Category: Leadership

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Peaceful Surroundings

For 15 years, I traveled to Houston to produce games at the Astrodome, Rice Stadium and other venues. My journeys consisted of landing at Hobby Airport, renting a car and driving toward the Medical Center. To me, Houston was a lot of concrete, traffic and tall buildings. So when I received a call in 1998 to come to Houston to meet a man who wrote a book about his business, I recall thinking, “Great, another trip to the asphalt jungle.”

Little did I know there is a hidden gem within Houston’s 600 spacious square miles – 30 minutes from the better known Bush Intercontinental Airport – that has pine trees and not a high-rise in sight. That author, Bud Hadfield, discovered this special place off Hwy. 290 on Telge Road about three decades ago. Enthralled with its beauty, Bud moved the franchising company he started to a scenic 100-acre creekside tract and started converting low-lying woods into a secluded campus for housing and training franchisees. Eventually, he came up with the idea for a resort on the property to host business meetings, weddings and all sorts of gatherings.

Northwest Forest Conference Center is a peaceful oasis within the hectic pace of the nation’s fourth largest city. With meeting facilities – including a ‘can’t tell it from the original’ replica of the Alamo – and comfortable sleeping rooms where the only noise you’ll hear is the sound of nature in its nocturnal splendor, Northwest Forest is serenity defined.

I arrived for that meeting with Bud not fully aware of why he invited me to spend a day with him. Seems he wanted to offer me a job. I said yes… and we relocated. For more than six years, I had an office that looked out over the expanse of Northwest Forest. Suffice it to say, I didn’t need any extra motivation to get up in the morning. Whenever my extended family and friends would see it for the first time, they were struck by its uniqueness.

I still hold meetings at Northwest Forest Conference Center – and turning into the long driveway and seeing the gorgeous trees always fills me with energy. I know there isn’t a more serene setting in Houston… and you have to drive many miles to try and find another place like it in Texas.

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Understanding Self

One piece of the executive coaching program I deliver to senior leaders involves conducting feedback interviews with superiors, peers and direct reports. Everything is anonymous – and as a trained journalist I tend to induce candid remarks that serve as valuable data during the coaching engagement. After speaking to 10-12 people, I transcribe comments then sit with a client to review others’ perceptions one by one.

Before these debriefing sessions, I give clients a ‘what to expect when you receive feedback’ document to help them prepare for hearing views about their performance and style. The range of emotional reactions is described as the SARAH Cycle: Surprise, Annoyance, Resistance, Acceptance, Hope. Much like the five stages of grief (DABDA) are non-linear, clients flow back and forth among SARAH before becoming open to change.

“I didn’t realize…” is an oft-heard response during a debriefing. When we finish, I tell a client to put the report away for a week and let some time pass. That allows the emotional response to dissipate and places a client in a much better mindset to work on changing what she desires. Interestingly, about half the people – and I’ve presented at least 50 of these over the years – tell me during our next session they read everything again that night. Then they showed the report to their significant other. Then they kicked the dog. (Just kidding about one of those.)

Yet, with all the angst that comes with having me ask, “What do you think about _____?” clients discover this is one of most important steps in growing into a stronger leader. If you’re looking to build on your strengths and improve areas where you’re challenged, have someone ask about you.

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Figure This

During our Florida trip a few weeks ago, we stayed at a condo near Melbourne with a beautiful view of the Atlantic. Of course, since we commuted four times that week back to Orlando to Walt Disney World and Universal Studios, our beach time was limited. Time on the road, however, was lengthy – 72 miles each way. We filled up the car three times in eight days. (I didn’t realize until after our return the Jeep Patriot we rented averages less than 20 miles per gallon on the highway. Ouch!)

On vacation I typically don’t pay attention to what’s happening in the world; however, I knew something was up just by watching gas prices at the same station climb from $3.49 the day we arrived to $3.65 when we departed. I found out later oil rose while we were hanging out with Mickey & Friends.

It’s interesting how government accounting works. The Consumer Price Index is a ‘market basket’ of 80,000 goods the government measures each month to determine inflation. The ‘core inflation rate’ – which you most often hear quoted and the one the Fed uses to determine monetary policy – excludes food and energy prices. That will forever strike me as strange, since you spend a lot of your earnings on food and energy.

From 1914-2012, inflation averaged 3.4 percent in this country. Of course, there were plenty of years higher and many lower. Last month, the CPI was 1.4 percent. That’s darn near nothing.

Except… consider the ever-shrinking size of consumer goods. Bought toilet paper lately? How about ice cream? Potato chips? Noticed anything about the portions? They keep getting smaller and smaller and smaller. The staple of my diet cereal is a perfect example of figures lying. Prices haven’t changed for my Golden Grahams, but the box is now ‘Net Wt 12 Oz’ and much much smaller than five years ago.

The government is right. Prices aren’t rising. For reality, though, they might want to start measuring CPA: the Consumer Pocketbook Amount.

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Shifting Time

The month of July is typically hot and humid in Houston. Did I mention humid? Not so much this summer of 2012. From June 26 to July 17, the rain gauge at our house collected water on 17 different days including a 72-hour period when more than 15 inches fell. That particular deluge led to severe flooding within a couple miles.

Whether the cause is climate change, global warming or simply one of those years when the clouds randomly decided to take dead aim on our community, one thing is certain: this was unlike any of the other 14 summers we’ve spent in southeast Texas. Instead of loading up with mosquito spray and mowing our yard late in the evening to avoid the dangerous heat, we watched the grass grow higher and higher… waiting for the lawn to dry out long enough to cut.

Sometimes change is dramatic, as when the skies pour down water. Sometimes it’s subtle, as when you look in the mirror and think, ‘I haven’t seen those gray hairs before.’ When there’s a tax increase – or tax cut – you tend to see the difference immediately in your take-home pay. When your mobile phone – or satellite/cable – bill creeps up a few pennies here and there, you might not even notice the difference for months.

One of my clients heard Tom Brokaw speak last month. “You know the news right away,” he quoted the former NBC News anchor as saying. “That’s no longer our job. We’re here now to help you interpret what the news means to you.” That’s a big shift from when I started working in a TV newsroom 31 summers ago, and viewers tuned in at 5, 6 and 10 to discover what had happened while they were at work. CNN started the monumental shift with 24/7 information access. The Internet gave you control at the click of a mouse. Twitter transmits instantaneous headlines in 140 characters or less.

Who knows what will happen next. Perhaps Google Maps, which currently utilizes static pictures, will have live cameras… that you control from your fold-up tablet. The important thing, of course, is to be open to ‘new’ and adapt your personal approach and business systems to whatever next appears on the horizon. Otherwise, you risk getting swept away by the fast-moving current of progress.

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Reset Button

Half the year is gone. Already. Like thisfast. Record heat may be enveloping the country, yet as sure as fireworks will light up the night sky on the Fourth of July, Christmas will be here before you can say, “Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.”

A review of our 2012 ‘Rocks’ – those items that are really important to the growth of Success Handler, LLC – shows we hit on several, haven’t finished some… and, as typically happens, forgot about a couple. That’s how it is with planning for tomorrow: you have to work on everything today, and today often ends up being yesterday because other things got in the way and you haven’t had anytime… this month.

Thus, June 30 is the perfect date to clear your slate and start anew. Spend two minutes celebrating your successes, one minute being frustrated for what didn’t happen, and move on. Get out a piece of paper and write down – or start typing on your keyboard – the best four things you’ll accomplish the rest of the year. Then make one more important change: instead of sticking that note in a drawer or losing track of it on your computer, place it on your desk or tack it to the wall and look at it first thing everything morning.

Rather than starting each day getting caught up in putting out fires, take the first 30 minutes to focus on your Rocks. You’ll soar far before it’s time to sing Auld Lang Syne in just 184 days.

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