Just tried to post an entry and got an error message. When I hit the "BACK" button...it was gone.
Funny thing, I was wondering if that post was any good. Maybe blogspot decided it wasn't and saved me!
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Saturday, April 18, 2009
ROD WAS GREAT
One of the unique benefits senior executives with the Omnicom Group of companies have is the opportunity to attend Omnicom University. This is no slouch of an internal corporate training. In fact, it is the only corporate training program in the world which has an exclusive contract with Harvard Business School to provide all of the instructors. After an intense six days with the likes of world-class professors from HBS like Frances Frei, Nancy Koehn, Jim Heskett, and Tom DeLong, one really appreciates why HBS is such a renowned institution.The administration from Omnicom Group of such an incredible program comes from Dean Tom Watson, former Vice Chair of Omnicom, and Associate Dean Rod Wright, the Chief Development Officer of TBWA Worldwide. (Rod is on the lower left in the picture above from our class photo last year, with Tom directly below me. Classmates Kevin Bell and Lucy Jameson are pictured with us as well.)
This isn't an advertisement for Omnicom or for HBS though, far from it. Craig Elston of TBWA in Denver (http://craigelston.blogspot.com/), another fellow classmate from last year, sent me a note on Wednesday that was the worst one I had seen in a while. Rod Wright had suffered a stroke and had passed away. I had only known Rod for less than a week, but his gentle nature, incredibly sharp wit, and especially the way he generally seemed to care about people made an impact on me.
TBWA Worldwide Chairman Jean-Marie Dru made some interesting comments in AdWeek after Rod's incredibly untimely passing at the young age of 51. "He taught us to be brave and smart and love the business...The best thing we can do to honor his memory is to try and do something great every day." I have a bit of a different perspective.
As I mentioned, in my prior post, this was a week filled with difficult moments and was stressful as could be. However, ever since I received this news, Rod's face popped up in my mind, and reminded me that I shouldn't be stressing so much over business.
I am no doctor, but by trying to "love...business" and do "great" things every day, how many of you are taking your health to a place it shouldn't be? Perhaps the focus should be on much smaller things every day...and that would be great for a whole different reason.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
SPARK TRUMPS
I was meeting with a new team to my org this morning. After doing roundtables with the entire team of 20+ people, it never ceases to amaze me how when people are passionate about their business, they can overcome nearly anything.
When you hire people...find people with a spark.
When you hire people...find people with a spark.
Monday, April 13, 2009
TALK ABOUT YOUR NOSE...
Sitting on a Northwest flight today from Seattle to Detroit, the pilot used a term that in hundreds of thousands of miles of flying around the world I have never heard before. Interestingly, it was during the little beginning-of-flight pilot speech I’ve heard hundreds of times before. It was just a quick phrase on where we were headed.
“Right now, I’ve got the nose pointed at Billings, Montana.”
May not seem like a big deal, but almost exclusively, pilots give the shpiel on flight paths with “Our flight path today takes us…” “We’ll be headed over Bismark, ND.” Much more passive approaches those. However, today’s captain called out an undeniable fact: Where the Captain points the nose…that’s where you are headed.
Also, to get from Seattle to Detroit, there are plenty of places to point the nose as a intermediate point. Same with your business, there are lots of different ways to get wherever you are going. Once you have picked a “route”, as a leader, its important that your team actually knows where you have the nose headed. This is true whether you are a CEO or a front-line Team Lead. It’s OK to be assertive with the way you address it as well.
One of the biggest frustrations I see from individual contributors is that they feel like a passenger on a plane who is looking out a airplane window at some nondescript landscape somewhere. They feel the momentum, and they know they’re headed somewhere, but people like to know where they are headed along the way. They want a leader who knows where the nose is pointed at all times and doesn’t keep it to themselves!
“Right now, I’ve got the nose pointed at Billings, Montana.”
May not seem like a big deal, but almost exclusively, pilots give the shpiel on flight paths with “Our flight path today takes us…” “We’ll be headed over Bismark, ND.” Much more passive approaches those. However, today’s captain called out an undeniable fact: Where the Captain points the nose…that’s where you are headed.
Also, to get from Seattle to Detroit, there are plenty of places to point the nose as a intermediate point. Same with your business, there are lots of different ways to get wherever you are going. Once you have picked a “route”, as a leader, its important that your team actually knows where you have the nose headed. This is true whether you are a CEO or a front-line Team Lead. It’s OK to be assertive with the way you address it as well.
One of the biggest frustrations I see from individual contributors is that they feel like a passenger on a plane who is looking out a airplane window at some nondescript landscape somewhere. They feel the momentum, and they know they’re headed somewhere, but people like to know where they are headed along the way. They want a leader who knows where the nose is pointed at all times and doesn’t keep it to themselves!
Friday, April 10, 2009
TERRIBLE...FANTASTIC
As I mentioned a few posts ago, my mind is definitely on golf with this being Masters week. As much as I tried to not do another "golf wisdom" entry today, I can't help myself. This time, its a golfer I am sure you never heard of, on a course you most likely have never heard of either...
Sunol Valley has two nice little tracks in a pretty canyon area nestled between Pleasanton and San Jose, CA. When I lived in NoCal about 8 years ago, I actually turned into a decent golfer because the weather was so perfect all the time, I played once or twice a week. One day, playing there with my good friend Mat Caldwell (yes, one "t"), I saw the worst putt I have ever seen.
Mat was lying about 15 feet below the hole on the same tier of a two-tiered green where the hole was. It was a straight uphill putt...not easy, but eminently makeable for Mat, who regularly shot in the low 80's. (That's pretty good for those of you who don't golf!) For some reason that I could only attribute to a minor epileptic seizure, Matt hit it 30 feet past the hole, onto the top tier, and way off line to boot. It was the worst putt I had ever seen in my life, and my stomach still gets sore just thinking of how hard I was doubled over laughing at him.
But that's just part of the story. Mat stalked up to his ball, lined it up, followed his routine, let it roll, and about 7 seconds later, I saw maybe the best putt I have ever seen (that wasn't on TV). Making a 30 foot, left-to-right breaking, super speedy, downhill putt onto a lower tier hole is really something to behold.
But here's the thing. If he wouldn't have made the worst putt I've ever seen, he never would have been in position to make the best putt I've ever seen. The next time you blow it, and we all do, think about that putt that Mat made. You can do the same...no matter how hard people are laughing around you.
Sunol Valley has two nice little tracks in a pretty canyon area nestled between Pleasanton and San Jose, CA. When I lived in NoCal about 8 years ago, I actually turned into a decent golfer because the weather was so perfect all the time, I played once or twice a week. One day, playing there with my good friend Mat Caldwell (yes, one "t"), I saw the worst putt I have ever seen.
Mat was lying about 15 feet below the hole on the same tier of a two-tiered green where the hole was. It was a straight uphill putt...not easy, but eminently makeable for Mat, who regularly shot in the low 80's. (That's pretty good for those of you who don't golf!) For some reason that I could only attribute to a minor epileptic seizure, Matt hit it 30 feet past the hole, onto the top tier, and way off line to boot. It was the worst putt I had ever seen in my life, and my stomach still gets sore just thinking of how hard I was doubled over laughing at him.
But that's just part of the story. Mat stalked up to his ball, lined it up, followed his routine, let it roll, and about 7 seconds later, I saw maybe the best putt I have ever seen (that wasn't on TV). Making a 30 foot, left-to-right breaking, super speedy, downhill putt onto a lower tier hole is really something to behold.
But here's the thing. If he wouldn't have made the worst putt I've ever seen, he never would have been in position to make the best putt I've ever seen. The next time you blow it, and we all do, think about that putt that Mat made. You can do the same...no matter how hard people are laughing around you.
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