Fear Not, Seriously

“We are so vain that we even care for the opinion of those we don’t care for.” Marie von Ebner Eschenbach

How is it with you?  I mean, if you really gave earnest consideration, what’s your honest answer?

Well for me, it used to be true; however, reading, writing and thinking at an accelerated pace for the past nine months, has heightened an awareness that there are people who will never change. Duh, right?

Okay, so I’m stupid a little slow sometimes.

This is no secret.  But I’ve always held out hope that people would change.  Now, I’m convinced, not that they won’t change, but that it no longer matters.

And the day this epiphany came, it was glorious.

I’ve learned to move on, to be strong, and to focus on transformational personal change – not in others, but in the mirror. It’s hard as hell, of course, but I will not stop.  Doing the impossible will take everything you have.

And there are people out there, they might even be reading this now, who will think it’s crazy.  Who cares So.

Fear Not

“Fear not those who argue but those who dodge.”  Marie von Ebner Eschenbach

Early in my Fortune 100 career, there was a new assignment which required that I move and inherit an existing, high-performing team.

And even though they knew much more about how things ran, they still wanted me to help them improve. They brought dozens of creative ideas.

I was on a huge learning curve and loving every minute of it. However, you know what happened?

Nothing.

Being insanely busy, and blindly disorganized, none of their ideas moved forward. I was overwhelmed and didn’t even know it.

Crazy thing though, I thought things were actually getting better, because their ideas started to dwindle, but not because things got better.

Even crazier, they thought, “Don’t go to Jeff, he won’t do anything.”

Wished they would have argued with me, “Why aren’t you helping us?” Instead, they dodged.

And who could blame them?

But The Bigger Question Is?

Yesterday I eloquently droned on about thinking like a failure, whatever that means, right?

Well guess what else?  I’d like to drone on about what does yesterday’s post mean to you today?  Because if it meant nothing to you, guess what?

Seriously, if I have to explain this (again) to you, you may not get it.

Hey, you do know I’m only talking to myself and none of this is meant to make you feel uncomfortable (yes it is).  Having tough conversations with myself is the most effective way to push the limits of my abilities.

What do you do to push the limits of your abilities?  You do push yourself, right?

Think Like a Failure?

Cybrarian.  Never heard of this person, probably.  No worries.  I had never heard of it until this month.

Librarian.  Everyone’s heard of this person, probably.  The librarian is in charge of the library – the place where books are kept.

How many of you can see it coming?  The day when books will be relics on display in museums. It may not happen in the next 10-20 years, but it will happen.  And it may even happen sooner.

The music industry never saw it coming. They should have led the revolution, instead, they were victims of it.

Free music file sharing over the Internet.  Preposterous!  Exactly.

Cybrarians can see it coming.  Amazon’s Kindle is the first ripple of the cybrarian tsunami.

Surf’s up, dude.  Catch a (digital) wave.

Leader Top Priorities?

Leadership priorities.  Probably the single most important “to do” on a great leader’s list.  Right?

At the top for me is a compelling vision.  Then acting with integrity. And thirdly, building trust.

But these aren’t the priorities I’m talking about.

I’m referring to personal, moral priorities.

A few months ago, I had the privilege to hear a Fortune 100 President give a speech. To my surprise he listed his as:

  1. Faith
  2. Family
  3. Career

Didn’t see that one coming.  Career was third.  As a Fortune 100 President. Wow.

Live authentically, serve humbly, live to make other’s dreams come true.