Practical Inspiration from Coach Darcy

Where Have I Been?

Hey--I'm glad you've missed me! I've been hard at work on my new blog and community site, redcaperevolution.com, coming soon.

To find out more about it, here's a sneak peek. Watch for the preview in November 2010 and the "official" launch in January 2011!  

From my August e-letter: Your Magic Wand at Work

If you had a magic wand, what would you do to make your challenges at work go poof!?

I recently asked members of my Community that question, and was surprised to see that their answers fell into three distinct categories: the personal, the powerful, and the possible.

Read the rest of this article here.

What would you do at work with a magic wand? Tell me here.

The Butterflies Are Everywhere

The other day, I heard someone say "the butterflies are everywhere." She meant it literally, noticing the sheer number of winged creatures constantly dipping in and out of her summer garden.

But here's how I heard it the first time:

"The butterflies are everywhere. People are nervous, people are anxious, their stomachs tied in knots. It's hard to tell from one day to the next what to expect as the stock market hiccups, the economic news sounds grim, and our friends are either overworked or underemployed. The butterflies of uncertainty are indeed everywhere."

Well, that attitude got me depressed. So I got up, took a walk, and when I returned to my office, armed myself with a more useful point-of-view:

"The butterflies are everywhere. Look at all the people I know who were inching along as caterpillars and are now soaring ahead, making interesting choices that best show off the beauty of their wings. Notice how much opportunity we're taking advantage of everyday for creativity and experimentation, from our Facebook posts to what we decide to cook for dinner. Yes, the butterflies are everywhere--thank god."

I guess the moral of the story is that seeing more butterflies gave me fewer butterflies.

Wisdom from the Water

Heard tonight in my water aerobics class: "If you feel off balance, suck and squeeze!!"

In the water, this meant, "If you feel off balance (because you're standing in four feet of water standing with one foot on a styrofoam noodle), suck (in your abs) and squeeze (your glutes, since tightening your core muscles gives you better balance)!!

But when I got home, this meant, "If you feel off balance (because life/work/etc. is piling up faster than you can keep up), suck (it up) and squeeze (the negative stuff out of your brain and get back in the game)!!

A good workout and a good lesson to boot!

Where's Your Volcano?

At the time of this writing, the Eyaj-ah-yow!-I'm-not-gonna-try-to-spell-it volcano has just created the longest interruption of air travel since before Orville and Wilbur got passports. Thankfully, the ash is lessening, the airports are opening and people are once again flying where they need to go without incident.

Until the next one. . .

Where will the next one hit?" the volcanologists muse. Well, after listening to my clients and colleagues in recent weeks, I am thinking the next volcano may erupt right in your own backyard.

Read the rest of this article in my monthly newsletter here.

Sign up for my newsletters here and get my complimentary report, Finding the Right Words to Build Confidence.  

Turning Doctors into Leaders

Great Harvard Business Review article on how doctors need to become leaders instead of practitioners. It's leadership, not legislation, that will turn health care around :

http://hbr.org/2010/04/turning-doctors-into-leaders/ar/1#

Breaking the "Busy" Bias

Here's the link to my latest newsletter, including the feature article, Breaking the "Busy" Bias. I welcome your comments and ideas!

Rewards and the Undercover Boss

Like many of you, I'm captivated by CBS's new reality show, Undercover Boss. The premise itself intrigues--take your upper level American executive, send him (so far, all hims) out in the trenches of his company, and watch him work--and struggle--in the entry-level jobs that are the foundation of the organization's success.

At the end of the show, the exec (now shaved and suited up) reveals the deception and talks to each of the significant people he worked with during his week undercover. Sometimes, he's offering a wake-up call, like the one GSI Commerce CEO Michael Rubin gave testy call center rep Danielle last night. But most of the time, he's giving praise, amazement, and some sort of unexpected recognition and rewards for the job well done. 

At least he's trying to offer recognition and rewards. And here's where I get frustrated. 

I'm not sure the "undercover bosses"--nor our "above-cover" bosses-- always understand how to recognize and reward someone in a way that makes a difference. For example, Rubin's reward last night to a father who's pulled himself up from living on the streets was to give him money for Christmas presents. That's lovely, and of course the employee was pleased. But Christmas presents fade.

How about having child care at the factory one evening a week so the night-shift  dad could see his daughter during early-evening breaks? The episode showed her running around in the break room anyway, which probably made the firm's lawyers break out in hives. How about setting up a scholarship and giving him a stake in increasing it it tied to his own growth and achievement? 

Also last night, a working mom who mentioned caring about her sons' football team was given $5000 for their uniforms. The episode's "where-are-they-now" postscript said they were the "best dressed of the league." Again, that's nice, but could that $5k today have helped the mom stay out of debt when those footballers are ready for college?

Of course, there have been several examples where the bosses gave promotions, engaged people in leadership development programs, and offered to mentor and guide their careers. My favorite was the first episode with Waste Management COO Larry O'Donnell, where, after working alongside a young woman holding down several roles, quickly promoted her, then kicked the butt of the regional supervisor who needed to hire two more people to replace her.

Now that's what I'm talking about--that kind of recognition and reward makes a difference every time.

A Lesson in Delayed Gratification, from a Surprise Source: Facebook

Wherefore art thou, delayed gratification? We can find any answer ASAP on Google, we can order one book from among millions of choices immediately on Amazon, and we can even get physical product in my hands pretty quickly through UPS and FedEx.  So we don't have to wait for much. 

So why is one man purposely waiting to create billions of dollars of tangible net worth, for himself but also for his employees, investors, and others?

This was the theme behind a  story in yesterday's Wall Street Journal about Facebook CEO, founder and genius Mark Zuckerberg, called "Facebook Founder in No Rush to 'Friend' Wall Street" .

In the article, Zuck (as the WSJ says he is known to most) was positioned as almost the counter-CEO. Instead of hurrying to grab profits and riches now while the iron is hot (on behalf of both stakeholders, employees, and himself), the 25-year-old Zuck has already passed over a $1 billion offer from Yahoo and an estimated $8 billion deal with Microsoft years later. While seen to be preparing for an IPO since 2008, Zuckerberg has been in no hurry to pull the trigger. 

The personal value Zuckerberg seems to be holding close here is delayed gratification, something thought lost in today's workplace. In exchange for the payday wait, Zuckerberg gets control in an ever-changing medium. He gets flexibility to do what he thinks is best. He gets the gift of creativity, so he can try new things--and fail. And, he gets the luxury of living a bigger vision, rather than watching a short-term goal.

According to the article, this delayed gratification isn't without its challenges, and the company has had to arrange innovative deals with investors for employees to see some additional cash rewards when they're not seeing IPO-level payoffs. Zuckerberg also tires of "the question" every time he speaks, now telling reporters he won't comment on it.

But pressures aside, the guy named Zuck who also happens to have created something that's changed our online and sometimes offline lives, doesn't seem to be bending to the pressure. He has a vision for the future, a clear understanding of what he has and what he needs, and seeks counsel but holds his own. For those of us who aspire to be better leaders in our businesses and our lives, there's a powerful lesson in that for all of us.

Are You a Hermit in the Workforce?

"There's very little calling for hermits in the American workforce," said Duncan Wyeth last week. I met Duncan when we were both speaking at the BlazeSports America national conference on Disability Sport and Therapeutic Education. He's a former US Paralympic cyclist, served on the USOC Board, and now is the executive director of the Michigan Commission on Disability Concerns and teaches at Michigan State University.

It's hard to realize that this energetic, accomplished man was once at risk in his life to be a hermit. As a boy with cerebral palsy in the 40's and 50's, his parents were told to put him in an institution and to "go have another child." Growing up, people paid more attention to his limitations than his abilities. He described it as a separate, isolating process--one that often still exists for people with physical and mental abilities today.  

Falling in love with biking was Duncan's breakthrough, creating freedom of movement he didn't have when walking, and more importantly, making him feel like he was part of everyone else. If it wasn't for the first person who gave him a bike, he might be that hermit still. And the world would have missed out on all his contributions.

Duncan's comment made me think about how we're all sometimes at risk to be hermits in our work and lives. We so often focus on our disabilities and what we can't do, that we forget to appreciate our abilities and what's possible. We choose to stay "heads down" to avoid calling attention to ourselves and our gifts rather than speaking up, stepping up, and showing up.

So, thanks, Duncan, for reminding me that there's no room for me to be a hermit, no matter what my real or perceived disability.  

P.S. If you'd like to support the great work of BlazeSports America, an organization that creates fun, competitive athletic opportunities for people with disabilities that help them move out of isolation and practice teamwork, leadership, and to become more connected with life, work, and the world, please visit them here.