Tag: inspiration

Posted on by — Leave a comment

That Can Do Attitude

 

Ernie Sorts Wires
Ernie Sorts Wires

…it doesn’t make sense, it’s not logical, it is a gut feeling! I have no idea what I’m supposed to do. I only know what I can do. – Captain Kirk, Star Trek

Doing has a lot to do with attitude.  If you do something with a bad attitude it can get done but to what end?  Doing with a can do attitude is key to making things happen, and enjoying the time it takes to get there.  I have been thinking a lot lately about what I can do and the simple word “Do”.

This simple word – Do, has so much power in it.  There is also another simple word that goes along with Do and that is Be.

Do and Be both have a profound impact on the ability to be an effective leader.  Doing what is right and following your “gut” is important.  Doing means taking action and making decisions when no one else will.  It is stepping up to the plate during times of confusion and offering solutions.  It means keeping your ears open more and your mouth shut more often.  Leadership requires not only a listening ear but also charity.

I like to look at charity as the great law of potential.  Many of you have probably heard of the book The Secret.  It speaks of the Law of Attraction and how to attract positive things into your life.  I liken this law of attraction to faith.  A simple definition of faith can be found in the Book of Mormon.  It explains that when you have faith you hope for things which are not seen which are true.  As a leader you must act in faith and do many things where you do not know the end.  As a leader, look to others and recognize not what they are, but what they can become.  Everyone has the potential to be great.  It is up to a leader to recognize and bring out that potential.

Doing and being are separate but at the same time inseparable.  Separate as we are not what we do, but inseparable because what we repeatedly do we become.

Taking action is required for leadership.  Stepping outside our comfort zone is required for our growth and the growth of others.

This is a little story about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody.  There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it.  Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it.  Somebody got angry about that because it was Everybody’s job.  Everybody thought that Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn’t do it.  It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done.

Be the anybody.  Anybody can lead if they will make up their minds quickly.  Fail quickly, succeed quickly.  Leaders act many times on instinct and make quick split second decisions.  If they make the wrong one then they correct course and keep plugging away forward.

As you look for others to lead find their potential.  Find their talents.  Delegate, not jobs you do not want, but delegate according to talent.  Find out what people would do without pay and get them excited to do just that and get paid for it.  This instills a desire to create and to excel towards ones potential.  That can do attitude will be ever present as you lead through applying people’s potential to doing and being and reaching it.

Posted on by — 1 Comment

Focus on Everything – How to Ace the Product Design Process

ET Highway
Extra Terrestrial Highway, Nevada, USA

Focus.  What does it mean?  I like to find the origins of words because it really helps in gaining a deeper understanding of the meaning.

Focus is a point of convergence.  Like the Extra Terrestrial Highway in Nevada almost goes to a point in the distance.   In Latin it literally means “Hearth, Fireplace“.  Which possibly stems from focusing the sun in a lens to a point hot enough to create a flame.  So how does this definition of focus apply to the design process?  A focus is knowing your end goal and aligning all aspects of the process to get you there.

Product design is a process.  I love product design.  I love to see and buy products that have good design.  I absolutely hate a poor design, especially when it would not have been that hard to make it great.  This is even harder to understand when you look at examples like the Ford Pinto Case.  The executives making decisions in this example actually valued human life as an expense that they could afford when compared to fixing a simple design flaw.  I know this is kind of the extreme, but to see a finished product that went through all the stages of the ideas and concepts, to engineering and development, through prototyping and manufacturing, to marketing and distribution, and to still have a poor design… that, my friends is infuriating to me.  How many eyes and hands did that poor design pass through?  How many people could have spoken up and put in their two cents and made a change?  How does this happen?

I think the answer lies in the process.  It is complex.  It is time oriented.  It deals with people from many walks of life.  Sometimes those people lose their focus, or maybe they are focusing on the wrong end.

Taking a road-trip is like this process.  One time I went on a road-trip through Rachel, Nevada. I felt the trip was long and rather boring.  I missed a lot of the tourist traps and other unique locations that can make for a better, more memorable experience.  I do not even remember why it took so long or where our final destination was.  Just like you may miss a great unique experience that you really needed to see (the A-Le-Inn in Rachel, NV is a great example), it is really in where your focus lies.  Bringing a product to market is very similar.  As it comes down to crunch time people tend to start accepting more and more of what they otherwise would change – they start to focus on just the end rather than the process.

This is where our focus should be – in the process.  Just like when you are on a road-trip, the fun happens when you focus on all the parts of the trip along the way rather than just getting somewhere as quickly as possible.  A friend and mentor of mine, Nelson Boren, once told me to “Focus on everything”.  I was not sure what he meant by this because in my mind it was the opposite of what focus means.  If you focus on everything in reality you are not focused on anything.  It was not till many years later that I finally understood what he meant.  I finally realized that it is possible to focus on everything with the proper team in place with a proper leader that defines the vision.  Each member of that team can focus on doing their job in line with the overall vision.  All these jobs and tasks can then be focused towards the vision.

In product design, there is always a better design.  Even if you think you have arrived, a product can always be improved.

A cousin of mine is a horse fanatic.  She loves everything about horses.  She has studied them, ridden them, has action figures, pictures, blankets, clothing, you name it.  She told me that when you are riding a horse (especially a trained horse), they will move in the direction you look.  The horse can sense the slightest movements and therefore it is important to look where you want the horse to go – not just pull the reigns in that direction.  You need a definite focus.

Back when I was in high school taking a Drivers Ed class, we practiced on what looked like glorified washing machines.  There was an overhead screen that displayed a rather boring simulator movie from a laser disk.  You turned your steering wheel when the car on screen started to turn or a red light would come on.  My drivers ed Teacher was also the German teacher, Herr Corry was his name.  His commentary was the best aspect of the class and is what I remember most.  He told us that “…when passing cars on the freeway and especially semi trucks, DO NOT LOOK AT THEM!”  “Oh wow, look at the size of those tires!?” “When driving always keep your focus on the road ahead of you.”  It is simple to get distracted when passing.  He went on to explain that when you look at a semi truck when passing, devastating history has taught us that you move towards it.

You move towards it.  Whatever you focus on you move towards.  Easy.  Or is it?  How does one determine the focus for a product?  Or a company?  Or a project?

It is simple:  Focus on Quality.

This is the answer to how to focus on everything.  By focusing on quality – it is no longer about the product or the design or the company.  IT is about quality.  Quality in every step of the process.  Quality in concept, quality in engineering, quality in manufacturing, quality in marketing, it all leads to a quality end product design to be proud of.  When you focus on quality the road-trip, though long, will be enjoyable. You will not want it to end.  You will find ways to always improve your process and product which will equal greater success and more opportunity.

Everything will align and fall into place if you make quality your overall goal and focus.

 

 

Posted on by — 1 Comment

Is it a waste of time to…

 

no sun, only its rays
Even though I could not see the sun, evidence was all around.

 

“Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer’s day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time.”

-John Lubbock

I was thinking about all the many times that I have been told I am wasting time.  What does that even mean?  Is it possible to waste something that doesn’t really exist? What is time anyway?

Time:  The indefinite continued progress of existence and events in the past, the present, and the future regarded as a whole. (Thanks google)

So if time is indefinite, how can we waste it?  Yet people have a keen sense of when they are wasting time.

Is it a waste of time to…

Stare at a starry sky and ponder the universe?

Is it a waste of time to…

Enjoy the crisp clean air of a mountain top conquered?

Is it a waste of time to…

Sit in a cubicle and stare at a computer screen as you mindlessly work and attempt to not fall asleep?

Is it a waste of time to…

Watch hilarious cat videos on YouTube through your Apple TV?

The more I think about it the less I believe that there is wasted time.  Every single action, every single inaction, and every single choice is a measure of time being used.  Those who “waste” their time, are really learning the value of time, which is invaluable.

Those who “waste” time will eventually regret it.  Why is this so?

The human race is a creative force that must act or be acted upon.  To create is to use time to our best advantage.  To create is to use time to help others. To create is to oppose destruction.  There is a saying I found on Brainy Quote that I find profound:

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.

Edmund Burke

In my opinion this quote defines “wasting” time.  How can a person do nothing though?

Going out in the hills and sitting – contemplating creation… You are doing something.

Looking at the immense vastness of a starry sky – contemplating creation… You are doing something.

This may be considered a waste of time by shallow minded folk, but it is not.  By contemplating you are creating questions and connecting dots.  Contemplation is a necessary force of creation.   This force is wasted in abundance in our society of noise filled everything.  Our phones interupt it, radios interupt it, social media noise interiors it.  I am sitting in my living room at four in the morning – and my clock on the wall is ticking so loudly, that it has interrupted it.  Just a simple click, click, click.  Passage of time measured, click, click, click.  Forever telling me that infinite time is passing to history.

I have been reading Henry David Thoreau recently and he has some very interesting ideas of time.  In his book Walden, Thoreau expresses how we in the present rest between two eternities.  The eternal future and the eternal past.  I love this concept.  It really places emphasis on now, the present.

Our choice of how to use our time is exactly that.  Our choice.  Since we stand in the middle of two eternities, those choices are very important.  The present if not acted upon goes into the eternity of the past and cannot be attained again.  Looking to the future eternity you can realize potential only when we act.

Inaction is a “waste” of time.  When you see evil progressing in the world, you can matter-of-factory know that there are good men doing nothing.  Sitting on the stage of the present and doing nothing. Not progressing, not doing, not creating.  To paraphrase the wise turtle in Kung Fu Panda: Do not waste the gift of the present that you have been.