Great by Choice

I finished Jim Collins' latest book Great by Choice and really enjoyed it. Collins is one of the authors whom I will read almost anything he produces and he also backs up his writing with lots of data and research- right up my alley. Here are some of my favorites quotes:

• On the one hand, 10Xers (leaders who led at companies who did 10 times better than their comparison competition during the same time period; Southwest vs. PSA, in the airline industry, for instance) understand that they face continuous uncertainty and that they cannot control, and cannot accurately predict, significant aspects of the world around them. On the other hand, 10Xers reject the idea that forces outside their control or chance events will determine their results; they accept full responsibility for their fate (19).


• The environment doesn’t determine why some companies thrive in chaos and why others don’t. People do. People are disciplined fanatics. People are empirical. People are creative. People are productively paranoid. People lead. People build teams. People build organizations. People build cultures. People exemplify values, pursue purpose, and achieve big hairy audacious goals. Of all the luck we can get, people luck- the luck of finding the right mentor, teammate, leader, friend, is one of the most important (161).


• The difference between Bill Gates and similarly advantaged people is not luck. Yes, Gates was lucky to be born at the right time, but many others had this luck. And yes, Gates was lucky to have the chance to learn programming by 1975, but many others had this same luck. Gates did more with his luck, taking a confluence of lucky circumstances and creating a huge return on his luck. And this is the important difference (163).

Sometimes we're tempted to blame our misfortune and other's good fortune on luck. Most of the time, though, there's a whole lot of effort and energy and work (or lack thereof) behind those fortunes.

A Tale of Two Davids

As I make my way through 1 and 2 Samuel, the story of David always strikes me. Much has been written and analyzed about David's life- his heroic defeat of Goliath, his shrewd loyalty as Saul pursued him, and his tragic flaw and subsequent repentance over the Bathsheba incident. But the authors of 1 and 2 Samuel almost intentionally divide David's life into two parts- the first part, where David seeks the Lord almost every chapter, and the second part, where David stops seeking the Lord. The first part you could count until 2 Samuel 6 and then after 2 Samuel 6, there's maybe one more mention of David seeking the Lord. Is it coincidence that one could hardly say that David 'finished well' or is there a direct connection between the latter part of David's life and the fact that he no longer sought God?

They

Who is 'they'?

You know, as in

• 'they say never eat before going to bed'


• 'they say opposites attract'


• 'they say you have to wait 30 minutes after lunch until you can swim'


• 'they say it's your birthday'

Perhaps 'they' is well-tested research, but sometimes it might be an old wives' tale. Sometimes 'they' is wisdom, but sometimes it might just be Oprah.

Who is 'they'? And how much say do they have in your life?

Chrismas Lights

A great post from Seth Godin on the 'economics' Christmas lights here.

Couple extra thoughts:

• My dad is awesome with Christmas lights! And, he, my brother and me have a great story about hanging lights one season that invovled two ladders (one on the roof!), freezing rain, and those infamous words, 'uh oh'. Classic!


• I am not so awesome with the Christmas lights, but hang them each season with the saying 'happy wife, happy life' in the back of my mind. Currently, two different strands of my icicles have sections that don't work. I've tried switching out bulbs and replacing fuses. Nada. So, I will turn them on, suffer the ridicule of having half-lit lights, and have T get some new ones when they are half off after Christmas!


• Finally, it's probably not a good sign when more of my neighbors decorate for Halloween then for Christmas . . .

Read This Before Our Next Meeting

From Read This Before Our Next Meeting:

Every meeting should require pre-meting work. Any information for getting attendees up to speed should be given out beforehand. If the attendee doesn’t have time to read and prepare, she doesn’t have time to attend.

Fair? Or too harsh?

A Marketing Disconnect

Once a month my wife teaches voice lessons and thus I have to find something for me and the kids to do- not that hard when the weather's nice, but a bit of challenge when the temp head south, so last month we visited a local Sioux Falls establishment that markets itself as a family friendly place. We arrived at the place and were greeted less than enthusiastically, as if a dad with 4 kids would be disrupting their afternoon of being paid to do nothing. We went to the first area and it was ok, but things soon changed when we went to the main area (I realize I could tell you where I was, but I will spare them and you!). Now, to be fully honest, it was a Sunday afternoon so I might have been a little distracted checking the Packers score, then my fantasy team's score, and then back to the Packers, but I was still plenty of engaged. My kids broke the first rule within 10 seconds- no touching. Ok, fair enough, but the reason given for no touching was ludricous. After five more minutes, my older two broke another rule- no 'heelying' (for the uniformed, as I was a few weeks ago, a 'heely' is a shoe with wheels so it doubles as a shoe and a roller skate). Pretty sure that heelying isn't in the rules, but you get the drift.

By now, I am annoyed, as the no heelying is what I call an 'annoyance rule'- it's a rule we make up because we're annoyed, not because it is wrong or immoral. We left the establishment soon after that and I told T I don't want to go back.

I am sure the spot is just fine, but they ought to market who they are- an organization that appeals to senior citizens, hermits, and kids- but only kids who are sleeping or in strollers (and preferably, both!) not market something they're not . . .

Storytelling

We all like stories. From our earliest formative years to adults, we all enjoy stories, whether those stories are in books, on a TV or movie screen, or told to us. We enjoy- and tell- stories for all kinds of reasons:

• To entertain


• To inform


• To understand


• To teach


• To advertise


• To inspire


• To manipulate


• To correct


• To caution


• To persuade


• To project

and to do a host of other things. The thing about stories is that they either bring us closer to truth or farther away from it.

What kind of story are you telling these days? Does it bring you (and your listener) closer to truth or farther away?