Who Is Leading Your Tribe?

Tribes, by Seth Godin.  Heard of it?  Read it?

The tag line, “We need you to lead us”, really hits home for me.  Why?

Because, in today’s world, if you haven’t noticed, there’s a lot of chaos and uncertainty.  “Duh”, right?

What I’d like to challenge is our predisposition to look to others to be better leaders.  When in reality, the real work, where the biggest need is, is right in front of you as you look in the mirror.

Quite complaining about others needing to do this or do that – and presumably thinking that your life will get better as soon as “they” change.

Let the change begin and end with you.  Period.  Because until that happens, you are in no place to expect it from someone else.

Exploiting Chaos!

Walking through an airport this week, a book title caught my eye, “Exploiting Chaos“.

Why?  If I have to explain this to you, you most likely won’t understand. But, because I’m a sucker for people who want to understand and continuously improve, I’ll give it a brief try here.

Chaos is a paradox.  We can (and probably do) hate chaos.  Or, we can (and probably don’t) love chaos.

Hate it for all of the societal norm reasons most hate chaos.

Love it for all the opportunity it brings.  Yes, opportunity.  So once again, if I have to explain this to you, you won’t understand.  But if I were you, I’d quickly try to figure it out, or get left behind.

Mantra, Mantra, Mantra

Mantra, mantra, mantra.

From Wikipedia:  A mantra is a sound, syllable, word, or group of words that are considered capable of “creating transformation” (cf. spiritual transformation).[1] Their use and type varies according to the school and philosophy associated with the mantra.

I will not be discouraged.

I will not be discouraged.

I will not be discouraged.

There will be  times when you think the path you’re on – the one you convinced yourself and others was absolutely the way – may actually be wrong.

This is why courage and perseverance were invented.

Hire a CPA or Do It Yourself?

MBA courses insist you take accounting.  Ever hear an MBA student rave about their accounting classes?  Wouldn’t it make more sense to teach students what to look for in a good CPA?

Don’t leaders in organizations have finance departments?

Isn’t the leader’s purpose to lead? To set the course?  To dream, to communicate and to inspire the vision?

Maybe I’m missing something.  Maybe I’m not.

So, just wanted to get our minds thinking about this.

All I’m pointing out is that society places a certain “worth” on an MBA degree.  I’m not disagreeing with that.

Society also places a certain worth on reading the best selling business books.  Not disagreeing with that either.

For me, what it all comes down to is that degrees, or books, don’t matter much if you can’t translate what you know – into something much better than before.

It’s almost like buying a gym membership, or exercise equipment, but not using it.

Happy Birthday Walt Disney World

Happy Birthday Walt Disney World.  Disney World opened to the public on October 1, 1971, nearly five years after Walt Disney died from cardiac arrest (brought on from the removal of his cancerous left lung on November 7, 1966).

Walt’s older brother Roy O. Disney, at 73 years old, and enjoying retirement, had a big decision after Walt died on December 15, 1966.

Sell or develop.

Disney had purchased 27,443 acres, or 43 square miles, of alligator, snake and mosquito infested swampland during the mid-1960’s.  It is said the purchase price averaged less than $200 an acre.

Bought it cheap, sell it cheap.  Or, build?  And build Roy did.

Thank you to Walt Disney, Roy O. Disney, and the entire Disney organization for making Walt Disney’s biggest dream come to life.

My Family has enjoyed hundreds of visits to Walt Disney World.  Our home is located just a few miles from Cinderella Castle. Every night we see and hear the Magic Kingdom fireworks.

It’s been a dream come true to live so close to the most Magical place on Planet Earth.