I don’t just read Brad Feld because of his first name, but he comes with a ton of knowledge and insight. Today, I had an "ah-ha" moment when reading a recent post of his, "Discovering Work Life Balance". Read it. Think on it. Here’s a sample:

At age 34 when – on a long weekend with friends where I was completely
absent and struggling to get through a difficult deal (for a company
that eventually failed) – Amy turned to me and said “I’m done.  I’m not
mad – I just can’t do this anymore.  You either have to change, or it’s
over.”

We’ve broken ground on renovations for our house on Frances Ave in Marietta. Our original date for completion was December 14 with the baby due on January 17.

Being in the food industry, I found this list of "Good-For-You" product segment growth from Innova very interesting. It lists food industry segment growth as compared to the same four weeks from 1 year prior. The interesting one is the "Carb conscious" fad fading into history.

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Segment	4 wks to 10/30/04	4 wks to 3/19/05
Organic	10.5%	14.4%
Flax/hemp seed	12.4%	13.6%
Sugar free, less-sugar, no-sugar added	11.7%	11.3%
Whole grain	4.9%	7.0%
No/reduced lactose	7.1%	5.6%
Carb conscious	116.1%	3.8%
No/reduced calories	7.3%	2.5%
No/reduced fat	2.2%	2.3%
Calcium (excellent/good source of	3.1%	1.7%
Salt/sodium (low/no/none added	-0.9%	-0.9%
Soy	3.1%	-1.0%

"Transformation of an enterprise begins with a sense of
crisis or urgency," he told the students. "No institution will go
through fundamental change unless it believes it is in deep trouble and
needs to do something different to survive."

That was former IBM CEO Louis V. Gerstner, Jr., speaking to a group of Harvard Business School MBA students about his time bringing the giant tech firm back to its former vibrance. Read the entire article.

“The secret of managing is to keep the guys who hate you away from the guys who are undecided.” -Casey Stengel, legendary baseball manager

Meghan ordered me one of those things that I had my eye on for over a year, the full DVD set of Band of Brothers. The tag line resonates in me: "They depended on each other, and the world depended on them." Isn’t this true of real men? Exactly the walkaway conclusion from my recent read, Season of Life by Jeffrey Marx.

Jeffrey Marx quoting high school football coach Joe Ehrmann in Season of Life, reminds me why road trips, short term mission trips and time "with the guys" is so important. The team was making an overnight road trip to New York from Baltimore to play a nationally ranked school. At the end of August, I will be on an adventure not unlike this with a good friend and another dozen or so men with SAR Adventures. The Google Earth picture of the location is below the quote.

"And then there’s also the whole ‘adventure’ piece to making a trip like this. There should always be some sense of adventure to being a boy, and this is really the best kind of experience a boy can have, because it’s an adventure being done in community. When you’re in a new place, new environment, the unfamiliar forces you to rely and depend on each other. So walls come down and we get a great sense of cohesiveness, a oneness. The boys will always remember this as a great adventure, and the relationships will always be tied into that. They’ll always be right at the center of the memories."

In a rut? Need a good butt-kicking? Take a second to read Tom Peter’s Tomato-no pansy business man allowed after reading this one.

Last Friday, a good friend and I met for breakfast to discuss various topics and he shared with me an interesting perspective that had been given to him.

"We judge others by their actions, but we want people to judge us by our intentions."

Since that breakfast at Goldberg’s, the quote seems to rattle back and forth through my mind. At home or work, I sometimes wonder why others don’t see my true intentions.

Usually it will go something like this: We will be in an intense situation where time is of the essence and someone on our team does not understand or is missing a key ingredient for success. I typically will make a suggestion or give a hint to them so that their work is done quicker, more successfully or more easily. However, I may come across as cocky or arrogant or demanding.  My intention is to make that person and their work better. I wouldn’t try to hurt or overbear in any way, but the action or words came out that way.

I understand. I judge people the same way. Why? I can’t see inside. I haven’t the ability, without deep thought, careful consideration, and intentional prayer, to see intentions, only actions. Actions are seen and we can process actions fast, but intentions are hidden and can take considerable time to understand.

But, as the golden rule says, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." I want to be judged in sum by my intentions and my actions. Maybe I will never know someone’s intentions, but I’m going to work to not be so quick in judging someone else before I at least consider and attempt to know their intentions.