks. Each person had to look inside themselves and ask, “what skills did I have in my old life that are relevant here to our group’s mission of survival?” As the season unfolded, the group gathered food, built shelters, started fires, filtered water, created small engines, protected themselves from marauders, and generally figured out how to survive. It’s a modern day interpretation on surviving the military ‘scorched Earth’ philosophy.

One of the major challenges I see facing nonprofit organizations today is that many are surviving almost entirely on momentum and history. They’re doing things that have always been done (electing the new committee, producing the annual report, running the tradeshow at X venue) because inertia and momentum keeps things moving. Multi-year contracts exist. Some volunteers feel entitled, others go unengaged.  Staff resources are stretched thin. The infrastructure is complicated and relies on many people playing their individual parts, not unlike an assembly line. Staff and volunteers generally are not incented to ask “what should we be doing differently?” In the meantime, the for-profit world has stepped boldly into direct competition for community, eyeballs, subscribers, participation, sponsor/ad revenue. The competitors are leaner, hungrier, and have cultivated better skills for the fight ahead. (With some slight nuance, this is true for both charitable nonprofits and trade association nonprofits.)

Honestly, I doubt that most traditional nonprofit organizations could survive a ‘scorched Earth’ scenario. Most have cultivated neither the creativity nor the competitive spirit to survive. Joe Rominiecki observed in a blog posting this week that Associations by nature have “a workforce that discovers, likes, and comes to depend on the comfort of the status quo. And it goes without saying that comfort breeds complacency.” 

Your team’s creative skills, sense of competitiveness, and risk tolerance might be sharpened with a little ‘scorched Earth’ exercise. Ask yourself: if literally every dollar of revenue (and expense obligation) that your organization has coming in was gone tomorrow, what would you do?  Where, precisely, would you start rebuilding?  (I’m betting it wouldn’t be a 2 hour staff meeting with highly paid executives debating whether or not your annual report should be printed magazine-style or delivered in an interactive video series.)

In a scorched Earth scenario, you’d ask:

• What provides the most revenue? Currently? Potentially? (What giant potential revenue source have you not explored because “resources are too tight”?)
• What do we do that’s most unique in the marketplace today? (If you “used to be” unique and everyone’s copying you now – go forth and figure out how to be different again.)
• Who do we really need on the team? (Similarly but more painfully, whose skills aren’t useful to us anymore?)
• Where are the empty places on the map? What will it take to get there? (reference with a hat tip to David Brooks’ New York Times article on the Creative Monopoly)
• What’s your competitive advantage?  Is it healthy or damaged? (If it’s your members, do you treat them like they are a critical part of your mission or an annoying afterthought?)

When you can answer these questions with some tangibles, list them and prioritize where and how you would start to rebuild your community.

If there were such a thing, the "Doomsday Clock" for old-school nonprofits has ticked notably closer to midnight in recent years.

With the competitive landscape for most organizations out there today, is this really such a far-fetched scenario? Sure, it might not evaporate overnight, but with very few exceptions, the revenue is drying up (let’s stop kidding ourselves that it’s just economic constriction, a lot of it is shifting to other outlets.) If there were such a thing, the Doomsday Clock for old-line nonprofit associations has moved notably closer to midnight in recent years.

If these answers to the ‘scorched Earth’ exercise don’t align with your current organizational structure and division of resources, you have just found the opportunities to make some difficult and likely very painful changes. But the roadmap you have just created is an alternative to near-certain death. You can’t go back to the ‘good old days’ but you can find different ways to thrive that WILL turn back the hands on that Doomsday Clock. A three-or-five year plan isn’t going to cut it. Revenue victories are going daily to the nimble. Are you among them?

Just as the post-apocalyptic scenarios may be a little farfetched (for all but the least optimistic among us,) I do still feel a little comfort knowing I have multiple gallons of freshwater and a generator in the basement. With some courageous leadership, virtually ANY organization can create a team that will not only survive, but thrive in a ‘scorched Earth’ scenario – but you’ll have to burn some old ways of doing things & be ready to eat some of your sacred cows for nourishment along the way.

(Stay tuned for Part II – How to Start a Bonfire & Grind Up the Cow)

Cover photo credit:  George Schick

I’m not a golfer. But if I were – (or maybe BECAUSE I’m not?) – I’d be a heck of a lot more inspired by Bubba Watson than by Jack Nicklaus or Phil Mickelson or Tiger Woods (ahem.)

Golf has universal, published, indisputable rules of the game. It’s a magnificent way to teach the concept of ethics to kids (what do you do when you’re not being watched?). You learn the rules and you play by them. Simple, right?

But beyond the specifics of the rules, there’s also a rich tradition in golf. A ‘way it’s done.’ Decorum. Elegance. Ritual. Expectations. (You know this if you’ve ever tried to go to a country club in cutoff jeans & flipflops.)

Bubba is self taught in an industry where that “just isn’t done.” He’s a lefty – one of only three to ever win the Masters. People have said, “Oh, Bubba plays by his own rules.” He doesn’t, though. The rules are the same for everyone. What he does, rather, is play with little regard to the traditional path of finding success; he eschews the common approaches others have used to achieve greatness.

In every business, there are rules (taxes, regulatory compliance, shareholder reporting, etc.) and then there are the ‘ways things are customarily done.’ As I look out across the landscape of true innovation right now in events (peer retreats vs. old-school associations, TED, Ignite, SXSW (before it jumped the shark)), in consumer products (SPANX, i-almost-anything), in online communities (Pinterest, Instagram) – the success stories are being written by the Bubbas. Those who say, “well, I see the commonly accepted path, and that’s fine for them, but I’m doin’ it my way.”

(image credit: Mike Segar/REUTERS)

Are you great at something?  Bubba is. But he didn’t give in to the push to walk a traditional path to prove his greatness. He didn’t look at the odds against a self-taught left hander, he just followed his gut. That green jacket is on his back today largely BECAUSE he wasn’t on the traditional path. Don’t imitate him (it wouldn’t work) – rather, take some courage from his playbook to be your own person. Actively cultivate a trust in your own instincts. Stop listening to the very-loud voices that say you ‘should’ do it this way or that way. Those voices would have you believe that there’s only one path to success, and it’s a well trodden one filled with things like swing coaches, professional services, advisors, right-handed players, etc.

Be a ‘Bubba’: Swing wildly. Be authentic. Follow your spirit to the place where your passion and your uniqueness intersect.

And even if you aren’t in the proverbial green jacket at the end of the day, you’ll be the authentic version of yourself, which is the best prize of all.

(Photo credit: Header, Scott Liddell, Inset: Mike Segar/ REUTERS, as seen here )

I was chagrined to read the recent indictment on meetings, the Inspector General’s investigation into the GSA Western Region Conference in Las Vegas. ($823,000 and 6 planning meetings spent on a 300 +/- person training conference).  You may have seen the story in the news these past few weeks, a scandal unfolding as the new poster child of wasteful government spending.

It’s situations like this that give meeting professionals a black eye, and the behavior of a number of individuals involved here offends me on so many levels. (SIX PLANNING MEETINGS!?! Unconscionable.) I could devote a full month of blogging to the varying and egregious ethical issues raised in this report. But the one that I’d like to focus on today (my addition to the conversation that the wise Liz Zielinski opened up here) is the question of commissionable third parties.

A few quick definitions, for those of you not in the industry:

• Third Party: a commonly used term for a meetings professional (individual or firm) who is not on the full time staff of an organization and who is subcontracted or otherwise hired to assist an organization with their events. Third party services may include: site selection, contract negotiation, housing management, full meeting logistics, event production, etc. Third parties are remunerated either on a fee-for-service basis, or by a commission received based on the size of the event that they are booking.
• Client/Group: the group or organization who hosts the meeting, who may hire a third party to supplement their full time staff’s capabilities.

I disagree with the Inspector General’s assessment that, “since the GSA already employs several full-time event planners, the use of the third party seems redundant and wasteful.” There are certainly full time teams out there that are completely overloaded with work. The raison d’être  of an effective third party is to plug in and provide services to supplement the skills of the core team. Use of third parties is increasing in the meetings industry as many staff teams have been reduced to a minimum or outsourced completely. Third parties don’t carry the same overhead as ‘full time staff’ and can be added or subtracted to scale an organization’s capabilities quickly as needed.  Without knowing the workload on the full-time staff, there’s no way for me (or the IG for that matter) to really evaluate whether bringing in a third party was “redundant and wasteful.”  That being said, however, I am fundamentally concerned if our government policies even allow for the use of commissionable third parties rather than fee-for-service third party assistance.

Every client wants to assure that their own best interests are primary when a third party is being utilized. Our government has not only the right (but I would argue the obligation) to ensure that parties negotiating on their behalf actually have their best interests in mind.

It’s a simple fact: a third party paid on commission is financially incented to keep rates high, and to choose properties that offer the best commission percentage (which can be 3% – 10+%, depending on the property.)

It is my long-held opinion that third parties who claim that their site selection & negotiation services are “free to the client” are stepping into a disturbingly grey ethical area.

None of us work for free (and when we do, it’s called ‘donating services to a worthy charity,’ or an unpaid internship , which is education-in-lieu-of-financial-compensation.)

My opinion is simple: when you accept money for performing a service, I believe that the definition of ‘client’ changes to be “the entity who pays you.” When a meeting services company receives $12,000+ from a hotel for placing a meeting, the client is the hotel, not the group who ‘allowed’ them to place the meeting.

This “It’s Free to You!” promotional language, saying that “the budget for commissions comes out of a different pocket at the hotel, so it doesn’t change your rate” is patently ridiculous. In the aggregate, any increase in expenses (taxes, cost of electricity, food prices, labor rates) WILL most certainly affect the rates that the hotel is able to offer. And thus, exorbitant commissions absolutely raise the rate tide, for everyone. Let’s not pretend that the added expense doesn’t exist.

Don’t get me wrong – I’m not opposed to the concept of commission in general. It’s a very effective motivational tool for salespeople, and as Liz points out, there are many industries that use commissions quite successfully. But “commissioned salespeople” are just that – salespeople incented by the seller to bring in business. It is logically impossible that a representative can be negotiating in the best interest of BOTH parties in a contract. When a services company is paid by the seller, they defacto work for the seller. Period. I buy products where the salesperson makes a commission all the time – many of us do, and we’re quite happy with them. But I don’t delude myself that the guy selling me that car is really “working for me.”

Groups who choose to work with commissionable third parties should do so transparently and clearly with the full understanding of the organization’s executive leadership.  At a minimum, an annual review of service agreements should be conducted, with executive leadership having full awareness of commissions being made from the business being booked. Conversely, I suggest a regular auditing of all fee-based service contracts to ensure that there isn’t a “double dipping” going on. All hotel contracts booked by a fee-for-service agency should clearly identify rates as “net, non-commissionable.”

None of us work for free.

This all boils down to transparency and ethics: we should all be proud of how we do business, and prepared to disclose and defend the fees we are paid. This information should be available to the client organization’s leadership, to the attendee staying in the hotel room, to your ultimate ‘customer’ footing the bill for an event – in this case, the taxpayer. And as a taxpayer here, I’m uncomfortable.

You’re a taxpayer, too: what’s your opinion?  Should US Government policy allow for the hiring of commissionable third party meeting services agencies? Would your group use one?

(FULL DISCLOSURE: MonkeyBar Management provides site selection & contract negotiation services to some of our clients. Clients pay us a fee for our services directly, we do not accept commissions.)

A few weeks ago, my oldest niece (4 1/2 years old) skipped soccer practice. She had her first loose tooth and was afraid “something would happen.” She was simultaneously fascinated with wiggling the tooth, captivated with it to the point of distraction, and paralyzed with the fear of losing it. Would it hurt? Would it bleed? How would her mouth look with an empty hole? Tales of the tooth fairy sneaking into her room at night to take the tooth & leave money were further unsettling (and I can hardly blame her on that one.) All the ‘rational adults’ were trying to coax her through it:  ”We’ve all done it, and it didn’t hurt at all!” “It’s a part of growing up!” (And she wasn’t at all sure she wanted to grow up.) She stopped eating. She used it as a crutch to avoid other experiences.

In any moment when facing change or uncertainty, we’re all just some version of that little kid again – we can become fixated on a challenge in front of us. The challenge can propel or paralyze us. Taking on a new client, losing a job, learning a new skill, developing a new program, starting a fundraising campaign, joining a new network, giving a presentation … uncertainty is the breeding ground of fear, fear is the breeding ground of paralysis, and paralysis equates to not growing.

Growth is hard, but change is the only constant. You already know this, but in case fear is clouding your memory, here are a few ways to make it easier:

Get educated 
Whatever it is that’s giving you the butterflies – learn everything you can about it. It’s not just a catchy tagline, knowledge really is power: information is the quickset in the foundation of concrete confidence. You can’t control whether or not you’re the smartest person in a situation, but you CAN choose to be the best informed. Push yourself purposely to look beyond your normal reliable sources for insights, follow a few Google searches down rabbit holes and see what you find.

Invest in a network 
Build yourself a diverse & trusted network long before the metaphorical tooth starts wiggling. Find people in real life that you admire, that you can rely on for advice, and pointedly ask them for it.  You’ll be surprised how generous people are with their insight, and how much they want you to succeed. Steer clear of the bullies who will taunt you with tales of doorknobs & string.

Imagine the worst
Play the “and then what happens if” game with yourself: once you can articulate exactly what the worst outcome would be in any situation, it’s not quite so scary. You’re better prepared to deal with whatever result comes your way – and it’s rarely as bad as you imagined it to be. If the worst comes to pass, see #2, above: You’ve got a support system.

Practice uncertainty
Confidence is a muscle you need to exercise. Purposely put yourself just a little bit outside your comfort zone regularly to make yourself more comfortable navigating changes. Identify for yourself an hour a week minimum where you focus on a smaller discomfort goal (as simple as learning a new app or going to a different place for coffee). Put it on your calendar as your professional development.

ACT. And remember what you feed will grow.  
Keep wiggling that tooth: control your own destiny. There’s nothing quite like the endorphins released when you successfully conquer even the smallest of your uncertainties. The second hurdle isn’t quite as scary as the first one. Above all, remember that fear breeds where energy is stagnant: keeping up your momentum will feed your confidence.

You just might surprise yourself.

You just might surprise yourself.
Take a minute and think: what’s the “loose tooth” in your world that you’re avoiding today?

Today on ‘tax day’ (in the US), I’m reminded that in the meetings & events business, there is no option to “file for an extension if you don’t get everything done on time” – they are immobile deadlines. 500 people are heading to San Diego on the 26th for a three day conference, 20 people land at the airport in Coeur d’Alene Thursday night to start their executive retreat weekend. The planning timeline starts from those immobile deadlines and works backwards. There’s no calling attendees to say, “gosh, could we just shift that 2 days later, we’re not quite done.” These immobile deadlines force prioritization decisions about what’s “good enough” – decisions that we may not have the discipline to make if deadlines are flexible.

Need to make a personal or professional change in your life? Launch a project? Some of the best advice I’ve ever heard is “put it on the calendar” (a variation on the “ship it” philosophy from Seth Godin.) When something is on the calendar, you think differently about it. It’s integrated into the work plan. You marshal resources accordingly (bring in subcontractors, outsource what you can’t do yourself,) delegate better, waste less time, and prioritize more smartly.

Talking to a client yesterday, he quipped, “GOAL is a four-letter word.” He has a project that launches in 15 months. It’s on the calendar: everything works backwards from there. In areas beyond meetings (and daily publishing,) there is a pervasive culture of comfort with deadline slippage: “Just a few more weeks won’t hurt.” “The programmer ran into a technical issue.”

Nonprofit organizations can be among the worst offenders with nebulous goals (“we’d like to launch XYZ, but we don’t have the resources right now.”) An additional layer of decisionmaking (The Board) can be a convenient excuse for inefficiencies or management’s failure to prioritize. Expectations plummet. Time is wasted. XYZ goes ‘on hold’ while the can just keeps getting kicked down the road. The next Board meeting looms, and the tyranny of the urgent takes over. Soon, customers – both internal and external – don’t know what to expect. Or rather, they know that “whenever” (or never) seems to be just fine with the powers that be.

They’re not ‘goals,’ they’re deadlines for specific things that you will accomplish.

Stop cheating yourself, and your customers: Put it on the calendar.