day 1127: Grading Success

"...For God has said, “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you."

I got to listen recently to a professor of Statistics who was telling us about how with her teaching methods that bring statistics out of a book and into examples of everyday life encounters, that she has significantly improved the number of “DWFs”.  It took a few minutes but finally someone asked what was on my mind and I am sure the minds of others, “What is a DWF?”  The teacher explained that this meant; drops (those who drop out within the allowed try it out weeks); withdrawals, (which are those who stay past that time limit but still pull out of the class), and; failures,( those that stick with it but fail the class).  “DWFs”….none are good.  But, the good news is that by using technology for new teaching delivery methods, illustrative examples and pragmatic communication she was taking a hard subject and making it easier to learn. I wonder how often we have DWFs from our customers?  Do we even know how many DWFs happen when someone experiences our product or service?  What is for sure is that when any one of the three happen, they tell others so we can’t afford to ignore or miss this important part of the grading of our own success.  Miss it and lose.  Know and improve it, and win.

Stop here and thank our Lord that He does not grade us. If He did we all would be F’s for sure.  But, even in His merciful and forgiving Kingdom we still have D’s and W’s.  And, we all have shown signs and tendencies of this as well.  Peter denied Christ three times at the most significant time of need in Jesus’ life.  He withdrew from Jesus and let others know it. When grading ourselves it is hard to comprehend how we can miss God’s love and gifts that He has for us, but we do.  God wants us to stay in the game with Him. Don’t drop or withdraw and don’t worry about failing.  His is the greatest of understanding and patience.  Today, where are we?  On the verge of a DWF?  Nothing that can happen today will undermine of destroy God’s will, love and protection of us.  If we can remember this today then DWF has no meaning at all to us.

Reference: Hebrews 13:6 (New Living Translation)

day 1126: The Documenters

"Yes, what joy for those whose record the Lord has cleared of sin.”

 Today is about what we all just can’t seem to get enough of and that is what we can do with that device in our hand to document everything we experience through a photo or video.  Outside of a few places that distinctly and overtly ask that there not be pictures or videos taken, there is always someone taking a picture or a video.  We saw that to be true on that tragic Marathon Day in Boston.  To a good purpose those pictures and videos were put to use.  But in other times, we get into our head that unless we have a photo or video of the event, we won’t have a memory, or maybe a proof that we were there.  It was brought to my attention that the new book,  “To Save Everything, CLICK “ by Bryan Walsh, warns  us that losing ourselves in the process of documenting removes a part of us that doesn’t need to count or document , but instead needs to be in the moment so that we are adding to the collected experiences of our lives.  The rock band, "The Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs" recently asked their fans to put down their phones during the concert so that the fans would see and experience them without a screen between them.  I can admit personally that I have held a phone up to video something that when it was done I couldn’t tell you what was said, because I was more focused on the process than the content. What does this mean to us in our businesses?  If we are forcing our consumers to pay attention, or trust vs. be documented, or be the viral coefficient for our product expansion then we need to give them something to document and a way to do so.  And if we are doing this and not thinking about how we are doing so intelligently, then it could be that the message will get lost all together.

I find that in the workplace, our spiritual memory can wane quickly and that prayer we said in the morning on our way to work to be the best vessel and example we could be, can get compromised in the first meeting of the day with that slip of the tongue, and then we feel we never recover until we are reflecting on the day during the drive back home.  It may well be that it is our recurring sinful nature that God wants us to be documenters of Him.  He asks us to study and hide His Word in our hearts; being able to draw upon scripture when we lose our guidance or balance. He desires us to be the likeness of Him in our actions and treatment of others.  He rejoices when we speak of Him directing our lives. He wants us to witness and testify of His works in our lives and others. In God’s case, He would like us to capture and keep all of Him with us at all times!

Reference: Romans 4:8 (New Living Translation)

day 1125: Skeumorphs

"Oh, that my actions would consistently reflect your decrees!"

Recently, author and blogger Seth Godin, wrote of his disdain of skeumorphs.  If you don’t know what a skeumorph is, it is when we take user interface from the analogue world and then transfer them over to the digital age, whether they really make sense or not. Examples of this are how Amazon and other digital reader manufacturers and software developers just copied how a paper book looked and is read in the digital age. Godin says, “This consistency of structure is the single biggest reason that motivated market leaders (in any industry) fail to transition to new paradigms--they insist on skeumorphic business models, bringing along the stuff that got them this far, even when it's unnecessary”.  I guess I see what he means but sometimes familiarity carries us forward naturally.  There really isn’t any reason that we don’t drive our cars by game controllers, but even the hardest core gamer might feel more comfortable in driving the all-electric-digital car using both hands and feet to keep total body awareness.  It takes courage (and funding) to break from the past, but sometimes it is the only way to become distinctive in the market place.  There are many skeumorphs that we can come up with, that someone, somewhere decided to carry the history to define the future.  This is a bridge we will cross in our businesses so we should be thinking deliberately about where being skeumorphic is a positive and where it is also signaling to everyone around us that our thinking is stuck in the past. 

When it comes to how we worship God, being skeumorphic is a great thing. Gathering together to praise, worship, listen, learn and pray carries throughout the generations.  I’d say that today, with our ability to gather as two or more on a Google Hangout for example makes the idea of church a positive skeumorph.  The same can be said of how we read and inquire of God’s Word. New does not need to replace the tested true.  I’d also say that God wants each of us to be a skeumorph of His example and testimony into the digital age.  The consistency of how we act, speak, use our treasures, and treat other people is what in our older age will become the lessons of life for others.  So, let’s indeed be contemporary and relevant, but do not fret or fight that how we live our lives as examples for His glory should remain constant.

Reference: Psalm 119:5 (New Living Translation)

day 1124: Buffer Box

"With a prayer to God, I replied..."

Google has decided to get into the online retail business but in a very curious way.  Maybe because in this case they don't want us having to search for packages that can't be delivered, they are providing a "last mile" solution (we used to use that term in Web 1.0) to ensure that online purchased packages have a place to go when we aren't home or don't live someplace where packages can be accepted.  It is certainly one of the hassles of buying online, so setting up secure access boxes in places like highly frequented coffee shops make sense.  I don't totally understand the business behind it and why big pieces of machinery fit into Google's business model, but that's really not my business.  For the rest of us though, whether it be Buffer Boxes or Amazon's Lockers, this is good for any of our businesses that depend on consumers who choose to purchase online over physically in-store.  Also, if Google and Amazon are both into this business, then FedEx and UPS cannot be far behind.  I see this as an open distribution channel that we should be promoting and leveraging in our sales and marketing going forward. 















As we go to work today, we can be excited and have assurances that when we need God that He is always home and ready to accept whatever we have for Him.  I think of the moment that Nehemiah was asked to answer the king and before he did he threw out a quick prayer before he spoke.  Instant prayer with immediate delivery.  No buffers.  No need for an intercessory or a notification of delayed delivery. This is our God, who is right there for us at all times!  Consider this today and rejoice in His constant presence.

Reference: Nehemiah 2:4 (New Living Translation)

day 1123: Protocols

"For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened."

As we do business we have to consider protocols. Especially if we do business internationally we need to be astutely aware of protocols.  From experience it is easy to mess up and offend, when it seemed such an innocent or accepted in our culture word or action.  There is a reason why there are people who make a living as protocol experts. Even within our own companies there are protocols that we follow and unless someone tells us what they are, new hires runs the risk of making missteps that can be career damaging or worse. The unspoken protocols can be even more powerful than those that are written down and shared.  Sites like Glassdoor.com (where I am on the Board) are great for these unspoken protocols in a business. In today’s day and age when career mistakes can have long-lasting impact, we want to be sure that we are doing all that we can to at least understand these protocols.

So, let’s make it really simple. God doesn’t mess around with a bunch of unspoken protocols for our access to him.  And, his protocol with us is even clearer, he doesn’t butt in and try and force his way into our lives.  He instead just opens Himself up to us at all times and says, “Come to me all…”.  No politics, no positioning, no protocols necessary in God’s Kingdom.  Just acceptance, love and forgiveness.  What and where does it get any better than in His Kingdom?

Reference: Matthew 7:8 (New Living Translation)

day 1122: Raises

"But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died."

When we hear the word, “Raise” at work, we like it.  A raise means that things are going to improve and one area in particular we like; when we get a raise in our pay.  A whole bunch goes into the decision of a raise and even though it looks like it can be sometime arbitrary or without comprehensive thought, somewhere someone has laid out the pros, cons, equitable treatment and justification for the decision and the amount.  Usually a compensation raise comes because something else has been raised; revenues, customers, profits, etc.  It is always a good thing to look for ways to increase raises throughout our businesses and if we can get a continuous level of improvements, then all of these raises will be a welcome part of our business cycles.

There is no raise that compares to when Jesus was raised from the dead.  We know that this is what guarantees our eternal salvation and relationship with Christ, but we can always know that if God can raise a person from the dead that He can raise anything in our life that seems to be dead.  He can raise a dead marriage.  He can raise a dead career or job.  He can raise a dead set of aspirations and dreams.  With this, there should be no debate or concern, let’s take our dead ends to Him and let Him provide us His raises!

Reference: 1 Corinthians 15:20 (New Living Translation)