April 19, 2021
Good morning! We have an anthropomorphic tree in the front yard; it comes to life each morning with rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks, blue jays, mallards, juncos, and a Disney Princess. Do you know anything about modern-era cars? On the dashboard, what does an A with a circle around it mean? I was asked why birds sing more enthusiastically earlier in the morning. I’m not sure I know, but it does remind me of a favourite aphorism: “The woods would be very quiet if the only birds that sang there were those that sang best.”
- From a forest ranger at Yosemite National Park on why it is hard to design the perfect garbage bin to keep bars from breaking into it:
- “There is considerable overlap between the intelligence of the smartest bears and the dumbest tourists.”
- Which is a good reminder, to wit: At least half the people out there are not as smart as the other half.
- “There is considerable overlap between the intelligence of the smartest bears and the dumbest tourists.”
- If you are attempting to make the perfect photograph, amateur or professional, what is the correct prioritization of these components?
- Which is MOST important? Light — Context — Perspective — Subject — Framing — Depth of Field — _________________
- If there are 100 variables associated with a perfect spring morning, almost all of them were operative and applicable last Friday morning.
- The early morning walk, not possible the last several weeks due to a foot injury, could hardly have been more interactive with nature’s innumerable sights, sounds, smells, and sensuous sensations.
8 Essentials of Innovation
- According to McKinsey, these are the eight (8) essentials of innovation:
- Aspire — Put simply, is it part of your conscious thought process and energy?
- Choose — Are resources and other factors properly prioritized and applied?
- Discover — Insightful? What do you see, understand, hear, smell, sense, and taste that others don’t?
- Evolve — Are new ideas scalable and profitable? (In the nonprofit world there is a different kind of competition, but it’s there and just as real — and relevant)
- Accelerate — Do you plan and ACT to beat the competition?
- Scale — Do you launch and test in the right ways so as to increase the likelihood of success? Just in time in the right way?
- Extend — Do you capitalize on external networks?
- Mobilize — Do you motivate, inspire, reward, and organize your people properly?
- Of the eight essentials listed above, leaders report being best at aspiring to innovation and 2nd best at mobilizing to get things done.
- We are an anticipatory society and probably nothing can be done to cure or change us short-term.
- That is why many things are over before they start — and why vast numbers of people leave the game during the 7th inning or at the end of the 3rd quarter.
- Or, if you prefer, they leave the theatre while the ovation is still ovating. (spell check wants to change this word, but I won’t let it)
- That is why many things are over before they start — and why vast numbers of people leave the game during the 7th inning or at the end of the 3rd quarter.
- After you’ve read Caste (Wilkerson), invest some time digesting the articles about Tulsa, OK in the latest Smithsonian — if you dare, if you dare.
- On Boards and the COVIDs: “We all had pandemics on our risk registers, but how many boards had thought about the implications for supply-chain disruption from border closures (or ships stuck in the Suez Canal) and having employees stuck in various places?” (Nimocks)
