January 2011
1 post
Lazlo the Magic Kitten
I just sat dumbfounded for the past 5 minutes while my 8 year old read me a story she had written. It was about a cat named Lazlo that’s magic, adopted by a family and causes a bunch of trouble. What had me dumbfounded was the story was interesting. It had real characters, a plot a challenge and a funny resolution. I sat there and asked myself what I was doing at eight years old. I...
August 2010
1 post
What's in your tank?
I’ve been thinking about effort and capability lately. One thing that comes to mind is the proverbial “tank”. For example, I have run a few marathons in the past. At the end of each, I felt as though my “tank” was empty. However, I was talking to a friend the other day who has completed a few Ironman Triathlons. For him, the marathon is almost a cool-down. ...
January 2010
1 post
Time is Fleeting
I was at a party Sunday night for a friend turning 40. It was the typically group of guys talking about mortality and this question came up. “Would you want to know when you’re going to die?”
This is a old question. I’ve always answered it with “NO!”. I wouldn’t want to live every day knowing when I’m going to die. However, as I vocalized my...
December 2009
3 posts
Setting Expectations
Two thoughts for the day.
1. Bad news doesn’t get better with age.
2. Under-promising and over-delivering makes bad news better.
I ordered some shoes last week. Nothing too earthshaking, just some new kicks for working out. However, when I went to order them, they were out of stock. Sure I was bummed but I understood and these shoes are unique (read: valuable to me). The company...
Winning and Losing
I belong to a gym in Seattle. I won’t go into the details but it’s a small gym with a group of very aggressive people and some very intense workouts. Yesterday’s was no exception. However, yesterday we did a “group” work out. It went like this.
We were in teams of three. Each person taking turns on the rowing machine, 20” box jumps and burpees (drop to the...
On the road
This is my first attempt at a mobile post. Forgive me for having little to say. I just want to confirm the test. Keenan, this is for you…
November 2009
5 posts
Words Matter
I got coffee yesterday. The barista was having trouble and it took forever for a simple Americano. Her comment to me was “Thanks for waiting”. Now, it was said politely and she was obviously frustrated. However, it was wildly inappropriate given the situation.
Let me explain.
I had no choice but to wait. I had ordered and paid for my coffee. What was I going to do? Leave and...
I’m reading “Tribes” by Seth Godin right now. It’s interesting but hasn’t really rocked my world. However, something I read last night intrigued me. Godin makes the point that if you have a class of students with a 15:1 ratio of students to teacher vs. a 30:1 ratio, the class with a 15:1 ratio will perform better. However, if you have a class with a 15:1 ratio...
Today I had two different people within my account tell me what a bad job I was doing for them. Both of the examples they cited were when I had acted in the best interest of their company over mine. Even after explaining this to both of them (separate instances) they felt as though they had been “wronged”.
What The Hell?
Every day I deal with people in my own company that lack...
My First Post
I supposed I should come up with something original for my first post but this has been on my mind.
“Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure… than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.” Theodore Roosevelt