Good to Great to Better to Best ...

Jim Collin's outstanding book Good to Great was perhaps my most enjoyable read of the semester. Time after time I found myself verbally agreeing with his findings (much to the chagrin of my roommate, who is trying to break my habit of talking to myself). LDS gospel principles are often described as "plain and simple truths" that you can believe in because they just make sense.
There are no quick fixes that will allow a company to see long-term improvement. I loved the quote from a Walgreens executive who, when asked to pinpoint on a timeline when his company's turnaround occurred, gave a range of about nine years; it may have been tempting to give the date that a change in policy was initiated. However, he realized that true, effective change, the kind that influences company culture, needs to sink in.

Non sequitur: Big Fish is Tim Burton's best film. Took my opinion of him from good to great.

I appreciated that Collins also debunked the myth that a company must create a crisis in order to motivate employees to change. Motivated people, the author explains, already feel the need for improvement. If a company is wise enough to invest in self-motivate individuals, it can avoid undergoing or even fabricating stressful scenarios to see their changes implemented.

I am a world-class procrastinator. These posts are an example of this trait. Although I've known for an entire semester that I needed to write up a post on my extra credit reading, I put it off until the last possible day. But my homework schedule does not need to be full of my fabricated crises. I hope to discipline myself to be more self-motivated in the future. This character trait will allow me to stop relying on the energy crutch I get while working under tight deadlines.  

However, not everything made sense in this bestseller. For example, more than one of the companies that Collins highlighted for making the transition from good to great is now infamous for its ruinous demise. I suppose I will have to read his newer title, How the Mighty Fall, over the break to find out what happened.

A (Hopefully) Intelligent Post on Emotional Intelligence

Emotional Intelligence was an intriguing read. I was interested to see the parallels of what I was taught in MCom lecture and what I was reading in this bestseller by Daniel Goleman.

One of the sections that caught my attention was on showing emotion. I suffer from a condition that cannot be stated in a BYU assignment, but rhymes with "resting witch face." My facial features draw themselves into a series of straight, horizontal lines unless I make a concerted effort to compose them otherwise. 

This personal attribute was in the back of my mind as I read about how expressiveness registers with others. Initially I felt smug as I perused Goleman's story about Vietnamese monks. The holy men walked through a line of fire completely unharmed because their calm and poise literally took the fight out of the American soldiers. The author explained the situation by stating that emotions are contagious, and an exchange can alter the other party's feelings. We imitate the emotions others display.





However, there is a flip side to this. While I feel my collected appearance is seen as calm, others often comment that I seem depressed or concerned--two emotions that I would not like to be around for a lengthy amount of time.

While negative self-criticism is never a good route to improvement, perhaps I'll take a piece of advice from MCom and be open to recording myself before really important interactions, such as job interviews, to see what the other people in the room perceive.

Outstanding Outliers

I was excited to read Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. I had heard a lot about the book and its analysis of what makes certain ordinary individuals stand out in extraordinary ways. Although there are things out of our control (such as the year we are born), there are certain aspects of our lives that we can harness to maximize our experience (such as, again, the year we are born).

His hair deserves its very own post. Amazing.

As you can tell from the title of this blog, I am Beatles fan. The writeup that Gladwell did on the keys to their success was of particular interest to me. I knew the origin story of the band fairly well; they got their start in Hamburg playing at sleazy clubs. However, I did not know that the sets they played in these venues were inordinately long. Eight hours to be exact. Gladwell includes a quote from John Lennon, who gives the length of the band's sets as the reason behind them developing a new way of playing their songs. Although the majority of their songs were covers from other bands, they performed onstage about twelve hundred times before Ed Sullivan had even heard of him. This insane amount of practice allowed them to become highly disciplined at what they did.

However, all this practice would be for nothing if they had not had incredible luck with breaks. Gladwell states that the Fab Four are similar to Bill Gates and the tycoons of the 1860s and 70s in that they were the right age at the right place at the right time.

I liked how the author stated that these two factors have worked in tangent throughout history to develop incredible outcomes: timeliness and talent. Which got me thinking. What is the world in need of right now? What skills am I gaining and what talents am I sharpening to help fill that need?

I took an entrepreneurship lecture series a year ago. One of the guest lecturers said that she owed her very impressive success to asking herself how she could harness her skills to fill a need she saw in her industry. Her short attention span and need for organization led her to develop a faster filing system for a medical office she worked in. Eventually that system turned into a company which was purchased several years later for nine digits.

While I don't see any unfulfilled needs quite like that in the food industry, I will keep my eyes open. And keep practicing in the meantime.

What Shall We Give?

This past Sunday my ward experienced the post-Thanksgiving attendance lull. My roommate was only given 2 hours notice to teach the Relief Society lesson, so she decided to speak about Christmas (she is one of those heathens who starts celebrating immediately after the turkey carcass is turned into soup stock. Personally, 12 days of holiday cheer is more than sufficient).

Anyways, her talk reminded me of the lecture on presenting we were given a couple weeks ago. She came early to set the up the projector, dim the lighting, and set the optimal speaker level. However, she neglected to queue the correct video. She intended to show use this:

But she ended showing up this:

Although the clip did not contain a narrative from President Monson, the music still set the proper setting for the discussion that followed. Although queuing the video would have allowed the lesson to go off without a hitch, she managed to handle the mixup with poise.

Insert Overused Thankful at Thanksgiving Title Here

This holiday weekend has been one of reflection and learning.

I checked out several of the titles on the extra credit reading list from the library and having been working my way through them. As I've made notes on the insights provided by each author, I have had a deep sense of gratitude for the learning and self-improvement opportunities I have been granted. Not every one is so fortunate.

As the semester comes dangerously close to finals, I will try to keep a perspective of gratitude. Millions of people would love to have the opportunity to earn a university degree. I hope someday to provide easier access to educational resources to the masses. Perhaps this hope is what draws me to libraries. I always leave those hallowed halls with a cheerier outlook on society.

Today, While the Sun Shines

Yesterday I had the great privilege of attending the services of a very dear neighbor. The chapel was filled with ward family and kin alike, some of whom had travelled from his native New Zealand for the funeral.

As I sat in the audience yesterday, I was thoroughly impressed with how well the family presented their tributes. I was particularly touched by the talk given by my friend, the departed's daughter. He adopted this darling girl and her sister from a Northern Siberian orphanage when he and his wife were in their fifties and had just entered empty nester status. Although she struggled to see her notes through her bleary eyes, she provided a measure of humor by explaining that she had printed off her thoughts in a font that was too small, allowing the audience a much-needed laugh.

Perhaps the most moving part of the service came when the deceased's oldest daughter, a Metropolitan Opera singer, shared the following poem (the same poem shared at her own mother's/his first wife's funeral) right before performing Weepin' Mary:

There was not a dry eye in the building after the performance. Clear, emotive communication is one of the most moving powers the human race possesses. We would be foolish not to practice and perfect such an incredible force.

Online Meeting

A couple days ago my group had its first online meeting. The experience had a few hiccups, but we were able to accomplish what we had intended to accomplish.

The platform that we used was Google+ Hangouts. A couple of my team members had not used this before, and I had forgotten to complete a mock meeting during our last in-person meet-up. This would have eliminated a couple technical difficulties when we were setting the meeting up.

While the platform did force us to be more succinct than we typically are in person, I don't think that it was worth the tradeoff of losing body language cues. For example, there were times that we would all start talking at once, since the delay cut out indication that someone was about to start talking.

Overall the meeting went well and we communicated what we needed to, while resisting the urge to use the mustache feature. In the future, I would prefer live meetings, but I know that we are capable of using online meetings as an alternative if necessary.