August 2019
ELECTRIC IMPULSE COMMUNICATIONS
NEWSLETTER
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HERBIE'S HINTS
(named after my dad!)
My dad had a green thumb. He grew geraniums all winter in the basement bay windows, focused on growing his corn knee high by the 4
th
of July, and went through a phase where he built a house for purple martins. None of his gardening prowess was passed on to me. None. I try and continue to try largely out of respect for my dad. Sometimes I have to replace the flowers in a pot three times through-out the summer.
I try, I really do try. Some of the pots I apparently over water and some I under water. Even though I water most every day I still replace more than I don’t. I water, I feed them, and yet my only consistent success is impatience and geraniums.
Moshe on the other hand grows everything he touches. He keeps splitting jade plants and they keep growing. Last year he took over a bigger area for his herbs. I thought the deer might eat more herbs than he could grow, but no, they don’t touch his herbs. I bought the predator urine to keep the deer away, and then returned it to the store. Even the deer are on Moshe’s side.
The only moral to this story is that every night I water I think of my dad. He could not be proud of my results. Hopefully he would be proud I keep trying
.
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ASK LESLIE
Stay on Your Cutting Edge
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One way to understand HorseTalk: Lessons in Leadership is to hear about it from a participant. Especially a participant who just completed the day moments before making this testimonial. Lisa Tripney, Portage Lakes Career Center, talks about the lessons she learned in being decisive and bold. By the way, she is one of the few that figured out the easiest way to succeed in the group exercise Billiards
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1. #doingthings
Ty Haney is the founder of Outdoor Voices, activewear for Doing Things daily — dog walks, runs, and yoga included. Every morning at 9am the senior leadership team has a “stand-up” meeting. This meeting includes an agenda for the day and what hurdles the company is facing. The format is 25 minutes and attendees really do “stand up”. In 1967
Phil Donahue was the first successful host of a daytime talk show. He had one guest, one uncomfortable chair, and an audience. The chair was not a cushiony comfortable chair.
Lesson Learned:
His philosophy was that a guest, regardless of their stature or title, should not be comfortable. Guests were there to do a job, answer audience questions not to be comfortable. I love the idea of a “standup” meeting where attendees can’t get too comfortable or long-winded.
Would a stand up meeting work for you?
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2. I Kinda Met Him in a Paris Gym
Years ago, I worked out in the same small hotel gym with Roger Federer as he was preparing for the French Open. Fast forward several years. In preparation for his record breaking 12
th
Wimbledon final, he talked about the mental part of the game, “it comes very much down to who’s better on that day, who’s in a better mental place, who’s got more energy left, who’s tougher when it comes to the crunch”. Visualization would be a “very, very important” part of preparation for the match.
Lesson Learned:
When I took Jim Tressel’s class on coaching several of the coaches that came to talk to our class talked about the value of visualization. The concept has lost some of its shine in this hi-tech world. Perhaps we should keep it as part of our preparation in addition to BEATS and Bombas (socks). It is a way to win the battle within yourself. The most important and probably the first win that you have to make is the one within yourself.
What success can you visualize before it actually happens?
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3. They Called Him "Warm-Up"
In high school they called him Warm-Up. All he ever got to do was to pitch in the bullpen. It was the same on the summer league team. Until one day when it rained. Jim Bouton went down to the field and raked the water off the dirt and the dug-outs. The coach was impressed with how much he cared, and told him he could pitch in a scrimmage. And you could say the rest was history.
Lesson Learned:
Jim Bouton talked about what became this life changing event in his best selling book Ball Four. I always tell people, ‘rake the field’, he explained. He went on to pitch for 10 seasons in the Majors; he was perhaps the most influential average pitcher in the Major Leagues.
How can you figuratively rake the field?
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4. The De-Valuing of America
My printer started spewing black ink as though it was its own volcano. Without a tech guy on premises I would espouse my printer woes to anyone who would listen. The usual answer was to get a new one. “They are so inexpensive these days, just get a new one”. I hate that answer. I don’t like getting rid of things that still have value. I thought my printer still had value even though it was pretty messy value at the moment.
Lesson Learned:
I texted my computer guy. He gave me the name of the printer guy. Printer guy talked me through the problem and then made a “house call.” Who knew printer docs still make house calls? I now have a valuable new person on my figurative team, AND my printer still has value. A couple extra calls and I have a solution, my old printer, and a new resource.
What can a few extra calls do for you?
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5. Meeting Bloat
One thing I love about reading the Sunday New York Times is what I stumble upon while reading the article I intended to read. A few Sundays ago while continuing an article further in the section; I stumbled upon an article on Microsoft and employee unhappiness. This article proved even more interesting than the article I was first reading. MS found a team of employees much unhappier than all of the other MS team members.
Lesson Learned:
Two people were charged with slicing and dicing the meta data to figure out why. Their unhappiness wasn’t caused by the 27 hours a week they spent in meetings. That was normal for MS. Unhappiness was not caused by all the work they took home or the week-ends they worked. Unhappiness was caused by attending meetings with 10-20 participants. This was termed Meeting Bloat. Meetings with less than 10 attendees, participants felt heard.
Do your meetings have meeting bloat?
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Leslie in Person
August 21 - KNOW Lunch
September 5 - Apple Growth Speed Networking/ Professional Development
October 7/8 - International Elastomer Conference
November 13 - Sixth District Educational Compact
Forum 360 with Leslie as Moderator
Upcoming Shows:
Child Musical Prodigy: Guest Daniel Colaner and father Dan
Cyber Bullying Expert: Guest Katherine Bosley, journalist, author, speaker
Watch/ Listen to Forum 360:
Western Reserve Public Media, PBS-TV, PBS Fusion Channels 45 & 49 (Time Warner channel 993) - Mondays at 8 pm and Saturdays at 5:00 pm. After the show airs, you can download it
here.
WONE FM 97.5 Sunday 6 am
WAKR AM 1590 Sunday, 5:00 pm, Monday 12:30 am For online streaming go to
http://akronnewsnow.com/
and click Listen Live.
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Benji is like my shadow. When I shower, he lays outside of the open bathroom door – probably a little too hot and steamy for him. When I apply make-up, he is at my feet. While I sit with my laptop on the couch, he is at the other end of the couch. While I am on the Pelaton, he is under the nearby bench.
So Moshe will say, “that dog loves you so much he follows you everywhere." I used to answer, “he loves me but not enough to listen to me." I equated love with listening.
I do think he loves me. EITHER that or I had him tethered to me for so long as he was getting housebroken that he still thinks he has to stay that close. In his mind he does not equate his affection for me to listening to me. They are two separate issues.
What if they are two separate issues to your children and your team members too?
I used to think if he really loved me then he would listen. For the work place you could substitute the word love with respect: if he respected me he would listen.
Perhaps those are two separate issues and we see a connection that may not be there for the other person . . . or pet.
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September 20 from 9am - 5pm
An energizing leadership experience with lasting results!
A unique way to confront what’s impacting you: What is preventing you or your team from reaching its highest performance? A day like no day you have experienced before.
October 29: Special Combined Boot Camp & Video Session, from 1pm - 5pm
It’s a BOOT CAMP because it is intensive, interactive, and there may be some walking although NO marching will be involved.
- Be a TV guest
- Be a podcast guest
- Host a podcast
- Conduct a webinar
- Create your own video
- Put yourself on YouTube
- Give a stellar TED Talk
*Text or email your favorite media star and come for half price.
*Email us at
[email protected]
for further information or to RSVP to one of our events.
Ask me about my 10 in 10!
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