Compassion matters...

You better like and care about yourself if you want to be an effective and valuable member of a team. If your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete.

 

·      To be complete,

·      You must care about

·      And take care of yourself.

·      Once you are whole, you can

·      Be compassionate with others.

 

Every member of a team must bring their A-game to a group’s efforts. Meaning you must like yourself and feel good in your own skin. Meaning you must be confident of your own competence and let others sense that. Meaning your self-confidence opens you up to learning new things to increase your value to the team. And meaning your self-assurance allows you to be actively engaged in the efforts of the team. But let’s face it: we all have self-doubts and questions we feel awkward asking – be aware of that and keep open lines of communication to discuss those issues with your colleagues. That self-awareness and interest in others will make you and your team stronger. And be aware that most people join teams after being good individual contributors – the transition from one role to the next is eased by your being open and accepting of the give and take of teamwork. Be open, honest, sincere, and compassionate with those you work with today.

 

Jack Kornfield (born 1945): American writer and teacher in the Vipassana movement in American Theravada Buddhism.

Dream the impossible dream...

It’s amazing what you can accomplish when someone challenges you to do something. That’s often the motivation people need.

 

·      To do something different,

·      Start with a clean palette 

·      To paint a new picture.

·      That is what it takes

·      To create anything.

 

 

Last night I saw the results of a challenge given to me 35 years ago: the Dean of the Hotel School at Cornell challenged me to connect with the school’s alumni club here in Las Vegas, get involved with them, and help them grow. At the time that seemed like too big a mountain to climb. There were 5 Cornellians at that first dinner, one of them being me, and we talked about what the chapter might become. Several months later I returned to Cornell and began recruiting their graduates, who in turn encouraged others to come be part of the growth that has continued in Las Vegas and in the gaming industry for most of these past 35 years. Back then it was unthinkable that Cornell graduates could be recruited to join the gaming industry in Las Vegas. Last night I attended the local club’s annual holiday party, and the obligatory picture at the end of the event said it all: the crowd in attendance – leaders, shakers, and movers throughout the gaming industry, was the result. We achieved the seemingly impossible precisely by thinking the unthinkable. Think about how you and others can change something today.

 

Tom Robbins (born 1932): American novelist, short story writer, and essayist.

Age gracefully...

In our younger years, we all had hopes and dreams. What’s cool, is living  long enough to see those come to fruition.

 

·      Youthful dreams

·      Live alongside our youthful

·      Mistakes and growing pains.

·      Along the way we find the wisdom

·      To become the best example of ourselves.

 

I wonder how the 20-somethings of today will age. Having said that, I realize that every older generation thinks their kids are mixed up and confused. My wife and I talk about young drivers on the freeway who drive like they;re playing video games – you know, weaving in and out of traffic like their cars are controlled by joysticks. But in retrospect, I remember my parents saying that we drove too fast too. Funny thing, I did drive too fast back then and am far more conscious and respectful of other drivers as I now putter along at the speed limit. What goes round comes around. And when I teach a class on Managing a Multi-Generational Workforce, I tell the students that there are many similarities in the five generations working side-by-side today. So don’t be too quick to judge others – at some point on life’s highway, we’re all in the same lane. Be the person you always should have been today.

 

David Bowie – born David Robert Jones (1947 – 2016): English singer-songwriter and actor, regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century.

All aboard...

It takes a great deal of time and effort to accomplish anything. And each accomplishment is more a marathon than a one-and-done.

 

·      Everything

·      Takes time and effort.

·      And the process of completion

·      Can often takes months, and even years.

·      And that requires focus and determination.

 

The journey of whichever national soccer team wins the World Cup will have taken months, if not years. Same with championship teams in any sport, or successful projects in any business. The coach on any team, like the manager of a business, must keep his players focused on the things they’re doing at any given moment rather than allowing them to worry about the end game. If each player or employee does each thing to the best of their ability, chances are success will follow them throughout their journey. Focusing on each play or action of the game or project at hand is the key – by every player on the team or employee in the company.  That’s the kind of discipline needed to win or succeed at anything. And with so many intervening events – like injuries in sports or supply chain disruptions or customer issues at work, it really is amazing that wins or successes ever occur. To me, that’s the real value of teamwork. So, the moral of this story: focus on the journey, not the destination, today.

 

Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (1890 – 1969): American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States.

Be a good sport...

Even if you’re not a sports fan, this past week’s World Cup soccer games have been great to watch. And there’s more to come.

 

·      Sporting games

·      Are very exciting.

·      Whether you’re a fan

·      Or only a casual observer,

·      Team play is inspiring to watch.

 

Teamwork produces countless metaphors for life and work. Companies often refer to their employees as team members and accomplishments are akin to scoring goals. Putting our challenges and actions in terms that people find similar to their non-work lives makes them more personal and understandable. That said, if, as today’s quote suggests, you’re in a tough or uncertain situation, just do the right thing and the rest can be sorted out afterward. Like in a heated situation with a difficult employee, just focus on the goal and keep matters calm and objective, not personal. Or after you’ve just made a mistake, acknowledge your error, and then continue with what you’re doing. I like it when an athlete makes a foul and they raises their arm in acknowledgement – good sportsmanship and then play resumes. Keep your eye on the ball and be a good sport today.

 

Robert Paisley (1919 – 1996): English professional football manager and player who spent 50 years with Liverpool and is regarded as one of the greatest British managers of all time.

Stop and think...

Using common sense is easier said than done. Unless we practice, and sometimes that too, is easier said than done.

 

·      Good sense

·      Is a lofty goal.

·      Thinking before

·      You speak is the key to that.

·      And remembering to think is the key to that.

 

Use your head, my mother always said, and count to ten before you act or your actions you may dread. But the pace of our lives is the thing that can deprive us of being able to follow through on this seemingly simple thing to do. So, practice to be good at this not so simple task, and then remember to do this before someone has to ask. Remember that sense comes in many different kinds, from good to bad, to silly and sublime; and making the common variety the one you seek to find, is something to which I hope you are inclined. I’ll admit that for me it seems that writing this message in rhyme seems easier sometimes than practicing using sense of the commonest kind. It’s easy to forget about using good sense in the face of so many other events, which I suspect is why common sense is not so common, which is really what I meant. Bottom line: I pray we all start to practice using more common sense today.

 

François-Marie Arouet (1694 – 1778); French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher. Known by his nom de plume M. de Voltaire, he was famous for his wit, and his criticism of Christianity—especially the Roman Catholic Church—and of slavery. Voltaire was an advocate of freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and separation of church and state.

Discover how far you can go...

People often view their job description as the definition of their role at work. Unfortunately, it doesn’t include what their unique contribution is at work.

 

·      Job descriptions 

·      Include tasks to be done.

·      But they don’t describe the 

·      Intended results of that work

·      Or the positive attitude that’s expected.

 

We often hire people for the skills they possess, but there’s more to them than that. We then assign them to a job whose description only lists the requisite skills and duties, not the attitude they should bring to work every day or results that are expected. And we create a perception that they should only do what’s on that form. That’s limiting. Not stretching. Life and work should never be about finding our limitations; they should be about finding our infinity. We tend to set expectations too low and then complain when we get less than we hoped for. It's time we began encouraging our employees to do the most they can in any given situation. And training our managers to create work environments that promote thinking and acting outside the box. And creating a culture of positive coaching and reinforcement. If you want the minimum, limit what you ask for. If you want to see how far people can go, give them the tools to achieve more today.

 

Herbert Jeffrey “Herbie” Hancock (born 1940): American jazz pianist, keyboardist, bandleader, and composer.