The Happiness Challenge

The old management rule to measure what matters is a good one. The problem is that the stuff that matters is always the hardest to measure, but we can't let that stop us. Let's measure up, rather than measure down.

For example, the dream of happy people contributing to a healthy planet: We have metrics for the healthy planet part, but we are still inventing how you measure OUR happiness and we are still working out how to increase it.

A recent article reported a study showing that in spite of a significant raise in their standard of living, people were no happier than they were 30 years ago, and i many cases much less.  All these "labor-saving" devices have done is increase our stress and, thus,  lower our happiness. So while we've got measures of our living standards coming out our ears, as happens so often, we seem to be pointing in the wrong direction.

Here are four factors that can help make us happier:

1) Be of service to something larger than yourself.
I often draw on a great thought from philosopher Daniel Dennett: "The secret of happiness is to find something bigger than yourself and then to devote your life to it."

2) Experience "flow," or full engagement, on a regular basis.
This is one of the fundamentals of Peak Performance. Flow happens when people are unleashed and inspired against their Dream. And what a Dream the aspiration to make the world a better place is! My friend, Professor Bruce Jackson head of the center for the Advancement of Leadership at UVU, is a expert on this--great stuff--expect his book shortly.

3) Show your gratitude to the people in your life.
Simple, direct and action-focused. If we all followed that one sentence, the self-help publishing industry could pack up and go home to look after its own friends and family. Live thankfully.

4) Have at least three people who are emotionally close enough to share your life with.
And if you're lucky, it might be more than three.

Be HAPPY

Blue Ocean Phooey

There have been a lot of discussions lately in certain circles on some latest “flavor-of-the-month” business books. And while neither bad nor destructive—as they at least get people thinking--it is fair to say that the downside to such can also be a little dangerous (or at least, sub-optimal).

Slavish adherence to such pop-culture-style tomes can be troublesome—especially as they become a part of the culture of an organization. They are, generally, far too simplistic and usually not based on the actual research or data, but rather on other's interpretations of such. They get one thinking, which is good and a start--but not deep enough. Complex problems (and most problems are complex, as if the were easy they’d be solved already and would not longer be problems right?) in life and business usually are not solved with cute phraseology, simple ideas, and clichés.

One such example of this is the recent business book “Blue Ocean Strategy”—which suggests, in simplistic terms, that a business needs to get out of the “Red Ocean” (full of competitors and “blood”) and into the “Blue Ocean” (a unique place for the organization where it can generate above-average return in some nirvana-like state). Sounds great! But it is overly simplistic on a number of levels.

For one example: Because you were "good" once, you may have some unique idea or product or service that gets you into Blue Ocean, and thus you’ll make above-average returns for a period. GREAT! But that will soon disappear—your competitors aren’t stupid (they compete with you after all). THEY WILL FIND SOME WAY TO FOLLOW YOU! Then you’re back into RED (and REALLY RED this time) Ocean.

By thinking just a little more beyond this superficial level, what you really need is not Blue Ocean, but WHAT GOT YOU INTO THE BLUE OCEAN—innovation, re-invention, newness, being ahead of the pack. This is a constantly learning (and evolving) organization. THAT IS WHAT IS REQUIRED--it's an attitude, not a "product"--it's an organization's DNA or style, not a "new thing." Then you not only can you get into "Blue Ocean", but more importantly, YOU CAN STAY THERE. You keep moving the ocean as you move—your competitors can’t keep up.

It is a continually learning (and for that matter unlearning) organization that is the key—continually growing, testing itself, reinventing itself (not afraid of itself) organization that matters, not some trendy new and ultimately arbitrage-able product, or service or idea. It is the ability to CONTINUALLY have such that is the key.

So here’s to Blue Ocean!

Don’t get me started on “The Butterfly Effect…” We can do better than that too—just got to think deeper than a veneer level of thought.

Rock on…

Hope is not Audacious!

Contrary to what some politicians would have you believe... HOPE is necessary, Hope is even a right!  There is nothing "bold" or "daring" about it.

EVERYONE needs (and should) have HOPE!

Recently (and quite rightly) management in Japan has decided to re-invest the company there under the theme of "Health, Freedom, and Hope."  This line has always stirred my soul as a mission worth investing one's-self in.  I love everything else that's been done, but this line has always held a special place for me--for it is who we are!

HEALTH, Check, we got that through our world-class products,  FREEDOM, Double check--we got that--in fact the many facets of Freedom (time, money, lifestyle etc) are all here--especially the one that I completely underestimated--only having to work with those that you WANT to.  

But HOPE, that is one that is usually ignored, and certainly underestimated, but probably the most important.

When I was growing up, the worst criticism one could make of another was that he was a "no-hope-er"--he had no hope either for himself or others in him.  What a  terrible thing to call someone, what a terrible place to be!

We all need HOPE.  Hope Springs eternal.  It drives us to do what is required.  It is a motivating force,  it is a force for good!

It is necessary, and we can deliver it!

Never underestimate HOPE.  Nothing "audacious" about it!

Traveling

I love it!  Not really, but I must confess I do really enjoy meeting new people and seeing new and different places.  But the "getting there" part and certainly being away from home is no fun.

The last week or so I have been in Phoenix, Pittsburgh and now am in Nashville. The former and later were business--working with "good people" and the middle was purely fun and family (the high school rugby team I help coach (which my two older boys are in, qualified to go to the National Championships--but all the "boys" came along)--we went and made it all the way to the championship game, but we lost--so they did well--second in the nation--and that ain't all that bad!  They did well.

What a  GREAT business we are in--we get to meet good people, only work with those we want to, have fun all the way along and also help others make their lives better (and ours also, as a consequence, in the process). 

With summer now upon us, and all the school year-end "stuff" over with, I'm taking more time for the family.  If trips are needed (and they are) I'll take one or more of my kids (or maybe even the whole family) along.  That certainly makes "business trips" much more "fun."

Anyway, have fun,... be good,... work hard.

Stretch & Grow

I remember reading somewhere that Roald Dahl, the brilliant children's writer who created Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, used to sit down and sharpen about thirty pencils every morning before he began writing.

It always sounded to me like he was putting off the evil moment when he would have to stop thinking and actually do something, but what it was, of course, was a habit. Maybe a habit dressed up as a good luck charm, but a habit nonetheless.

The truth is that habits get bad press. The label "creature of habit" doesn't exactly bring to mind the most active or entrepreneurial human being. Yet it is often habit that saves us from danger - checking the traffic before we step out onto the road, for instance. Habits often work under the radar so we don't get driven crazy by having to make hundreds of routine decisions.

In The Open Mind and at Professional Thinking Partners, Dawna Markova looks at the processes we use in decision-making and how we form habits.

Anyone who makes decisions as a job knows that what you are really doing is casting aside possibilities, as well as settling on a way forward. I expect that is why some creative people are such terrible decision makers--they just don't want to give up the potential of different possibilities and make a choice. Nice work if you can get it.

Markova says we make our decisions in one of four ways: analytical, procedural, collaborative and innovative. But because we have standardized the way we test our ideas before applying them, guess which two have taken a back seat? You're right. Analytical and procedural dominate; collaborative and innovative take a back seat.

How does this happen with almost everyone? Because we tend to repeat what worked in the past. That gives us three zones to operate in: comfort, stretch and stress.

Most of us are familiar with comfort and stress but by stretching and learning about new things, getting out of your comfort zone and pumping up the curiosity, you can put your mind into the collaborative and innovative zones, and start creating new habits.

Markova also suggests a way to use the stress mode that rings a bell with me - Kaizen, the Japanese commitment to small continuous improvement. It sure worked for Toyota.

So try putting a little mental stretch into your life and move toward thinking innovatively and communally. To use a phrase that I have learnt as a new father, now incredibly knowledgeable about baby clothes - stretch and grow.

What does “GOOD” mean?

I’ve had a lot of requests since my last blog entry to define what I mean by “good”—so here is a short quiz to help define that:

As Dr Pausch has said:

“Works and plays well with others:

                        Do you tell the truth?

                        Are you good at apologizing (properly)?

                        Do you wait and expect that people will show their good side?”

In my words:

Make a promise AND keep it.  Do you do what you say you’ll do?

If you get an email or voice mail, do you respond to it, THE SAME DAY?

Do people want to be with you—not just pretend to, but also really want to?

Do you always “leave something on the table” for next time at negotiations?

Do you REALLY believe in “win/win?”

Do you “live thankfully?”

That’s my definition.  Happy for you to have your own, that’s OK.  But HAVE ONE and be good!

(Good) PEOPLE:

I know it sounds like a BGO (Blinding Glimpse of the Obvious) but people--good people--are the key to this business and the enjoyment of life per se.  I have just finished a series of meetings in the South East US, followed by the South West, and the Bay Area, and now am in Japan starting an Asian leg.  And everywhere I go I am impressed by so many good people! They are not only good at what they do (skilled), but more importantly, "good" (at heart), and also just good to be around.  As a consequence, they attract other "good" people and their business grows and flourishes.  As opposed to "not good" people that no-one  wants to be around and who create a suction of all joy, fun, success and desire.

Prior to becoming a Distributor I had focused on (and sold) all of the benefits of this business (or so I thought)--Time (check; got that), Money (check; got that), Freedom (check; got that), Check (check; got that) but the one I missed entirely was the blessing (and it is that) of only having to work with people that you want to.  The corporate world can be draining, no question.  Mostly, I believe, because in many cases you have to work with or for someone for whom you have no respect or simply don't like--because they are not "good."  I don't have to do that and I LOVE it!

So here's the question:  "Are you "good?"  Good at what you do (skilled), but also, and more importantly, just plain "good?"   Do people want to be around you?  Do you attract other good people?  If so, GREAT; if not, let's work on that...

Here's to GOOD people.

Aaron