My Dad has always been someone I look up to and aspire to be like. In our home he was always constant. The world may be crashing around us and he would be calm, optimistic, and always emotionally stable and strong.
Naturally, I want to be like him, and I modelled my behavior after him. When I feel an emotion I do not like, I have trained my brain to look for the good. I consider this one of my superpowers and it has served me well in my life.
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In 2002 Sir Dave Brailsford became the head of British Cycling. At the time, the winning record of the British cycling team was essentially non-existent. In the 2008 Beijing Olympics his team won 7 out of 10 gold medals. The following Olympics in London, Dave and his team achieved the same result – 7 of 10 gold medals. The impressive record and sustained performance is attributed to improving each component of the cycling experience by 1%.
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A few days ago I watched my daughter as she attempted to draw a picture of a unicorn. After a few pencil lines she would crumple the paper and start over on a new sheet of paper. I soon learned she wanted the picture of her unicorn to be perfect and if it wasn’t perfect she didn’t want to keep it.
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Jim Collins in Good to Great shares a concept he calls “First Who, Then What” that I have known for years is important but have not acted upon it. I have let years of my professional life go by without capitalizing on this wisdom and I feel I have missed out on the impact I could have had on those around me because of my lack of follow through. This is changing. I am actively trying to build out my “who” and I want to share with you my framework to creating my “who”.
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Shortly after college I sat down to do some introspection about what I want to do with my life and read various resources about “finding your purpose”. As I pondered and tried to come up with a purpose statement, I would write, then cross it out and then re-write. Then I got to a place that I thought – oh this must be it.
(more…)When writing there is not a single author that is able to do a single draft perfectly the first time. First the draft is written and then reviewed, revised, edited, and re-written. This could go on for countless iterations to make every word count. It takes work and time to refine a writing piece to be great.
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The Limbic System in our brain is the part of the brain that is responsible for managing our threat response. The Prefrontal Cortex (PFC) is the part of the brain that is most associated with critical thinking and is responsible for executive functioning.
(more…)At work I look after a program designed to help senior leaders progress at Microsoft. COVID-19 introduced interesting challenges to our program, as it was originally designed to be in person. In one case, a key experience of the program, we did not convert to virtual because we felt the impact in person could never be matched virtually.
Things changed and we decided to convert the experience. My first thought was, there is no room for failure with this audience – we must succeed. This is one of the core experiences leaders have at Microsoft and there is no room for failure at this level.
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Fear can be debilitating and impact progress and learning.
When you experience fear, you have lost perspective. When you have the appropriate perspective you no longer fear.
(more…)Journaling daily has become an important practice for me as I strive to learn. Each morning I write down what I am thinking or feeling (or both) and whatever else comes as I reflect on the previous day. This week I learned something important that I hope can help others as well.
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I teach and invite people to act. Proud husband, father and amateur pizzaiolo