<< ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED NOVEMBER 10, 2016 and PAINFUL REMINDER >>

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“There is an ancient Greek legend about harpies,” she told me. “They are shadows that can come to life only if they drink human blood.

The life of a scholar is the life of a shadow. When one participates in making the future happen, even a small part of the future—and this is what politics is about—that is when one who was a shadow can come to life.

But for that, one has to drink blood, including one’s own.”

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“I am not one and simple, but complex and many”

Virginia Woolf

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Ok. I am tired of talking about the presidential election. Shit. I was tired of the election itself before it ended. But I have been asked so many times about the result I am going to roll out one last final enlightened conflict thought on the election because yesterday I was mostly discussing the global repercussions, security/financial/nationalism, of the election choice.

I will begin with 62,984,828 popular votes. That is how many Trump received <give or take>.

That is 19.5% of the total US population <321,418,820>.

That is 25% of the total adult US population <247,813,910>.

That is about 31% of the total registered voter US population <a little over 200 million I believe>.

<just a note: about 72,000,000 votes, 29% of the adult population, actually did not vote for Trump>

Yeah. A minority just chose the most powerful position in the world. A minority just put possibly the most incompetent unqualified person to the most powerful position in the world.

But, most importantly, a majority did nothing to stop this from happening.

This is not an ‘anti-establishment movement.’

This is not a ‘reestablishment of conservative values.’

Nor is this a rejection of current policies.

This is nothing more than a large indifference to involvement with a sliver minority voice being pissed enough to push one candidate over the finish line.

Ah. That ‘sliver voice.’

Trump won Pennsylvania <+68,236>, Michigan <+11,837> and Wisconsin <+27,257> by 107,330 votes. Ironically … that is almost the same as the capacity seating for Michigan Stadium the home of the Michigan Wolverines.

Florida and North Carolina by less than 200,000 each.

With voter turnout so low <historically low in America compared to other democracies> the actual ‘difference’ is relatively easy to identify.

Trump’s campaign fully admitted that they had “major voter suppression operations” all with the overall intent to create and encourage a sense of disillusionment <whether it is truly fact or fiction> thereby encouraging an overall lack of enthusiasm to show up at all. Their campaign created one of the most negative ‘hollow of policy’ public discussions of all time.

And.

Well.

It worked.

Despite the fact that 87% of Congress was up for reelection and there were a number of state by state initiatives which will have a direct effect on the people living there and the fact the least qualified candidate of all time was in position to take the most powerful position in the free world … only one significant voting block segment really showed up <Latinos showed up, but represented too small a segment to overcome a significantly larger white voting block>.

White rural Americans.

Life, just as in this election, is filled with winners and losers. And no one likes to lose. And, to me, that is what this election revolved around. Rural America and working white people feeling like losers or they are losing … even when we all know they are not losers and many of them really are not losing <even though we most likely do not publicly verbalize that enough>.

Ah. But this all feeds into a perilous topic … white people and their identity.

Far too often when this topic comes up it is cloaked in white supremacy or simple racism … in this case it is not. In fact many people have researched some of the isolation populist thinking working its way through the Western world and consistently identify ‘a crisis of white identity’ as a common thread.

In this case it is more revolving around what does it mean to be part of this country, what is my role and what is ‘our nation anymore’ as well as “what should this nation be”.

As for identity … experts typically define it in two categories –

• “achieved” identity derived from personal effort
• “ascribed” identity based on innate characteristics.

Jessica Nagy

I bring that up to make the point that this election was not an indicator, for the most part, of any real pain, but rather of perceived pain and identity.

Please do not read that as any indication I am diminishing areas that have lost jobs and lost opportunities. I am simply making the point that, in general, lives are lived in relative comfort, people have jobs <even if they may not be the ones they really want>, the economy is growing and culturally we are as open as any country in the world. I am simply pointing out that many white people feel like it should be better than it is <even though what is ain’t that bad>. Therefore, if they feel like their role in the nation’s achievements is diminishing <perception wise>, they believe that it would be better if they had a larger voice.

I have purposefully worded it this way, as I did yesterday to a consulting firm, because this is not racism — this is ‘doing and fixing’ at its core. It is achieving and ascribing.

White rural people, hard working Americans, believe they offer the solutions to achieve as well as they ascribe themselves to the solutions. And you know what? The other 25% of non whites who voted for Trump most likely also would throw their achieving & ascribing hats into the same ring.

We cannot get around the fact that older white people were the reason Trump will be our next president.

We cannot ignore the truth that a portion of that older white people segment are racist and xenophobes.

But we cannot ignore the larger truth that this segment believes their white identity, as achievers & ascribers, actually reflects a larger identity of what makes America great.

And, on that? They are correct.

Anyway.

Hillary did not lose the other night.

Working class America did not win the other night.

White identity did not win the other night.

America lost the other night.

I am not suggesting having Hillary Clinton as our president would have been a resounding win for America all I am suggesting is that Trump, an asshat incompetent narcissist who I am hoping with my deepest hopes will actually rise to the occasion, is a resounding loss for America. And our citizenry lack of involvement and how we have elected to voice any displeasure we may have with the status quo was a losing tactic.

Lastly. I do have a piece of advice to the politicians who are now forced to work with Trump <and, on a side note, this drew some chuckles as I stated this yesterday>.

Trump is not a Republican nor is he a Democrat, nor is he a thinker, he is a tactical doer <with an eye toward how those tactics “look”>.

That means <part 1> … you would be foolish to believe that there is now a “dictate for Republican ideology as spoken by the people” and start believing you have a president who will ‘do shit’ <and, as note earlier, only 24% of adults ‘mandated’ that>. You may get some of the stuff done you want, but only if it meets the Trump “doer” filter.

That means <part 2> … well … those of us in the business management world are quite familiar with the incompetent ego driven leader focused on doing shit. They aren’t smart enough or skilled enough to recognize the true ‘good doing’ versus the ‘not-so-good’ doing. Their natural instinct is to just do. You would be foolish to try and block the doing. It is wasted energy <and I have the scars to prove it>. You have to learn to maximize the good and minimize the bad.

All that said. With an incompetent ego-driven leader in charge America will have some wins and some losses as he forges ahead with doing shit. It would be foolish of us to assume we are destined for the shithole. We will be forced to do shit and manage the shit he starts making us do. Frankly … the success of America resides less on Trump than it does on the people surrounding him. I have worked with shithole leaders before who surrounded themselves with good people who herded the leader’s doing stupidity into meaningful pastures of profitable use of time, energy and resources.

As I told someone yesterday, there will be costs <protectionism comes with an expense> and there will be profits <doing inevitably creates something>. There will be winners and there will be losers <both of which are yet to be identified>.

Sigh.

I am done with writing about Trump until he does his next anti-American buffoonish maneuver.

What I do know, for sure, being a business guy, what this election has done is permit me to see the problem to be solved. That is what a business leader dreams of.

The worst problem is the one you cannot see.

We can now see this one – identity (real or ascribed). Trump is not the leader to solve it … yea … he may make some decisions that will help business (most likely at the expense of morals), but he has no clue on how to solve the dividing thoughts of America and Americans. His role in this tragic comedy was to give voice to it.

It is now up to others to see it and solve it.

I end as I opened … when one participates in making the future happen, even a small part of the future that is when one who was a shadow can come to life. But for that, one has to drink blood, including one’s own.”

Participate in the future.

Remember.

That I was yesterday, this I am today and what I will be tomorrow is up to me.

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“They made you into a weapon and told you to find peace”

unfinished poems

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“Because you believed I was capable of behaving decently, I did.”

Paulo Coelho

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“America is the country of the Future. It is a country of beginnings, or projects, of vast designs an expectations.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson 1844

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So, without intending to, this has become a partner piece to something I wrote back in November 2016 “In this time, at this place, I will be defined.” At that point I felt like we had reached a defining moment. By that I mean a moment in time where people will be demanded to choose what they stand for and make a stand.

I still believe that even in 2020. In fact, I believe we, the people, are still feeling our way through that process in fits & starts even as if it feels like the world around us, the world we knew, is burning.

Part of that process has been driven by Trump and his unflinching grip on lack of decency, divisive rhetoric and leadership style. It has only encouraged fragments to remain fragments, niche opinions to become stronger niche like thinking and, yet, as this dividing increases the majority of people will feel a slightly desperate sense of yearning for a greater need of “one out of many.” This arises out of a natural desire for community and a grander view of “we” rather than just “I” as well as most people will feel an inherent need to regain some solid, well directed <not just hopeful> trust in something & in someone who offers a glimpse of the future and not just victimization within the present.

I will not argue today that this greater need is pervasive yet because I believe many are still in denial — denying some basic things we see with our own eyes because they desire to focus on past driven resentments rather than future driven opportunities. To be fair. Many of these people have gotten used to a system that hasn’t done shit for them, could care less about what they are interested in and think the character of the ‘establishment’ is no better, or worse, than some tweetstorming asshat in the oval office.

What I will argue today is that while Trump has done nothing to create some sense of unity we, as a country, need someone who will because at some point someone has to clearly define the future of the country. Basically, we need someone to rise like a phoenix from the burning ashes of a fragmented country to breathe a new  view of the future into our lives.

This seems like a massive challenge when, in truth, the battle resides in nuance and effective communication.

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“Nothing. Nothing. We’re used to living in poverty, we’re used to it. It ain’t never going to change. How many times we got to tell you that? But you don’t listen.”

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Almost everyone wants change but almost everyone, regardless of their position, thinks it will never change.

And, therein lies the rub. Trust in the institution. Believing in the institution. For we, the people, believe we (as individuals) can do anything and, yet, we do not believe the government or the grander institution is capable of leading the change.

I say this because if the people are enormously skeptical, even cynical, of anything government promises & actually does it is significantly more difficult for the government to work properly if it doesn’t have the people on its side.

This cynicism comes to life in something I wrote in 2013

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America is better when ideas are held up for debate, but it is worse when some let their blind partisanship drag the country down in an “I may lose, but by God they won’t win” death spiral.

The world will improve not because of more government or less government … in fact the government & taxes & stimulus is irrelevant … it will be because people’s attitudes will change.

They will just believe it should be better and will set out to make it better … regardless of the system they are asked to operate within.

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No matter what we may say about personal responsibility, Leaders do matter.

They not only breathe oxygen into hope when we feel suffocated but they also have an ability to remind everyone that things are attainable – they can get us to believe when skepticism suggests we shouldn’t believe. A good leader can make people’s attitudes change.

It’s kind of like offering attainable hope. But even this kind of pragmatic hope needs some help. It has to be visionary and big & expansive and yet needs some grounding in ‘believing’. And, yes, I believe one person, a leader/president/prime minister/whatever, can do this.

It is not about telling us we are great or convincing us we are great, but rather that greatness resides WITHIN us.

Ponder this quote:

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“The true greatness of a nation is not measured by the vastness of its territory, or by the multitude of its people, or by the profusion of its exports and imports; but by the extent to which it has contributed to the life and thought and progress of the world. A man’s greatness is not estimated by the size of his body or of his purse; not by his family connections or social position, however high these may be. He may bulk large in public estimation today, but tomorrow he will be forgotten like a dream, and his very servants may secure a higher position and a name lasting possibly a little longer.

A man’s greatness is estimated by his influence, not over the votes and empty cheers of a changing and passing crowd, but by his abiding, inspiring influence in their bidden thoughts, upon their ways of thinking, and consequently of acting. That is why the Wycliffes, Shakespeares, Miltons, Newtons, Wesleys, and Gladstones of English history live, and will live, in everlasting memory, while lesser men are remembered only through them, and the crowd of demagogues, pretenders, and self-seekers are named, if ever named, only to “point a moral, or adorn a tale.”

So with nations.

A great nation is not one which, like Russia, has an enormous territory ; or, like China, has an enormous population. It is the nation which gives mankind new modes of thought, new ideals of life, new hopes, new aspirations; which lifts the world out of the rut, and sets it going on a cleaner and brighter road.”

E. Blaze, November 26, 1926

Sri Lankan educationist founder of Kingswood College

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“New modes of thought, new ideals of life, new hopes, new aspirations; which lifts the world out of the rut, and sets it going on a cleaner and brighter road” is greatness and all of that resides within us, as a collective group acting coherently, and we seek a ‘phoenix’ to show it to us.

Now. I am not suggesting we need a “change agent” as some leader because I believe everyone wants change. What I am suggesting is we need a “believe agent” because people need to believe – that change can occur, that hope does exist and a better future is within our grasp.

This person needs to capture the space in between practical and emotional:

the “hard sell”: The idea that what people want – what they need, and more importantly, what will drive them to act – is the facts, stated with clarity and without cleverness. Give people facts and they will give you their actions.

the “emotional sell”: That which makes the requested actions memorable beyond the merely mechanical. People are simultaneously logical & illogical, predictable & unpredictable, and 100% aspirational. Tell people to land on the moon and they will figure it out. Tell people some greatness is possible and they will do great things.

Believe agents cannot choose one path or another they must gather it all up and show it to us. I do believe this leader, or a group of these leaders to choose from, exist. We may not recognize them as true leaders now, but I envision our next generation of great leaders will arise from all of this turmoil. I have called this new leadership group “the sifters”. They will have the ability to sift through the loud voices, the silent voices and their peer’s voices, decide what is right, decide what is right for everyone’s future, and do it <whether it is ‘popular’ or not>. Basically, we need a ‘phoenix’ who will explain common sense, even if it is some unpopular common sense, tell people the truth, and make people believe the future we want is attainable. They will take a stand and ask us to stand ourselves.

I am suggesting a ‘believe agent’ builds attainable Hope leading with common sense tethered to Hope guiding us toward the horizon of hope and prosperity.

Am I asking too much of just one person? Maybe. Possibly. But is it fair to ask for someone to galvanize all the fragments into a whole? Yes. One person is a blacksmith and one person can forge a nation into one. That I believe.

This does not absolve us of personal responsibility, but sometimes someone needs to light the light in the ‘lighthouse’ optimism to guide us toward who and what we want to be as a group of people <a nation as it were>.

That said. Hope comes in all shapes and sizes and we need leaders who recognize the shape of Hope has changed. In particular there is a practicality that Hope needs today that it didn’t need in the past. Defining moments usually require defining people in order to bridge the moment. Where will we find this phoenix? Am I asking too much of one person? Is it too late? Yes. I offer scary questions but with all that I will offer an answer. Defining moments create defining people. A phoenix will arise because the moment itself will define them. But. Where will we find the phoenix?

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“Finite speech ends with a silence of closure. Infinite speech begins with a disclosure of silence.”

James Carse

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“For some moments in life, there are no words.”

Willy Wonka

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No words. Sometimes silence is not a personal choice, it is decided for you by the moment.

Ponder that a minute.

Moments have demands and some of them demand silence. They show up and, well, there are no words for them.

Now. I love finding the right words at the right time. It is a really special feeling, almost delight, to say something and you know a light bulb went on or the listener smiles or you can possibly bring a tear of happiness alive.  Those are special moments. But. I think I would trade them all for the moments where words fail me. Not the moments I couldn’t think of the right thing to say, but rather the moments that render you speechless.

I will note that a moment that renders you speechless, there are no words, and, yet, there is always something that could fill in the gap.

Listen.

Look.

Hug.

Smile.

Cry.

No words and yet they speak.

Anyway. We seem to talk a lot these days. A lot. And while there are gobs of articles and research discussing how all of these words distort our attention, make us numb to what matters and cognitively bludgeon us, I think it would be healthy for all of us to sit back and think about when we were speechless. When in a moment we had no words. Or maybe we saw someone caught with no words because of a moment. Why? Because I am damn sure 99% of those moments would remind us that we can pay attention to things that matter, we are not numb to things that matter and we can engage cognitively on important things.

Yeah.

Sometimes the moments for which there are no words are the important ones. I would argue that reality actually does offer us a lot of important moments like these but, inherent in their importance, they are a sliver of moments not an overwhelming majority. Which, I imagine, both makes them even more powerful and even more easy to forget about or overlook.

Beyond simply seeing these moments for their value I would also suggest that it is actually the silence itself which is the reminder ‘no words moments’ have value.

As a business person, I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that silence given, or received, is a powerful communication tool.

“The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing at the right time, but also to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.”

We really need to remind ourselves of that because, as I noted in the earlier, we talk a lot – online and in person. The funny thing is I believe all of us know, especially when we are younger, that there is a time to ‘not talk.’

Then. School makes “filling space with words” a competitive arena and starts making us believe it is a way of life. And in the business world this competition for words and ‘speaking your ideas to get credit’ goes to an entirely new level … it’s on steroids. And, of course, the internet, the social world, is a mind numbing battle of words (not ideas).

That said. It takes courage to not speak, yet, silence is power.

“Silence is so accurate. “

Mark Rothko

Regardless of business, or Life, to me silence defines accuracy and accuracy is power.  When, well, sometimes there are no words, within the space of silence lies get opened up and bleed to death and truth is able to step to the forefront. Truth is power.

In fact, in the silent space it permits a listener to think.

In fact, in the silent space silence it permits the speaker to think.

Thoughts fill the space in which there no words.

In fact, in the silent space the moments which have no words are permitted to be valued.

All that said.

For some moments there are no words. Those moment are important, so important, words would devalue them. So maybe, just maybe, we should enjoy the silence, value the silence, see the moment bare of words, rather than try and find some words.

Just ponder.

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“And so shines a good deed in a weary world…”

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Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory

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“We live in a world where finding fault in others seems to be the favorite blood sport. It has long been the basis of political campaign strategy. It is the theme of much television programming across the world. It sells newspapers. Whenever we meet anyone, our first, almost unconscious reaction may be to look for imperfections.”

—

Henry B. Eyring

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We, as a society, are brutally negative.

We find fault and find any number of ways to find proof that bad things happen, people do bad things and people seem to only rise to the occasion in bad times and bad moments.   In fact, it almost seems like we go looking for the imperfections and the bad every time we have an opportunity.

But whether we recognize it or not, good deeds happen all the time, even in a weary world, if we were to only shine a little light upon them.

That said. Let me share some numbers to make my point.

2997.

34599.

2861.

11,209.

88,001,

What do they all have in common? They are one more than what actually happened.

One more death on 9/11.

One more suicide annually.

One more death in a fire in a year.

One more homicide annually.

One more alcohol related death in a year.

What I am suggesting, in a weary world, maybe we should think a moment about what did not happen — the additional “1” that never occurred and why.

The September 11 attacks killed 2,996 people and injured more than 6,000 others. Because of someone’s good deed that day, and maybe even many little deeds never recognized most likely, there were not 2,997.

Each year, about 47,173 people die by suicide, an average of 129 completed suicides every day. Every year, 864,950 people attempt suicide, which means 1 person attempts suicide every 38 seconds <Emory Hospital>. There is 1 suicide for every 20 attempted suicides. Males make up 79% of all suicides, while women are more prone to having suicidal thoughts. Because of one moment, one person, one deed, there was not 47,174.

In 2019 there were about 481,500 structure fires causing 2,980 civilian deaths. Because of a good deed, most likely on the part of some firefighter, there were not 2,981. (NFPA’s 2019 Survey of Fire Departments for US Fire Experience)

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there were 16,425 homicides. Because of a good deed, most likely on the part of some police officer, there was not 11,209. (Statista)

88,000 deaths (approximately 62,000 men and 26,000 women) are annually attributed to excessive alcohol use. Because of a good decision to talk instead of drink, one good deed, there was not an 88,001th alcohol related death.

In each case someone somewhere chose to do something which made a difference. Someone somewhere decided to accept the responsibility to do a deed.

Which brings me to responsibility or ‘personal responsibility” because that is what ‘so shines a good deed in a weary world’ is truly about.

I will note that no marketer/company uses the phrase in communications. No politician uses this phrase. It is typically the kiss of death because people just do not want to hear it.

The truth is that nowadays, more often than not, personal responsibility gets transferred to someone else with some other title which implies they have the responsibility <a firefighter, a police officer, a politician, a government employee, a social worker, a doctor, etc.>. Well. Here is the truth. Personal responsibility cannot be transferred — even to someone significantly more qualified than you.

Uh oh.

But others are more capable then we are!

 

Aren’t others being paid to do these things?

Yeah.

We pay taxes. And it is painful to do so, but we ease that pain by assuming someone assumes the responsibilities we do not want. And we even pay people to do many of the deeds I am discussing.

But the deeds I have outlined today are the responsibility of all of us. Not just some fewer qualified more capable people.

The “1 that doesn’t happen” I pointed out is an ongoing “we” thing.

The “1 that doesn’t happen” represents that despite a weary world someone, somewhere, does a good deed.

We assume the personal responsibility not in terms of self-interest, but rather because most good deeds are just deeds that should be done. The deeds come in all shapes and sizes including deeds that maybe simply put a smile on someone’s face and sometimes even just a smile saves a life.

Deeds that maybe simply are a moment in which someone stops because common sense suggests they should turn something off or put something in its place … and in doing so saves a life.

Deeds are enablers. Enablers for … well … stopping bad in its place and says ‘no more for now and in this moment.’

These are deeds all of us can do.

These deeds are not just for those paid to do them or others we deem more capable to do them. We are enablers of good deeds. All of us. Shit. All of us are certainly capable of a good deed.

We just need to assume some personal responsibility for good deeds.

Is there a reward? Sure. It is that whole “shine in a weary world” thing.

And we do it not because it is our job nor do we do it out of any real conscious effort. We do it, well ,maybe because of something like this:

“He simply couldn’t bear the idea of one less smile in the world.”

<gene wilder’s nephew on why Wilder told no one about his illness>

One less than what could have been. One less death and one less loss.

That is the reward for a good deed in a weary world.

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“Security is mostly a superstition.

It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it.  Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure.

Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing. “

—

Helen Keller

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“Maybe you don’t go to hell for the things you do. Maybe you go to hell for the things you don’t do. The things you don’t finish. “

—

Chuck Palahniuk

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Playing it safe.

Those three words send a shiver down my spine.

Safe is an illusion.

Okay.

Maybe, maybe at best, safe is temporary.

I am certainly not suggesting throwing all caution to the wind 100% of the time. All I am suggesting is that far too often people misconstrue safe as, well, safe.

In Life safe can take on a variety of dangerously risky forms. Simplistically the risky forms are all grounded in “hiding” from something.

Hiding from change.

Hiding from danger.

Hiding from someone.

Hiding from fears.

Hiding from problems.

You have convinced yourself you are safe because you have found some safe haven where in your mind you are protected by some moat, wall or, well, you have convinced yourself you are invisible to whatever you are hiding from.

Yeah.

Well.

Maybe for a little while.

And that little while almost always creates some form of complacency. This is where safe becomes dangerous. All the while whatever you are hiding from is persistently pursuing you. and it will find you not by outsmarting you, but rather through its perseverance.

In Life safe is maybe not an illusion, but it is certainly time constrained.

As for business?

I have probably written far too often about how the business world is being undermined by its discomfort with risk, even calculated risk, and its embrace of ‘safe.’ Simplistically it seems like the business world has shoved the entire responsibility and burden of risk into the entrepreneurial and start up world.

“Let them take the risks.”

Conversely this seems to have absolved all existing businesses, small, medium & large, from taking any risk. Therefore, the business ends up living in a constant state of playing it safe, not rocking the boat or convincing themselves that the minor changes they are considering are bigger than they really are.

“Safe” in business insures only one thing … death.

It is inevitable if all you do is play it safe.

Nothing, and I mean nothing, in business is secure or safe. Nothing.

No idea.

No patent.

No ‘uniqueness.’

No point of difference.

None of those things guarantee safety if all you do is play it safe.

Does this mean a business should run scared or even driven by paranoia?

Shit no.

You either embrace the fact you are never safe and simply act as if safe & security are but momentary aspects of a business and behave accordingly, or, you permit paranoia to drive you to some absurd extremes in trying to protect your security <knowing that inevitably it will no longer be safe>.

With the former you simply believe as long as you keep moving you are ‘safer’ <not safe> and standing still makes you more vulnerable <or less safe>. This concept is basically “if I am moving I am harder to hit.” I would be remiss if I didn’t point out here that movement is not always progress and not all moving is good, but, that said, 100% movement is always better than 100% hunkering down. Period.

Anyway.

Go on pinterest, Instagram or any image driven website and you will see zillions upon zillions of quotes, sayings and words espousing life as an adventure and living Life to its fullest.

Great advice.

But advice the majority of people and businesses fail to follow.

Frankly, most people do not want their Life to be an adventure.

Frankly, I cannot think of one business which would like to think of itself as ‘an adventure.’

And, yet, by not doing so, by seeking security and safe, it is actually more dangerous than doing it all as if it were an adventure.

If you believe safe & secure is inevitably just an illusion than I imagine I am simply pointing out you need to pick your poison. Either path, adventure or playing it safe, runs the risk & danger of death. And if that is so then you have a choice to proactively face it or hide from it as long as you can.

That is your choice.

As for me? My choice is adventure and movement. I am not suggesting it is an easier path, in Life or business, but I like the fact I have some illusion of control & controlling at least some aspect of destiny rather than living with the illusion of safety & security.

Choose your illusion and do so wisely. For the end is the same. But choose nonetheless.

“The best is the enemy of good.”

—-

Voltaire

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“My body is a parlor trick called survival.”

—

Jayy Dodd

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This is about comfort zones and being your best.

I think we discuss comfort zones, incorrectly, in 2 ways:

• It’s not stepping out, its pushing out
• It’s not fear of new, its fear of losing

Pushing out.

“Step out of your comfort zone” is the common wisdom. It’s not wise. It’s stupid. Comfort zones, for the most part, are a reflection of what we are good at. Maybe not great but the stuff that enables us to insure we aren’t village idiots. The size of your comfort zone is mostly a reflection of your risk taking attitude. That said. If you ‘step out’, you’ve (a) lost any possible advantage you may have to actually be successful outside and (b) even if successful and happy it is, well, outside your comfort zone and 90% of people are most successful day in and day out IN their comfort zone.

We should seek to ‘push out’ our comfort zone. It’s kind of like boundaries of learning and how that works except this is about what you are comfortable with not how you learn something new. Just accept that trying new things isn’t well rounded or neat & tidy, its uneven attempts in which you selectively attach yourself to something and try it. You push out in one area of your zone to stretch.

Fear of losing.

In a zero sum game attitude world your comfort zone is driven by a specific type of fear – “if I give up too much I will regress, not just lose or get no reward.’

Let’s address the elephant in the room … we all, all of us, believe we deserve some things. Yeah. Deserve. Part of that ‘deserve’ is keeping what we have.as we accumulate things, salary, wealth, ownership, pride, experience, etc., we start believing it is ours – we have earned it therefore it is our to keep. This gets even trickier for most of us because we tend to not let go of anything that has given us pleasure in the past <even if it is no longer pleasurable to us now>. Anyway. We tend to build our comfort zone around those accumulated things.

There are 2 slightly insidious aspects to this.

First is a belief you will always accumulate more simply because you have something. It’s a different version of hedonistic adaptation in that it’s not that because you have something you inevitably want more but rather because you have earned something you will inevitably get more.

Second is, in this particular discussion, your comfort zone doesn’t guarantee mediocrity or sameness it simply suggests you never attain the best version of who you could be. In fact. I would argue in this version of comfort zone you are more likely to touch upon your worst version than your best.

That’s what zero sum does. Instinctually in the daily grind of Life you will act in ways to insure what is in your comfort zone at the beginning will be in the comfort zone in the end. You may not view this is ‘worst version of self’ but it is clearly not going to arc your behavior toward the best version of yourself.

I won’t suggest changing your attitude (although you should) but rather suggest seeking your best version doesn’t mean stepping out of your comfort zone but rather pushing it out … making it bigger.

Zones have a tendency to dull us. Dull us from possible magic. I purposefully called it magic because it does have a sense of good as well as intangible trickery. Once senses are sharpened they cannot be dulled and in a world which has a nasty tendency to dull our senses … well … that may be the best argument for embracing the idea that magic does exist in the world and that is worth the effort to try and find it.

Lastly.

The least discussed aspect in all of our trite comfort-‘zonism’ is survival. Let me point out that not all uncomfortable is created equal and not all exploration is meaningful and regardless of comfort & exploration, situations are often situations of survival. And if that sounds dramatic I meant it to. Comfort zones are the places in which we believe we are most likely to survive the onslaught of Life. It’s our place to crouch and react when shit hits the fan. A comfort zone more often than not, isn’t about living life to its fullest it’s about not dying.

And that permits me to go back to platitudes. I am sure everyone has either heard of or read “Good to Great.” Well. Voltaire only beat that book by about 200 years and he thought up that shit all while trying not to die in a duel or get his head chopped off.

Two points with his quote.

First is my personal soapbox. Just because something is old doesn’t mean it isn’t smart. I didn’t need an entire book to tell me about good to great. Voltaire said it in one line.

Second is the truth behind the thought. You can settle for good or you can do something better. I don’t need a book for that either. But what the books don’t tell you is everything you do is grounded in survival. Do, or don’t do, based on an assessment f whether I survive or what I have survives or what is important to me survives. If that sounds defensive, it should. If that sounds lie it is grounded in what someone could call your ‘comfort zone’, it is.

Comfort zones, in general, are your body’s parlor trick. Your parlor trick for survival. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t seek to do some uncomfortable things but it does mean you probably shouldn’t be stepping out of you zone but rather pushing it out selectively.

Stepping out increases odds of dying. Pushing out increases odds of surviving. Simple as that.

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“There’s a beauty in all my imperfections and he’s the one who holds them up for me to see.”

Crazy/Beautiful

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“Nobody is perfect. Everyone has their own little idiosyncrasies. Some people call those imperfections, but no, that’s the good stuff. “

Robin Williams

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“A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts it will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.”

The Twits <Roald Dahl>

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“الجمال لديها الكثير لتفعله مع الطابع

“Beauty has a lot to do with character.”

Arabic proverb

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Let me begin where I will end … there is beauty in imperfections.

Sounds good, doesn’t it?

Well.

That would imply being authentic is all about being as beautiful as you can be – imperfections and all.

Sounds good, doesn’t it?

Okay. That said.

Why the hell don’t brands, companies & marketers not only accept this, but embrace it. We talk about “authentic” and “being human” and, yet, businesses run scared of anything less than being some perfect droid of humanity <you cannot be a droid & human>.

It’s like they want something, but are not willing to accept what they want. Look. We’ve danced around this authentic concept in business for a while. Far too often it reaches some absurd levels of “how can I be authentic” which is weird. You are either authentic or you are not <and you shouldn’t have to be purposeful in doing so>.

** note: I much prefer genuine over authentic.

I believe the absurdity is centered on the fact businesses have an uncomfortable relationship with authenticity. They talk authentic/human, which means embracing imperfections & flaws, but are scared shitless of anything less than perfection & flaws with ‘customer service’ <or anything for that matter>.

In other words. They seek to be authentically perfect <an oxymoron>.

It is usually here where I pull out the 2012 Trendwatching Flawsome trend where they stated: “brands that behave more humanly, including showing their flaws, will be awesome.”

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While many trends are all about the new, it’s always worth remembering that success in business in the end is more about being aligned with consumer culture than just being aware of ‘new’ techniques and technologies.

While 2011 saw new levels of consumer disgust at too many business’ self-serving and often downright immoral (if not criminal) actions, stories of businesses doing good (Patagonia! Ben & Jerry’s!) remind consumers that personality and profit can be compatible.

In fact, in 2012 consumers won’t expect brands to be flawless; they will even embrace brands that are FLAWSOME*, and at large (or at least somewhat) human. Brands that are honest about their flaws, that show some empathy, generosity, humility, flexibility, maturity, humor and dare we say it, some character and humanity.

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I agreed with that trend then and I agree with it now. A Flawsome authenticity should be what every sane business should seek – internally with employees & externally with customers.

But they just can’t seem to get there mentally. Companies want authenticity, they want ‘human’, but don’t want the imperfections.

Brands don’t find imperfections interesting, they find them concerning. Why? Far far too often we use imperfections to point out those things we so flippantly refer to as ‘flaws.’  Here is a thought. Maybe we should refer to imperfections as “beauty marks” and stop being defensive about them.

While I would argue there really is no such thing as perfection for the sake of today’s discussion, let’s say there is. I do so with Walt Whitman in mind:

“Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes.”

Within the multitudes lies the most interesting imperfection of all — contradiction. More often than not we look upon ourselves as imperfections but something, or more often, some things simply contradict.

Our internal thoughts conflict.

Our opinions conflict … with each other as well as with others.

Our actions can contradict <nice at some point & not so nice in a similar situation>.

This creates a problem for a business.

In business, perfection, for some odd reason, seems tightly tied to consistency. Some tenuous smooth link between what we desire, what we are, how we act and what we think. And any time this smoothness is rippled in any way somehow imperfection has entered into the equation. And, there you go, that is a bad thing for most business people.

Day after day I remind any company, any brand, any CMO:

• We are large.

• We contain multitudes.

• We are human <because business, inherently, are made up of its people>.

And within this large multitude there are loud voices, quiet voices and silent voices. All of which speak to us and for us. All of which use perfect words, use perfectly sensible well intended actions, to perfectly fuck up our smoothness.

Yikes.

All that perfection still creates imperfection. If you want to be authentic, that is the overall thought everyone kind of needs to get their head wrapped around. In the circular world of imperfection, or perfection <because they are actually one and the same simply different sides of the same coin> the most interesting in us, and of us, is always something of a contradiction.

I purposefully used appearance-like quotes to open this thought piece and have purposefully avoided discussing appearance in discussing beauty, perfection & imperfection. I did so not to tritely suggest that ‘beauty is in the eye of the beholder’ but rather instead to point out beauty is complex & simple and made up of the things you do & don’t do – not external looks & perceptions.

Authentic is complex in its make up of its largeness and multitude.

Authentic is simple because it resides in contradictions.

Even simpler in that it rarely, if ever, resides in some smooth unrippled feature – whether that feature be physical or within character. But maybe that is why imperfections are so difficult for us, as in sense of self, to manage. Contradictions are not easy. Interesting, but not easy. Not always easy to grasp and not easy to understand.  And in our unease we dwell on the imperfect feeling — on what is actually our perfect interesting aspect of who and what we are.

It is a battle, a debate, a whatever, I believe most everyone, most any businesses seeking authenticity, faces in some form or fashion.

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“Not in the clamor of the crowded street, not in the shouts and applause of the many, but in ourselves, are triumph and defeat.”

Longfellow

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 Look. There is always, and I mean ALWAYS, beauty in imperfections. It is sometimes not easy for someone to see because it is a contradiction – how can an imperfection be perfect <which equates to beauty>?

And, correspondingly, how can beauty be imperfect?

Well. All I really know is what I said before – all imperfection has some beauty.

I could also suggest that if you think of character, which is most likely the most important aspect of total beauty in a person <even impacting appearance>, that without some contradictions you will certainly be smooth, consistent & unrippled and less interesting <boring as a matter of fact>.

And who the hell wants to be an authentically boring business <or person>?

Anyway. I am done babbling. For what it’s worth <most likely not much>.

I believe contradictions are beautiful. Therefore wherever I see contradictions, within someone or in someone’s appearance, I see beauty. And I can honestly say that if you even want to tie your desire of “authenticity” to storytelling … I can unequivocally tell you that people are attracted to stories with some  tension and resolving some conflict.

There’s a set-up, a conflict, a villain that must be overcome and a resolution with a hero at the end. Using conflict creates the opportunity for a hero, even a flawed one, who can provide a solution <even with its imperfections>.

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“True perfection has to be imperfect, I know that that sounds foolish – but it’s true.”

Oasis

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Here is what I wish businesses would grasp about “authentic.”

Authentic is being who you are, not planning how you will be.

Authentic is, well, being Flawsome.

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“Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the men of old; seek what they sought.”

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Basho

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It sometimes seems like a fine line between being doomed to repeat past mistakes and learning from history. I am a history nut myself. I love anything to do with the past. As I have said I am a collector of moments and I imagine this is just another facet of that warped personal characteristic.

When I saw this quote, I finally figured out how to explain what I saw in studying the past.

Ok. Two thoughts:

There are so many people in the business world (and government) who seem very focused on ignoring history. I believe this ignorance leads to stupidity. And it is silly stupidity because with a little curiosity you can better understand that many people in the past were pretty smart. They often sought the same things we do now. And while the path they chose may not have gotten them there, there is value in walking the path to see what they saw. My point here is that smart people are smart people – regardless of the time & place in history. The business world, in particular, has put the people of old into the trash-bin of irrelevance. What an incredibly stupid thing to do. I do not care what industry you work in I will guarantee that there was someone in the past who thought conceptually wherein within the concept resides some learnings, or principles, of use today.

There are so many people in the business world (and government) who seem too focused on following the past literally.  They see things and suggest they can be replicated by turning a number of contextual dynamics into a pretzel. I believe ignorant simplistic use of knowledge or information leads to stupidity. And it is silly stupid to believe anyone or anything can replicate the vague outlines of past events into the present.

The people of old offer us learning and knowledge, not answers. Yes. I just said that. You do not follow in footsteps of the past to gain answers. In fact. About the only thing you do get following the footsteps of the old are questions. And while that may sound frustrating, I would suggest knowing the questions, the right questions, is 90% of the way to gaining a quality answer. Because if you ask all the right questions in the present, well, you are actually seeking the same thing the people of the old were – wisdom in the present.

Ponder.

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“Believe those who are seeking the truth. Doubt those who find it.”

André Gide

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I am always wary of those who come out blazing by speaking “the truth.” I believe rarely are things black & white. In fact. I believe truth is often contextual and often slippery to get a hold of.

Now. Let’s not confuse facts with truth. Lots of facts exist. And in a mutually exclusive environment someone can hold up a fact as a single-minded fragile truth. The difficulty is that everything is connected with everything and a single fact does not ever live in a world solo. It rubs elbows within a community of other facts. And as they rub against each other they create, well, truths. Truth is a combination of facts.

I would also suggest truth is often elusive. In that I mean if you care about truth and are a truth seeker you are always in the pursuit of truth as facts replace facts (as facts tend to do).

Now. I want to be careful. Yes. There is truth in the world. Even if some facts change all they do is change the shape of most truths, not make them ‘untruths.’ I do believe we sometimes forget that. Simply because a fact changes does not make the whole become irrelevant. It can, but most times it does not.

I believe rather than discussing truth, or a truth, as static we should refer to it in, well, progress terms. The pursuit of truth is one of progress.

Things may arc toward truth (assuming there is active involvement in the pursuit of), but that arc is not smooth nor does it actually move in one direction. Truth, itself, is uneven in that in its combination of facts those facts can reside in the past, present and future as well as within the truth itself and ‘with-out’ (correlative connectedness). Truth is, well, very often emergent. Therefore, we truth seekers deal with many wrong turns, stops (which look like dead ends but aren’t really), doom loops and a variety of backtracking trips. All in all, though, things continue moving toward Truth. Truth is often contextual, often situation-specific and often can take on a slightly different hue when viewed by different people.

Truth changes. Truth changes in some unexpected and unpredictable ways. Being blind, or remaining purposefully ignorant to that, shifting of truths can cost you, well, Truth itself.

Anyway.

I have been called optimistically cynical. I guess I question everything upfront (or maybe one would hope as I have become older I can judge what to question and what to accept upfront), but always believe great things can come of the pursuit of truth (rather than use the cynicism to drag me away from accepting a truth).

I would like to believe I am one of those people who are constantly seeking truth.

I would like to believe I collect facts and seek the coherence that shapes truths.

I would like to believe I am one of those people who sees truth as kaleidoscopes of colors rather than simplistic black & whites.

Well. I may not be, but it is certainly a good objective to try to attain. Maybe I am simply a truth seeker work-in-progress.

Well, even if you never find truth, I could argue that trying to achieve that objective is not the worst thing in the world. In fact. Maybe it is the only way to get to Truth.

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“The best is the enemy of good.”

Voltaire

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I am sure everyone has either heard of, or read, the book “Good to Great.”

I am not as sure everyone has heard Voltaire’s “the best is the enemy of good.”

Well. Voltaire only beat the book by about 200 years and all while trying not to die in a duel or get his head chopped off.

Two points with this quote.

First is my personal soapbox. Just because something is old doesn’t mean it isn’t smart. I didn’t need an entire book to tell me about good to great. Voltaire said it in one line.

A shitload of people in the past, who never used technology let alone electricity, said a shitload of smart things that are relevant today. One could ask “how the hell could do they do that?” If one asked, I would remind everyone that principles, and principled thinking, are timeless and while past events are contextual, past thinking tends to adapt to context.

Ponder.

Second is the truth behind the thought. You can settle for good or you can do something better. I don’t need a book for that either. What we mostly get wrong in business, and life, is thinking we need to worry about doing ‘bad shit’ or doing something wrong. That is actually the least of our worries. Why? Because for the most part doing bad shit, or doing things wrong, is never satisfying. People, in general, are satisfaction seeking entities. This is where ‘good’ comes into the picture. Good can be quite satisfying. In fact. Good can become addictive if that is all you want. Good can be done in extremely high quantities. But. I would be remiss if I did not point out no matter how many ‘goods’ you do they will never attain the quality of a ‘best.’ I will not suggest everyone should do ‘the best’ or even seek to do ‘the best’ every single time. If we are honest, that is an energy sucking way of life. What I will suggest is that good is so seductive it is the enemy of best.

Yeah. I just flipped the quote.

Yeah. I am pretty sure that is what Voltaire was trying to tell you.

Ponder.