2007 August | haRdLy NOrMal

Archive for August, 2007

A marketplace flop – how do you deal with failure?

Published by August 31st, 2007 in Change, Character, Just Me, Leadership, Learning, Life's Lessons, Marketing, My Big Mouth, Personal Growth

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I was reading an article yesterday on how Sony announced that it had made a mistake. The article even says “a marketplace flop”. Of course in the race to be the digital audio winner there has to be a few losers. Sony tried to challenge the 1st place winner, Apple, but they did not change the platform. Seth Godin in his book “The Dip” goes into detail about this type of tactic and why it won’t succeed. There are many marketing lessons here but this article started me thinking about failures.

Can you imagine the stress Sony’s upper management must have felt leading up to this announcement? I am sure they tried to make it work time and time again. They most likely even spent millions upon millions of dollars in product development, manufacturing and promotion. It must be really hard for a major public company, or personality for that matter, to admit a failure. Heck, it is hard for everyone!

I once read a study I found on churchrelevance.com by The Concours Group and VitalSmart that 85% of all project failures can be attributed to “organizational silence.”

• 90% of employees know far in advance when projects are doomed but feel incapable of speaking up
• 81% say approaching a key decision maker about the project is nearly impossible
• 78% say they are personally working on a “doomed” project right now
• 71% say they try to speak up to key decision makers but don’t feel they are heard.

My stepfather who was in the Army Corps of Engineers during the building of the Panama Canal told me a story. The Air force would fly over and look for places to build a landing strip. They would contact the Army to build in the areas they liked. The Army would tell them that the area where they want a landing strip built, because of the countries rainy season, floods 6 months out of the year. The Air Force didn’t listen and instructed the Army to build anyway. Of course by the time the strip was built the area flooded and it was never ever used. Millions of dollars and man-hours wasted because someone would not listen.

On 60 Minutes I watched a story about the Coast Guard’s “Deep Water” failure. After 9/11 the Coast Guard became responsible for securing all of our ports and coastlands. The project to build up the Coast Guard to handle this responsibility was called Deep Water. Billions of dollars later the Coast Guard has less boats then it did before the project. On one project radios were purchased that were not even waterproof. Boats without waterproof radios!!! Several people on the project tried to speak up that there were serious issues with the project. No one would listen. One of the guys went as far as posting videos on YouTube. WOW!!!!

As leaders we must keep the channels of communication open so employees can voice concerns. Of course, they may or may not be accurate but if our people are scared to approach us openly and honestly we may not hear the early warning that failure is coming. The people we lead are doing the actual hands on work and have vital knowledge that we may not.

As employees we need to be very responsible and respectful when approaching leadership with issues. There are good and bad ways to communicate and timing is crucial. Also, if we are always going to leadership with small issues they may turn us off. Kind of like the boy that cried wolf. Make sure what you want to bring to their attention is very important for the success of the organization. It also has to be an issue that will make the organization better; not your world better.

As middle managers or directors of a department we have a very important responsibility to speak up, respectably, to upper-management however, it is vital that we also surrender to the decisions handed to us. Even more important when we go to the people we lead we must support, without question, the decisions our leadership gave to us. Never can we say or show to the people we lead that we disagree. We simply and successfully must encourage our team to do their very best to make the project happen. I know in my life I have been wrong more then I have been right and the times when I was wrong – I learned a valuable lesson. There is great wisdom is surrendering to your leadership but surrendering alone is not enough – you must support their decisions always!

Some other thoughts about failure:

• Have the courage to acknowledge the failure
• Learn from it
• Move on – don’t stay in your failure
• Don’t allow failure to stop you from trying new ideas – from taking risks

How do you deal with failures?

A good Wal-Mart experience – no really!

Published by August 29th, 2007 in Blogs, Community, Customer Service, Just Me, Learning, Life's Lessons, Marketing, My Big Mouth

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I have a friend who loves Wal-Mart. Interesting enough this friend also loves Carmen and should most definitely seek professional help. Now me, I loathe Wal-Mart, however, just like the rest of us I end up there. I guess only people from Georgia can be devoted to a store that sells Larry The Cable Guy “Git-R-Done” Boxer Shorts.

Every time I walk into Wal-Mart I text this friend reminding him of how much I dislike Wal-Mart. Being the nice guy I am I want to make sure he has not forgotten! Today while shopping at you know where, right after I hit send on my phone, and to my surprise, the check out clerk was not only able to formulate a sentence; he went out of his way to be nice. Lately Wal-Mart must be having serious customer service issues because at the check out, when you go to swipe your card, the first thing you read is “did the cashier greet you today?” I wonder what happens to an employee when they receive an usual amount of “no” answers. Electric shock? Wouldn’t that be awesome watching the Wal-Mart clerk receiving a large electric shock if they forgot to say hello? Anyway, this kid even went as far as walking around to my side and placing the bags in my cart. I could not believe it! Out of all the times I have shopped at Wal-Mart this is the only first-rate customer service I have ever received.

My new favorite blog (sorry Seth) is Swerve at LifeChurch.tv. This week they are posting a series on customer service that I believe every church worker should read. No, everyone should read!

Since I am on this topic let me say how impressed I am with Amazon.com. I love it so much I hate it. They make it so easy that I am going broke. Their online experience is the best and anyone doing ecommerce should follow the Amazon.com model. Have you ever had to contact their customer service? Today trying to speak to someone is almost impossible so when I clicked on their contact page; and it said input your number and that Amazon will call me I was skeptical. Really skeptical! To my surprise they call back right away – even at work! Each time was a great experience.

When I took some college television classes my professor, Rolf Mendez, taught us that TV was all customer service. Truth is, everything is customer service. Good people skills are priceless, and making other people feel good about themselves is truly a gift that more people need to learn.

Ahhhh no more pressure – I made a post. This blogging stuff is work. Now that I know I am visited daily by the Official Society of Bolivian Malamute Hunters I can feel the pressure. Well, I’ll do my best but if I happen to miss a day just remember my new tag line; “don’t let the first layer fool you – the good stuff’s at the bottom!” There are a lot of great posts to keep you busy. In fact I am rather fond of a few I wrote in July after my return from Los Angeles.

While writing this post I found some great Wal-Mart hater sites that I wanted to link to however, the content was a little questionable. Also, I cannot believe I looked up Carman on the internet. It must be the lack of smog is getting to me! HELP!

Hugs,

Cool stats and feedback

Published by August 28th, 2007 in Blogs, Community, Future, Internet, Just Me, Marketing, Media, My Big Mouth

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Keep in mind this site is less then a month old!

According to Google between August 20th and August 26th, 113 people visited this site with 41 being absolute unique visitors.

Of course Awstats reads that this month alone I have had 359 unique visitors and a grand total of 1199 people who have visited. On the 25th it says 77 people visited and the site averages about 50 visits a day.

Now here is the best stat yet. The average time on site is 6:43. That is huge!!! It either means I type too much or people are falling asleep at the keyboard.

Even though there have not been a lot of comments I do receive some very encouraging emails. Here is part of one I received today from someone I highly respect and love.

Read your blog often, it’s a must read in my favorites. Keep up the
work, I admire your effort, and even when I’m not responding, I’m learning!

Keep tilling the soil, looking for a harvest, we’re serving the great
shepherd. Even though I feel like giving up today, the sun will rise
tomorrow, and God will guide me through another day — and of course,
will guide you too.

Those words were a huge encouragement to me today and I thought I would share

As I posted earlier; you cannot despise humble beginnings

A good question

Published by August 28th, 2007 in Bible, Blogs, Change, Character, Community, Future, Just Me, Leadership, Learning, Life's Lessons, My Big Mouth, Personal Growth, Recovery

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Last night someone contacted me and basically asked “how do you know if you are making a decision based on emotion like fear or if you are being objective?”

I was very much flattered that they would choose me to answer such an important question. Since I didn’t know any of the details other then the question itself I took this very seriously and started to think real hard on what I would do; or that I would try to do!

Pause!!!

Yes, hit the pause button. Too me this is a hard one. I have found that those real important decisions in life are best made after a little time has passed. Especially if strong emotions are involved! It is the difference between responding and reacting. Never react out of fear, anger, despair, hatred, sadness or any strong emotion that will most certainly distort your perception of reality. This also gives you time to seek God’s will for your life. It may take a day, maybe a week or two! It is remarkable how your views on a situation change after a week. I often, because God is so awesome, have been forced not to react on my timeline and each and every time I have been grateful that I waited.

Seek Godly counsel!!! Proverbs 12:15 Proverbs 19:20

Godly counsel means godly counsel, not good opinions from nice people. Here are some basic guidelines I use to find someone who can set me straight.

1) They are strong Christians – grounded in God’s Word and prayer
2) They have strengths and attributes I admire.
3) They are stable and their lives are well balanced
4) I can trust them.
5) They have good judgment and demonstrate great wisdom
6) They are slow to give advice, but rather help me make decisions on my own yet when needed, they’ll stop me from doing something dumb
7) They have the courage to be really honest with me meaning they will tell me the truth even if the truth will hurt me – that is how we grow and check our perceptions.

I cherish the people in my life whom I choose to counsel with. Or should I say they allow me to share and/or vent issues when I need guidance. Each one has helped me mirror myself so I can see if my actions and beliefs are wrong, so I can adjust and correct to be a better person. Many have told me things I did not want to hear, but they usually were right, and after much introspection I would accept the truth and grow. Sure it is painful but the rewards are great. The truth will beyond a doubt set you free.

Most people counsel with someone who will tell them what they want to hear. In fact they will often go from person to person until they find someone who will validate their damaged perceptions. It is not easy admitting you are wrong, and that your views are wrong, so people will work very hard to protect their beliefs.

I also do not counsel with people who will be biased. Friends and family who are too close may not tell you the truth because they don’t want to hurt you, they don’t see the truth or for their own motives. I love my mother with all of my heart. I will often share issues with her to be comforted however, my mother and most mothers are too subjective to tell their child the truth. Even when I am being selfish, or really dumb, I am still her baby and she is blinded by that. It is very hard for a mother to see wrong in her child and do anything but offer love and support.

Now my dad – he’ll tell it like it is, but in my case I find it extremely hard to be emotionally honest with my father. We are two completely different generations and I have never been able to be emotionally honest except on a few rare occasions.

When seeking counsel it is very important to be completely honest and tell the real truth. Over the years, because I seek personal growth more then anything, I have found telling the real truth becomes easier and easier. What I mean by real truth is I share with the person I counsel with all sides to the story – not just mine! The reason is I know I make mistakes and that I am often wrong. Boy can I mess things up! I know my perceptions get whacked just like everyone else’s so I want to guarantee that if I am in the wrong I will receive correction.

So now when someone texts me a serious question late at night I can just send them to hardlynormal.com.

The people that are closest to me are the people who I know will tell me the truth; especially when I don’t want to hear it – because that is when I need the truth the most!

Marketing that makes me mad

Published by August 27th, 2007 in Change, Community, Just Me, Leadership, Learning, Life's Lessons, Marketing, Media, My Big Mouth

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Last night while leaving the Cardinals game with thousands upon thousands of other people, many of them families with kids, a mobile billboard advertising a strip club drove by. In fact, I noticed that the truck and trailer modified with large flat areas to create billboards on each side was circling the stadium.

Ok I do understand that for marketing to be effective people have to see it but this is wrong on so many levels. Baseball is a wholesome sport that the entire family can enjoy. It is really sad that a “gentleman’s club” has to ruin the experience as you walk to your car.

When I first started my music ministry many moons ago I learned how impressionable kids are. At the time I dyed my hair bleach blonde. I also smoked cigarettes. We were playing for a youth group at a small church near Lancaster California. After the gig I walked as far away and out of sight as I could to light up and take a puff. When I retuned to the church to tear down my drums; a kid ran up and asked “do you dye your hair blonde?” I responded “yes”. All excited the kid then said “cool, I am going to dye my hair blonde too!” and he ran off.

Right then and there the thought came into my mind if that young boy had seen me smoking; there is a very good chance he would think cigarettes are cool and start smoking! It was a very good wake up call for me and I stopped smoking for the remainder of my music ministry years. More importantly, it clearly was a life lesson in how we must all take the responsibility as Christ followers very serious. People watch us and we affect people mostly by our actions.

Please don’t judge me for smoking while serving the Lord. We all do dumb things and I was fairly new to ministry. Not that being a rookie justifies my being “dumb in a no dumb zone” I am just being real with you. Pastor Matthew Barnett preaches a sermon where he says he would rather have a plumber who is volunteering his time, working hard to fix something yet happens to cuss every once in awhile, then a person who is “perfect” and just wants to pray all day. The point is none of us will ever be perfect but if we allow the Lord to work in and through us; we will get better and we will make a difference. During the 4 to 5 years when I did music ministry we had a positive impact on millions of people!

Look a squirrel! Oh, back to the point which is advertising adult products and service in public purposely outside of a family event such as a baseball game.

I don’t know what can be done to govern this kind of marketing. All I know is when I saw that truck driving around with the soft adult images and the words “Penthouse Club” I got upset. The thing is this kind of advertising is becoming more prevalent!

So what do you think?

Ahh the memories! Below you will find some UTI goodies

don’t – my first music video. Total budget $12 and it received network airplay

when I close my eyes.mp3

waiting so long.mp3

Enjoy

Keeping commitments

Published by August 25th, 2007 in Character, Just Me, Leadership, Learning, Life's Lessons, My Big Mouth, Personal Growth, Recovery

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Oops, I just posted on commitment and I just missed a very serious commitment. For 13 years, on my sober birthday, I have called my mother to tell her I made it another year. She always responds that she gets goose bumps when I tell her.

I have kept this commitment every year for two reasons. It really blesses my mother and it keeps me accountable. I won’t lie. It is just not in me to lie! And to my mother – come on! Because of that when times were really hard God used the thought of me not being able to call my mother to keep me sober another day.

Funny because every year that I called my mother she sounded surprised. Not that I made it another year but that August 24th and my sober birthday was not on her agenda.

Yup, you guessed it. I forgot to call today and I just received a call from my mother asking why I didn’t call. Mothers are the coolest and they are far smarter then we think. In 13 years this is the very first time I have not called and I sure better not let it happen again.

God works though people and if we are truly committed to God then we need to be committed to the important relationships in our lives!

Two forgotten words

Published by August 24th, 2007 in Bible, Blogs, Change, Character, Community, Homeless, Just Me, Leadership, Learning, Life's Lessons, My Big Mouth, Personal Growth, Recovery

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For the last few hours I have been really thinking about the message Mac left me and what really makes a good friend. Trust me, I am far from perfect especially in relationships and even though it has never been intentional I do sometimes hurt the people I love. We all do!

I hear the words commitment and loyalty used over and over again however, in today’s world it seems their meaning has been forgotten. Even the word integrity is used quite frequently although to have integrity you must be loyal and true loyalty is very rare these days.

I believe that God works through commitment. I have learned this in several of my relationships both professional and personal. Since I am an extremely loyal person I find it easy to commit. Once committed, if something goes wrong, even if I feel I have been wronged, I still stand strong. Because of this I am forced to grow, to get better and to become the person God wants me to be.

If I run from a relationship or professional situation every time there is a challenge, or something that I find offensive, I seriously stop growing. I heard Brian Tracy once say that if you sat in a closet alone you would never grow. The only way to develop character is dealing with problems that have hair! Ya it is hard! Especially when we don’t get our own way but that is when we grow the most.

Of course, there will be conflict in any relationship. Conflict is not a bad thing and any healthy relationship will have healthy conflict. Healthy conflict occurs when people talk about the issue at hand avoiding personal attacks, looking for the best solution and being emotionally honest with each other. Some people tend to avoid conflict often replacing it with an artificial harmony or they will dissolve or sabotage the relationship. If you are committed to the relationship either professional or personal, and there is conflict, you are then forced to work everything out even when you don’t want to. Forgiveness, grace and longsuffering are the tools needed to resolve all conflict and grow!

There is a good book or audio CD titled “The Peace Maker” which gives a biblical guide to resolving conflict and I highly recommend this book. The truth is all anyone needs to do is read Matthew 18: 15-17 and make this scripture a lifestyle.

Mac Gober does not know much about me and the basis for his comments today is the relationship I have with Chris Phalen. Even though I love Chris like my own brother I seriously try and put the same values, passion and commitment into all of my close relationships. Chris and I have had some severe conflict but we remained committed to our friendship and we both have grown.

I love David Hanley with all of my heart but there was a time when we didn’t speak to each other. Because we were both committed to the same vision and to our relationship today I consider Dave and Gina family and I always will.

When my wife left I stood for the marriage for three years! Most people thought I was crazy but God radically changed me for the better during those three years. It was my commitment to the covenant I made with Him that I held onto until I was released that made all the difference.

For my last illustration I will use a professional relationship. I am just one of thousands of homeless people who have passed through the Dream Center. Who knows how many people have gone through their discipleship program. In some way God used the Dream Center to help each and every one of us and we should all be grateful. To be completely honest, I know people that were drastically changed during their stay at 2301 Bellevue yet because something happened that offended them; they hold resentments for the very place that gave them a new life. Pastor Tommy told me I am one of the few who returns yearly to say thank you. I could have easily found stuff that offended me about the Dream Center but I am committed to that relationship and because of that loyalty God continues to bless me.

Funny because when I started this blog I was just going to focus on achieving a spirit of excellence and I have kind of gone in a different direction. Truth is I am just being myself and I find it hard to be anything but myself! Please hear my heart and know that I do not believe I am all that. I have much to learn. The examples I gave are not to bring attention to myself but to illustrate how God does an amazing work when we commit to something.

When you run from commitment you are really being selfish. You are thinking more about yourself then the other people involved. The real truth is that by being loyal and committed, especially when times get so bad you want to run, God will use that perseverance to make you a better person!

So I have spent today thinking about all of my relationships both good and bad and where I need to change. It really has been a great day.

Thoughts?

The best gift ever

Published by August 24th, 2007 in Change, Character, Future, Homeless, Just Me, Leadership, Learning, Life's Lessons, My Big Mouth, Personal Growth, Recovery

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I just got home and on my answering machine was a message left by Mac Gober who is the founder of Cannon Land Ministries.

Please hear my heart as I write this because I am blessed by the message Mac left. Mac said lots of very nice things however, two things he said actually humbled me into tears with gratitude. Mac said “everyone should have a friend like Mark” and “that I am in the business of helping people”! Wow, I am literally in awe!

I am not writing this to bring attention to myself but to encourage you to make a difference in others. Today I have 13 years sober and I was one of the worst kinds of drug addicts imaginable. It has been a very long road with crazy challenges but I can honestly say that if you live right, tell the truth always, keep your word no matter what, go after your dreams and most importantly serve others your life will get radically better.

I am far from perfect and I believe I have just started on my journey of growth. I make huge mistakes yet I always strive to do better and I do my best to put others before me. Love God and love your neighbors are truly the secrets to success.

This also brings up a great point that has been in my heart all week. One of the people on my team really blessed me with an extraordinary compliment this past Sunday. It really made my week yet it started me thinking. As leaders we are to encourage those around us especially the people on the teams we lead. It always feels good to get a kind word from above but I was truly blessed by receiving a kind word from someone on my team. I started to ask myself these questions: Am I encouraging the people that lead me? Am I encouraging the people I look up to! Most importantly; am I encouraging my mentors?

I have really made a serious effort to encourage my staff but I realized that I can really improve on encouraging those that encourage me.

Are you making a difference today? Why not start by putting people before yourself and serving others. Also, try this week to encourage your boss, his boss, the policeman who has just pulled you over and all the people who have authority over you! Chances are they may need a kind word too! Your life will get better when you take the focus off yourself and place it on others!

New addiction – shopping

Published by August 23rd, 2007 in Blogs, Change, Character, Just Me, Learning, Life's Lessons, My Big Mouth, Personal Growth, Recovery

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While I was writing the Personal MBA post I also created an Amazon.com aStore listing several of the books. While I was reading descriptions and reviews some (many) looked so cool I just HAD to buy them. I even bought some for others! I now see how shopping can be an addiction.

When I was finished I had spent well over $300 and now have more books then I have the time to read. Though they will sure look nice on my shelf!

Of course, being human, I rationalized this insane purchase by thinking I should have lots of time to read during the recovery of my surgery. Isn’t it funny how we will rationalize or justify our sins to avoid the truth in our own actions?

I think I am going to start a public library…

Suffering for Jesus

Published by August 23rd, 2007 in Bible, Change, Character, Future, Just Me, Life's Lessons, My Big Mouth

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I once had a Pastor who used to say “suffering for Jesus does not mean we have to listen to bad music”

Yes I thought of Pastor Phil Aguilar who started Set Free World Wide when I read this great post on Perry Noble’s blog. This is a great post so check it out here.

As I think about my sober birthday I have much thankfulness in my heart for Pastor Phil and especially his wife Sandra. To make a very long story short she found me and I will be forever grateful. Set Free also showed me you could be sober, help people, serve Jesus and have a blast. If these crazy for Jesus bikers never gave me that foundation I may not be where I am today.

There ain’t no party like a Set Free party because a Set Free party dont stop!!!

ahhh the good ol days