So, what are you reading?

This week Ken and I are in Palmer, Alaska.

So far we have attended the Alaska State Fair, climbed the Butte (a 1.2 mile hike inclusive of 420 steps - 26 flights), eaten at the local pub; rested and read.

Annually during these weeks we simply step away and contemplate what we’ve learned and how we can better serve. It is an adult time out.

We are often asked: "So what are you reading?"

Just before leaving Arizona for Alaska Ken read The Final Frontiersman.  The book is an account of Hemo Korth.   Written by James Campbell, Hemo lives in the Arctic National Wildlife.  For those of you who may wonder Palmer, Alaska is nothing like the wilderness.

Ken loves accounts of real life.  It is fun to share the stories he reads.

On the other hand, my passion is leadership and understanding relationships.  With that in mind I wanted to share some of the books and authors we both have recently learned from.

One of the most interesting arenas we recently become aware of is the study of the mind and human emotions.  How does this work?

Our IQ is developed during our teenage years; however our EQ (Emotional Intelligence) can be cultivated throughout our adult life.  Pick up the book Emotional Intelligence 2.0 by Travis Bradberry and Jean Greaves and take the Emotional Intelligence Appraisal.

Another area that has captured my personal attention is happiness.  

There is a little book entitled Happiness:  The Science Behind Your Smile by Daniel Nettle, published by the Oxford University.  It is a real thought provoker.

Two of our favorite authors, Patrick Lencioni and Henry Cloud have also written new books.  Dr. Henry Cloud’s is The Power of the Other and Patrick’s book is a precursor to The Five Dysfunctions of A Team entitled The Ideal Team Player.  Team members need to be humble, hungry and smart.

The next read is very foundational.

It’s called Start with Why, by Simeon Sinek.  This is another Good  to Great read.  For those of you who have not read Jim Collins business classic, read it first!  

However in Start with Why, Sinek argues that if we understand our why we are in business and do not lose focus we can accomplish our what.  When our why becomes fuzzy what simply does not matter.  It is only a matter of time before we become antiquated.

My cousin, Kaye Campbell’s daughter , Susan Kaye Quinn, writes speculative fiction.  She is a former rocket scientist and I want to read her book Open Minds.

So this fall, read, study and acquire wisdom through knowledge.

Re-Calibration

We live in a reactionary society.  We tend to simply respond to our environment.  

This past weekend I was sick thus forced to stay home, rest, and recover.  As such one activity was to watch the movie, Everest.

Sometime back I read the book Into Thin Air, about this 1996 climb.  From my experience, the book is always better than the movie.

Having read Jon Krakauer’s account I knew the May 1996 outcome. That year, 8 people died on the mountain, including the mountain guides Rob Hall and Andy Harris.  The book and the movie allege that essential safety methods in place for years were simply ignored by the guiding agencies - everyone wanted to be the first to reach the top!  

After watching the movie I had cause to ask myself, “What are my safety methods, where are my non-negotiables?”  

These are this year’s retreat questions. Yes, it is that time of the year again.

Ken and I finally will be able to spend 10 days out of the heat.  Oh and yes, we are going to Alaska.   

Lately lots of people have been asking me “Carolyn, when are you retiring?”  

Let me set the record straight. Retiring is not my current undertaking, nor is it in the near future.  My current enterprise is to nurture knowledge and understanding of today’s business world. I want to assist Realtors, Lenders, and all our staff at Great American to grow as we learn to service the southeast valley real estate market together.

Do you know there are five business generations working together in the business world today and we all process information differently?  Nobody is right, nobody is wrong - we simply are different.

Years ago, I learned to keep me learning an annual re-calibration retreat is a necessity.

Re-calibrate means to “make small changes to an instrument so that it measures accurately”. 

Say the word “instrument” and my mind goes to method.  

And for me a measure is an “evaluation”.  

Therefore, this annual re-calibration is simply a method to evaluate the: who, what, when, where and how to keep us going and growing.

I do not want to get into an Everest experience where you cannot beat the odds - that’s foolish. If the need for speed had not influenced Rob and Andy, I believe they would be alive today.

Thus annually I step back and evaluate.  It is not what you proclaim to people it’s the action you take. All too often a clear sense of the action is best viewed from a distance.

Lean in, Listen and Learn

August is the Willow Creek Leadership Conference.

I really look forward to this event.  It is an opportunity to sit back and absorb; lean in, listen and learn.

One of the speakers again this year was Patrick Lencioni.  There have been some very valuable takeaways from past years with Patrick.  Patrick works around the world to develop teams.  There are some very basic foundational concepts with teams to understand.  Those principals are in his book, Five Dysfunctions of a Team.  

Teams trust one another. They engage in unfiltered conflict around ideas.  They commit to decisions and plans of actions. They hold one another accountable for delivering against those plans. They focus on the achievement of collective results.  

These fundamentals are not easy to achieve.

This year Mr. Lencioni introduced some new absolutes. Teams are built from people and there are some givens we need to seek when adding to a team.  These three principles are discussed in what he calls a precursor to five dysfunctions in his new book, The Ideal Team Player.

Yes, we bought the book!  

Additionally we were able to hear, Melinda Gates, Co-Chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.  Her call is for an equitable world . The statistics she shared about how women in Nairobi or Bangladesh are changing their communities with just a little help are unbelievable.

Alan Mulally, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Ford Motor Company from 2006 to 2014 spoke about the norms he has implemented in his leadership at both Ford and Boeing.  Remember Ford was the only major US car manufacturer  who did not take money in the bail out!

Horst Schulze, CEO, Capella Hotel Group; Founding President, The Ritz-Carlton Group, talked about making sure you know where and what costs you can cut.

Chris McChesney, Executive at Franklin Covey who is a Wall Street Journal #1 national bestselling author of the book, 4 Disciplines of Execution  reminded me to focus on the wildly important.

The insights simply kept coming.  As I unpack, read, study and implement these concepts over the next several months I will share them on the blog.  

In short reflection the speakers and motivators were saying  the very simple principle:  “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you!”  Not difficult to understand, hard  play out in life.

Ken and I are in Alaska the last week of August and we purposefully plan to schedule time to both reflect and develop a blueprint allowing us to serve others  more in 2017.

Back to School

It is hard to believe - it’s August and Arizona’s back to school. Educational learning is vital to making it in today’s world.

Ken and I concluded our  formal education years ago. However, today we are committed to continually grow as individuals.  Independent studies allow us to have a stronger more vibrant interdependent relationship.

We accomplish this through self-discipline and  the use of lots tools we have at our disposal. We read, listen, study and  attend small discussion groups as well as major conferences.  We’ve learned we must be open to change.

This week we are both attending the Willow Creek Leadership Conference.

It is sad to me when I hear someone say “I’ve not read a book since I graduated” and  “I don’t attend seminars”.

According to Wikipedia  “continuing education should be a part of everyone’s lifestyle." In the spring of 2009, Eduventures, a higher education consulting firm, released the results of a study that illustrated that the recession had made a significant impact on the views of prospective continuing education students. A survey of 1,500 adults who planned to enroll in a course or program within the next two years determined that while nearly half of respondents believed that the value of education had risen due to the recession, over two-thirds said the state of the economy had affected their plans to pursue continuing education.

That last sentence in the above paragraph is what I really struggle with.  In today’s world you do not have to spend money to benefit from continuing education. 

There are so many ways to increase your knowledge and personal understanding without ever leaving home.

A quick look on the internet introduced me to this site:  https://www.diygenius.com/100-self-education-resources-for-lifelong-learners/

And if you are reading this you have access to the internet. 

Rather than watching NCIS or America’s Got Talent, why not spend an hour listening to a TED talk or reading a personal development book 

My belief is kids go back to school, so should we. 

So in conclusion, the  world around you takes advantage of today’s technology, what’s it going to take for you to do the same?  

Find a spot and gain some great educational insight; add to your personal understanding of life, you will be better for it.

It's a Funk

Do you ever get in a funk? I do.

There are days when all I want to do  is to sit and do nothing!

No exercise!  Eat whatever I want when I want!!  I do not want to read, study, or be sociable!!!   I simply want to feel sorry for myself. If I were a kid I would suck my thumb.

So out of curiosity, I  looked up the word funk. Guess what I  discovered?

The British definition for funk is a coward.  Well that did not go over well with me so I looked further only to discover - when used as a verb it means to avoid a task or thing out of fear. 

Ok. That’s not much better, but over the years I have learned  how to overcome fear.

You know: the  fear of failure, fear of the unknown, fear of feeling overwhelmed, or  simply the fear of not being good enough.

I have learned that fear is an automatic response of my brain. The source is a tiny part of my brain called the  amygdala.  The amygdala creates my "fight or flight  response".  It is primitive, automatic and inborn. 

WOW!  So a funk is something that can and should be worked through.

Well that’s pretty simple, not easy, but simple.  Just do it!  So when I apply the methodology I  learned  in  overcoming fear it’s possible to overcome a  funk.  

In other words  be  SMART.

Develop a specific plan, implement actions that are measurable and attainable.  Be realistic with the activities and time frame.

Then it occurred to me, Mother used this ideology when I was growing up.  She taught me systems, how to overcome  obstacles, and even work when  I did not want to.

Maybe your life was similar to mine.

Mother used a  star chart on the refrigerator door. There was the immediate reward  of putting a star on the chart and the intermediate reward of counting how many more were needed to  reach the special reward. Remember the  special treat,  new  socks,  getting to pick the show for family movie night, or the grand prize of going on  date all by yourself with  Dad?

Funny as it sounds the  same process works for adults in overcoming a funk. 

So, if you are in a funk, develop a system and go for it!