A Sample of Our Twisted Style

Are you ready to bring "awesome" back? We are. Take a peek.



I must thank Joe Moore for the marvelous editing he did on this video and David Bremner of 3DB Productions for taking the video and staying to listen to the whole show. Should you have the need to do some RealVideo work, he's got a knack for it with a specialty in architectural & real estate videography.

A Bailout by Any Other Name?

I love capitalism, or at least the theory of it. I really believe that a competitive market creates better products, for the most part. I worry about the indirect costs that aren't taken into account in unregulated capitalism. For instance, employers that pay their workers too little to eat properly, who then get sick and can't afford health care and end up needing public assistance. The company makes more money, but the community ends up contributing to their profit margin. But every system has flaws when it's implemented by human beings.

These recent bailouts have got me thinking. There's a lot of anti-socialism rhetoric out there, at least when it comes to feeding the hungry. But big business bail outs seem to be all the rage. We are talking about saving the auto industry. (Even though they've had over 30 years since the LAST oil crisis and didn't take that as a spur to increase production of fuel efficient vehicles.) I can understand the desire to avert massive layoffs. It's scary out there and we teeter on the edge of fear. I'm glad I'm not making those decisions because I doubt anyone really knows what's going to happen.

But let's have a non-profit bail out! All the grassroots, tiny organizations that struggle to meet their bills are going to be hit hard in this economic situation. And they never take private jets, anywhere. They recycle paper, use duct tape to hold equipment together, and have incredibly complicated ways of making things work, in order to save themselves money. 5% of what's been spent on all the big business could be used to bailout most of the smaller nonprofits in the country. Keeping the income steady for the employees will increase their ability to serve the under-served, who are likely to grow in this climate. And they will be able to continue to purchase things and keep the economy flowing in these tough times.

What do you think?

The Untapped Potential in Your Organization

On November 4th Barack Obama accepted his victory as the 44th presidents and said in his speech that this proved that “a government of the people, by the people, and for the people has not perished from the Earth.”

Well a nation of the people, by the people and for the people, can no longer afford to treat its people as it has been. We are not a melting pot, and none of us desire to create a nation filled with people who all look, act and speak the same. We are a nation of differences and those differences are what make us the powerful, noble, unbeaten entity that we are. For when India thinks of hating us, we are her people too. When Korea wants to attack us, we are her people too. When Canada wishes were not her neighbors, we are her people too.

There is not a country, republic, or island on this beautiful planet that we have not served as a haven of hope and possibility. We are comprised of every color, religion, creed, interest, gender identity, sexuality, and body type ever to grace this globe. And it is because of this that we are the UNITED States of America. We are not the Christian States of America, the White States of America, the Hetero States of America and we are certainly not the Skinny States of America. We must stop treating our people like we are one or all of these for we are, all of us, the reason for this country’s successes and its failures.

“The fact is that the comments that have been made and the issues that have surfaced over the last few weeks reflect the complexities of race in this country that we've never really worked through -- a part of our union that we have yet to perfect.

And if we walk away now, if we simply retreat into our respective corners, we will never be able to come together and solve challenges like health care, or education, or the need to find good jobs for every American.” - Barack Obama

The companies and organizations that work in this country need to learn to build off of the strengths of their people. Not just their manual labor, or their educated minds, but their cultures, languages, and untapped potential. How many bilingual employees work with you that are not being used to reach your clients who speak that language? How many people are you not reaching because your marketing message does not speak to the people you want to hear your words?

I recently heard Daniel Escalante speak quite eloquently about the salad bowl analogy and for those of you unfamiliar with this I will briefly recount. A salad with only lettuce lack flavor, color, nutrients, and flare. A salad blended to where it all looks and tastes the same is a V-8. If I wanted juice I'd ask for one. I want a salad. I want a job market where culture, language, accent, education, and technical skills, are all valued. Not in some vain attempt to be politically correct, or to apease some affirmative action initiative, but because those attributes are honestly valued as they should be.

Fear and Loathing this Saturday

I have been invited to sit on a panel entitled. "Fear and Loathing: Why We Despise What Scares Us." It is this Saturday on the 8th, from 6:00pm-7:00pm at the Dairy Center for the Arts and will be moderated by Bud Coleman, Associate Professor in the Department of Theater and Dance at the University of Colorado at Boulder. The panel is part of a series of program being offered in conjunction with a play entitled Fat Pig which, according to the Daily Camera:

premiered off-Broadway in 2004, questions prevailing notions -- at least in some parts of the country, like uber-fit Boulder -- about bigness and beauty. It's also about our capacity for honesty, with ourselves and others. How much honesty is too much and how much is too little? At what point do we allow what others may think of us to become too important?

Below are the details of the play and the "Saturday Series" panels that precede them. There is no cost to attend the panels, I hope that you can make it.

Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company

presents the Regional Premiere of

FAT PIG by Neil LaBute

Click HERE to read Mark Collins' Daily Camera Review

FAT PIG continues November 6th - 23rd

Click HERE to buy your tickets NOW, or call 888-512-7469

2-for-1 Tickets on Thursday, November 6th and 13th!

Thursday – Saturday evenings at 7:30pm, Sunday afternoons at 2:00pm

The Dairy Center for the Arts

2590 Walnut Street, Boulder

Don't forget, our "Saturday Series" starts this weekend!

These exciting FREE events on Sat Nov. 8, 15 and 22 focus on the themes surrounding the play and feature local experts from a variety of fields such as Paul Campos, Carmen Cool, Robin Hammer, Diane Israel and more! All "Saturday Series" events begin at 6:00pm at the Dairy and last one hour with a FREE reception before the show that night. These events are open to the general public (tickets not required). Visit www.BoulderEnsembleTheatre.org for specific information about each event.

FAT PIG was named one of "Ten to Watch" by the Denver Post!

For more information, check out our preview articles in the Denver Post and the Boulder Daily Camera !

DUE TO STRONG LANGUAGE, ADULT MATERIAL AND SEXUALLY SUGGESTIVE CONTENT,

FAT PIG IS RECOMMENDED FOR PATRONS 16 YEARS AND OLDER.

Horray for all of us! Wait...What?

This election was certainly historic. For many it was tragic. Gay voters poured out their pockets, time and energy to see our progressive president seated and were pained to see that the initiatives stabbed them in the back. Conflicted celebrants across the country simultaneously cheered for their new president, a man of color and youth and hope, while they grieved the losses of their individual freedoms. Couples who were recently married watched as their states voted to expand the racial possibilities, and at the same time told them that their marriages were not legal.

The questions began pouring in. In May the California Supreme Court said that sexual orientation, like race gender and religion "does not constitute a legitimate basis upon which to deny or withhold legal rights." Now, less than a year later Arizona, Florida and likely California all pass laws banning same sex marriage. So why and how can we decide that race is no longer a defining factor in politics, and sex is? With all these liberal voters at the polls, how did this happen?

For people of color, race has ALWAYS been a more pressing issue than sexual freedom. This is evident in the lack of diversity in all of the gay, kink and swinger and fetish communities across the country.

I can put aside what kind of sex I have in my bedroom, but I cannot put aside my color. To be a gay person of color is to be an outsider among outsiders. That said, and because people of color have had to deal with so much oppression due to their color, we are a traditionally homophobic lot. It is a repressed, hidden and often shame filled existence.

The marvelous outpouring of voters of color this year is awe inspiring. I am so very proud to see that after 200 years, a person who is of a different race, has been elected to the highest political seat in the country. Simultaneously this turnout brought with it a flood of voters who also voted to oppress the rights of "others."

Is this a sign? I don't think so. I believe in society's evolution. It took a long time to get where we are. We didn't have to have a black vice president before having a president. This election was a leap in our social evolution. The steps we will see being taken by this next administration will be the true test as to how far we have come. Will our new president make good on his pledge to bring us to a place of inclusion and equality? Will we see people being given equal rights across this great nation regardless of race, creed, religion, sexual orientation, OR color? Only time will tell.

Keep the hope that was shown last night. Keep your voice heard. Give to the NCSF. Support the Equal Rights Amendment. Find the Equality Now office near you. Come to the Creating Change conference and support the NGLTF.

The fight is not over and this momentum should not be wasted.

Edu-train-ment

I love this word, it's a blend of everything that I do. Education, Training and Entertainment. I stole it from the Sesame Street inspired "edu-tainment" and added a new part to it. Because I don't want to just educate in a standard presentation format, I want people to get involved. I want them to like learning and ask for more.

And I want to thank C. Beth Blog for inspiring me to write this. If you are having trouble blogging on a regular basis, start following her blog and use it as a momentum builder to start writing more.

You also do WHAT? And how does that relate to training?

We recently wrote this update for our website and was informed that a number of our blog readers were unaware of this aspect of our business. So here you go.

So long long ago, in a land far far away, before the Consulting & Speaking blended with the Silliness and Satire to create A Simple Twist as it is now, Tim was a "balloon guy" for the children, & spirited adults of Seattle & the San Francisco Bay Areas.

This existence filled his brain with all manner of interesting, strange, funny & curious ideas for balloon sculptures. From dragons & dinosaurs that fill your store window, to dresses fine enough to wear out on the town, it CAN be made from balloons. If you ask him real nice, he might just be persuaded to show you some of them.

He can also be easily bribed into coming to you or your child's birthday, bar/bat mitzvah, or perhaps entertain the young ones while you drink and be merry at your wedding reception. He has even been known to do the occasional mime-like stage performance wherein he builds some manner of tool (hammer, chainsaw, lawnmower...) and chases someone off the stage.

If you have a desire for this or some other form of latex entertainment, drop us a line.

We'll see what we can twist up for you.

Professional Latex Manipulator

At some point, someone decided that they were going to license everything. You used to be able to hang a sign on your door and practice massage. To be a blacksmith, you needed to have the equipment, do the work, and if you did it well, people would come back to you. If you decided to become a tailor yo painted the needle and thread on your window and began making clothes, if you were good at it, you had more clients, if not, you went out of business.

At what point did we decide that in order to have a job in a specific trade, you have to be certified by someone else? Who decided that "Bob" was the one guy who could certify blacksmiths? Who made "Julia" the official designator of who could and could not call themselves "textile professionals."

I see all kinds of business cards with CPLP, CMT. LMP, PRH, PLC, etc. Why is that? Why is it that it is often illegal to practice a profession that is a learned trade that can be learned on your own. I have been making balloon sculptures for over 15 years. I've made 30 foot balloon sculptures, arches, pillars, dresses, wedding decorations and a literal incalculable number of hand-held creations. Yet there is an actual Certified Balloon Artist designation that I need to pay a fee and take a test to qualify for. So after my 10th year of creating balloon creations I added L.M. after my name on my cards. I figured that since I was at the point of being able to make absolutely anything that people asked me to make out of balloons I was a professional Latex Manipulator.

Several years ago a new-age practice of energy work started turning up in the local solstice centers, yoga studios and more adventurous massage practices, Reiki. Then few years later I started seeing people with Certified Reiki Master. Now Reiki is essentially the movement of energy through the body, often without even touching the recipient. Now whether you believe in the effectiveness of this technique or not, how do you establish a set of requirements on something that is guided by intuition and not proven to have any foundation in science?

I'm all for free enterprise. If you want to open a massage studio without paying the $10 THOUSAND dollars to get "Licensed" I think you should be able to. There is a difference between being good at massage and being a therapist. I understand that for medical practices, there needs to be a bit more oversight & education. But people are amazing. They truly are and the demand for certification and licensing for everything from balloon artists to people moving invisible energy is nuts.

If you happen to be good at making clothes you should not need a degree in fashion design, or be a "Master Seamstress" if you already have the experience to do the job, perhaps better than the so called experts. This is not brain surgery, building bridges, or anything else that puts other people in danger. And if people practice professions that they are not qualified or skilled at, people will stop utilizing them. The End. *steps off soap box*

Inclusion is the new Diversity

Time to bring it into focus for our business and for yours. Inclusion is the acceptance that we ARE in fact different. Even in a whole team of white christian men over the age of 40, each team member is different. Companies have been trying for years to say that "we are all the same" but it is simply not true.

It is true that age, race, gender, sexuality, size & ability are not determining factors in one's capacity to do good work. But they are in fact differences. The strength of an organization does not come from hiding these differences by pretending they are not real. They come from harnessing these differences, finding the strength of each person and allowing those individuals to perform as they are best suited to. People behave and perform best when they feel comfortable and feel that they can be their whole self. This is not achieved through tolerance.

Tolerance in the workplace tells me, as a person from a non-majority group, that no one is allowed to treat me unfairly because of my class, gender, etc. It does not tell me that my differences are valued. They are tolerated. Not desired, not chosen, not accepted or welcome, but tolerated. Tolerated because the law dictates that it be so.

We need to move beyond this. It is time for the diversity trainers, companies, HR professionals, ASTD, SHRM, and everyone else who puts their hat in the arena of education and "soft skills" in the workplace, to redesign their curriculum. Diversity education needs to be about encouragement, empowerment, strength, unity and inclusion.

"We can do it." said Rosie the Riveter when the women were asked to come into the workplace and "put down their aprons" to help the country. Women were not men, but they could do the work. During the civil rights era Dr. Martin Luther King said, "Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better." Those same people, the creative dedicated minorities are working at your companies being told that, to succeed, they need to blend in and be like everyone else. This is your loss as well as theirs.

Include the differences of your people and watch your business thrive.

The 401 Keg Plan

Think About This...

If you had purchased $1,000.00 of Nortel stock one year ago, it would now be worth $49.00.

With Enron, you would have $16.50 left of the original $1,000.00.

With WorldCom, you would have less than $5.00 left.

If you had purchased $1,000.00 of Delta Air Lines stock you would have $44.00 left.

If you had purchased United Airlines, you would have nothing left. :)

But, if you had purchased $1,000.00 worth of beer one year ago, drank all the beer, then turned in the cans for the aluminum recycling refund, you would have $214.00.

Based on the above, the best current investment advice is to drink heavily and recycle.

...But don't drive, the gas is TOO expensive. :)

Tolerance is Not Enough

I'm not here to discuss politics. I'm here to discuss the issue of tolerance. I am making this clear because the quote below is from a political forum. Last night I found myself enraged as the Vice Presidential Debates hummed in the air and our home was filled with statements like the one below.

From the transcript of the VP debate from the Commission on Presidential Debates:

IFILL: Governor, would you support expanding that beyond Alaska to the rest of the nation?

PALIN: Well, not if it goes closer and closer towards redefining the traditional definition of marriage between one man and one woman. And unfortunately that's sometimes where those steps lead.

But I also want to clarify, if there's any kind of suggestion at all from my answer that I would be anything but tolerant of adults in America choosing their partners, choosing relationships that they deem best for themselves, you know, I am tolerant and I have a very diverse family and group of friends and even within that group you would see some who may not agree with me on this issue, some very dear friends who don't agree with me on this issue.

But in that tolerance also, no one would ever propose, not in a McCain-Palin administration, to do anything to prohibit, say, visitations in a hospital or contracts being signed, negotiated between parties.

But I will tell Americans straight up that I don't support defining marriage as anything but between one man and one woman, and I think through nuances we can go round and round about what that actually means.

But I'm being as straight up with Americans as I can in my non- support for anything but a traditional definition of marriage.

Tolerance. To tolerate something is asserting your power over it to exist. The assumption that if you did not tolerate it, it would be eradicated. All the definitions of tolerance are not ways I want people to treat me. They are punitive and reflective of a fear and distaste for people who are different.

Inclusion is what we need to see. The coming together of differences and the harnessing of strength through diversity. Not diversity of color, or sexuality, or religion, but just differences. All of our differences are ok.

Your religion is ok.
Your sexuality is ok.
Your body size is ok.

I want to include the views of your religion.
I want to include the views of your gender.
I want to INCLUDE the views of your race.

I will no longer tolerate tolerance.
Do not attempt to tolerate me. You do not have the right.
I will not accept tolerance, but I will accept inclusion.

The Value of Perspective

I ran cross country in high school and the longer races on the track team. I was never competitive, I mostly enjoyed the team spirit and the challenge of completing a 3 or 5 mile run. I recall one meet where they needed another person to compete in the 3200 meter race or our star performer would not have a chance to qualify for the state competitions. I was fairly ill and had already done the 1600 but I figured I could walk it if I had to, the point was that someone from our team simply go around the track 8 times. By the 5th time around, I had already been lapped by a few of the front runners and I was seriously questioning my decision. Usually when I ran a long race, I would pace myself throughout and then put everything I had into the last 100 meters. I made the decision that I would not do that this time, as I made my way around the final curve of the track, since I was the only person left on the track by this point. But instinct won over and as I crossed the 100 meter line on the track, I automatically kicked it into high gear, which wasn't very high by that point. As I worked to correct this error and slow down, the crowd in the stands began to stand, cheer, and clap for me. My instinctive push had inspired them to cheer me on and their cheering inspired me to continue.

When I think about working in the nonprofit world, I often compare it to my experiences as a runner. Lasting social change is created through consistency, not sporadically applied passion. It's a marathon, not a mad dash to finish line, and if we want to be effective, we need to remember that. We often lose our strongest people because they burn themselves out trying to sprint the 26 miles of the marathon. Keeping that perspective, understanding that if we work ourselves so hard that we burn out we won't get where we want to go, is an invaluable part of what we do in the nonprofit sector.

The Relative Value of Volunteering, pt. 2

So, back to the equation= E=mc2. The other part of volunteering is having a clear understanding of what you are doing. Most smaller non-profits run on a shoestring budget and crave volunteers the way a wanderer in the desert craves water (or the way I crave chocolate)! Many people have the desire to volunteer, but don't always accurately evaluate their ability to give their time. This translates into jobs not done, often until the last minute, and puts a strain on the very organization you set out to help.

E=Energy; in order to effectively volunteer, you must have a clear idea of how much actual energy you have to give. For instance, if you have a full time job, do judo twice a week, have 3 kids, and a life partner, you really want to think about what you offer to give an organization. Don't promise two hours a week, you are unlikely to be able to follow through. Instead volunteer for a specific project that can be done at odd intervals, or even out of the office, with a clear deadline. You will be tempted, when you are surrounded by the glamour that is Making A Difference In The World to allow your enthusiasm to overestimate your available energy. Resist.

M= Mass of free time; whatever your other obligations, your free time has a value to you. One way that I like to volunteer is by doing it with people I like to spend time with. Volunteering can be highly social and you can often spend a couple of hours doing something meaningful and then retire to a nearby pub for pool and beer with your friends (and often new friends as well).

Is your business growing or just surviving?

Like the plant that only ever gets watered when it looks wilted and depressed, many businesses only pay real attention to their people when there is an issue or concern to be addressed. Diversity classes become mandatory after enough lawsuits. New motivation & retention programs are implemented when someone realizes that they are losing all their best talent. This is not a solution, it is a reaction.

Take the time to look at the long term needs of your people. If you are one of the people, take the risk and talk to your manager/boss and say, "We need education, motivation and training BEFORE it becomes an issue. Because by then we are done."

Especially when dealing with the younger generation of employees, many of them are not going to give you the luxury of a two week notice. You'll be lucky if they even say goodbye. I've heard more stories lately of young employees leaving for lunch and not returning, taking a call (presumably confirming a new job somewhere else) and just walking out. These people don't give you the chance to change, because history has shown that business are slow to change, why not just move to somewhere that has already made the changes you want.

Foster and help your people not jus tto work well, but to LIKE their jobs and want to be there. Not just want the paycheck, but want to see the company improve, profit, and grow. This cannot be done with reactionary management and training. It can only be done with collaborative and preemptive action. You can do it, We can help. :)

Trust is not a 4 letter word, it's 5.

We trust people all the time in odd situations. I just left my bag in a coffee shop, and said to the stranger sitting next to me.

Me - "Will you watch my stuff for a moment?"
Her - "Sure thing."
5 minutes later
Me - "Thanks. And hey all my stuff is still here."
Her - "Yes, and all your stuff is still here."

The tone in her voice said to me that she didn't quite catch the sarcasm in my voice. Of course my stuff was still there. That's because the chances of finding that one stranger who is actually going to grab your bag and run as soon as you enter the restroom is about the same as winning the lottery.

We trust people like this in the airport, because we believe anyone who has gotten through security must there for be trust worthy. Or that no one in OUR coffee shop or neighborhood would do such a thing. But then we go to work and most of us aren't trusted to enter certain buildings, see all the files or have keys to the office.

Why don't we trust our employees more?
If you don't trust them enough, why did you hire them?

How to make even health insurance fun.

Here is the e-mail I got from the smartest health insurance company I've ever seen:

Because doctors don't offer double-coupon Wednesdays.

You can cut coupons for groceries. You can cut coupons for oil changes. But we don't recommend cutting coupons for medical procedures. And to make sure you never have to look for a doctor offering weekly specials, there's Tonik. Tonik is simple, affordable health coverage from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia. You get three plans to choose from, and chances are one's going to be right for you. If you're under 30, we can help cover you for $65 to $196 a month. Prices are subject to change and vary depending on your age, gender, where you live, and your medical history. Know someone who always keeps an envelope of coupons with them? Forward this to them.

They got my business and I am sure a number of other younger individuals who would not have taken the time to get health insurance. With plans like The Thrill Seeker, The Part-time Dare-Devil and The Calculated Risktaker I feel far more connected to their understanding of who I am as a customer. They are having fun with their business and with me. I don't want to sign up for a Differed Medical Plus package with a $500 deductible. That's not me. Oh but a Calculate Ristaker, that's more my style. $130 a month with a $40 co-pay? Sure I can swing that. It doesn't matter that the deductible is $1500. It sounds like ME. It has personality.

What kind of personality does your business have? Would you want to "go out with" your business?

The Relative Value of Volunteering, pt. 1

For yourself, and for the organization you volunteer for, the value of your time is relative. E=mc2 right? Well let's try to make that applicable to our world.

Einstein said that the Energy of an object in Joules is equal to the mass of the object times the speed of light squared.

So let us say that the Energy you have to give to a volunteer position, in HOYDLs (hours outside of your daily life) is equal to the Mass amount of free time you have multiplied by the perCentage of time per week you wish to devote. (We'll just leave out the squared part for now.)

Calculating this isn't as easy as just plugging in numbers. First you have to figure out what those numbers actually are. How much available time do you really have? And why do you want to spend it working for someone else, doesn't your lawn need to be mowed anyway? And how is this fun, aren't we all about the fun?

We all know, it's easier to clean someone else's house than to clean our own. And sometimes it inspires us to go home and do a better job to clean our space. The intrinsic value of volunteering goes far beyond the amount of time spent doing the job. Because more than getting the newsletters folded or the building painted, you are contributing in some small way to building something larger than yourself, a community. A place where people reach out to care for one another and be better than they are.

Tattoo & Coffee

Intriguing isn't it? I thought so too which is why, when I had some time to kill, after a canceled meeting I drove by a sign that said Tattoo & Coffee and actually turned around to get a cup of tea. I write this to you from the combined space of Bananelope Coffee and Smokey Banana Tattoo. Where you can enjoy a cup of joe and watch through the glass and people get ink imbedded I their flesh. What a marvelous world.


I mean that sincerely. In a time when people live most of their lives without really getting to know their neighbors anymore, I find it refreshing that two business decided to open their wall and share space and advertising power. I would love to see more places like this. How about they knock out the wall between The Cup and The Crystal Dragon? Or between Albertson's & the next door liquor store? Floyd's Barber & WaHoo's Tacos on Pearl & 28th did it, and it feels great. They should open their wall just a bit more though.

You have neighbors, do you know them?

The Opposite of Happiness is...

Boredom. Not sadness. This is taken from "The 4-Hour Workweek" which, while I am thoroughly enjoying the read, had some flaws and some brilliant revelations. More to follow in a complete review for BAHRA.

One of the shining elements of the book is its focus on making your NOW enjoyable instead of waiting for someone else to do it for you, or for some magical chance element (lottery, retirement, inheritance, leprechaun, etc.)

We spend far too much time in our jobs to be so miserable all the time. And should you be unable to reduce the actual time you spend in your office to 4 hours a week, perhaps you should think about transforming your dreaded drive to work, and your cubicle of desolation, to places you actually like to be.

Hypermiling (More ways to give yourself a raise.)

Remember how I talked about reducing your car use to increase your monthly income? Well, people said they NEED their cars and they just couldn't get rid of them. (Yes I know there weren't any comments, but in this day of RSS feeds many people just e-mail the author when they have soemthing to say.) So I was looking for some options and I read about hypermiling.

Now, a lot of these techniques are things I learned to do when I was in college trying to fill up my gas as little as possible. In fact I did some of the more stupid things they list when I believed myself to be invincible, like turning off the engine and coasting down the Grapevine on Interstate 5 going into L.A. What an idiot. But that does not discount the value of some of the safer techniques.

For instance, the whole air conditioner debate. Most cars do not have a thermostat for the internal temperature of the car that connects to the A/C attempting to regulate the air. Most of the time you turn it on and try to make it colder, until someone starts rubbing their arms and then you switch to warm and thus begins the A/C Wars. I like the idea of turning on the A/C for a while and then turning it off, but leaving the fan on, blowing the cool air around internally. Then in a little while turn the A/C back on and give the air a refresher cool.

I, myself, am driving less. We are actually paying rent for an office space that is cheaper than the cost of the regional bus pass so we are making money by paying rent. Cool huh? That said, when we do have to drive, and having 2 kids I know there are sometimes when you just have to drive, you can bet I will be hypermiling as much as I safely can to conserve our gas, our money and our sanity.

Relative Income (or Give Yourself a Raise - part 2)

OK, so you make $40-80K per year and your work 50 hour weeks. You own your business and spend your evenings answering e-mails, and all day planning meetings, going to meetings, and networking to get more clients. Your weekends are often scattered with you meeting with clients and answering e-mail on your PDA when your partner isn't watching.

Want to make more money? Spend less time. If you value your time for yourself as greatly as you charge your clients for it, (Which you should.) then you are wasting your own money by taking your time for granted.

Let's say you are a massage therapist who charges $60+ an hour for your services and you spend 5 hours this month trying to get your books in order... (5 x $60 = $300) How much money would it have cost you for a local bookkeeper to do it for you in half the time? Perhaps $80 per month? So by spending $80 on a bookkeeper for the month, you save $220 this month. And you now have 5 more hours to spend with clients, go on a date, or something else that brings you pleasure instead of causing you headaches.

Your time is so very valuable, and if you trade it simply for income, or even worse perceived income, then you are cutting your real wealth right out from underneath you.

To Know HR, read Know HR

In case you haven't used the nifty little widget on this page to see the blogs I have been reading, you should check out Know HR. His writing is humorous, pertinent, and refreshing. There are plenty of corporate training, HR focused, training & development blogs online. There are frankly, too many to read. Most of them parrot each other regarding the latest trends rolling out of Newsweek and T&D magazine. Frank Roche however, speaks from a different platform. See the smile?

He says, "I’ve been a professional dog handler, a polymer physicist, and a poet, but quickly realized that “being an artiste + $1.75 wouldn’t buy me a cup of coffee at Starbucks.” I write. I read. I pay attention."

I love his diverse background and unique perspective. Take the time, read good stuff, Know HR.

Give Yourself A Raise

It all comes down to perspective, but seriously think about this before you dismiss it as some hair-brained, granola ideal. Ride your bike.

Save over $500 per month.

It happens so fast. First you just start driving less. Using your bike on occasion and you that your monthly gas bill has dropped by let's say $100. That's less than 2 tanks of gas infind today's market. Just ride your bike enough to eliminate 2 tanks for gas. If you are currently driving an SUV, this will be even faster.

OK, So now that you're riding once a week you should notice that you are more awake when you get to work, you have more energy in what you do and you are saving money. All these things feel good. So you ride more often. You save more money.

Give it a few months at this level. If you have a gym membership (that you probably don't use enough to get the value from it) then you've just put yourself in a place to save that money too.

Now you have reduced your gas bill and your maintenance costs. Commute driving is the worst kind of driving for your car, and a reduction of this kind will save your brakes, your clutch, your oil AND your sanity. In a short while you've just given yourself several hundred dollars a month extra to spend. But WAIT, there's more!

If you can go this far, then perhaps you can go a little farther... How many cars do you have in your family? Do you and your partner both have one? If you have kids is there one for them? How much are you paying a month in insurance?
Why not get rid of one of those cars?
You've now saved gas, insurance, maintenance and your gym membership while simultaneously increasing your energy and improving your health.
Well Done!

Of course, bicycling isn't the only way to give yourself a raise. More to follow...

Hawaiian Shirt Day!

You may remember this from the movie Office Space. If not, you must watch it. It is a social commentary on the office culture and the ways in which we eat our young, strangle the potential of our employees, and cut off our nose to spite our face.

It's relevance to today is to illustrate the difference between effort and sincerity. My partner, Aicila, is often found spouting the lack of effort it takes to be fun in your environment. And she is right; it does not have to take much effort. It should, in fact, be easier to have fun than not. The trick is in finding that balance between putting in little or no effort, and not really caring whether people have fun or not.

Hawaiian shirt day can be fun. It can also be insulting, patronizing, and a few other words from the thesaurus that mean the same thing. So have fun. Enjoy your people. Do little things like casual Fridays, joke of the day and monthly birthdays. But MEAN IT. Your people can always tell the difference.

Easier Said Than Done...

Our business coach is consistently telling me to set my situation up so that I cannot fail--to see success as a set of very simple reasonable goals that WILL happen, and anything in addition to that as just icing on the cake. Now, as a teacher of such ideals you'd think I would have this down pat, but I do not. I find it quite challenging to do a job, feel just okay about it, and go out and celebrate a success. Last week I was shown why.

I did a presentation that I did not feel was my strongest performance. It wasn't bad, but I didn't walk away going, "YEAH! I nailed that!" I left with a feeling of acceptance and a desire to do better the next time.

A few days later I received a phone call about the presentation and an invitation to make a proposal for a major speaking engagement. I guess it WAS a success after all. We often hold ourselves to standards that are not easily achieved, especially when we feel passionate about something. That feeling makes us far more critical than others tend to be.

Moral of the story: Set simple, fool-proof goals for success; the rest is just gravy. Thanks, Jack.

I Fell into the Generaton Gap, HELP!

While researching a presentation for next week I came across this clever quiz from Success Performance Solutions about generation gaps in the office. I thought it would be a good thing to share with you. I found the quiz enjoyable because it doesn't just ask you questions, it also provides an explanation in the answers. It's good to know WHY you are wrong, not just that you are. :)

I, myself, am right on the cusp of the X/Y gap and find my loyalties doubly split. Being raised in a home with one of the Baby Boomers who fully equated time and success in the workplace with personal achievement, I had a solid belief that a shirt and tie were required at all times, and that more time in the office was time better spent. My, how that changed when I started working with Microsoft employees and their new generation approach to the whole corporate schema. The entire Seattle area really challenged a lot of people's perspective about what "professional" was.

The past few decades have been an interesting road in learning the nuances of training and managing teams with such gaps in generations and work ethics. Diversity education isn't just about race and religion, it's about culture, and culture has more variables than just where you were raised. Age does, indeed, make a difference. Hopefully, we will see more trainers take the generation gap into consideration when addressing the diversity issues in an organization.

A Peak Presentation

Standing on the top of Flagstaff Mountain I spoke to the many incredible members of the Boulder Women's Leadership Group. The people smiled and proudly wore their diamond rings. I enjoyed my time, as I always do, with the BWLG. It was a marvelous way to start the day. I wish more days could start at the top of a mountain. It really gives you a different perspective. There will be no meeting next month as the Boulder Chamber of Commerce is having their annual Women Who Light the Community dinner. Check out the Chamber Website and attend to support this fantastic event. I'll see you there.

Hope for the future of business, community and humanity...

Prior to watching the film WALL-E with my family the other day we laughed as the pre-movie commercials repeated themselves. "Someone isn't doing their job." my son said as we waited for the film to start. One of the commercials was the piece that Aicila mentioned in her post from The Foundation for a Better Life. It took a minute to realize that they weren't really advertising anything. It wasn't a commercial.

Further inquiry revealed an organization that is faceless, without product. They are the epitome of vision since that is their only product. They have a goal, it is to show models of life lived by a positive set of values. No religious overtone. No product placement to show a company being a responsible corporate citizen. No push to join something or to give anything. They just want people to listen.

You cannot donate to them. You cannot buy their posters or video spots. You can just hear what they say and add the concepts into your daily life. I want that. I want the work I do to be so widely beneficial. I hope that someday it can be. That is my dream.

Marketing in for a Better World.

I can't remember the first time I saw the Foundation for a Better Life materials. I think the first one I remember seeing was in my frequent trips to the Denver airport. I went last Sunday and for the first time it registered that it wasn't just an ad. It was a message of hope. My family and I had gone to see WALL*E on Saturday morning and before the movie we saw this:

which I think finally convinced to go check them out. It was inspiring.

Creating High Impact Non Profits, Pt 3

Myth #5: High Ratings on Conventional Metrics.When we looked at traditional measures of nonprofit efficiency, many of these groups didn’t score well, because they don’t adhere to misleading metrics such as overhead ratios.

I remember several years ago when the Red Cross got into a heap of trouble for promising 100% of their fundraising would go to a specific disaster relief situation and then spent some of the money on administration. People were in an uproar and lots of pundits put out information about the importance of reviewing how much administrative costs an organization had before contributing. I don't disagree, you should learn about the organization before you give to them. However, when it comes to policy changes and institutional movement, defining what is "administrative" can be tricky.

I admit, I speak from a place of bias as I currently work for a nonprofit, but I am firmly convinced that one of the most important assets a nonprofit has is its staff. I see the value of my program director, her knowledge of the community, and her deep familiarity with the programs we have in place. Making sure she feels valued, receives consistent developmental feedback, and has the resources necessary to succeed are priorities for me as her manager. More importantly, I think they should be priorities for any organization that has a focus on creating change in our communities.

Turnover in nonprofits, especially smaller organizations, is fairly high. Often times people leave an organization, and leave the work, because they are burned out. We lose leadership, institutional knowledge, and crucial historical context for the work we are doing when this happens. Overhead ratios mean very little when they don't leave room for the people who are doing the work to get it done. And ultimately the goal is to accomplish the mission in the most effective way possible.

ROI

He speaks yet I do not hear.
What I hear he does not speak.
The message is wrong.
He's insincere.
He sounds just like her.

She rambles on my voice mail.
She sends empty essays to my inbox.
The message is wrong.
She's insincere.
Her words, to me, are stale.

Everyday I hear these cheers.
Everyday I am disappointed.
The message is wrong.
They're insincere.
They've been saying the same for years.

Someday I will believe again.
Someday I will have faith.
A message that's true.
A message, sincere.
Someone with visions of change.

-timuri

PRIDE and Diversity Education

Sunday is Pridefest in Denver. The LGBTQIA community is once again gathering in the park to announce that they, that WE are not to be ignored. For those wondering about the alphabet soup acronym, it stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered, Questioning, Intersexed, and Allied. Allied, that's most of you, hopefully. The people who are "in the social norm" but also interested in the rights of all people.

Being an activist I'm involved in a variety of social justice and equality projects. But around this time of the year, more than others I am reminded of how far we've come, and how far we still need to go. I've been teaching diversity education longer that I've called myself a trainer. In any company I worked for I was always the person that my manager could come to to ask questions about the queer community.

I've fielded questions about how to handle employees who transition from being one gender to another and stayed in the same job position. Other employees came to me to ask if I thought it would be safe for them to come out, which I always found rather funny since I was already out, thus I thought they would have already determined that. I figured out why later. In all of these situations I just gave them the best advice I could since I had no "formal" training. After I had formal training, I think things actually got worse.

Diversity education, didn't help teach people how to accept each other, it taught us how to be tolerant of each other.

Layoffs & Limp Logic

I'm trying to figure out where the logic is when companies make their layoff decisions. It seems companies cut a swath through the HR and training divisions early in the cutting. Aren't these the people they hired to help the rest of their employees feel better, work better and stay with the company? These are the people that have a personal desire to see your people be better at what they do, it's part of their make-up. So why get rid of them? Isn't that like cutting off the proverbial nose?

I understand the bottom-line logic. HR & Training produces no revenue. But neither does a dis-satisfied employee. I'm betting that those people working in the company that just saw their friends "let go" are not happy people. They are taking the newly released out for drinks and sitting around complaining about the company. Is that the kind of energy they want to foster?

I'm just trying to get my head fully around the idea so I can unravel it. With layoffs come change, instability, new responsibility and confusion. Wouldn't you want to have the best team you could, on hand, to make sure you can keep the remaining talent you have left? I know I would.

Dad's Day Out

Yesterday was Father's Day. My own father is in Hawaii, so I made sure to call him to wish him well. Not as if he needs it, he's hanging out in Hawaii drinking a Mai-Tai but still, it's the thought that counts right? Previously this would have meant that my Father's Day was to consist of making balloon animals for people and then finding something to fill my evening. This year was different.

As a now pseudo-step-father to two fantastic kids I was awoken to breakfast made by my 11 year old daughter. Our journey to a
father-daughter relationship has been a tough one. It's been fraught with doubt and resistance and the occasional slammed door but several years later I am pleased to say that my breakfast was made of love and contained no trace of malice. We've grown close and I love her dearly. She's managed to find the limits of my patience in a way that no one ever had before and simultaneously helped me find the ways to love her all the more for it.

The remainder of my day was not filled with solitary thought or pointless dallying, but with "dad stuff" as they called it. We went to the movies, watched The Hulk, which I and my 12 year old son enjoyed immensely. I was treated to a Japanese steak house where I ate delicious sushi and enjoyed hibachi grill magic. Ice cream and friends, video games a a little bit of construction rounded out my evening. The late hours were spent playing Rock Band and watching films till the early hours of the morning.

I'm a father. We've been forming a family for a few years now, but it wasn't really till yesterday that I knew how much they have accepted me. It is a great feeling.

Clarity and Weight (Carat)

Clarity:

Clarity comes from openness, honesty and transparency. Organizations are often so afraid that one employee might steal something that they make all of their employees feel like they are not trusted and they are always being watched. This does not produce a clear and beautiful feeling. It created flaws, inclusions, blind spots and a massive space for disloyalty and apathy. If someone can not be given the trust to know ALL they might need to most effectively do their job, then perhaps they shouldn't be working there.

Carat Weight:

Our society exists on a "bigger is better" mentality most of the time. We grade ourselves year over year on our growth and increased sales margins. At a certain point, bigger is just bigger, and growth becomes cancerous. Size is certainly a factor to consider. Small business assume a lot of responsibility on a few people and should anything happen to one of them, the business impact can be extreme. However large organizations often find a great deal of difficulty in maintaining the quality and clarity factors because there is just too much to manage. Keeping the business large enough to be comfortable but small enough to care for is a challenge but an important one to focus on.


So as you continue to build your business or work within a company keep in mind where you sit in this diamond and how you can help to make your company shine.

Cut your company to the right fit for your customers and in a way that helps the facets shine.

Use all the Colors of your organization as a strength and help everyone feel welcome instead of ignored.

Clarity, honesty and transparency will go a long way to reducing your personal work load and bringing peace of mind to you and your people.

Remember that a large Carat diamond can be easily mistaken for costume jewelry. Keep your size where you can still maintain good cut and clarity. Bigger is not always better.

The cut and color of your organization.

Cut:

The two main variables in your cut are shape and quality. The shape of a diamond is largely about preference and the needs of your consumers. Some people prefer the shape of a Starbucks-like business because if feels reliable and consistent. One caramel mocha will pretty much taste the same from store to store. Others may prefer their corner coffee shop which gives them a more unique feel and the idea that it is the only place to get a particular brand, or taste.

The quality of that particular cut is all about the facets. The top of the diamond. The variety of angles and faces that are seen when one gazes upon a stone, and in your company those facets, are the mail clerks, service technicians, receptionists and all the entry level positions that make up your organization. People don't buy a home theater system, or a new car from the CEO of the company. I bet most people couldn't even name the CEO's for most of the products in their home. But they might be able to name the salesperson who helped them. The quality of a diamond cut is based on the depth of the cut and the facets. The facets need to be well cared for, polished and chosen with care. The stone should not be cut too deep or it looses some of it's ability to shine. And this is true with your company too. The farther away from the front line a leader is, the less in touch the front line can be with that leaders ideas.

Color:

I know everyone is tired of "diversity education" and I think I can pin point why. We went about it all wrong. I'll own up to being part of that problem. So many of the diversity programs I taught in the past decade were more focused on tolerance instead of education. We told people that they were wrong to even notice our differences and we tried to make people color blind.

The strongest color for a diamond is clear, crystal clear. What makes this diamond so beautiful is that when you really look at it you see every color in the rainbow. It fractures the light and the different colors within become the diamond's shining strength. A white diamond looks like quartz, pink is called champagne. Black diamonds are used mainly for industrial work and the so called colorless diamonds just don't sparkle like they should. None of them hold the value that is found in the brilliance of a diamond that uses ALL the colors to hold your attention.

Turning the Office Pyramid on its Head

Ever since I was a kid I've had the vision of businesses as pyramids that needed to be climbed. We see it all the time in the images of climbing the corporate ladder, working our way to the top, and any number of other analogies putting the people who do the front-line work, at the bottom of the organization.

These are the faces that the customers see every day. Those very people who are in the mail room, at the cash registers, that do the service calls and answer the phones are the real faces and image of their organizations. A company is not a pyramid, nearly as much as it is a diamond.

Let's examine the 4 C's of grading a diamond and see how your organization measures up.

There's something wrong when Coke inspires me.

I've seen this commercial twice and it honestly moves me!

I can convince myself it's good for me.

Knit Purl Cafe is my new favorite place in Boulder. To start, they serve organic, fair trade, gluten free ice cream which is delicious. Add to that tea, coffee, cute little tables, and you might think they are set. But no, you would be wrong. They also have a nice selection of specialty yarns and regular knitting circles (or more colorfully "stitch and bitch" circles). Add to that, the owner, Kim, is friendly and fun to chat with. Heading into the summer months knowing the best places for good ice cream is high on my list of musts, and this definitely qualifies. Hope to see you there!

Life isn't about how to survive the storm, but how to dance in the rain.

Several years ago I certified in alternative healing techniques and I really began to believe that there was a goal of health I could achieve. That if I did things right I would become healthy and never deal with illness again. It was a pretty lofty goal, and it may actually be possible, but one day it clicked for me. I was trying so hard to be healthy I was no longer enjoying my life. I had become obsessed with my goal and could no longer relate to why the goal was important to me. I was trying to survive the storm, rather than appreciate the rain.

I doubt I'll ever finish all my work, figure it all out, find the perfect balance, or any of these other well intentioned, somewhat intense goals. Days like today, when I start to get a little overwhelmed by the pile on my plate, I realize it doesn't matter. Because I do know how to dance in the rain. I can enjoy each moment, and really find that fulfilling piece of each day.

Creating High Impact Non Profits, Pt 2

High impact non-profits combine service with advocacy. This means they work to alleviate the immediate problem in their area with direct action while also participating in initiative and lobby efforts to change regulations or industry standards to end the problem all together. Their work in the field, dealing daily with the realities of the problem they are working to solve, can inform the larger legislative work or informational campaigns created across the spectrum.

They do this because the problems that need to be dealt with are huge and often devasting to those who are facing them. Emergency services and support are critical to relieving the basic problems people face. But they won't fix the long term problem. That requires a larger view of the situation, creative collaboration, and an ability to step back and really see what needs to be done to solve the problem.

If women ruled the world and the collaborative model.

I recently finished readind If Women Ruled the World. The point of the book was to get people thinking about power, what it means to them, and why women don't hold a lot of power in our current political structure. I think part of why women don't hold conventional power is that our cultural model for power is not intuitive for women. Some of this is certainly nurture, just read Odd Girl Out to get a frightening picture of the ways in which we are taught that being female means being nice. And being nice means NEVER saying what you mean or anything confrontational. But I also think some of it is hardwired into our pysche. We live with a biological reality that fosters a desire to collaborate and build community. We know there will be times we are vulnerable or in need and we work to build support structures to manage that effectively.

Practices of Highly Effective Non Profits

The Stanford Social Innovation Review published an article in 2007 about how non-profits make can really make a difference by reviewing 12 high-impact organizations to really understand why they were so successful. What was really surprising was how much conventional wisdom did NOT play a part in their ability to achieve their mission in unbelievably effective ways. While I highly recommend that you read the entire article here, I'll cover some of it for you, because it's definitely worthwhile.

The first point that I really got out of the article was success comes from know you are and what you want to accomplish. This may sound like a simple concept, but if you are working to feed the hungry then getting caught up in how to make your internal structures perfect, you need to be looking at creative partnerships to get food to hungry people, to discover why people are hungry, and how to change that. A lot of times we get really focused on the minutia of our organizations functionality when what we really need to do is start cooking.

You ARE being watched!

OK, not to sound too "conspiracy theory" here but I just saw my own car online. MY car. Parked in MY driveway. While getting ready for my week I googled an address for a meeting that I am going to tomorrow and noticed that there is a picture that I could click on to actually see the building I am going to. It was not a distorted satellite image, it was a 3D Photo of the house that allowed me to rotate the view, zoom in, and move up and down the street.

Being the curious fellow that I am, I put in my own address and sure enough, up comes a photo tour of my cul-de-sac. Complete with my house, cars in the driveway, etc. Now I know this is not real-time photos, you can't go on Google and see if I'm mowing the lawn, but that doesn't seem like it is too many steps away from this. Kinda creepy. Although I have to say it really will make finding difficult places more convenient. For instance I can SHOW you my favorite coffee shop in Boulder to work at during the day. See for yourself then come by and say hi sometime. We'll do lunch. :)

Should fun be work?

The biggest problem people seem to have with making their presentations or deliverables sparkle is they believe it will require a lot more work on their part. My cousin, who works for a large company on the east coast, recently told me "I need your help, I give presentations that I sleep through. And every time I think, next time I'll get on the stick and make it better. But I never have the energy to take it to the next level." And this really is why people often don't make their work fun. They already have enough to do, so why add on one more thing?! Not only do I have to do a presentation, now I have to make it "fun"!

Which is why we want to add a twist to your presentation. Fun doesn't require more work, it requires different thinking. You don't need to become the Martha Stewart of the business world (and look, I made all the paper for this presentation this morning to give it that special touch). In fact, fun is often less work because it's about taking what you are doing and making it yours. It's the opposite of the fast-food, cookie-cutter approach to business, where you bring your personality and you make it part of the work you are doing.

So when you are getting ready to put together your next business meeting, ask yourself, what would make this more fun for me? And then do that, I guarantee your presentation will be more effective, your audience will respond more favorably, and you will enjoy your work in a way you never knew you could.

My mother was a luddite...

My mom avoided almost every new technology that came out for most of my memory. Considering that my father started working on computers for the Navy back in the 70's this is quite an accomplishment. We had a 5 foot computer in my home when I was 4 that had 30 switches and ran giant white tape disks that you put into drawers. My mother didn't start e-mailing until after the year 2000. We forced her into the cell phone age by getting her one for Christmas years ago and slowly watched her tackle the issues of checking voice mail, and just this year she crossed the chasm into the world of text messaging.

I tell you all this to relay how much of a role model my mother is to me. In the spirit of May being older adults month, celebration of Mother's day and more, I wanted to explain why I like to celebrate my mom. She worked a variety of job over the years. She worked for an accounting firm, she was a career mother taking care of me and then my little sister. With a 12 year gap between us that puts my mom at 30+ years of being a mom when my sister graduated high school. For a number of those years she was a para-educator in the Boulder Valley School District. Add into this her passion for arts & crafts, she owned a stuffed animal business for years when I was a child making bunnies & bears and slippers, and you have one busy woman.

Well a few years ago my mom decided to leave the education field and try her hand at something more "job like" and she found a customer service job with eQuilter.com. She's always been into quilting, so why not blend some hobby with some work? In a very short time she was managing the customer service department and a short while later she moved up to being a Buyer. My luddite mother, the woman who I had to forcibly hold in front of the computer to set up her first e-mail, is now Betty Murray Buying Department Manager for one of the largest online quilting businesses in the world.

She's leaving today, travelling to Portland with Luana Rubin, the owner of eQuilter for the Spring International Quilt Market. For the weekend she will be browsing and buying the newest fabrics on the market. Speaking with industry leaders and forming partnerships that are good for her business. This is what we should all be doing for our businesses and ourselves.

She is so happy in her job. Sure it gets stressful, like any job, but she works with fabric, and she is in a field that she has a lot of knowledge in and she ENJOYS her job. She found empowerment, confidence and success in the most unlikely place, for her, the Internet. Her days now consist of work that is primarily online and communication via e-mail. She does it well, from the response of the company, and gets to bring home beautiful material to continue doing the things she loves.
She is an inspiration to me. She is part of the reason I started my own business doing what I wanted to do in the way I wanted to do it. My mom showed me that it is possible to let work be a compliment to the other things that you do in life and I am thankful for that. Her courage to overcome her resistance to new technology is a motivator to me to let go of my own fears and roadblocks that kept me from achieving my own happiness.

Mom, thank you.