What's Your Crazy??

I recently did the "What's Your Why" session with some of the folks on our team. If you've never done this exercise with your team, I highly encourage you to take the time to do so because they've always been eye-opening for everyone; those writing down their list and for me learning what motivates each person.

Understanding what drives someone, what gets them out of bed to do what they do everyday, is an incredible journey in understanding. When you're truly invested in someone...when your personal philosophy is "Your Success Is My Business"...helping someone achieve their "why" list takes on a whole new meaning.

Being "truly invested" in someone, though, isn't always as easy as we'd like, is it? We often find that personality...errrrr, let's say differences...can sometimes make us hesitant. I'm sure you have someone that comes to mind who rubs you the wrong way a little, maybe acts and/or talks in a way that is off-putting to you.  Yep - you're thinking of that person right now aren't you.

So...

I was pondering about this...about some folks that I know, that could be seen by others as "more challenging" to get along with, and realized that, not only did I know them, but that I actually liked them...a lot!

Why is that? I pondered.

I believe the answer comes from the fact that I not only know their "What's Your Why" but that I also know their "What's Your Crazy".

"What's Your Crazy" you're pondering?

We all have some crazy about us. Yes. All of us. Some something about each of us, sometime during our life that, whether self-inflicted or impacted upon us by others, or both, had a major influence on who we are and how we act.

I'll provide you some more specific examples: grew up in a dysfunctional family, abused (mentally and/or physically) by a relative or friend, bullied during youth, un-diagnosed mental challenges, addictions with drugs or alcohol or pornography, poverty/financial challenges...the list goes on, but I think you get the idea.

Reaching out to someone to understand "What's Your Why" is easy. In fact, I'd go as far as saying it's fascinating! But reaching out to someone to discover and understand "What's Your Crazy" is tough. Getting someone to open up about extreme difficulties in their life requires trust. But keep this in mind: You may be the very person that can provide the healing they need.

We all arrived here - this place in life - because of the combined experience of everything prior to this moment. Everyone's story is uniquely special, full of ups and downs. Our "What's Your Why" is often directly related to our "What's Your Crazy".  If you really care, be sure you're taking the time to discover both.

Play with all your heart 'til the very end...

“Sometime around 2:10 a.m. as the Titanic began settling more quickly into the icy North Atlantic, the sounds of ragtime, familiar dance tunes and popular waltzes that had floated reassuringly across her decks suddenly stopped as Bandmaster Wallace Hartley tapped his bow against his violin.   Hartley and his musicians, all wearing their lifebelts now, were standing back at the base of the second funnel, on the roof of the First Class Lounge, where they had been playing for the better part of an hour.  There had been a few moments of silence, then the solemn strains of the hymn “Nearer My God to Thee” began drifting across the water.  It was with a perhaps unintended irony that Hartley chose a hymn that pleaded for the mercy of the Almighty, as the ultimate material conceit of the Edwardian Age, the ship that “God Himself couldn’t sink,” foundered beneath his feet.  As the band played, the slant of the deck grew steeper, while from within the hull came a rapidly increasing number of thuds, bangs and crashes as interior furnishings broke loose, walls and partitions collapsed–the Titanic was only moments from breaking apart.”¹

 

I’m sure you recognize the story that is told here.  The band, while employed on the ship, were not crew members of the ship.  They were in fact employed by a Liverpool music agency who was employed by the ship.  Thus, the musicians were just ‘passengers’ like everyone else outside of the ship’s crew.  They could have left at any time they wanted, just like the passengers were leaving.  Note that the entire band perished in the icy North Atlantic waters that morning along with 1495 fellow passengers and crew.

 

When you look at the lives of these men (short descriptions here), you don’t find anything that would have caused you to believe that they would possess such courage. Yet, when the time came, the gave all.

 

When you stop and think, I would say that our survival instincts would prove to be one of our highest, so knowingly going to your ‘grave’ just isn’t something the overwhelming majority of people would ever do. How was it that Wallace Hartley was able to lead his team in a way that caused them to stay and play (work) when everyone around them was panicking?  They obviously saw something in this leader that caused them to follow him, to the very end.

 

So as you lead your team today, ask yourself these questions:

 

o   Am I hiring top talent for the positions I’m filling?

o   What culture am I instilling within the team concerning the customer experience, comradery, and the company mission & vision?

o   Am I a leader that people believe in and trust?

o   Do I lead by example?

o   Am I a leader that people willingly follow?

o   Am I a leader that inspires?

o   Am I seen as a servant leader or a task master?

o   Everyone leaves some type of legacy – what will mine be?

 

 

“A man who wants to lead the orchestra
must turn his back on the crowd.”
~Max Lucado

¹From RMS Titanic Remembered

Marketing Genius!

I'm always interested in seeing small businesses promote their services. I find it incredible how some are so creative in their methods.

Check out this short video of what a local small business owner did to promote his services.

What small businesses do you know of that have some creative marketing presence and how are they promoting it?

[Note: You can contact Frank to get your land survey - here. You can hire Jeff Vickery by finding him here.]


"Your Success Is My Business."™

pondering - "to think about : reflect on"

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Movies That Influenced My Life

I was pondering while recently watching a movie about how much I've enjoyed them throughout my life. I remember fondly when I was a little fellow going to the movies with my parents and our friends.

I remember the very first time Mom dropped my brother and me off for a movie - our first without grown-ups. I was twelve years old and it was to see the James Bond movie, "Live and Let Die" downtown Tallahassee at the theater that used to be next to the Capital building.

Soon afterwards, my parents purchased an 8mm camera (no sound, but state-of-the-art at the time) and I quickly learned I could gather all the neighborhood kids together and make little movies. The best of them was "Dracula Invades Blountstown" Parts I and II.


So again I'm thinking about all this and I decided to reflect on the movies that have most influenced me in my life (in no particular order):

• Dawn of the Dead.
  I had been hooked on scary movies for as long as I can remember. Growing up on Frankenstein, The Wolfman, Dracula, and The Mummy, etc. I even had all the little models of each (which had glow-in-the-dark parts, which would scare me during the night). But this movie, it didn't push the envelope for me, it blew it apart. I saw it for the first time during it's initial release in the spring on 1979 with my friend Steve Lee in Marianna, Florida (ended up a lot of friends where there the same night to see it for the first time). It completely scared me to a state I had never before experienced...I mean, this was a complete assault on my senses. I had seen "Last Man on Earth, "Night of the Living Dead" and "The Omega Man" so I already had a fascination with the whole "last man left" genre, but this movie took it to an entire new plateau. Since that initial viewing, I've literally watched this movie over a thousand times.


• It's A Wonderful Life.
  Maybe it's just me, but I believe that most folks have made decisions in their lives that they wished they could go back and change. Also, we've gotten ourselves in to some things that we just don't think there's any other option than the worst ones we can come up with. Then, there's this whole "our attitude" is what we need to change philosophy. I've written before about how awesome this movie is and how I continue to find lessons in it.


• Patton.
  This is the film that caused me to have a life-long passion for Military History, specializing in WWII. I saw it when I was nine years old and from the very beginning of the movie, that scene with the giant flag and the speech...I was at that moment a committed full-blooded American in appreciation of what others had sacrificed to give me the freedoms I enjoyed. Yes, it was very powerful on a young, impressionable boy.


• Forrest Gump.
  My favorite movie of all time. Every time I watch this movie I see something else that makes me think about how our lives are so similar. I'll not go into this one any further since I've recently written about it, but just to note about it's influence on me.

This isn't all of them, as I could go on and on. But this is the top ones as reflected in certain areas of my life.

My question: What movies have influenced your life?

[Note: photo from http://larryfire.files.wordpress.com/]

“Your Success Is My Business.”™

pondering - "to think about : reflect on"

Please share with others: