December 12, 2022
Good morning! Snow (maybe) and ice headed our way… and I have to be out on the road!! How are your FIFA bracketologies coming along? We watched some of the France vs. England game, but then had to pay homage to the Army vs. Navy game; still caught the France 2, England 1 final few minutes. Thanks to the generous and thoughtful Mom and Dad, I held our newest grandson, Arthur, for nearly an uninterrupted hour late last week. That is, if you define uninterrupted as only three other grandchildren, his siblings, clambering for a hold — all the time none too happy with their grandpa. Little Arthur was so calm and at peace… I don’t know if any previous experience holding a little one was as poignant.
- Christmas tree shortage? Humbug! according to the providers and producers — isn’t true, never was, never will be. (Zumbrun)
- The United States will import about $65,000,000 worth of (biologically DNA pure) Christmas trees this year, mostly from Canada —
- — and, it will import about $450,000,000 in artificial or plastic “trees”, mostly from China.
- This might sum it up: “As traditional standards of speech and conduct disappear from public life, the need for them has never been clearer.” (Kirsch)
- Have you ever been lost, really lost, scary lost?
- Would you rather it be in the wild wilderness or an urban jungle?
- On a recent trip through Manhattan — from North to South on the West Side highway — I was searching for the Lincoln Tunnel to take me to Sinatra-land.
- (I’m much more comfortable hiking in New York than I am driving.)
- Should a person trust the car’s GPS? It had already taken me to the loading/ unloading dock for the cruise ships — and I don’t think I would have gone there on my own.
- I knew I wanted 42nd Street — or maybe 43rd or 41st, but wait… those are one way streets the wrong way…
- Even to be lost a little bit is to have your pulse quicken, beads of perspiration appear, doubt creep in, impatience toward others increase, and, for some, obscene gestures.
- Add to that the pressure of road rage courtesy of all the others on the road who (think they) know where they’re going — and they’re late getting there.
- Without much trouble, but plenty of anxiety, I found the dark and ominous tube under the Hudson and eventually Frank’s Weehawken, wiser for the wear.
- You’re smart enough to make your own metaphor, right? If not, click me back and I’ll help.
- I’ve been lately observing a leader who apparently considers communication to be a rare and finite resource.
- It’s as if this person fears losing the ability to communicate if s/he uses it too much — or at all.
- Why would this be? Why communicate less when more is needed?
- Among Without A Vision Consultancy’s favourite aphorisms is, It’s impossible to communicate perfectly, but keep trying.
- Keep trying, do more of it, not less of it… and err on the side of over-communicating, it’s certainly much better than under-communicating — or worse yet, obfuscating.
- If you can’t avoid taking on water, at least keep the ship pointed in the generally right direction, which is always your shared vision.
- Also, the only valid assessment of communication is from the perspective of the receiver — not the sender.
- Among the top ten buzzwords of the last several months is resilience.
- Exactly what is resilience? Work on your personal definition and application(s).
- Over the next several weeks these Musings will provide you with a few quotes from people other than YT which might help you to better understand resilience — and your development of it, or more of it.
- This week’s: “It’s not that I’m so smart, I just stay with problems longer.” (Einstein, A.)
- Reminds me of Without A Vision’s, Patience and persistence along parallel paths.
- There is a temptation — I’m guilty — to keep looking and looking and looking for the secret sauce, the panacea, the silver bullet that will solve each problem in front of us.
- The more you read, study, listen, and learn; however, the more you realize there is nothing new under the sun — and that got expressed and written 3,000 years ago by supposedly the smartest human who ever lived.
- And so, there are no quick fixes, no easy answers, no secret formulas that somebody else tried, just an unrelenting pursuit of getting bigger, better, stronger, healthier, happier…
- … and, no matter how many books you read — and you should read a few — it all boils down to integrity, focus, humility, communication, relationships, and the customer experience.
- That being said, the feeling of being respected at work is 17.9 times more powerful a predictor of organizational culture than any other baseline topic; i.e., it is MOST important. (MIT Sloan)
- And, guess WHO gets to decide if s/he is FEELING respected?!
- What are you reading?
- I am woefully ignorant when it comes to the history of the Ottoman Empire, and so I want to add this book to my list: The Lion House (de Bellaigue, 2022).
- Perhaps you’ll join me?
- What did you think (are you thinking) about Luhrmann’s Elvis?
- We watched it the other night; read here the scathing Daniels review: Elvis
- Worth three hours? Yes… if you have three extra hours with nothing more pressing (pun intended).
- “Both optimists and pessimists contribute to society. The optimist invents the aeroplane, the pessimist the parachute.” (Shaw)
For you, my clients and faithful readers, I am enormously grateful you are here; thank you!
