Now for today’s T4D!  “People in our lives already see what we are… what they need to see is what we are becoming.  Whether it’s your work team or your home team let the people you serve and live with see you improving day to day, let them see you stretching and striving towards your goals.  Remember the state of becoming….is a most becoming state.”  ~ Kirk & Rebecca Weisler

Principle — particularly moral principle — can never be a weathervane, spinning around this way and that with the shifting winds of expediency. Moral principle is a compass forever fixed and forever true.  ~ — Edward R. Lyman

Forever Fixed… Forever True.  Now I really like the way that sounds

Kirk Out

“Consciously or unconsciously, every one of us does render some service or other. If we cultivate the habit of doing this service deliberately, our desire for service will steadily grow stronger, and will make, not only our own happiness, but that of the world at large.”  ~  Mahatma Gandhi  -1869-1948, Indian Political and Spiritual Leader

The best way to create your destiny is to be deliberate and determined….with your decisions.  ~ Kirk

“Wealthy people tend to be orderly, while those who struggle have lots of messes. Each mess is a lock on the gate that keeps abundance out.”  ~ Raymond Aaron

Clean up your act, your area - declutter your life, your brain - take out the trash and make room for the treasure.  ~ Kirk

Rebecca and I were walking in Brighton England last year and she said… “I want to stop and smell those flowers.”  So we did…and they were wonderful and it made us happy.

“Plenty of people miss their share of happiness, not because they never found it, but because they didn’t stop to enjoy it.”  ~  William Feather

I think most of us, myself included, are guilty of this.  I constantly see teams that have worked hard on some major project or implementation - putting in tremendous amounts of extra time, blood, sweat etc.  The project takes months or even a year or two to complete.  They complete the project…. and then celebrate for about 3 minutes. (If they celebrate at all). 

Taking time to acknowledge everyone’s contribution, reflect on the highs and lows, the learning’s, the laughs and the memorable moments isn’t just important to happiness….it’s vital.  It’s also key to re-charging of the human battery.  There were moments of creativity, connection, commitment and contribution during the project that need to be recorded, remembered, and reflected on… they were the sacred moments when the team had become one in shared purpose and passion.  If we don’t take time to celebrate that, to stop and enjoy it as it’s happening.  We may miss the most important aspect of the project.  That being… what we’ve become and how we’ve grown during it’s accomplishment.

Successful completion of any project might include these elements…

Important. - Was the project completed to standard - on time and on budget?

MORE Important - How did you grow personally as a result of your work on this project? 

How did you grow professionally as a result of your work on this project?  

How did we grow ….closer to each other?   …more competent as a team? … more in our ability to serve our institution? etc

Like a hard charging military unit, or a hard working sports team.  After we take the hill or win the game… our confidence in our ability to do it again increases.  Our trust in each other and ability to abandon ourselves to the strengths of our team members increases.   We have achieved an “esprit-de-corps” and we are ready to “do it again” if we can do it with these same team members because we know with them…. we can “get it done.”

My younger brother is a big time project manager and often creates a special logo and shirt for team members that he hands out at the end of a project.  As they debrief, reflect, remember and celebrate all they’ve experienced and become during the project,  Dan will link it to the shirt.  The shirt and logo becomes a symbol… a medal if you will, that represents all that was accomplished and shared.  The shirts are worn with pride and “esprit de corps” is evident.  ,like a retired jersey of a famous sports figure - this shirt will never be worn to change the oil in the car or while doing yard work.  When it is worn… all who see it and recognize it will feel again, what they felt when they first received it.  A sense of connectedness, accomplishment, teamwork….and of course happiness!!

  MMMM that smells good.  And it makes me happy!  Kirk Out

“Loving people live in a loving world. Hostile people live in a hostile world… Same world.”  ~  Wayne Dyer

And loving leaders create a more loving and livable workplace climate and culture which can help to serve both as a retainer and attractor to talent, as a catalyst for engagement and a momentum builder for sales.  GO LOVING LEADERS GO!!

 Kirk Out

   Hitting it Hard 

Last night we celebrated the birthday of our 3 year old Ashlyn with some dear friends the Davis Family.  Flora Davis is from Mexico and created a traditional piñata for the occasion.  As you can see in the picture, it is the real deal.  A life size mini-mouse who was much tougher than she looks.  (More mighty mouse than mini-mouse)

Hitting with the Team

She, the piñata, took every hit our little Ashlyn could dish out but she couldn’t break through.  So six year old Brooklyn took some swings…still no break through.  So we brought in the big brothers.  They were able to take off some limbs and do some serious damage but still no break through. 

Hitting with Leaders

So they called in the “Big Daddy” (me).  I focused my efforts on areas where we had already built some momentum and done some damage and after several serious hits we achieved a major breakthrough and experienced the sweet rewards of our combined and cumulative efforts. (the candy came pouring out)

Your Personal Piñata - LIFE LESSONS in LEADERSHIP

More often than not, to get the best out of life requires us to get the best out of ourselves.  If we want the good stuff, the great stuff… then we need to hit it and hit it hard.  If we are swinging alone, we may be swinging hard, but we are not swinging smart. 

HIT HARD, and HIT with THE TEAM - The highest achievers and hardest hitters all tell stories of how they could not have done it alone - without the coaching, encouragement, support, and help of Hard Hitting Team Members.   Jim Collins in his book “Good to Great” refers to this principle in his famous “Fly Wheel” concept..  We swing together, build momentum and allow the cumulative affect of our combined efforts help us break through to greatness.

Finally - Hitting with Leaders is not just about aligning our efforts behind the strategy and institutional goals.  It’s about leaders who are aligning their support with our efforts.  It’s about leaders who are offering the feedback, encouragement and coaching.  Leaders who are doing all they can in the capacity of a servant leader to help their people achieve breakthroughs. 

These breakthroughs are far more than mere goal achievement.  They are breakthroughs that symbolize the overcoming of limiting beliefs.  Breakthroughs that allow and inspire people to journey from good towards great as they realize a fuller measure of their own unrealized potential.  These breakthroughs encourage and enable a belief that there is still more in them to be realized.  This self-discovery often generates a self motivating excitement that keeps them swinging and hitting it hard to discover all that is inside themselves.  Thus one breakthrough leads to another and another… as we grow, we grow in our ability to swing with more strength and accuracy..Our discovery of what’s inside of our personal piñatas is the true treasure that enables us to better share with the world that better portion of ourselves.  Then, because of our hard hitting efforts… we have ever more to share. 

Walk softly…YES. 

Carry a big bat…YES. 

But to create legacy and legend… HIT IT HARD, HIT with the TEAM, and Support your TEAM as they HIT!

Let’s make this a hard hitting week….

 Let’s make our legacy and our legend one that is worthy, and worth more because we are. 

Kirk Out

 I so agree with Mary Tyler Moore… we need adversity, challenges, pain to help us build character attributes that are most positive powerful.    Tonight as you do (or do not ) celebrate this scary night… I invite you to be brave, be safe, be kind and celebrate all of the creativity out there.  Enjoy your weekend !!  ~ Kirk

Yesterday I asked another group of technology leaders this question:

What’s it like when someone “lights up” when they see you?  The responses seem to come readily and sincerely from this group and were all wonderful.  A senior officer from the Airforce summed it up best when he said, “When I come home after a really bad day and my 4 year old lights up for me…. I instantly regain my perspective.  The bad day is gone as I remember what is most important.”

I have felt the same thing at work.  As others have “lit up” for me.  It somehow wonderfully helps to keep the focus on the “brigther side” of things.  With this enlightened perspective, even when the “poop hits the fan”, people can say with a smile … “Well it’s time to roll up our sleeves and go to work”  instead of rolling their eyes and saying “here we go again”.

Speaking of rolling up sleeves and lighting up faces…. here are some fun family pictures that illuminate today’s T4D from a slightly more spooky perspective.

Here Ashlyn Searches for the Perfect Pumpkin….she’s lit up! 

And Brooklyn finds hers and she’s lit up!

Sometimes to get people to light up is hard work.  But it’s work worth doing …so roll up your sleeves and get to it!

Finally with a little scooping of yucky and a little cutting through the cynicism…you get to that wonderful place of helping others lighten up so they can light up.

Then you repeat the process on a larger scale… because you want every member of your team to be lit up.  First you, then family, and then the world.  Because if we don’t the world could stay a very scary place.

Light Up for someone today….heck, light up for everyone!  SCARE WITH A SMILE!

Kirk Out