March 2010
38 posts
“The best way to get approval is not to need it.”
– random thoughts on being an entrepreneur | gapingvoid
Number 2 on Hugh MacLeod’s list of 26, and my personal favorite. Why it would be hard to nearly impossible for me to go back to corporate life ever again.
February 2010
88 posts
Tsunami Scare | Talking Story →
Today was to be about Rapid Fire Learning ~ and that it was!
Saturday, February 27, 2010 became the ‘host’ of an unexpected event: A Tsunami advisory, then watch, then warning for us in Hawai‘i nei, sent by an 8.8 earthquake about 6,000 miles away in Chile. Here’s a sampling of my play-by-play tweets to remember the day this has been…
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Rapid Fire Learning Returns to Talking Story →
Starting today and tomorrow, I’ll be bringing Rapid Fire Learning here to Talking Story on the last weekend of each month, with a new twist: The weekend will serve as a full learning immersion value-aligned to ‘Ike loa (the MWA value of learning), and therefore open to both RFL the way we have known it within our JJL habit, and Take 5, our practice here on Talking Story of keeping a Take 5 focus...
The Honolulu Star-Bulletin to acquire The Honolulu... →
Breaking news seen on the Twitter coconut wireless…
I do have a personal interest in this, in that my agreement in writing Say “Alaka‘i” is with Gannett. However feel for the employees there now, likely very nervous at the moment.
Update: Wrote an extra post for “Say Alaka‘i” with my thoughts on what those who work for these two newspapers will need to do - as we all will.
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“Inspiration is like picking up one of those blinky things in a video game that...”
– Jason Fried Inspiration is magical - (37signals)
Failure isn’t cool. Neither is weakness | Talking... →
“Failure is not a great well of lessons.
Don’t think it’s a prerequisite for success.” —Jason Fried
I listened to a short riff by Jason Fried of 37signals recently (the podcast is available here) in which he says, “Failure is not cool. Don’t get into it.”
He asks why we will insist on thinking of failure as character-building, when what we really aim to build up are our successes, not our...
Reasonableness Not Required | Joyful Jubilant... →
A return to the JJL archives for this one. It gave me such joy to return to read this today, a bit more than a year later. No surprise how themes can collide in such alignment when LOVE is what they have in common.
Seems entirely reasonable to me that ‘loveliness’ is another word for beautiful, and for something you ‘see’ with your heart.
However here’s another thought that intrigues me about...
Lessons Learned from Dr. Seuss | Sources of... →
LOVE this! Love it, love it, love it, and going to read it often. Mahalo JD for putting it together!
6 Cold Truths about Building New Business in 2010... →
Liz says,
“Strategy and new business is all focus and knowing the cold truth… Until you know and feel your focus as an Internet citizen, review these these cold truths often.”
Perceived productivity won’t move you forward.
Your friends don’t owe you work.
An idea is not an offer.
Most new business is outside your current network.
Negotiation is never about your goals.
...
Olympic Management Style
Tracy Hutton, TMBC Strengths Consultant on the Winter Olympics:
“I can’t help but think about the leadership lessons we can learn from these extraordinary athletes and their coaches. What stands out most for me is the role that a team’s or individual performer’s coach plays once the athletes enter the field of play.”
“Coaches stand back and let the athletes perform. They are not out there...
Trees in a Storm | Midwife for Your Life Blog →
Nice parallel to our “strengthening” theme on Talking Story right now. Quote:
As I started to picture the trees in the storm, the answer began to dawn on me. The trees in the storm don’t try to stand up straight and tall and erect. They allow themselves to bend and be blown with the wind. They understand the power of letting go. Those trees and those branches that try too hard to...
Feeling Good Isn’t the Same as Feeling Strong |... →
I’m working with a management team taking pause this first quarter of their year to inventory their strengths. They wish to mix things up a bit, opening their thinking with cross-functional teams assigned to specific projects in March and April, and they hired me to help them approach their re-teaming in a way which will better leverage the strengths each person is anticipated to bring to each...
'Good' Beats 'Innovative' Nearly Every Time |... →
Sensible advice from Scott Berkun (I understand this is his first column for BW):
Don’t innovate for the sake of innovation: If you insist on doing something new, solve a problem, and solve it well. We talk about greatness a lot, when truth is that increasing the good all companies offer would take us further.
A good connection to this, recently on Talking Story: What Your Big Ideas Do...
“Finish every day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some...”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson Aloha your Monday, Pō‘akahi kākou
Link Index to our Hawaiian Glossary →
Site work/new Sidebar link— A page especially designed for Talking Story readers…
Insights you can Use: 13 Essential Questions for... →
Esther Derby say:
We think of managers making decisions, setting priorities, organizing work, keeping budgets, and mentoring people. What we’ve overlooked or ignored is a manager’s role as designer.
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Weekend Project: Hō‘imi your Trusted Systeml |... →
When you have a trusted system for your own personal productivity, a system which perpetuates what works best for you, and which discards everything else, you are strengthening your system of self care.
What a “Trusted System” is, and is not
Is: Accomplishment
Is not: Busy-work
Is: Chic, custom-fit design
Is not: One-size fits all (which usually doesn’t and is unflattering)
Is: Useful bits
Is not: Irrelevant bits
Is: Essentials only
Is not: Extras and clutter
Is: Captures your attention
Is not: Sources of procrastination
Is: Batches work
Is not: Scatters work, or needlessly duplicates it
Is: Creates “flow”
Is not: Conducive to interruption
Is: When auto-pilot = learned
Is not: When auto-pilot = consumed
Is: Designed to work efficiently (and trusted systems can look messy to the untrained eye)
Is not: Designed to work “pretty” or riddled with “should-ing”
Is: A blend of low-tech and digital
Is not: Stubborn about “system purity”
Is: Conducive to thinking
Is not: Conducive to distraction
Is: Energy-efficient or even energy-exponential
Is not: Drains your energy or wastes it
Is: Cheap (i.e. in-expensive)
Is not: Costly (in numerous ways... think about it)
Is: Your “burning YES”
Is not: What you haven’t said “NO” to yet
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Why I'm dropping Google | Web Services | MacUser |... →
Followed a tweet to this article, and the first two sentences stopped me in my tracks:
For a company whose unofficial slogan is “Don’t Be Evil,” Google has been ignoring its so-called core value with alarming frequency as of late. And because of that, I decided to delete my Gmail account, along with all other Google services that I am able to do without.
It stopped me because I realize just how...
Four Ways of Looking at Twitter | Research;... →
Interesting stuff… click in to see the visuals.
Data visualization is cool. It’s also becoming ever more useful, as the vibrant online community of data visualizers (programmers, designers, artists, and statisticians — sometimes all in one person) grows and the tools to execute their visions improve.
In The Bunker | The Daily Dish | By Andrew... →
He writes:
Ana Marie Cox debates Rich Lowry on ending the persecution of gay servicemembers in the military. It’s a very pleasant and honest chat. I always learn something from hearing straight people talk about us.
Rich says that it’s no big deal to live hiding one’s sexual orientation. If you’re straight, try it for one day.
Try never mentioning your spouse, your...
The 3 Secrets of Being Positive →
Mark sent me a note after he read through What Your Big Ideas Do Best in his email. He wrote:
“Keep these coming Rosa. I need all the help I can get with being more positive. Wish I knew how you do this.”
“Being positive” happens when I look for better and best. And when I look for it, I manage to find it!
My preferred Hawaiian word for this intentional choosing is Hō‘imi. Short and...
Print Roger Ebert: The Essential Man →
What a story. I hadn’t known this had happened to him.
Another Kind of Work | Art of Great Things →
Jeffrey Tang talks about the kind of work we call Ho‘ohana…
Generally, when people say “work,” they’re talking about a job or something very similar. Work, as in clocking in at 9, clocking out at 5, rinse and repeat. Work, as in read pages 144 to 170 and be ready to answer questions 1 through 5 next class. Work, as in what we do to buy health insurance.
Work, in these contexts, is a very...
What Your Big Ideas Do Best | Talking Story →
They don’t change the world (but this is better).
Awkward Things I Say To Girls » Why Geeks Make... →
When you have a Tumblr, these are the kinds of things which will show up on your dashboard and make you smile.
This got me to remember that reality show I enjoyed for a season or two, Beauty and the Geek… it did a pretty good job busting stereotypes when you could ignore all the other reality show cheesiness.
Hawai'i Convention Center Raises Profile In New... →
News coverage :)
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37signals Podcast | Episode #4 →
Listened to this podcast while doing some chores, and stopped everything to write some things down, make myself some promises, all directly entered onto my Strong Week Plan coming up… well worth the 21:36 you spend with it.
The podcast is of Jason Fried’s speech at BIG Omaha 2009. Even if you can’t listen right now, take the quick click to skim his big ideas within it, but do...
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All Things Workplace | Talent & The... →
Count me among those who loves to refer to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Steve Roesler says,
I’ve read that it is the most-used model in management training. I think it’s also one of the most mis-represented and misunderstood.
My articles have been these two:
Sense of Workplace: It’s Milk, Maslow and You (October 2009)
Strengths, Values, and that Pyramid (May 2005)
The Case Against “I Love You” | in over your head →
Valentine’s Day does get people thinking, and talking, which is a good thing.
Here’s an interesting suggestion from Julien Smith.
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Hau‘oli ka lā aloha kākou
Anne asked, “How do you say Happy Valentine’s Day in Hawaiian?”
Truth is that we don’t. Can’t recall ever hearing it said in Hawaiian.
So I looked it up in Pukui Elbert, and they’ve listed:
Ka Lā o Lono i ke aweawe aloha “the day of the god of love and mercy” coined only in 1980.
Too long!
It makes sense when you know of Hawai‘i’s relationship with all manner of gods, in this case, St....
Aloha and welcome to Joyful Jubilant Learning →
We have a new landing page up on JJL: take a look
Ua ola loko ‘ao i ke aloha; Aloha provides life and learning from within.
We, of the Joyful Jubilant Learning (JJL) Advisory Board, are most proud that JJL has illustrated this proverb, and has been an example of how the Aloha Spirit gets expressed.
Welcome.
Weekend Reading: Let’s go Blog Rolling →
Come take a look, and visit some of the thought leaders I most admire and am presently learning from. I use RSS feeds and not static web-page links to share them, so they get updated every 24 hours, and as the bloggers post something new. Three titles always appear for each author.
How do I choose them?
As part of my Ho‘ohana intentions.
Marshall Goldsmith: 4 Ingredients to Building... →
Goldsmith wants us to think about our mojo… I understand he has a book out about it too… more on the book at Phil’s place: Get Your #MOJOtweet
What is Coaching? | Coaching Valley →
Some interesting answers…
Many who have responded do so referring to their “clients” and understandably, since they think of coaching as their profession, and those they coach as their customers.
However I would love to see how answers differ (and how different values and value promises are revealed) if everyone who responded thought of themselves as a manager, and with...
A Critical Difference Between a Good and Great... →
Terry gives us greatness coaching in the context of selective memory.
Married? Yeah, to my job. | simplerich →
I was reading “Say Alaka’i” over at the Honolulu Advertiser site today where Rosa Say ( author of my favorite management book, Managing with Aloha ) writes a weekly column.
The title of the article was “What If Your Business Got Sick?” and she told two mini stories within the article. The first, (brutally summarized, go read her article) was about her being challenged to...
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Tumblr – what is it good for? | Ulla Hennig’s... →
As I commented for Ulla,
This makes me do a little hula dance of joy!
I love my Tumblr, but I openly admit that I love it for some selfish reasons, and so knowing that it has been useful to you in this way is wonderfully affirming.
Steve's 2 Cents: Hitchhiking with Aloha →
Wow! I received an early Valentine this morning… though actually, this is an aloha love affair which is now about six years old, yet is still going strong…
Influential essay helps propel demand for... →
Hattip to Roxanne Darling:
A great follow-up to the article I wrote: At Root Cause of our Public Education Woes
Credit Randall W. Roth for debunking the pervasive myths that have helped derail public education reform in Hawaii in the past.
The University of Hawaii law professor, who co-authored the “Broken Trust” essay published in the Honolulu Star Bulletin in 1997 that spurred...
What if your business got sick? | Talking Story →
What if your business got really sick? How much would have to stop, or dramatically change?
Two mini stories today. One is about business plans (sorta) and one is about healthy people (sorta).
