Moving from success to significance……a question many of us should answer

September 3, 2010

I often hear “experts” talking about separating your business from your personal life.  In some respects this makes sense, especially after you leave your business, but in others it never seems to work.

Private business owners often feel guilty when they don’t separate the two.  The problem with this is many private business owners, myself included think about their business more than eight hours a day.  It’s not something we put to bed when we walk out the door of our business.

In our connected world it’s easier for us to carry our work home with us.  Between laptop computers and distributed storage for our files it’s incredibly easy to continue working at home after the regular work day or on the weekend.  More than once I’ve meant to spend fifteen minutes on something and emerge four hours later having moved from project to project.

When we sell our business or move on to another stage in our life it’s then we have to make sure we have something to fill our time.  The phone stops ringing, people stop asking us for our advice and we become a non-person in the industry that we left.  For many, again including myself this can be or is an issue as much for our ego and feeling of self-worth as it is for how we spend our time.

If we’re not ready for the “exile” that happens when we leave our business the adjustment can be very difficult.  The what’s next question is an important one that needs to be answered.  If not, before you leave your business, then shortly afterwords as you’re trying to figure out how to spend your time.  There really is only so much golf that can be played.

There’s an organization called Halfetime that can help with many who have had successful careers, sold their business and are trying to figure out what’s next.  They help successful people move from the financial success they may have had to significance for how you spend your time.  The move to the second half of your life is one if done properly can provide a great deal of satisfaction.  I encourage you to give them a look and let me know what you think.

Josh Patrick

I encourage all comments to my blog.  I’m always interested in what readers are thinking about the topics I write about.

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Is small descrete steps better than taking giant ones?

August 29, 2010

I think I’ve finished the writing for our new web site.  Now I have to make sure that in fact, I have finished the writing, get the web designers to finish their final work and ship the product off to our compliance department and let them make their comments.  If all goes well I’ll be able to announce our new web site going live sometimes towards the end of September.

I realized this project has been going on for about four months and I’ve not written or talked much about it.  In fact, I’m just now sending out links to those I want to get comments back from about the new site and what their thoughts are.  The good news is that for the most part, the comments have been pretty good.  Although, one of my friends has let me know that it looks like a typical insurance or investment site with nothing interesting.

That comment started an interesting conversation.

My belief is that if we can help people narrow their focus and look at one or two ideas that interest them, there is a higher probability they will do something about it.  If instead, we have an adviser focused site where we talk about comprehensive planning instead of tactical planning, we’ll get people who might be interested, but are not likely to take action.

When a project or an idea has a finite level to it, people are likely to do something about the idea.  When there appears to be no end, it just feels like too much work.  The idea with our new website is to have each area have many finite roads someone can go down.  This does two things, it helps focus attention and it allows the participant to see where the end is.  My belief is that both are going to help us help our Clients take control of their situation, be the experts at what they want and as a result, their life might get better.  And, that is our goal……..helping our Clients make their life better.

Josh Patrick

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You never know unless you ask

August 27, 2010

Our local hospital and health megaplex is a teaching hospital.  In most specialties they assign a Fellow to work with you and the Fellow works with an attending to make sure they’re doing the right thing.  This means that you might have a different attending looking at the Fellow’s recommendations and not really know anything about your case.

I’ve been having problems with high blood sugar as a result of taking Prednisone (a steroid) and have been working on getting it under control for a few months now.  About six weeks ago I went to the Diabetes Clinic at the hospital and was assigned a Fellow to follow through.  I’ve been there for two appointments and had different attending physicians make the call on what I should be doing.  The problem with this is they have different ideas and came up with different treatment plans.

It’s now almost four weeks later and my blood sugar is still not under control.  The issue seems to be a little thorny and a few days ago I decided that I wanted an attending physician who understands Prednisone induced diabetes.  I wanted a doctor who can actually figure out what’s going on and come up with a reasonable treatment plan that has a chance of working.

I decided to call the clinic and ask to have the doctor patient relationship changed.  I asked if it’s possible to have an attending be the person I see and if they want to have a Fellow involved to have them shadow the doctor and not be the primary physician.  Low and behold, I was told that this was no problem and I’ve now been assigned a doctor who hopefully understands the issues I’m facing.

So, the moral of this story as with most health care stories is that you must be your own advocate.  If you can’t be your own advocate, then you better have someone who can.  Otherwise, you’ll just get twisted around and around by the system.

Josh Patrick

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More thoughts on community

August 24, 2010

The wedding couldn’t have been better.  Alexa and Rob are now married and both are more than happy.

The community that was the wedding attendees and supporters has now moved on as this was a temporary community, or at least the entire group was a temporary community.  And, it was a very successful community.

So now I’m thinking about what makes a successful community versus a community that doesn’t work very well.  It seems to me that successful community leaders (in this case Rob and Alexa) think about what they want and how they want their community to look.  They also think about the people who they are inviting to the community and how they can all mix well together.

In the case of our wedding community there was a great deal of thought on the part of Rob and Alexa what they event would look like, who would be invited and who would be placed with whom.  They thought about food, flowers, decor and music.  They thought about what would make them happy and then invited people they thought would buy into their vision of a great wedding.

I think it might be the buy into the vision part of the weekend that made for a great event/community.  That’s also true for what some might call a real community.  Unless there is vision and buy-in, it’s hard to have a community that’s successful.  Just throwing people together in a hap hazard manner doesn’t make for great communities.  In fact, it often results in chaos, and dysfunctional communities.

That’s one of the problems with our Country.  We have so many competing ideas and thoughts for how communities should run and we have significant differences in the different geographic parts of our Country that forming a community that’s called the United States is very difficult.  The same is true in larger organizations.  Those with tens of thousands of employees have a hard time with community unless the company has thought about and worked very hard to get buy-in from the stakeholders around some organizing principle.

The more I think about community, the more I think that it’s up to the leaders to provide vision and then only let those who adopt that vision to join.  Otherwise, community is going to be difficult to achieve and we have to work towards peaceful co-existence.  Peaceful co-existence in many cases is fine, it’s just not community and won’t have the power of community.

That’s why the vision thing is so important.

Josh Patrick

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Let’s think about a new way of organizaing our companies

August 20, 2010

I just finished reading Daniel Pink’s most recent book Drive.  This is one of those books that is good to read whether you agree with him or not.

His thesis is that we work better with more enthusiasm when are allowed to control how we do our work.  I think that thought makes sense.  Today we work more in a conceptual world than we do in a manufacturing or agrarian world.  In the conceptual world tight control over employees and partners is counter productive.  The more controls we put in place, the less creative our work becomes.

There is a move towards allowing people to spend up to twenty percent of their time working on any project they desire.  I like this idea.  It gives people working with us the chance to learn, spread their wings and take more responsibility for their work experience.

This idea is a tough one for first generation entrepreneurs who thing and want to control everything in their business.  Letting our employees and co-workers have more freedom about how they do their work can be a daunting experiment.  Many times we feel that if we don’t tightly control what’s going on, the wheels will come off our business.  Pink would say, that is actually the opposite.  The more tightly we control conceptual work, the more likely bad things will happen.

The research shows that what we do in managing most companies is the opposite of what we should do if we want high performing organizations.  And, in fact many of the companies I respect and enjoy doing business with the most have adopted strategies that allow employees to choose how, where and when they will do their work.

I strongly suggest that you take the time to read the book yourself.  If nothing else, it’ll cause you to think about your role as a manager or owner.

Josh Patrick

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We really do need medical coordination

July 11, 2010

I’ve been out of pocket for a few days.  Three weeks ago when my cancer toxicities started to kick up I was put on all sorts of drugs.  Unfortunately, some of them were tapered at a rate that was too quick.  Along with the taper, I manged to get a case of pneumonia.  All of this was going on while I was trying to work full time.

I thought I could stay at 60% work and 40% cancer world, but that wasn’t possible.  So, right now I’m 90% out of pocket and 10% ready and willing to do things that I used to think of as “normal”.  I also understand that I have to get used to this as a reality from time to time while we try to regulate my body.

With all the conversation going on around medial care, I thought this would be a great topic for a blog post.

Right now I have four different health care providers taking care of me.  As of this date, there has not been a coordinated phone call about me.  When I first started down the cancer road a couple of years ago I thought there would be pretty good coordination between all of the docs.  I was wrong.  In fact, it seems most of the time, they glance at your records as they pass their desk, but unless the issue you are working with them on is in their specialty, they don’t have any real interest.

We could save tons of money in our medical care system and get a much better outcome is we had intelligent people coordinating complicated processes……Especially after the supposed “cure” is done.  In my case, the coordination while going through treatment was pretty good.  The different docs talked when they had to and my case was presented to a clinical trial board on a semi-regular case.

The challenge in my own particular case is that since the treatment has ended, the oversight that went with my case has also pretty much ended.  It’s no up to me to coordinate something i have little skill in doing.  The challenge becomes who to talk to about what and where to raise a stink when things are going well.

I’ve also been having about 50% of the problems after chemo than before chemo.  And, some of the issues are keeping me from being sharp at work.

It’s the not being sharp at work that has had me down.  I’m used to having my brain work two or three steps ahead of where we’re going.  At different parts of the day my brain is now two three steps behind where the conversation is going.  We are working on this issue because it’s drug related, but it might take a little bit of time for everything to catch up again.

The healing touch person has suggested that I let my body cool down  That means I have to step back, eat cooling foods and do activities that don’t add to the natural fire in my body.  This is a challenge for me.  I’m used to spending my time charging ahead.  Now I’m having to use my body in reflection and get some balance back.

For me the bottom line is I’ll have to take a step back for at least a few weeks and see if balance returns…..that is a balance that i’ve never really had in my life.

Josh Patric

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Is choice really a good thing?

July 6, 2010

Choice, it sounds so wonderful.  I’m coming to the conclusion that choice just gets in our way.  The more choice we have, the easier procrastination becomes and the less we actually get accomplished.

I need to get some sympathy cards.  When I put that choice in Google, I get back over 450,000 choices for sympathy cards alone.  The only thing this accomplished was a total paralysis around which cards and which site to use.  I’m thinking I would be better off to just write a note and forget about the choices I have available to me.

The same is true with designing a new web site.  Again, the amount of choice we have is sending me into a paralytic shock for what the options are.  And, again, I’m looking at a huge amount of time being spent on things that add little or no value to what my purpose in life is.

I think we don’t need more choice, we need less and better choices.  The question becomes who decides what’s better and which ones we need.  This is where the conundrum around this issue exists.  The choices that exist are for the billions of people who really don’t know what to do.  And, those people continue to look until they make a decision which can be overturned on a moments notice.

For me, the bottom line is I’m confused.

Josh Patrick

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More on mind maps and presenting complicaed processes

June 27, 2010

I’ve been thinking about the changes we’ve made in communicating with our Clients over the past couple of years.

My buddy Nate Sachs has reminded me that our Clients don’t like complexity and they don’t like activities that take a long time.  I’ve been coming to the same conclusion over the past year and have taken what I think are good steps to deal with both issues.

I believe that our Clients are interested in the following things:

  • Staying in control of their own situation and be the team leader.
  • Not have meetings that drag on forever.
  • Have a method of seeing our suggestions that show the connections.
  • Have us ask questions more than give answers, meaning work from their point of view not ours.
  • Be allowed to choose what they want to work on.

Our solution for communicating a complicated solution is to provide our Clients with a mind map that integrates all the activities they think are important.  As we go through the mind map, we ask them to choose which activities and strategies they have the interest and or time to work on.  These choices are things the Client has indicated they have an interest in doing through our interview process.  We keep the mind map as a strategic tool and over time we start to fill in the boxes at the Clients convenience.

This often means that we aren’t doing all the things we think the Client should do, but we are moving in a direction that supports what the Client wants done.  Using a mind mapping tool to present this information allows us to use one page.  We find the visual representation of the work we do not only simplifies the process in the Clients mind, but shows them all of the things that we are doing behind the scenes.

Our Clients often forget that there is work that must be done when they’re not around.  They can give us assignments and then if we’re good they can forget about it until we’ve kicked some tires and thought about possible solutions.  When we get together with our Clients we can use a mind map to easily allow our Clients to make choices that will make their life better.  And, after all isn’t that the point?

Josh Patrick

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Limited energy, think about using mind maps to help with manageing projects

June 23, 2010

Because of my medical issues that appeared last week I’m once again able to only work limited hours every day.  When I go on this limited schedule I find that I must focus on only the important things on my to do list and projects.  I’m finding that I have to post-pone or just not do activities that sounded good at the time.

I would like to have unlimited energy and be able to work a full day but pneumonia is one of those diseases that won’t allow me to do so.  Last time I tangled with this beast was over twenty years ago and it took months before I was fully able to resume all the things I was doing before I had it.  I’m hoping that this time will be different but I’m planning a reduced schedule.

A reduced schedule means that I can only give one or two people a day my full attention on either a phone conference or personal meeting.  The rest of the time I have to prepare so I don’t forget anything and or put together agendas for meetings and follow through after the meeting with turning my meeting notes into mind maps.

I find that if there are many moving parts to a meeting or a project it helps to use a mind map as a method of communicating the entire project to both myself and others who are working with me.

The Clients I’m working with just don’t like to read long reports.  I do find that when I turn lineal notes into a mind map the comprehension and enthusiasm about doing a full project is much larger.  I’m able to lay out all of the steps and then leave the ordering of those steps to the Clients or with other members of our team.  I find it a liberating experience to not have to roll the boulder up the hill by myself.  Using a mind map allows me to share that burden.

This entry was going to be about having limited energy and how I manage that.  Now, it’s morphed into a conversation about mind maps.  I guess I’ve done both……using mind maps helps me manage my energy and keep everyone on the same page with little effort.  Now that I’ve identified this it’s time to put my thoughts into actions, even with limited energy I should be able to do this.

Josh Patrick

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Posted by stage2

Integrating our firm’s name and purpose

June 20, 2010

I’ve been thinking about the integration of our firm’s name along with our mission statement.  I’ve realized that making our Clients lives better really starts as a Stage 2 and moves into a Stage 3 activity more than a Stage 1 activity.

Stage 1 is about doing the right things that allow you to move into Stage 2.  For example, Stage 1 on a personal level is about putting basic risk and savings instruments in place.  Stage 2 on a personal level is about finding the right investment options as well as taking advantage of different ways or making those investments.

On the business front, Stage 1 is about the tactical issues that will allow your business to grow and prosper.  We can think about Stage 2 issues while we’re in the start up phase of a business, but we’re not likely to be able to do very much about those strategic issues until the tactical part of our business is in good shape.  With a business owner Client Stage 2 is about value building and putting activities in place that will dramatically grow the value of the business.

Stage 2 activities are where we can help build significant value and make our Clients lives better.  Stage 1 is preparing to make our Clients lives better by having the appropriate activities in place and are being acted on.  Stage 3 is harvesting the good work that we’ve done in Stage 2 which is also about making our Clients lives better.

Just because your fifty years or older doesn’t automatically make your a Stage 2 or 3 Client.  In fact, many of the people we meet are always five years away from moving to the next stage are Stage 1 Clients.  These people need the basics put in place either for their business or for themselves.

I find it almost impossible to jump right to stage 2 or 3 without having the basics in place.  For some people the work of putting Stage 1 activities in place is just too much.  For this group of people it’ll almost be impossible for us to help make their life better.  Making our Client’s lives better really is about having the ability to take advantage of opportunities.  Until the basics are in place, taking advantage of those opportunities is often not possible.

When we integrate our firm’s name along with our firm’s purpose we have better interactions with our Clients and can provide better service for those who choose to work with us.

Josh Patrick

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