SickHumansSickOrganizations

I was sick, but didn't know it.  I was extremely well-fed, but grossly malnourished.  I was replete with exercise, but couldn't seem to achieve optimum fitness.  Truly, I was sicker than I knew.

Why?  For about 40 years of my adult life I believed I could eat what I wanted, and as much of it as I wanted, as long as I out-exercised the negative impact of said diet. 

What I didn't realize was how sick I had let myself become.  Part of that delusion was driven by the fact that, compared to the average bear, I always felt and seemed relatively healthy.   

Once I learned (via Dr. Ben Edwards, Dr. Roby Mitchell, Dr. Robert Lustig, Dr. Mark Hyman, Dr. Joseph Mercola, and Dr. David Perlmutter - all can easily be found on the internet) that my holistic health is driven by the ratio of 80% diet:20% exercise, I finally came to the realization that I was doing it all wrong.  It was the FOOD (i.e., the inputs) that was the key to my health, or lack thereof.  (A corollary epiphany was that I had been duped for decades by marketers, corporations, and governmental entities that never held my health as a primary objective.)

The negative and often long-term impact of poor nutrition is insidious in nature.  It chips away at our physical, cognitive, and emotional/spiritual health little by little, over time.

We can, however, choose health.  As Dr. Edwards says, we can start by "eating what our body needs, and quit eating what it doesn't."  

Now for the leap:  Since organizations, like human bodies, are living, breathing, thinking, ORGANISMS, the same health prescription holds true.  Leaders of said organizations (e.g., a family, a church, a school, a business, or a nation) are morally obligated to attend to the health and wellbeing of that organization.  We (the leaders) must make thoughtful decisions about appropriate organizational "nutrition," organizational "rest," and organizational "exercise."

Sick humans make for sick organizations.  Sick organizations make for sick humans.  

We can reverse the trends.

Spark

Each of us has at least one thing that really lights us up, trips our trigger, sets our heart to singing.  That thing is our "spark."  

Peter Benson (2011) speaks to the power of spark in educating children in this TED Talk. 

But, big people have spark(s), too.  Sometimes we forget what our spark is.  Or, we let all the other stuff of life snuff out that spark.  Yet, when we decide (yes, we get to choose) to pursue our spark, it makes all the difference in the world in our happiness and self-actualization.  And those two things have powerful impact on our holistic health. 

Know what your spark is?  Are you pursuing it with gusto?  If not, whatcha waitin' on?

Embellishments

Embellishments come in lots of varieties.  They can be in the form added gadgets, more chrome, slicker packaging, bells and whistles, lots of make-up, bling, and even dandy clothes.  Embellishments are regularly added to products, services, and yes, even to people. 

Embellishments are mostly about looks and have little to do with substance or primary functionality.

More often than not, embellishments are pricey enhancements that serve one of two purposes:

     1) They provide the illusion of "better."
          OR
     2) They are there to hide some deficiency or flaw.

We can buy embellishments (literally and figuratively) if we wish.  It's just important to remember what we're getting (or not getting) with the purchase.  

Let the buyer beware.

Resourceful

"Resourceful" is one of my favorite words.  It implies creative solution-crafting, usually with unconventional or repurposed materials.  Almost always, being resourceful also suggests that we are managing to accomplish our objective with minimal additional outlay.  It's sort of like being a problem-solving conservationist.

One of my friends who is a former U.S. Marine tells me they have a mantra in the Corps that goes something like this:  "I've done so much for so long with so little, I can now do anything forever with nothing."  Sort of speaks to the essence of resourcefulness, huh? 

Some antonyms of resourceful are incompetent, unimaginative, stupid, inept, and unadventurous.  But, another word comes to my mind when I think about the opposite of resourceful:  consumptive.

I've watched and worked for leaders who were/are resourceful.  They managed to leverage every available resource without being wasteful, they garnered every ounce of quality thinking among the team, they sought feedback and counsel from every corner of the organization, and they begged/borrowed/stole tangible assets in the interest of frugality.  In that spirit of resourcefulness, they were always moving the team and the projects toward the goals.

I've also watched the non-resourceful types.  They were more apt to burn through money, people, energy, and time with the same sort of consuming effect as a nuclear detonation.  Similar scorched-earth results usually followed. 

Resourcefulness for me, please.  

Inevitable

We are headed toward the inevitable, the end.  Our days on this Earth are numbered, with each day bringing us one day closer to that last one.  It's inevitable.

What will we be like when that last day arrives?  Who will we be when that last day arrives?  What will we have consequentially accomplished when that last day arrives?  

To be sure, those things won't matter to us once that last day has slipped past.  But, those things will matter immensely to those who survive us.

With each breath, each step, each decision, each word, each act of service (or selfishness), we are creating the person we will ultimately be.  And, we are building the legacy, the impact, that that person will have on those left behind, particularly those who love and are loved by us.

The end is inevitable.  Who/What we are when that day comes is most certainly not.  

On purpose?

2Books

I'm a bit behind on book reports so I'll share two recent fictional reads with you in this post.

First, Vince Flynn's The Survivor (2015), another Mitch Rapp novel. 

CIA covert operative Mitch Rapp is enlisted to interdict the damage done by a rogue CIA spy named Rickman.  Rapp eliminates the traitor, but then must race against the clock to avert Rickman’s posthumous electronic dumping of highly classified information to foreign governments and other bad guys.  

Flynn actually died while writing this novel, so it was finished by Kyle Mills.  Have loved VR's books for years.  RIP, Vince.    

The other recent read was Days of Infamy by Newt Gingrich and W. R. Forstchen (2008). 

This novel details the window of time December 7 – 9, 1941.   Beginning with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the story gives us a peek at that attack and the subsequent responses and counterattacks by both the United States and Japan, through the eyes of multiple players in the drama.  Key perspectives are provided from the personas of admirals, pilots, communications officers, spouses, and even President Franklin D. Roosevelt.  

Another great job of providing a history lesson intertwined with a mesmerizing story, by NG and WR.  A good read. 

Outdone

Competition can be healthy.  
Competition compels us to stay sharp.  
Competition keeps us polishing up our A game.  
Competition pushes us to learn - more, faster, efficiently. 
Competition forces us to keep abreast of the current trends and technologies (or it should).  

The problem with competition arises when it is used as the gold standard WITHIN an organization.  When the success of members of an organization is measured against an internal colleague, rather than against progress toward organizational goals, much chicanery ensues.  Backstabbing, rumor-mongering, subversiveness, and downright treachery often become the tools of advancement.  Worse still is when organizations build incentives around internal competition against colleagues.

Our success must always be measured against achieving the goals of our organization (presumably they are worthy and noble ones).   

When the goal is to outdo our colleagues in the same organization we step onto the slippery slope of undone.