Drink the Special Wine

October 24, 2022

Good morning! Thanks for reading; I appreciate you a lot. What if you wait your entire life to open that special bottle of wine (or chocolate bar) and you never do? Q:  With only about half the leaves on the ground thus far, to rake now or to wait another month or so? $7,500,000,000 = the amount of money spent nationwide on political advertising through October 16. (AdImpact)

• Remember when sports seasons were consecutive rather than concurrent?
  • The World Series will feature Texas vs. Pennsylvania in a best-of-seven contest.
  • If you want to see all of the games it will require at least one 1,542-mile trip between the two stadiums, taking about 22 hours.
• They might have solved the pronoun wars:  Y’all for everyone… It works, try it.  Who knew?!
• Would you risk one year of your financial stability on a one percent chance?
  • It’s harvest time and the air is filled with the sweet-smelling dust of pulverized corn husks.
  • While driving the countryside working with clients last week, I got to thinking about the importance of the harvest to the farmer.
  • Just think:  For 362 days s/he invests and focuses everything into one percent (1%) of the year — and only then gets to ring — or not — the bell.
• If I tried to teach Economics 101 I’d use a truck, just one 18-wheeler.
  • I’d ask the student to trace that truck’s origins (birth) all the way back thousands of years — every tiny little part of its origin, up until it left the assembly line.
  • And then I’d ask the student to assess that one truck’s impact in the world, every little detail, the thousands of ways in which it has an impact until it hauls no more.
• Thinking about child care:
  • What is the total impact on the economy and on the human experience when just one child care provider cannot care for that child for one day?
  • Trace the direct and indirect ripple effects of that one.
• “Somewhere in the past 20 years, compromise has become a dirty word.”  (Rothenberg)
  • We all agree (actually, only ~80% agree) disagreeing is harming us, but… individual behaviour doesn’t seem to care enough to do anything about it.
  • Here are some data from USA Today:  Not since World War I — more than a century ago — has our society been more politically polarized using voting trends as the measuring stick.
  • Times this past century when we were the least polarized, according to those same data?  The early 1970s* and the mid-1980s.
    • (*Counterintuitive to be sure, but these data are narrowly focused only on split-ticket voting behaviours.  We were more polarized than now during Ted Roosevelt’s era.)
• Searching for a food not negatively impacted by inflation?
  • Try figs.
  • If you have a strong heart, check the recent price on that Minnesota staple, wild rice.
• Researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN tell us there are five (5) pillars to happiness.
  • They don’t opine — at least not readily — as to whether one or more of the pillars is more important than the others.
    1. Having a sense of purpose
    2. Keeping an optimistic outlook (Didn’t Frankl teach us about this first?)
    3. Healthy relationships
    4. Be grateful
    5. Live in the moment
• Many readers of these Musings serve on boards of one kind or another — businesses and nonprofits alike.
  • Over the next several weeks we will feature a short section on board effectiveness as informed by John Carver’s, Boards That Make a Difference, 1997.
    • First, the six major flaws of boards, as Carver describes them – and as Peter Drucker poignantly opined:
    1. Too much time on the trivial
    2. Short-term bias
    3. Reactive stance
    4. Reviewing — Rehashing — Redoing
    5. Leaky Accountability (Who’s in charge of what — and when?)
    6. Diffuse authority

Review and Preview down below… a collection of “the best” from past editions… only if you have time:

• • …Send not to know for whom the bell tolls — it tolls for thee.  (Donne)
  • “Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.”  (Voltaire)
  • As the CEO or the leader you cannot outsource vision.  (YT)
  • Be more curious; ask better questions.  (YT)
  • Patience and Persistence along parallel paths. (YT)
  • Go figure:  The #1 contributor to a toxic work environment?  Leadership — or lack thereof.  (MIT Sloan, 2022)  Organizational culture is in a very close 2nd place, but guess who has the most influence over culture?!
  • “It’s a terrible thing to look over your shoulder when you are trying to lead and find no one there.” (Roosevelt)
  • “This is to everyone who has been consistent.  You are already ahead of 90% of people.  Keep showing up; consistency compounds.”  (Madan)
  • “Those leaders who are authentic in the face of adversity stand out above the rest.”  (Eades)
  • “Take great care to not wake up in your own museum.”  (Birkenstock)
  • “The task of the leader is to get his (her) people from where they are to where they have not been.”  (Kissinger, 2022)
  • “You think he’s angry now, wait ’til we win him over.”  (Ted — Lasso)
  • “Who am I to judge?”  (Jorge Bergoglio)
  • Ever wish you had a better idea of where you were going — or when, or why, or how?
  • On the topic of vision… since that’s what this Newsletter is all about:
    • “You can’t outsource vision or passion — or for that matter, leadership.” (Andrew)
    • “Without a vision the people perish.” (Habiger, Etc., et al.)
    • “At every crossroads on the path that leads to the future, tradition has placed 10,000 (people) to guard the past.”  (Nobel Laureate, Maeterlinck)
    • “What if our best data are flawed?”  (Dilbert/ Adams)
    • “You can never plan the future by the past.”  (A. Lincoln)
    • Vision is a destination — a fixed point to which we focus all effort; strategy is a route, an adaptable path to get us to where we want to go.”  (Sinek)
    • “Vision is the capacity to see that which does not yet exist.”  (Eades)
  • Probably the best mission statement ever written, way back in 1787:
    • We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this constitution for the United States of America.
  • Clients often ask, “What is the difference between a mission and a vision?  And why do you need one of each?
    • A mission answers the question, Why do you exist?
      • Your answer should contain both logical and emotional appeal, very briefly stated.
    • A vision is an expression of awe, wonder, inspiration, focuis, possibilities, imagination, intentions, audacious goals… the best-possible outcomes relative to your mission; it draws others in like a black hole vortex or a powerful magnet while inviting them on your journey.  It should result in vertical head nods and goosebumps — or tears of joy.
      • “Vision is the reason we get out of bed each day to come to work.”  (Samantha)
      • A vision answers the question, “How are you going to become bigger, better, stronger, healthier, and happier?”
      • The perfect shared vision should both excite you lots and scare you a little bit.
    • A shared vision is the ultimate motivational and inspirational statement because your carefully chosen words perfectly articulate your message while inviting others to grab hold while making YOUR vision also their own.
    • We do what we can.
    • Very little is forever.
    • Sign on a wall:  May our work, the work of this office — Without A Vision Consultancy LLC — always be focused on results directed toward the achievement of this vision.