Message of the Day - How Can We Possibly Expect...

Good Morning,

 

This passed  evening I went out to get pizza to prepare us to sit outside in the moderate cold and hand out candies to the trick-or-treaters. And there were, of course, some very cute kids in some interesting costumes.

 

I went to the Little Caesars down the road, and it must have been a hive-mind idea as the line went out the door. Pizzas were been sent out of the store just as fast as the team behind the counter could make them, and they were hustling. Some were hustling with costumes on. Anyway, I placed my order and stood in the crowded waiting/order area where there were only three seats, all filled.

 

As one seat opened up, I took it as I was next in line to grab a seat. I smiled at the four year old sitting her dad’s lap. Maybe thirty seconds after I sat down, I saw a lady with her young daughter pay for her pizza and look for a spot to wait in. So I got up and offered her my seat.  A few minutes later another seat opened up and I sat down again.

 

The lady thanked me for giving up my seat for her. That so very few men do that these days. I then apologized for all of them. She mused that I was apologizing for the failure of what seemed to be all other men to show common courtesy to a lady, especially one with a young child with her.

 

This got me thinking. We have so many problems in our country and in our world. We keep getting more and more bad news. Hitting 7 Billion inhabitants on this third rock from the sun was not something to celebrate.  There are financial woes, security woes, and the list goes on.

 

Some of us are looking for ways to resolve our problems and others are looking for more hand outs from an already strained government.  Yet, on the grander scheme of things, there is little that each one of us can do to resolve the global problems. We would need to be of some stature, have some amount of resources, etc. to enact major change on a global stage.

 

That may make many people apathetic, you know, the ‘who cares’ mentality.

 

Well, I am here to tell you that there is something that we all can do to help improve our world. It may not be something that is going to move mountains, or balance the budget, but it is something that is going to make a difference in the life of others.

 

What we can do is show some common courtesy to our fellow man and woman.

 

If we can be nice to others, it will make the situations we face easier to face. It can defuse heated situations, etc.  And when we are nice to others, it often is paid forward, with many others feeling the benefits down the road.

 

It is something that we can do no matter how bad things get in our lives.  It is a choice we own.  It should be common sense.

 

Yet, like my experience in the pizza place, it is not very common. This is not my first rant on this. And sadly it won’t be my last.

 

Sure it sounds inane to complain about not giving up a seat for another with greater need, but it is the baseline of culture and civilization.  If we can’t get that basic level of respectful action right, then how can we possibly expect to get more complex issues resolved?

 

It starts with each and every one of us.

 

The next move is yours. What are you going to do?

 

 

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net
http://www.berenberg.net

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/
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Message of the Day - Starting Over

Good Morning,

 

Last Friday, Karen and I attended Temple Shalom for the celebration of the Sabbath and Simchat Torah (where the Rabbi and Cantor read the end of the Torah, or the five books of Moses).  As part of the ceremony, the Torah is brought out and is re-rolled up back to the beginning. That is, back to the book of Genesis. During this time, as the Torah is being re-rolled up, the Rabbi and Cantor were pointing out parts of the Torah as it moved by. There was the Ten Commandments, the Tabernacle, and many other parts of the scripture.

 

This made me think about our lives and how we sometimes have to start over. When I moved to Louisville, I had worked in call centers for some six years at this time and moved to management. After not finding a job right off, I started over and took a position as an front line phone representative.  I signed up with Kelly Services and got a job as a front line analyst. I was a Kelly Girl!

 

Starting over opened the door for me to find something bigger and better for me, which included changing from a person who lived a majority of my life for personal gratification to one who lives to help others.

 

Had I fought the drive to start over and held out for management, I would have certainly went down a different path (I had already looked for some six months in Washington DC and that did not bode well either).  The time I spent looking for a job would have grown longer and the situations in my life would have not been so open for me.

 

By giving up the urge, the ego driven urge, to hold out for management and not start over, I took what some would call the harder path of going back to square one and doing it all over again. In reality, the return to the beginning turned out to be a far better path, and easier.

 

We all are going to face situations and times in our lives where we will have to make that decision to press forward in our endeavors or look to step back a few paces and start over.

 

Some people will consider starting over as failure. Failure only happens when we quit. By going back and starting over, we give ourselves a renewed chance for success. We also reinforce these chances for success with re-learning skills we already knew and of course using our skills to hit the ground running.  

 

What may seem like taking two steps back and one step forward is really taking a few steps back, and then one or two forward, and then a few more forward and so on.

 

If you are faced with a situation where you just cannot feasibly move forward. Your goals seem dashed, your resources drying up, and your willpower just about spent, then it may be time to look to get back to the basics and regroup.

 

Find a baseline from your past and look to step back to it. And then start your path to success again.

 

It may just be the ticket you need to get to your goals and dreams.

 

Enjoy!

 

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net
http://www.berenberg.net

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/
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Message of the Day - Through Our Eyes

Good Morning,

 

Many years ago, I worked for an artist. He was an artistic genius, and at the same time, unpredictable and tyrannical in how he led his business.  I remember a time when someone driving a cement truck had backed into this artists SUV and put a hole through the back window. He brought the vehicle back to the office, where I worked for him, and asked me to pull out the window. I did so and prepared to throw out the shattered glass. The artist stopped me, I believe there was some yelling and denigrating involved, but I stopped what I was doing as the artist piled up the glass and showed how he would use it to display jewelry in one of his boutiques.

 

When looking at his idea through his eyes, it was masterpiece. The shattered auto glass looked like ice. The jewelry would sparkle and reflect off the glass and make the jewelry look even more appealing. It was genius.

 

How I have wanted to be able to do what the artist did. To be able to look at something and see its potential as art clear as day. When sharing the story about this artist with another person today, it turns out I am not alone in my desire to see like the artist did.

 

Sadly, I don’t have that kind of artistic ability and beyond that I am really bad at many other things. For example, fashion, I have no fashion sense. I know people are desperate when they ask for my opinion on whether something looks good or not (for the record I did once match stripes and plaid).

 

I suspect many of you reading this also don’t have that seemingly magical ability to spot potential artwork when you see it. Or like me, have limited abilities in other areas as well.

 

This, actually, is a good thing.

 

If we all had the same abilities and further, we all had amazing abilities, life would be kind of boring. Finding the magic in the potential would become commonplace, or worse, boring.

 

The good news is that each of us do have some special abilities.

 

I know folks that no matter what kitchen you put them in, or what ingredients you give them they can make a fantastic meal.  I know people who can sell snow to Eskimos. I know people who can write like Hemingway in short spurts.  

 

Through their eyes, these abilities are natural, or commonplace. While they may not have the abilities they see in others, which they think are wonderful, they do have theirs.

 

You have yours and I have mine.

 

One of the abilities I seem to have, or I am told I do, is to see something positive, a teaching event, in almost all places and happenings. This may be one of the reasons I am still writing messages of the day and learning and grow daily tips for all this time.

 

Through my eyes, this is who I am , and I do not see it is as anything magical or wonderful. I just do it.

 

Through your eyes, your abilities and skills might also seem commonplace to you.

 

Through the eyes of others, we may just be the coolest thing since sliced bread. (Note: while sliced bread is cool, and back in the day it may have been the coolest, it is not on my top ten coolest things list).

 

If we get down on ourselves because we seeing our friends doing what we consider to be amazing, like magic tricks, and we see ourselves as only able to do the basics, we miss the point.

 

We all have our areas of specialty. Almost like the movie ‘Mystery Men’. Each of those superheroes had one basic ability that was not so super, but when they believed in themselves and used their abilities they saved the city.

 

While we are most likely not superheroes (although I suspect my friend Kirk Weisler is), we are all capability and in the right situations, can be quite amazing when we need to be.

 

Enjoy!

 

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net
http://www.berenberg.net

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/
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Message of the Day - Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For

Good Morning,

 

While I was going for a walk around the beautiful lands and hiking trails of Snug Hollow (www.snughollow.com) I was thinking about various things. It is amazing how crystal clear you can get when you get back to nature. Just looking at the birds, the trees the sky and hearing the wind gently tease the trees with the soft sound of the grass and leaves under your feet as you walk brought be face to face with some challenging thoughts.

 

For the last few months I have struggled to cobble together enough time to get my second book laid out and prepared. I have even lined up a cabal of people to peer the book when I get it into draft form. The time I was looking to do the work has been elusive. Many day to day demands keep taking precedence. And then there is that sleep thing when cohesive thought is all but impossible.  I have also been struggling to balance the involvement in my roles in the several organizations which I sit on the board or chair. And then there is the perpetual drive to start something new myself. Coupled with all of this is the daily challenge to put in my reading and keep up my pace of yesteryears.

 

In my walk that Saturday afternoon at Snug Hollow, I felt a calm come over me as I walked down the last hill to the cozy cottage that Karen and I were staying at.

 

After that calm I started hearing the U2 song ‘Still haven’t found what I’m looking for’ and I started singing it to myself as I approached the cabin. Then it hit me.

 

I have been driving for endgame positions in my life, to be done with something, to start something new, to commit myself to the next project and all the while, I am still learning and growing, a work in progress.

 

My rush to accomplish had overshadowed my need to continue growing and evolving.

 

I know that I will never arrive, we never do, the moment we stop learning and growing, we start dying.

 

What I learned about myself was that I am still not the person I am meant to be in the different endeavors that I am involved in. That is, I am not ready to start that new project yet. I need to get a few more things under my belt first.  It is important not to rush into obligations.

 

When we are on our journeys in life, we can often forget that the learning is found in the travelling and not the arriving.  When we rush to arrive, we can miss what was along the way.

 

It has been a challenge for me to not rush to my growth as I often feel that I need to make up for a lost 10 years when I was (in my mind today) goofing off (I expound on that in the introduction of my book).

 

The truth is that those 10 years were not a waste, they were a lesson.  

 

A lesson that I have not taken the time to learn from.

 

In my walk in the woods and fields, by the pond and the other pleasures of nature, I realized that I am still growing into that person I will be tomorrow. And while that does not give me the clearance I am looking for to dive headlong into the next project, yet, it helps me get perspective on the person I am and what I have learned over the years, and what I hope to learn going forward.

 

The mad dash to arrive is overrated and at the same time, insidious in how it traps us into thinking we need to speed up our lives to become the person we hope to be.

 

So long as we continue to learn and grow daily, will become that person, and then continue on the path and become more of who we can be potentially. This will continue until our dying day, whether that is a physical death or one from giving up on all learning.

 

And I am okay with that. 

 

I hope you, in your journeys, are too.

 

Enjoy!

 

 

 

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net
http://www.berenberg.net

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/
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Message of the Day - Great By Choice

Good Morning,

 

My current read is Jim Collins’ new book, with co-author MortenT. Hansen, called “Great by Choice: Uncertainty, Chaos, and Luck – Why some thrive despite them all” (http://www.amazon.com/Great-Choice-Uncertainty-Luck--Why-Despite/dp/0062120999/ ). This is his fourth book into the search for what makes an organization great and enduring.

 

This book is similar to Good to Great in the method of research used to determine both the companies researched and the gap analysis between the companies which were successful compared to the lesser successful comparisons. The successful companies are called 10Xers as they performed 10 times as well.

 

The findings in this book are different than that from Good to Great and Built to Last in that the focus included organizations who thrived with uncertainly, chaos and luck opposed to those who just thrived in a normal environment.

 

What the authors found is that there is a formula for success which can be used by anyone to navigate difficult times and in difficult industries.

 

For example, luck.

 

Many business and self help people steer clear from the topic of luck because it is so hard to quantify.

 

What Collins and Hansen discovered about the 10Xers compared to the comparison companies is that the comparison companies actually had more good luck than the 10Xer companies and about the same bad luck.

 

The difference is that the 10Xers got a return on the luck they had, both good and bad. That is, they took advantage of the luck that was handed them. Whereas the comparison companies more often than not let lucky events and serendipity pass by.

 

That is, everyone has luck coming their way, both good and bad luck. It is what people do when that luck arrives that shapes them.

 

There is so much good in this book, I dare not share too much in one email.

 

I highly suggest this book for anyone who has enjoyed Good to Great, Built to Last and How the Mighty Fall.

 

What I find truly interesting is that after this 9 year research on this latest project, the research team took the findings from the three previous books and ran their findings through the findings of the new book and each and everyone stood true. That is, each book covers a different aspect of organizational development and when applying the appropriate findings from one of the four books, they work. For example, for a young company, using Good to Great can help them improve, and when the times get turbulent, they can use both the Good to Great and Great by Choice findings.  If that same organization starts getting overly successful and starts to falter, they can switch and use the findings from How the Mighty Fall to help stop the slide, and then move to back to another book as necessary.

 

These books are invaluable to organizational health and growth.

 

Get out there and read this one!

 

Enjoy!

 

 

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net
http://www.berenberg.net

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/
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Message of the Day - Relentless Pursuit of Your Dreams

Good Morning,

 

This past weekend, Karen and I celebrated our 5^th and 6^th Wedding Anniversaries by visiting a bed and breakfast just outside of Berea, Kentucky. (The day prior to our 5^th Anniversary, I had my leg operated on and was not much fun to be around).  The bed and breakfast we visited is called Snug Hollow (http://www.snughollow.com/). Folks who knew we were going wanted to get our feedback on it, so here is the short version. It is a slice of heaven. We are planning on returning with the family next year.  The place is scenic, peaceful, relaxing, beautiful with food out of the this world, and southern hospitality off the charts.

 

The most amazing part of Snug Hollow is its inn keeper, Barbara Napier. She is an outstanding woman who is pursuing her dreams of running an amazing bed and breakfast in secluded mountain retreat which reminded me of Shangri-La, nestled among 300 beautiful acres.  During our second dinner, which was, of course, amazing (and you can get the recipes in her cookbook), she shared the story of how Snug Hollow came to be and what she endured and overcome to make it happen.  As we were leaving, I asked her if I could write about her and Snug Hollow, and she said yes. To tell everyone about this wonderful place.

 

Life for Barbara was not always so enjoyable. While she dreamed of where she is today, she started from a much harder place, being a single mom when her husband just did not come home one day, and being left with a struggling retail business and bills, no car, and walking miles to and from work every day, and all sorts of other challenges.

 

Through it all, Barbara kept her eyes on her dreams. She had made many friends along the way, and she treated everyone, like she treated Karen, myself and all the other guests…like family. She forced herself to do what she could, and continued to help others along the way.

 

She got the land where the bed and breakfast is today, and moved into what is now called the Cozy Cottage. She lived there for over 20 years. She had the main house built over a 10 year period. Breaks in the building were due to challenges she continued to face. It is hard to build without money or resources. As she trudged through the challenges which at times seemed insurmountable (tax debts and accounts receivable in the hundreds of thousands), she found small signs of hope and she grabbed onto them.

 

Her friends encouraged her to follow her dreams. Each little thing added to her achieving her dream, and while others told her she was crazy, she kept her eye on her dream.

 

She applied for a job with a local college and was flatly turned down. She refused to accept the rejection, and called in requesting an interview, even though she was not qualified for the position.

 

After her interview, the staff saw all of her drive and experiences and against all odds she got the job (even though she lived 20 miles from the college with no car).

 

She found a way to make it work.

 

Through friends and resiliency which has served her well, she had the main house built, after 10 years, and moved into it. Once in, she started her bed and breakfast. She still had her full time job and found ways to juggle the two.

 

She never stopped moving toward her dream, and many bad things continued to plague her, she built an army of friends who love her and helped her achieve her dreams.

 

Her relentless pursuit of her dream through trudging miles through winding mountain roads, facing banks and government tax collectors, raising two boys after her husband left, is a testament to all of us that we can and should pursue our dreams.

 

There will be hard times, but if we give up, then we know we will arrive at our destination.

 

By being dedicated to succeeding and pouring our love into others we can overcome what may seem impossible.

 

I look forward to our next visit to Snug Hollow, and I hope each of you will consider it as well.

 

While there this weekend, I had a chance to reflect on many things, and will be sharing some of those in future messages.

 

One of those is something I would like to do now. In closing, I would like us all to pray for World Peace. Barbara asked us to each time we said Grace.  And why not? It would be a good thing.  

 

Enjoy!

 

 

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net
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http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/
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Message of the Day - Dangers of Opinion

Good Morning,

 

We all have an opinion, and some of us even have an opinion on everything. 

 

In my current read, A.W. Tozer’s ‘A Disruptive Faith’ the author raises an interesting and almost frightening point.

 

Our opinions are often derived from listening to others, watching something, or reading something. Seldom are our opinions developed through our own thought process and experiences. This is how we can gain opinions on things that we, ourselves, have never experienced.

 

That is, we are a walking bag of other people’s opinions.

 

In fact there is an entire industry which focuses on changing our opinions. Marketing. You know, the folks on Madison Avenue.

 

With all the billions that is spent on marketing and PR, the industry has to be successful, or else they would stop being paid money.

 

This begs the question as to how much of our opinions on life are derived from our own soul searching and how much are imported from others, no matter where they came from.

 

The more we tap into the mass media of television, websites, radio, billboards, hanging out with others, reading magazines and books, the more we are open to take on the opinion of others.

 

This means we need to spend some time, and for some people I mean a lot of time, searching through our feelings on an issue and come up with our own opinion on things.

 

After watching the news, or some special which is trying to sway our opinion, we may just take a few moments to think about what was said, and what we think about it. Don’t just espouse what we heard, but think about it. How does it relate to our core values. How does it relate to how we felt about the subject prior to watching the special.

 

Just by doing a little reflective thinking on the subject, we may be able to ensure that the opinions we have are truly our own.

 

Without that time to stop and reflect, we may amass a wealth of opinions so foreign to ourselves that we literally become someone else, someone that others do not recognize.

 

And such are some of the dangers of opinions.

 

Something to think and reflect on.

 

 

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net
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http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/
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Message of the Day - The Influence of One

Good Morning,

 

This past evening after dinner, I saw the breaking news of the passing of one of the modern world’s most influential people, Steve Jobs (http://www.apple.com/).

 

Many people do not realize the scope and degree of Steve Job’s involvement in technological advances over the last thirty to forty years.  There are the Apple computers, the Macintosh Computers, iTunes, the iPod, iPhone and iPad. There is also Pixar and all of their wonderful movies, and the list goes on and on.

 

Much of the technological innovations we enjoy today, whether we have Apple products or not, were invented by, inspired by, or copied from those things that Steve Jobs and his companies dreamed up and turned into reality.  Just look at the tablet revolution (iPad), Steve Jobs created that revolution, and then dominated it.

 

It is amazing to see the scope and degree of influence this one man has had on the lives of so many people, communities, companies, nations and civilization as a whole.

 

One man, one very talented man. A human being, not totally unlike you and me.

 

We may not have the billion dollar ideas popping into our heads every so often, but like a former Yahoo! executive once told me, we should not discount anyone because we could have $100 ideas, $1,000 ideas and even $100,000 ideas.  And who knows, with enough of those ideas, the larger ones can come along in time.

 

Every person has the opportunity to be innovative and every person has the opportunity to be influential.

 

Maybe not to millions or billions of people, but even if we can positively influence one other person, then we have made a difference.

 

We may never reach the stature, or achieve the accomplishments of Steve Jobs within our lifetimes, but like Steve Jobs, we can make the lives of others, even if it is one or two, better.

 

The point is that one person can make a difference in the lives of others. Sometimes one or two, sometimes a bit more.

 

So, never discount yourself because you are not the CEO of Apple or some other global organization.

 

And, remember, one person can and often does make the world a better place through their direct effort and influence. The influence may be large, like Steve Jobs, or it may be not so large. In any event, when the people you have influenced and helped turn around and say thank you, does it matter if it is only a few and not millions?

 

Not really.

 

So, be the influence of one.

 

And Steve Jobs, we will miss you!

 

 

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net
http://www.berenberg.net

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/
Follow Me on Twitter! http://twitter.com/sberenberg

http://learnandgrowdaily.com  Click here to order: "Learn And Grow Daily!"

502-533-9336