HighMileage

"High mileage" is a description often applied to automobiles. From that phrase we can infer a number of possibilities:

• It's covered a lot of country, could be mostly in one county, but perhaps all over the continent.
• Might have a few dings in it, or some unattractive idiosyncrasies.
• Hard to discern the maintenance and care schedule; buy at your own risk.
• Maybe one caretaker, maybe driven by a bunch of folks.
• The "inside" -- engine and systems -- may have been carefully maintained, or not. 
• The "outside" -- exterior -- may have been protected and cared for meticulously, or painted over repeatedly, or completely ignored.

Some folks these days squeeze 200K or 300K from a well cared for vehicle. I know a couple folks who have gotten north of 500K miles out of their trucks. Impressive! 

A similar mindset applies to the way we treat our bodies, minds, and souls. The care and attention we invest makes a huge difference, in both performance and longevity.

We get to choose... (and do, daily).

NegativeGravity

Negativity has a strange and powerful gravitational pull about it. 

Rumors, criticism, zero-sum thinking, oneupmanship, competitive chicanery all contribute to an environment of negativity. When we live/work in a culture of negativity, it's like we're in a space ship orbiting that "planet" of disharmony, slowing being pulled closer and closer to its destructive center.

Just as with a space ship, it takes a lot of intentional energy and cognitive commitment to break out of that orbit. There's a pretty cool universe of possibilities awaiting us once we get beyond the gravitational pull of negativity.

Rocketeers Unite!

Compassion

Lao Tzu provides powerful guidance to us: "I have just three things to teach: simplicity, patience, compassion. These three are your greatest treasures."

In our busy lives of commitments, deadlines, supervision, data inundation, cluttered calendars, it is easy "drop" any or all three of those mindsets that Lao Tau proposes. 

While "simplicity, patience, compassion" are critical elements for our general health and wellbeing, Compassion is the one that has the most impact on those around us, the folks we love, care for, live and work with.

Compassion delivers several reciprocative benefits to us: Kindness, Connection, Caring, Forgiveness, Encouragement. Each one we confer becomes a force multiplier for both the giver and the receiver.

An added BONUS: To show Compassion costs us nothing.

But, oh, the benefits!!!

DifferentlyAlike

Just take a look. When you're at a ballgame or in the grocery store or at your house of faith.

Observe how different the noses are on each of the faces. Or, the differences in the shape of the ears. Or, the varying heights of the folks in attendance. The differences are vast, beyond enumeration.

Yet, they're all people. We recognize them as such. Why? Despite the incalculable differences, we are more alike than we are not.

Organizations have the same alike vs different dynamic.

Efforts at improvement (whether with individual people or in organizations) yield the best results when customized and personalized. Otherwise, they fall flat. Fad diets are a case in point. 

A deep commitment to continuous improvement is, however, a pervasive commonality (alikeness) of high performing people and organizations. Duly noted.

Saddle up...

GenFlex

I never expected to be the oldest dude in the room. Yet, I'm finding that to be the case more and more these days. That reality has caused me much reflection about some of the strongest teams I've worked on (and observed) over the last 40 years. 

The very best, most functional, and highest performing of those work teams had a beautiful mix of generations. Yes, their ages differed. Yes, their experiences varied widely. Yes, their strategic positions often rubbed  against one another. Yes, their desired speed of progress was all over the board. 

YET, those multi-generational teams produced extraordinary outcomes because....

• They chose to be respectful of each other (even in the heat of debate).
• They actively listened to one another in the interest of fully understanding.
• They intentionally and persistently LEARNED as a Team. 
• They stay focused on the big picture, which on those teams was to produce optimal learning outcomes for EVERY learner over which we were the designated stewards.

Not always easy, but always focused on noble and worthy outcomes. Fun teams to work on. 

MatterMost

High functioning organizational teams are the result of many variables. Here are some of the important elements that  go into that complex melting pot:

• Purpose
• Clarity of Vision
• Autonomy in work deployment
• Alignment of skills to assignment
• Fair compensation
• Trust
• Relationships
• Balance

Getting it right is tricky business, to say the least. 

The wisest leaders I know put at the very top of the list RESPECTFULNESS. They understand that environments that permeate respectfulness (modeled from leadership first and pervasively) are the ones that stand the best chance of cohesiveness and optimal performance (as individuals and as a team).

A lot of stuff matters when we're doing important work. Respectfulness may matter the most.

Concretized

Closed minds are like concrete -- well mixed and permanently set.

The world changes, circumstances change, the team changes, laws change, WE change. To wish for some permanent, unchanging state futile.

How might we avoid the perils of the closed mind?

• Observe carefully the contexts in which we live and work.
• LEARN about those changes and, more importantly, the genesis of those changes.
• Engage with a broad array of other thinkers, both the early adopters of change and the resistors. Listen and probe deeply.
• Flex to changing contexts, in a judicious manner and pace.

Adapting to a changing world is tricky business. Being concretized is really not an option.