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S2 E111 —  Against All Odds 530 is Alive!

One of the most important reasons 530 was created is to provide a place where we can do more than just listen and watch. We can have a voice. We can share our perceptions, and learn from others about what  is shaping their thinking — their reality.

“5”  Steve Zahn, 51: “An idea will catch on just as fire does — with enough fodder to keep it going through the early stages and plenty of oxygen to fuel the flames. Avoid giving too much close attention, as it has a smothering effect.” Scorpio

Hi and welcome to Thursday’s Episode 111 in Season 2 of  “My Pandemic Year Natural Experiment” on this 10th day of September in the fall of 2020.  

“The Tau of Steves: What You Don’t Know Could Fill a Book”

Table of Contents

Season One and Two are a two-year examination of how bits of wisdom changed during the “normal” pre-pandemic and then in this unfolding pandemic year.

Previously in Season Two, the Pandemic Year

S2 E110 — Keys for Reinventing a FUD-Soaked Enterprise; S2 E109 — Rebuilding Trust Doesn’t Happen Overnight; S2 E108 — Why Our Reinvention Efforts Failed (and Yours Will Too); S2 E107 — Leaving Us Adrift in a Sea of Change

Related from Season One, the Normal Year

S1 E111 — Is There Half-life of Wisdom?; S1 E110 — Love, Longing, Belonging, Connection and Loss; S1 E109 — Do All Introverts Take the Long Acetylcholine Pathway?; S1 E108 — After So Many Defeats is it Time to Catch a New Trajectory?; S1 E107 — How Do You Rate Your Sense of Curiosity?

Context

This is a continuation of “Volume Two Manuscript — WorkFit” a work-in-progress.

In previous episodes we described Start Up, Emerging Growth, Rapid Growth, Sustained Growth, Maturity, Decline and now Reinvention stages.  

We described a mini-case of a major decline,  Part One, Part Two and Part Three. And, before that we profiled two mini case studies about what it was like working behind the scenes at a mature company in a financial, in a consumer industry and two more in another century-old university system — Part One and Two. 

Now turn from our 3-part Reinvention mini-case operating from within a technology company,  Part One,  Part Two and Part Three to a different industry with similar needs, but from a consulting assignment. We profiled Part One and Two in the most recent episodes.

Reinvention without Decline

Image Credit: Stephen G. Howard  Copyright 2020

Reinvention

27. Knowledge Management — Brand Company — 

A Strategy and Brand Consultancy. 

Part Three

Our Think!City creative team created actual seed packets in the color scheme associated with tropical foliage — new green shoots emerging from the soil.  But it you inspected each closely what you thought were normal roots were “soft” wires with metamorphic  message that, “Below the surface lies cross connections that pay off.”

Then our team created a 530 glossy magazine brochure explaining in pictures and captions what this campaign was all about. Meanwhile our technology team urgently put up the 530.com platform to accommodate the anticipated comments, innovative cross-talk and forums.

In a nutshell my ongoing role was moderating the 530 Forums, writing edgy, fun, creative responses to create a buzz and get more people to leave a message and return — while stealthily adding features which make the site a destination which internal PRERS can’t match

Their members span across our 530 species. And I anxiously waited for a few of them to provide content.  Without it I couldn’t facilitate sharing necessary for new knowledge creation and innovation.  I can’t say I felt confident about our launch.

Website Copy:

It’s ALIVE After a Rocky Soft (-wired) Launch!

You’ve seen the video.  You’ve read the magazine.  Now, it’s time to join the conversation — Link to Main Page

MAIN PAGE – OUR530.COM

Main Message Headline:

Welcome to Our530

One of the most important reasons 530 was created is to provide a place where we can do more than just listen and watch. We can have a voice. We can share our perceptions, and learn from others about what  is shaping their thinking — their reality. And maybe, if we keep at it, we can create that better reality that we know is possible. The conversation has only just begun. Keep it up. Develop your voice. Someone is listening.

Early Adopters:

THE VOICES OF 530

SIMPLIFYING PRUDIFICUS COMPLEXIA

Prudificus Bugs, Beans

“Well, I opened my packet of Prudificus Complexia and instead of beans, I found a whole bunch of what looked like dried bugs. Were there supposed to be real beans in there? I’m not the only one, either. A few of our other associates found the same thing.”

Innovation Moderator:

Now the real story can be told. “All of you realize why we call this site 530. We discovered over 530 species — flora and fauna representing almost 90 families and 330 genera –living interdependently on the Rock.   What a great ecosystem — an alliance of living things, just like in PRERS. We’re all living breathing”organisms” thriving within the company.  Great, except for one thing. 

There used to be 531 Species. We can’t tell if it was due to global warming or the introduction of a non-native species — or something else entirely.  We honestly don’t know how it happened or if “the bugs,” as you call them, can be returned to life. We can only hope so. 

Well, Gary, now it’s all in your hands. (Maybe you should wash them) It’s up to you and your fellow associates. Good luck. P.S. You might contact” Robert and John to enlist their expertise!

Website Copy:

Let’s just suppose that after that long and tiring day, you think, “Hey, what do I have to lose?”  So you log on and the first thing that catches your eye, naturally, is BREATHE DEEP.  You think, “Okay, I can do that!”  

Your eye travels down the list of Stress Reduction tips, and you suddenly realize you’re way ahead of the game.  The second tip: Cut back on caffeine (try this: drink one, then spill one).  Here, you thought no one saw that little morning incident you had at Starbucks.  “Wow, this is easier than I thought.”

Now, if only you could share your story with someone else.  

Wait, you can. Dangling at the end of one of the four soft-wires, you notice OUR CONVERSATIONS.  When you roll your mouse over it –- technically called moving your cheese –- you notice your own personal invitation, “Join in …share your ideas in our forum.” Link to Voices of 530

Early Adopters:

THE VOICES OF 530

“If you see something on 530 that you think is really cool, send somebody to see it, too. Share the wealth! If you see something cool out there in the “real world,” bring it to 530. Don’t be greedy; share it. It’s our site. We can make it great by taking it and making it personal”. Dave F

I’d Organize a Skunk Works, a Think Tank “It may be crazy and far fetched, but …” (Link to INNOVATION)

This Just in From the Field  “I’m looking forward to everyone getting ‘online’ and participating in some dynamic discussions …”  (Link to NEWS AND VIEWS FROM THE FIELD)

Any Benefits from an Integrated PRERS? “I would like to get the audiences thoughts on the following …”  (Link to BENEFITS OF AN INTEGRATED PRERS)

To Toot or to Recognize, that is the Question “I agree, it is definitely hard to “toot your own horn” which is why … (Link To RECOGNITION)

Simplifying Prudificus Complexia   “Well, I opened my packet and instead of beans, I found a whole bunch of…” (Link to SIMPLIFYING PRUDIFICUS COMPLEXIA)

Website Copy:

Okay, this is where it gets hard.  You have to choose.  

Should I hold forth in “How Will We Use 530?”, in “Lunatic Fringe, or in “ Talk Back Forum”?  

Need more data to help you decide?  Want to go to the most popular?  Check out the number of Posts.  

You might choose to Talk Back, then.  Or, if you want to jump in on the freshest dialogue, then you might want to weigh in with the rest of the lunatics.  

Or, if  you simply want to contribute to the collective knowledge and creativity of our company, share a story (that Starbucks episode, for instance) or ask a question in “How Will We Use 530”?

Still undecided?  That’s O.K.  Come with me on a quick tour.  Let’s wander around, “listen in” and then leave our own footprints in the soft-wired threads.

Let’s start with: Link To Forum

Innovation Moderator:

 “In the short time our530.com has been up, 44 messages have been posted. Many of us do not visit the Internet every day or even weekly. Remembering to log on, read and respond to these messages is my concern.”

Early Adopters:

“This is a neat site! Just trying it out and thought I would send you a note”  Bob

“I think this is a great opportunity to share some very diverse and innovative ideas with the larger community of PRERS. I think that for a long time innovative thinking has been stifled by fear of negative impact on those who make waves.” John

“Some would rather have a handful of certainty than a wagon load of beautiful possibilities.” Diddette

“Communication that is open and available 24 X 7 is an important asset for any company and a benefit to all …. I do however have a concern for information overload. Today we all have multiple sources of information that we check, each with it’s own login and password. To the developers credit there is no login and password.”  Mike

… Which brings me to the HSA system-which i didn’t know existed until this Site opened. Why don’t we build Our Own?”  Deddette

“Unfortunately when you pressure cook associates too long the optimism …” 

“For those of us in the field, this site will provide us a communication tool for idea exchanging, especially with those groups with whom we do not have much interaction. Hopefully, by reading how others meet client challenges, it will spur ideas and solutions for others.” 

“This site seems to be about innovation and quick movement, but the lumbering Enterprise seems to be in survival mode, flailing away in a losing battle to survive in a world which is passing it by. Going public is not the answer. The answer lies somewhere in a new direction, not yet discovered by those in charge. We are waiting for systems to be built to streamline functions that will be obsolete by the time the system is designed. This may sound negative, but maybe it will generate some more positive and creative responses from more level heads.”

“No offense Host but why must every discussion on business improvement devolve into the corporate palaver of improved customer service? I must be living on another planet.”

“A case in point of lack of respect for the affiliates is the roll-out of the alliance between us, a bank and our technology partner.  I wonder if anyone in the commercial franchise group was even aware of it before it happened?”

Innovation Moderator:

“That’s exactly the reason 530 is here. It’s an enabler for conversations in cyberspace, where the conversation might be impossible if time or space-bounded. Here’s my challenge to you — share one of your stories. Or ask for help on one of your sticky problems. Don’t just windowshop at 530. Leave your footprints.”

Or how about:

Early Adopters:

“Having done a 2 year expat assignment in Singapore I so appreciated the concept of immersion training in Mexico. I think it is so incredibly important for our associates to have a sense of what our clients’ employees are asked to experience. Years ago, it was not uncommon for the largest percentage of our relocation associate population to not only never have moved, but also not to even own a home, yet deal with domestic relocation problems/issues. Now, we must consider how we relate to folks who are asked to take their families on international “adventures”…what a positive and exciting concept!” Link to Forum Topics

“Managers have an obligation to their direct reports and should be held accountable for leading their teams positively into the future. Sometimes all it takes is an ear to listen to associate concerns, a commitment to work with an associate to turn a situation around. It’s not easy leading a team in today’s fast pace environment but that’s the responsibility one takes on when accepting a management position.”

Innovation Moderator:

So as you can tell, you don’t have to be a lunatic to dip into the 530 conversation pool. We are these living organisms within this company. We all have stories of discovery and insight that can inspire others. These stories need to be told.  Jump in and tell us yours! 

Evidence

“5”  Steve Zahn, 51: “An idea will catch on just as fire does — with enough fodder to keep it going through the early stages and plenty of oxygen to fuel the flames. Avoid giving too much close attention, as it has a smothering effect.” Scorpio

Wow.  I had to learn this the hard way while pushing and pulling participation in the early stages of 530’s launch until the lit match ignited and we saw early benefits shared among the innovation teams.

Random ones that make me want change my sign.

“3”  Steve Smith, 30: “When you have several prospects, you won’t feel too much worry over any particular one. Putting too much emphasis on one relationship or project will only stifle it. Diversify.” Gemini

Wow.  I can’t claim this TauBit of Wisdom for today, deep in the pandemic, but it’s a lesson I had to learn time after time as a consultant.

“3”  Steve Howey, 42: “Your success will depend on accountability. You’ll go farther with a good teacher, leader or coach than you will on your own. Look for someone who will invigorate you to new heights.” Cancer

Again, not so much for today, but I believe out team at Think!City took turns playing the role of leader and coach as the situation warranted.  I learned so much and to say I was invigorated is and understatement.

“4”  Steve Carrell, 57; Steve Martin, 74; Steve Wozniak, 69: “You ignite passion without meaning to do so. When you express your interests and show that you’re willing to go deep, others want to get as excited about life as you are.” Leo

Not so much today, but more so in the role I took on as an innovation facilitator.  

“3”  Steve Kerr, 54: “The City of Seattle was named after a great chief who suggested people, “Take only memories; leave only footprints.” This way of living seems nearly impossible in the modern world, but you’ll do your best with it today.” Libra

If only tourists breaking free would live by this wisdom!!

What’s Going On …

Literally Bottled and Set Adrift from KnowWhere Atoll 

    • @KnowLabs followers of one or more of my 35 digital magazines organically grew from 4990 to 5060.

Foresight

Quality-of-Life

Long-Form

    • Saw the movie, didn’t realize that one of my favorite authors, Michael Connelly — his detective Hieronymus (Harry) Bosch book series and Amazon Prime series — also wrote, “The Lincoln Lawyer” which I just finished. Gotta tell you I can’t not see his lead character (Mickey Haller, Bosch’s half brother) as anyone else but Matthew McConaughey. 

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Inspired by: Holiday Mathis – Creators Syndicate

CENTER FOR KNOWLEDGE CREATION AND INNOVATION

The Knowledge Path | Know Laboratories | Knowledge Banking | Knowledge ATMs | Western Skies and Island Currents | Best West Road Trip

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S4 E40 — Don’t Bet Against Montezuma or the Yavapai-Apache Nation

Still not remembering that Mesa Verde National Park is in Colorado, not Arizona, I noted the Montezuma Castle was constructed on the face of the cliff here in the Verde Valley created by the Verde River.  

CENTER FOR KNOWLEDGE CREATION AND INNOVATION

The Knowledge Path | Know Laboratories | Knowledge Banking | Knowledge ATMs | Western Skies and Island Currents | Best West Road Trips

Knowledge ATMs 

A peak behind the scenes of self-publishing, crowdfunding, and working for yourself

Table of Contents

Hi and welcome to Saturday’s 40th Episode in Season 4 of  “Our Disruptively Resilient Year” on this 14th day of May in the spring of 2022.

What’s Going On …

Literally Bottled and Set Adrift from KnowWhere Atoll

    • @KnowLabs suite of 36 digital magazines, according to my analytics, grew from 12880 this week to 12943 organically grown followers.
    • Orange County Beach Towns 204 viewers stopped by the week before.

Foresight

Quality-of-Life

Context

Jay’s smashes avocados and whips them up into his secret recipe for an awesome breakfast of avocado toast. About 45 minutes later Jay switches to Elle’s Lexus SUV and I ride shotgun while the chicks gab in the back. 

But this time they want the air conditioner to work.

Image Credit: Apple Maps

Pulling out of their shared driveway and winding downhill we escape into the Verde Valley southeast of Prescott.

Maybe an hour later, Jay pulls into the Cliff Castle Casino grounds operated by the Yavapai-Apache Nation Indian tribe on our right. 

Image Credit: Stephen G. Howard Copyright 2022

We then we immediately turn left,  winding down towards the national monument. 

Almost simultaneously all four of us realize that we left park passes at home or in the other SUV without backseat air conditioning. 

At the bottom of the hill Jay commandeers a parking slot up close to the main entrance immediately after a Camry exits. 

Some people have all the luck. 

Welcome to Montezuma’s Castle. 

Image Credit: Stephen G. Howard Copyright 2022

But still following COVID space protocols there’s a limit to how many can occupy the combination souvenir store, history displays and the ticket counter. 

So, Jay does the talking about our forgetfulness as he has in other situations when he used to ask for professional courtesy as a fireman to talk his way out of speeding tickets or to explain why he’s driving without a California Driver’s License.

Getting up there in age with a bum knee getting bummer from climbing ladders, he no longer can get away with appeals for firemen favors, but he does have away about him, and we all pass without pay.

We pick up a folding brochure and a white map with black lines showing “Highways & Public Campgrounds” with a squared in “Points of Interest” legend showing the US Forest and Arizona State Parks camp grounds if that was our mission.

But it wasn’t.

Image Credit: Stephen G. Howard Copyright 2022

Emma the Baroness and I both gazed over it quickly enough to see a dark thick black line labeled I-17 meandering from the upper left boarder (with an arrow to Flagstaff) down to the near middle page terminating under the corner of the legend square (with an arrow to Phoenix).

Near the mid range meandering above the legend “Points of Interest”  we saw a thinner, but dark line all squiggly yet paved road (89A) with an arrow pointing west towards Prescott.

Image Credit: Stephen G. Howard Copyright 2022

Since this wasn’t inside South Coast Plaza and we weren’t standing next to the directory map, it took a few moments longer to zero in to “You Are Here” in this case Montezuma Castle National Monument.

“ WTF?” I muttered to myself.  I didn’t know what I expected as we strolled down a cement sidewalk through a clump of trees until they parted revealing the side of a cliff wall.

These are the Mesa Verde 5-story cliff dwellings, only not here in Arizona and not called by the right name.

Don’t take my  word for it, try Wikipedia:

When European-Americans first observed the ruins in the 1860s, by then long-abandoned, they named them for the famous Aztec emperor Montezuma in the mistaken belief that he had been connected to their construction. 

Having no connections to the Aztecs, the Montezuma Castle was given that name due to the fact that the public had this image of the Aztecs creating any archaeological site.

In fact, the dwelling was abandoned more than 40 years before Montezuma was born, and was not a “castle” in the traditional sense, but instead functioned more like a “prehistoric high rise apartment complex”.

Still not knowing where we were exactly, I asked our local European-American couple —Jay and Elle —who hosted us and drove us here, if they had been to Mesa Verde National Park which lies south of Durango on 1-160, where they used to live and we visited twice, once before they moved in when we explored the Balcony House and the Cliff Palace?

Elle flicked a fly that buzzed around her face and said she and Jay had talked about it, but didn’t.

Still not remembering that Mesa Verde National Park is in Colorado, not Arizona, I noted the Montezuma Castle were constructed on the face of the cliff here in the Verde Valley created by the Verde River.  

Image Credit: Stephen G. Howard Copyright 2022

“Mesa Verde” and “Verde Valley”  and “Verde River” have to be connected, right?  I mean look up at the five stories main structure with about 20 rooms built over the course of three centuries.

Oops, I now recall it was the Anasazi people — ancestral Pueblo-ans — that lived for roughly 700 years in Mesa Verde, having migrated from the Four Corners region.

Here in Camp Verde, Arizona, built by the Sinagua people:

A pre-Columbian culture closely related to the Hohokam and other indigenous peoples of the southwestern United States, between approximately AD 1100 and 1425.

Like it was way back then, the Verde River is one of Arizona’s last free-flowing river systems. But, now like the I-17, the water flows to over 2 million people in the greater Phoenix area. 

Mesa Verde, now that was like the Trump Towers compared to Montezuma’s Castle.  

The first time we visited Durango, Colorado we left the Grand Canyon and came to a fork in the road.

Image Credit: Google Maps

East takes us past Mesa Verde National Park, on 160 towards Durango.

Bummer. 

We’re twenty minutes away from the first set of Mesa Verde ruins and the ranger told us they close in an hour. We lost an hour during the time change — something we hadn’t counted on. And, that put us into the park entrance later than we wanted. 

Image Credit: Mesa Verde National Park

That means that the Balcony House and the Cliff Palace tours would be closed. 

Where did we mess up? We plotted our route taking us near Mexican Hat to the 666 and towards Cortez,

I didn’t even consider a time change for Mesa Verde and Durango. 

Image Credit: Stephen G. Howard Copyright 2022

This has been one trip with a lot of driving. All I had thought about is next stop the Mesa Verde and then 45 minute drive to Durango, our outpost for three nights and two days before pressing on to Denver. 

But this time, here now at Montezuma’s Castle in Arizona Jay is doing all the driving.

Turning Montezuma’s Castles brochure over sitting in Jay’s passenger seat I noticed Sedona in the upper right hand corner.  First we’d spend a day in Jerome, and then bid goodbye to our Prescott friends and end our vacation in Red Rock country.

“The Tau of Steves: What You Don’t Know Could Fill a Book”

Table of Contents

“5”  Steve Zahn, 51: “New communities and circles intrigue you. You can’t tell from the storefront what this is all about; you have to go in and feel the vibes. You’ll know within the first dozen interactions.” Scorpio

We concluded the three-year examination of how bits of wisdom changed — during the “normal” pre-pandemic year compared to the pandemic year, and more recently to the paradoxically normal year. 

Season Four continues now within domestic and global chaos.

Previously in Season Four, The Disruptively Resilient Year

S4 E39 — Closing in on Uncle Billy’s Lynx Creek Mining Claim ; S4 E38 — Billy and Buckey Blow My Brain in Whiskey Row’s Palace; S4 E37 — Racing a Little Wobbly on Whiskey Row

Related from Season Three, the Paradoxically Normal Year

S3 E40 — How Stealing Your Sign Led Me to a Nobel Prize; S3 E39 — Ready for Your Big Leap Forward?; S3 E38 — Sliding on a Super Slippery Slope to 2nd or 3rd Cousins; S3 E37 — Tell Me More Lies I Can Believe In

Related from Season Two, the Pandemic Year

S2 E40 — The Profound Impact of the Pandemic on Nouns; S2 E39 — The Best Tau for the Pandemic Year, Don’t You Agree?; S2 E38 — What Should You Do If You Stumble Across Loaded Information?; S2 E37 — How Deep is the Chasm? What Do We Do?

Related from Season One, the Normal Year

S1 E40 — Nothing to See Here, Keep Moving On; S1 E39 — What’s Up with Facebook?; S1 E38 — Day 38 of My 1-Year Experiment; S1 E37 — Day 37 of My 1-Year Experiment

Evidence

“5”  Steve Zahn, 51: “New communities and circles intrigue you. You can’t tell from the storefront what this is all about; you have to go in and feel the vibes. You’ll know within the first dozen interactions.” Scorpio

Let’s see now.  We’ve visited Durango, Colorado twice.  The last time when Jay and Elle lived there.  Of course we spent almost two weeks with Jay and Elle on our anniversary vacation in Italy, when they had moved back from Colorado to Mission Viejo, but struggled to keep the documents flowing for closing escrow in time for their current home, here in Prescott.  

So yes, new communities do intrigue me, especially the history. I love to imagine what things were like in the past.  And of course, I wrote the series, The Knowledge Path: Live, Love, Work, Play, Invest and Leave a Legacy which I’m now describing as Volume One all about the “where” — and two of the books drill down into the “how” of finding the best quality of life communities for you in California and in Colorado.

Random ones that make me want change my sign.

Today’s Holiday Birthday: 

You’ve faced a lot of challenges that conditioned your grit. Now you’ll put that knowledge to the test on a wondrous challenge. You will create yourself. Through actions, wishes, exercises, work and reflection you’ll become someone navigating a life you once only dreamed about. Your support system and your family tree will expand.

“4”  Steve Kerr, 54: “As the sign of balance and fairness, you are keenly aware of how the quest for justice often leads to injustice. And yet, you still try to make things right, a mission that will absorb some of your hours today.” Libra

Well, if you scroll down near the bottom, you’ll see how I’m stuck on “accountability” and the shrinking “justice role” so prevalent today.  What my dear friend Jay calls conservatism and the Baroness and I call selfish, shady, corrupt and definitely not good business as one of her sorority sisters described the former president.

“3”  Steve Aoki, 41; Steven Spielberg, 74: “You’re exciting because you entertain risky ideas, not because you always do them — that would make you foolhardy! What you’re cooking up in that playful mind of yours is making you very attractive to someone.” Sagittarius

I’m chalking this up to wish fulfillment.  If you’re like Jay you don’t favor anything that threatens a status quo — taking something away.  Or entertaining ideas like AI or quantum physics or any of the trends and forces influencing the direction and opportunities available to those of us who pull our heads out of the sand.  There, I said it.

“4” Steve Nash, 45: “This role you took on no longer feels like a good fit. Now what? Well, this script you’re going by is not the Ten Commandments. It wasn’t written on stone tablets. You can change it without a chisel.” Aquarius

What we’re talking about here is what I cover in “Volume Two Manuscript”.  How in your work life, if you now realized the misfit and are pursuing a better fit, I’ve got you covered. Of, course this also applies to how a one-year natural experiment turned into the 4th season and dragged me into the middle of it kicking and screaming.  Wink.

“4”  Steve Jobs, (1955 – 2011): “It will be challenging to lead others to your purposes today. The key is to be consistent and repetitive. People will learn and dance to your rhythm, but first you have to start banging that drum.”Pisces

Bang. Bang. Bang.

Long-Form

    • “Here, Right Matters: An American Story” by Alexander Vindman. “We’d long been confused by the president’s policy of accommodation and appeasement of Russia, the United States’ most pressing major adversary. Russia’s president Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine, seizing the Crimean Peninsula, attacking its industrial heartland, the Donbass, from the capital, Kyiv. By 2019, little had changed, Russian military and security forces and their proxy separatists continued to occupy the Donbass. The biggest change was to Ukraine’s importance as a bulwark against Russian aggression weeks earlier, the White House had abruptly put a hold on nearly four hundred million dollars.” 
    • David Enrich begins his book with a suicide in “Deutsche Bank Dark Towers: Deutsche Bank, Donald Trump, and an Epic Trail of Destruction” and then meticulously details the bank’s Russian money laundering operations. Deutsche’s Russian business surged after revenues had fallen 50% due to the 2008 financial crisis. Putin’s Russia, poured in to Deutsche from deals it did with VTB Bank, linked to the Kremlin’s intelligence apparatus. Deutsche positioned itself as a crucial cog in “The Laundromat” by doing what couldn’t be done — processing cross-border transactions for banks that were too small  and didn’t have offices outside their home countries.
    • “Unthinkable: Trauma, Truth, and the Trials of American Democracy” by Jamie Raskin recalls one tragedy no parent should endure — the suicide of his son — and then a second tragedy at almost the same time — the insurrection on January 6th 2021, that terrified he and his congressional peers who were tasked by the Constitution to routinely oversee the orderly transfer of power from one former president to the duly elected new President. 
    • “A Warning” by Anonymous (Miles Taylor) written prior to the January 6th Insurrection as an insider’s account documenting how frequently the former President’s behavior and rage without any “guard rails” showed just how far he would go to win the next election at any cost while spinning lies and misinformation on top of each other.  
    • “Peril” by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa provides anecdotes, stories and inside reporting documenting the controversial last days of Donald Trump’s presidency, as well as the presidential transition and early presidency of Joe Biden. 
    • “Devil’s Bargain: Steve Bannon, Donald Trump, and the Nationalist Uprising,” by Joshua Green tracks the money behind the scenes leading up to the 2016 presidential election and the growing influence of Steve Bannon’s network of extreme nationalists.

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Inspired by Holiday Mathis – Creators Syndicate

 

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S4 E39 — Closing in on Uncle Billy’s Lynx Creek Mining Claim

“Stop” I yell as movement to my right catches my eye. Jay slams on the brakes.  He’d been glancing off into the trees on the left side of the road. “What?”

CENTER FOR KNOWLEDGE CREATION AND INNOVATION

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Knowledge ATMs 

A peak behind the scenes of self-publishing, crowdfunding, and working for yourself

Table of Contents

Hi and welcome to Friday’s 39th Episode in Season 4 of  “Our Disruptively Resilient Year” on this 13th day of May in the spring of 2022.

What’s Going On …

Literally Bottled and Set Adrift from KnowWhere Atoll

    • @KnowLabs suite of 36 digital magazines, according to my analytics, grew from 12880 this week to 12943 organically grown followers.
    • Orange County Beach Towns 204 viewers stopped by the week before.

Foresight

Quality-of-Life

Context

Jay began to twitch.  He needed to stretch his legs and he had more on his mind, like the agenda for our afternoon sightseeing before we hit the road for Sedona in a day and a half.

Elle and Emma the Baroness were all for it, but first they wanted to check out where the music came from near where the cyclists entered Whiskey Row to our right as we walked out the front door of The Palace.  

There he was in the flesh.  Kind of like the Greeter in Laguna Beach, only instead of a Scandinavian named Lars, it was a local costumed in Wyatt Earp cowboy with dark pants, a holstered revolver, a billowy white shirt with a dark vest, handlebar mustache and Stetson.  

He nodded.  

We nodded. 

We crossed the street, retraced our steps to the left of the old white courthouse past Buckey O’Neill’s statue and to the street parallel to Whiskey Row.  Picnickers stretched out on blankets on the green grass in the shade under towering trees.  Some leaned their bikes against the trunks.

Just like how the Prescott streets were barricaded for the race the area in front of the bandstand so too was with an orange mesh barrier that sagged and with traffic cones.

Image Copyright 2022 Stephen G. Howard

The message was clear.  It was a pay to hear them play.  Jay twitch returned.  He negotiated with Elle as only husband and wife can out of earshot.  Elle directed us across the intersection to jump into their SUV for the continuing tour.

“Where we going?” I asked Jay after resuming my post riding shotgun in the passenger front seat.  

“You’ll see.”

He took us on a tour of the Prescott suburb so we could see luxury homes overlooking distant vistas and the lush fairways and greens in the valley below.  

Elle suggested stopping in at the Club as the sun began casting long shadows where she would host a Derby-day party for members on the day we headed out.  But, an ‘80s themed party was just started which meant only partiers were allowed.  

Now what?

“I know,” Jay said.

We hit the road for the wilderness.  

Image Credit: Stephen G. Howard Copyright 2022

“I think we can get close to where your Uncle Billy worked his 400 ft. claim at Lynx Creek.”  

Surprisingly it wasn’t that far in the late afternoon.  Soon we meandered down an asphalt road deeper into the forest. 

Oops.  We encounter a road closed sign.  Fire threat.

I crane my neck as we begin to turn around down to where Jay had pointed towards Lynx Lake.

But, except for the place you can rent boats I couldn’t see through the trees to anything that would fuel my Uncle Billy imagination.

Moments later I turn to look straight ahead.

“Stop” I yell as movement to my right catches my eye.

Jay slams on the brakes.  He’d been glancing off into the trees on the left side of the road.

“What?”

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

A half a dozen deer clear a fence on the passenger side road and leap in front of Jay’s black SUV and down into a wooded meadow.  Three more do the same behind our vehicle

Through the one-way street maze which throws Jay into a frustrating loop we just can’t seem to find our way through to our destination.

Wait, there’s a city truck with workers in yellow safety vests hanging off the back end grabbing orange cones which allows Jay to navigate through two malls side-by-side.

We only half to walk a block and a half to the entrance of El Gato Azul.

At 316 W. Goodwin, EL Gato Azul’s reputation was “Preskit’s Quirky, Cozy, Friendly Place to Meet!” and known as “Southwest Inspired Tapas & Cuisine”

El Gato Front pic painting

The small yellow building with a blue door framed by a variety of flowers in a dark purple and gray containers in wood and cement.

Our waitress doubles as bartender, she tells us.  El Gato Azul is by popular restaurant standards.  And that equation translates into a small, cramped kitchen and bar.  

Our hostess leads the way to our table.  Not known for ambience, a sheet of plastic separates our table from 3 tanks of propane.

Looking up and out onto the street, we see couples and groups of couples returning from the square which we sense is closing down — party over.

Instead of passing in front of the restaurant, they follow a path down a green overgrown slope onto what would have been a creek. 

Jay says it’s a shortcut to a parallel street behind El Gato Azul.

We pass on any hint of dessert, I pick up the check and we climb up to the street from the restaurant’s entrance, turn right and make our way back to the strip mall’s parking spot.

Before the night is over I describe the article about Prescott, prefacing it with how infrequently Siri finds something for me in Apple News.  

“We know her.”

The headline read, Aggressive coyote attacks woman walking dog — and nips at others, Arizona police say” and, get this it ran in The Kansas City Star.

Jay’s daughter, who lives in Northern California,  saw it too and sent it to him.  Elle said she’s a fitness instructor and used to getting out on the trails around their community.  

Joe stood up, poured more wine from the bottle we brought as we continued to relax on their back patio and then he put more wood in their outdoor fireplace to take away the chill.

“Adding insult to injury” Elle said .“She had to get all of those rabies shots too.”

“It’s pronounced like ‘Havelina’” Elle corrected me.  Like La Hoya instead of La Jolla she suggested as I brought up the other Apple News story about a Javelina in Sedona, “Hungry Javelina Gets Stuck in Car, Goes for a Ride in Arizona” from Chedder News.

Image Credit: WikiMedia Commons

They have a family of Javelinas that pass through in their back gravel and rock “yard” into their neighbors.

We thought they were a wild pig or something, but apparently they are their own species, they said.

In Sedona the Javelina rooted around in an empty vehicle, knocked it out of gear into neutral and took a joy ride.

Not quite as accomplished, nor as notorious as the Lake Tahoe bears, we trade stories about bears demolishing cars and trucks and breaking into kitchens usually through Tahoe garages and hibernating under second homes while unintended.

The next morning I swore I heard that Javelina family outside our window in the guest bedroom, but now I believe it was just Jay sweeping dust off his sidewalk and front entry.

“The Tau of Steves: What You Don’t Know Could Fill a Book”

Table of Contents

“5” Steve Carell, 57; Steve Martin, 74; Steve Wozniak, 69: “You’ll notice you’re of a different mind entirely from where you were last year. You’ve dispelled a few myths and course-corrected accordingly. You’ll get a chance to go back and pick up something you lost along the way.” Leo

We concluded the three-year examination of how bits of wisdom changed — during the “normal” pre-pandemic year compared to the pandemic year, and more recently to the paradoxically normal year. 

Season Four continues now within domestic and global chaos.

Previously in Season Four, The Disruptively Resilient Year

S4 E38 — Billy and Buckey Blow My Brain in Whiskey Row’s Palace; S4 E37 — Racing a Little Wobbly on Whiskey Row; S4 E36 — Big Rigs, Skull Valley and Yarnell Hotshots

Related from Season Three, the Paradoxically Normal Year

S3 E39 — Ready for Your Big Leap Forward?; S3 E38 — Sliding on a Super Slippery Slope to 2nd or 3rd Cousins; S3 E37 — Tell Me More Lies I Can Believe In; S3 E36 — Placebo, Meaningful Coincidence or Just Feeling Lucky

Related from Season Two, the Pandemic Year

S2 E39 — The Best Tau for the Pandemic Year, Don’t You Agree?; S2 E38 — What Should You Do If You Stumble Across Loaded Information?; S2 E37 — How Deep is the Chasm? What Do We Do?; S2 E36 — Turning Lemons into Margaritas

Related from Season One, the Normal Year

S1 E39 — What’s Up with Facebook?; S1 E38 — Day 38 of My 1-Year Experiment; S1 E37 — Day 37 of My 1-Year Experiment; S1 E36 — Day 36 of My 1-Year Experiment

Evidence

Holiday Theme for Friday the 13th:  

Many tall buildings avoid naming the 13th floor and go right to the 14th (or more conspicuously to “12B”) in hopes of getting around the bad luck. There are airports without a 13th gate and teams without a player No. 13. What superstition do you keep alive to avoid bad luck or engender good luck? Is it working?

“4”  Steve Zahn, 51: “Some say everything happens for a reason. Others say life is random. You’ll have a little evidence for both arguments today and whatever you get you’ll leverage into a tidy chunk of good fortune.” Scorpio

Okay, this appears to be sufficiently mysterious.  Yes, my mother after something bad happened would say, “Everything happens for a reason.”  She never could tell me why.  Now I should wait for my good fortune to appear, right?

Random ones that make me want change my sign.

“5” Steve Carell, 57; Steve Martin, 74; Steve Wozniak, 69: “You’ll notice you’re of a different mind entirely from where you were last year. You’ve dispelled a few myths and course-corrected accordingly. You’ll get a chance to go back and pick up something you lost along the way.” Leo

Wait, isn’t this all about how events conspired to entice me to drag this natural experiment into four seasons now? But, what was it that I lost along the way? 

“4”  Steve Aoki, 41; Steven Spielberg, 74: “There will be pressure to take life at a hurried speed. Push back — change lanes or remove yourself from the race entirely. You’ll be happier going at your own pace.” Sagittarius

Well, I am an introvert.  And like all introverts, our brains are wired differently.  It just takes more time to process what’s being shot at us through a firehose of events.  Is that why I’m an advocate for anticipating how the convergence of trends shapes our futures?  So I have more time to plan contingencies?  And at the slightest hint of a pivot or a new direction required I’ve anticipated enough that I can activate if this, then that plans.

“4”  Steve Harvey, 62; Stephan Patis, 53;  Stephen Hawking (1943 – 2018): “‘No matter how brilliant your work may be, it won’t play in the wrong crowd. Do your research, find out what appetites you’re dealing with, and aim your efforts to serve those desires.” Capricorn 

This just seems to be a lesson I still haven’t learned the hard way.

“5”  Steve Nash, 45: “It’s weird, but it does happen… people can be good, enjoyable company and yet be, nonetheless, bad for you. For whatever reason certain people bring out a side of you that you’d rather keep in. Noted!”Aquarius 

I don’t know if it is arrogant or from a streak of elitist in me, but just like Ian one of my clients told me, “I don’t suffer fools” easily.  If you’re asking my opinion, I believe our former President took advantage of the ignorance of his followers like PT Barnum had all those decades ago.

“4”  Steve Jobs, (1955 – 2011): “You have something that the others need. Position yourself to be available to those who have best earned your offering or those who most desperately need it.” Pisces

Except for making myself available for people one-at-a-time I don’t seem to command a wide enough audience for those who desperately need something from me can find me.

Long-Form

    • “Here, Right Matters: An American Story” by Alexander Vindman. “We’d long been confused by the president’s policy of accommodation and appeasement of Russia, the United States’ most pressing major adversary. Russia’s president Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine, seizing the Crimean Peninsula, attacking its industrial heartland, the Donbass, from the capital, Kyiv. By 2019, little had changed, Russian military and security forces and their proxy separatists continued to occupy the Donbass. The biggest change was to Ukraine’s importance as a bulwark against Russian aggression weeks earlier, the White House had abruptly put a hold on nearly four hundred million dollars.” 
    • David Enrich begins his book with a suicide in “Deutsche Bank Dark Towers: Deutsche Bank, Donald Trump, and an Epic Trail of Destruction” and then meticulously details the bank’s Russian money laundering operations. Deutsche’s Russian business surged after revenues had fallen 50% due to the 2008 financial crisis. Putin’s Russia, poured in to Deutsche from deals it did with VTB Bank, linked to the Kremlin’s intelligence apparatus. Deutsche positioned itself as a crucial cog in “The Laundromat” by doing what couldn’t be done — processing cross-border transactions for banks that were too small  and didn’t have offices outside their home countries.
    • “Unthinkable: Trauma, Truth, and the Trials of American Democracy” by Jamie Raskin recalls one tragedy no parent should endure — the suicide of his son — and then a second tragedy at almost the same time — the insurrection on January 6th 2021, that terrified he and his congressional peers who were tasked by the Constitution to routinely oversee the orderly transfer of power from one former president to the duly elected new President. 
    • “A Warning” by Anonymous (Miles Taylor) written prior to the January 6th Insurrection as an insider’s account documenting how frequently the former President’s behavior and rage without any “guard rails” showed just how far he would go to win the next election at any cost while spinning lies and misinformation on top of each other.  
    • “Peril” by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa provides anecdotes, stories and inside reporting documenting the controversial last days of Donald Trump’s presidency, as well as the presidential transition and early presidency of Joe Biden. 
    • “Devil’s Bargain: Steve Bannon, Donald Trump, and the Nationalist Uprising,” by Joshua Green tracks the money behind the scenes leading up to the 2016 presidential election and the growing influence of Steve Bannon’s network of extreme nationalists.

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Inspired by Holiday Mathis – Creators Syndicate

Posted on

S2 E108 — Why Our Reinvention Efforts Failed (and Yours Will Too)

What took five years to build fell apart in six months, because we neglected the most important lesson — building a capacity inside your company to continually repeat your reinvention, revitalization and renewal processes.

“5”  Steve Harvey, 62: “When you are sensitive to what drains you and what gives you energy, decisions become easy. You’ll do only what fills you up or what is so important that it’s worth being drained over.” Capricorn

Hi and welcome to Friday’s Episode 108 in Season 2 of  “My Pandemic Year Natural Experiment” on this 4th day of September in the fall of 2020.  

“The Tau of Steves: What You Don’t Know Could Fill a Book”

Table of Contents

Season One and Two are a two-year examination of how bits of wisdom changed during the “normal” pre-pandemic and then in this unfolding pandemic year.

Previously in Season Two, the Pandemic Year

S2 E107 — Leaving Us Adrift in a Sea of Change;  S2 E106 — How We Brainwashed Curmudgeons; S2 E105 — When Cosmic Leads to Decline, Pair Extremes Intentionally

Related from Season One, the Normal Year

S1 E108 — After So Many Defeats is it Time to Catch a New Trajectory?; S1 E107 — How Do You Rate Your Sense of Curiosity?; S1 E106 — Attempts to Upset 9 of My Life Stages Apple Cart; S1 E105 — Will Fortune Smile on Us Later in the Evening?;

Context

This is a continuation of “Volume Two Manuscript — WorkFit” a work-in-progress.  In previous episodes we described Start Up, Emerging Growth, Rapid Growth, Sustained Growth, Maturity, Decline and now Reinvention stages.  

Reinvention without Decline

Image Credit: Stephen G. Howard  Copyright 2020

We described a mini-case of a major decline,  Part One, Part Two and Part Three. And, before that we profiled two mini case studies about what it was like working behind the scenes at a mature company in a financial, in a consumer industry and two more in another century-old university system — Part One and Two. 

Now we add to both Part One and Part Two with the third Reinvention installment, a behind-the-scenes at nurturing Intrapreneurial Projects.

Reinvention Part Three

23.  Organizational Development – Technology —

Raul joined my team, having transferred from our Texas plant for an IT opportunity which was for the night shift — not what he was told before he moved his family. 

I put together a 5-year plan that called for all of us to become internal consultants instead of performing stand-up training only. Our Organization Development (OD) team became 14, with a budget that went from $60K to $600K thanks to Raul’s efforts.

Cross-Training for Factory of the Future

To satisfy Ed’s Factory of the Future vision, focused product lines required technology (BAMCS) and soft skills training.  We didn’t have the face-to-face facilities available, so ironically I met with the survivors from the declining engineering and construction firm I previously worked for and negotiated leases for our curriculum, but directed by Raul.

Raul successfully applied to the State of California for re-training funds earmarked to prevention layoffs and up-skilling disruptions required for the Factory of the Future transformation.  

We were successful in expanding the initial BAMCS contract to Engineering and Software, for a total of $1.4 million.  So that the World Class cultural change included more than manufacturing: 

    • My team and external brain trust members addressed the accelerating change in high tech environment during merger, restructuring and revitalization. 
    • How to manage careers in a rapidly changing environment, when jobs that exist today hadn’t been even thought of by the formal system two years earlier. 
    • When project  development teams  had to deliver new products in ever increasingly shorter time frames and be able to anticipate the probability of a surprise breakthrough technology development from a competitor and how to respond to it almost routinely.  

From CareerSmarts to Intrapreneurial Start Ups

And what to do with project team members which would hit the wall and disband.

We launched a CareerSmarts program  for individual knowledge workers. It changed the paradigm of getting ahead in the corporate world, through loyalty, seniority, and job security in fixed career paths — to creating your own job by proposing an intrapreneurially opportunity. 

    • By figuring out what the corporation’s customers would value in the future (over the next 3 to 5 years), 
    • Asking how I would have to prepare to match my expertise and passions to their changing expectations, 
    • Identifying what new or improved product or service this would translate into, and
    • Who I would have to persuade in the organization to begin to address it.

Reinventing, Reevaluating Core Competencies and Technology 

The Strategic Safari program focused on the need created for disbanding project teams and emerging leaders to reinvent themselves in a new intrapreneurial direction.  We helped them work through:

    • How to reevaluate their core competencies and technology packages, 
    • How to gauge new product directions, 
    • How to win support and resources for their new initiatives and 
    • Where to get advice,  gain access and needed missing talents in our emerging informal network.  
    • How are you qualified to serve the customer segment that you  have identified?

Disbanding Projects, Core Competencies, New Technologies

My OD core design group included specialists in video, software, educational television, advertising, and telecommunications. The “Transition Tank” prototype had a front end creative adventure, but ultimately was conducted back in work.  Transfer of training was a major design concern. It took twice as long to prototype it, but we did and it was powerful.  

Taking a risk before the prototype was ready, I was asked to address our corporation’s user group.  I described how we were working towards “Taking the Risk out of Implementing New Technologies”.  

Then, after my team earned “Company of the Year” award, I addressed the National Conference for Training and Development, but with a twist.  I mimicked how we used sailboats, the ocean, video, music and other tools successfully to create a breakthrough environment in the presentation itself.

All Good Things Come to an End

But, when, Ed, our senior executive sponsor couldn’t resist the temptations headhunters persistently dangled in front of him, it was over abruptly.  

What took five years to institutionalize fell apart in six months, because we neglected the most important lesson — building a capacity inside your company to continually repeat your reinvention, revitalization and renewal processes. 

It was like we snapped back to a more traditional Mature organization. Single-loop learning occurs as organizations compare their performance to a set of pre-established standards and try to make appropriate adjustments.

Double-loop learning, on the other hand, requires periodic reassessments of the established standards themselves to ensure that they remain relevant. 

Lessons we wished we had learned

The central processes of an organization includes learning, making decisions, and managing relationships with the environment. Each of these is influenced by the leadership, cultural, and structural factors.

Buffering Against Uncertainty:  Momentum, Intertia, Inflexibility

Organizations have a tendency to buffer themselves from their markets in order to operate in as smooth and trouble-free a way as possible. 

They look for customers who value price or quality and steer clear of those who want state-of-the-art equipment. 

We advocated for taking the opposite tack under our executive sponsor. But, our division fell victim having to cope with external uncertainty and inertia in the division.

Second, and more importantly, buffering reduces the occasions for organizational learning and adaptation. So organizations become closed systems that roll forward but rarely change course.

Knowledge Work:  Continuous Learning,  Local Innovation

Reinvention requires a good deal of formal education and the ability to acquire and to apply theoretical and analytical knowledge. To succeed at it:

    • Require a different approach to work and
    • A different mind-set 
    • With a habit of continuous learning and 
    • A belief that Innovation is everywhere; the problem is learning from it  

 Few companies know how to learn from local innovation which goes on at every level of a company when “employees confront problems, deal with unforeseen contingencies, or work their way around breakdowns in normal procedures.”  

Few companies know how to capitalize on local innovation to improve their overall effectiveness.  The benefit of capturing local innovation by studying the innovation at the front lines and developing technologies is to turn being a large company into an advantage rather than a bureaucratic traffic jam.

Evidence

“4”  Steve Zahn, 51: “People use problems as ways to connect with others. Even so, be mindful of what you want to get involved in, as things will not be as simple to solve as they first appear.” Scorpio

It took five years, but I wouldn’t have changed anything except for the loss of our executive sponsor.

Random ones that make me want change my sign.

“3”  Steve Howey, 42: “You’re afraid to commit, and that’s because you don’t know when the commitment is over. Put a button on it. When you give it a timeframe, especially a short one, fear is allayed and talent rises up.” Cancer

Not knowing when the commitment is over seems more relevant to this pandemic more than anything else.

“4”  Steve Aoki, 41: “There’s a ticker tape running through your head. Sometimes, you stop reading it. Possibly, thoughts get so repetitive you tune them out. More likely, they run too fast and better cognition requires slowing down.” Sagittarius

Speed kills, right! The same goes for our internal dialogues.  

“5”  Steve Harvey, 62: “When you are sensitive to what drains you and what gives you energy, decisions become easy. You’ll do only what fills you up or what is so important that it’s worth being drained over.” Capricorn

Boy, is this ever not going to be the case?  Or, is this the lot of an introvert?

“5” Steve Nash, 45: “You want the best for yourself and your loved ones. Bigger is not always better though. Today, it will be the smaller investments that have the best ratio of value to effort.” Aquarius 

At this reinvention part of my career, the risk was very high.  And, no matter what I had to sock my 401K contributions away for some future time.  And, now I’m glad I did.

“4”  Steve Jobs, (1955 – 2011): “Suffering is usually linked to a distortion of thought. Eliminate the distortion and what’s left will be a manageable problem that is far less painful with which to cope.” Pisces

At he end of the day … is when my thought are most distorted.  So, much so that I need to turn off all my devices and exit my office.

What’s Going On …

Literally Bottled and Set Adrift from KnowWhere Atoll 

    • @knowlabs followers of one or more of my 35 digital magazines organically grew from 4906 to 4990.

Foresight

Quality-of-Life

Long-Form

    • Saw the movie, didn’t realize that one of my favorite authors, Michael Connelly — his detective Hieronymus (Harry) Bosch book series and Amazon Prime series — also wrote, “The Lincoln Lawyer” which I just finished. Gotta tell you I can’t not see his lead character (Mickey Haller, Bosch’s half brother) as anyone else but Matthew McConaughey. 

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Inspired by: Holiday Mathis – Creators Syndicate

CENTER FOR KNOWLEDGE CREATION AND INNOVATION

The Knowledge Path | Know Laboratories | Knowledge Banking | Knowledge ATMs | Western Skies and Island Currents | Best West Road Trip

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S2 E107 — Leaving Us Adrift in a Sea of Change

When things get tough — during a merger — you should do what, go sailing?  You might ask, “Why sailing and why Catalina Island?  Was that like some sort of outdoor adventure boondoggle?  How did you get away with it?”

“5”  Steve Zahn, 51: “Consider making a vision board. The surface verisimilitude of an image makes you feel as though you are within touching distance of your desire. Your brain gets used to this, bridges a gap, shortens the leap to reality.” Scorpio

Hi and welcome to Thursday’s Episode 107 in Season 2 of  “My Pandemic Year Natural Experiment” on this 3rd day of September in the fall of 2020.  

“The Tau of Steves: What You Don’t Know Could Fill a Book”

Table of Contents

Season One and Two are a two-year examination of how bits of wisdom changed during the “normal” pre-pandemic and then in this unfolding pandemic year.

Previously in Season Two, the Pandemic Year

S2 E106 — How We Brainwashed Curmudgeons; S2 E105 — When Cosmic Leads to Decline, Pair Extremes Intentionally; S2 E104 — Worst Monday Ever. Very, Very Grim …

Related from Season One, the Normal Year

S1 E107 — How Do You Rate Your Sense of Curiosity?; S1 E106 — Attempts to Upset 9 of My Life Stages Apple Cart; S1 E105 — Will Fortune Smile on Us Later in the Evening?; S1 E104 — How Yesterday’s Success Triggers Tomorrow’s Failure

Context

This is a continuation of “Volume Two Manuscript — WorkFit” a work-in-progress.

In previous episodes we described Start Up, Emerging Growth, Rapid Growth, Sustained Growth, Maturity, Decline and now Reinvention stages.  

Reinvention without Decline

Image Credit: Stephen G. Howard  Copyright 2020

We described a mini-case of a major decline,  Part One, Part Two and Part Three. And, before that we profiled two mini case studies about what it was like working behind the scenes at a mature company in a financial, in a consumer industry and two more in another century-old university system — Part One and Two. 

Now we turn add to Part One with the wildcard Part Two behind-the-scenes Reinvention mini-case.

Reinvention Part Two

23.  Organizational Development – Technology —

For a mainframe computer it took almost 24 months to offer the new line when I first joined.  We knocked it down to 18 months, but with enterprise customers their long buying cycles meant our sales people worked and worked and worked to get them to sign on the dotted line.

But then out of the blue word came down that we had entered a quiet period during a merger of two equal sized computer players with some overlapping markets and technologies.

And, it was further delayed due to alleged bribery for government contracts at the other company and the ensuing uncertainty about who would be doing what and what our new identity would be.

Almost immediately all our division employees panicked on the news.  And almost immediately the management team disappeared behind closed doors. 

The vacuum triggered worst case scenarios. And lot’s of questions:

    • How would the merger impact sales? 
    • Will we be handicapped right out of the start gate?
    • What would happen if our hardware, software and manufacturing projects were eliminated?
    • Wasn’t the merger about doubling the size of our marketshare?
    • What would happen to our own, local reinvention efforts?
    • If word leaked out from manufacturing that the next mainframe was as small as your desktop PC, somebody in the customer’s approval process could halt the sale.

In the face of fear and uncertainty and doubt no-one had answers.

Meanwhile, I represented our division interests on the new corporate task force that launched a corporate-wide employee survey and recommended ways of addressing the fear, uncertainty and doubt. 

We tackled the rebranding and communications campaign.

Two formal technology rivals, each with their own operating systems, serving different customers and industries grew from two very different roots. 

From those roots grew two very different cultures which reinforced themselves, until months after the merger.  

Our corporate task force acknowledged those differences, but we began digging until we found the two core foundational stories and creatively began communicating fewer differences and more similarities in an effort to build a new shared value set. 

The company was renamed and branded as the Power of Two (squared).   But, even Steve Jobs couldn’t resist the choice when he quipped, “Little did they know at the time that ‘2’ would be their stock price.”

We all fell victim to FUD — fear, uncertainty and doubt.  When two companies come together to form one you have winners and losers.  At first, since we acquired them, we all figured we’d be the victors.  But, that wasn’t how it turned out entirely.

Locally in our division, we collectively decided to only focus on what we could control.

Shaping a Cultural Climate for Innovation

For another initiative, our Climate for Innovation — the theme my team got three local leaders of manufacturing, software engineering and firmware engineering to sponsor in the California division.

Here’s what the engineering and software teams faced. 

    • They needed to dramatically shorten the time from idea into customer hands.
    • At the same time — they didn’t know when — a competitor would introduce a dramatic improvement which forced the product team to match or beat it.
    • They had to account for technology wild cards. 
    • They themselves didn’t know if they would survive the internal cost cutting elimination process or if their merging counterparts would lose.

We weren’t engineers or software developers.

So, How Could We Contribute?

They were on the hook to finish products on their roadmaps, but to figure out ways to shrink development time before their competitors did. 

So, we scheduled a series of communications programs that interviewed each leader and gave them an opportunity to describe what was important to their group and how each of the other groups fit together.  

It wasn’t technology or talent as much as it was product team formation, storming, norming and performing that sped progress on the relentless time to market. 

My communications co-conspirator described it as a “license to steal,” but in a good way.  As long as we helped move the needle towards a “Climate for Innovation” we practiced tail-wagging as an example for the newly emerging company.

We reinforced a fast-paced, innovative culture that attracted the best of the best. Our motto was simply, “It’s better to seek forgiveness than to ask permission.”

When things get tough — during a merger — you should do what, go sailing?

You might ask, “Why sailing and why Catalina Island?  Was that like some outdoor adventure boondoggle?  How did you get away with it?”

By sailing to Catalina, holing up in a local hotel and hashing product roadmaps teams were literally able to think out of the box away from the mainland and return to their work with a fresh perspective.

Convene the Brain Trust

Crazy creative Dave pitched a high risk, high value proposition based on a sailing experience.

Robin, one of our local engineering managers and eventually our co-conspirators had taken Dave out to Catalina for fun.  He volunteered as a leader of Sea Scouts based in Dana Harbor, so he had the access to the sailboats and Dave is crazy creative.  

And, crazy creative Dave introduced me to Jim whom he met at a Corporate Communications boondoggle out in the desert of Arizona at a Wickenburg dude ranch. What Dave immediately liked about Jim was his combination strategic thinking and team building tools.

One of Jim’s real estate client brought him to Southern California for executive coaching.  Crazy creative Dave conspired with Robin — the boat, Jim the tools, and me looking for FUD-busting stories to tell.  

We set out on a get-to-know-each-other sea cruise in the Pacific Ocean at dusk from Dana Point named for Richard Henry Dana who wrote, “Two Years Before the Mast” about his adventures on the Pilgrim up and down the coast.  

Fur trappers would throw down their hides from the cliff overhead to the tall ships anchored in the harbor as part of trade conducted in Mission San Juan Capistrano — founded, I believe, in 1775.

Change-Worthy Resilience

Funny how that history kind of provided a little something in our conversations and being on a sailboat, you’re tightly constrained physically so everybody participates. 

And there’s something wonderful about the ocean. The up-and-down motion. The side-to-side motion. The vagaries of the wind and the tacking back and forth. To make any kind of progress, you have to focus on the matter at hand, and balance in three dimensions. 

The sea works its own magic on conversation. It didn’t take long before we found a common passion — the challenge of building change-worthy organizations and individuals.

And, suddenly the wind stopped. The ocean calmed around us momentarily — the surface turned smooth as glass. Simultaneously, we reached some sort of synchronicity state. 

That moment when every thing happens in slow motion. We finished each other’s sentences. Ideas burst out of us like popcorn. We collectively saw a future — at least a trajectory based on the technology we were building, and a way to achieve what we all wanted individually, but in a way that would benefit all of us working together.

So, how did that play out? It sounds so, what … corporate hippy bullshit.

That’s why I couldn’t ask for permission from my 116 Institutional Traditionalist boss. 

Our task was to create an accelerated team building and innovation process — the sailing to Catalina — facilitate brainstorming sessions, and capture their output — decisions, plans, action items, further investigations.

Did it Work

Still sounds like a typical corporate boondoggle, right?

If you’ve been to a workshop or a class, what happens?  

In about 20 minutes after it’s over — by the time you leave the parking lot — you forget 50% of it.  When you come back to work, all the emails and requests that piled up while you were away command your time and attention.  

You lose another 30%.  

By the end of the first week, the Catalina experience is just a fond memory.

Did They Forget Best Laid Plans

No, we recorded all of their work in video and photos.  During the first week “back at the ranch” we delivered daily reminders of commitments they made by documenting them doing so in pictures.  Intermittently, we’d send another reminder and request for a status update.

It was like they could fall back into their highly engaged experience — in a kind of a re-immersion. 

It worked, really well.  Dave and I treated each safari as a proof of concept and built on what we learned running prior ones.  

We experimented with a variety of outdoor venues, if you will, and learned how to program sessions with music and turn the whole adventure into — well, we called them “Strategic Safaris” to accelerate team development, conduct product planning sessions and drive new initiatives immediately.

Next up: Part Three when intrapreneurially sourced innovations take shape.

Evidence

“5”  Steve Zahn, 51: “Consider making a vision board. The surface verisimilitude of an image makes you feel as though you are within touching distance of your desire. Your brain gets used to this, bridges a gap, shortens the leap to reality.” Scorpio

Thanks for the fond memories.  On the island with the engineering teams we’d have them draw out what they felt were their team futures.  They broke down steps to achieve what they had drawn together and we filmed them committing to what they achieved on Catalina together.

Random ones that make me want change my sign.

“ 4”  Steve McQueen (1930 – 1980): “There have been times when it was hard for you to imagine being free, self-reliant and in control of your own financial and emotional destiny. Today’s developments are a dream come true.”  Aries

Can I get an “Amen!”  My decade-long advisory role in the university system helped turn that line of anxiety off forever.

“4”  Steve Winwood, 71; Stevie Wonder, 69; Stephen Colbert, 56: “Not all feelings are messages from the depths. Some are just momentary choices based on comfort zones. A feeling can also be a distraction from another, less-appealing, more uncertain feeling.”  Taurus

Got me.  I tend to favor my muse by asking Leo da V what I should concentrate on, expecting a deep exploration.  But, often curiosity masks distractions.

“4”  Steve Greene, 34; Steve Guttenberg, 61: “You’re likely to pour over every detail. The perfectionism that has you moving incredibly slowly now will also be the reason that you’re so excellent at the task.” Virgo

Yes and no.  Too much detail numbs my brain.  Not enough detail fails to satisfy my Systematic-Professional leanings.  Is it a stalemate?

“5”  Steve Kerr, 54: “You are very aware of what you don’t know and only get more aware of it as you go. This is proof that you are amassing a great body of learning indeed, as every new idea opens up 10 more questions.” Libra

Just 10 more questions?  It’s as true for me today as it was finding resilience in uncertain times during our 360 degree model for adventure learning.

What’s Going On …

Literally Bottled and Set Adrift from KnowWhere Atoll 

    • @knowlabs followers of one or more of my 35 digital magazines organically grew from 4906 to 4990.

Foresight

Quality-of-Life

Long-Form

    • Saw the movie, didn’t realize that one of my favorite authors, Michael Connelly — his detective Hieronymus (Harry) Bosch book series and Amazon Prime series — also wrote, “The Lincoln Lawyer” which I just finished. Gotta tell you I can’t not see his lead character (Mickey Haller, Bosch’s half brother) as anyone else but Matthew McConaughey. 

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Inspired by: Holiday Mathis – Creators Syndicate

CENTER FOR KNOWLEDGE CREATION AND INNOVATION

The Knowledge Path | Know Laboratories | Knowledge Banking | Knowledge ATMs | Western Skies and Island Currents | Best West Road Trip

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S2 E106 — How We Brainwashed Curmudgeons

We called them curmudgeons.  They couldn’t see how that could work.  They had no experience in their 20 years, except what they were used to doing.  We had to brainwash them.  And we came to find out they were the most valuable champions for the new way we could find.

“5”  Steve Smith, 30: “When change is in the air, you sense it before anyone else. You notice that something feels different before you know exactly what it is. On high alert, you’ll figure it out soon enough.” Gemini

Hi and welcome to Sunday’s Episode 106 in Season 2 of  “My Pandemic Year Natural Experiment” on this 30th day of August in the summer of 2020.  

“The Tau of Steves: What You Don’t Know Could Fill a Book”

Table of Contents

Season One and Two are a two-year examination of how bits of wisdom changed during the “normal” pre-pandemic and then in this unfolding pandemic year.

Previously in Season Two, the Pandemic Year

S2 E105 — When Cosmic Leads to Decline, Pair Extremes Intentionally; S2 E104 — Worst Monday Ever. Very, Very Grim …; S2 E103 — Confronting Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt, Resistance and Unrelenting Stress

Related from Season One, the Normal Year

S1 E106 — Attempts to Upset 9 of My Life Stages Apple Cart; S1 E105 — Will Fortune Smile on Us Later in the Evening?; S1 E104 — How Yesterday’s Success Triggers Tomorrow’s Failure; S1 E103 — Innies and Outies and Other Potential Catastrophes

Context

This is a continuation of “Volume Two Manuscript — WorkFit” a work-in-progress.

In previous episodes we described Start Up, Emerging Growth, Rapid Growth, Sustained Growth, Maturity, Decline and now Reinvention stages.

Consequences for Not Mastering Growth Crises

Image Credit: Stephen G. Howard  Copyright 2020

We described a mini-case of a major decline,  Part One, Part Two and Part Three. And, before that we profiled two mini case studies about what it was like working behind the scenes at a mature company in a financial, in a consumer industry and two more in another century-old university system — Part One and Two. Now we turn to a behind the scenes Reinvention mini-case. 

Reinvention Without Decline

Image Credit: Stephen G. Howard  Copyright 2020

Reinvention Part One

23.  Organizational Development – Technology —

Needs Assessment

My Plan A dreamed I’d be working for a high-tech company with very bright engineers that worked on bringing products to market in record time.  

When I was recruited to my first large technology company I followed my own advice and negotiated for a preplanned Maui Vacation first, in a timeshare which sat just on some sort of magical weather curtain.  On one side it rained and rained.  On the other it stayed tropically bright and sunny. “Here I am sitting in the living room of our Maui condominium on vacation, after my first 60-days of coming on board,” I wrote.  

Part of my orientation was to gather hard and soft information to cast a long range vision for “Training and Development” for the position I was hired into from Fluor. 

I saw my role as anticipating how the HR function would change to accommodate our plans, and pitch a communications plan for a branding campaign as an attracting highly sought after engineering and software talent. 

Partnership

Ray acting as 102 Thought Leader needed an 113 Idea Packager.

He introduced me to my HR boss, Dick, told me how Ed, the General Manager and his management team had been working on a strategy that would take the division to the forefront —a model for what the large corporation could become. 

But, I couldn’t cut Ray out of his gig and in return Ray would grease the wheels for the “internal team” to “operationalize and execute”.  Basically, he had the ear of my boss’s boss and could provide “cover” when needed.

So between the lines, my boss represented the old school, a 116 Institutional Traditionalist and a conspiracy was afoot.

Ed represented manufacturing which accounted for 90% of the physical building.  The other 20% was split between engineering and product assurance.  Software engineering worked out of another two-story office in another location about 4 or 5 miles away.

Going in I wanted to focus on strategic issues …

    • How this organization can be fluid and proactive enough to anticipate computer industry changes,
    • the shifting business cycles, and specific changes in broad areas of the US and international economies,
    • to shifting demographics of both customers and employees,
    • social and technological forces (that the Orange County division should respond to driving the state of art) and in a sense become the tail that wags the East Coast dog.

What I wanted to do was to have our division management examine those issues with my facilitation so we’d have a guide for development efforts that Ray and Ed’s team already endorsed.  

Staffing Came Next.  

The year prior to my arrival “training” functioned with a half-time person who would be transitioning to a full-time role with my help.

    • So my immediate goals included maintaining and upgrading the current training offerings for consistency while assessing what else needed to be developed to address unmet “internal operational” issues.  
    • In concert with that I wanted to develop other internal talent for delivering generic classroom and “lower” management level classes. 
    • And then have a successor fill in while Sue, the full time HR representative, develops her own instructional design capabilities.  

Anyway it was a start.  And I was on vacation.  

List of Hard and Soft Needs

I’d fill in more details after returning to the main land.  But, I kept in mind the randomly generated list of hard and soft needs I already collected:

    1. Corporate (in Detroit, Michigan) has no idea how training breaks down today.  SPG-OC (the formal name for our division) doesn’t have a training system in operation.
    2. All the divisions are isolated—not only in the human resources and training functions.
    3. Very little corporate training direction exists aside from printing a catalog of classes and coordinating them.
    4. SDG hasn’t had a professional trainer full time-only model.  The other divisions (Pasadena, BMG, Orange County and Ranch Bernardo) have or will soon have new human resources development folks in position.
    5. The regional meeting showed most of the other divisions are grappling with how to handle career development needs.
    6. Our division doesn’t operate as a high-tech company internally.
    7. PA&S (software developers) specifically believe they need more technology training. Also the group in the City of Industry hasn’t received any in over a year, even though they are customer facing and therefore a priority.
    8. Managers in SDG feel uncomfortable with only a career facilitation class — too much time away from work — no systemic place for them to rely on.
    9. Other divisions in the area (Santa Ana, City of Industry especially, and maybe Lake Forest) feel slighted or not part of “Mission” — in division memos.
    10. 10. Ed and John — manufacturing GM and Software and Engineering VP — have two distinctly different leadership styles.  Ed is ore people supportive.  John is task and time/ results oriented.
    11. SMG (manufacturing) is budget squeezed.  SDG (software and engineering)  has to use up all of their past year’s budget or they won’t get more allocated in the next year.
    12. Not  much hiring is expected as occurred last year — not as much “expansion”.  Many feel a tightening is about to happen.
    13. Software has a technical training coordinator, but engineering hasn’t recognized a need for hardware training.
    14. B-20 operating system doesn’t run PC software, which means off the shelf applications can’t be used for managing human resource, training and development operations. issues and strategy for 1st 90 days and beyond

Those were heady days as we checked off priorities.  

Knew It When He Saw It

Working for a 101 PMBI Breakpoint Inventor was right up my alley.  Ed, the General Manager had a vision for advanced manufacturing in the future.  He subscribed to the “lets-use-our-own-technology” to see what it makes us become.  

So our role was to help Ed communicate in more tangible ways what his vision was so people could begin to participate. This was my first lesson learned from Dave, my communications co-conspirator.  

Ed knew what he wanted if he saw it, but he couldn’t describe it.  The demands on him in the work setting gave the part of his brain no time to bubble up his vision for the division.

Into Nature to Discover the Factory of the Future

So, Dave and I drove him into Trabuco Canyon with the “old California” vibe. 

We drove a few more miles from the winding roads leading to Saddleback Mountain to let nature work its miracle.

    • With a video camera on his shoulder, Dave directed Ed to sit down on a boulder next to a meandering creek and gaze out onto the valley below where our division sat off in the distance.  
    • While he picked up some pebbles to toss into the creek at first I prompted him off camera with open ended questions.
    • I told him not to worry about any kind of logic or succinct description, but just to start painting a picture of what he saw. 
    • After a couple hours, Dave softly said cut.  We had enough to take back to the division’s studio to edit hours into minutes.

He wanted to chunk out unneeded steps in the process, break down manufacturing lines into small groups and cross train everyone.  And he wanted to “pull expertise” from engineers who supported the operations to “up skill” the teams.

This wasn’t a startup and it wasn’t met with open arms by the engineers or the factory supervisors or even the manufacturing teams.

Our Loss is Our Gain

Really at the core the biggest obstacle was how the “rank and file” who were used to being told what, when, and how to “do it” couldn’t grasp his unproven vision of doing things in a new way. 

All they knew was they were losing proven processes for scary new ones.

Instead of keeping the line moving faster and faster, even working overtime and on the weekends, Ed borrowed Japanese techniques by introducing just-in-time focused product lines.

We got called in because the old line manufacturing supervisors resisted as hard as they could.  They never allowed the line to shut down even if a newer solution worked, or if a part wasn’t available.  No Peter. No Paul.

We called them curmudgeons. 

    • They couldn’t see how that could work. 
    • They had no experience in their 20 years, except what they were used to doing. 
    • We had to brainwash them. 

And we came to find out they were the most valuable champions for the new way we could find.

Sorta like AA evangelists.

Dave came up with the idea of blocking off the factory floor section, like the construction tarps you can’t see over on a street undergoing a new building construction.  You could hear stuff going on, you couldn’t see it though.

Dave figured out how to get everyone’s attention.  

We Set Up Contests 

We set up Minimum Viable Product demonstrations on the factory floor and challenged the old timers to compete.  When they couldn’t, they knew it was time to trust where he wanted to take us to the future.

One manufacturing line from the old school way competed with the new way. Seeing is believing.  Or experiencing is believing.  And once they converted, we made them Product Line Managers.

A New Home 4 Miles Away

Our marketing people always wanted a mole in manufacturing. As far as I know they never were successful, but as word got out about our “Factory of the Future” advanced manufacturing facility in Rancho Santa Margarita, Ed and his team insisted on a reservations system.

As a good corporate citizen, Ed knew for every potential enterprise-sized customer who accompanied their sales executive, 90% ordered almost immediately. 

    • We couldn’t keep up the pace, if hordes of sales people popped in with a customer’s representative at the beginning of a sales cycle.
    • We, Dave and our communications team, helped in the design of a walk way balcony on the second level with kiosks at different stations which told the story of what each was about.
    • But, you had to reserve a time, which became more scarce as demand picked up.

Up next:  A wild card merger thrown into the mix.

Evidence

“4”  Steve Zahn, 51: “Even though you are not, strictly speaking, a newcomer to a situation, going in with a beginner’s mind will increase your luck exponentially. Innocent and unbiased reception allows you to see and absorb more.” Scorpio

Boy, is this ever true when you have just landed a new position which feels like a new beginning and a clean slate.  Only you are actually entering a fully functioning culture with its own norms and rituals.  The sooner you realize it the better off you will be.

Random ones that make me want change my sign.

“4” Steve Winwood, 71; Stevie Wonder, 69; Stephen Colbert, 56: “The novice is proud of and wants full recognition for talents and skills. The wise would rather go unlauded, realizing the strategic advantage in being underestimated.” Taurus 

Oh how zen this TauBit is.  I used to be a novice, but agree there’s a strategic advantage to being underestimated.

“5”  Steve Smith, 30: “When change is in the air, you sense it before anyone else. You notice that something feels different before you know exactly what it is. On high alert, you’ll figure it out soon enough.” Gemini

Once you live though a major restructuring while a corporation experiences a series decline, you adopt a healthy paranoia which signals here we go again and here’s what needs to be done.  

“3”  Steve Howey, 42: “There is a beautiful new influence coming into your world, one that seems like it would need to be organized for and around, but that is not the case. It doesn’t need to be arranged, only allowed.” Cancer

At this time in the morning, I can’t for the life of me figure out when that will occur, but I can say maybe this is off by one day, because last night was wonderful.

“5”  Steve Carrell, 57; Steve Martin, 74; Steve Wozniak, 69: “Learning takes place in several modalities. You move your body to learn. You talk your subject out, listen on it, write about it. Trying to learn using only one modality is like trying to walk on only one leg.” Leo

Wow, I’ll say.  This pandemic year and the adjustments required strain learning modalities almost on a daily basis.

“5”  Steve Greene, 34; Steve Guttenberg, 61: “What were the underlying issues that started your journey to change? It may be hard to remember this, but try because it’s worth noting the differences and similarities between then and now.” Virgo

It was a change from a declining organization to what looked like a high technology company from the outside, establishing solutions to a list of problem areas, and then from out of nowhere the call of the unknown was triggered by a surprise merger.

“5”  Steve Aoki, 41: “Rituals are, essentially, habits with a heightened sense of meaning. You have a fantasy about incorporating certain rituals into your life. Start small, by attaching a small action to an already established habit.” Sagittarius

For today, yes.  But more so for what we called peeling away the layers of an onion.  During the merger right after the regulatory quiet period, we were stuck with two onions with very few rituals in common.  Our goal, though was to find where the two cultures began, identify their separate foundational stories and then build a common one for translating elements into a new enterprise.

“5”  Steve Nash, 45: “You’re looking out for others. You’ll focus on risk. You’ll dig with excellent questions. What are the unknown unknowns? Which solutions fare better than the alternatives?” Aquarius 

Maybe not for today, but definitely during the task force initiatives for defining and communicating how the merger would play out.

“4”  Steve Jobs, (1955 – 2011): “You know your values, and you think often about what you really want. But these things change. The shifts are palpable today. Reassess. You will surprise yourself.” Pisces

Is there ever a bad time not to reassess yourself?  Especially during a merger?

What’s Going On …

Literally Bottled and Set Adrift from KnowWhere Atoll 

    • @knowlabs followers of one or more of my 35 digital magazines organically grew from 4906 to 4990.

Foresight

Quality-of-Life

Long-Form

    • Saw the movie, didn’t realize that one of my favorite authors, Michael Connelly — his detective Hieronymus (Harry) Bosch book series and Amazon Prime series — also wrote, “The Lincoln Lawyer” which I just finished. Gotta tell you I can’t not see his lead character (Mickey Haller, Bosch’s half brother) as anyone else but Matthew McConaughey. 

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Inspired by: Holiday Mathis – Creators Syndicate

CENTER FOR KNOWLEDGE CREATION AND INNOVATION

The Knowledge Path | Know Laboratories | Knowledge Banking | Knowledge ATMs | Western Skies and Island Currents | Best West Road Trip

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S3 E48 — Is That an Ace Up Your Sleeve or Are You Just Glad to See Me?

We’d been meeting like this twice a week.  She told me to flip over while she began massaging the back of my knee.    

“5”  Steve McQueen (1930 – 1980): “Here comes the reshuffling of your deck of priorities, a process outside of your control, followed by the giddy anticipation as the cards are being dealt. What will you get? It matters but not as much as how you play what you get.” Aries

Hi and welcome to Thursday’s Episode 48 in Season 3 of  “My Paradoxically Normal Year” on this 20th day of May in the spring of 2021 — which is a three-year examination of how bits of wisdom changed during the “normal” pre-pandemic year and then in the pandemic year, and now months after.

“The Tau of Steves: What You Don’t Know Could Fill a Book”

Table of Contents

Previously from Season Three, the Paradoxically Normal Year

S3 E47 — Why’s and How’s of the Genius Art of Procrastination; S3 E46 — Twisting Meaning to Fit Is Still a Misdemeanor in My Book; S3 E45 — Tacit Heuristics Blinding Fast-Track Teams

Related from Season Two, The Pandemic Year

S2 E48 — Tracking Millennials from One Resort to Another; S2 E47 — 27 Adventure Regions for Your Remote-Working Bucket List; S2 E46 — Whimsy Passion Project or Epic Novel of Adventure?; S2 E45 — Wildcard What Ifs and Doobie Bros Bias

Related from Season One, The Normal Year

S1 E48 — Holiday TauBit Trumps Funk; S1 E47 — Day 47 of My 1-Year Experiment; S1 E46 — Day 46 of My 1-Year Experiment; S1 E45 — Day 45 of My 1-Year Experiment

Context

In the end my physical therapist agreed. I’m guessing one of the missing cards, in addition to curiosity I wrote about last time for the “Conclusions” section, is the critical thinking card.

But first she asked, “So what are you going to do the rest of the day?”  

I told her work on my blog.  “Oh, what is it about?” 

I told her I steal people’s horoscopes mostly and am writing up a report covering one year.  “Why?” she wanted to know.  

She knew her sign, Sagittarius. I told her Steve Aoki (using celebrity Steves) always was better than mine, Scorpio.  She helped me pronounce his name, so obviously she knew who he was.

What I’m working on now, I told her,  is critical thinking, how in the ‘70s when I was in my first career there was a whole movement starting with the uncertainty principle that upended psychology at the time of Esalen in Big Sur by psychedelic pioneers.

It was a scene I left for another career, but I told her this passion project allows me to revisit it.

“Right there,” I said.  

It would be one more day before I’d get the results from the MRI and we guessed there might be some damage to my ligaments.  I felt not being able to keep up the strengthening and balance exercises set me back.

I asked her how she ended up working in this sports rehab office.  She told me it was the second of her rotations.  When she completed it they asked her to join them.

“How did you start your first career?” she asked, probably only half listening.  

“Let’s see when I moved here after my masters in clinical and experimental psychology I did the typical.  I sent out 100 resumes to places between Ocean Beach in San Diego to the northern part of Orange County.”

“Oh?”

The only real offer I told her came from Dr. Lichter who was starting up a clinic in Newport Center called the Behavior Modification Institute. “We offered biofeedback sessions as a way of reducing stress and making it easier for clients to find a meditative state.”

“BMI?” she said.

“Yeah, but in the mornings I’d work at a State Hospital and in the afternoons in Newport Beach trying to sell time in a white, egg-shaped biofeedback chair for producing those alpha waves.”

“Uh-Huh.” 

“Do you know who Sam Harris is?”  I asked after she focused more on my knee therapy.

She heard of the name.  I said he’d been interviewing neuroscientists on his podcast which allowed me to update my understanding of the brain … even psychedelics were now being used to treat addictions and help cancer patients.  

“Critical thinking,” she nodded. 

We agreed as I flipped over to my back on the black cushioned table was in short supply these days.  She never checked her horoscope except sometimes in magazines when she came across it. 

Though what I was doing was interesting and she said should check it out.

Evidence

Random ones that make me want change my sign.

“5”  Steve McQueen (1930 – 1980): “Here comes the reshuffling of your deck of priorities, a process outside of your control, followed by the giddy anticipation as the cards are being dealt. What will you get? It matters but not as much as how you play what you get.” Aries

She never checked her horoscope except sometimes in magazines when she came across it.  Though what I was doing was interesting and she said should check it out.

“4”  Steve Winwood, 71; Stevie Wonder, 69; Stephen Colbert, 56: “Allowing yourself to get distracted will drain your precious energy unless those distractions are so quality they inspire you. You’ll know immediately. Unless you get hit by a “wow” factor, keep moving along.”  Taurus

I’m not sure if our brief conversation with my physical therapist worked on my knee after my accident, but I didn’t feel drained at all.  And, after my hour-long exercises topped off with icing my knee down I felt no pain — not even the dull ache or sharp jab under my knee cap.

“4”  Steve Greene, 34; Steve Guttenberg, 61: “You’re carrying more than you know. It’s like your mind has pockets you haven’t checked in a while. Go through, gather up the useless and dated ideas, and then release them to the trash.” Virgo

Seriously, G&G I struggled with your Holiday Tau until I realized I’ve been finding out what no longer holds up against the latest brain research about consciousness and what I used to believe about functions housed in the right- and left-brain 

What’s Going On …

Literally Bottled and Set Adrift from KnowWhere Atoll 

    • @KnowLabs suite of 36 digital magazines jumps from 8203 to 8218 organically grown followers.

Foresight

Quality-of-Life  

Long-Form

    • “Why?: What Makes Us Curious,” by Mario Livio. “… socially shared myths, rituals, and symbolism were most likely the first sophisticated responses to nagging why and how questions and were therefore the fruits of curiosity. The chain reaction that resulted from the positive feedback between curiosity and language turned Homo sapiens into a powerful intellect, with self-awareness and an inner life.”

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Inspired by: Holiday Mathis – Creators Syndicate

CENTER FOR KNOWLEDGE CREATION AND INNOVATION

The Knowledge Path | Know Laboratories | Knowledge Banking | Knowledge ATMs | Western Skies and Island Currents | Best West Road Trips

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S3 E46 — Twisting Meaning to Fit Is Still a Misdemeanor in My Book

I started down this path a week ago on Friday when I felt lost. What I did next didn’t fill me with pride. 

“5”  Steve McQueen (1930 – 1980): “Take a step back and remember why you wanted to do a thing in the first place. Much has happened since; your purpose has evolved to fit the circumstances. But that initial kernel of intention is still the heart of this venture.

Hi and welcome to Saturday’s Episode 46 in Season 3 of  “My Paradoxically Normal Year” on this 15th day of May in the spring of 2021 — which is a three-year examination of how bits of wisdom changed during the “normal” pre-pandemic year and then in the pandemic year, and now months after.

“The Tau of Steves: What You Don’t Know Could Fill a Book”

Table of Contents

Previously from Season Three, the Paradoxically Normal Year

S3 E44 — Make It Rhyme To Work Each Time; S3 E43 — Add a Little Foresight to My Misdemeanor Tab; S3 E42 — Greta, Juliette and the Partridge Family at Trestles

Related from Season Two, The Pandemic Year

S2 E45 — Wildcard What Ifs and Doobie Bros Bias; S2 E44 — Celebrating Emma the Baroness Tribal Quarantine Style; S2 E43 — See What You’ve Been Missing …; S2 E42 — It Was Short and Sweet, but Heart-Felt

Related from Season One, The Normal Year

S1 E45 — Day 45 of My 1-Year Experiment; S1 E44 — Google Me Some Chopped Liver; S1 E43 — Desperation on Such a Summer’s Day; S1 E42 — Love on the Run

Context

I stole Steve Kerr’s TauBit of Wisdom:

“Projects have a beginning, middle and an end, though that is not the best order of approach. Begin with the end in mind. If you don’t have an end in mind yet, assist someone who does and you’ll learn a lot.” 

Thanks to Coach Kerr and the Los Angeles Lakers living legend, Kareem Abdul-Jabaar I’ve been reworking the 1-Year Natural Experiment Report.

Intelligent imagination is vital to this sort of deduction! However improbable a hypothesis, it cannot be discarded. 

“Mycroft and Sherlock” by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Introduction

  • Definitions
  • What Does Tau Mean?
  • Life as an Art Form
  • Life as a Natural Experiment

Chain of Events Leading to the 1-year Experiment

  • Two Fortune Cookies and Dove Dark Chocolates
  • Here’s the Pitch for Bringing More Steves into the World
  • Steve is on an Endangered List
  • Top 10 Steves Organized by Horoscope = 120!

Three Phases

  • Finding Aphorisms Worth Handing Down
  • Priming the Pump for Input from Real Steves
  • Soliciting Wisdom from Steves with Identical Names

Methodology for Phase One

  • Changes along the Way
  • Extension to total 1-Year
  • Day 196 of 1-Year (Pre-Pandemic) overlaps with Day 20 of Pandemic Year

Findings for Phase One

  • Total Possible Horoscopes, Originally 4536 vs. Extension 4548
  • From Representative Sample of Famous Steves
  • Break Down: Practical Projects, Work, Legacy, Dreams and Relationships

Results Relevant to Me

  • Specific to Scorpios
  • From Any of the Remaining 11 Signs

Conclusion

  • Horoscopes
  • Biases
  • Intuition
  • Synchronicity
  • Pattern Recognition
  • Serendipity
  • Do I Feel Lucky?
  • Superstitions
  • Rituals
  • Super Simplification
  • True Believers
  • Filters
  • Selves
  • Heuristics
  • Associative and Lateral Thinking

Appendix:

Holiday TauBits of Wisdom From Representative Sample

  • Steve McQueen
  • Steve Carell, Steve Martin and Steve Wozniak
  • Steve Jobs

Evidence

Random ones that make me want change my sign.

I guess if I had known I would have added our Patron Saint, Steve McQueen to Kerr and Kareem’s inspirations. 

“5”  Steve McQueen (1930 – 1980): “Take a step back and remember why you wanted to do a thing in the first place. Much has happened since; your purpose has evolved to fit the circumstances. But that initial kernel of intention is still the heart of this venture.” Aries

If I twist the meaning of your Holiday Tau slightly Howey, I interpreting your message as confirmation of this whimsey passion project which led to more tangible and practical insights I’m working through in the “Conclusions” section of the report, right?

“4”  Steve Howey, 42: “Whether consciously or unconsciously, you keep placing yourself on the path of self-discovery. The respect and love you gather up is a natural byproduct you’ve earned along the way.” Cancer

Don’t get me wrong Coach Nash, but I’m not feeling the relevance for today.  But thanks anyway.

“2” Steve Nash, 45: “When loved ones want your assistance, your response is automatic. Today’s situation warrants a contemplative pause. Consider that, sometimes, the very best way to help is by not helping.”  Aquarius

What’s Going On …

Literally Bottled and Set Adrift from KnowWhere Atoll 

    • @KnowLabs suite of 36 digital magazines jumps from 8138 to 8193 organically grown followers

Foresight

Quality-of-Life 

Long-Form

    • “Future Shock” by Alvin Toffler, a classic I feel which still holds up. As the pace of change quickens we experience self-doubt, anxiety and fear.  We become tense and tire easily, until we are overwhelmed, face-to-face with a crisis situation. Without a clear grasp of relevant reality or beginning with clearly defined values and priorities, we feel a deepening sense of confusion and uncertainty. Our intellectual bewilderment leads to disorientation at the level of personal values. Decision stress results from acceleration, novelty and diversity conflicts. Acceleration pressures us to make quick decisions. Novelty increases the difficulty and length of time while diversity intensifies the anxiety with an increase in the number of options and the amount of information needed to process.  The result is a slower reaction time.
    • Daniel Kahneman’s, “Thinking Fast and Slow”describes two different ways the brain forms thoughts: “System 1” which is meant as a fictional shorthand — not as a brain system or structure: Fast, automatic, frequent, emotional, stereotypic, unconscious. “System 2”: Slow, effortful, infrequent, logical, calculating, conscious. I’m learning a lot about my energy levels first described from within an introversion frame now, from within differences between System 1 and the harder working, energy depletion System 2.  Self-control, for instance is hard and takes a lot of energy to accomplish.  When I write the concentration requires effort until I can find the “flow.” Implications for True Belief — it’s easy to stay in System 1 vs. critical thinking — System 2.  Set some marketing and working on the business goals — System 2 and then ignore them by following the lateral thinking and associative thinking  which Leo da V invites me to do — System 1.

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Inspired by: Holiday Mathis – Creators Syndicate

CENTER FOR KNOWLEDGE CREATION AND INNOVATION

The Knowledge Path | Know Laboratories | Knowledge Banking | Knowledge ATMs | Western Skies and Island Currents | Best West Road Trips

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S2 E103 — Confronting Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt, Resistance and Unrelenting Stress

Attempting so much, so fast to meet the more drastic measures in a shorter time frame while in steep decline, created larger than expected stress levels in a climate of fear, uncertainty and doubt.  Large scale, mature organizations, I learned resist change like an immune system does.

“5” Steve Jobs, (1955 – 2011): “When you can’t be knowledgeable (no one can know all things, and if they could, they’d be insufferable) then be versatile. The ability to adapt and respond is more important than the ability to know and stand correct.” Pisces

Hi and welcome to Thursday’s Episode 103 in Season 2 of  “My Pandemic Year Natural Experiment” on this 27th day of August in the summer of 2020.  

“The Tau of Steves: What You Don’t Know Could Fill a Book”

Table of Contents

Season One and Two are a two-year examination of how bits of wisdom changed during the “normal” pre-pandemic and then in this unfolding pandemic year.

Previously in Season Two, the Pandemic Year

S2 E102 — Caught by Surprise in a Major Gut-Wrenching Decline; S2 E101 — The Story of Strange Bedfellows Saving the Day; S2 E100 — Live, Love, Work, Play, Invest and Leave a Legacy

Related from Season One, the Normal Year

S1 E103 — Innies and Outies and Other Potential Catastrophes; S1 E102 — Why Is It Always Hidden in the Fine Print?; S1 E101 — From Saint to Soul Mate and Trusted Friend; S1 E100 — Running out of Determination and Grit by the 100th Day

Context

This is a continuation of “Volume Two Manuscript — WorkFit” a work-in-progress.

In previous episodes we described Start Up, Emerging Growth, Rapid Growth, Sustained Growth, Maturity and Decline stages.  But, each with the emphasis on how a specific stage provides another better fit opportunity for one or more of 16 Talent Profiles.

We described two mini case studies of what it was like working behind the scenes at a mature companies in a financial, in a consumer industries and in another century-old university system — Part One and Two. 

Consequences of Not Mastering Growth Crises

Image Credit: Stephen G. Howard  Copyright 2020

We now shift to a fourth example of a century-old mature organization, a multinational engineering and construction company, but this time caught by surprise which led to a major decline. We continue with Part Two describing restructuring initiatives.

22. Internal Consultant MD&T 

Part Two

Matrix Management

This was a matrix organization of large scale construction projects staffed by engineering disciplines which for performance and salary reviews made management administration difficult and complex.  As oil refinery and energy construction orders disappeared in the “income pipeline” minor initial adjustments  turned more drastic as the industry downturn lasted much longer than expected.  

Then Came The Restructuring 

And, then the industry-wide turn down blew into town.  During the downturn doing things the way they had always been done gave way to cutting back — introduction of new project efficiencies, quality improvements, new technologies, expansion of sales and marketing tools and orientation, and outplacement for hundreds of employees receiving their Friday pink slips.

So Much Change = FUD

Attempting so much, so fast to meet the more drastic measures in a shorter time frame while declining created larger than expected stress levels in a climate of fear, uncertainty and doubt.  Large scale organizations, I learned resist change like an immune system does.  

My Colleagues

A crisis threw me and all my colleagues in our internal consulting unit into high alert.   For us trainers the announcement that the entire Supervisors Certificate program had been cancelled caused a group panic.  

But, as it turned out we huddled with our new leader who filled the 30-day leader vacuum and launched a conspiracy.  

We focused on applying lessons learned in consulting engagements.  We partnered with another internal consultant in our group for coaching and advising reluctant formerly high potential leaders into entrepreneurial or cost-cutting projects that would test their meddle.

Sales Training, Situational Leadership, Quality Improvement, OD team building

before the new boss, Dr. Paul assumed the position.  Luckily, his vision for the department was pretty much a reinvention of what it had been years earlier — internal consultants 

New Technology Introduction

From a trial demonstration and research into technology introductions I helped shape the initial drafts of new plant design and 3-D graphics proposal, 

Key components:

    • Management Strategy and Role, 
    • Employee Involvement, 
    • Formal Education Considerations, 
    • Organizational Design, and 
    • Rewards and Incentives, 

Each section generated a different set of problems and challenges to be worked through.  

If the new technology was to have a positive rather than a costly non-productive impact, those issues needed to be addressed.

Distilled from USC and UCI 102 Thought Leaders one major conclusion was it didn’t matter what the specific technology was, the reception of it by the employees could lead to a sabotaging disaster or a career advancing success.  

Sabotage Followed from Shock and Surprise.  

No advanced warnings.  Just execution.  Career advancing ended with execution, but began with widespread organizational planning.  

Out of that naturally flowed the development of requirements.  Not everyone had to be involved, but they needed to receive communications about progress, especially during the planning about implementation and integration strategies.  

Why, who, what, when, where, and how it would impacted those affected.  If you laid the ground work, then and only then do you entertain bids and select the best fit technology solutions.  

And finally, you execute.

Upskilling Sales and Marketing 

Sheila, a Ph.D and 102 Thought Leaders, like our new leader Paul brought a more academic, yet faster paced urgency to new initiatives. 

I partnered with Sheila and Irv in the complex Sales Training Program 

Sales and marketing presentation case studies of wins and losses replaced boom time deals done over country club handshakes We addressed pressures on sales and marketing when the backlog of new major projects dwindled and new proposals met with demand by the huge clients to interview not just the executives, but the technical staff and project administrators as well.  

If each person in group panels contradicted another person’s expert assessment, that multi-million project would be awarded to a competitor. In one actual deal gone south two engineers argued over the company’s “bottom of the barrel” extraction capabilities in front of the client team charged with choosing among competitors.

It didn’t go well!

First came the classroom training emphasizing presentation skills and sales techniques that most engineers cringed at, being Systematic-Professionals, 116 Institutional Traditionalists and 114 Brand-as-Experts as they participated.  But, during the competing teams challenge they appreciated the additional skills required once a real case study had been analyzed, compared to competitor strengths and weaknesses and a sales theme emphasizing our strengths and their weaknesses against the stated and unstated client requirements.

Then each team member presented a portion of the proposal to a team of judges taped for debrief and prizes. One-on-one individual feedback sessions followed.

Quality Improvement Program

As more managers got the cost-cutting imperative message I began facilitating meetings using agendas from one of our canceled classes, which emphasized collaborative problem solving including inviting cross-department participation, brainstorming potential solutions, assessing the best ones, getting buy-in for implementation and scheduling action steps.

In my partnered quality consultant role, I enjoyed working “in the snake pit” with the maverick process engineering department.  One of the major issues to emerge was activating our “unsatisfactory counseling procedures” to help resolve an older opinionated employee who hated working for a newly assigned rookie supervisor.

I advised the quality improvement steering committee set up in the process engineering department.  Sometimes it boiled down to just “giving permission” for them to be creative in their own coordination of their approach to QIP implementation.  Initially the process engineers were the biggest skeptics of the “make certain” and “do it right the first time” slogans injected from a popular canned program bought in from the outside.

They are the Prima Dona department.  On any project they are the ones who design the processes and technology to be engineered.  Many times it is trial and error in the beginning and is by its nature creative

But, they are isolated.  Having only one department meeting someone remembered happening 20 years ago.  Therefore, they didn’t act as a team or have a core identity.  We began low key with setting up informal get togethers to help boost their morale, define themselves and to one to grips with their unique quality issues and dilemmas.

Eventually, they figured out the benefits accruing to them as they participated, especially when after they took off their “training wheels” the tackled the problems and challenges they all wanted fixed “by someone” else.  And they enjoyed it.

Evidence

“4”  Steve Zahn, 51: “Part of you has been making plans without the other part. Get all sides together for a sit-down talk aimed at naming a few common goals. You’re as powerful as you are unified.”Scorpio

During declining restructuring from a position of leadership, you can be a good corporate citizen, but know your best interests may not be what the executives have in mind.  Therefore, plot out a plan A for surviving, but a plan B for when you don’t.

Random ones that make me want change my sign.

“3”  Steve McQueen (1930 – 1980): “Nice isn’t always good, and not nice isn’t always bad. There are many reasons people have for doing what they do and for being in the mood they are in. Stay aware of the bigger picture.”  Aries 

During conditions of fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) sometimes a more directive leadership style is required due to the urgency.  

“5” Steve Jobs, (1955 – 2011): “When you can’t be knowledgeable (no one can know all things, and if they could, they’d be insufferable) then be versatile. The ability to adapt and respond is more important than the ability to know and stand correct.” Pisces

Engineers often require a fail-safe perspective because what they design can endanger workers in the field, in the plants and in their offices.  A strength taken too far — deployed over and over again no matter the situation — becomes a weakness.  Analysis-paralysis leads to overthinking at a time when action is required.  And resistance turns to indirect sabotage.

What’s Going On …

Literally Bottled and Set Adrift from KnowWhere Atoll 

    • @knowlabs followers of one or more of my 35 digital magazines organically grew from 4733 to 4807.

Foresight

Quality-of-Life

Long-Form

    • Saw the movie, didn’t realize that one of my favorite authors, Michael Connelly — his detective Hieronymus (Harry) Bosch book series and Amazon Prime series — also wrote, “The Lincoln Lawyer” which I just finished. Gotta tell you I can’t not see his lead character (Mickey Haller, Bosch’s half brother) as anyone else but Matthew McConaughey. 

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Inspired by: Holiday Mathis – Creators Syndicate

CENTER FOR KNOWLEDGE CREATION AND INNOVATION

The Knowledge Path | Know Laboratories | Knowledge Banking | Knowledge ATMs | Western Skies and Island Currents | Best West Road Trip

Posted on

S2 E102 — Caught by Surprise in a Major Gut-Wrenching Decline

My head began to swim and I felt sick to my stomach when the caller told me the guy who hired me was just fired by him. Now what am I going to do? His words increased the panic and anxiety in my mind.

“5”  Steve Kerr, 54: “You are unique. To whatever extent you can, set up your environment to flow in a way that supports your particular needs, preferences and thinking style.” Libra

Hi and welcome to Sunday’s Episode 102 in Season 2 of  “My Pandemic Year Natural Experiment” on this 23rd day of August in the summer of 2020.  

“The Tau of Steves: What You Don’t Know Could Fill a Book”

Table of Contents

Season One and Two are a two-year examination of how bits of wisdom changed during the “normal” pre-pandemic and then in this unfolding pandemic year.

Previously in Season Two, the Pandemic Year

S2 E101 — The Story of Strange Bedfellows Saving the Day; S2 E100 — Live, Love, Work, Play, Invest and Leave a Legacy; S2 E99 — Why Pay Over $100,000 When You Don’t Have To?

Related from Season One, the Normal Year

S1 E102 — Why Is It Always Hidden in the Fine Print?; S1 E101 — From Saint to Soul Mate and Trusted Friend; S1 E100 — Running out of Determination and Grit by the 100th Day ; S1 E99 — What’s in a Name? Baby Boy Names?

Context

This is a continuation of “Volume Two Manuscript — WorkFit” a work-in-progress.

In previous episodes we described Start Up, Emerging Growth, Rapid Growth, Sustained Growth, Maturity and Decline stages.  But, each with the emphasis on how a specific stage provides another better fit opportunity for one or more of 16 Talent Profiles.

Consequences of Not Mastering Growth Crises

Image Credit: Stephen G. Howard  Copyright 2020

We described two mini case studies of what it was like working behind the scenes at a mature companies in a financial, in a consumer industries and in another century-old university system — Part One and Two.

We now shift to a fourth example of a century-old mature organization, a multinational engineering and construction company, but this time caught by surprise which led to a major decline and gut-wrenching restructuring.

22. Internal Consultant MD&T 

Part One

What became a multinational engineering and construction firm began in 1890 by three brothers in Oshkosh, Wisconsin as a saw and paper mill. Thirteen years later the  company was renamed Fluor Bros. Construction Co.. It didn’t set up shop in California until 1912 when John split from his brothers, moved to Santa Ana for health reasons and in a classic story began Fluor Corporation out of his garage.

To to be closer to its oil and gas clients, Fluor’s headquarters were moved to Alhambra, in 1940 before moving again to Orange County, California in the 1960s due to concerns about the cost of living and traffic.

New Profession, New Career

I just wanted to trade working with developmentally delayed clients sporting a range of IQs from 10 to 16 to working with very bright employees in an industry with a bright shiny future of high technology.

From the Outside

Can looks be deceiving? A couple of big shiny glass boxes with “turrets” on each corner and another seven or eight stories tall glass tower represented the future to me — working in them would make a year-long career transition well worth it. 

You couldn’t miss them in the corner of partially developed commercial property at the corner of the San Diego Freeway (405) and Michelson Drive.

Getting the position

My ASTD board role was strategic.  Although I worked 75 miles away from Fluor’s new headquarters I created the association’s position referral function.  I reviewed every new training and development position about to be advertised in our newsletter as a service to corporate education and human resources departments.

The president of our volunteer training organization phoned  me with news he  became the Director of the Management Development and Training group at Fluor and needed to hire some professionals.  He asked if I knew anybody who might be interested.

John Brunstetter fell for my transitional skills, knowledgeable pitch and grew to trust me. 

I met with him taking a sick day in the same office where  I had first introduced myself to Mike Blackmore a few years earlier.

Rotations to Higher Positions

Brunstetter had replaced Mike Blackmore, who took on a more senior level position in Human Resources in the Corporate Tower before leaving for another opportunity. 

Managing Change

Looking back now, as a then undiagnosed 113 Idea Packager, I continued to research and develop “my body of knowledge” accumulated in two prior careers, but needed to find a better paying and more challenging new career.  Several times I became disappointed when the reality didn’t match the potential opportunity.

All my research and information interviews pointed me to training and development.  An awful lot of teachers from my generation had already made the transformation out of the classroom full of kids to classrooms full of adults in corporations.

Finally, my luck changed!

First Change

Then the phone rang.  

Some guy named Dutch was on the other end.  I’m pretty sure most if not all of my personal property had been boxed and a little farewell lunch had been scheduled.

My head began to swim and I felt sick to my stomach when the caller told me the guy who hired me was just fired by him.

Now what am I going to do increased the panic and anxiety in my mind.

I had already accepted his offer, gave my two weeks notice and counted down how many days  until I didn’t have to drive 1 hour and 30 minutes down and back each day.

My blood drained out of me as I sunk into a deep depression.

In Shock

His voice sounded like it echoed through some distant tunnel through my phone at work.  Then, I heard him repeat, “Your job is not effected by this.” 

Actually, he must have picked up on the long speechless pause on my end.  He must have said it two or more times to reassure me and confirm he looked forward to meeting me personally on my first day.

Between a rock and hard place

I wasn’t sure.  And, I didn’t know what to expect after the first day.  Fluor like the University of California in Irvine commanded a prestigious reputation in Orange County. And I’d save on gas and wear and tear on our Volvo.  But, who knows what happens after the first few weeks or months?  I desperately wanted to know why he was fired.  And, if that act meant something bad was happening in the not too distant future

Misjudged the Opportunity

Did I misjudge the situation I found myself in at the end of my career transition?  Yes and no.  Tantamount on my mind was a shift from providing services to client populations suffering from brain injury caused low IQs and vocational services to less educated with back and stress issues to employees with advanced education — in this case engineers, mostly civil and structural — generally a mix of 112 Loyal Survivalists, 110 Analytical Specialists, 114 Brand-as-Experts and 116 Institutional Traditionalists.  

But, the shiny glass buildings and corporate tower might have tipped me off if I had known any better.  Was it a high tech company on the inside? 

Imposter Waiting to Be Uncovered

But, Fluor was a big change for me compared to what I had been doing.  It was scary.  I didn’t have the confidence coming into the company since I felt I was impersonating a professional but was really only faking it until I made it.

I had no feel for what was going on.  I just knew we had no leader for 30 days.  But we were a group of internal consultants and classroom trainers.

I absorbed everything I could from the rest of the Management Development & Training staff.

Just a Number

Right off the bat I didn’t like what the HR rep said during the on boarding process about essentially keeping your nose to the grindstone and you’ll do well.

It kind of echoed what Blackmore told me,  “We don’t air our dirty laundry on the clothesline.”

What’s that old saying?  Why are employees like mushrooms?  Employers feed them shit and keep them in the dark.

Internal Consultant 40,000 Employees

For five years I “faked it until I made it” as an internal consultant in the management development and training.

Other than my college and university experience, this was my first taste of working in a large organization — 40,000 employees at its peak with 6,000 in the corporate office.  

Building

The company the old-timers told me everything changed when they had moved from a military-looking, defense contractor set of building from all over Los Angeles into Irvine’s high-tech looking glass-mirroring compound. 

As soon as they did everyone began dressing up into ties and three-piece suits and had to wear photo id badges.  Kinda like when the raw recruits emerged from the barbershop in basic training and couldn’t recognize everyone.

Everything was new.  Every floor looked the same when you exited the elevator, until you noticed subtle color variations in the carpet and wall decorations.

Confidentiality Location

Our office entrance was on the first floor just before everyone took the escalator down a level to the open cafeteria and enclosed, but open aired patio.

Our group’s location may have been intentionally planned so managers and employees could seek confidential meetings for advice in sticky situations without calling too much undue attention.  Like a sign of weakness. Or a signal that someone was waving dirty laundry.

Strong Command and Control Under Glass

They still kept their strong control and command management style while they were able to fit everyone into the glass compound, except one division — the Advanced Technology Division.  Everyone in the high potential poll of future executives, no matter the location, congregated monthly for high level leadership presentations in our building.

One year a helicopter had flown in some well-known, well-healed politicos who made their entrance from the stairwell in the middle of the open aired patio into the normal eating area, except it was late afternoon and this was the supervisors club meeting — and the Secretary of State on this one occasion was addressing us in a barely distinguishable heavy accent as a favor since he had been on retainer to the CEO.  

He pontificated on the world’s global events and by extrapolation which business opportunities Fluor should strategically capitalize on. 

Here’s What I Didn’t Know

In short order big changes were  coming my way after accepting an offer to work for a growing, mature company in the engineering and construction industry with 45,000 employees worldwide and 6,000 in Irvine, mostly in the Southern California Division.

The executive team misread the length of an industry-wide recession which plunged the mature engineering and construction into a prolonged decline. 

In three years Fluor’s backlog went from $16 billion to $4 billion and reported $633 million in losses which triggered years of difficult restructuring.

I felt my new career slip away. Except another consultant and I saw an intrepreneural opportunity to advance what he had been piloting already and to provide services for hundreds and maybe thousands about to get their pink slips. 

Internal Outplacement 

That might have been a coincidence, or an omen, but one of the first major projects we urgently began developing was outplacement.  Luckily, I knew enough from my Univance work to be dangerous and Tom had already been introducing Career Development Planning as a pilot project.  But, the shit was hitting the fan.

It was a hard sell to executives who knew nothing about outplacement.

They wanted to know how many people took advantage?  They were laid off, right?  Wouldn’t they feel like they had the scarlet letter — “L” on their forehead? And wouldn’t people walking the halls notice them with job-finding binders which would negatively effect morale?

Surfaced Their Resistance, Dumbed Down Our Aspirations

So, we convinced top management to allow us to offer a three hour seminar and a binder covering the best overlooked ways to find a new job.  And then follow that up with more in-depth workshops and counseling — all on site.  

That bite sized chunk turned out to be much easier for them to swallow.  And, working everything out comprehensively gave us the advantage of anticipating almost all of the failure points to avoid.

CEO Blunder

The Orange County Register published an interview with Fluor’s CEO who said, primarily for stock market investors, they were getting rid of the deadwood.  

Word got around fast.  Out of 20 or so attendees in the first seminar only one or two didn’t bring a copy of that article with them.  

It felt like the villagers armed with pitch forks storming the Frankenstein laboratory.  I had to throw out the seminar agenda and improvise on the spot.

Our party line was to focus on finding a job now, because the job market wasn’t booming and they’d need every tip, trick and luck they could muster. 

“Then if you still feel the same, sue later.”  I said that last part in a whisper.

After the first 45 minutes of them venting how unfair it was and recommending lawyers who would take their cases, as engineers they pointed out that they didn’t fall asleep at the helm of the ship and didn’t underestimate the duration of the industry downturn.  

All my partner and I could do was to nod, tell them we feel their pain (knowing they would look at us while thinking we were less valuable to the company then they were), and steer them back to “Here’s what you need to know, how to sign up for workshops and one-on-one coaching.”

Which woke me up to life in the fast lane as I processed hundreds through our internally run outplacement programs adding a staff and scheduling one-on-one advisory sessions, while reaching out to human resources recruiters in southern California companies needing talented people.

Evidence

Random ones that make me want change my sign.

“4”  Steve McQueen (1930 – 1980): “Routines are like train tracks; once established, you can chug along to your destination without too much drama. Routines will help you do things that would be very hard otherwise.”  Aries 

And that works both ways, right?  When routines and habits become too entrenched they become so hardened that it’s nearly impossible to choose another track. The insidious thing, is we don’t know what we don’t know.  Good stuff gets screened out as the world flies past our window.

“4”  Steve Carrell, 57; Steve Martin, 74; Steve Wozniak, 69: “If you can’t say a thing succinctly, that only means you’re still trying to work out which part of it is important. The principle holds true in any pursuit. Economy will come with experience.” Leo

Is that why as an introvert  (INTP) I need to let things cool down and spend an ungodly amount of time processing what just happened?

“5”  Steve Kerr, 54: “You are unique. To whatever extent you can, set up your environment to flow in a way that supports your particular needs, preferences and thinking style.” Libra

Hmm.  So you’re saying holed away in my office, away from everyday distractions helps my thinking style?  That would be 113 Idea Packager aka INTP?

“3”  Steve Aoki, 41: “Today, you’ll be doing the typical you thing but on an atypical scale. Working much bigger or much smaller than usual will highlight your talent in such a way as to teach you where your strengths and weaknesses lie.” Sagittarius

Wow, if you say so.  Either this is so profound and I’m so dense, or I’ll have to get back with you at the end of the day.

Holiday Forecast for the Week Ahead:  

An argument can be made that humans, like ants, bees and termites, are eusocial creatures. It follows that, like ants, bees and termites, most individuals do not do well on their own. 

They need the support of the swarm in order to thrive. For this reason, most humans have a visceral reaction to things like noninclusion, shunning and other forms of rejection. 

While rejection may not be physically harmful, it hits at a primal level. For humans, to be ostracized from the group has historically been a fate akin to death and, indeed, would often lead there. 

Without the protection of the tribe, one person in the wild is vulnerable and constantly challenged, so it follows that a fear of rejection is a normal and useful part of socialization. 

Since most people fear and avoid rejection, those who go the opposite way are regarded with admiration. And those who risk rejection often become somewhat immune to the otherwise crippling effects of rejection-fear. More and greater options are open to those who are unafraid to try for them.

What’s Going On …

Literally Bottled and Set Adrift from KnowWhere Atoll 

    • @knowlabs followers of one or more of my 35 digital magazines organically grew from 4733 to 4807.

Foresight

Quality-of-Life

Long-Form

    • Saw the movie, didn’t realize that one of my favorite authors, Michael Connelly — his detective Hieronymus (Harry) Bosch book series and Amazon Prime series — also wrote, “The Lincoln Lawyer” which I just finished. Gotta tell you I can’t not see his lead character (Mickey Haller, Bosch’s half brother) as anyone else but Matthew McConaughey. 

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Inspired by: Holiday Mathis – Creators Syndicate

CENTER FOR KNOWLEDGE CREATION AND INNOVATION

The Knowledge Path | Know Laboratories | Knowledge Banking | Knowledge ATMs | Western Skies and Island Currents | Best West Road Trip

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