~adventure.relationships.truth~

I’m on a flight home right now from a PLANET Interior Specialty Group meeting in Fort Lauderdale and I was doing some clean-up work in our Kolbe Database.  I ran a query of the Indexes that we’ve issued AND interpreted for our clients in the last 30 days.  I knew I have been unusually busy with three clients and some hiring I was doing on a project.

It made me think that four years ago this month, I registered to attend my Kolbe Certification Class in Phoenix to become an External Kolbe Certified Consultant.  Little did I know the impact that decision would have on my landscaping contracting company, as well as many others in the Green Industry that heard about Kolbe through the grapevine and gave me a call.

In these weird economic times we’re all presented with, as a Management Consultant, I’m often surprised about the product offerings from consultants that do not offer immediate impact – especially to the bottom line.  I’m here to say that every client that I work with that uses Kolbe finds immediate impact to their company, their teams, their livlihood, and their attitude about their business.  It’s true – just ask them.

When you learn your natural instincts, it just translates into idealogies such as mutual respect, which – in and of itself – is worth its value in gold.  Then, you add in the effeciencies that are created by beginning to “do things naturally” in your job everyday, and the impact is exponental.

In the last 30 days (since 12/15), my Consulting Company and myself as a Kolbe Certified Consultant has issued and interpreted 63 Kolbe A Indexes for our clients.  That is a record!  I’m pretty jazzed that we have been able to deliver that much to our clients – knowing deep down that the impact was likely life-changing to them… just as it was me.

For more information on Kolbe, visit here or here.

(By the way, that is my Kolbe A Index above…  I’m always amazed to see how I am wired – naturally – and how my job I’m doing now is right along my “MO – Mode of Operation”)…

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So my good buddy Brian sent this to me via Facebook – a brilliant letter from Conan O’Brien to his fans about the craziness related to Jay Leno.  Now, as many of you know, I’m a fan of David Letterman – always have been, always will.  I’ve been a fan of Letterman since the 80’s…  That said, not a huge fan of Leno, and Conan was more “Letterman-esque” than Leno was.  Here is Conan’s letter – pretty brilliant, and right on, regardless if you’re a fan of him or not…

People of Earth:

In the last few days, I’ve been getting a lot of sympathy calls, and I want to start by making it clear that no one should waste a second feeling sorry for me. For 17 years, I’ve been getting paid to do what I love most and, in a world with real problems, I’ve been absurdly lucky. That said, I’ve been suddenly put in a very public predicament and my bosses are demanding an immediate decision.

Six years ago, I signed a contract with NBC to take over The Tonight Show in June of 2009. Like a lot of us, I grew up watching Johnny Carson every night and the chance to one day sit in that chair has meant everything to me. I worked long and hard to get that opportunity, passed up far more lucrative offers, and since 2004 I have spent literally hundreds of hours thinking of ways to extend the franchise long into the future. It was my mistaken belief that, like my predecessor, I would have the benefit of some time and, just as important, some degree of ratings support from the prime-time schedule. Building a lasting audience at 11:30 is impossible without both.

But sadly, we were never given that chance. After only seven months, with my Tonight Show in its infancy, NBC has decided to react to their terrible difficulties in prime-time by making a change in their long-established late night schedule.

Last Thursday, NBC executives told me they intended to move the Tonight Show to 12:05 to accommodate the Jay Leno Show at 11:35. For 60 years the Tonight Show has aired immediately following the late local news. I sincerely believe that delaying the Tonight Show into the next day to accommodate another comedy program will seriously damage what I consider to be the greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting. The Tonight Show at 12:05 simply isn’t the Tonight Show. Also, if I accept this move I will be knocking the Late Night show, which I inherited from David Letterman and passed on to Jimmy Fallon, out of its long-held time slot. That would hurt the other NBC franchise that I love, and it would be unfair to Jimmy.

So it has come to this: I cannot express in words how much I enjoy hosting this program and what an enormous personal disappointment it is for me to consider losing it. My staff and I have worked unbelievably hard and we are very proud of our contribution to the legacy of The Tonight Show. But I cannot participate in what I honestly believe is its destruction. Some people will make the argument that with DVRs and the Internet a time slot doesn’t matter. But with the Tonight Show, I believe nothing could matter more.

There has been speculation about my going to another network but, to set the record straight, I currently have no other offer and honestly have no idea what happens next. My hope is that NBC and I can resolve this quickly so that my staff, crew, and I can do a show we can be proud of, for a company that values our work.

Have a great day and, for the record, I am truly sorry about my hair; it’s always been that way.

Yours,

Conan

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Martha Beck, in Oprah, The Magazine, writes an awesome article on Kolbe, a Natural Instincts Index which I’m Certified in – on how to keep New Years Resolutions… Awesome!

Check it out – with over 500 Kolbe A Indexes that I’ve administered and interpreted, I cannot disagree at all with what Martha writes…  Truly fascinating – and practical – approach to how WE use our Natural Instincts…  everyday… in every situation… for every decision.

Trust me, I’m an example of the impact of Kolbe and how it WILL change your life to know how you’re naturally wired, and where you get your energy from.

Click here to read the article on Oprah’s website on Kolbe Wisdom and how you can keep your New Years Resolutions.  A special friend to my friend and mentor, Kathy Kolbe, for all the work she’s done with her team in Phoenix to deliver life-changing results to so many across the globe…

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The Greater Kansas City area had a blizzard of the Christmas Holiday – with 12 inches of snow falling over two and a half days… My thoughts on the snow business and some things contractors can do to make a difference for their properties they manage, their clients, and the neighborhood around them….

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A Facebook friend of mine, David Bockman, recently posted this AWESOME post on his Facebook page…  I read it with awe about a random act of Customer Service kindness from the owner of Remington Mulch..  Read David’s account of how a company such as Remington made a HUGE difference to its neighbors during the recent blizzard that affected the Washington DC Metro area.  Congrats to Remington Mulch for being a Custome Service Driven Company….   Read on.

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This morning I was walking into First Watch for a breakfast meeting and I saw this shrub with a truck in its side… Bad Landscape Design or Bad Driver? Your call…

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I know I tend to take funny photos of people in airports and when I’m traveling – but what I just witnessed was pretty unbelievable, and there is no way I’d even think of taking a photo. I’m sitting in an airport on the east coast, and I noticed this guy in US Army clothes (camouflage) at the gate also. For whatever reason, there are a lot of military personnel here at different gates. It’s almost as if an entire group is going home to see their families. So, the guy at my gate was listening to his iPod, kind of rocking out (but not in an obnoxious way), and had sunglasses on. It’s 5am EST, btw.

So I’m just firing up my laptop, and this guy, not in any military clothes at all, but had the signature haircut does a b-line from the main walkway to our gate, pulls out a badge from his back pocket and puts in this kids face. The look on the kids face was one of horror. Literally, he started shaking and had visible worry on his face. He took off the headphones and the sunglasses. The older man with the badge then got in his face, and started whispering to him in a stern voice. It was apparent the sunglasses and rocking out was not acceptable. The kid apologized profusely – the man took his sunglasses and put them in his face like you’d do a puppy who just pooped in the house – sticking his nose in it. It was humiliating for this kid, who keeps you and I safe, for apparently wearing sunglasses indoors and enjoying a song on his iPod.

The older man with the badge, after his intimidating scold of the younger solider, then patted him on the shoulder, and said, “Good Boy” and walked off.

That was 10 minutes ago.

The young solider is still sitting here, looking white as a ghost, no sunglasses, and no emotion.

Fear and Intimidation sucks in any form, especially as a way to a means with one of our beloved servicemen or women.

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This is a pretty awesome video I stumbled upon while researching recently… Take a look – it makes a compelling case as to WHY social media is relevant in today’s world and social culture…

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As many know, I left the Contracting business this year to focus more on consulting and speaking inside and outside of the green industry. It’s been an exciting change for me, and I’m thoroughly enjoying it.

This week, Kansas City got its first snow storm of the season, and it was an ice/sleet/rain/snow event with really low temperatures. I was watching via my phone from the East Coast as I was out of town, and I still do manage one clients parking lot from a subcontracting basis.

I can say this, after being in the snow business for the last 12 years, and over that time, managing upwards of a few hundred acres of parking lots and plenty of subcontractors, equipment issues, client concerns, accidents and bizarre weather patterns, it was good to not be in the snow business this season. Needless to say, I missed the revenue, and the challenge of accomplishing the task at hand in a short period of time, but it was nice to sleep through the night, and not have my phone on overdrive because of the weather.

I was, however, excited that the client I was working with, billed 18k the day before in snow, and did it at a great gross margin.

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Last week, I traveled to Las Vegas for a meeting with a consulting client, and was amazed by the Interior Holiday Display being installed at the same time.  I shot some QUICK video and edited it on the plane coming from from Pennsylvania the other day.  My guess is that a hotel of this caliber spends hundreds of thousands of dollars on their Holiday Display… Enjoy!

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Just got the audio file from my interview with Tanna Guthrie from KUDL for the BBBS Sexiest Singles Auction this Friday at the VooDoo Lounge at Harrahs KC.  If you want to come, you can still buy tickets IN ADVANCE for only $25, which inclucdes 2 drink tickets…  Come join us, it will be a blast…  To learn more, click here.

Here is the link for the interview:  jason cupp bachelor

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Yesterday I was flying home on United Airlines from a consulting trip that took me through Massachusetts, Connecticut and Pennsylvania.  I realized I had not read Hemispheres Magazine (United’s Inflight Magazine) for the month of December yet, so I flipped through it as my plane took off out of a cold, snowy and icy Allentown, PA.  I love the articles in Hemispheres, including the awesome monthly column, Three Perfect Days – where the authors give you a long weekend tour through International desitnations.

One of the columns had a great article on the ARIA Hotel and Resort – which hosts PLANET’s Executive Forum in Las Vegas this coming February.  It was on the automated, computer-controlled liquor delivery system that is throughout the entire hotel.  See the article online here, or, I’ve here it is:

Totally Tubular!

A Vegas casino makes liquor quicker.

Illustration Graham Roumieu

Las Vegas

WHEN YOU VISIT the newly opened ARIA Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, order a drink and ask the person on the next bar stool to guess how far he thinks the libation will travel from the bottle to your glass. If he gets it right, you’ll buy the next round.

The answer: between 1,000 and 10,000 feet, or up to two miles.

The ARIA, which is part of the stunning new CityCenter, has been constructed with a first-of-its-kind, computer-driven liquor transportation system. Deep in the bowels of the hotel reside six so-called “pump rooms” containing 32 brands of booze. In each room, 1,344 bottles stacked six deep are placed upside down in specialized holders controlled by a computer. Some 26 miles of tubing—or just under a marathon’s worth—zip the liquor around the facility.

Say you’re in the blackjack pit and you feel a little thirsty. You place your order with a server, and she sashays over to a bartender, who punches a code into one of his three liquor guns, sending a signal to the central computer. Precisely measured jiggers of hooch are dispatched through a network of quarter-inch-thick plastic arteries winding behind the casino’s walls. Et voilà: Your Long Island iced tea, sir.

While this set-up helps the casino to monitor its liquor inventory and prevents bartenders from being egregiously generous, it also ensures that customers get their cocktails promptly. “Our liquor guns are pretty intelligent,” explains Heidi Hinkle, beverage director at ARIA. In a casino, every second lost to a bartender fumbling with a bottle of Absolut is time a customer isn’t gambling—and the house isn’t profiting. To make sure nothing goes wrong, ARIA does what casinos usually do: It watches things, very closely. “We have employees monitoring the pump rooms twenty-four hours a day,” Hinkle says. “Just in case.”—MICHAEL KAPLAN

The even funnier part of this is that I was in Vegas last Friday for a meeting with another client, and the ARIA is large and in charge on the Vegas skyline.  There was an article in Saturday’s paper about their opening in a few weeks, and it was fun for me to realize that PLANET would be having its Executive Forum in a brand new hotel!  Now, I know we’ll have regulated liquor as well…  Ha.

That said, if you have not registered for EF 2010 yet, you can do so here – the early bird ends January 19th (ironically my birthday!) – and the hotel rates are only $149, a substantial discount for this hotel.  See you there!

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So, yesterday on Facebook I got a message from my “sister” Mallory Schock that her mom was going to be on the Today Show this morning…  I logged on to my U-Verse via the ‘ole iPhone App and DVR’d it, but I just got the video emailed to me from Bob, Carla’s husband, and my buddy who I’ve been hanging with for the last 13 years.  Awesome, Carla!  I’m SO proud of you, you ROCKSTAR!

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

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Last week, I traveled to Las Vegas for 36 hours to meet with a client that I’m working with to hire some new employees.  We were attending a conference for his industry, as he was a featured speaker.  It was really great to learn from him about his business and industry, but me sitting in the crowd listening to his talk.  It was certainly time well spent.

The speaker right after him started off his presentation with a video that looked somewhat familiar – but totally awesome.  The bummer of the deal was that the speaker after my client sure did ACT like he took credit for the video.  Here is the video he showed – very compelling.  Once I did some research, I realized that the reason it looked familiar was because it was from the same guys that did Shift Happens – a video that Bill Hildeblot, current President of PLANET showed our Executive Management team a few years back in 2007.  Here is Did You Know 3.0:

My research, however, found that here was a newer, more compelling version (Fall 2009) of this video (which of course begs the questions why the speaker in Vegas used a year old video?) – I found it fascinating as it addressed more of the social networking part of our fast moving business world and social culture.  Check it out, and comment.  It’s pretty stinking amazing, in my opinion:

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