leadingpossibilities the art & science of extraordinary
September 2011
The Delgadonian Principle by Christopher Karne Frost
Brain Science of Change by Tracy Saville
Intuitively Stirred by Lori Anderson
Focus on What Matters by Tim Saville
The Power of “Vision” by Dr. W. Bradford Swift
A Great Place to Find Change On Lonn Friend: Who is This Dude? Resources for change and leadership • Mike’s World • Shawn Murphy o n O p t i m i s m • P u t D o w n Yo u r E x c r e m e n t • S h a y W h e a t o n C h a n g e F u e l
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On Change Dear Fellow Travelers, We change our minds. We change our partners. We change our houses, friends, cars, and socks. Sometimes. But what makes us change? Why do we change or not change when change would be in our best interest? In this our inaugural issue of leadingpossibilities, we explore change – how to, where to, why, and to what ends. We hope we will change your mind about what it looks and feels like to explore the inner depths and professional and personal mastery edges of you. There may be no laughing in baseball, but in the game of your life, self-deprecation is an absolute lifesaver. We must be open to new ways of opening up ourselves to the good things that bring extraordinary outcomes, and we absolutely deserve to bask in the beauty and stunning quality of extraordinary art, words, minds, places,
people, and stuff provided by companies who truly believe in quality, integrity and value. This is what you will find here. It is insane to launch a magazine during the worst ever economic reality of my generation (or anyone else’s in recent memory). But sometimes, what is insane is exactly how we change our game. I like to think I am leading from my business brain, but I have to admit this is my dream, a part of it anyway, and so my emotions are heavy handed in the pursuit. There is an absolute link between mastered leaders and how well they are able to use their emotions, how well they are in touch with them and with the emotions of others. Change, or transformation as we like to call it around here, happens by design when we are in touch with who we are and what others need. It isn’t so much about saying we are broken and need to do something about that, but intentionally being aware enough
about our own selves and lives, gifts and purpose, to live into what’s possible. That is why this magazine, that is why now. What is happening inside our brains connected to high performance, and to achiving deeply satisfied lives is more and more an area where researchers and thought leaders are pioneering good works that helps us become more powerful in our careers and purpose. Think of this magazine as bits and pieces of Harvard Business Review, AMA, meets meta-science of social and emotional psychology meets what Oprah would still want to share with you if only she were still On Facebook: Become a Fan of T2 Performance Solutions. Subscribe free to our e-mag "Leading Possibilities." Get $25 per hour special rate for personal consultation before Nov 15, 2011.
Unlock Your Potential… T2 helps people & organizations realize their human performance potential. Through workshops, one-on-one counseling, online learning, and our monthly magazine - we give people the edge they need in life and business.
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Join us for consultations www.possibilityplace.net or www.t2ps.com Drop in Tuesdays/Thursdays 10 am - 4 pm Find us at: The Urban Hive 1931 H Street, Sacramento Or call/email for an appt.: 916-717-3250 or info@t2ps.com
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on the air. Not that I am comparing myself to Oprah. She has much better taste in tequila than me. The science of our brains, the art and science of our behaviors, and the collaborations we allow ourselves to be open to in order to actualize what’s possible for each of us – that is why I think we have a winner. But you will have to be the judge, and we will listen. I don’t how to do anything else but share what I have learned from all the face plants toward new levels of extraordinary performance and awareness I have made. I can’t sew. I can’t sing. Though I do make a mean spaghetti sauce. In this issue you will meet Raphael Delgado who is transforming the way we think about the value of extraordinary art. He is literally redefining the commercial and artistic possibility for success in the art world by removing the dirty little specter of it not being okay to make money from one’ s art while changing the world. Chris Frost will be writing for leading rags all over the world sooner than I would prefer to admit and Lori Anderson, her energy and nose for great feature interviews and extraordinary people to sharpen the quality of your lives is just something you won’t find anywhere else. Inside you’ll amble through the great working minds of leadership and spiritual mastery through the words of Shawn Murphy, Shay Wheat, Debra Doyle, Mike Willert, Mike Wilson, and an occasional infamous voice that has led us with their wisdom about change all along, if only we’d listen. The feature on Lonn Friend, my friend, infamous rock journalist and writer of tales we all need to hear, is a special addition and I am so grateful for his heart. Finally, you will meet the management mind of Tim Saville, who gives us his short and long view of shorts and short-minded leadership faux pas ways of being, who I should say is also my business partner and husband, but that has absolutely nothing to do with the fact he is in this magazine. Yes, he co-owns it, but he is one of the very best in the country when it comes to organizational leadership and human performance. His is a no BS, practical, hard-core truth-teller about what it takes to be extraordinary as a leader. His and other voices will continue to run here as long as you appreciate them. This magazine will not be for everyone, september ‘11
at a glance: editorial honchorinos Tracy Saville, Publisher & Editor In Chief
As Head Honchorino, Tracy holds an MFA in Creative Writing and has edited a nonfiction book or two, book review magazines, and everything anyone puts in front of her writerly nose. She is also by day a human engineer - a Humansolutionist™ who specializes in transformation and peak performance. A writer with her own new book coming out in January 2012 (FallingUp: Extraordinary Lives for Everyday People), there was the English adjunct professor gig, and twenty-five years of leadership and entrepreneurial experience across multiple social, cultural, economic, and policy issue areas and business markets. She knows the inner-workings of a fuel cell, her son’s heart, a grand bottle of wine, a perfectly crafted New Yorker story, and people’s internal make-up. Words are her thing. She is a wife, a partner, a daughter and sister, an auntie, a neighbor, a life-long student of learning, and mother of an insanely creative, talented son. She cooks well, cares about extraordinary experiences, loves her grand-dog Buddy, her family, and rock and roll.
Christopher Karne Frost, Senior Executive Editor
Ever seeking, ever gleaning what he can from those he careens into dayto-day, Chris Frost is often mistaken for the “weird one,” staring through the crowd, for what we don’t really know. That he is recognized as he who will banter endlessly with you over a beer? We like that about him, who in reality is a good soul with a smiling smirk, ready wit and occasional gutter-born remark that hits its mark time and again. The razor’s edge is where he plays in the sandbox of words. This is where extraordinary is found and so we think we have ourselves a scribe of the highest order. Originally from Ohio, yet a Sacramento-raised Midtown street and nightlife prowler who more often than not made his parentage scratch their heads over his future, he now embarks upon a new journey, upon a road to be drawn forth with pen and pencil and the snap of a flash. He walks ready, no cowboy, doctor or astronaut here. No, instead he has become the journalist, seeker of life and truth and all it’s soupy, complex consternation. May you enjoy his ride.
Lori Anderson, Special Features Editor
Never let it be said a Mom is just a Mom, or a working woman is just a working woman, or a social media maven who makes good and knows her way around the Internet is just a…well, you get the picture. Lori we think has serious chops for this sort of thing and knows a good bite of extraordinary when she sees one. Anderson has been marketing businesses in the high-tech, medical device, media, and non-profit sectors for fifteen years when we found her. As community manager for The Sacramento Bee’s niche online communities, Lori developed a passion for social media and online community development and went on to become a marketing and social media collaborator for multiple local entrepreneurial ventures and Susan G. Komen for the Cure. Lori enjoys sharing these ventures with the community and acting as their ‘voice’. She is our special voice, and we love and respect the heck out of her for it.
Meagan Lucy, Cover and Feature Photos
Meagan Lucy has dedicated her life to photography. Oh, and her new husband, Adam? He, too, has captured a bit of her attention. Meagan is based in Sacramento, where she shoots primarily weddings, environmental portraits and large-scale events. Her shutterbug streak emerged in high school, when 2-year-olds made fascinating subjects, but eventually she wound up attending and graduating from Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in photography while taking in the sunshine, sand and sights of the American Riviera. Still fascinated by small people, today she also does a truly spectacular environmental portrait of big people in their natural habitats, and has started up shop in the California capital, capturing the world’s faces and places around her every day. Find more about Meagan and see more of her work @ www.meaganlucy. com. You can also find her on Facebook. We think Meagan is one to watch. You can reach your Honchorinos here: hilorianderson@gmail.com; tracy@t2ps.com, or cfrostbengals@yahoo.com.
but I am betting it is for many. If you have decided it is for you, may I say right now how grateful I am for your patronage and support? I am not going anywhere, because I know you need to go somewhere
extraordinary. Until you get there, I will be right where you left me. In gratitudeTracy Saville lp leadingpossibilities
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inside
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leading possibilities™...
“the art & science of extraordinary” EDITOR IN CHIEF Tracy Saville Feature and Department Editors Christopher Karne Frost, Senior Editorial Director Lori Anderson, Special Features & Online Community Co-Editor In Chief Art Direction Collaborators Raphael Delgado - Artist, Ladd Woodland @ Seventh Surface, Timothy O’hagain @ Artstream Media Productions Digital Design and Platform/Distribution Timothy O’hagain and Cathy O’hagain @ Artsream, Julie Vatuone @ Urban Graphics, Bryan Clapper @ Squire Marketing and News Services Copy, Photos,Video Productions Tracy Saville, Chris Frost, Mike Wilson @ ICUcreativegroup, Tim Saville Design by Bryan Clapper Squire Marketing and News Services
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Small Bits of Change Fuel Change Bites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Wake Up and Smell the Excrement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mike’s World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Willertisms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Village Lonn Friend: Who is this Dude? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lonn Friend’s Sweet Demotion (re-print) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A Great Place to Find Change: Moss Beach Distillery . . . . . . . . .
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Your Purpose & Career Promoting a Vibe of Optimism at Work by Shawn Murphy . . . . . 17 Being of Service Without Being Depleted by Shay Wheat . . . . . . 18 Focus on What Matters by Tim Saville . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Denouement Be Like Water: Be Like Artstream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The BIG Party . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Millennium Scepter: Social Entrepreneurialism at It’s Best . . . . . What is a Humansolutionist™? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Contributors Shay Wheat, Shawn Murphy, Tim Saville, Mike Wilson, Mike Willert, Dr. W. Bradford Swift, Special Contributions by Lonn Friend/Andrew Fish/Brian Lowe – Venice Magazine (venicemag.com) re-print permissions by Lonn Friend Public Relations Veronica Delgado Vera Icon PR Social Marketing Steven Bloom Go Time Marketing Subscriptions Subscribe free to this magazine online on Facebook at T2 Performance Solutions Fanpage by signing up through the Get Free Mag tab; or subscribe by signing up for Cool Free Stuff at http://www.t2ps.com/thepossibilityplace/ index.html. For questions about subscriptions: info@ t2ps.com, or call (916) 717-3250, or write to us at: 1931 H Street, Sacramento, CA 95811. LI is published by T2 Performance Solutions, a leadership and personal development company located in Sacramento, California. Submissions Those submitting manuscripts, photographs, artwork, or other materials to leading possibilities for consideration should not send originals unless requested to do so and MUST agree to all pertinent submission requirements at: http://www.t2ps.com/thepossibilityplace/publications.html Unsolicited manuscripts and other materials submitted will not be returned. Corrections should be emailed to: admin@t2ps.com. Any error you find within these pages is entirely the responsibility of the publisher. And she can only be killed once, so please let us know the boo boo and we will fix it immediately, since we need her. She has spell check and minor dyslexia, but she is the only one who knows where the delete button lives. Please recycle this magazine if you print it. We may not be able to save the planet, but perhaps we can save a tree or two.
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moreinside
features: the change issue On the Cover:The Delgadonian Principle by Christopher Karne Frost
Page 6 The Power of Vision by Dr. W. Bradley Swift
Page 10
Intuitively Stirred: A Conversation With Life Coach Debra Doyle by Lori Anderson
Page 12
Focus on What Matters by Tim Saville
Page 19
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extraordinaryprofile
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principle
“A bad person can be a good artist, but only a good person can be an amazing artist.” —Raphael Delgado
The Delgadonian Principle
Inside the extraordinary mind of Raphael Delgado
See How He Made The Magazine Painting: http://youtu.be/ jYKJNmr_xD4
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september ‘11
by Christopher Karne Frost
G
randpa was an Egg-man, and so too might Raphael Delgado had been if not for his profound interest in the shape and soul of the very eggs he held. For even at arms length the eggs appear soft, smooth and clean, bent for windshields and frying pans, but not the tales
of The Beastie Boys and Soundgarden who also saw more in the egg than did the common man. For upon closer inspection, one finds upon the egg a surface pockmarked and scarred, as the history of our lives will one day dictate, and within these historic walls, the very elixir that is life can be found.
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trength and stability are not terms often used in association with the egg, but indeed they are often associated with the man and artist that is Raphael Delgado. And in the quest to know him, the most timeless of all questions may indeed be “which came first - the chicken or the egg?” And per the magnet clinging to our refrigerator, it is the chicken proudly proclaiming it was he who came first, as he lays in bed with the egg drawing on a post coitus cigarette. Per the mind inside the artist’s head, he claims not to know which came first-the elixir that made him or that which he makes. Though a grown-up of great distinction today, Raphael was once a boy birthed from an egg himself, though not of the feather laid I assure you. Raphael Delgado came to be in Orangevale, California, exploring the fields and by-ways of the world amongst fruit-tree addled fields, well-worn trucks and American flags. His parents were both involved in art: his father owning a gallery and his mother being an artist herself. Now a man of three decades, he laughs at memories of 4th grade Catholic School when his teachers would often confiscate his drawings and doodlings, pieces of himself that so ruled his attention. He told me about one of the very same teachers recently, who contacted him to proclaim they still had some of his doodle stains on paper, as it was glowingly evident even then, there was more to this boy than met the eye. Coincidentally, there are several of Raphael’s pieces that contain a stained glass influence, perhaps from these days surrounded by the imagery of Catholicism and their Houses of the Holy. september ‘11
Photos by Meagan Lucy, 2011
Ironically, there is in him a profound curiosity for physics, science, mathematics and neurology, an alchemist’s chaos and balance of positive and negative energies. His interest in the history of art, and more so his hunger to extract what he states, as “what the Ancients had,” is most intriguing, otherworldly even, and in our discussions I could not help but believe he is, if not directly hard wired into, then at least has two fingers on the pulse of that which makes up the very energy we are and live in. An insatiable curiosity resides in Raphael for the meaning of life and what makes the world go round, an innocence of curiosity in the mind of a modern day philosopher. His proclivity to infuse both negative and positive energies in his art
creates worlds within frames that have no borders. So too can you see the physical manifestation of his manipulations by the cuts, scrapes and scratches he gouges in many of his pieces. They appear as a desire, a longing to slide within the depths and boundless spaces between the layers. I think that if he could crawl within the frame and strike, swing, stab and pull from within that he would. No sooner did this thought occur to me that I knew, realizing without any doubt - he had explored between the layers, in each and every one of his works. This brought me back to something Raphael had said earlier in our discussions, how “art is not what it looks like, but what is feels like.” He further went on to explain that when creating a piece he does not set out leadingpossibilities
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with a specific goal in mind, but instead births the art forth and then gleans the idea of how long it will live. Again: life in art, much as the egg. As I toured Raphael’s extraordinary studio space in the old Pottery warehouse off a well-used portion of the Sacramento Light Rail system in midtown Sacramento, I saw how creation is a task and achievement oft associated with godlike or at least spiritually inspired people, or something else entirely – a “Creativore – A being with an insatiable hunger to create.” A term Raphael birthed, and one that fits him as well as his own skin. Raphael engaged my mind on many channels and quickly had me “seeing” art, whereas before I would not even be looking for it, such as the panels of 18-wheelers rolling down the highway and the cracked and broken windshield of a neighboring SUV. In wondering where this newfound vision came, I recalled how passionate and determined Raphael was in explaining how beauty can be found in everything; in me he instilled this craving and passion, too. For I learned one only has to look closely enough. And though it may take some manipulation, perhaps some color and love or a cut here or there, the beauty can be found, and he aims to show the world this very fact. We had so much in common: me with the words and he with the lines. His knack and enjoyment in creating tools for a single stroke or arch in his work was no less interesting than the finished pieces themselves. It was as though art was creating art by the pieces laid out before him. And the many styles of art redolent in the majority of his work were a cacophony of styles entwined as one. Perhaps his unique style will one day be labeled all its own as a Delgadonian? This brought my mind round to another “Creativore” – Dr. Frankenstein. There is no one else I can more closely relate Raphael to other than the Doctor of Mary Shelly’s legend of old. Both had, or have, an unquenchable desire to create life from that which is otherwise dead, and to bring forth beauty, where before there was only ruin, in search of a spark of life in that which was without hope. 8
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at a glance: raphael delgado Official website: http://www.artbyraphael.com/artist_raphael_delgado.php American painter b.1981 Raphael Delgado was born in Oxnard, California in 1981. He is the second of five children, three of them born after his family relocated to Sacramento in 1984. His parents owned and operated a gallery and custom frame business while he was a child, and Raphael spent much time there drawing and daydreaming. He was raised in rural Orangevale, but his adolescent summers were spent working with his maternal grandfather Stranded, oil on canvas, circa 2000 delivering fresh eggs in the heart of downtown Los Angeles. Each summer he worked 8-hour days and quietly studied the vibrant murals and burgeoning street art scene of the eighties and early nineties. Raphael produced and parted ways with several bodies of work throughout high school, although his attention was mainly focused on wrestling and football. During his senior year, his first set of high-quality oil paints and brushes were graciously donated, officially ending his athletic career.
Find Raphael on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ profile.php?id=520415063
While attending Fullerton College, he became fascinated with the principals of cubism, surrealism, and abstract expressionism, as well as physics and biology. In 2001 his first art exhibition was held, his work an infusion of much of these principals. Later, at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, he would further explore cubism and also begin printmaking. Raphael was featured in several art festivals and student shows, living and working in a fifth floor studio hovering over San Francisco’s Tenderloin District, bartending to eat and living alone for three years while creating his “String Theory” method and “Scraped Drawing” technique. In 2005 he suffered a devastating loss when his entire body of academic work, along with several dozen paintings, which were unjustly destroyed and egregiously stolen by his landlords while he was out of town. Utterly devastated and with only a few surviving pieces, he moved back to Sacramento and was back at square one. In 2006 he was vindicated in court and he opened up his own private art studio and gallery, which he operated from 2006 –2010. Currently living and working in Sacramento, Raphael has become a leading regional abstractionist and was recently named the Arts & Business Council’s “Artist of the Year” in 2010, due in part to his Crayons to Canvas Art Supply Drive. His unique artwork is included in numerous private collections throughout the United States, and he maintains and satisfies a very loyal collector base in Sacramento. He is an ardent believer in the effectiveness of art therapy for kids and positive sense of self worth it gives to children. He also donates his work to benefit such organizations as The Stanford Home for Children, Susan G. Komen Foundation, and KVIE. His current work is a departure from his cubist figures and portraits. Depopulated, his new geometric jewel-like paintings are active and imagined interior spaces, in which light, mass, energy, distance, force, and velocity are expressed using clearly delineated angular shapes, atmospheric drizzles of paint , and vibrant colors paired with weighty neutrals. Both perplexing and beautiful, his churning images are unmistakably urban and constructed with a combination of lyrical line work and bold painterly planes.Alluding also to geological and organic imagery, transfixed trails of paint fall somewhere between the bursting shards of color, streaming directional trails, bold planes, and the infinite distance.The images of Raphael’s work, which are inherently vivid in the Millenium Scepter, the iconic piece commissioned by Tracy Saville for this magazine and her body of work in personal mastery, are at once chaotic, but well organized, futuristic, and yet familiar. How apropos. How very human. How complex and quixotic, just like the artist himself. september ‘11
“I want to be successful through my originality, it’s my slime — all mine. And with art being the residue of my life, if thick enough, then its life will be ever-lasting.” —Raphael Delgado
The Doctor had his scalpels, wires, coils and straps. Raphael has his knives, brushes, pens and paints. They both utilize their tools to spark life from death. As Raphael had stated to me in one of his many Delgadonianisms, “Break the rules, have none, for by not having them I am given an edge,” I would like to believe this same thought did occur to the good Doctor F himself. I asked of Raphael if there were any artists of old for whom he found inspiration and he readily listed; Guayasamin, Oddnerdrum, Picasso, Miro, the Mexican Muralists Segados, Riggetis and Roscoe, as well the expressionists of the 1950’s. In further discussion as to where his inspiration developed, we did turn again to life and the daily grind. His art is often a depiction of his trials and tribulations. At times birthed from positive Madonna, oil on canvas, 2004 experiences and other times inspired from the dark and side of the world speaks out and seeks to negative turmoil, the spaces between enlighten by the energies he feels from that most people would sooner forget, the souls lost and tortured in another Raphael finds in them nourishment for land. In the Haitian’s continual struggle the canvas or the clay within his hands. for peace and freedom, so too could And not only is it personal experience, Raphael only find his by laying the debut also that which he sees taking place mons and the innocent victims to canvas, in the world. therefore freeing his own mind. There were several pieces seemingly If it were only so simple for the sewn together with wire and sinew, peoples depicted. dappled with pupil-less eyes, shadowed Yet for all his otherworldly good figures and phantasmal limbs seeking, works, Raphael does help locally, too, in striving from the darkness, and bordering his own way, by teaching art to K–5th from without, as well as within, an infugraders, where he finds open minds with sion of color and life in something which a willingness to seek and learn. at first seemed so dark, dismal and of the He has many parents from St. grave. These pieces were inspired by the Michaels sending their children to learn happenings in Haiti, the unending chaos from him that he takes great honor in. that serves the people of a torn country. Teaching the fundamentals of line, form, Unknown to them, a man on the other shape and light, sharing his skill-set and september ‘11
shaping young minds, showing children it is cool to be an artist, while utilizing his mind’s eye as an outlet for his caring soul to affect and mold the world around him. He shared of his nephew Rene, and Boo Boo, and niece Mary Stella who refer to him as Ada, and of the love and interest he has in seeing them learn and grow. So to do the children of his tutoring catch his eye and blossom from his soul. Raphael instructs each of the children - “do not be afraid to sign your name to your work, but only do so if you have done your very best.” Wanting them to take honor in their work and have pride in their accomplishments, he instructs his students with a mantra for life of his own being “Live Artfully.” Very poetic. As I drove home from our interview I felt drunk - visually and spiritually. And was certain that had a Highway Patrol pulled next to me he would have noticed that though a person sat behind the wheel, he was certainly not home, so who was driving? And the blue and red lights would begin flashing to mix with the visions I was theorizing. So that is how I cruised, happily stuck behind an 18 Wheeler on Highway 50, picturing the rear doors as a smirking Tiki-God of steel and glass lights, smiling and teasing me at the sauciness of my mind. I do hope that others can experience Raphael’s art, be it of stained glass souls seeking freedom where darkness surrounds them in infinite spaces, or lost visions and nature gone awry. Thank you Raphael for the all-natural high. May your Delgadonian works be forever inspirational… lp See more of Raphael and his work on page 21. leadingpossibilities
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yourmindbody&spirit
This is Your Life
“On Purpose”
The life-shaping power of vision By Dr. W. Bradford Swift
Founder & Chief Visionary Officer, Life On Purpose Institute Author, “Life On Purpose: 6 Passages to an Inspired Life” http://www.lifeonpurpose.com/books
Imagine that you are sitting in your living room, leafing through a National Geographic magazine, when your eyes fall upon a picture of Mount Everest. You’ve longed for years to climb this mountain, but in the busyness of life it’s been a dream placed on the back burner. Now as you stare at its majestic summit you think, “Wow, wouldn’t it be awesome to stand at the top of the tallest mountain in the world?” What is likely to happen in the process of speculating? If you’re like the rest of humanity, you’ll dilute the dream with all the reasons why it “can’t” be fulfilled: You’re not strong enough—you smoke three packs of cigarettes a day, and climbing a flight of stairs is a major challenge. Besides, your family would never support you in pursuing this dream. On top of which you couldn’t possibly take off from work for such a massive undertaking. As you begin to focus on all the reasons you can’t accomplish this dream, you begin to attract more and more negative energy—which will probably result in your dropping the magazine on the coffee table, clicking on the television, and lighting another cigarette as you stroll into the kitchen for another beer, or bag of cheese popcorn-your 10
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third of the week. But what if instead, you could use this moment to shift your reality in such a way as to break the response of negative defeat, and not drink that beer or eat that potentially diabetes-inducing bag of processed food? What if instead, you could envision a different future truth for yourself that enables you to actually achieve it? In working as a coach with thousands of people, I’ve found that vision is a key ingredient of our life purpose. It’s what we see to be possible—not only for ourselves, but also for our families, our communities, and indeed for the world. Without it we perish. Yet our vision oftentimes becomes what we accept is likely rather than what could be possible, and to move beyond that life-limiting framework, we need an opportunity to reawaken a clear vision of a new future for ourselves, including what this new reality looks and feels like, what we will be doing in it, and what we will no longer be doing because those actions are no longer consistent with who we are. In this new place of forward visioning to the outer banks of your purpose, you are able look back to your present reality and discover the gap that exists between where you currently are and where you are destined to be. This gap you are accustomed to, since looking at your entire life from the perspective of the past and present is what you are conditioned to do. But when you
stretch those future visions forward into the visionary reality process, you will no longer stand in the past or present of limited vision—you will stand in the future, in the vision of reality you’ve created, and look back to the present. The view from the future is profoundly different. You will know that it’s possible to close the gap because you will have already done it! This awareness creates a profound and even life-altering shift in perspective. In this new state you are standing on the peak of Mount Everest. You just took the last few steps that september ‘11
brought you to the pinnacle of both the mountain and your life. You raise your arms in the air as you gaze over the most majestic view you have ever seen. The sense of satisfaction, fulfillment, and accomplishment is almost more than you can bear. It’s so strong that it brings tears of joy to your eyes, and you feel your legs weaken as you fall to your knees in a humble prayer of gratitude for the power that made this moment possible. As you kneel there giving thanks, you take a few moments to reflect back to when the seed of this dream was first planted—that evening in your apartment, when you were leafing through the National Geographic. But this time you’re looking back on that moment from the pinnacle of Mount Everest with the goal already accomplished. Can you begin to see how different your perspective would be? You’d be able to see many of the obstacles and
abouttheauthor Since founding Life On Purpose Institute, Inc. in 1996 Dr. Brad Swift has become one of the country’s foremost authorities on personal life purpose, authoring the book, “Life On Purpose: Six Passages to an Inspired Life.” (http://www.lifeonpurpose.com/books) — the first and only how-to book that guides people from confusion to clarity about the most important question: “Who am I and why am I here?” To learn how on or off purpose your life is, take the fun and engaging Self Test: http://www.lifeonpurpose.com/selftest.
roadblocks you had faced and you would know that you had successfully overcome them all. Imagine doing this for a vision that is a true reflection of your life purpose. How powerful would this be? What effect could it have on your life? What contribution to the world would become possible? That is what is available when we use the power of vision to shape our lives while making a difference for others. What is your vision for the world?
What are the obstacles and roadblocks that stand in your way? What would allow you to take the realization of that vision to new heights? What resources do you need to attract to support your vision? What are you waiting for? Excerpted and edited with permission from Life on Purpose: Six Passages to an Inspired Life (Elite Books, 2007) by Dr. Brad Swift. lp
Wake Up and Smell the Excrement By Tracy Saville Far be it for me to be one of those women who can’t keep their trailer park (no offense) mouths out of the gutter. But anyone who knows me knows—sometimes I do wax on the potty mouth side, when it can shake the truth from the trees. And so I want to visit the idea, my brother Mike’s really, of ‘shit happens.” Here we will not repeat that word, but so you know exactly what I mean: I am talking about the metaphorical excrement we can’t seem to lay down or give up that we produce. Our own excrement, or the stuff of our bad habits, dysfunctional behavior, and general refusal to do what is in our own best interests. Also, the stories we tell ourselves about anything that keeps us from seeing another possible reality. Ever hear of the phrase: Same excrement different day? Well, it’s a new day, a new dawn, a new kind of vision for a life without poo. Imagine, if you will, no excrement piled up along your path? What might that look like? In my new book, FallingUp: Exseptember ‘11
traordinary Lives for Everyday People (due out Jan 2012), there is an entire chapter on excrement and how we remove it from our lawns, lives, and psyches. The idea nugget I want to leave you with here is this: What excrement do you know you carry around, but don’t lay down? What is stinking up
your ability to stop and smell the true roses of your life? Go to my blog: The Possibility Place” … and lay your burdens and confessions down at my feet. Or just ponder the question. It is the reveling in our excrement that allows us to know we are ready to be done with it… lp leadingpossibilities
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Intuitively Stirred A conversation with life coach Debra Doyle By Lori Anderson In this, my first feature article about an extraordinary person, my dear friend Debra Doyle was the first person I thought of. A life coach with a rich corporate and professional background, Debra’s specialty is inspiring people to get in touch with their authentic core beliefs and talents, and to live a life centered on what truly inspires them. What makes Debra Doyle extraordinary is how she inspires people utilizing her innate intuitive gifts. Personally speaking, I walk away from every visit with a new nugget of hope or an innovative perspective to try on for size. My rose-colored glasses tint anew with each conversation; I grow in presence and mindfulness every time I see her. I was curious and excited to spend some time interviewing Debra, and to explore her process and share insights that might be helpful to each of us. What process do you use to get to know your clients? Debra: When I first meet someone, I allow him or her to tell me who they are – this is my gift to them. There is no judgment on my part – I take them for who they are at face value. I don’t see their age. I see how they dress, hair color, but I only take it in visually because that gives me clues as to whom they are. People open up and tell me their stories because they sense that I’m a good listener. I’ve often noticed people are drawn to me when they are experiencing what I’ve experienced – it’s as if they somehow know that this has happened to me as well - so I can come from a place of true empathy and compassion. I hold a space for clients while they share their story. I follow the trail as it comes up, letting my intuition take over. My personality is not there, I just go to a higher place to listen from. I call this method heart centered listening – which means I am fully present to 12
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at a glance: debra doyle Debra Doyle, Career/Life Coach, is the founder of Life on a Unicycle. She has an extensive background in business, employee development, hiring, motivating and guiding others to reach their goals. Debra specializes in the MAPP© motivational and career appraisal, the STAR method, and behavioral and panel interview methods. She has a BA from San Jose State University, and is a Certified Job and Career Development/Transition Coach, and Certified Life Purpose and Career Coach from the Life Purpose Institute in San Diego, California. Find Debra @ http://www. lifeonaunicycle.com.
that person - my agenda is nonexistent and I fall away. And as clients share, I sit and listen. Often I confirm back to them and show empathy - validating their thoughts. I listen for clues, like being a detective, and usually a word or piece of info will come through, subconsciously. I don’t offer these insights received unless they say it’s ok to share, so I ask permission. I don’t believe you should share information that could change people’s lives just because you think you know something. It’s important to respect their path, their unique experience. If given permission, I share carefully while reminding the client that they need to decide whether the information is relevant and whether they wish to use it. What tools do you use to help people discover what inspires them? Because each individual is unique, I ask intuitive questions. Intuitive questions are key - I ask the person about points in their story that stand out to me - things that I hear that seem important or are somehow emphasized by tone, inflection, order of words, body language - these are clues that combined with my feelings, provide direction. I’ll get clarification as needed, and then decide how to interpret what they’ve said. Additionally, information gleaned through numerology, tarot cards and life path charts often reveal deep and profound insights that illuminate a completely new path.
How did you realize your intuitive abilities? Life coaching is an art. Intuition is key to optimizing that art and it’s a gift that I’ve been given - I wasn’t taught this, though I think you can learn it. I noticed that this gift showed up when I started being quiet and meditating. I continue to cultivate my intuition with meditation and spiritual studies. What beliefs do you hold that help you to inspire others? I believe in 6 degrees of separation – that we are all connected. And I believe in being in the present moment, that we are all born with the gift of intuition, and that Western culture doesn’t appreciate and cultivate our innate gifts. In the western world, this may sound odd, but it’s perfectly normal in the rest of the world. I think we need to get on board. I believe in always leaving things better than when I found them. If you could give just one piece of advice, what would it be? Be mindful, and when we become mindful, our tempers don’t flare so much. We become calm. We don’t feel that people are out to get us. When we are mindful we learn to understand that people are really just doing the best they can with the information they have at any given moment. We might pay more attention to what’s going on around us. We might be more compassionate. lp september ‘11
mike’s world: life by Michael C.S. Wilson
Simply, the meaning to life is in life itself, although a small structure variation of the letters in the word gives us the real difference. To Live! To meet the emotional content behind the word ‘live’ is to act out our existence in a progressive manor. At a more personal level, for us “civilized beings”, if we take what life throws at us and bend it, shape it, make it our work of art, we can look forward to more experiences of living the internal meaning of our lives. Procreate, appreciate, dominate, whatever you want, it’s your short-lived experience in this life, after all. Karma is real, however, so remember the cause and effect relationship of things… Be a good egg. One thing that we can all agree on: we are always evolving. We, us, you, me, all have an existence that we can control, at least most of the time. So the point of life is to live it. The point of singularity is you! That doesn’t mean be self-centered, it means you have gratitude for yourself, and so you must appreciate! Be a silent watcher in life, for if you don’t see closely enough, you’ll never progress enough to be happy, and if you look too closely you’ll get claustrophobic and caught up with irrelevant nonsense. If you’re not ‘Living’ in this life, you are most definitely dying in it. A poem to illustrate… Silence is louder than the birds chirpingDone with subconscious, No more innocence, As for now I am always here, until death of this life. I hear, I see, I feel, I smell, I taste, everything, anything. Come to me dream, Make my day, Myself is ready for any and all of your ways. Come what may. I live. I die. Peace always resides in me.
changebites “I think that any time you venture outside the status quo you are creating chaos of a sort. Since I tend to live outside the status quo I often feel like I’m living in sort of a slightly organized chaos... sort of like herding spooked cattle, it can be done but it requires unusual skills.” August, 2011, Shane McDaid, Muse Makeovers “The price of confronting our covert selves is unlikely to be much reduced; but the cost of willful ignorance is actually much higher than we admit. If we could get clear about the true price of how our (un-conscious) selves hijack our energies, we might have more reason to confront our internal dynamics.” Dr. Harry Spence, Harvard Business Review, 2010 “Imagining The Future of Leadership” (http://blogs.hbr.org/imagining-the-future-ofleadership/2010/06/nonconscious-leadershipproces.html)
willertisms by Mike Willert Good is an individual state of mind. It’s different for every person. Contentment about one’s direction, a tasty meal, knowing where one’s moral compass is pointed. July, 2011
“I’d like to change my mind. I’d like to change my life. But I can’t even manage to change my underwear…” Unknown
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Lonn Friend: Who is This Dude? By Tracy Saville
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very once in awhile you stumble, if not careen head first into, another human being who changes your life. Lonn Friend is a person like that for me. He didn’t, per se, create a remarkable shift one could see from the outside, like some do, but he did give me license and affirmation to be who I knew I was on the inside, at a time in my life when I needed it the most. I think he would hate my characterization of him, because he sees himself flying so low below the radar of import, and yet on that LA night, in that LA metal club where Forest, a mutual friend and band manager of bands like Red Cortez, took me to show me the inner bowels of the LA music scene, Lonn was not flying so low as to evade my spiritual hormones. I was in the Southland helping some folks plan to end our national dependence on oil (um, I never target small), and trying to come to terms with my inner lifechanger. It was just as I was realizing the depths of my own “asleepness” when Lonn Friend’s Contact Lonn through: path collided with my own. He spoke of chem trails (read his fiction story here), those white mysterious trails jets leave behind their wake– and with what consequence http://www.linkedin.com/pub/ we do not know –and he mused of editing RIP lonn-friend/3/780/91b Magazine in the 1990’s, of Zen and yoga and all things regretful. He told me how his journey was one of getting past the gates of Hell that kept him locked down into a kind of low-fevered 14
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denial of happiness. His inner battle with his own demons were a kind of wake up to my own internal war between who I was and who I kept trying to be. Fast-forward, several years, past a trip to San Francisco to catch him on one of his city walkabouts, and occasional texts back and forth about life, when one day I received a shout out from Lonn. He was on his way to Cleveland to be backstage with Metallica who was going to be inducted into the Music Hall of Fame. I know. My life sucks, too. I giggled like a schoolgirl over the mere thought of his Buddha-like frame and disposition, calmly discussing world events with Lars Ulrich, the infamous drummer and would-be intellect. And I realized that life is about showing up, and it is amazing who will open their backstage doors for you when you do. This is when I finally began to live the outer life that matched the inner me, because Lord knows I don’t want to be the one at the end of my life who only heard about such stories from nascent LA friends, but never tasted the sweetness firsthand. And so I share this re-print of an article that ran in Venice Magazine (with his glorious permission) not because it is for Lonn Friend, my friend –though you must run out and buy his book Sweet Demotion— it’s just for me I run this piece, so utterly and entirely out of pure selfishness. Because underneath everything I am or was, or will evolve toward that I cannot yet see, there beats the throbbing heart of a head banging rock and roll lover who knows a fellow traveler when I see him, who I know will inspire the same in you. To have him here, in my first magazine issue, as a publisher, is to mark the moment when our first collision sparked the journey of a lifetime. Good soul hunting, Lonn Friend, my friend. May every future sweet demotion bring you a promotion you didn’t see coming. lp september ‘11
Lonn Friend’s Sweet Demotion A writer’s trek through the sacred and profane of rock and roll Lonn Friend flew high on journalistic success, found discontent and career descent as a corporate VP, and discovered a spiritual groove in the aftermath. “When my career was at its peak,” the music writer recalls, “on any given week or month I would be traveling with a rock band. I had access to the pantheon of high-volume, multi-platinum noisemakers.” As editor of RIP Magazine from 1987 to 1994, Friend chronicled the mayhem of the heavymetal era. He gave Guns N’ Roses their first cover story and documented the making of Metallica’s Black Album, one of the top-selling records of all time. He flew on chartered jets with Kiss, Axl Rose, and Slash, had a spot called “Friend at Large” on MTV’s “Headbanger’s Ball,” and hosted a nationally syndicated radio show called “Pirate Radio Saturday Night.” With the fans as his priority, “I demanded exclusive photo shoots, which was unheard of for a metal magazine,” he relates. “I wanted them to look like heroes and ran double-page openings to articles, so it was eye-popping. And this is a Beatles kid who’s now greenlighting articles on Slayer and Carcass.” With his family in mind, Friend departed RIP, a property of Larry Flynt Publications, for a lucrative yet ill-fated position as an A&R vice president at Arista Records.When his three-year stint came to a close in 1998, Friend found himself in an emotional and financial funk. Gigs like editor-in-chief at streaming radio station KNAC. com, and product manager at Interscope, where he worked with Peter Gabriel during the label’s reorganization, came and went. As he hustled for work and struggled to find direction, Friend’s perspective shifted toward yoga and meditation. “While you’re falling apart,” he explains, “another part of what makes you who you are is coming together.” He moved to Las Vegas to write his first book, Life on Planet Rock (2006), an in-depth recollection of his RIP days, while freelancing for several local magazines, with “every dime I made going to my kid and keeping her in school, because my daughter, Megan, is the most
important creature, ever, in my life,” he says with a broad smile. Friend’s new memoir, Sweet Demotion, sets insightful narrative and flowing meditations on music alongside racy tales of decadence and excess after dark. Dubbed “rock & roll’s Forrest Gump” by comedian Patton Oswalt in the book’s opening pages, Friend has surrendered to Carl Jung’s concept of synchronicity, which has led him into all sorts of serendipitous adventures. His affinity for the number 11, for instance, bonded him with a Kundalini yoga practitioner, who on November 11, 1999 asked Friend to follow him into a garden to be a witness at the wedding of Carrie- Anne Moss and Steven Roy, which the guru officiated at 11:11 A.M.When Friend told this story to Rufus Wainwright just before a show, the singer suggested he tell it to Elton John, who was sitting nearby, which resulted in Friend and the legendary pop pianist’s chatting about The Who. “That story is a microcosm of how you can turn your own life events, as weird as they are, into prose,” remarks Friend, who closes his book with the several weeks he spent with Steven Tyler as they edited the Aerosmith frontman’s autobiography. “I keep having these life experiences, and if you don’t write about them, then why did you have them?” submits the rock scribe. “Why did the universe permit you these moments of chaos and clarity and anecdote? I hope that however off the path the book may seem at times, it’s still meant to connect the fan to a closer experience with the music. I’ve had extraordinary access, and if you’re given a place that close to the fire, then tell people about it.Tell people about it with reverence and color!” Sweet Demotion: How an Almost Famous Rock Journalist Lost Everything and Found Himself (Almost) is available at amazon.com.This inset article and photograph (opposite page) has been re-printed with Friend’s permission and originally appeared in www.venicemag.com, August, 2011. Article by Andrew Fish. Photography by Brian Lowe. leadingpossibilities
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A Great Place to Find Change: Moss Beach Distillery By Tracy Saville
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e all need to go away sometimes to find ourselves again so we can survive or create change. This haven among the California Pacific Coast is a gem. There I kicked off my shoes and sat to ponder all things change. Excerpted from Moss Beach Distillery (mossbeachdistillery.com). During Prohibition, the San Mateo Coast was an ideal spot for rum running, bootleggers and “speakeasies,” establishments that sold illegal booze to thirsty clients. One of the most successful speakeasies of the era was “Frank’s Place” on the cliffs at Moss Beach. Built by Frank Torres in 1927, “Frank’s” became a popular nightspot for silent film stars and politicians from the City. Mystery writer Dashiell Hammett frequented the place and used it as a setting for one of his detective stories. The restaurant, located on the cliff, above a secluded beach was a perfect location to benefit from the clandestine activities of Canadian rumrunners. Under cover of darkness and fog, illegal whiskey was landed on the beach, dragged up a steep cliff and loaded into waiting vehicles for transport to San Francisco. Some of the booze always found its way into
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the garage beneath “Frank’s Place.” Frank Torres used his excellent political and social connections to operate a highly successful, if illegal, business. Unlike many of the other speakeasies along the coast, “Frank’s Place” was never raided. “Frank’s Place” now called THE MOSS BEACH DISTILLERY still retains its spectacular view and secluded location above the ocean coves. The Distillery also retains one of “Frank’s” former customers, as well. Its resident ghost, “The Blue Lady” still haunts the premises, trying to recapture the romance and excitement of “Frank’s” speakeasy years. Some even say you can still see her footprints… lp
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Promoting a Vibe of Optimism at Work By Shawn Murphy
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e often read about the traits and perceptions of optimistic or pessimistic people, but what about optimism as a mood—within a team, or as an environment inside a company? Defined this way, optimism is a vibe, or tone, that invites the safe exploration of possibility, innovation, invention, and collaboration. Employees at all levels believe they are encouraged to contribute their ideas. Employees believe their contribution has meaning to the company, for its customers, for their own goals. What if, however, an employee is a pessimist by nature? Is it possible for a pessimist to create an optimistic mood in her team? I say it is, providing she purposely aligns the intent with specific behavioral actions. Whether your inclination is to see the glass half-full or not, creating an optimistic vibe for your team to work isn’t about preference. It’s about doing what’s needed to support employees’ abilities to contribute their best. When we fully embrace this distinction, we begin to see ways to promote a vibe of optimism at work, within teams. A Few Ideas of What’s Needed
Fascination. Helping to create an optimistic mood requires leaders to be curious about improvement, advancing products, services. Fascination doesn’t september ‘11
abouttheauthor Shawn Murphy, CEO of Achieved Strategies, is an optimist. He believes anything is possible. It shows up in all his interactions and in his work. He is committed to transform how leaders connect with their people, inspire change, create value for the company’s customers, and grow the business rooted in partnership. He stands for: Preparing leaders to make a difference in the lives of those they lead; Guiding leaders to cause inspired change and transformation by balancing a fierce focus on the business’s strategy and operations with a relentless passion for caring about and engaging people; Designing solutions that cause business results to go beyond the limitations of past efforts; and Accelerating change forward by helping people get “unstuck” from beliefs and assumptions that no longer work for them.Visit him at his website AchievedStrategies.com, or for more information his toll free number is 888-361-5181.
subscribe to the “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” belief. For some it’s the allure of “What if,” and “Why not” that contributes to a mood of optimism. Volume. Let me wax poetic here: stoking the embers of optimism requires encouraging leadership. It needs to be visible. It needs to be real. It needs to be genuine. Turn up the volume in your actions that encourage others to
contribute, to explore, to create. Be careful, though, of going overboard. Camaraderie. Have you ever felt the surge of support when working with a team that enjoys working together. It’s contagious, right? Camaraderie is possible even under a pessimistic leader. When teams support and cover for each other, they learn to trust the support structure that allows them to contribute their talents. Optimism is best created by engaging and encouraging others to get their fingerprints on the company: When we lead employees to make a difference, we go a long way to creating more than just optimism; we create successful breeding grounds for profit, deep satisfaction among employees, and a culture of positivism as a way of being. lp Shawn’s Blog http:// achievedstrategies.com/blog/why-youwant-inspired-work-relationships leadingpossibilities
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yourpurpose&career Being of Service Without Being Depleted By Shay Wheat
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ne of my passions is to be of service and to help others. I am the shoulder you can lean on, the helping hand, or just the ear people need sometimes. I volunteer my time, talents and treasures to those who ask and I live from the principal of “what you send out is what you get back tenfold.” But it hasn’t always been so easy. There was a time I gave until it hurt. I had to learn the balance. In my world, I have a team, clients and business partners who rely on me to train and assist them to achieve the next level in this “game we call life.” When I found I hit a wall of too much, being an entrepreneur and constantly working to improve myself, personally as well as professionally, I picked up and reviewed a few of my books sitting on the shelves. I read in bed, pitiful as I was, and pulled out “Old Faithful”, my most favorite book to this day: “You Can Heal Your Life” by Louise Hay. As I flipped towards the back of the book, looking up my overwhelmed ailments, and writing them down along with the probable cause, a new thought pattern began to emerge, also known as an affirmation. I began journaling these new thought patterns, pairing them with other affirmations, or “I Am” statements, for things that I desired for my life. Here is what I discovered: I am happy, healthy and irresistible. I am filled with creative energy. I am now enjoying financial prosperity. I live in a prosperous and abundant environment where everyone flourishes. I express myself freely, fully and easily. I am Lucky. I am always connected with my inner essence.
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abouttheauthor Shay Wheat is an entrepreneur, philanthropist, and sought after speaker and trainer who specializes in self-esteem, posture, leadership and appreciation marketing. Her training revolves around personal growth and development as well as creating results. Shay’s drive to empower young professionals of the Gen Y and Millennial Generations is a true passion, and she was recently published in the International Magazine, “Networking Times” (May 2011). She is also the founding president of Elevate YPO, a group that empowers young professionals to thrive in the business world through education, philanthropy, mentoring, entrepreneurship and networking, has received a number of awards which include, but are not limited to,Women in Bizness Award, Ambassador of the year,Who’s Who of Business Professionals and a number of other company specific awards. She is a member of the Citrus Heights Chamber of Commerce. Connect w/Shay on Facebook.
I read my affirmations everyday along with some other type of personal development tools, either an audio book in my car when driving or 30 minutes of reading at home on business skills. Every once and awhile I have an urge to bring out the journal and just write, about life, a dream I had, a situation…the simple act of getting it out of my body and onto paper not only allows me to release the need to constantly replay the situation over in my head, but it also allows me to process through and come up with an answer to my current problems. Eventually I hired a holistic/spiritual coach because it wasn’t just about business. I came to the realization that why I got sick was from giving too much without replenishing or feeding myself. It was all the universe’s way of letting me know “heal thy self.” Today, I am consciously aware of filling myself up first before I can give and serve others. Similar to when on an airplane and during the safety briefing they say “should there be a loss in cabin pressure, put the mask on you first before assisting others.” Light bulb moment! That phrase makes so much more sense to me now. Other ways I have found to fill your
bucket or put the mask on you: • Read and or listen to inspirational and motivational books, speeches, seminars, audio books, and magazines. • Connect with other like-minded people or those who are where you want to “be.” • Hire a coach or spiritual leader. • Journal, write poems, create art, do something creative. • Exercise the body as well as the mind. • Do things that are outside your box that in return makes your box that much bigger. Since implementing these things into my life, I have seen a dramatic shift. Now I am a catalyst for growth. I am a source of inspiration to others. I lead by example. I am living a miraculous life. I easily and effortlessly hold higher levels of vibration. I train others to believe in themselves, pursue their dreams and take action. I plant seed of hope in people’s lives daily. I am loved, loveable and loving. I am whole and complete. I am compensated exceptionally well for living my truth. I am excited for each new day for the joy it will bring. I am always provided for. It can happen to you. lp september ‘11
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Focus on What Matters By Tim Saville
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et’s just say the last four years were not kind to the construction industry, or very few industries for that matter. That said, I am optimistic that the next two years are going to be the foundation for the next decade. I’d like to share a few thoughts from my own experience in construction leadership that bears consideration for every industry: Focus on What Matters-focus on the right people and customer service for those few customers you still have. Now is the time to hire or leverage key individuals, get creative and step up customer service. Company culture and forward-thinking leadership are going to separate the successful from the unsuccessful. Sit down with your key individuals and brainstorm with the absurd to the practical, take a look: who is your audience? Dissect the market; find out if customer needs are being met and if there are additional or unconventional alliances that could be made. Now is the time to be proactive. I grew up in the town of Lincoln, California, a suburb of Sacramento. In 2007, Forbes.com listed Lincoln as “America’s Fastest-Growing Suburb” with an increase of 236% from 2000 to 2006. The Sacramento region had four of the top 100 fastest growing suburbs nationally. Needless to say, all of Northern California was a hotbed for new construction with tens of thousands of homes being built within a very short time. As 2008 ended and 2009 began, it was very apparent that we all were in a deep recession, bordering on a depression…perhaps the worst in eight decades. Several national organizations came to the Sacramento region to grab a piece of the homebuilding-boom pie, but they all september ‘11
abouttheauthor Tim is Co-CEO of T2 Performance Solutions, CEO of North State Lumber, and General Manager of General Truss Company. He has a proven track record of turn-around success and leading change in a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous economic climate, having been a successful leader among Northern California building and construction industries during our region’s most volatile up and down economies. Tim’s leadership success is demonstrated through quality, customer service and innovative strategic business alliances. Additionally, Tim is a master at creating cohesive teams, creating and implementing strategies engaging and leveraging people’s strengths, and defining and managing corporate cultures based on sustainable core values. More about Tim can be found at: www.t2ps.com.
Within one of those deep-pocketed companies that downsized dramatically, I heard a leader repeatedly tout that “no one in our organization wears shorts.” have left. So why did so many companies with very deep pockets leave? Why did so many local companies decide to pack their bags and call it quits? Was this a regional slow-down? Was this a national situation? Did we overbuild and is construction dead for the next five years? Or did these organizations take their eye off the ball? Did these organizations skate through life due to their size and fail to develop a strategic plan to get them through the next five years? Were these organizations blind or arrogant? Within one of those deep-pocketed companies that downsized dramatically, I heard a leader repeatedly tout that “no one in our organization wears shorts.” What? Are you serious? REALLY? In 2009, shouldn’t this company have been focusing on how to build its business, taking care of its customers/ employees, and trying not to cut any jobs? In California during the summer it may get as warm as 110 degrees. Within our company we implemented
“golf-course” attire. This doesn’t mean we wear shorts for every business occasion; we dress appropriately for the business situation. It would surprise no one to find out this anti-short company lost about 70% market share since 2009. Good thing they were focused on shorts. In 2008, I polled five of the area’s top framing contractors, whose combined total of houses built for the previous year exceeded 5,000. I asked them three questions: 1) If our staff wore shorts, would it affect your price? 2) If our staff wore shorts, would it affect our service? 3) If our staff wore shorts, would it affect the quality of our product? The answer to all three of questions was, of course, NO! Let’s all hope that homebuilding makes a strong recovery, that those of us who know our shorts from our profit margins, stay in the game long enough to make all those non-short wearing companies realize their “short” comings. Our shared economic situation dictates that and we capitalize the strengths of our organizations and our people as opposed to falling prey to the weaknesses of shortsighted leadership. Change is the new norm, and we need to embrace the reality of what is important. We need not to be short-sided about what isn’t. lp leadingpossibilities
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leadingmarketplaceproviders http://www.t2ps.com/thepossibilityplace/publications.html
A music & ar ts church in Midtown Sacramento, gathering to discover the connection with God through the creative process.
L O C AT I O N :
Mulvaney's B & L Restaurant Next Door L St. & 19th St. Sacramento, CA — Ever y Sunday 11:00 am
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anotherlookatraphael
Left, Downpour, 2008 Above, Head of the Defeated
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marketplacecont’d tochange… “Change before you have to.” — Jack Welch “People don’t resist change. They resist being changed!” — Peter Senge “Never believe that a few caring people can’t change the world. For, indeed, that’s all who ever have.” — Margaret Mead “I put a dollar in one of those change machines. Nothing changed.” — George Carlin “The rate of change is not going to slow down anytime soon. If anything, competition in most industries will probably speed up even more in the next few decades.” —John Kotter
shay.wheat@yahoo.com.
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marketplacecont’d
Want to play? contributors: We are always looking for experts in human science and professional leadership/management fields to profile AND to carry as featured guest writers. Currently we are also looking for regular contributors in our departments (mind, body, spirit, family, career, purpose, lifestyle, and human science).
want to sport your stuff and have opening for feature and regular photogs who want mag credits and to build their stunning portfolio.
artists: We want to feature your work. Wherever you see art or the opportunity for your art to be seen, we can make room. In our magazine, among our web pages, on our growing fanpage, as an integral advertiser, we want to expose extraordinary talent to the world. We don’t pay for coverage, but we will tout you, help spread the good word about you, and profile you in our magazine. photographers: Ditto to the artist details above, but if you have a yen to have a cover photo carried on a regular top magazine? We
marketplaceadvertisers: We carry advertisements from integrity marketplace providers – this means if we know, tasted, wore, attended, used, experienced, or generally get to see your extraordinary-ness up close and personal and can attest to the integrity you provide, we will carry you in our marketplace section of our magazine and online in our resource community. For no cost, as long as you promote our magazine to your customers, we will reciprocate. You can choose to go the route of paying to advertise, and rates are available by contacting us here: info@t2ps.com. Still, we must know or get to know you to offer you up as a trusted provider or product.
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Be Like Water: Be Like Artstream Sharing a very cool couple of designers, friends, human beings, and fellow travelers who have learned how to flow like water against life’s rocks. They are the principle designers of T2 Performance Solution’s website www.t2ps.com, are building the new online resource community The Possibility Place, and generally make it possible for their clients, family, and friends to exist in a place of complete humor, love, expert guidance, and self-deprecation. They love wine, work, wandering, whatever walks in their door with a smile, and never disappoint. Creative, spot on with the latest technology and design wizardry for web worlds. We love Artstream. You should, too. Find them at www.artstream.biz.
About ‘Millenium Scepter’ The Millennium Scepter, by Raphael Delgado, 2011. To be unveiled October 20, 2011 at The BIG Party in Sacramento when Delgado is recognized as the Great Art Transformer. This piece also encompasses all that T2 Performance Solution’s work uncovers in each of us: the complex, vibrant, fascinating and ever-evolving extraordinary self. This is the face of Humanology.™ at work in the human race. A Humansolutionist(TM) is one who is a human performance widget, a practitioner of Humanology(TM), the mastered art and science of self-actualized, high performing, emotionally intelligent, and deeply satisfying human experience. 24
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BIG Party October 20th — Sacramento Celebrating Transformative Art & Business Leaders T2 Performance Solutions would like to thank Sacramento and our friends, colleagues, and partners for their extraordinariness. We will be unveiling details in the coming weeks about a very special, exclusive event to thank and honor you when we host The Big Party 2011 at Mulvaney’s “Next Door” on October 20th from 5pm to 10 pm. We will honor emerging leaders in the arts, business, and local community of our River City, people who are demonstrating transformational leadership excellence as only Northern Californians can! The comedy styling of Brian Diamond, Clemon Charles and Mike Wilson’s latest music project, red carpet finery, great food and drink, and an art-filled evening, highlighting local authors, artists, businesses, thought leaders, change agents, and movers and shakers. Nominate a person for Transformer in one of these areas through one of these channels: Tracy@t2ps.com or (916) 717-3250. www.t2ps.com for the latest on the BIG Party… For more information on Sacramento events during Artober visit sacramento365.com.
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