It’s easy to benchmark size when rating performance – it is visible and typically easy to measure.  Yet other less accessible attributes can contribute importantly to success:  agility, competence, experience, focus, knowledge, patience, skill, strategy, etc.  Because these other attributes are less visible and are harder to assess, we often choose to measure on the basis of a simple benchmark like size.

In June, I got agitated about “how much playing time?” my son received at a tournament (see Applied to Soccer).  Although my long view leadership advice in that post has merit, I now realize that on a systemic basis, I oversimplified my son’s soccer situation.  There was more to learn and assess…

In the case of sports, bigger players benefit from their size on two counts:  1) they are physically more powerful and 2) youth coaches often select larger players over their smaller teammates on the reasoning “you cannot coach size,” and give them more opportunity early (for example, more playing time on game day).

However, having more diligently watched the dynamics of my son’s development as a soccer player a few more months, I now realize that being small (for a longer duration) is only a near-term disadvantage in terms of opportunity (passed over for the boys who have grown bigger earlier).  In subtle ways, smaller boys, like my son, benefit from their size disadvantage over the long-term because they cultivate their game differently.  For example, my son has impressive knowledge of the tactics and strategy of the game.  His skill, agility, and speed are his primary tools for success (different emphasis than his larger teammates).  When he finally achieves improved size parity within the next few years (he has more growth left than those who have grown early), perhaps like Lionel Messi, he will still be reasonably competitive due to his quiet mastery of the less visible attributes of the game?!

Today’s observation is simply a personal reminder to engage in long-view thinking everywhere when learning:

• Expand observations,
• Increase knowledge, and
• Cultivate more complex thinking for improved accuracy (include more attributes in mental models).

As a result of my agitation, I paid greater attention to the team dynamics, learned much, and now realize that it is all part of the beautiful game.

Nevertheless, I wish my son increased joy (and playing time) as he auditions for a different team in a slightly less competitive league.

Are you constantly expanding observations, increasing knowledge, and cultivating more complex thinking everywhere?

At what point is stuff on the net (public domain) none of our business?  When should we avert our eyes and not read a little more?  What is the threshold from curious to stalking?

Recently, I met an interesting fellow at an alumni-networking event.  After an engaging conversation of shared interests, we exchanged email addresses. Later, I wanted to suggest an appropriate meeting place but could not recall where he had said that he lived, so I turned to the Internet to do a quick address search.

In about 10 minutes of searching, I did not find his address, but I learned more than I expected.  I found his age, his faith, his cousin’s family tree, and his wife’s blog.

Intrigued by my new friend’s wife’s blog, I read on.  It turns out, the stories (blog posts) were every bit as interesting and engaging as his conversation had been.  However, immediately following this confirmation, I felt unsettled.  Just how would I let on what I knew and how I knew it?  Had I usurped his privilege of introducing me to his wife’s blog?  Had I devalued the connection by barging in myself? Is this part and parcel of 21st century networking that I am not yet used to?

My experience was confirmed in Wired Magazine’s headline article this month, Vanish: “…ordinary people – really can gather an incredible dossier of facts about you.”  It is because of the combination of powerful search engines and extensive amounts of publicly available information.  It behooves us be aware of what information is defining us and to be thoughtful about what is defining others.

In old cultures where privacy was hard to come by, people learned to avert their eyes to allow for privacy and were admonished to mind their own business.  In addition, we were encouraged to live an honorable life because of public scrutiny.  Those old (long view) rules are evolving to deal with the connectivity and information richness of our lives today, yet still apply:

• Live your life impeccably.  Doing so, will mean never having to be ashamed, embarrassed, or held accountable for wrongdoing.
• Out of respect and kindness, engage the positive and disregard the negative.

Embracing the new:

• Take what you learn on the Internet with a grain of salt.
• Be judicious in how you apply Internet “knowledge.”
• Follow your instincts, yet pay attention to the evolution – norms are changing.

Bloggers expect that others will be informed, transformed, and educated through connection to our blogs.  Participating constructively is welcome and my new friend was fine with it.

Are you living life impeccably and engaging the positive?

It has been a long, hard road, but my best friend, Gayle, last week exceeded one of her lifetime goals! One year post-bariatric surgery, she weighs 146 lbs. having shed more weight than one Linda, exceeding her goal weight of 150 lbs! She is no longer a superb athlete trapped in an obese person’s body, just a superb athlete.

We have been friends for eons (before kids), having met and nurtured our friendship at our mutual workplace. I was the new kid on the block and she was a veteran that took me under her wing, teaching me the ropes and providing me professional opportunity. As time passed, we continued to work side-by-side professionally and to share the joy and heartache of raising babies/kids/teens, the love of needlework, and a commitment to athletics non-professionally. Although our fitness levels differed, she was my usual lunchtime buddy to hit the pool, spin class, or step aerobics. There were so many things that we could do together that the fitness difference simply did not matter. Apparently we were similar enough (hair color, shoe size, demeanor, …), many of the regulars thought we were sisters!

In 1996, eight weeks after her “big” birthday and six weeks after the birth of my youngest child, we accomplished her first sprint triathlon. It was a challenge for both of us since I was only cleared for the water (post-partum) on the day of the race, but I kept telling her that neither of us could be last, because Sally Edwards, the sweep athlete, always finishes last. We raced together in 1996, 1997, 1998, and 2000.

We both departed our mutual workplace (Ray…) just prior to 2000 to new respective workplaces (…Logic), becoming the X-RayLogic Girls.  Although apart professionally and retired from triathlons, we were still committed to workout whenever we could get together. We sweated together in the gym and pool, caught-up, and got a small snack as often as our schedules would allow.

As time passed, it was clear that the mainstream strategies of diet and exercise just did not allow Gayle to move the needle against obesity. When her knees became too painful for her to continue to play her beloved softball, she decided it was time to try something radical – bariatric surgery.

Her long view advice: If something truly matters and mainstream strategies fail, try something radical!

A year ago, I was there with balloons and flowers at her bedside following her surgery, holding her gown closed as she did laps in the hospital hallway. Today I taught her the ropes as she made her first rock climb in her new body (conquering her fear of heights). With this latest success, we are now more and more alike. Our hair color is still the same even though it is different than before. I think she needs is a skort…

If Gayle can stare down obesity and then conquer her fear of heights, what can we do if we shift to a radical strategy for something important?!

To celebrate my blogging success thus far (today’s post is my 50th), I am creating a tribute to the long view advice “if you like something and it works for you, stick with it.”

There are many things that fall into the works-for-me category: my husband, my friends, this blog, yet I choose to celebrate this milestone with a post about my long-term love affair with my Terry Bicycle Pro Racer Skorts.

I bought my first Terry skort about ten years ago. I loved the fact that I could act pretty unladylike yet still look ladylike! I have been collecting them ever since at a rate of about one per year.  At this point, I have a terrific collection of brightly colored prints that are fun, uplifting, and playful.  To date, I have eleven skorts (including a plain black one, not shown in the photo whirl).   I share this whimsy, not because I need to have them validated by others, but rather it just happens to be a great example of something that works so well for me that I am planning to continue.

Skorts are versatile.  They provide more coverage than just shorts, a zest of femininity, have great flexibility during spring/summer/fall, and they wash and wear like iron (my oldest one still looks great!).  I wear them to work at my computer, ride my bike, rock climb, weight lift, run errands, and/or blog. I do avoid them for professional venues (except themed events such as a beach party). At the high end, I even wear the black one with a nice sweater, bling and heels – violà – dinner wear! 

The combined knowledge that I receive many compliments and that my teenage daughter tells me regularly that skorts are ugly and horribly out-of-style, ever encourages me to carry on with my non- mainstream skorts.  Could it be any other way?! Although, I’m the only one at my rock climbing gym to wear skorts, everyone can readily identify me from the others:  I am “Skort Linda.” Have you seen me?

After I purchased my first few (those early years), the fact that I did not really need any more (they last forever!) caused me to decide to wait for the post-season sale to purchase.  I abandoned that strategy the year that Terry ran out of my size in the color I wanted most.  Although I purchased the next size up that year, I don’t wear it because it is too big.  Thus, I now buy immediately (at full price) when Terry Bicycles releases their new spring colors.  Afterall, I have a collection and I can always work in a new color. 

While I await the 2010 collection of Pro Racer Skorts…Are you keeping what works for you?

The latest cover of Wired (17.11) magazine shouts FEAR in bold letters (cover article is about vaccination fear) and a popular writer (Rabbi Kushner) just published his latest book, Conquering Fear, and even my favorite blogger (Seth Godin) is blogging about fear.  Seth reminds us that news inherently amplifies the emotional, flaming fear.  Seth also reminds us that we live in a choice rich world causing us to fear our own decision-making.  Purveyors of fear then are all around us, yet we must master our fears to live healthy satisfying lives.

When I was out running the morning that the news reported that the body of Somer Thompson had been found in a nearby garbage dump (7-year-old Florida girl that was abducted and murdered), my mind wandered to those tidbits.   During that moment, I was suddenly seized with fear from an old, yet vivid memory of a stranger asking me if I wanted a ride in his car when I was about 10-years-old.

I remember being very frightened at the time, yet knowing that I needed to show calm.  That stranger had tricked me into talking to him by playing to my insecurity of being a tomboy – he asked, “are you a boy or a girl?”  I was indignant to the question and immediately asserted that I was a girl, quickly realizing that it was an unsafe conversation.  When he asked if I wanted to ride in his car, I told him that my mother was waiting for me because we were making cookies (yet it was only myself making cookies since my mother was at work). Following my attempt at a polite excuse, I leapt onto my bike, clutching the small bag containing the vanilla extract that I had purchased, and escaped as fast as I could the back route to home.

I’ll never know if the situation was actually benign, but I was afraid then, and the memory drove a surge of adrenaline as I ran for exercise last week. My pace and breathing quickening and the fear I felt was as real as if I had been ten again.  The fear passed quickly and I was again relieved that I was safe.  Mostly, I was surprised at the intensity at which it momentarily enveloped me.  As Rabbi Kushner notes in his book, “there is nothing that reaches us more deeply into our souls than the experience of facing danger and being spared.”  Yet we must be outraged deeply in our souls too by the unfairness and tragedy of those like Somer and her family, who were not spared.

When Robin Roberts of Good Morning America was interviewing the mother of Somer Thompson, who, like my mother was at work at the time of the incident, said to her, “You cannot blame yourself,” I deeply concurred.  She must not blame herself rather she must blame the perpetrator.  With the randomness of terror like this, Somer and her family are simply tragic victims who deserve our compassion; it could have been any of us.  My long view advice:

• We must stay calm in the face of adversity.
• We must not isolate ourselves and/or change our behavior because of intimidation.
• We should be alert but not frightened, vigilant but not paranoid (Kushner, p.39)
• We must act decisively when faced with daunting complexity based upon the information that we have.
• We must accept the knowledge that we must make choices and not second-guess our decisions based upon the information that we had in the moment.

Being the anxious perfectionist that I am, taking this advice is hard even for me, but I desire to live in a world where I am not afraid.  Do you?

Someone once told me that the most powerful person in an organization is the receptionist.  Although it may not be entirely true, there is a kernel of wisdom in that advice, because the receptionist touches everyone that comes through the door of a business.  The process of touching allows the receptionist to develop a sense of order about vendors, staff, and clients, allowing her to come to understand the underlying structure of the organization and be able to successfully assess and courteously triage access to executives and other staff.

I recently ran across a director-level staff person not yet ready to relinquish known workarounds and seize the opportunity to transform his work by touching data flows (such as cleaning up a client database).  The rationalizations were typical, “I’m too busy” and “Maybe we could hire someone else to do that?,” failing to recognize the long-term benefits of gathering information oneself and understand the underlying limitations.

I was saddened by emphasis on the short-term urgencies and the limited investment in the important (long-term) that I observed, but this was a case where I did not actually have any influence.  Because I care about the organization, I asked too many questions, so my advice to self is to stop asking such questions, but I digress…

When I look at situations like this one, I recognize that organic learning is often required, because organizations tend to grow organically – they fail to document along the way, they fail to create processes for review and archiving (until it is a crisis), and they allow single person specialists to emerge (that can leave with the organizational history).   Yet it is important (and tedious) to gather, consolidate, or validate information when trying to move an organization to an improved future.  The hard news is that such work often requires tedium and/or assimilating the unknown.  The good news is that the most valued people in every organization are the people who learn, think, and transform by doing this.  As such, my long view advice:

• Seize the opportunity to touch key data flows and learn the limitations of the current system.
• Spend time on the important (learn, think, transform) even when your schedule is filled with urgencies.
• Do not be above tediousness; participate in the tedium and gain appreciation for the efforts of others who complete tedious work regularly.

Are you touching important data flows, learning from them, and creating transformation?

I received a personal note from a friend who attended graduate school with me.  She commented on the topic of my blog post Incongruence, noting that in her professional life in a foreign country, she finds little congruent or predictable yet she finds success.  In fact, she specifically said that she has had to “adapt from my sort of square, orderly, American way of thinking and doing things (so I have been told) to the go-with-the-flow / be-ready-to-switch-gears-next-week way of doing things in the foreign environment.  To my surprise, both methods can lead to successful ventures.”

I am glad she wrote because it offers me an opportunity to clarify my mixed message observation.  I described the incongruence of mixed messages through the generalization of the broad communication problem of not everyone having the same priorities.  However, in the specific example I cited, although the small biotech’s message was mixed (incongruent), it was really their failure to communicate that I found disagreeable.

I agree with my friend that being nimble and adaptable are important business success factors because all businesses are subject to shifting priorities due to changing environments and new information. What I challenge is the extension to the person.  Once a personal relationship has been forged in the name of business, a commitment to get back to someone is never relieved by a changing business landscape.  The message might change and/or an assistant might deliver it, but a commitment to communicate persists once a relationship exists because it is the relationship that carries trust, credibility, and honor.

It might seem easier to dismiss and excuse, “its just business,” rather than take responsibility to communicate when inconvenient, when the message will be difficult, or when anonymous (no one is looking). Yet the long view position requires that we dignify human interactions with the minimalist “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

Done consistently, cumulative nurturing of personal respect cultivates and amplifies trust, loyalty, credibility, and honor (long view attributes).  This is part of congruence.

Do you communicate consistently in your business relationships?

I was recently involved in a recruitment dance at a small biotech ready for manufacturing scale-up.  The organization had some very interesting and valuable technology and was looking for someone with mastery in manufacturing scale-up (me).  Initial impressions suggested an excellent match to my skills, interests, and passion.

I talked to the organization a few times over the course of several months.  Although I was in no hurry to find my next full-time professional adventure, I was delighted to be considered for the position and was eager to get traction if there was to be a successful match.  At my last meeting, I met with a recently hired executive that assessed my ability to fit into a start-up culture.  He emphasized and reiterated the urgency of the scale-up effort, suggesting only weeks remained before a crucial deadline.  How would I handle that pressure? I answered his questions truthfully: I am not a miracle worker, but I am extremely competent with a track record of success even under crisis conditions. He thanked me for my time and promised to get back to me by end-of-day and no later than end-of week.  A week came and went and there was no follow-up, so I sent a brief email requesting an update.  What followed was a series of emails trying to set a time for a phone call.  By the third email, it was quite apparent that my candidacy for the position was not a priority.

Although I am confident that I could have helped them technically, I finally realized that I was not a culture fit for their organization because I was frustrated that their actions were incongruent with their words.  How could they claim excessive urgency for technical scale-up deadlines yet be so delayed in getting back to candidates necessary to meet the deadline? This example, was one of several examples of inconsistency that could be rationalized singly, but together created a sense of pervasiveness.

This journey got me to thinking deeply about the importance of congruence and consistency.  I began to notice it everywhere.  In fact, I categorize three broad types of incongruence:

• Harmless/Intentional Incongruence that is part of comedy.  In this context, incongruence works because it is intentionally funny.  An example is the intentional incongruent dialogue and props in the performance of Monty Python’s Spamalot.  Similarly, my accompanying photos are funny because they are incongruent.
• Annoying/Incomplete Design Incongruence that is an omission of an overall review of the customer experience.  An example is the mixed use of manual and sensor-based equipment in the ladies’ restroom at my local mall.  The toilets flush by sensor, the soap is dispensed by sensor, and the towels are provided by sensor.  However, the water is delivered from the faucet by turning the knob.  I no longer recall how many times I (and others) have felt like an idiot waving my hands under the faucet trying to make the water come out then realizing that I need to turn the handle!  This situation is just an annoying omission, no one really thought about how a customer would experience the facility after several sensors have been presented – we expect sensors for all interactions.
• Damaging/Short View Incongruence that results from mixed messages.  An example was my opening story.

Congruence is an important long view attribute because it creates predictability, reduces uncertainty, and increases credibility – people know what to expect and how to behave.  My long view advice:

• Create priorities and communicate them profusely.
• Strive for consistency and congruence in your messages (story) and be aware of the potential for misunderstanding.
• Be intentional with your actions; actions speak louder than words.

It was emotionally hard to call and decline the technical opportunity with that small biotech because I had already imagined success on their behalf and I felt invested.  However, because I sell process confidence* (requires congruence), I declined the opportunity.  I wish them a successful future and I will keep looking for the right fit for my next adventure!

*Note:  see my superpower statement at Entrepreneurial Athleticism

Does your story match your actions/behaviors?

It has been one month since my mother’s unexpected death left my father alone, full-circle, back to his humble beginning.

My father was born late in the life of his parents. His siblings had graduated or neared graduation from high school at the time of his birth, so he spent much of his youth alone with his horse and rifle.  He kept busy with a mare purchased for him as a yearling and a rifle his father had given him to hunt.  Always ambitious, at a tender age he began bounty-hunting magpies for the local fish and game department, which kept him in ammunition and taught him the skills of the earth.  As he matured, he worked as a ranch-hand and then set off to college to study engineering.  He met my mother when he was attending undergraduate school.  Although their pairing was unusual, she was refined and he was cowboy-rough, they worked. He matched her brilliance with intensity and passion and she guided him where he was unfamiliar.  They both excelled professionally building a life together that included the best of both of their respective worlds.  They retired to a ranch in the mountains of my father’s youth with several horses and a collection of rifles appropriate for land he inhabits.  With her death, he returns to where he started, alone with his horse(s) and rifle(s) in his native rural home.

Today, I share this blog post with my Dad giving him an opportunity to share the Eulogy that he gave memorializing my mother on what would have been her 68th birthday.  Although the sorrow and grief are still fresh, with this post, I wish to put the wind back under his wings with some long view advice:

• Find joy – rekindle the joy of your youth when you found happiness alone with your horse and rifle.
• Stay engaged – constantly move forward and approach life with the passion, energy, and vigor that have always been your trademark.
• Reduce entropy in the world – continue to commit to leaving things better than you found them just as you have always done and taught me to do.  Repair the fences, clean the corrals,….
• View the cup as half-full – stay positive and eschew negativity.
• Learn new things – rock your new satellite internet connection and iMac!  Perhaps learn to blog?….
• Nurture your friends and community – remember that your four-legged friends count on you and your two-legged friends care.

In memory of Evelyn

“We are gathered here today to pay our last respects to Janet Evelyn and commit her remains to the earth in her wonderful native home.  From my simple perspective, Evelyn was relatively young and her passing was totally unanticipated; however, Evelyn and I believe that it is the Lord who decides the time for us to leave this earth and we believed his will shall be done.

Evelyn and I chose to be life’s partners over 50 years ago.  Our love for one another was boundless and unending and our primary desire was to be alone together.  Our life’s journey together generally involved good times with a few not so good times that we shared equally; however, it was her gentle and steady hand that guided our loving partnership through all of the years and all of life’s issues.  Those that knew us recognized that our lives were totally entwined and one should anticipate encountering the two of us, not one or the other.  Our uncompromising desire to be together and holding hands on a walk or attending business or social gatherings was, unfortunately, a point of contention for some but as such gave us strength and knowledge that our commitment to one another was many levels above all of our critics and reinforced our desire to be alone where we felt most comfortable.  I would argue that our Life’s Journey together was outstanding even if, in my opinion, it was far, far too short.

I feel compelled to briefly tell you that this poor old country boy was born in the living quarters of a rural northwest railroad depot and was a struggling university student at the time that I met Evelyn.  I immediately became totally infatuated with this young, intelligent, and accomplished city girl (city girl are my words).  She, unlike this country boy, had never ridden horses, never fished mountain streams for trout, never hiked the mountain back country, never hunted deer and elk, or any of the acknowledged rural northwestern traits that boys and, yes, girls from this region were generally familiar.  However, this bright, accomplished, and well-read city girl was willing to accept this poor old country boy and all of his failings.  I would like to think perhaps to some extent because of my commitment and adoration for her.  But, for whatever reason she willingly took my hand and I felt that she joined me just as it is stated in the old Testament Book of Ruth – your people will be my people and thy God my God.  She readily accompanied me in all of these foreign endeavors previously unknown to her and she walked by my side and advised me in every aspect, every phase and every issue of our life.  I recall the absolute amazement and initial disbelief as well as perhaps horror of her parents when she shot her first deer.

I cannot begin to tell you what this beautiful incredible woman meant to me both as my life’s partner and special confidant.

Allow me to offer a closing prayer before I place her remains into the earth.  ’Dear God Thank You for the gift of her life, for her sweet companionship, and for the cherished memories that endure.  God please comfort us as we mourn and grant us strength to see beyond our sorrow and sustain us in our grief.  Amen.’”

Dad, remember that the vows, “until death do us part” remind us of the fidelity needed for two lives lived together, but also remind us to move forward when death separates.  So, rebuild, rekindle the joy of your youth when you were alone with your horse and rifle, and move forward into new frontiers creating a future that honors not only your own life, but hers.  She will not be forgotten.

One year ago, as a result of a running hip injury and a prior history of a hip stress fracture (running), my doctor recommended a bone density measurement even though I am young, active, and have no significant risk factors for osteoporosis.  Obediently, I went for a DEXA measurement.

Shortly after, my doctor informed me that the good news was that I had not lost any height, but the bad news was that I had osteoporosis.  I was shocked.

This diagnosis was opportunity to adjust my lifestyle to improve my long-term skeletal health.  As with any significant emergent problem, the long view response is similar:

1. Assess priority – does it merit long view investment?
2. Define improvement/success metric(s)
3. Create a plan for improvement/success
4. Execute:  drip, drip, drip…
5. Measure improvement/success
6. Reassess priority  (Celebrate improvement/success)

Establishing priority was easy.  To ensure my long-term skeletal health, I was immediately committed to aggressively battling this silent disease.  Complacency was never an option for an Off-the-Scale-Futurist.

Defining the improvement/success metric was also easy.  I needed to increase my bone density to greater than -1.5 spinal t-score (low end of the normal range) as measured by DEXA.

With my doctor, I created a threefold plan for bone density improvement/success:

1. Increase mineral availability:  take calcium supplements 3×600 mg/day.
2. Decrease demineralization:  add drug therapy, Boniva 1x/month.
3. Increase mineralization:  add load-bearing exercise.  This required a remix of my athletic lifestyle.  My typical regimen of swimming, biking, running, and an occasional cardio machine provided limited load-bearing.  Only running counted as load-bearing, and it only loads the lower skeleton.  So, I reduced swimming and biking in favor of weight-lifting 2x/week, along with my usual running.  After a bit, I realized the combination did not give me the joy of athletics to which I was accustomed, so I went in search of new load-bearing sports. I tried both yoga and rock climbing, both of which provide whole skeletal loading.  Although I liked yoga, it didn’t like me (rhomboid strain).  I loved rock climbing – it is so addictive that it became the clear winner!    I now mix a combination of swimming, biking, running, and rock climbing throughout the week, along with weight-lifting 1x/week.  I still have joy, but I increased the amount of load-bearing exercise.

Since DEXA bone density is measured no more frequently than annually – I committed to a full year of execution.  Keeping the faith, I impatiently and anxiously awaited my next DEXA results, drip, drip, drip, …

I recently received my results and I moved the needle!  I went from a -2.6 spinal t-score to a -1.6 spinal t-score; a full standard deviation of change.  Woohoo!  Although I didn’t quite reach a number greater than -1.5, I certainly made a significant gain.  Time to celebrate!

Because load-bearing is now integrated into my lifestyle, I no longer need aggressive focus.  Time for a new adventure…

What are you doing to ensure your long-term health?