Musings on a Monday Morning from Mike Mullin…

The weekly Newsletter of Without A Vision Consultancy LLC

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March 23, 2020 – It’s Officially Spring!

Good morning!

The cardinals high in the treetops apparently haven’t received news about the COVIDs… their songs are shrill, clear, brilliant, insistent, and refreshing.
Just changed the seasonal flag on the house from shamrock to two bright red cardinals which helps to brighten-up the otherwise brown yard.Saturday morning I marveled at the sight and the sounds of a Sandhill Crane far overhead… earlier in the week a bevy of Trumpeter Swans in flight was magical. Tulips are up — as is the rhubarb. And, the sap is running hard; a probable good year for the sweetness of the Maple Tree. Be optimistic, don’t do dumb things, stay healthy, stay connected… 

• Here’s one for you, courtesy of my daughter:  Why do cows have hooves instead of feet?
• In just a few hours and days it has become more obvious to me that the time to do visioning and strategic planning is NOT during a crisis.
  • I’m personally finding it difficult, even being well-schooled on it, to think strategically.
  • The speed at which this shift has occurred has been blinding… and for those without a plan, let me just say I’m so, so sorry… and I can help you on the other side of this.
  • I can help you now, too, but right now it’s about survival, coaching, and companionship… vision beyond this crisis will need to come later.
• Winners, those with a vision (and leadership skills) and a plan and resolve, are already starting to emerge — thankfully.
• Procrastination is rarely rewarded, but now I have until July 15th to do my taxes — and I owe less than $10,000,000 — so…
• I chair the Board of a local Charter School; charter schools are public schools, use public money, and are accountable for complying with hundreds of laws.
  • If you ever doubt the intricacies and complexities associated with conducting a public school, ask me for copies of some of the recent documents issued by the Governor of Minnesota and his Department of Education relative to conducting mandated business-as-normal in an anything-but-normal environment.
  • One document I’m studying at the moment contains ninety-two specific compliance issues.
  • We had a Board meeting last week and conducted it via Zoom (Open Meeting law permits this during a pandemic); it worked well.
• If you have suddenly been cast into the role of home school teacher, please keep a journal and let me read it when all of this is over.
• I’m staying faithful to the hikes.  If I see another human on the horizon I adjust my route accordingly, sometimes into the ditch, the brambles, or the other side of the street.
  • For the most part there aren’t other humans hiking, just those who still try to run me over with their motorized vehicles.
• I know kids are expected to do dumb things and I don’t mean to single out the otherwise-innocent beach-goers, but…
  • I cannot reconcile the seemingly uninformed, unconscionable behaviour of thousands of young people frolicking on the southern beaches…
  • And perhaps even more difficult to understand:  Where is/ was/ were local government(s) — and in some cases, parents?!  Whew!  Wow!
  • DO THE MATH.  If JUST ONE of these young people goes back home and carries the virus to nine other people, and then each of those nine to nine others, and so on…
  • …the spread of the Coronas is to 43,046,721 humans in just seven (7) days — just seven days.  Please do the math.
  • By simple math, the potentially infected number falls to 6,561 if you keep groups to four (4) or less.  Guess what the spread of the virus falls to if it’s just groups of one or less?
    • (BTW, a Pew Research Center poll is indicating sixty-two percent (62%) of U.S. citizens think the media are exaggerating the COVIDs situation.)
• What we need right now are a few Thomas (Stonewall) Jackson’s… remember him?
• If you’re out in public for any reason helping to keep the rest of us safe(r) and/or supplied with essentials, my hat is off to you and my heart goes out to you.
• Thank you!
  • I still hope I’m wrong and that all of this is hyperbole, but I don’t think that’s going to be the case.  Please prove me wrong.
• There are thirty-one (31) of us in my family — children, spouses of children, grandchildren.
  • Five are mental or physical health care professionals out on different sorts of front lines, two are keeping the Target and Cargill supply chains open for the rest of us, one is on the front lines at a local grocery store (how important have these people become?!), one is helping to keep the Rx drug industry open for business (the right drug to the right person at the right time – and yes, I’m a customer and DO appreciate it), one is rallying against the equity markets (I guess we’re all doing that, maybe not the grandchildren), one is keeping the bars open in Illinois and Indiana while another is sustaining sales at Salesforce; ten are directly caring for small children, one is working to keep some cash flowing in the construction industry, three are weathering the disappointment of not being able to formally graduate from college this spring, four are counseling, advising and assisting high-level leaders with important decisions, four or five are suddenly unemployed or under-employed… How are YOU doing?  I care… let me know…
  • My wife, a piano teacher among many other essential vocations, is schooling her pupils virtually via Mobile Phone Face Time lessons.
• What are you reading?  (More on this when the pandemic is over.)
• Strategy Beyond the Hockey Stick, McKinsey & Co. (Bradley, Hirt, Smit)

• What do you get when you work with Without a Vision Consultancy LLC?
  • We listen, we learn, and then we customize our response to deliver:
  1. Confidence
  2. Clarity
  3. Coaching
  4. Companionship on your journey… sometimes it gets lonely and it’s good to have a friend.

Please remember to tell others about me; I sure appreciate it.I work with individuals, governance structures (Boards), non-profits, and busineses wanting to be bigger, better, stronger, healthier, happier… yes, all five are possible and best done in concert, but it typically requires a coach (consultant) or a companion to help illuminate the path.At Without a Vision Consultancy LLC — www.withoutavision.org — we LISTEN, we LEARN, we LISTEN some more, and only then do we suggest strategic directions unique to your situation.  We do not bring a one-size-fits-all template, nor the latest flash-in-the-pan solutions, to working with you.As we work with you we deliver and provide an increase in your CONFIDENCE, and CLARITY while providing coaching and companionship for your journey.We bring more than fifty years of experience from all sides of the Board table in thirteen different leadership roles — 26 of those years as a CEO.

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