Count your $20 Blessings

We happened to stop at the store the other night on our way home from getting a little exercise. It was a quick stop, we gathered the few items we were after, and went to the checkout. I wasn't aware of it, but it seems that the woman ahead of us in line was having a problem with her credit or debit card. It wouldn't approve her purchase of $14. 67, and she walked out of the store. As she was leaving my wife Susan noticed her pretty quick departure. We put our few items on the counter and the cashier said that she was sorry, but she needed a manager to cancel a transaction. My wife put 2 and 2 together and realized that the woman that had been ahead of us was not able to pay for her groceries. There they sat, bagged and ready to be taken home. We could see some if the items...a loaf of bread, peanut butter, some apples...pretty much the staples of a quick lunch or dinner. We offered to pay the bill...the only problem was that the woman had left the store and the sacks had nowhere to go. So the register was cleared, we payed for our things, and went out to our car.

Perhaps there is such a thing as divine intervention...or sheer coincidence. As I slid into the passenger seat and Susan the driver's seat, Susan noticed a family in the car beside us. Looking closer, she saw it was the woman who had left her groceries, unable to pay. Susan quickly took a $20 bill and walked over to the neighboring car window. We'd like to help pay for the groceries, she said. The woman objected at first, but slowly, and thankfully accepted. Inside the car with her were her four children, ranging in ages from toddler to high school. She opened the door and thanked Susan for her kindness. She broke into tears, sharing that her husband had left her, there was little money, and all she wanted was to buy some bread and groceries to feed her children.

The next time you see a $20 bill, count your numerous blessings. For some, $20 is a week's worth of coffee, or a few workday lunches. To others, it's a simple matter of survival, a full stomach for your children, and a windfall on a day when the winds seem destined to blow strongly against you. Count your $20 blessings. And if you're able, share your $20 blessings, like Susan.

Random Acts of Grocery Carts

Yesterday's post mentioned my friend Jack, who took the hand of an elderly woman in dance and transformed her evening from one of mere observation to one of dance and participation. Jack demonstrated a random act of kindness that made the evening memorable not only for the elderly woman, but for all who witnessed the event.

My random act of kindness was not nearly as powerful. At an unplanned stop at a local store, I walked my basket out to the car to unload my groceries. Dutifully, instead of leaving the basket to the fates of the winds (which were gusting at 35 miles per hour), I returned the basket to the store. Walking back to my car, another shopper had just finished unloading, and had less dutifully left her cart to the wiles of the aforementioned winds. As she pullout of her parking space, her orphaned cart made a beeline straight toward the right front side panel of a defenseless grey Chrysler 300. I quickly intercepted the cart before the collision, and retraced my steps to the front of the store to return the cart to its rightful home.

While the owner of the Chrysler is unaware of my actions, I am.

Jack, you've made me think about looking every day for those random acts of kindness that will make me, and the world, a better place to live. Here's hoping that Jack will inspire you as well.

Random Acts of Dancing

I had the pleasure to attend an Assistance League dinner/dance this past weekend. The Assistance League is a national nonprofit organization that puts caring and commitment into action through community-based philanthropic programs that benefit Youth programs (infants, children, and teens), Family programs (adult, family, and trauma victims), Senior programs and Cultural Enrichment programs. You can find more at http://www.assistanceleague.org/ps.programs.cfm?ID=19

Late in the evening the band was still playing, and only the true music lovers and die-hard dancers remained. One of those remaining happened to be a elderly woman (I’m not a great judge of age, but if she was under 85 I would be very surprised). There she stood, smartly dressed in a pale pink, lace-covered outfit, cane in hand to support her frail and somewhat hunched frame. She was perched on the edge of the dance floor watching the festivities, slowly and deliberately tapping her cane to the beat of the music. She was clearly enjoying the scene, the music, and the moment.

Out of the blue my friend Jack slowly walked over to this lovely, grey-haired woman and took her hand, asking her for this dance. Then he took her in his arms and carefully and gingerly started to slow dance with her. Jack held her lovingly and gently, and she smiled a smile that seemed to illuminate the crowd that was quickly gathering around them. Many cameras flashed, recording the moment as a touching personal memento of this Random Act of Dancing. As they danced, a few of the women, who appeared to be her family, clapped and smiled and watched, capturing the moment forever in their own hearts and minds.

After a minute, the dance was over. Like the clock striking midnight in Cinderella, Jack politely thanked this graceful woman for the honor of the dance and came back over to join us, followed a cacophony of cheering and applause from the crowd who had witnesses a magical moment on a small dance floor on a clear, bright evening in Texas.

Thousands of people spontaneously engage in random acts of kindness each day. You may have read the book, or visited the website http://www.actsofkindness.org/ .

For Jack, his random act of kindness was in the form of a simple dance for an elderly woman spectator. To Jack it meant but a moment in a life that has many more magical moments to come. For the elderly woman, it may have meant the world. Or at least the highlight of her day.

Who’s day will you brighten today? Tomorrow? Jack has inspired me to take the step as well. What will be my random act of kindness today? I'll let you know tomorrow. Will you let me know what random act inspired you?

Rex

Why We Love Tiger

Tiger Woods is the best golfer in the world. He may end up being the best of all time. In sports, it's easy to measure success. Who's the best is usually as simple as who wins. Tom Brady is arguable the best quarterback of the decade with 3 Super Bowl rings to prove it. Derek Jeter is one of the greatest Yankees of all time, recently setting the Yankee record for most lifetime hits.

What about the rest of us? Where do we rank?

Name the best CEO of all time. Can you? Jack Welch may come to mind, but how do you know? What are the equivalent wins and losses? Market share? If that's the case, GE doesn't win.

Who's the best school teacher? Principal? Fireman? Policeman?

Life isn't as easy to measure as sports. We don't chalk up really measurable wins and losses each day. What we strive to do is to be the best that we can be.

Sure. Sometime things get in the way.

And sometimes what gets in the way is looking back at us in the mirror.

Measure what you can. Set some goals.

If only keeping score in life was as simple as sports.

How are you keeping score in your life? Or do you?

Rex

Level 5 HR

Level 5 Human Resources Management

In the book Good to Great, Jim Collins coined the term Level 5 Leader. In his study of enduring companies, one of the key characteristics of these companies was the presence of a leader who exhibited a rare combination of professional will and personal humility. David Maxwell of Fannie Mae, Darwin Smith of Kimberly-Clark, and Colman Mockler of Gillette all exhibited this Level 5 Leader key trait: ambition first and foremost for the company, and concern for company’s success, rather than for one’s own riches and personal renown. (Jim Collins, Good to Great, 2001)

The lessons of the Level 5 Leader can be applied to Human Resources (HR) Management. “Level 5 HR” should exhibit ambition first and foremost for the company and its success, rather than for the respect of HR as a function, a “seat at the table”, or the label of “strategic advisor”.

In 2005 the HR community was broadsided with the article “Why We Hate HR”. (Keith Hammonds, Fast Company, Why We Hate HR, August 2005) It hit a nerve. What nerve depends on your perspective. It was met with consternation by most HR professionals, and with nods of agreement from most business leaders.

Thus, the problem. There is a great divide between business leaders and HR leaders about the contribution of HR to the business. A divide that HR must close.

More to come on this. On the ability of HR and management to measure, source, assess, acquire, reward, engage, enable, develop, deploy, enrich, and deliver.

People execute business strategy. How are you enriching your people to enable them to enrich your customers and stakeholders?

How is your company making a difference in the world? Are you energizing your people to become emotionally involved in their life at work? In becoming part of something greater than themselves?

What are your thoughts on how HR can most effectively close this divide?

Rex

Food for thought

Speaking of food, a treasure-trove of nutrition research regarding animal-based and plant-based diets is The China Study, a book by Dr. Colin Campbell. His compilation of research studies over the past 30 years indicates very powerfully that animal-based high-protein diets can trigger and progress cancer and heart disease, while whole food plant-based low-protein diets can inhibit cancer development and reverse cancer progression. Paleo, Mediterranean, whatever the diet: we all have our own stories of how a certain diet has helped us to lose weight, temporarily or permanently. It seems that all "diets" seems to work for some people. And we all understand it's as simple as calories in, and energy out (and finding the time to exercise). Being human, we sometimes have problems adhering to that equation.

The question is, what evidence is there that a certain nutrition approach can impact a human's ability to not only lose weight, but to improve overall health, vitality, and protect you from disease? There is very compelling evidence that a whole food plant-based low-protein nutritional approach not only helps to lose weight. More importantly, it may also save lives and help avoid significant pain and suffering from disease. Yes, there is other studies that indicate other approaches work as well, but if you're interested in learning more read The China Study. How ironic that after spending billions of dollars looking for "cures" for cancer and heart disease, that the "cure" might have been discovered years...even centuries ago...by simply maintaining a lifestyle focused on plant-based, low protein, whole foods. That's food for thought.

Rex