Dec 13 2011
4 Comments
Business, Creativity, Imagination, Leadership, Let The Music Play

Spelling Bee

Most school systems fail us. If you are a teacher, that is not a poke at you – it is a poke at the system.

School (the system) has taught us all that spelling is big deal. It used to be. Multiplication and division is important – why? I can do almost any  math problem with my phone now.

Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492 only is important because it is the answer to our 5th grade test. What was truly important was the idea that the world was not flat. The system forgets to teach that. A world that was not flat that was an Internetesque idea in its time – a game changing concept.

What if our kids had the chance to reenact landing in America on Santa Maria?  What if they planned what they had to pack for the trip? What if they had to communicate with the locals upon arrival? What if they learned how to sail the ocean? I can assure you that dreams would start if a teacher had the platform to encourage his/her students to go prove their prospective worlds are not flat.

Yet the system demands that clubs or groups be created in order to engage our creative.  When you hear things like the debate team, glee club, photography club, and entrepreneurship club your mind autopilots to Dorkville. Which is fine, just don’t teach your kids that mentality. Give it time, and they will find out that names like Jobs, Zuckerberg, and Buffet tend to be the mayors of Dorkville.

So you won the spelling bee? Big deal.

So you never won the spelling bee? Whoopdeedo.

Why do we even have spelling bees now? Bill Gates won the spelling bee for all of us when he created Word.

We all win when you are placed in atmosphere to create and imagine the next Windows or Facebook of the world. Only you win when you remember how to spell baccalaureate.

Dec 12 2011
3 Comments
Business, Creativity, Leadership

Roses

Nature has a beautiful way of showing us how things really are.

For instance, let’s look at a rose.

Behind the beauty and aroma of every rose is a grueling and systematic process. Before the rose can be in a vase, there is a lot of work to be done.

First, the dirt had to be tilled, then a bush had to be planted, then the bush had to be watered, then the bush had to be sun-baked, then the stems had to be pruned, next the rose buds, and finally the rose blooms.

See the rules? See the process? This is botany meets sheet music. Remove any of these steps and you’re roseless.

Things of beauty are rarely happenstance and are quite difficult for a fast-food society to grasp.

So you want the world to stop and smell your roses?

Go till the soil today. Then plant something today. Then water that something today. Then…

Roses are results of work that happened yesterday and they beg us to do work today that matters.

Our families, churches, and businesses will never bloom until we get some dirt under our fingernails.

2 Lesson Points:

1) Yesterday was your best day to plant, but it is over. Today is now your best bet. Tomorrow is unacceptable.

2) You are going to want some roses in the spring, and yelling at the dirt won’t make that happen when April comes around.

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Dec 09 2011
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Business, Creativity, Imagination, Leadership, Let The Music Play

The Ways Of Love Are The Way To Music

Love never gives up.   

Love cares more for others than for self.   

Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.   

Love doesn’t strut,   

Doesn’t have a swelled head,   

Doesn’t force itself on others,   

Isn’t always “me first,”   

Doesn’t fly off the handle,   

Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,   

Doesn’t revel when others grovel,   

Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,   

Puts up with anything,   

Trusts God always,   

Always looks for the best,   

Never looks back,   

But keeps going to the end.  The Message 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now we can answers Tina Turner’s question.

What’s love got to do with it? Everything.

Love is in the business of challenging the status quo.

Without it our souls, our businesses, and our lives are bankrupt.

With it we can orchestrate wonderful music and the world around us will join in with song and dance.

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Dec 08 2011
1 Comment
Business

Cheers

Question:

What does every person that walks into a hotel lobby, office front desk, website, show floor, church, or bar have in common?

Answer:

They’re all whistling the theme song from Cheers.

“Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name, and they’re always glad you came.”

Think about this the next time someone walks, clicks, or checks in to your place of business.
Dec 07 2011
1 Comment
Business

Style

As long as you develop your style within your principles you will succeed.

Your style can be your product’s or service’s differentiation. Your principles are what give humanity to your products or services.

Styles = Trends. Principles = Truths.

3 shots of truth and 1 shot of style is a good mix. Never dilute what is true.

Remember, there’s no points for style…you’ve got to get the ball in the hoop.

Bring us your music, then show us your dance moves.

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