Wouldn’t it be interesting if every legislator in Washington were required to spend one month a year working in the real world. As George Burns once said:
“ Too bad the only people who know how to run the country are busy driving cabs and cutting hair.”
Truth be said, the people who best know how to run it are busy making a living.
Nine years ago this month, in May 2003, before the internet was maybe even the internet, I started blogging. Originally, it wasn’t what I blog about now. But, it was a blog. I wrote mostly about my life experiences, my observations, my family, my friends, and everything in-between. I would guesstimate that probably in 2005 or 2006 I started writing more about business than life experience, but life experience still made its way, even today, into my blog.
My strategy has always been “People want to business with those who are real and they can relate to” – so that is why the posts usually take on a personal writing approach. Nearly everything you read here comes from my thought – my brain – my idea, and it gets transferred into words. Words are a powerful thing. In fact, I love them. It’s part of what I do now as a consultant – being a strategic communicator – that I believe gives me some of the tools in my toolbox to work with people and companies to deliver growth and excellence. It’s also what drives me when I am fortunate enough to go onstage to speak to the more than a few people. I am grateful for the voice that has been given to me. Truly.
Last week, as I was going through Kolbe Professional Growth Seminar to attain my recertification as a Kolbe Certified Consultant, one of my colleagues told me about a really awesome website called “WORDLE” – where you can enter a website’s RSS feed and they will create some pretty amazing WordArt as a result.
The image above represents 9 years and almost 1,000 blog entries of words – and the most popular words. I didn’t change it or censor it, just made some adjustments to the fonts and colors.
What would your blog or website output if you put all the most frequently words into Wordle?
Pretty amazing.
Thank you to each and every one of you who read my words, and listen to my voice. It’s the biggest compliment you could ever give me.
Here’s to another 9 years of writing, words, voice and delivery.
We’ve all heard that tired yet still relevant expression, “If you don’t have a competitive advantage, don’t compete. The poet Robert Frost put a “different” twist on it, long before the expression was coined. Said Frost:
“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I… I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.”
Most of you know that I absolutely LOVE Seinfeld. Often, after a long day, or after returning from a business trip, I find myself watching a quick 20 minute episode on DVR. That said, I don’t know how many of my friends here follow Seinfeld , but those of you who did may recall this image – one of George putting a dollar into a tip jar and then attempting to remove it when the person behind the counter didn’t see (and hence wouldn’t appreciate) his generosity.
So much for doing good and having your heart in the right place. Many of my friends from the landscape industry, including Green industry service providers, suppliers, and a myriad of other volunteers a few weeks ago couldn’t pull their tips out of jars, even if they wanted to. That would entail uprooting plants, trees, and other landscape elements, which represented the time and money they expended to help out their communities.
The occasion was PLANET’s Day of Service, to be held annually on Earth Day. This was the fourth year for the event, and each year since its inception literally thousands of volunteers from companies across the U.S. and Canada give their time and resources to organize and carry out projects to benefit parks, schools, public grounds, and charitable causes. My former company participated in Year 1, and it was an amazing time for our company to “give back” to our community. We completed over $70,000 worth of work at Liberty Memorial (now I live just a few minutes away) along with several other Kansas City based companies tied to the Green Industry.
Like most successful business people, PLANET members understand the importance of being involved in their communities and giving back when and where they can. They do it all year long, but the Day of Service was designed to unite their efforts and show a wide audience that both landscaping (beautifying our environment) and lending a helping hand can make a significant difference in everyone’s lives.
Charitable causes absolutely survive on donations and helping fill their jars is very important, and we all try to do our best to help out when we can. Money is one thing, but participating in a “doing” event like PLANET’s Day of Service is another. Participating leaves behind something that is not only tangible, but it also transmits a caring message that cannot be misinterpreted for anything other than what it is – an effort to give back in a meaningful way.
How have you given back through your business?
One of the toughest jobs of any business owner is finding the right people and then letting them do what they were hired to do. Our 26th president, Teddy Roosevelt, identified that challenge several decades ago when he said:
“The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it.”
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I'm a former CEO turned Kolbe Certified growth consultant, team builder and motivational speaker. I travel almost constantly, talking about everything from sales and marketing to crisis management…to clients in almost any industry. My knowledge, experience and approachability have put me in front of so many people and businesses across North America and Western Europe.
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