Marathon Goals

Last June, I had a new experience. I attended my first Marathon in person. Nancy and I were asked to help provide security for the 37th Annual Grandma's Marathon here in Duluth. This race included two half marathons, the National Championship Half Marathon for women vying for the Olympics, a wheelchair marathon and the full marathon.  Our primary responsibility was to watch for suspicious activity and watch for runners in trouble. I spent just over 8 hours standing in the middle of the road watching as over 14,000 runners and wheelchair racers passed by. I was roughly a little over a mile from the finish line. The home stretch for these racers. 17,000 racers started the races.

The weather was low fifties for the entire race, with a cold east wind coming in off of Lake Superior. The last half of the race also brought rain showers. 

I was impressed with the leaders of each race as they came through. As I looked at their faces, you could see focus. They were focused on the outcome, the goal, the win, the record, and seemed to be barely bothered by the weather and other things going on around them. I was very impressed with their determination. Watching them was inspiring. I could not believe the pace they were running near the end of the race. 

Later, most of the runners came through walking. They would run a few steps and then walk some more. Some were texting or talking on the phone. It was as if their goal had become to just finish the race. Maybe that was their goal from the start. While there didn't seem to be much passion, they were still in the race. About 3000 dropped out completely.  There are many reasons to drop out of a race: not being prepared; the weather; injuries; and hypothermia was a big key that day. I don't believe a single person wanted to drop out, but circumstances that they had no control over prevented them from finishing. 

The previous year, an older gentleman collapsed on the course from a heart attack. He did not have a heart beat and was not breathing when rescuers got to him. He came back in this race and finished the full marathon. 

As you think about your goals, remember, there may be some factors that you have absolutely no control over. Don't focus on them. Focus on the things that you can control. Regardless, you have the option to determine how you will finish. Will you be a runner, a walker, or drop out completely? 

"In running, it doesn't matter whether you come in first, in the middle of the pack, or last. You can say, 'I have finished.' There is a lot of satisfaction in that."     -- Fred Lebow, New York City Marathon co-founder

Finish Strong! You are AWESOME!

Happy 2014

Happy New Year! 

Are you starting out the new year with new goals? Excellent! How are they going? Are you still committed? Here's a tip to help you keep focused and be successful.

Keep it simple. If you have numerous goals that you are trying to accomplish, it is very easy to get overwhelmed. Instead choose two or three goals that you can focus on. Or, break a big goal into smaller steps. Ask this question... which one of these goals would dramatically change my life if I were to accomplish it? Here is where you need to focus. 

Take this goal that you are passionate about, own it, and do simple, small steps, every day, until you accomplish it. Then move on to your next goal. 

If you have a goal to lose 20 pounds by May 1st, break it down into smaller steps. Perhaps to lose 5 pounds by February 15th.  By doing this, the goal will not feel overwhelming and you can easily find simple things to do to reach the smaller goal. 

Exercise integrity in the moment. Ask empowering questions. Do I need that extra soda? Do I really need those fries? Can I exercise 10 more minutes right now? Make better decisions.

If you blow it for one meal, so what? Instead of saying, "I'll start again next week," decide to be better at the next meal. 

Successful goal setters do certain things and keeping things simple is one of them. If you don't seem to be going in the right direction, make small changes and continue to ask, what's the most important thing I need to do right now to accomplish my goal, right now. Do this consistently, and you will soon be celebrating your successes, moving on to new goals, and taking your life in a new direction. I wish you much success.

A Word or Two, Maybe Three, of Thanks

I recently did a presentation at the HealthToasters Toastmasters club as they celebrated their 20th anniversary. I was asked to a talk on what Toastmasters had done for me. I agreed, but immediately realized I had a dilemma. As a speaker, the last thing you ever want to do is stand in front of an audience and talk about "me."

As I thought about the answer to the question on what I had learned from Toastmasters, it would have been easy to just say that I have been able to improve my communication and leadership skills. As I really put more thought into the question, I thought about all the speeches that I had given through 10 years. I thought about all the leadership positions that I have had the opportunity to serve in and all of the leaders that I have had the opportunity to serve under and with. I think of all the feedback that I have received in each of these roles. 

The feedback. Through the years, hundreds of people have given me effective feedback on what I was doing right, but more importantly, on how to be better. Through all of this feedback, I have been able to learn, refine, and gradually improve. I have discovered that I have a passion for all things related to Attitude. In short, I found my voice. 

Now I am using my voice to help people find their voice, or change their lives with simple attitude changes.

Toastmasters has some incredible programs and tools, but it is the people that make the programs a success. I am grateful for all the people that have taken the time to give me the encouragement, support and feedback through the years. What a beautiful gift. To all the dedicated Toastmasters that have made and continue to make a difference in my life, I offer my sincere gratitude. Many thanks!

Leadership and Communication

I recently attended our District 6 Table Topics contest for Toastmasters. Table Topics is the part of our program where we practice our impromptu speaking skills. Generally, a Table Topics Master will ask a question, and then pick someone to answer the question. The chosen person then has one to two minutes to respond, off-the-cuff. 

In a contest, all the contestants are taken out of the room, then brought in one at a time. They all answer the same question. Judges then determine the best response to the question.

In this contest, the question was "There are many leadership skills. Which do you think are key, and why do you think they are so important?" While I have certainly had some time to think about this question, and I am not speaking off-the-cuff, I have some thoughts.

When I first heard the question, my immediate thought went to a session I attended where Stephen Covey was presenting. He stated that the most important leadership skill that a leader must master was communication. Thinking about that now, I would agree one hundred percent. The next question becomes, what kinds of things must leaders communicate? 

First, we must be able to communicate our vision. Sometimes we think that we can share the vision, and everyone will go forward and make it happen. I have found that this is not the case. We must communicate our vision over and over, and at every opportunity.

Next, we must communicate our goals, and action plans for achieving them. We must constantly give effective feedback as to whether we are getting closer to our goals or if we are just floundering. We must be ready to communicate change when course corrections are needed. 

Finally, we must be able to communicate praise and encouragement when appropriate. One of my favorite definitions of leadership comes from Stephen Covey's, The 8th Habit. He defines leadership as "communicating to people their worth and potential so clearly, that they come to see it in themselves."

These just scratch the surface of the need for leaders to communicate. Think of any leadership skill, delegation, team building, or motivation, and there is some level of communication needed to be successful at any of them.

Communication is a very important skill to master, both verbal and written. Struggling with communication can inhibit your ability to master other important skills.  Mastering this one aspect of leadership will help you to enhance every skill in your leadership arsenal. 

Soup and Crackers

As we celebrate Customer Service Week on October 1st through 5th, I'd like to share with you two recent experiences that I had in two restaurants.

Restaurant A was a new restaurant that opened in Downtown Duluth. I stopped by and discovered that they had some unique soups on their menu. I'm not a big soup fan, but these were unique enough that I had to try one. I ordered the soup to go, and returned to my office. They placed my to-go order in a special bag with company branding and handles. When I looked into the bag, I discovered plastic-ware that was silver in color and a small loaf of hot bread with melted butter wrapped in aluminum foil.

The soup was okay and the bread was wonderful as I love hot bread with butter. I don't ever remember getting hot bread like this in a to-go order.  I ranted and raved about the lunch for a few days when a colleague and I decided to return. We both ordered soup to go and you can imagine my disappointment when I returned and discovered no bread, but plain crackers instead. My colleague was disappointed as well.

I called the manager of the restaurant and asked, what do you serve with your soup. He stated, " We serve it with hot bread. I then asked what they serve with soup for a to-go order. He said, "crackers." I asked, "why the difference?" He stated something about crackers being easier with to-go orders.  I told him the experience I had and he didn't seem too concerned.

I expect that the real reason for crackers instead of bread was because of the cost of the nice bag and plastic-ware. It wasn't cost effective to include bread. In an effort to give a great customer experience with a nice bag and utensils, they forgot the real reason that I was there. After the first visit, I came away with a very nice surprise. I talked about it, I shared it, and other people wanted to experience it. I didn't return for the bag and plastic ware, I returned for a repeat experience. Sadly, I didn't get it. Instead I got an experience that I can get at any number of places. Soup and crackers. And, I can get that experience at a much lower cost elsewhere. I didn't go there to pay for fancy bags and utensils. Fancy bags and utensils are nice, but not at the expense of the things that really matter. Even with them, it was a soup and crackers experience.

Restaurant B was a place that I had been to a couple of times. On this occasion, I ordered a salad to go. It normally came with a soy sauce dressing. When I returned to the office, there was no dressing. The salad was actually very good without it.

I was traveling  for the next couple of weeks and later returned to the restaurant for lunch. I was warmly greeted by first name with a sincere apology for forgetting the dressing. I had completely forgot about the missing dressing. They informed me that they had been waiting for my return to make things right. They then bought my lunch that day. Wow! I have never had this happen after the fact without first having to mention the error.

Restaurant B gave me a knock-your-socks-off experience in a world where excellent customer service is rare. Yes, they may make a mistake or two here and there, but they have made a huge deposit towards my continued patronage. They have gained a customer for life.

Think about the things that you do for your customers on a regular basis. Are they routine experiences like soup and crackers? What simple things can you do to give your customers a knock-your-socks-off experience? These are all things that will raise your company to a higher level than your competitors. These small things will also gain you life-long customers.

Thanks to Restaurant B, The Zen House, in downtown Duluth for great food, and a knock-your-socks-off attitude towards customer service.

Stop and . . .

Recently, I had an interesting experience that changed the way I will think about things in the future. I frequently go for a walk at lunch to the Canal Park area of Duluth, MN. Usually, on these walks, I take in the waterfront and Lake Superior. I enjoy the smells of the many restaurants and enjoy watching the tourists as they meander from shop to shop. This was my usual experience and I looked forward to my walks. This was about to change.

As I was getting ready to head out on one of my walks, Donna, one of my coworkers was looking at my new camera, and asked if I ever took pictures of flowers. Then she commented, “You’re really not a flower person are you?” My response was that I wasn’t a flower person, but that I would try to find a flower to take a picture of.

As I approached Canal Park, I was stunned. There were flowers everywhere. My first thought was, when did they plant all these flowers? They were everywhere. They must be new, because I never noticed them before. As I took pictures, I noticed something else, the smell of the flowers. I had heard the quote, “Take time to smell the roses,” but obviously never took it seriously. I hadn’t even taken the time to see the roses, let alone smell them. Wow! I was in a new world.

As I continued to take pictures, I then noticed and heard the bees, butterflies and other birds and insects floating around. I had to sit down and think about everything I was seeing, smelling and hearing. It was a completely different experience.

Why? Because I was focusing on something different, I was having a different experience. Interesting! How many times in life do we do the same things over and over again; the same foods, the same steps, the same route to work, the same goals, and the same results?

If we want different results, we must change the way we think, the things we do, and the things we focus on. If I can have this profound experience just on a lunch time walk, what could I accomplish in my life if I focus on the task at hand in a different way? I’m looking forward to other breakthroughs as I practice this in business, and in life.

If you are stuck with a challenge, can you look at it in a different way? Ask for others opinions. Do your research differently. Use a different Search Engine. Ask different questions. If you are not sure, just try something different. 

I encourage all of us to look at our challenges with a different focus.  This just may give us an unseen breakthrough to unseen results. I also thank Donna for giving me something new to focus on and teaching me such a valuable lesson. Don’t just stop and smell, stop and see, then ask, “What can I focus on to change this experience?”

Leadership Lessons Learned – Vision

Take a moment and think about a company or organization that you know to be successful. Now, think about what makes this company successful. The list could be long and include a worthwhile mission, passionate people, efficient processes and policies, and a much needed product or service. Usually, at the top of the list is a successful leader that has a guiding principle, a passion, a vision that helps guide the leader in all matters and decisions.  

Go to the website of the company or organization that you thought of, and you will most likely be able to find their guiding principle, their Mission and their Vision. While these collections of words may seem trivial, used properly these same words can make the difference in success and failure.

I work for a company that has a Vision and Mission that I truly believe in and can live every day on the job. More importantly, I see the leaders of my company living these words every day in their actions and in their decisions. In the past, I worked for a very large corporation that lost its mission. The morale was incredibly low while layoffs happened every 6 months. The company eventually went out of business and the operation was taken over by a different company. What was the difference?  I believe the answer lies in the fact that the latter example lacked leaders that lived the company’s Vision.

Leading a District of very talented Toastmasters gave me the opportunity to share my guiding principle, my Vision for the District. I planned this for two years and shared this vision in my inaugural address. My theme was “An Attitude of Service” and my Vision was that every member enters every leadership opportunity with an attitude of being there, not for themselves, but for those they serve. My theme and vision were well received and I fostered many positive comments and huge support. Was I done?  No!  While I had the support and passion of the members at the starting gate, those same members needed to see me live this Vision every day and in every way.

I immediately was tested as other leaders came to me with problems. In every case, I asked that leader to step back and ask, “How can I be of service in this situation?” I would often receive feedback that the leader was inspired by this opportunity to look at the situation differently and find alternate solutions. On many occasions, I was there with my Vision as a solution to a challenge.

I’ve studied and had a passion for Missions and Visions for years, but this was my first opportunity to lead a large organization with my thoughts and beliefs. I really learned at a different level that it is imperative that those we lead see us live our Vision. We must be passionate about it, we must motivate with it, we must coach with it, we must meet challenges with it, and we most of all, we must empower others to do the same.