Commentary – Page 32 – Fast:Forward Farther

January 30, 2013January 30, 2013

Better View

Since we bought our first home in Fort Worth some 21 years ago, I’ve always done the yard work. When we moved to Houston in 1998, I discovered ‘spring cleaning’ occurs in February, so each year on or about Super Bowl weekend, I rake up many bags of leaves, pull weeds, trim shrubs and crepe myrtles, mow and edge the grass and put out mulch. All told, it’s a full two days’ labor. Tired arms and allergies arrive on Monday.

For several years my now-18-year-old son has been a big help. However, he’s down and out recovering from knee surgery that ended his basketball season. With the loss of his youthful endurance and my crowded schedule, I decided to outsource this year’s project to our neighbor’s yard service.

I called Angel last Sunday. He came to look things over that afternoon and gave me a reasonable quote. On Tuesday, his crew of four arrived and spent five hours working non-stop outside my home office window that faces the street and in our backyard. I left before they finished for our daughter’s basketball game – (lots of high school hoops for this house!) – so the first time I saw the results of their hard work was at morning’s light. Wow!

Angel’s team transformed our plants into artistic creations. Instead of one continuous hedge, now we have plants that stand out for their individual beauty. Angel’s vision for our flowerbeds was far beyond anything I ever considered. Instead of just another house on the block, I’m thinking our home has a shot at being the neighborhood’s next Yard of the Month.

Fresh eyes and new viewpoints are essential for long-term business success. So, as winter turns to spring in your community – and all things become green again – perhaps you would do well to take a cue from Angel and reshape what’s grown together and grown stale in your organization. You’ll be surprised how much impact a little trimming provides.

January 1, 2013December 18, 2012

Lessons Learned – Lagniappe

On this New Year’s Day, one more important lesson I learned during 2012:

K82wJz7Vn3L2G – We received a recall notice for the hard drive on the iMac I use to write these newsletters. As requested, I made an appointment and carried this computer into the local Apple store. There I learned the backlog of repair orders meant they ‘might have it completed’ in four days. Clearly, that wasn’t going to work, so I packed up and took it back to the office.

The next day Apple sent an email asking about my customer experience. I shared disappointment they couldn’t do the repair in a way that would keep our business operating efficiently. Within 24 hours, a rep called to thank me and to say they would work with us on the timing. A few days later the store manager called and said if I had it there at 8:45 p.m., they would put in a new hard drive and we could pick it up the next morning. I did. They did.

When I returned home and plugged it in, Kathy asked, ‘Where’s the old hard drive?’ I had no idea – then she said, what about all of our passwords? I’m not a techie, but there did seem to be a security risk, and while I trust Apple employees, who knows where that hard drive ended up. So I went to work changing every password… and you can imagine how long that took.

Fortunately, researchers have discovered how you move your phone to your ear is as distinct as a fingerprint: the speed and angle impossible to replicate. Soon you may not need all those random sets of numbers and letters for passwords. Your hand movement or how you sit will replace them. That will make a wonderful Christmas present someday!

December 31, 2012December 18, 2012

Lessons Learned – #1

For the past 10 days, I’ve counted down the most important lessons I learned this year. Here is #1 – and don’t forget you still have a few hours to get that last-minute tax deduction!

Helping Others – During our Disney trip, we rode a bus between parks and one day there was a man with a service dog aboard. Fred was badly injured serving our country in Iraq, and his Labrador Retriever – aptly named Barney – provides support so he can get around without crutches. If you’re looking for a year-end charitable contribution, consider a member in your area of Assistance Dogs International. It costs $30,000 to train and provide a service dog free of charge to a wounded warrior. The person you’ll be helping paid a price. This is your chance to say thank you.

December 22, 2012December 18, 2012

Lessons Learned – #10

During the holiday season I take a break in my monthly e-newsletter from my typical approach to reflect on lessons learned the prior 12 months. Here’s hoping this idea and the ones that follow the next nine days provide insight and inspiration for the year ahead at work and at home.

Compassionate Perspective – In 2012, I weaved in stories about each of our kids in Fast:Forward and provided a recap of our Walt Disney World vacation. You’ve seen firsthand I believe family is the centerpiece of life. Which is why the tragedy of a week ago in Connecticut is so painful. Take a moment to remember the families, teachers and children who are hurting. If you believe in prayers, say some for those folks – and the next time your kids frustrate you, smile, give them a hug and say, “I love you.”

December 20, 2012December 18, 2012

Auf Wiedersehen

In the last couple of years the conspiracy theorists convinced quite a few people that centuries ago the Mayan calendar predicted the world is ending tomorrow – just when we are starting to gain a bunch of momentum with our business. So, this may be the last blog entry I write.

Of course, an Art History professor at the University of Texas at Austin – a renowned expert on Maya culture and winner of the UNESCO medal for lifetime contributions on Maya archeological sites – thinks there is a different explanation: providing comfort during a time of crisis.

“The hieroglyphs emphasized seventh century history and politics,” said David Stuart in an article on the school’s website. The world’s leading epigrapher of Maya script recently deciphered 56 glyphs in the Guatemalan jungle and discovered 200 years of history. “The monument commemorated a royal visit… by the most powerful Maya ruler… a few months after his defeat by a longstanding rival in 695 AD.”

Instead of predicting the world’s demise, Stuart believes the calendar alluded to a larger cycle of time that “happens to end in 2012.” When troubled, the ancient Maya “used their calendar to promote continuity and stability.” The importance of December 21, 2012, is to introduce a new cycle of hope. It’s “the end of 13 bak’tuns” and “the point was to associate the diving king’s time on the throne to time on a cosmic scale.”

Rest easy tonight. You’re likely going to wake up tomorrow just in time to do all that last-minute Christmas shopping. After all, as Stuart notes, “There are many more bak’tuns to come.”