The Effect Of Cause…
Friday, July 31st, 2009
A few months ago I was speaking with a friend who's really on fire for her mission in life. Not only is it a reason for getting out of bed every morning... it's a bona fide purpose for living... a real cause. But there was one nagging question around an integral piece that needed financing, and it was determined she should provide that seed-money herself. So, now what? I suggested she enlist people into her cause... allow them to support the work,… Read More
I don't know when it started. Maybe it was the fact that my grandfather was a craftsman extraordinaire... or maybe it was the line from my favorite television show in 1967 where the Skipper tells Gilligan that "a job that is not done well... is not a well done job." Then again... maybe it was all the times my dad sent me back out with the mower or the shovel because I had "missed a spot." Whatever the reason, I have always taken pride in my work.… 
"You really don't get social networking, do you...?!" an acquaintance said this week. The statement came amid my acknowledgment that I was "cleaning up" my Twitter account, which began last Saturday evening upon returning to our hotel after Day One of the 
In 1954, as 
"You've gotta meet James; he has sooo much potential, he just needs to apply himself more." "Sally's another one with a lot of potential; in fact, I believe she could be the top sales producer in the division... if only she believed it." "Then there's Marty. With his personality, he sure has potential... but he just seems to lack the drive and ambition it takes to get ahead." Ah, yes... potential. Managers seek it... investors crave it... politicians… 
Okay, so return with me now, to those thrilling days of... well, return with me to the 
"I LOVE reading your blog," a friend told me earlier. "I keep thinking that I need to start one also. In fact, I think about it all the time!" "I agree completely," I said... "but we both know that thinking about it isn't how it gets done. What's holding you back, and would you like some help?" He then related his two biggest concerns... which just happen to be most people's concerns when thinking about writing and publishing. 1) Will anyone read it,… 
Maybe it's just my love of learning... or my passion for teaching. Perhaps, it's my background in developing powerful teams... or the fact that I've had over fourteen thousand employees. Then again, it could simply be the entrepreneur in me... or the fact that we spent twenty-one years home-schooling... But I just seem to find a seed of knowledge, or an educational opportunity, in virtually every situation. So it was that last week,… 
As you can imagine, love is difficult when living an ocean apart. So it was that in 1996, our dear friends were in just that position. She was living here in the "Land of the Free", and her husband was living in Germany. My two-step solution to their dilemma was simple... First, I would launch a company here that he was capable of leading, and second... I would make him an offer that he could not refuse. Or so I thought. Next, we did what we are free to do… 
Twenty five years or so ago... Mission Statements were all the rage. Sold by consultants, every company worth its salt was suddenly scheduling executive time for six to fifteen months with "strategists" who would guide the leaders through a process of discovering just why they were in business. The experts, of course, had cookie-cutter forms to follow and sets of questions designed to make them look like the smartest people in the room. Often, they… 
