A new place for us to hang out!

Happy day!  It has been up and running for a bit now, but I have not really had a chance to show it off yet...

Please go check out my new site!  The video clip I have up on the new site is tad cheesy, but I am working on getting some new video work done.  I just posted my first blog post over there and will start there regularly.  Most of my older posts made the transition, but I will keep this site up for a while...have not decided whether I will do something different here or let the domain expire.  Thanks for your support, please let me know what you think of the new site and if there are things that you would like me to discuss on the blog.

Be good to each other.

enjoy

It is hardly possible to overrate the value of placing human beings in contact with persons dissimilar to themselves, and with modes of thought and action unlike those with which they are familiar.

-John Stuart Mills

The relational structures that we need are those that will enable each man to define himself by learning and by contributing to the learning of others.

-Illich

The true traveler loves something just because it is different.

-Aldous Huxley

Talent is most likely to be found among non-conformists, dissenters and rebels.

-David Ogilvy

If two men on the same job agree all the time, then one is useless.  If they disagree all the time, both are useless.

-Darryl F. Zanuck

Wit consists of seeing the resemblance between things which differ and the difference between things which are alike.

-Madame de Stael

The work of art is a scream of freedom.

-Christo

What we observe is not nature itself, but nature exposed to our method of questioning.

-Werner Heisenberg

On close-minded S.O.B.s (and a realistic humility)

Ack.

Friday morning hypocrisy.

I am having a moment.  I just caught myself being something other than what I claim to be.

You see...I seem to be bumping into a lot of close-minded people lately.  You know the kind.  Ignorant people.  A-holes.  I bump into them in real life, I bump into them on-line and when I turn on the television I am swimming in people that are everything that is wrong with the world.  And after a certain amount of this I just want to start kicking people in the shins.  I thought that rather than kicking people I should just write a post about the close-minded people that are making me insane by ruining everything and then I wrote the title down on a scrap of paper.

And I thought “what an arrogant, judgmental thing to say.”

So here I am having a moment.  Because I claim to be a different kind of fellow.

I have actually come to believe that when I am having a lot of scratchy, challenging interactions with other people it is more an indication of my own mental, emotional, spiritual and social fitness than it is an accurate evaluation of these other people.  I believe that.  I believe that strongly.

But.

The unpleasant truth is this.

I still want to kick people that don’t "get it.”  I watched the “news” coverage last night of the guy in Florida that has been planning the Qur’an burning for Saturday and I have to be honest, the whole thing makes me furious.  I want to attack him; I want to point out all of the ways in which he is wrong, confused, ignorant, hypocritical, etc.  I want to have my own burning on Saturday.

…and that all makes perfect sense to me because he started it.

And this is why the stuff that matters so much is so hard.

This is why inclusion is hard.  This is why honesty is hard.  This is why peace is hard.  This is why collaboration and community and family and democracy and love are all hard things to actually live.  They are really, really, really easy to have as aspirations...and they can be really, really, really hard to actually deliver on. 

There is always some really good reason for us to make an exception.  And if we are not incredibly careful we can find ourselves becoming part of the problem rather than part of the solution.

The world does not need any more problems.

And.

You and I can not afford to waste our gifts, they are simply too precious.  We must be solution people.

There is a book called As Bill Sees It that has been at times an important book for me.  One of my favorite passages in this book is found on page 44.

Too much of my life has been spent in dwelling upon the faults of others.  This is a most subtle and perverse form of self-satisfaction, which permits us to remain comfortably unaware of our defects, too often we are heard to say, “If it weren’t for him (or her), how happy I’d be!”

Our very first problem is to accept our present circumstances as they are, ourselves as we are, and the people about us as they re.  This is to adopt a realistic humility without which no genuine advance can even begin.  Again and again, we shall need to return to that unflattering point f departure.  This is an exercise in acceptance that we can profitably practice every day of our lives.

Provided we strenuously avoid turning these realistic surveys of the facts of life into unrealistic alibis for defeatism, they can be the sure foundation upon which increased emotional health and therefore spiritual progress can be built.

Be good to each other.

Back to the Basics

I just finished an online conversation about diversity and inclusion that was all over the place.  Conversations about diversity and inclusion generally are all over the place, because it is a really big, dynamic, and complex set of issues that we are talking about.  The conversation ended, as it commonly does, by focusing on "what to do" ...and that part tends to be really all over the place. Some people want to focus on metrics, some people want to focus on strategy, some people want formal statements, some people want to focus on the board...etc., etc., etc.

Those things are all, potentially, part of the solution, but they are just a few of the tools that can be used to deliver results. 

But.

If there is not a foundational logic in place, the tools that you use are largely irrelevant.  If you do not know where you are going, I lose interest in how fast you are moving.  Few organizations have a foundational logic in place regarding diversity and inclusion.  Foundational logic needs to at least be able to answer three basic questions in a straight forward way:

what:  What does diversity mean for your organization?  What does inclusion mean for your organization?  Most organizations cannot even answer this.  And I am not talking about having some ridiculous happy paragraph that came from the good people in corporate communications, I am talking about something that means something and that makes sense.  Can I walk up to 10 random employees in your organization; ask them what diversity and inclusion mean, and get a fairly concise, fairly consistent answer?  If not, then you have not answered the “what” question in a way that matters.  If you cannot answer this question, I do not know how you can expect to be successful.

why:  Based on your definitions of diversity and inclusion, why do they matter to your organization?  Why are diversity and inclusion potentially valuable to you?  Again, this has to be something that actually means something and that makes sense...get rid of all the happy talk and the generalities.  If you say that they are valuable because diversity drives innovation, can you explain how and why it does so? Can you point to examples or research that supports this?  Most people and most organizations do not do anything serious regarding diversity and inclusion because they do not understand the value...they simply see it as a "nice" or "good" thing to do / say.

how:  Based on your definitions of diversity and inclusion and some specifics as to why they matter to your organization, how are you proposing to deliver that value?  If you have done a good job on the “what” and the “why,” this question is much simpler to answer...the problem is that most leaders and most organizations answer this question without ever considering the first two.

The answers to these three questions should build on each other and also be logically connected.  They should also make sense to all stakeholders.  Without this foundation in place, you can just as well put on a blind fold and throw darts at a dartboard to select your tools.

Put in the work and build a foundational logic for your efforts and you will already be leaps and bounds ahead of most organizations. You will also be pleasantly surprised by more distributed ownership and action related to diversity and inclusion efforts because what you are trying to accomplish (and why) actually makes sense to people.

Be good to each other.

Three years and counting...

Yesterday our youngest daughter turned 3.  We had a party for her on Sunday with friends and family and of course Buzz Lightyear.  I started my speaking and consulting business when she was about two weeks old and in those early and uncertain months she was my co-pilot.  As I sat at the computer trying to figure out how to make this all work, she snoozed next to me in her bouncy seat or on my lap.  Everytime her birthday rolls around I tend to reflect on both how she has changed my life and also on my business and why I do what I do.

During my daughters afternoon nap yesterday and with her baby brother snoozing on my lap, I scribbled down a couple of the reasons why I feel called to this work:

I know that we can do better.  I think that in our organizations and communities we can make better decisions, better capitalize on the resources available (especially the human and intangible resrouces), solve more problems, function more efficiently, achieve better outcomes for more stakeholders, and change the nature of our relationships.

I think that our lack of real understanding regarding diversity, inclusion, culture and leadership are a big part of what stands in the way of "doing better."  I know relatively few leaders who do not hold onto an atiquated understanding of what these things are and why they matter.  We are using 20th century tools on a 21st century terrain.

I have a sense of urgency about this work.  I thing that one of the defining problems of our time is a very real tendency to prioritize perception over reality, short-term over long-term and symptom over pathology.  I think that there is a limit to how long we can do this.

I could probably go on ad nauseum about why I have the connection that I do to this work, but I think that the more important question is this...

How do I help you / your organization / your community to do the same?

Be good to each other.

Story, Omaha, and how we create community...

Please join us for an interactive exploration of personal truth, community, and the power of story.

Saturday, September 11^th 2010

UNO – CPACS building, Creative Commons

1:00pm – 4:30pm

registration is required – group size limited

part story-telling

part listening

part creating the future

Each of us has a story to tell and each of our stories has value.  the plus one project: a creative approach to building community between now and 9.11.11, is an interactive workshop focused on this idea.  Taking place nine years after the galvanizing events of September 11^th, 2001, its central theme is the addition of each of our voices, stories and actions to the process of creating a community that works for all.

As we approach the ten year anniversary of what we refer to simply as “911”, we have a powerful opportunity to use this global context to re-consider the idea of community on a very local, very personal level.

Where were you then? Where are you now? What has changed? What does this mean for the future?  What does community mean to you? How do we create community?

By answering questions like these with our own stories, we will explore the concept of community, and think together about how we might more deliberately and actively architect  community between now and 9.11.11.

Register today!

Diversity and your SHRM Chapter, Part 2

This is going to seem like it is self-serving.  I tried to convince myself not to write it because I knew that it would appear that way, but the topic will not leave me alone.  I have been travelling the interwebs and have come across more HR events dismissive of issues of diversity and inclusion. I am now disgruntled.

We are our own worst enemy.  When I say "we" I am referring to those of us that are a part of the Human Resources profession.  We are the problem.  We say nice things about diversity and inclusion, much nicer than most professions. We even have the right kind of expectations to place on other folks…we always know exactly what that line manager or CFO needs to do to be more inclusive.  And we do nothing about diversity and inclusion…beyond the posters and beyond Taco Tuesday type stuff we do nothing.

Probably about half of the events that I speak at are HR specific and the vast majority of those are SHRM related.  I think that on a national level SHRM is doing some good stuff and moving in the right direction, but I am starting to get really itchy about SHRM state conference agendas.

This is what I see…

I go to the web site for a SHRM state council or local chapter and see “diversity” right away…it is prominently featured with its own tab on the home page and when I click on it I get taken to a page that lists some resources (of moderate value)…and probably some language about the work that SHRM is doing on a national level.  Hmmm. That always feels like talk and no walk.  There are exceptions to this, but as someone who has looked at a lot of SHRM chapters this is very normal.  Are there not local resources?  Are there not local events?  Are there not local organizations or practitioners that should be recognized?  Is your chapter not doing anything of its own?

And then I look at their annual conference agenda…

(This is where the self-serving part comes in as I am a speaker myself)  Regarding diversity (which they sprinkle throughout their language on their website and in all of their marketing materials as if it is one of their top 4 or 5 priorities), I see no real space on the agenda.  Most or all of what they do consider to be diversity related topics are about compliance, litigation and how to avoid getting sued.  Before we ask one more person outside of HR to take a more proactive philosophy towards diversity and inclusion we have to do so ourselves.  And we have not even touched on diversity of the speakers themselves yet.

Enough.  We are setting a poor example.  We are not practicing what we preach.  We are absentee landlords.

You think HR is slow to adopt social media?  Breaking news, we still have not really adopted diversity and inclusion and we have been talking about that stuff for decades.  I truly believe that as a profession we do not truly understand diversity and inclusion and we do not truly understand why they matter to the organizations and clients we serve.  We are the problem.

Here is the deal.  Right here in the middle of 2010, diversity and inclusion are maybe the most misunderstood issues in the world of business…at the same time that they are becoming increasingly critical to business success.  We in HR are the solution.  We are the ones that can help turn this around, but we must bring our own game up to speed. 

If you are going to talk a mean game about diversity and inclusion then play a mean game. If you are not going to play the game then get that garbage off of your site and your newsletters…as you are setting a poor example.    If you are putting on a conference make sure that there are a variety of perspectives and a variety of issues related to diversity and inclusion on the agenda.  It's not hard to find.  If you need help, let me know….I will send you a list.  I will even make sure my name is not on it, so it's not self-serving.

Be good to each other.

Diversity, Incluson and your local SHRM Chapter, Part 1



Equifinality

Todays word of the day...equifinality.

We should probably find an easier way to say what this word means, but it is an important idea.

I find myself talking more and more about cognitive diversity (differences in thinking styles) all the time and have started writing about it a bit as well.  I think it is important for people to understand what cognitive diversity is, why it can be valuable and what kinds of things can get in the way of us realizing that value.

An important part of this conversation is the concept of equifinality, which is basically the idea that in an open system there are multiple ways to get the outcome that you want to get.  This is an important part of the cognitive diversity conversation because the less you are open to considering and experimenting with other ideas and approaches, the less you are able to take advantage of the cognitive diversity that you have in your department or on your team.

Some people believe that there is one right way to get to the desired outcome...some people believe there are a variety of ways to get the same outcome. 

Where do you fall on that continuum?  Based on what we are learning about cognitive diversity it might be in your best interest to "crank up the equifnality" a little bit!

Be good to each other.



calling in favors...

Okay.  Apparently this is going to be an annual thing.  It is once again time for me ask for your support as I try to get on the SXSW agenda.  I had a lot of really good comments and support last year, but did not make the cut.  They get a lot of submissions...2346 of them.  But, I want to make the cut this year and I have a good message..."No. Great minds do not think alike." (cognitive diversity as an innovation driver)  Now I need your help. Community support / voting is a pretty big part of the equation in determining which presentations get selected.  So, do me a solid.  Visit my submission and give me some love.  Pretty please. I will be appreciative.  My children will be appreciative...and I know you can't say no to children.

Be good to each other...and thank you.

Some new stuff...

Just a quick post to share a bit of information...

I did an interview with Stephanie Thomas Ph. D. (The Proactive Employer) and the audio file is available online here.

Also have been invited to join a couple of additional conference agenda, will be at the Iowa Mosaic Diversity Conference on October 18th and at The Great Ideas Conference next March...very excited about both, see you there?

Be good to each other.