As we in the United States sit down to a meal on Thanksgiving, may we all take a moment of silence to be genuinely thankful for all the blessings we have now, have had in the past and will have in the future. The very foundation of this day of giving thanks rose out of the need for a culture to acknowledge those relationships which gave sustenance to survival in a new land.
When you look at the calendar, we barely have 30 working days left in 2021. 2022 is right around the corner. We are well into the motion of development or finalizing our business objectives for the coming calendar year. We have all done it again – set goals, identified targets, and assigned lead resources to make sure they get accomplished. Right about now you take in a deep breath and consider the task complete. – WRONG…. The reality is, that a solid portion of the task is set in place, but without solid lead factors defined, understood, and tracked then the likelihood of achieving the goals set forth is reduced.
The old saying of nothing happens until the sale happens shines light on the need to recognize that your business world needs to exist inside of a sales culture. Everyone on the team participates in the sale of goods and services regardless of their particular role in the company. Some are directly in the revenue acquisition process while others deliver the goods. Everyone’s mindset needs to appreciate, understand, and act to be in a sales culture.
I have the utmost respect for our veterans. Men and Women who for the sake of country and the freedoms it represents gave of themselves to a degree many of us will never know or be able to comprehend let alone understand. Today we raise notice by placing a date on the calendar to specifically remember our veterans both living and deceased. Each day we should remember the freedoms we have and the price, which was paid to get them, protect them, and allow each of us to partake in them.
These days the word transparency is used and attached to many statements regarding communication. It is healthy and valuable to have open and meaningful communincation. It is critical that transparency is not controlled by agendas or desired outcomes. If communication is to be truly transparent then it must be able to be completely see through. Not opaque, not foggy, not distorted, it needs clarity of thought so all can value its’ insights.
Have you ever been in that situation when you are either in the middle of a project or trying to complete a project and you come up short on some resource to get the job completed? Not a very enjoyable situation. The dominos begin to fall and stopping them is a bit of a chaotic chase to supplement the needed resource.
Today is the “Day of the Dead” or “All Souls Day.” This is a day where cultures celebrate those who have gone before us to their next place on the journey. It is critical that we take time to recall and deeply remember those who have set our culture in motion, and we need to respect that heritage by respecting those who have led the way.
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.
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.