That spooky time of year is upon us again. When everyone has the chance to take off their mask and let their inner being show through to the world around them. Halloween seems to get bigger and bigger each and every year. Or at least that is what the retail marketing pushers want the world to believe. This is a good example of ghouls and goblins. So far to date I’m yet to actually meet or greet a ghoul or goblin. Maybe there is still an opportunity in my future. For now, they only exist in the minds of the story tellers.
Month: October 2021
Turn on the TV or look at social media on your phone and you will get an overwhelming number of opinions and perceptions of what is or is not going on around us in our culture. These perceptions when not clarified through a constructive review can sometimes cause great discourse in our culture. The perceptions can lead to misunderstandings. If the perceptions are not appreciated, understood and acknowledged appropriately within the desired culture, they blossom into potentially evil outcomes.
In the book – Leadership is Language by L. David Marquet, he references the difference between doing and thinking and the influence it has on results and outcomes. He separates the two into blue work and red work. Blue work being that of the thinking side of the equation and red work being that action or doing part of the effort. He separates these to bring a clear contrast to how leaders influence positively or negatively the outcomes of a situation. A good read for sure.
When we look at history, we can see that over time cultures have come and gone. They have evolved from nothing and ultimately return to nothing. During the journey the culture has times of quick pace and other times when it slows to a crawl. As we are directly part of the culture which we live inside, we must take time to look at long-term sustainability and scalability of our culture so that our culture may not just expand but to be vibrant.
Not too long ago I had reached into the bottom drawer to grab a pair of work jeans as I was about to head out to the yard for a day of “To-do” list chores. We have all been there wanting to get a head start on the weekend by getting those chores out of the way allowing for the rest of the time to enjoy with family, friends, neighbors, and colleagues. The challenge this morning was that upon putting the pants on, something was not right. No, it was not that they were too tight for me to button and zip closed. It was just the opposite. They were almost so large that they would have needed suspenders to hold them up even with a belt.
Stop for a moment and look around you at all the variety of people in your life. This collage of people adds so much energy to our culture that words cannot do it justice. People are at the center of our culture. Whether the culture is positive or negative it is people who ultimately cultivate the culture. This places a significant responsibility on us to ensure that our actions contribute to a good culture.
We are starting into the 10th month of 2021. The first three quarters of the calendar year are complete. 3 more months exist to realize the goals and objectives you set out to achieve at the beginning of the year. There is no question that 2021 has had its share of odd business dealings. The lag or should I say drag on the business marketplace still exists. Business leaders are continuing to figure out ways to take care of customers while trying to engage employees to be part of their team.
Throughout our daily lives we are exposed to various cultures. Some are the environments we work in. Others are the environments of the places we visit. Yet still others are the interactions with those who are part of those environments. Taking time to fully experience those cultures, we discover the ones which are the most vibrant are the ones which are solidly built upon a firm foundation of Purpose.