Are you being unreasonable? Congratulations.

“Reasonable people adapt themselves to the world. Unreasonable people attempt to adapt the world to themselves. All progress, therefore, depends on unreasonable people.”


- George Bernard Shaw

Overblown or Underrated

Overblown: The Champ, hugely popular, the one to beat. Think: Patriots, Yankees, Lakers, Tiger Woods.

Underrated: The Challenger, endearing, in pursuit. Think: Chargers, Cubs, Nuggets, Phil Mickelson.

How do these roles apply to you in the workplace? Do you want to be the Champ? Challenger? What happens when you are Overblown? Underrated?

Perhaps another way to look at it: Is it better to have to deliver a peak performance at all times or consistantly exceed expectations? Would your co workers admire you if you were a Champ? Or would they resent you? How about your boss?

Think about the loyalty of your fan base if you are a Champ vs. a Challenger. As a company, how do you best build loyal customers? Think about the competition. A Champ begs to be challenged. Is this good for business or not?

Each company and each person decides if they will be the Champ or the Challenger. Both have a place. The key is understanding which is your place and behave accordingly. No one likes a false Champ.

Fronts and Behinds aka Junk and Trunk

The way I see it, as is with everything, you can manage the front end and you can manage the back end. Front ends are usually more attractive then back ends - although back ends are essential and can be elegant as well...hmmmm.

...as it relates to the Project Management of money, front end management means budgeting your time and managing your team's productivity to meet or exceed those budget and schedule expectations. This translates into both profitability and predictable cash flow - the two most critical metrics of the good project management of money.

Back end management means adjusting your costs to preserve profitability and moving or delaying the application of costs to smooth out cash flow dilemmas.

Clearly, managing the front end is preferable, but there are certainly times where managing via the back end is essential to the health of the organization. After all, it takes all kinds to make the world go around.

The problem with front end management is that it requires effort to set up a system that will provide reliable and meaningful information to the team, as well as a leader who is capable of taking that information and successfully augmenting the team's future efforts.

The problem with back end management is that by definition it is after-the-fact. The costs have hit and the team is forced to react to the associated profitablity and cash flow problems.

The key is to be able to go both ways. Efforts should be focused on the front in order to produce the most positive impact, but don't neglect service to the back, or you could raise quite a stink.

Need a Builder For Your Home Project?

Well folks, you've all been on the edges of your seats watching us complete our home remodel project. After all that has been said and done, I can recommend to you the following: if you are in the Denver area and in need of a contractor for your home improvement project, I WOULD NOT USE AR BUILDERS. My opinion is that they are terrible communicators who show far too little concern for the needs or the safety of their clients and consistently shift the responsibilities of their job to either A.) their client or B.) their subcontractors. In my opinion, they have done far too much to avoid actually managing the work. Additionally, they seem to create opportunities to produce unnecessary time constraints in order to pressure their clients into commitments and decisions. Lastly, to me, they are unacceptably unresponsive. We ended up reporting them to the Better Business Bureau. There's my consumer opinion!

More Interesting Stuff on the New Social Media

Food for thought... combine this idea with Seth Godin's "Tribes" ideas below. They are both saying very similar things but in different ways. This could be one tool for breaking down the juvenile and archaic way that our HOA conducts itself. CCVS is a certainly a "tribe" albeit a very dysfunctional one. Perhaps the new social media can bring our tribe together in ways that were previously unachievable due to our size?

Looks Like Denver Homes are Good!

Denver is America's Best City to Buy a Home...

Seth Godin @ TED

What tribes are you a part of? What tribes do you need to create and lead?

Troubling Economic Times (cont.)

Since I wrote last on the subject in November, we've seen another eight people leave our local office. In November, this reduction process was somewhat intimidating and scary. Today, it’s just saddening. Saddening not only because these people are good at what they do, but because some of these people are good friends. Friends I've grown with. Friends who have made my days better. Friends who have made work fun.

I suppose some desensitization has occurred to change my feelings from fear to sympathy. This is good, because fear brings stress and stress can paralyze. Without fear, I am free to do my best to succeed while actively preparing for a time (that may or may not happen) when I am also no longer needed. If I do my best, I'll likely find security. If I still don't find security, nothing I could have done could have changed that. However, having prepared for that moment, I'd be ready to enact Plan "B." So I must:

1. Trust that doing my best will be enough.
2. Resolve to focus on opportunities for success and improvement.
3. Be patient with process.
4. Lead others through in a similar manner.
5. Secure/finalize a plan B and be prepared to act on it.

The Genius of Nike

JUST DO IT. This is quite possibly the most influential slogan of all time. Its more then athletic gear, its about a life philosophy. "Just do it" is a transcendent concept that applies to everything a person can imagine. No stalling. No vacillating. No whining. No try. Only Do. The Brendan Adams trinity of Leadership, Management, and Execution is nowhere without Execution. Just do it.

Communication is Key

Why does the President of the United States provide me with a greater level of communication with regard the status of our Country and the course he is attepting to set then I am provided with the status of our efforts and the course we are attempting to set at work? On one hand, I feel blessed an reassured to have such a competent, driven, positive, and trustworthy man at the helm of our Country in this time of great need, even though I cannot personally impact the things he is spearheading. On the other hand, I feel awkward, confused, and isolated from the things that I could realistically have a hand in improving at work. Step up and risk irking leadership or lay low and risk being percieved as worth less?