day 1132: Silent Skill

“Hold on to the pattern of wholesome teaching you learned from me - a pattern shaped by the faith and love that you have in Christ Jesus.” I have written before about the skill of having pattern recognition.  I more and more think that this “silent skill”, that is usually deftly put to work without fanfare or hubris, may be one of the most powerful business skills that one can have.  What do I mean?  Well, if you have the skill of being able to zoom out enough to recognize patterns of a business, then you should be able to zoom in on almost any business situation and have a pretty good idea of what needs to happen to grow or fix the business. Sure, every industry and company has their idiosyncrasies and unique attributes, but when it comes down to the basics they really do start to look familiar.  It’s kind of like using some sort of online city map. If you put in the address and it zooms you right down to street level, you don’t really have a clue as to where this address is in relation to anything else. You don’t know if it close to downtown or on the other side of town.  You don’t even know that moment if there is a highway anywhere close.  But, when you start to zoom out and put the address in relation to the rest of the city you see the thoroughfares, etc. and you begin to feel confident in your ability to navigate successfully. I would go as far to say that most of us now have had enough experience with online maps that if we start zoomed all the way out that it doesn’t take us very long for our own pattern recognition to take over and we know, almost like instinctively, where there is a downtown area.  We have learned the patterns of city and highways and how we travel through them.  The same can be said for business patterns. If we spend as much time zoomed out to learn and recognize patterns as we do zoomed in fixing the specific problem without context, then we can develop a silent but very critical skill for success. God’s Word is filled with life patterns for us to recognize and modify our lives for or against the pattern. Read the Old Testament and see the patterns of blessing, riches, power, defiance, defeat, and punishment leading to death.  See the New Testament and learn the patterns of imperfect men  surrendering, following, believing, overcoming, and sacrificing.  And, of course see the pattern of Jesus who gave, forgave, loved, sacrificed and delivered. Let’s zoom out today a bit and see if we can put our life pattern against the patterns that we know we should be following.  What is it that we need to do to reinvigorate our work to bring glory to God?  Recognizing the pattern is the first step in being able to change and influence one that is different. Reference: 2 Timothy 1:13 (New Living Translation)

day 1129: Geo-Fencing

"But God’s truth stands firm like a foundation stone with this inscription: “The Lord knows those who are his...”

Have you been told lately that things will operate better if you allow your location to be known? If you haven’t then you haven’t installed an application (app) lately.  Nearly every app or service has figured out some way to apply your current location to make the product do something that it wouldn’t do otherwise.  Sometimes it is just smoke and mirrors and who cares that I am in Chicago vs. San Francisco, but other times, as know, that geo-fencing and location based servicing can open up a world of offerings.  It makes sense doesn’t it, if I know where you are, I can recommend everything I know in that location to you and you will then feel abundant in choice.  Geo-fencing also allows knowledge and pattern of movement to make sense of data for new information.  The grocery industry has long had the “golden path” that they drive us through the store with impulse items, sales, incentives, displays, etc.  But, not until now could they really know absolutely which path I took.  Can anyone say, “MapMyShopping”?   If you aren’t geo-fencing your customers now, you will be soon.  Knowing where they come from (literally and figuratively)before you and where they go after you and how they get there is a treasure trove of information that could lead you to unlock your next big growth spurt.

In the beginning God “geo-fenced” Adam and Eve with all that they could want or desire and He only held out one item from which they were forbidden.  He’d surrounded them with everything else known to man and He filled that place with all of His creations for them to enjoy. It was like being immersed in the greatest world that we could ever imagine.  But then, because of their disobedience, He turned us all out and drew new boundaries and a new life map for us. Today, we live under those boundaries.  God knows our whereabouts at all times and I believe that he locates us and others in places where we can do the best for the furthering of His Kingdom.  It is when we decide to take our own paths or turn off our locating of Him that we remove the features of His presence that He wants to give us. How about today we decide to turn on and keep on our location for God? If we stay present with Him, He will be present with us and He will remove those boundaries that are in the way of fulfilling what He wants for us. 

Reference:   2 Timothy 2:19 (New Living Translation)

day 1101: Replication Difficulties

"All scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong with our lives".

Don't we wish that we could take something that is great and replicate it to the same standards, quality and acceptance?  Many have tried and have failed doing so, because there is something just inherently not the same but no one can quite put a finger on what it is.  Sometimes it is the user interface. Other times it is the design. Sometimes it is the external influences that have changed and make something that was once cool, not so cool anymore.  I think about what seems to be the continuous redesigns of the RIM Blackberry and every single new phone comes up the same, missing the mark. For the past few weekends I have been watching The History Channel's presentation of "The Bible".  While the source content, of course is great, the movie presentation has not been as positively accepted.  Somethings are just hard to replicate and God's Word is certainly one of those.  As we look to our next product redesign or service enhancement, if we are looking to replicate what someone else has done so successfully that it seems like a no-brainer for us to be able to do so as well, then be sure to stop and think deeper before taking the dive.  There is likely more than meets the eye that needs to be explored and understood before success is guaranteed.

I'm not sure why we aren't able to recreate God's Word into other movie or television forms that are credible to the masses and become soul-winning adaptations.  We are able to do it well with live re-creations.  It works in song. It can work in painting. It works with audio recordings. But something falls short when we go behind a camera. Something is lost in the moving visuals that removes the emotion, sincerity and authenticity.  Maybe it is because, like we as believers also experience, all people hold God's Word to a higher standard?  Sometimes that happens because they don't want to believe and they want these works to fail, but I think that other times it is because we expect that the inspired words of God come with an ability to reach in and touch our souls. I applaud Mark Burnett and his wife and The History Channel for their re-creation.  Each of us who are believers had our own personal game upped with their presentation.  Regardless of their take, every viewer will look to us for our own personal example and how we are either living into or away from God's Word.  Replication of the love, grace, mercy, compassion and consistency of our Lord is not easy, but this what we are here to do.  Today, we are called. Today, will we answer that call?

Reference:  2 Timothy 3:16 (New Living Translation)

day 984: Clouds

"All scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach what is true and to make us realize what is wrong with our lives."

Here in San Francisco, we are in the midst of business conference season.  It started a few weeks ago with Salesforce's "DreamForce Conference".  This week is "Oracle World".  Then it is "BoxWorks" and on and on.  What these have in common is the emphasis this year on the "Cloud".  The Cloud has been around for awhile now but continues to be the focus of attention as we rapidly shift away from software applications residing on our hard drives and instead living on a web link that takes us to someone elses hardware to run the program for us.  There is great beauty in being able to access a program from any computer, not having to worry about backup, and allowing the upgrades to happen on their servers, not on my computer.  Even better is that, while unspoken, we all end up running on the same version, at the same time and this brings stability, consistency and ease of access for all of us.  As we all know, there is comfort and assurance when we know the rules of the road and know what to expect each time we power and boot up.  If only our businesses, and all of our people could be so predictable and if we knew, without doubt, that we could expect everything to be up to date and by the rules, each and every time, how much better our businesses and lives would run!

As believers, we have our own "Cloud" that is always up to date, consistent and assuring.  That is God's Word.  As we search for direction and as we look for consistency and promise, we don't have to look any further than the Bible that is sitting in front of us. God gave us His cloud long ago and maybe we are a little like the software industry that we each go through our own phase of development when we go from the times of independence where all in our lives must reside with us, to to turning over ourselves to God and His Word and trusting that someone else (Him) wants to do all the hard work for us and for us to just believe and follow.  What a glorious Cloud God has created for us.  Let's today find ourselves more and more trusting on Him and His Word.

Reference: 2 Timothy 3: 16 (New Living Translation)

day 749: Victimization

"For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline."

I'm not sure how it happens, but it's easy to fall into the role of the "victim" and then start posturing and acting that way. I see it a lot in businesses where things happen that are "out of their control" and instead of moving past those things with a plan that takes them forward, they get stuck where they are and become the victim. Once in that place it is hard to find the way back. If in a leadership role we are acting like victims then we can be very sure that the same is happening all through our companies. Once it becomes okay to blame the unknown or the faceless and nameless, then it becomes accepted to do the same with "they". "They wouldn't let me", or "They aren't supporting us", or "They are the problem" are all victim statements. It's worth stepping back for a moment and ensuring that there isn't a thread of victimization that is running amok in your business.

We are not called to be victims in this life that we have been given. We are told that ours is not to be a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power and love and self-discipline. We cannot portray those characteristics and traits in our lives if we are living as a victim. Sure, there are many things, all day long, that happen to us that are far from being in our control, but we have the promise of God with us and a gift of faith. There is no reason for us to ever feel the victim if we are trusting and believing that God has us in His hands. Is there are a part of us today who are playing the victim over something at work? Have we found ourselves sitting back and saying, "That's their problem, not mine"? Let's check ourselves today and be sure that we are not playing the victim and that we are working and living in the spirit that God desires for us.

Reference: 2 Timothy 1:7 (New Living Testament)

day 729: Strategic Decisions, Part 1

Run from anything that stimulates youthful lust. Follow anything that makes you want to do right."

When faced with strategic direction decisions we really have one of three decisions to be made; To lead, follow, or get out of the way. Part one of this three part series, is about getting out of the way.

When we find our businesses engaged in business that is not paying out, or the market has changed and what we once were offering is not of value anymore, or may even be on the way to becoming obsolete. You'd think that these are obvious choices and that you could see the changes coming from a mile away, but it's not that easy. If it was there wouldn't be the angst in the music, newspaper, and publishing industries. Technology is usually the driver of these types of changes that then change consumer behavior and expectations. It wasn't that long ago that we expected someone else to pump our gas for us, or to see and talk to a live bank teller when we deposited our paychecks. We also used to have others who typed our memos and copied them for us for distribution. The point is that we in our businesses we need to be able to be honest without ourselves and know when to get out of the way and change our strategic direction. In the start-up world, a very good venture capitalist who I know and admire, Mike Maples, coined the term, "Pivot". To pivot means to be able to shift and change our directions and business models quickly to meet market demands and/or to get out of the way of competition that we know are going to succeed beyond what we are doing.

In our own lives, sometimes we need to also make the decision to get out of the way. If we are aware enough to know those things that tempt us or we know our weak points, then we can know when to get out of harm's way. There are many things of this world, and especially in the world of work that are there to cause us to slip or make the mistake that would compromise who we want to be or what we say we are. In those cases, the best move for us is to get out of the way of harm and trouble. It is not fear or lack of courage, it is about being smart and knowing enough about our weaknesses, and then being smart. We can, and should, be calling on God to not only protect us but to make us self-aware.

Reference: 2 Timothy 2:22 (New Living Testament)

day 617: Pattern Recognition

"Hold on to the pattern of wholesome teaching you learned from me - a pattern shaped by the faith and love that you have in Christ Jesus."

Much of business comes down to pattern recognition. As much as we all would like to short-cut experience to gain our own patterns, much of it still comes with time. Of course, there are ways to accelerate this by reading business books, studying business cases, listening intently, hanging out with other business leaders and learning about their companies and what they are going through, etc. But, at the end of the day, being able to say, "I've seen this before", becomes invaluable. So, why is it that there are many people who have worked for a long time but they don't make the connections or they don't carry over the transferable learning from one situation to another? It starts with truly wanting to be a learner and looking at every day as your "laboratory" for experiences that you can carry from one place to another. It's an attitude and outlook decision. If we just go through our work from day to day and not look at each day as the opportunity to add something to our backpack of knowledge, then we are missing part of the joy of work. Instead, we should look at every new day, every new job, every new assignment, every new co-worker, every new boss, as new ingredients and materials that come into out laboratory.

Finding the right patterns that can be carried through life is part of our human success story. God has given us a chocked-full Book of knowledge that we can find our life pattern if we so choose to do so. There is no greater pattern of life than the one that our Lord set for us. If we are committed to becoming His followers and students then we can take that pattern and apply it to all parts of our lives and yes, even our work. What pattern are you following today and if not the right one, then make today the day that the pattern shifts to one that others will recognize as the image or Christ.

Reference: 2 Timothy 1:13 (New Living Testament)

day 477: You Gotta Be Present To Win

"You gotta be present to win" is one of my friend's favorite lines in business. What he means by this is that if you want to get the most of anything, then you have to be involved and present (figuratively) to get the most of the activity or the work. Sometimes he uses it literally with those who are not spending enough time on the job or in the office, but then it becomes punitive. Being present means to me, giving of ourselves enough that we set aside our distractions, subordinate our egos and wants, and we focus on the work at hand. That makes good sense to me. Years ago I went through Senn Delaney's leadership seminars and there was one axiom that stuck with me throughout all the years. It is, "Be Here Now". Being here now means being present. Set aside the emails, ignore the text messages and phone calls, the distractions outside of work, and focus in on the person or the work in front of you. It was a very valuable lesson for me, and one that I continue to relearn. Being present with others is a very valuable skill and one that is more appreciated and recognized than we imagine. We all should think about being more present and being more here now. Paul gives Timothy a similar word in 2 Timothy 2:6; "Hardworking farmers are the first to enjoy the fruit of their labor". Think about this and imagine being the farmer who is picking the corn, the tomatoes, the beans or the fruits. Who will get the freshest and ripest of the harvest? The farmer who is present, on the front line, focused and doing his work. The one who's hands are dirty and in the dirt. I love that verse for it says so much about what God wants us to be in our jobs. He wants us to be present, to be there with and for others if that is what we do, to be focused and to be there in all that we have on the work we have been given. It is then that we can enjoy the fruit of our labor and along the way, bring glory to God through our hard and present work. If today you are questioning why and what it is that you are doing with your working hours, try asking God to give you the presence of mind to be totally present in the job that you have and see if there isn't fruit in front of you that have previously missed.

Reference: 2 Timothy 2:6 (New Living Testament)

day 451: Breaking Point

We all have a breaking point when we are just not going to be able to take it anymore. Anyone who has ever been there knows what it feels like and knows that in those final days or hours working up to the break, that all kinds of bad things start to come out. We also work with people who we know are at their own breaking point or melt-down stage and if we don't reach out and help them then they are likely to go over the edge and we aren't going to be able to rescue them back. It sounds so severe, but it is not in the sense that when we are pushed hard in our jobs then we are vulnerable to making some mistakes that could have a life-long impact. One wrong word even could be enough to damage credibility or a relationship so severely that there is no return and no taking it back. To lose a job or lose a friend is just not worth it. So, we need to be able to identify for ourselves the danger signs as well as be sure that we can identify the signs of impending break down in us or our co-workers. Recently, reading the behaviors of what people will be like in the final days before Jesus returns, made me think that the list of characteristics also sound very familiar to the actions and attitude of one who reaching their breaking point. Let's take notice of what we read in 2 Timothy 3:1-4; "But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God." I can think through the list of people I know who have been broken and then crashed and burned in their work and personal life. Had I paid more attention to this list of characteristics might I have been able to have reached out and helped? Today, think of others and also take stock of yourself, and be sure that neither your co-workers or yourself are beginning to show the signs of the final days before hitting the breaking point. If so, then it is time to intervene and ask God to take back over, ASAP. God does not want us to find our breaking point without Him there to help us overcome and get it all back together.

Reference: 2 Timothy 3:1-4

day 413: The Final Days...

Much gets done in the 11th hour but usually work that gets done at the last minute comes with some ugliness in the process. It is in the last days, hours and minutes that the true nature of people becomes apparent. Sometimes that will be the good-nature of people who know how to get things done when every one else around them are tired, on edge and cranky. But for most of us, we go into defense mode and our ragged emotions can get the best of us and the not so attractive parts of us surface. Egos take over, frustrations turn into nasty words sprayed across whoever comes into the line of fire, stress and pressure causes us to boil over and self-control melts into trying to control others. I have many example of friendships unraveling in the quest for the finish line in the final days. The final days are never any fun. It is in these times that we need to be self-aware enough to know that our humanness and nature could lead into saying and doing things that we will regret later. It might be useful to keep a check-list of these watch-outs in front of us during these times so that we don't fall into the trap or slide into a hole that we can't dig ourselves out from. In 2 Timothy 3:1-4 Paul describes to Timothy what will happen to people in the final days before Christ returns, but the similarities of how we all can act in our own final days that we face are stark and can be that watch list for us; "You should also know this, Timothy, that in the last days there will be very difficult times. For people will love themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred. They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control; they will be cruel and have no interest in what is good. They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasures rather than God." It is a harsh list but I suspect there are traits here that are not unfamiliar to any of us who have our backs to the wall and in the final days and hours of stressful projects. If we are in the middle of this now, or see these days coming, let us guard our hearts first and then allow God to guard us against living out any of these traits. May we be guarded, stay safe and true to what we know and believe in any final days.

Reference: 2 Timothy 3:1-4 (New living Testament)

day 240: No Fear

As I sat in church yesterday listening to my Pastor as he spoke about the storms that we each must face in our lives, he flashed up on the overhead screen 2 Timothy 1:7 which says: "For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline." As I drove home thinking about fear and what it does to each of us in our jobs, it became reassuring to me that we can know that fear is not from God, as the verse above tells us that God has not given us this emotion. Fear is a real emotion in our jobs, although no one ever really talks about it. It starts with a general insecurity and fear of our job performance and job loss. Long ago, the contract and assurances of lifetime employment was broken. Since then, we all fear at one point or another that supply and demand will take over and the greater supply of talent than demand will catch up with us and we will "be out". The newspapers will be full this week of stories of those in the financial industry who just over a year ago were on top of the world and today find themselves unemployed or employed well below their expectations and former career pinnacle positions. Our job insecurities are fears. We also fear how others will perceive our work and the reactions to the positions and stands that we take. Many drives into the office in the morning are filled with butterflies in our stomach. The problem with living in fear is that we then fall into the timidness that Timothy also describes. Being timid then leads us to stand still and miss opportunities, or worse yet to fail to take the stands that we know we should. So, that is why Timothy's verse can make such a huge difference in how we go to work this week. Imagine that we could really, truly, replace the feeling of fear with power. Add on love and self-discipline and you have the whole package. Today, as you start the work week, think about the areas, issues, people where you get that feeling of fear inside of you and pray this week to have fear replaced with the power that can come from God being taken to work with you!

Reference: 2 Timothy 1:7 (New Living Testament)