Here is an excellent video on creativity by Ken Robinson:
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Types of Commitment
There are different kinds and different levels of commitment. My favorite analogy is about the bacon and eggs breakfast. The chicken was involved, but the hog was committed.
Some people seem to never commit to anything, while others are quick to commit and just as quickly, uncommit. Others are slow to commit, but once a decision is made they go all out. I’m in the last group.
A number of years ago my wife and I were involved with a weekly Bible Study group. We met every Thursday night for about seven years. We only missed once or twice during that time and only because we were gone on vacation. There were six couples and it was rare when all twelve of us were there. This was always a mystery to me why people couldn’t commit.
I eventually figured out that some people commit to people and some to the event. To us, the Bible study was only a little important but the relationships were extremely important. We were committed to the people, not the event. It was easy to blow-off the event, but we couldn’t let our friends down, even though they consistently showed us through their actions that we weren’t all that important to them.
In a business setting we try to commit to an event, a product, or a service, but more often than not, we are really committed to the people. That is why when a procedure is put ahead of relationships, there is friction. We do business with people we like. The best companies hire for personality and train for skill, not the other way around.
Some personality types do tend to commit more to events. Here is a little test. Assume that you and a friend are planning to do something together, say go to a movie, and that person has to cancel. Do you go anyway, find someone else to go with you, or reschedule a time to go with your friend? Of course situations vary, but there is probably a trend. You are probably either committed to an event or schedule, or to people.
A few years ago I was on the board of not-for profit organization and we made a conscience decision to stop being event driven and start being people driven. I am not sure we accomplished much more, we were a lot happier and left less bodies in our wake.
I am not sure that one way is best, but it helps to understand that there is a difference.
Some people seem to never commit to anything, while others are quick to commit and just as quickly, uncommit. Others are slow to commit, but once a decision is made they go all out. I’m in the last group.
A number of years ago my wife and I were involved with a weekly Bible Study group. We met every Thursday night for about seven years. We only missed once or twice during that time and only because we were gone on vacation. There were six couples and it was rare when all twelve of us were there. This was always a mystery to me why people couldn’t commit.
I eventually figured out that some people commit to people and some to the event. To us, the Bible study was only a little important but the relationships were extremely important. We were committed to the people, not the event. It was easy to blow-off the event, but we couldn’t let our friends down, even though they consistently showed us through their actions that we weren’t all that important to them.
In a business setting we try to commit to an event, a product, or a service, but more often than not, we are really committed to the people. That is why when a procedure is put ahead of relationships, there is friction. We do business with people we like. The best companies hire for personality and train for skill, not the other way around.
Some personality types do tend to commit more to events. Here is a little test. Assume that you and a friend are planning to do something together, say go to a movie, and that person has to cancel. Do you go anyway, find someone else to go with you, or reschedule a time to go with your friend? Of course situations vary, but there is probably a trend. You are probably either committed to an event or schedule, or to people.
A few years ago I was on the board of not-for profit organization and we made a conscience decision to stop being event driven and start being people driven. I am not sure we accomplished much more, we were a lot happier and left less bodies in our wake.
I am not sure that one way is best, but it helps to understand that there is a difference.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Sweet Tea is Heading North
The sweet tea line is encroaching on the north. Whether the armadillos are following the sweet tea or the sweetened tea comes with the armadillos is anybody’s guess.
Not too many years ago, we hardly ever saw an armadillo in Kansas, or even in Oklahoma for that matter; and if you wanted your iced tea sweet you put in a couple of teaspoons of sugar. Now days flat armadillos are a regular feature of highway driving in Kansas and Missouri and waitresses have taken to asking if you want sweetened or unsweetened tea.
The amazing thing about this question is, how do you unsweeten tea? Tea is not sweet to begin with; therefore, you have to not add sugar to make it unsweetened. Taking the sugar out is a major trick.
At any rate, the line between sweet tea drinkers and us regular unadulterated tea types used to be the Mason-Dixon line. Then it became I-44. According to my friend, world traveler, and observer of such things, Dave Smart, the sweet-tea-line is now I-70. The alarming thing about this observation is that I live south of I-70, as do many of my friends. That means that the sweet tea infestation is near. It is time to defend ourselves. Can ‘possom stew and grits be far behind? And we haven’t even talked about Krispy Kreme.
I am sure that this is all caused by global warming and it is Al Gore’s fault.
Friends, let’s start rounding up the armadillos (those that haven’t already tried to cross the road) and send them back to Texas. And then next time somebody says, “Honey, would ya’ll like some tea.” Just remember that it is going to be loaded with sugar, and that you heard it here first.
Not too many years ago, we hardly ever saw an armadillo in Kansas, or even in Oklahoma for that matter; and if you wanted your iced tea sweet you put in a couple of teaspoons of sugar. Now days flat armadillos are a regular feature of highway driving in Kansas and Missouri and waitresses have taken to asking if you want sweetened or unsweetened tea.
The amazing thing about this question is, how do you unsweeten tea? Tea is not sweet to begin with; therefore, you have to not add sugar to make it unsweetened. Taking the sugar out is a major trick.
At any rate, the line between sweet tea drinkers and us regular unadulterated tea types used to be the Mason-Dixon line. Then it became I-44. According to my friend, world traveler, and observer of such things, Dave Smart, the sweet-tea-line is now I-70. The alarming thing about this observation is that I live south of I-70, as do many of my friends. That means that the sweet tea infestation is near. It is time to defend ourselves. Can ‘possom stew and grits be far behind? And we haven’t even talked about Krispy Kreme.
I am sure that this is all caused by global warming and it is Al Gore’s fault.
Friends, let’s start rounding up the armadillos (those that haven’t already tried to cross the road) and send them back to Texas. And then next time somebody says, “Honey, would ya’ll like some tea.” Just remember that it is going to be loaded with sugar, and that you heard it here first.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
The Eye of a Needle
When Jesus said that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God, it was a joke, but He wasn’t kidding. In modern language He could have said that it would easier to sell refrigerators to Eskimos; or maybe the rich man has a snowball’s chance in hell. It was that sort of statement. He went on to add; but anything is possible with God. This camel story appears three times in the Bible, so it was no casual comment.
That passage has worried me all my life and I think it comes down to the definition of “rich.” By the world’s standards, all Americans are rich. By my standards, anyone with more money than me is rich. I once thought that rich meant running water and flush toilets. Now I’m more inclined to think that it means gold-plated faucets.
My favorite recent definition of “rich” is to demonstrate our ability to be wasteful.
Not too many decades ago, if we owned land we used it to graze livestock, plant crops, or build something on it. Somebody decided that they could flagrantly demonstrate their wealth by setting aside a piece of prime real estate in front of their house. They would not graze cattle, or grow food, but just grow grass and then cut it down and throw it away. Now, just about everybody has a lawn, but few remember the purpose was to demonstrate that we are so wealthy that we have land to waste.
When Jesus condemned the rich, I think He was referring to the flagrant waste of resources. Fast forward two thousand years. How do we flagrantly waste resources? Are we so rich that we never have to open a window but instead rely on heating and air conditioning to maintain an even temperature in our office buildings? Are we so rich that we can drive around in oversized vehicles that are too large for our purposes? Are we so rich that we not only set aside space to raise grass just to look at, but then use millions of gallons of water to keep it green, just to cut it down? Are we so rich that we can keep fifty gallons of water hot, just in case we need it, instead of heating water only when we want hot water? I could go on for a long time, but I think you get the idea.
In the Old Testament, in II Samuel 15:1 “Absalom provided for himself a chariot with horses and fifty men to run in front of him.” I laugh every time I read that because I know so many people who would do that if they could. I presume that in Absalom’s time that was the equivalent of as stretch limo. He used it to impress people and it apparently worked. If you haven’t heard of Absalom, it is because God was not nearly as impressed as the people were and he quickly met his demise.
King Solomon is depicted as one of the wisest and wealthiest men ever to have lived, but he died unhappy and dejected. His autobiographical poem, the “Book of Ecclesiastes,” often refers to the vanity of chasing after things.
Surveys indicate that if there is any correlation between wealth and happiness it is the opposite of what we might expect. The wealthiest people are often among the most unhappy. The lottery has destroyed more lives than it has ever brought happiness.
Is it possible for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven? Well, like Jesus said, “Anything is possible with God.”
That passage has worried me all my life and I think it comes down to the definition of “rich.” By the world’s standards, all Americans are rich. By my standards, anyone with more money than me is rich. I once thought that rich meant running water and flush toilets. Now I’m more inclined to think that it means gold-plated faucets.
My favorite recent definition of “rich” is to demonstrate our ability to be wasteful.
Not too many decades ago, if we owned land we used it to graze livestock, plant crops, or build something on it. Somebody decided that they could flagrantly demonstrate their wealth by setting aside a piece of prime real estate in front of their house. They would not graze cattle, or grow food, but just grow grass and then cut it down and throw it away. Now, just about everybody has a lawn, but few remember the purpose was to demonstrate that we are so wealthy that we have land to waste.
When Jesus condemned the rich, I think He was referring to the flagrant waste of resources. Fast forward two thousand years. How do we flagrantly waste resources? Are we so rich that we never have to open a window but instead rely on heating and air conditioning to maintain an even temperature in our office buildings? Are we so rich that we can drive around in oversized vehicles that are too large for our purposes? Are we so rich that we not only set aside space to raise grass just to look at, but then use millions of gallons of water to keep it green, just to cut it down? Are we so rich that we can keep fifty gallons of water hot, just in case we need it, instead of heating water only when we want hot water? I could go on for a long time, but I think you get the idea.
In the Old Testament, in II Samuel 15:1 “Absalom provided for himself a chariot with horses and fifty men to run in front of him.” I laugh every time I read that because I know so many people who would do that if they could. I presume that in Absalom’s time that was the equivalent of as stretch limo. He used it to impress people and it apparently worked. If you haven’t heard of Absalom, it is because God was not nearly as impressed as the people were and he quickly met his demise.
King Solomon is depicted as one of the wisest and wealthiest men ever to have lived, but he died unhappy and dejected. His autobiographical poem, the “Book of Ecclesiastes,” often refers to the vanity of chasing after things.
Surveys indicate that if there is any correlation between wealth and happiness it is the opposite of what we might expect. The wealthiest people are often among the most unhappy. The lottery has destroyed more lives than it has ever brought happiness.
Is it possible for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven? Well, like Jesus said, “Anything is possible with God.”
Monday, March 29, 2010
Bob the Painter
Bob loved to go to art museums, so he decided he would become a painter. He studied the art of the old masters and began to learn to copy them brush stroke for brush stroke. He learned about color and texture and became a very good painter.
Bob’s favorite artist was Van Gogh so he decided that he would copy all of Van Gogh’s paintings. He became very good at copying Van Gogh and eventually could make exact copies of Van Gogh’s painting without even looking at the original.
Bob entered his paintings in an art fair, but the judges just laughed and said, “These are just copies of Van Gogh. These have already been done.” Bob was sad, but he went to the art fair anyway. There he found all kinds of exciting new paintings, things like he had never seen in the museums. Wonderful new exciting things were around every corner. So Bob sat down to think and listen to a band that was playing as part of the art fair.
The band played all of his favorite songs that he had heard on the radio many times. Then the headline band got up to play. They looked and sounded just like his favorite band from 1964. They played all the great songs from 1964 to 1968. They sounded just like the original band.
Bob soon learned that this band was paid hundreds of dollars to sound like the old band, but the artists had to pay hundreds of dollars to show the new and exciting art.
Bob was very confused. He decided to become an accountant where cents makes sense, and he did not have to decide if he should copy the old masters or make new art.
Bob died that day, and he was buried fifty-four years later.
The End.
Bob’s favorite artist was Van Gogh so he decided that he would copy all of Van Gogh’s paintings. He became very good at copying Van Gogh and eventually could make exact copies of Van Gogh’s painting without even looking at the original.
Bob entered his paintings in an art fair, but the judges just laughed and said, “These are just copies of Van Gogh. These have already been done.” Bob was sad, but he went to the art fair anyway. There he found all kinds of exciting new paintings, things like he had never seen in the museums. Wonderful new exciting things were around every corner. So Bob sat down to think and listen to a band that was playing as part of the art fair.
The band played all of his favorite songs that he had heard on the radio many times. Then the headline band got up to play. They looked and sounded just like his favorite band from 1964. They played all the great songs from 1964 to 1968. They sounded just like the original band.
Bob soon learned that this band was paid hundreds of dollars to sound like the old band, but the artists had to pay hundreds of dollars to show the new and exciting art.
Bob was very confused. He decided to become an accountant where cents makes sense, and he did not have to decide if he should copy the old masters or make new art.
Bob died that day, and he was buried fifty-four years later.
The End.
Monday, March 08, 2010
Toyota's Troubles
In 1958, I carefully cut out pictures of all the new cars from magazines and put them in a scrapbook, grouped by manufacture, make, model, and list price. I have been a follower of the auto industry ever since.
With that in mind I decided to weigh in on the Toyota deal. I heard the media say that Toyota has a reputation for quality, safety, and reliability. That is not quite true. Those are three different and mostly unrelated qualities. BMW and Mercedes Benz are known for quality. Volvo and Volkswagen are known for safety, and Toyota and Honda have a reputation for reliability.
Of the three, reliability is the most elusive. This is partly because all cars are pretty reliably these days with little difference between manufactures. Also, there are many ways to measure reliability. If we look at the number of times we have to take the car back to the dealer in the first 90 days, we would be looking at a totally different list than if we are talking about the cost of maintaining a car with 100,000 miles on the clock. Which is most important is up to the individual and of course, as they say, your mileage may vary.
Toyota’s problem was that in trying to hold on to this precarious position, they chose the route of denial, blaming their detractors, and offering a quick fix, instead of addressing the problem.
The lesson for the rest of us is to face our challenges head on, admit when we make mistakes, and solve the problems as best we can, as quickly as possible. Toyota, in believing their own marketing, has shown that any other approach doesn’t work.
With that in mind I decided to weigh in on the Toyota deal. I heard the media say that Toyota has a reputation for quality, safety, and reliability. That is not quite true. Those are three different and mostly unrelated qualities. BMW and Mercedes Benz are known for quality. Volvo and Volkswagen are known for safety, and Toyota and Honda have a reputation for reliability.
Of the three, reliability is the most elusive. This is partly because all cars are pretty reliably these days with little difference between manufactures. Also, there are many ways to measure reliability. If we look at the number of times we have to take the car back to the dealer in the first 90 days, we would be looking at a totally different list than if we are talking about the cost of maintaining a car with 100,000 miles on the clock. Which is most important is up to the individual and of course, as they say, your mileage may vary.
Toyota’s problem was that in trying to hold on to this precarious position, they chose the route of denial, blaming their detractors, and offering a quick fix, instead of addressing the problem.
The lesson for the rest of us is to face our challenges head on, admit when we make mistakes, and solve the problems as best we can, as quickly as possible. Toyota, in believing their own marketing, has shown that any other approach doesn’t work.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Caring for the Poor
When Jesus began his earthly ministry, He stated His purpose in a statement at the synagogue in Nazareth. Reading from the Book of Isaiah He said, “God's Spirit is on me; He's chosen me to preach the message of good news to the poor, sent me to announce pardon to prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to set the burdened and battered free, to announce, ‘This is God's year to act!’” Later, the Apostle Paul said in Galatians 2:10, referring to the church at Jerusalem, “All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.”
A central message throughout scripture is the importance of caring for the poor, the homeless, the orphans, and widows. It is not our place to judge how they got there, but only to do what we can to help.
Last night, Sky Blue, (Bob, Theresa, & Jim) played a special concert for about 100 homeless men at the Kansas City Rescue Mission. http://www.kcrm.org/ We didn’t preach to them or beat up on them, but rather, attempted to bring some light and joy into their lives. We were very warmly received and it was a very good experience. I am sure we will do it again soon.
This morning I attended a meeting of the Leawood, KS Chamber of Commerce. Leawood is one of the highest income per capita cities in the United States. The meeting was only about a twenty minute drive from the rescue mission, but the contrast between the two groups couldn’t have been greater. Frankly, I am right at home in the Leawood group, and I felt a little uncomfortable at the mission, but one doesn’t have to very observant to know where the greater need is. Jesus didn’t call us to be comfortable.
I have spent most of my life thinking about the difference between the people at the Chamber of Commerce and the ones gathered at the rescue mission. At the chamber meeting we talked about all the great new restaurants in Leawood. The people at the mission were there because of an offer of free food and a warm place to sleep.
So far, my only conclusion about the difference is: not that much. When I was five years old, I was told I was smart, that I could do anything I wanted, and I was encouraged to read. Most of my new friends at the mission were told they were dumb, that they would never amount to anything, and they never read a book. Encouragement verses discouraging comments, education verses dropping out, maybe a few bad choices, and the difference is either sitting in a nice office in Johnson County or standing in a food line at 15th and Cherry.
Jesus knew the differences were small. I firmly believe that God provided some with abundance to help those in need, but 80% of churches do nothing at all for the poor or homeless.
No matter what your situation, there is always something you can do to help someone less fortunate, even if it is just singing them a few songs.
A central message throughout scripture is the importance of caring for the poor, the homeless, the orphans, and widows. It is not our place to judge how they got there, but only to do what we can to help.
Last night, Sky Blue, (Bob, Theresa, & Jim) played a special concert for about 100 homeless men at the Kansas City Rescue Mission. http://www.kcrm.org/ We didn’t preach to them or beat up on them, but rather, attempted to bring some light and joy into their lives. We were very warmly received and it was a very good experience. I am sure we will do it again soon.
This morning I attended a meeting of the Leawood, KS Chamber of Commerce. Leawood is one of the highest income per capita cities in the United States. The meeting was only about a twenty minute drive from the rescue mission, but the contrast between the two groups couldn’t have been greater. Frankly, I am right at home in the Leawood group, and I felt a little uncomfortable at the mission, but one doesn’t have to very observant to know where the greater need is. Jesus didn’t call us to be comfortable.
I have spent most of my life thinking about the difference between the people at the Chamber of Commerce and the ones gathered at the rescue mission. At the chamber meeting we talked about all the great new restaurants in Leawood. The people at the mission were there because of an offer of free food and a warm place to sleep.
So far, my only conclusion about the difference is: not that much. When I was five years old, I was told I was smart, that I could do anything I wanted, and I was encouraged to read. Most of my new friends at the mission were told they were dumb, that they would never amount to anything, and they never read a book. Encouragement verses discouraging comments, education verses dropping out, maybe a few bad choices, and the difference is either sitting in a nice office in Johnson County or standing in a food line at 15th and Cherry.
Jesus knew the differences were small. I firmly believe that God provided some with abundance to help those in need, but 80% of churches do nothing at all for the poor or homeless.
No matter what your situation, there is always something you can do to help someone less fortunate, even if it is just singing them a few songs.
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