“When we accept tough jobs as a challenge to our ability and wade into them with joy and enthusiasm, miracles can happen.” ~ Arland Gilbert

Kirk Weisler

From the book “Your Destiny Switch” authored by Peggy McColl

Knowledge alone is not enough. Only with understanding can real application begin. And that will help bring you to the place you want to be.”

This was a true “Aha!” moment. I realized that hearing the insights of all the self-help experts I could find wasn’t getting me to wrest control of my life and shape my destiny, because I hadn’t internalized their wisdom. I’d written it on sticky notes and in journals, but I wasn’t connecting to what they were telling me, so I couldn’t truly understand it or apply it to my life. I was too busy congratulating myself for being a seeker of truth to slow down and process what I was taking in. Even the idea that I was in charge of my destiny really hadn’t sunk in. Unknowingly, I’d been expecting motivational speakers to do it for me.

As a result of this epiphany, I developed a passion for deeper understanding. I realized that I needed to apply what I’d learned and actually experience the truths that these teachers were imparting to me. I began to think about what they’d taught me about emotions and to look more closely at how I was experiencing my feelings. Why was it so hard for me to stay positive when I knew how important it was to do so? Why did I descend into a pit of anger or self-loathing with such ease? So many things could push my buttons and make me feel negative. Rather than letting my emotions continue to rule my life and imprison me, I decided that it was time for me to search further to figure out why I was at their mercy and what do about it.

I have often summarized that people don’t change unless they first become aware of the fact that they need too. And you can’t get to that place if your stuck in the place where it’s everyone else that needs to change…the place of blame is an awful place to live out this short mortal existence. So let’s “Be the Change” by taking charge, getting going and getting growing.

Kirk Out

“I feel everyone’s got something they can teach me. Someone inevitably has an answer I didn’t even realize I needed.” ~ Gwenn Seemel

Now I need to write a personal and important note to each of you subscribers regarding an exciting changes for the T4D.

We have increased our services and options to more reliably, efficiently and effectively connect with you guys. I am going to begin using a service called FeedBlitz to manage my T4D subscription services.

To ensure that your subscription is not mistaken for junk mail, please add our service’s email address FeedBlitz@mail.feedblitz.com to your safe list or address book now. You may also import our sender’s vcard into your email system

This is important step to take because of the myriad of Spam filters in effect. I don’t want to lose connection with you and am excited about the content I have prepared to send in the months of ahead.

For info about FeedBlitz’s policies www.feedblitz.com/tos.asp

Again, ensure that your subscription is not mistaken for junk by adding our service’s email address FeedBlitz@mail.feedblitz.com to your safe list or address book. You may also import our sender’s vcard into your email system

Please contact us if you have any questions about these updates, your subscription to “Kirk Weisler’s T4D (Thought for the Day)” or FeedBlitz’s services.

Thank You,

Kirk Weisler

     Failing fast isn’t just a strategy for startups. One of Silicon Valley’s best companies at managing failure also happens to be its hottest - Google. “Fundamentally, everything we do is an experiment,” says Douglas Merrill, a Google vice president for engineering. “The thing with experimentation is that you have to get data and then be brutally honest when you’re assessing it.” When introducing new features, Google has remained true to a “fail fast” strategy: launch, listen, improve, launch again.

      During the brainstorming for the Google Toolbar, for example, the development team tried about five times as many key features as made the final cut, and most were discarded within a week of testing. Several of the features in the final version, including custom buttons and shared bookmarks, were prototyped in less than a week. Even when a feature is a full-blown failure, Google prefers to view it as an experiment that yielded useful information. That’s what happened with Google Answers, a four-year effort to build an expert answer service that was shuttered in November, “I don’t think Answers was a failure, because we incorporated a lot of what we learned into our new custom search engine,” Merrill says. “The failures are the things where you don’t learn anything.”   —Tom McNichol ~From Business 2.O The Next Net

 I think the principle of looking at life as an experiment is a wonderful one.  I remember being taught that life was a laboratory and if I could approach each day with my mental lab coat on I’d learn much more and have a better time doing it because I would be afraid to try new things.  That’s what you do in a laboratory.  It was some of the best advice I have ever received…and when I have had the courage and wisdom to follow it, well, it has led me to some of my most meaningful and rewarding discoveries.

And what happens during those other times when I don’t follow the advice?  Well not much…not much new, not much noteworthy, and not much to tell. Try more, fail more, learn more, grow more…and have more stories to tell that inspire more people to do the same.

This week look at life – as a laboratory and life as a grand experiment where your job is to try lots of new things to discover what really works best.

Kirk Out 

I am sharing two quotes on optimism today….but want to make a note before hand that optimism isn’t something that you are or are not.  Nor is optimism something you have or have not.  Optimism is an attitude and behavior that can be learned, it can practiced, it can be exercised and it can be strengthened.  In short optimism is a choice that we can all make for ourselves….it is a way of thinking.    Learning to be more optimistic is a key ingredient to the development of great culture.  A more positive culture is a more powerful culture.   Optimist Live Longer“Recent studies show that optimists excel in school, have better health, make more money, establish long and happy marriages, stay connected to their children, and even live longer.”~ Alan Loy McGinnis authored the book The Power of Optimism Optimists Live Longer 

 Pessimists Achieve Less         “Why should we bother to learn to think optimistically?  Isn’t pessimism just a posture with no real effects?  Unfortunately not.  I have studied pessimism for the last twenty years, and in more than one thousand studies, involving more than a half a million children and adults, pessimistic people do worse than optimistic people in three ways: First, they get depressed much more often.  Second, they achieve less at school and on the job, and on the playing field - much less than their talents would suggest.  Third, their physical health is worse than that of optimists.  So holding a pessimistic theory of the world may be the mark of sophistication, but it is a costly one.”~ Dr. Martin E.P. Seligman authored a book titled The Optimistic Child. 

While I realize that changing our current way of thinking often requires much more than a choice…..it does start with the “choice to change”.  I often say that “Our work, like our lives will only get better as we do.”  This could be restated to say simply - “That our lives will become more optimistic and hopeful as we do.”   While your inner cynic might already be begrudging the time and effort it might take to journey towards optimisms higher ground - you can be comforted in the fact that you’ll live longer on your optimistic journey than those who stay stewing in their cynical cesspools. Remember, Make it a Great Day, It’s Your Choice  

Kirk

How have you learned to be more optimistic? 

One of the core teachings of Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits was that we all have the ability to choose our response…he often quoted the renowned Victor Frankl Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.  Viktor E. Frankl

“Being defeated is only a temporary condition; giving up is what makes it permanent.”  ~Marilyn vos Savant

“No one makes us mad. Others don’t make us angry. There is no force involved. Becoming angry is a conscious choice, a decision; therefore, we can make the choice not to become angry. We choose!” 

 ~ Lynn G. Robbins

We influence the life and story of every person we interact with.  In a very real sense we can be a key ingredient in the recipe of someone else’s day.  We might make their meal or day more bland, or we might spice it up a bit and give it a bit more zest, flavor and YUM.  Cultural leadership is about inspiring, not requiring people to perform.  Inspiring people to be more positive, purposeful, and engaged is rarely the result of a single grand event.  Rather it is the result of the cumulative affect of a thousand small acts that are consistently inviting people’s consciousness towards higher ground.  One easy way I have found to keep my cultural kitchen smelling fresh is by stirring in some excellence each and every day.

Each day from my website I send out a T4D or Thought for the Day.  The purpose of the T4D is simply to share a positive or inspiring quote or story with the reader.  Not too many years ago, the T4D list that is today read by thousands, was read only by my small team 33 co-workers. 

A friend outside of work had sent me a few cool quotes, so I forwarded them to the guys at work.  A few of them sincerely appreciated my sending them and told me so, so I kept doing it for a while.  Then one day I stopped!?  Boy did I hear about it…they, even the cynical ones, complained about missing it, wanting it, and even needing it.  Many told me that they forwarded them to others who also counted on receiving the daily dose of inspiration to help replenish their empty buckets.

Today I hear from leaders around the globe who receive the T4D and who forward it to their teams, and who are using it in their own journey of cultural leadership as they seek to inspire their people and to bring more good feelings and flavor into the kitchens of their culture.

Here is an example of a T4D I used in the past that generated a pleasantly surprising response from leaders who shared it with their teams.

Today is the first day of the rest of our lives!  That’s right today is the first day…and everything after today is what’s left of our lives. So far I have burned through 42 years of my candle and I’m not sure how much is left.  I will admit that often that candle did not burn as brightly as it might have…but hey, let us not waste any of our candle today burning time on something as un-motivating as regrets.

Instead I invite you to join me and let’s re-commit ourselves to burning brightly, and to letting our candles shine for all the world to see.  Let’s not feel the need to tone it down a bit because people might wonder why we’re so happy, so positive, so optimistic….let’s just go for it and decide RIGHT NOW that we are going to look for the good in people, and the good in life NO Matter WHAT!

Let’s decide right and commit ourselves to the idea and ideal that we want everyone who walks away from any type of interaction with us…walks away feeling a bit better about themselves, their value, and their potential. The Boy Scouts encourage and teach their scouts to leave every campground better than they find it.

Let’s take the same principle and apply it to our relationships…starting again today!!  Leave every person and every interaction with every person better than it was before.  Let them be walking away from us with a little more hope, a slight skip in their step, and a smile on their face…because we took a moment to connect more deeply, care more sincerely, and live more fully. We can do this… I’m committed…are you? Ok then, let’s Go for it, Let’s Grow for it!!

Cooking Up Great Culture – It’s Just What Leaders DO!

Kirk Out : )  Be sure to check out my new semi-sweet website www.thecookiethiefbook.com

I pulled this from a LeapFrog e-zine…. love it!  I think you will too! Psst… What advice would you whisper in the ear of a senior leader? We asked thought leaders, industry leaders and leading practitioners that we work with the following question:  If you had 25 words or less to whisper in the ear of a senior leader….to dramatically impact her/his leadership team’s effectiveness….what would you say?Here’s what ten respected clients and colleagues whispered in response:
1 – “Discover, deep at their inner core, why each member of your team is working in the job they are.  Then you must feed that.”  Douglas “Yoda” Vlchek,  Chief Wisdom Officer - DaVita Inc.
 2 –“Have you thanked someone today for what they’ve done to help you achieve your vision for yourself and your team?”
Bob Hoffman , Executive Director, Organizational Development
Novartis Oncology 3 – “Leadership teamwork is about individual genius, collectively experienced.  Don’t normalize eccentricity or brilliance.  Orchestrate a way for people playing full out to do so together.”
Foster Mobley, Chief Executive Officer
The Foster Mobley Group: Advisors in Innovative Change

4 –“Let your actions speak much louder than what you say.”
Cliff Hakim,  Career Consultant  Author: We Are All Self-Employed

5 – “Be visible, articulate a clear vision, communicate in person often, walk the talk, listen, and respond in a timely manner.”  Jeff Peris, Chief  Learning Officer - Wyeth

6 –“Know your business…know your people…have a clear vision and direction that you are able to communicate to your people. Be authentic, decisive, inclusive and most important, be humble.”
Tawfik Kamal, MD , Executive Director - Head of Strategic Marketing Capabilities
Novartis Pharmaceutical Corporation
 
7 – “Find the people in your organization who are already doing what you wish others would do and make a big deal out of it.”  Keir Carroll, Performance Improvement Concepts

8 – “Self-awareness is critical. . . even in the executive suite.  Be aware of what others (1) think of you and (2) say about you.  Don’t criticize, judge or gossip about your peers, as your team will do the same.  Be a role model and mentor for others . . . you will then truly lead by example.”
Kathleen Sack , Director Learning Programs - Tyco International (US) Inc.

9  Drop your need to be right all the time. Your whole purpose is to help others be right”    Court Chilton, Principal -Court Chilton & Associates

10 – “No matter what results you are trying to drive through the organization, the culture will bleed through. It starts at the top, so if your senior leaders aren’t modeling teamwork, don’t expect to break downs walls anywhere.”  Deborah Slobodnik, Principal -Options Consulting, Inc.

11 – “Breakthrough performance is rooted in remarkable people.  To attract, retain and leverage remarkable people YOU must weave the connection between their passions, their work, and one another.”  Dick Eaton,  Founder and Chief Energizing Officer -Leapfrog Innovations

Now if we could just whisper loud enough to be heard!! : )

Kirk Out