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"I can't wait."

When I hear that phrase, my comeback is:

"And yet….you must."

We wait to checkout at the store.  We wait for dinner.  We wait for the elevator.  

I want it NOW!  

We even SING about our impatience!  I searched the phrase, "I want it now" in lyrics.  

• Song "I Want It Now" from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971)
• Lyric from Queen's song, I Want it All (1989)
• Lyric from East 17's song, I Want It, (1992)
• Lyric from Black-Eyed Peas song, Now Generation (2009)

We've 'wanted it now' for over 4 decades!

Waiting runs afoul with one of my most sacred values:

Time

When I delivered Strategic Selling training to Sellers all over the world, I usually asked what resource they considered MOST valuable.  They all concur:

Their Time

They don't like travel time.  They draft Call Plans for their most important customer meetings. I call these Intentional Interaction...

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I was talking to Rick, a new experienced hire in our global consulting company.  Rick was my new boss.  I was asked to be his 'integration buddy.'  Help him learn the ropes to get up to speed fast.

I told him there were typically five things an experienced hire needed to learn to succeed at the firm.  

Eagerly he asked, "what are those five things?"

I looked at him.  Smiled.  

And gave him a very standard consulting answer.

"It depends."

You see, each experienced hire is different.  They bring in unique skills.  Typically, new hires expect that the organization will embrace those unique skills with wonder and awe.  

It just doesn't happen that way.

Organizations have unique cultures.  Norms.  Core and Secondary Values.  A new hire must navigate these unwritten rules to succeed.  And usually, there's around five things that a new hire has to unlearn from...

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I remember exactly where I was when I watched the Challenger explode on January 28, 1986.  I was in my residence hall room.  I had a little TV on a stand.  I stood as I watched the trails of smoke.  

I cried.  It started as a heaving.  Then went into one of those uncontrollable cries that just won't stop.

I was in my first year of my PhD program in Organization Behavior.  In the program, we studied organization disasters:  The Challenger, 3 Mile Island, Chernobyl, Titanic.

One huge takeaway is we like to condense and rationalize these disasters into a single root cause:

• Challenger – faulty O Rings
• Titanic – running full speed ahead at night
• 3 Mile Island – a spilled soda on a control panel

It's never that simple.

The root cause is a set of complicated decisions and assessed risks that's bigger than any single decision made by one person.  There's a...

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Uncertainty

Uncertainty leads to doubt.

Prolonged doubt leads to despair.

STOP!!

How can you drain that despair and face prolonged uncertainty with confidence?

We humans LOVE certainty.  We call it safety.  We call it security.  We call it freedom.  We want to predict what lies ahead because it gives us relief.  Our brains can let go a little bit and coast.  Glide.  

And yet…

Our brains are energized by uncertainty.  We crave Novelty.  Newness.  Creation.  Innovation.

We humans are a paradox.

When I was a change management consultant, I often heard in boardrooms, hallways and cubicles, a popular phrase, 'change is the only constant.'  This phrase was quoted from the Greek philosopher Heraclitus (hair-uh-clite-us) who said, "Change is the Only Constant in Life."  

I learned to hate that phrase.

It was usually a response to someone struggling with...

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What a week this has been.

Here in the United States, our capital was stormed and overrun.  We see disturbing pictures on our news programs and throughout our social media channels.  

Our political, nay…our fundamental social system seems at the brink of total annihilation.  

It's not.

You and I are more resilient than the latest Breaking News.  Don't let Breaking News … break anything, especially YOU!

In the course of our human history, we have endured plagues, pandemics, world wars, insurrections, crusades, holy wars.  In fact, we did more than endured.  We EVOLVED.

I believe we are at the brink of an exciting evolution of our humanity.  And you and I have an ESSENTIAL role in moving us along.

Your choice to join this Conscious Evolution occurs … right … NOW.

Let's begin.

First, what do you do with these emotions you're experiencing?  That knot in...

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It's a New Year!

We put the old year behind and excitedly look forward to a fresh start.

Did you create a New Year's Resolution?  Did you resolve to DO something different?  GIVE something up?  COMMIT to a goal or result?

Good for you!

You've completed the first step of a successful Resolution -- the easiest step in the process.

Want to improve your chances of achieving this year's resolution?

Let's visualize, right now, each of the seven steps to a successful resolution.  By the way, if you are leading a team, these seven steps are based in solid goal theory.

Let's VISUALIZE!

NOTE:  Sit back and listen or watch this post so you can do this visualization activity right now!

Step 1.  Create a Rally Point.  A Rally Point generates excitement, energy and enthusiasm.  It keeps people motivated.  It is a clear vision of what achieving that Rally Point Looks like.   Feels...

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On our Holiday call with my oldest daughter, our conversation drifted to the challenges she faces in her consulting job.  She works with people all over the country and literally the world.  She is quite familiar with the consulting lifestyle I had for over 30 years.  Travel.  Imagine, you and your team traveling every week to deliver strategic solutions to clients.

Clients' confidence was bolstered by seeing the team on site.  Somewhere they knew that personal sacrifices were being made on their behalf.  

Travel showed commitment.

That all changed with the Pandemic.

As much as my daughter loves staying at home, the pandemic creates a HUGE challenge for her and her team.

Cohesion

How do you generate cohesion when you lead a virtual team?

No team dinners.  No project kickoff.  No milestone celebration parties.  No walking down the hall to give an encouraging word to a team...

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This is a great time for your End of Year Clearance.  Start the new year FRESH and RENEWED!

With so much time at home this past year, we cleaned house.  Then we cleaned the garage.  Then we cleaned the yard.  Then we went back to cleaning the house and continued the cycle.

We created "Get Rid Of" piles in the basement and garage.  As months of self-quarantine continue, the piles grow.  We're slimming down more and more.

It's a beautiful feeling….to unburden from stuff.   Energy is released.

What should go into your End of Year Clearance pile?

In the beginning, the pile included easy stuff to get rid of.  A computer desk we no longer use.  Old cameras, Tivo machines and other technology from the 1990's.  Isn't an antique defined as something aged 20 years or more?

The next level of 'stuff' was harder.  These things have memory, history, even identity wrapped...

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"I don't wanna"

"I'm too tired."  

"I'm bored"

I heard myself whine because my fingertips were cold in this Minnesota winter 

Feel the resistance rising?  See it in others around you?

Yuk

I thought about the root word of my mantra, "Live 100% Empowered."

POWER

What is Power anyway?

Science defines Power as the amount of energy transferred per unit of time.  Makes sense right?  When you empower your team, you transfer energy to them, carrying them for a certain period of time.  You inject more energy along the way to sustain them.  

As I walked in the woods in the Minnesota December cold, I got thinking.  What is nature's version of Power?  What better model than …. 

a lightning strike!  

Ever see a lightning strike go from cloud to ground?

I have.  Summertime on Pine Ridge reservation.  Fierce storm raging.  Rain relentlessly pelting my tent....

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At the end of every year, I start my annual planning process by reviewing the past year to make a list of accomplishments.  High Performers don't often celebrate accomplishments on a day-to-day or week-to-week basis.  They knock down barriers and move on to the next challenge.  I'm no exception. 

Best to begin a forward-looking planning process with Gratitude in your heart, wouldn't you say?

Wisdom 4 Humanity Challenge #1:  Make a List of Accomplishments for the Past Year

As a consultant for over 30 years, my annual list of accomplishments usually included hard-won successes on my clients' most strategic transformation projects.  That lifestyle included working with amazing teams and traveling to interesting and exotic places all over the world.   Turkey, South Africa, Peru, Dublin, Venezuela, Singapore, Paris, Dubai and Winnipeg.

Due to the pandemic, this year was very different.

As...