A journey through the desert...

The following is the original and the rewrite can be found by clicking here.

This story* does not originate with me although I have borrowed it for many a meeting and used it liberally over the years.... it's fun to tell and in a metaphorical sense, a story to live by. It goes something like this...

There were three Bedouins travelling through the barren desert where the end of the day brought them to a small oasis. The day had been grueling and in the relief of the oasis they set up their camp, had a well deserved meal and sat around the camp fire discussing the journey and the days ahead - As the fire shrank and gave way to the desert night, they found themselves whispering about their hopes and dreams. As their whispers began to fade to the silence of the night a small light appeared, which expanded to fill their camp with a light as bright as the sun. It suddenly shank back into itself revealing a being of light floating in front of them... an omnipotent deity if you will. The three cowered at his feet waiting for him to speak.

In a voice that sang like angels he asked the three Bedouins what they desire? As quickly as he had asked they were asking for lands, wives, children and fortunes.

To this he said, "for those requests you will have to look to yourselves but I will offer you some wise words. Tomorrow as you travel the hot desert pick up stones as you go and put them in your backpack. At the end of the day's journey, after you have set up camp, look into your backpack. You will be both happy and saddened". With that they looked at each other and as quickly as he had come, the deity disappeared. The night surrounded them once more.

The Bedouin looked at each other and started to grumble; "he's a god and the best he could do is tell us to pick up stones" and " true gods are supposed to grant us our wishes" as well as other slanders to this effect. Eventually the grumbling gave way to disappointment, then silence, which gave way to sleep.

The next morning the Bedouin took down their camp and began the day's trek through the scorching desert. As they made their way, they would talk unkindly about the visitor from the previous night...every so often they would think to pick up a stone.

At the end of the day, after they had set up their camp for the night, they sat and enjoyed their meal around the fire. One of the Bedouins remembered the visitor's words and looked in his bag while the others watched on. As predicted, he was both happy and sad for all the stones he had picked up had become jewels and upon seeing this he realized if only he had picked up more stones.

And there you have it, one big metaphor for the journey: the wealth of learning and how "kids just don't listen to their elders".

As I've mentioned I have used this story a number of times and always from the perspective of "learning"; picking up those stones of information and knowledge that one day will turn into something valuable. This of course is still very true but I see this as much more - The best journeys are meant to be hard. The value and stories are in the challenges, twists, turns, disappointments and unexpected joy. If you don't walk in the desert once in a while, figuratively and even literally, then you will miss everything that comes with it - The good, the bad, the indifferent... the exciting, amazing and wonderful.

In all of the story telling though, it wasn't until now that it truly struck me... "kids really don't listen to their elders", be they 15 or 25, or somewhere in their 30's (even 40's maybe). And this is the real message - search out the wise, those who have walked the desert and bring them into your counsel. Excluding your parents, how often do you search out the perspective of someone 15 to 20 years older than you? You should, they are the ones who tell you to pick up stones.

I need to round out my counsel it seems,

gpe

* I do not know who penned this story but I think his or her name has been lost in the annals of time - Like so many great things.

Fun with the Seven Deadly Sins

The following is the original and the rewrite can be found by clicking here.

By the time you finish reading this I am hoping you will see that there can be fun and utility with the Seven Deadly Sins. Up front I will say there is no theological agenda in writing this, as well as no disrespect at any level. 

Most of us have heard of the Seven Deadly Sins, also known as the capital vices or cardinal sins, which have been used since early Christian times to educate and instruct Christians regarding people's tendency to sin. The sins have changed over the centuries but currently they are: 

1. wrath: strong, stern, or fierce anger
2. greed (avarice): intense and selfish desire for something, especially wealth, power, or food
3. sloth: reluctance to work or make an effort; laziness
4. pride (vanity): excessive admiration of one's own appearance or achievements
5. lust: very strong sexual desire
6. envy: a feeling of discontent aroused by someone else's possessions, qualities, or luck
7. gluttony: habitual greed or excess in eating

Before I continue I will want to point out that Scientific America MIND dedicated a special issue to The Seven Deadly Sins - Turn temptations into a source of strength (November/December 2013 issue). This magazine focuses on Behaviour, Brain Science and Insights and is affiliated with Scientific America so I think it is fair to say that there is credibility with using the Seven Deadly Sins for insights into business thinking and anything else that strikes your fancy - I thought I would throw this out there for anyone asking themselves, "Where the hell is he going with this?"

Up front I will let you know my deadly sin is Envy... yes the little green monster. I have come to a point where I laugh at it now, as there is nothing that I have to envy in a practical sense  - But I still catch myself.

As I mentioned, I have found great fun and utility with the Seven Deadly Sins and want to share some of them with you. First of all they simply are fun as a conversation starter or even a party game - All you have to do is ask, "What would you say your Deadly Sin is?" More often than not people have heard of them but there is always some clarification as to what they are... I have been playing this game for years and always struggle with remembering the seventh myself. It is in the answers that are both fun and telling; not so much with regards to which sin a person picks but how they go about articulating it. I have had people tell me they don't have any sins. I then just smile and wonder if they are not self actualized enough, even at this playful level, to pick one, or are they so insecure that they do not want to admit a fault. We all have a sin so it's not really the point as to if you have one or not... the point are the specifics and that makes it fun.

So now you have a new party game but lets consider this in a more professional setting - For example as an interview question. Like the party game, I am more interested in whether a person  answers the question with a sin or avoids the one word answer with some justification that they really have no "sins". For me, this is an indicator of self-actualization or reflection and not being confident enough to highlight a personal challenge. With the articulation of a sin, like a perceived weakness, it then allows for the obligatory discussion as to how the person is addressing the weakness. Lets take me for instance... with envy, and I will say up front, it is one of the nastier sins, it has allowed me to strive and stretch harder to overachieve goals as well as learn how to turn my envy into a benign entity instead of something that is destructive.

Ultimately this is why I like the "Seven Deadly Sins Game": In a very simple way, it forces us to look at who we are, our triggers and biases. This can better help us understand ourselves as well as develop checks and balances particularly when we are looking at situations with a critical and objective eye...be it individually or with our teams.

gpe

PS: Check out the Robin Hood Game.... it is also fun and insightful. Click Here

Why we should stand on desks more often - Literally

The following is the original and the rewrite can be found by clicking here.

A while back I was in a meeting where the discussion revolved around our need to change our current situation to a future state that we all agreed was needed - Somewhere in all of this banter, I say something along these lines, "Evolution will get us there but it will take time where with a revolution we will get there much faster, but it tends to be bloodier".

 I of course thought it was particularly profound. Now let me say right up front we are talking business here so people very rarely get bloody and die (this is an important point) and as an aside (apologizing for my diatribe up front), we as business people like to draw from the military for strategic framework, aspects of leadership, transferable tactics and particularly language. Here is a very important point... in business, although it may sometimes have a vague feel of what war is all about, no one dies, I shall repeat again, no one dies. If you "take a bullet", in the broad sense of things you get "a do over". War, not so much.

So back to my profound statement (with a working assumption that you agree with me*), we find ourselves always existing in three states, some more preferable than others - The status quo, evolution or revolution. I will eventually get to the desk... so not to worry.

Let me quickly speak to the state of status quo first; briefly, only briefly... other than an opportunity to catch your breath (mostly in a figurative sense), the status quo offers you nothing long term... the world, and everything about it will change around you and you will become irrelevant** - I do not recommend it as the world will pass you by.

Revolution will drive dramatic change, through a spectrum from great to awful, as well as the opportunity associated with it. Here is the thing though, like war, it can take on a life of it's own, it's uncontrollable, noisy and many times random with what it offers. Sometimes it is necessary but hold on tight...very tight. As an aside this is where control is validated as an "illusion".

So now to evolution, and being that I left it to the last it's a fair assumption that it is something that I want to spend some time on... offering a thought or two. Up front I will say I'm a fan of Darwin and his theories of adapting and evolving to an ever changing environment - We need to evolve to thrive. A point though, it needs to move much faster than it historically has to prevent any slide into the status quo or creating a situation that brings on the need for revolution, be it in business or even socially. Why is that you may ask? The world is moving much faster, be it technology advances, communication or general globalization (that makes this big world a much smaller place) that creates a necessity to speed up evolution just to keep up with the environment.

And finally we get to the desk - Sorry about meandering... well not really that much. In the movie Dead Poets Society there is a scene where the teacher (Robin Williams) jumps up on his desk to make a point... I have attached the video, as it is my favorite scene in this great coming of age movie.

The video clip is packed with a number of messages but for me, in the context of what we are talking about, when he stands on his desk and asks "why", he offers hints as to how to speed up the evolution. The answer is of course, "to look at things differently and get a new perspective", as the acceleration comes through actively looking to evolve and not passively letting it happen over time.

Two other points resonate with me. When John Keating says, "if you know something, look at it a different way", it reminds us to keep challenging what we know as we just might start seeing a different and even better way. I also like when he tells a student not to walk off the edge of the table so fast like a lemming but look around - A reminder that thinking and doing things differently is not an occasional effort but should be a habitual way.

I find Keating actually getting up on the desk the most powerful in all of this, as it is the action in changing his perspective. He didn't talk about getting up on the desk, he got up on it, no talk... just "up". And this is how art in this case can challenge us... Asking what exactly are we doing to see things differently and speed up our evolution?

Thank you for reading. 

gpe

* Let me know if you don't

**Irrelevant is such a harsh word that means not connected with or relevant to something, but is what happens when you stand still as everything moves on. It's a great business word.