Running to the future

English: A chicken running Français : Un poule...I was running. Running to work, running at work, running home, running out to pick something up, running to the car, running to the phone and feeling the whole time like I was running out of time. Now I will be the first to admit I was running to a tune of my own creation. Work was busy, but then I like busy, I choose jobs that pose a challenge. I hate pointless busy, but if there is a clear objective, then I feel engaged. The busyness of my “free” time was equally of my making. I like to blog, I like to garden, I like to read, I like to paint and I like visiting with friends and family. There is never enough time for it all, but trying to do it is fun too. Although I was the architect of my time crunch, I was still feeling overwhelmed. It was admittedly a first world problem.

In keeping with that, I thought there must be some first world solutions that would help me to get my work done faster and more effectively. Was there a gadget or gadgets that might ease my way, make things clearer, easier to access, to see, to engage to respond? If I was willing to invest, I was sure there was a technological solution to help me meet my time woes. Here’s what I found.

Simband: To manage the impact stress has on my physical health, I could start with a Simband. It can check my blood pressure, let me know if my heart rate and respiration are normal and if I’ve been drinking too much coffee and not enough water it can let me know where my hydration levels are. It could even keep me safe by noting the amount of carbon dioxide in my blood.

Laptop Beverage Holder: This handy gadget would allow me to keep my coffee close by when I’m tucked away in a corner playing catch up with my blogging activities. It attaches to the side of my laptop so no table necessary. The same applies to any worries that I’ll accidentally kick over my coffee because I’ve placed it on the floor. Of course I shudder to think what would happen if I tilted my laptop the wrong way while it had a cup of coffee attached to it…

Google Glass: As anyone who mentions them in my hearing learns, I love the idea of Google Glasses, the idea, because I still don’t own a pair, but they should be coming to Canada soon. They might afford me any number of time saving features. I could look things up while walking and not risk walking into someone because I’m looking down at my phone. Though to tell the truth, I’ve always been good at navigating with my head down. I’m a veteran reader and when I get into a book, something as mundane as a walk won’t stop me from reading. Still, I can appear less anti-social if I can keep my head up, that is unless people are uncomfortable with my headgear in which case my fear is that I might become known as a glasshole.

Livescribe: This little beauty gives those of us who would rather write than type a time saving break. With Livescribe, your hand written notes automatically become text without you having to take the time to type. The device also records so that the notes you take synch up with what was being said at the time you took them. Think about how easy that would make your life. The only thing better would be voice activation technology; notes could then move seamlessly from sound to your desktop before you leave the boardroom.

Kensington Proximo TagThis brilliant little device was developed for me. I’m the queen of the lost keys, cellphones and a host of other things. The Proximo allows you to track anything. The fob activates the alarm on your cell phone so you’ll always know where to look. The Proximo tag attaches to your key ring but allows your phone to track it’s location so you’ll never lose your keys again. You can in fact, use the tag for anything you don’t want to lose. Imagine how much time will be saved if I’m not wasting it trying to find lost items.

Do you know any cool little time savers? What time saving devices would you like to have? What about devices gone wrong?

Photo credit: Wikipedia

 

 

 

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Pride – Do you love it or hate it?

Pride - Commstorm

Pride has a bad reputation. I used to think it was a Canadian thing, but if you look at quotes on pride, they typically come with dire warnings no matter the country of origin. Pride comes right before you fall, fail, fool yourself and f… screw up. Pride is arrogant, egotistical and vain. Pride is lazy, loathsome and generally uninteresting, on and on it goes.

The thing is, I love the sense of pride I had last week when I sent my husband off to Umea, Sweden to present his thoughts on information design to an international gathering.  I really like that mildly euphoric feeling that swells your chest and elicits a huge teeth-bearing grin that encompasses your face. I was overcome by a similar feeling later in the week as I watched a play put together by my daughter and her fellow students. The play, a musical production, left me amazed and in awe, at their cleverness, focus and imagination. I was pretty proud of their teacher too.

 “I’m so proud of you that it makes me proud of me. I hope you know that.”
― John GreenWill Grayson, Will Grayson

Pride is that wonderful emotion that keeps you focused on your job and attentive to details that know one will ever know you cared about, but will be evident in the work you produce.  Pride is such a critical part of the joy we have in our work, that as employees and employers we always have to ask ourselves, are we proud of what we are doing? If not, then what needs to change?

I was asking a colleague to pass along a project she had started to another person and I could see she was not keen on my suggestion.  To be honest, she looked crestfallen.  When I raised the issue again she said that the project meant a lot to her. She had discovered a solution to a long-standing problem and wanted to see it through to the end.  What she said was, “I want to complete this project and know that I accomplished something from start to finish.”

I had been gearing up to gently chastise her for taking on more projects than she could handle, but as I looked at her and reflected on all of the projects that we were managing, I realized that I would be making a critical error if I insisted.  She had pride in her work. She quite correctly wanted to do a whole job.  We were in the midst of a series of long projects that would stretch out over months and in many cases, years.  Her statement reminded me of some basic elements of Lean business practices.  In a nutshell, we are more productive and more engaged, more proud of our work when we complete whole jobs.

Imagine getting three people to build a blog. One person would be in charge of content, one in charge of visuals and design and the third would be responsible for the technical function of the website. Now have them build without talking to one another.  How do you think the blog might work? Introduce a fourth character, the website owner. Think they will like what they find, probably not. In order for the website to meet the demands of form and function, there would have to be collaboration, a plan and a shared objective. Having pride in your work means investing in the process and the outcomes.

How much pride would you have in your work if you had clever content that was all but obscured by inappropriate graphics and images? What about a beautifully designed blog with rubbish for content or content that was out of step with the design? Better still; imagine how much pride you would have if you had no idea why you were doing what you were doing?

Now you might get the impression that  I think pride always a good thing, but that’s not the case,  while pride is an amazing motivator, it can also be an obstacle or even a complete barrier to accomplishment.  When our pride prevents us from asking for help or taking action when it is required then the same emotion that brought euphoria can become an oppressive weight preventing us from moving forward and achieving success.

“I would always rather be happy than dignified.”
Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

Pride can also make us do things to meet other people’s standards, expectations or acceptance.  This is one of the most pointless forms of pride because it requires so much effort and focus for things that mean so little to us. When it’s really out of control it makes us do things that are counter to our own interests, like stay in a marriage or job that makes us miserable.

“Too many people spend money they earned… to buy things they don’t want… to impress people that they don’t like.”
― Will Rogers

So do you love or hate pride most of the time?  Does being proud strike you as noble or foolish?

“Image courtesy of panuruang / FreeDigitalPhotos.net”

 

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Why Context Matters

Why Context Matters - Comm Before The Storm

 

When I was in the ninth grade I was wandering the halls of my high school with three friends. Everyone else was in class, but we had been working on an assignment with a teacher that ran overtime. We should have been heading straight for our next class but instead we were taking a little detour and enjoying the freedom of roaming the halls while they were quiet. We must have been louder than we thought because the door to one of the classrooms suddenly opened and a teacher from one of the older grades stuck his head out.

Being quick thinkers, or maybe more attuned to trouble, David Matthews and I headed for the closest stairwell door. We were slipping through it just as the teacher started calling out to us to “come back here”.

We played deaf and while David and I were making our escape, our friends Diane and Michael were caught and brought into the classroom. The teacher, who was later to become one of my favorites, had a sense of humor and began to quiz Michael and Diane about their tour of the school. As their faces grew redder, the class snickered at their discomfort. Just at the point when they thought he might torture them for the rest of the period came the question they had been dreading. What are your names?

Diane and Michael looked at each other mortified. Had they been with me or with David it wouldn’t have been so bad, but the two of them alone, well let’s just say it was an awkward combination. At their continued silence, the teacher prompted them again to give their names. Reluctantly Diane told him her name was Diane, Diane Ross. There was a moment of silence before the giggles started. Being a blue-eyed blond, Diane wasn’t remotely trying to be funny. The teacher eyed her suspiciously and then turned to Michael. Can you guess what his last name was? Would you believe that, Michael Jackson and Diane Ross had been caught running in the hall?

Now Mr. Caldwell was a teacher with a sense of humor, but he really needed them to give him their names, their real names. Needless to say they were in the principle’s office before the disbelieving teacher, now looking a little sheepish, was finally convinced that the real names of the two blue-eyed children he’d caught were Michael Jackson and Diane Ross.

I laughed hysterically when they recounted the story to me, but what I think is really funny is that Diane kept saying, “It’s Diane Ross, not Diana” as if that should have made all the difference in the world.

On a good day their names were often cause for pause, in the context of getting caught together by a teacher, well that stretches the imagination. Which brings me to my point, context matters. Things that normally seem logical, acceptable or natural can become inconsiderate, stupid and even thoughtless when the context changes.

Taking a selfie doesn't seem so bad when no one is paying attention, but context still matters.
Taking a selfie doesn’t seem so bad when no one is paying attention, but context still matters.

Consider President Obama taking a “selfie” with British Prime Minister David Cameron and Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt. Normally that might seem cute. President Obama taking a selfie during a memorial service with British Prime Minister David Cameron and Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt, well that’s just rude. The context makes the activity seem outrageous, unless you broaden your view and look at the activity happening around them, people chatting, talking on their cell phones, looking at their messages and suddenly you realize… there was epidemic of rude happening and that was just one aspect.

In the retail world, “Every day low prices” is a great idea. Everyday low prices that mean there will be no more sales in a store that has built it’s reputation on deep discount sales…well that’s just silly. Yet JC penny did just that in 2012. Their then, new CEO, Ron Johnson fresh from a successful tenure at Apple thought he could bring the same approach to the popular retailer that had worked so well at Apple. Rather than inspire customer loyalty the approach sent customers to other stores and share prices diving from $43 to $30 a share. Mr. Johnson is no longer with JC Penny.

On a final note on context, getting my blog out on time is important to me, so posting late two weeks in row is not in my plan. Posting late for two weeks in a row is perfectly acceptable if it means celebrating with my husband the launch of his new blog. If you’re curious, head over to paragraphic.ca. It’s a great read on communication design theory…really, it’s more engaging than that sounds.

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Do You Plan For Serendipity?

Do You Plan For Serendipity?Some see serendipity as the hand of God. That divine intervention that saves or changes an outcome for the better. Others view it as pure luck, incredible coincidence or a happy chance.

For me, serendipity is none of those things. Serendipity is what happens when you are ready for change, open to innovation and informed about possibilities. Serendipity should mean a careful assessment of circumstances that then inform action.  Serendipity is also about stepping back and allowing natural curiosity and conversation to flow. It is only luck to those who can’t see the links between ideas, events and outcomes.

Not only do I NOT think serendipity is accidental, I would argue that we should think, plan and train for serendipity. In popular culture the word serendipity has come to mean a lucky discovery, while the origin of the word is something quite different.  The story of “The Three Princes of Serendip” is widely held to be the origin of the word serendipity. In the story, a king instructs a select group of tutors to educate the three princes in their collective wisdom. When the tutors feel that they have taught the princes all that they can, they are presented to their father.  Although the king is proud of their wisdom, he feels that they have been too sheltered and so sends his sons off into the real world.

The princes very quickly encounter a number of adventures and use keen observation and what later becomes the basis of the scientific method to discover the truth behind a number of mysteries.  The stories of the three princes can be considered the origins of the detective story. In fact, the observations of the princes bear more resemblance to the behavior of Sherlock Holmes than they do to lucky discovery. Which brings us back to our current use of the word.

Serendipity is about being curious and observing all information, not just those bits that fit comfortably within your own paradigm. It’s also about being informed. It’s impossible to apply deductive reasoning or even to see the relationship between events if you are not informed. Encouraging curiosity and allowing yourself to follow your nose to see what you discover is a great way to cultivate serendipity.

A few years ago I was attending a board meeting in Vancouver. Early on the second day I woke up as the phone rang in my hotel room.  It was my assistant calling me to tell me to look at the national newspaper before going downstairs to my board meeting. The story on the cover of the newspaper was one that would have my board members concerned. Rather than walking into an explosive situation unprepared, that phone call meant that I had time to gather information and do the necessary preparation to deal with their concerns coherently. As I walked into the room for our early breakfast meeting, I was calm as I knew how we could manage the unfolding events. My board members might have thought we were lucky, but  I knew that my assistant was smart enough to know that the newspaper article could critically derail our meeting if I was unable to leverage serendipity.

When employees find simple solutions to complex problems or seize on opportunities, there is often a temptation to consider those outcomes, lucky. That’s a dangerous response to innovative behaviour.  When we fail to recognize innovative behaviour, it’s like saying, don’t employ knowledge, experience and insight. Instead hope for luck. We know that when good behaviour is rewarded, it is repeated, so if we discourage the kind of inquisitive assessment necessary to make serendipitous events positive, then we risk missing out on transformative discoveries.  Discoveries like Aspirin, insulin, antihistamines, Scotchgard, Teflon, Velcro, Nylon and the Post-It Note.

Do you give yourself enough time to cultivate serendipity?

Image courtesy of Chaiwat / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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