Common or Committed?

I do not choose to be a common man.
It is my right to be uncommon … if I can.

Those words were penned by Thomas Paine in 1776 and are true today. They reveal one of the truths about us rising above the mundane and committing our lives- it is a choice! We make those choices throughout our business or personal lives. We can follow the crowd and take the easy way or dare to try excellence as our goal. In the end it is up to each of us to choose to be common or committed!

Another truth about leaving the common and being committed is the place of failure in our lives. I know of no great success achieved without some if not great failure along the path, Disney failed as did President Lincoln. Richard Nixon lost the presidency, went home and lost the California Governor’s race, and later was elected in one of the greatest landslide elections in our history as a country. Ronald Reagan became president on his third attempt. As W. Clement Stone once wrote “Success is achieved by those who try and keep trying (being committed).

Fear of failure might be the single greatest reason well fall short of what we might become and thus never really commit to any task, goal or life pursuit. Teddy Roosevelt had it right when he wrote “Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checked by failure...than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.” We must step out of our comfort zone if we are ever truly going to be committed.

The first two years of my insurance career were tarnished by spotty production and a willingness to go along with the crowd. Given great training I had a desire to excel but a commitment to the easy path. During a twenty-five week business insurance class I learned much and saw examples of people choosing to be committed and the lessons changed my path forever.

At the end of his great poem “The Road Not Taken” Robert Frost wrote “I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” That is the third truth about leaving the common and moving to the committed. The road will not be crowded. Others will try and divert us and get us to travel the easy path. Obstacles and diversions will try and sidetrack us as we travel life’s journey. We must forge ahead to reach being the uncommon and to remain committed to our future!

Getting Things Done!!

Much has been written about how to get things done through people. There are several theories of motivation, each having an element of truth and success. After studying and trying most of them for over forty years I have come to the conclusion I can’t motivate anyone, but can just put someone in a position to motivate themselves and reach for what they want.

Why have I come to that conclusion? I have read books and listened to speakers on motivation for years. After a few days their benefits have waned unless I made a conscious effort to keep the effect going. Most people are not willing to make the effort to keep up the effect, so as leaders we must find a way to do it for them. My system for putting followers in a position for self- motivation comes in three steps. They are, as follows:

First, it is important to create an atmosphere. We want them to be in a positive position for accomplishment. We must get to know our people and what THEY want from our organization or team. When we know them we also must prepare them with training needed to accomplish their tasks. Someone has said “nothing succeeds like success” so we must allow them small victories, and yes even some failures, to move toward their own goals for growth. Along the way we involve the team in goal setting so it becomes OUR plan and not just something that we are handed without input.

When we have successfully created the desired atmosphere we then must move on to the second step, contributing to our success. We do this first by understanding that we too must grow and continue getting better at what we do. We lead by example and in so doing contribute to our and their success. This step is a continuous process because each person needs something different from us and as they grow what they need changes. A key to contributing to our success is remaining flexible to the ever changing needs of our staff or team. One of my former managers once said “never ask someone to do what you haven’t or wouldn’t do”. We contribute to our success by getting “in the trenches” with them!

The final step is to always celebrate our victories. These celebrations come on at least two levels. As we are progressing towards a goal we must have small celebrations that recognize our progress and those responsible for the achievement. When the big picture goal is reached we should also celebrate, but on a larger scale. Each step along the way should be marked with meaningful recognition for all involved. We want to give credit where it is due and to make it vocal and valuable. By doing these things we make it not my victory, but our victory and we are “getting things done!”
Contact Chuck at: chuck.wright@sckans.edu

Saying Thanks!

November has rolled around again, the year is winding down, and many of our thoughts turn to those things and those for whom we are thankful. Really this should be a year around activity but it seems we get too busy to stop and be thankful and to say thanks. In this land of plenty it is easy to develop and attitude of entitlement and not realize how blessed we are. My list is certainly not all-inclusive and I’ll think of something left out, but I’ll share some of the items that deserve my saying thanks.

Thanks to God for being born in this great nation. I am free to worship how I want, work where I want, and live where I want. Those and other freedoms are only possible because of those sacrificing, even dying, so that I and others could exercise our freedoms. Changing our government by ballot and not by bullet is another wonderful freedom. We’re even free to call others stupid and uneducated because they choose to vote differently than we do.

Thanks to my wife of forty-nine years and all the joys and sorrows we’ve shared. I decided long ago that she was a keeper and one of the few people (maybe the only one) that could put up with me. In those early days I thought she was the nicest and the smartest person I ever met. I was right. I’m hoping for many years to share our common interests- our faith, our family, and our friends.

Thanks for our families, close and distant. Our daughters, grandchildren, mothers, sisters, cousins, etc. have added joy to our household. We have shared many special occasions, joys, and sorrows. We have had great opportunity to share with you in our home and in distant places. As Debbie Boone once sang, “You light up my life.”

Thanks to those sacrificing to keep us safe. Our police, firefighters, and yes, our military serving on foreign shores all deserve our thanks. Our lives happen so peacefully and matter of fact that we too often forget the risks you take to provide our everyday lives. An ordered society is dependent upon each of you to keep us from chaos.

Thanks for the opportunity to have two great careers. The sales and sale management career of my youth and the teaching career I’ve had in my mature years. Both have been a blessing and added to my life. I continually learn from the students taking my classes.

These are just a few things I have to say thanks about. Think of yours and remember to say thanks for those providing them. Also, have a great Thanksgiving!!!!

Laugh, Cry, Pray!

Recently I was visiting my Mother at Cumbernauld Village. As I was leaving I ran into George Lowe. His mother had recently moved into the facility. We were lamenting the direction of our mothers’ health. As our conversation ended George remarked that when dealing with these kinds of issues he tried to laugh, cry, and pray. The more I thought about it the advice was not only good for where we were with our mothers, but just about everything that happens in life.

Doctors have long held that laughter is good for us. Readers Digest has a section called “Laughter is the Best Medicine” and wise King Solomon wrote “a cheerful heart is good medicine” in Proverbs 17:22. Laughing is often contagious. People seeing others laugh get involved despite often not knowing the topic at hand. At the end of a good laugh everyone feels better.

My prior district manager once told me that while we are involved in many serious activities it is important not to take ourselves too seriously. Sometimes the most laughable situations are those we get into because we “do dumb.” We can either let these times get us down or have a good laugh and move on. I’ve had several laughs at myself over the years.

The ability to cry is also very important. For much of my life the conventional wisdom has been that real men don’t cry. When our girls were young we would watch a television show with a sad ending. The girls and their mother would have tears running down their faces. To me it was just a story. My wife often said she hated to see what would make me cry. That time came in August, 1989 when my dad passed from this life.

Crying is also a good release of the emotions and seems to clear our sensory system. We cry not only for loss or bereavement but also for joy or in appreciation. Often when we are surprised in a positive way many respond with tears. We get involved with someone crying and tears of compassion flow.

I remember several years go seeing a sign “Prayer Changes Things.” My experience over the years validates that message. Prayer is as much an attitude as a specific event. It is the recognition that a power larger than us controls all the events of life. We can pray selfishly but are more effective when our petitions are in behalf of others with needs.

What is the power of prayer? James, the writer of the New Testament book wrote “the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” In other words the power of prayer is enormous. I know that my Grandmother’s prayers were often and powerful on my behalf. Thanks George I’m glad we had our brief conversation. When the stresses or joys of life come, as they certainly will, I plan to laugh, cry, and pray!

Transitions!

It seems that life is full of transitions. About the time we get comfortable with some aspect of our life it changes. We don’t go from stability period to stability period; but when things change, we have to grow to the next time that is stable for us. Making the transitional time a growth time is important. Transitions happen in several ways. Let’s look at a couple of ways transitions are necessary.

Sometimes we see something lacking in an aspect of our life and we chose to change. In front of us is a picture of where we want to go that will take some intermediate steps. We might see that we lack the skills for a part of our job. The transition may be filled with training, planning and continuing to focus on where we want to go. We may go through several transitional stages before the desired result is attained.

At other times a change is thrust upon us. We lose a job or perhaps someone that has been an important part of our life. Or the change may be a new computer system at our office. We must adjust and move on with our next phase of life whether it is our preference to do so or not. The transition is not always easy but it is necessary. Often we need to reach out to others to aid us in this process. Someone may have faced a similar change that would enable them to offer valuable assistance.

Whether we choose the change or it chooses us, the transition period can be a time of opportunity or frustration. Difficulties are bound to happen during this critical period. How we face transitions often determine ultimate success and duration of the transition period. Successful transitions aid in getting us comfortably into another time period of stability.

A wise man once told me “this too will pass.” Both periods of stability and times of transition follow his rule. They all pass. Another wise person has said that long term success in life requires us to have the ability to “roll with the punches.” Having this flexibility allows us to transition into the next successful aspect of our life. The only real constant in life is change and the transitions that come with those changes.

Living Today!!

"Yesterday is Gone. Tomorrow Has Not yet Come. We Have Only Today. Let Us Begin." - Mother Theresa
What a wonderful sentiment and a great truth about how we should live our lives. We as Americans spend way too much time thinking about the things that are past, yesterday IS gone. We can never change what is past. We often defeat ourselves with past failures or lull ourselves into inactivity with past successes.

The value of our yesterdays is to apply the lessons learned and move forward successfully and to recall and remember those people and events helping us to become the person we are. We can make the mistake of overvaluing our past and trying to focus on what was or at least what our perception of what was.

We also spend a great deal of time worrying about what is coming in the days ahead. I read a study once that stated that forty-four percent of our concerns are things that never happen and only nine percent of the things we worry about come about exactly as we worried about them. Or as the gospel writer Matthew stated,

“Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” Matthew 6:34.

Many times when we plan we put too much into tomorrow. In truth tomorrow never comes, we are always waiting for it. When our next day comes there is a new tomorrow. The tomorrow attitude is one of the reasons we often procrastinate. We fall into the “why do today what you can put off until tomorrow” mentality. While we don’t want to minimize the importance of goals and planning for execution of the goals and plans we only have today!

Today is the most important day of our lives. It is the only time we can work with, what we have right now. This morning I played golf and that experience ifs forever behind me. Last Friday I met with four old friends and had a great visit that is forever behind me. We may meet again but not in the same way.


Right now we have a chance to accomplish something that in a short while will be frozen in the past. Let us begin so that we will use today wisely. Let us begin so that we will not look back with regret or worse still not have anything to show for the time we spent. Let us begin!!

Valuing Diversity!

I grew up in the 60’s. It was a difficult time with cultural, social and economic upheaval. The Wichita business community of the time was white, 35, with dark blue suits and a conservative style. Working and getting along were relatively easy because the players were similar with similar ideas and values. Things would change in a short time and undergo constant change for many years.

At about the same time the Wichita Police Department experimented with a fundamental operational change. At that time a male and female were placed as partners in a patrol car for the first time. Reaction was mixed and a lot of concerns were expressed. Today the same practice is routine and nearly unquestioned. Victims and perpetrators alike were better served with the new practice.

In the ensuing years the value of a diverse workforce has been recognized and appreciated. The diversity comes in many areas: gender, age, race, culture, religion, disability. Over the years the diversity has been resisted, accepted and finally endorsed. The transition has not been without pain. It was much easier in the days when we were all “alike”. Difference has made us work to understand each other. But the resulting benefits have been enormous.

In my classes I’ve often used my marriage as an example of diversity. Any time more than one tries to do something adjustment must be made, After nearly forty-nine years together I must confess I don’t always understand my wife. She would say the same about me. If two people spending that much time together still have adjustment to make think how much more work must be done to understand those differing from us at work, or church, or school.

Working and learning to work with those different from us is hard work. There are many frustrations, starts, and restarts along the way. Casualties happen because some aren’t pliable or flexible enough to make the adjustments. Yet when we work to understand each other our organizations become much stronger. Instead of a restricted, similar view we get views from many backgrounds and perspectives. Our decision processes have more alternatives and our solutions more creative. Each of us draws from our own set of experiences and viewpoints and the organization ultimately becomes the winner.

Understanding the value and importance of diversity is a key quality of diversity. Leadership must take their diverse staffs and mold them together into an effective team. Only then can the organization performance thrive and reach optimum output.
Contact Chuck at: chuck.wright@sckans.edu