August 19, 2010

It was my great fortune to spend last weekend in Destin, FL with the Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce during their annual meeting. It was remarkable on several fronts. Let me set the context.

Destin is in the Florida Panhandle, otherwise known as the docking point for oil and tar balls from the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. Much of the year I live further south in the Tampa area and I was there over the months as the nature of the spill became known and continued to extend. Tampa was really at no serious immediate risk of getting hit with oil or tar, none the less, people cancelled their summer plans “just in case.”

They didn’t want to risk losing their vacations, wasting their money, being disappointed.  I get that. I even respect it. In this economy, how do you ask people to take that risk when every penny counts and the relief of vacation is so important.

So now imagine you are the Tallahassee Chamber or one of its members. It’s May. You know Destin is in the heart of the likely hit zone for oil and tar. There is no end in sight. What would you do?

Here is what they did.

They went!

Think about it, the courage, the message they sent TO A COMMUNITY OTHER THAN THEIR OWN! Not only was the Tallahassee Chamber risking a lot of money, they were risking the potential of a demoralizing event. They did it when nearly everyone else went the other way.

It took more than the courageous leadership of the Chamber here. Each of the nearly 400 members who chose to attend paid their own way. Each had the opportunity to go the other way as well, to cancel, to stay home. At a time when dollars are tight and small business is really struggling, they came.  As a group they declared by their actions how important it is for us to move forward with courage. They showed their priority for gathering to support their community and the community of Destin at the same time.

They had fun.

Good for them. We will not endure the hardships without the balance – or the risks.

They inspired each other merely by being there. Had there been no sessions, no speeches or videos, no breakout groups, no discussions, they still would have left having been inspired by their own risk and investment.

I am reminded that the companies who came out of the Great Depression best were those who had the courage to think, build and act for a better future rather than focusing on how to minimize their losses.

In a similar way, The Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce and their members have established something of a benchmark of hope for me in these uncertain times.

July 10, 2010

I’m reading an interesting book called “Blue Zones” by Dan Buettner which is about why there are pockets of population that live to be over 100.  Vicki (my wife) found it and immediately saw the importance of vibrant community as a key factor in living a longer life.

Ok, now I am going to completely blow it because here is how you save time with this book…read the preface, it’s really good and explains the idea, then go to page 227 and go through the nine factors most associated with high quality longer lives. From there, go back and explore from the nine the things where you feel you are most lacking.

According to Blue Zones, I’m nuts!  No… wait a minute…page 243, according to the book I need to EAT more nuts. Seriously. Worth reading just for the nut theory and I can do this one. I am also thrilled because it fully supports my continued play in the geezers softball league.

Thank God there are not ten factors, because the tenth would most certainly be take the time to read a whole book! I’m just trying to be realistic here. It’s hard enough to find time to read the 100 words in this post.

From so many different angles, the more we study the quality of life, the more simple community concepts are near the heart of all that works best and Blue Zones touches on many of them. If you know of others, please let me know by adding a comment. By the way, there is also a website worth checking out www.bluezones.com.  On it, you can get an idea of your life expectancy.  Be honest in how you answer.

June 21, 2010

I had the great honor to speak to the annual meeting of Leadership Florida last week.  I understand about 30 states have similar organizations. I have encountered a few in the past, but none like this.  The weekend included entertainment at every turn – good entertainment I should add. But none of it was needed.

The very first evening there was a reception with a “Fantasy Island” theme complete with a female Tattoo character. The lines were funny… I am sure they were… I just couldn’t hear them.  The more time passed, the more people filled the room and the louder the din of people talking. My first thought was to blame the acoustics. They weren’t yelling. Then I wondered if this wasn’t really rude. I mean, people clearly took time to write and prepare this show complete with funny pictures. But immediately I knew it wasn’t rude. It was something else.

I focused on the people who were talking.  They were really talking. They really knew each other. They were bonded. EVERY interaction was between people who were bonded. At that time, I did not understand why that was so. The next day the nature of Leadership Florida membership was explained to me.

Leadership Florida really wants it to be leaders and leadership. For that reason, the only way you can get in is to be nominated because of your demonstrated leadership behavior that has benefited Florida. But that doesn’t explain the bond.

If you are fortunate enough to be nominated, you then have the honor of investing thousands of dollars of your own money and weeks of your time to learn about Florida with 54 other people.  They take 55 a year.  Why? Because that is the most they can fit on the bus. And they want this to be a full, invested, bonding experience of leaders who really want to do more to make Florida a wonderful place.

I get to speak to a lot of groups in a year and see a lot of group dynamics. I have not seen the likes of Leadership Florida. What I saw was no polite small talk. These were people who really care about each other and their mission and have proven it with their time and money.

I often say stories are the proof that community has taken place. I think I found a new point of proof. When you go to a meeting and every single person is engaged – not just talking, engaged – with others in the room and it is so loud you can’t hear yourself think… you might be in the middle of pretty substantial community.

After thought: You know how in bars and restaurants in the evening as time passes they keep turning up the volume of the music? Is it possible they are trying to fake what occurs naturally in the beehive of true community when bonded people gather?

I don't know if I can do this, but here is a column that was online in the New York Times this morning...

{reprint from the New York Times}

Friends, Neighbors and Facebook

Published: June 11, 2010

Earl Wilson/The New York Times

Charles M. Blow

Go to Columnist Page »

Multimedia

Graphic

Who’s the Guy Next Door? Who Knows?

May 31, 2010

Vicki and I recently finished watching the HBO 10-part series “The Pacific.” It was the war with Japan companion piece to “Band of Brothers” which was about the war with Germany.

Today is Memorial Day. If you want to deepen your moments of remembering the sacrifices of others for your freedom, either of those two series will help. In both cases, the thing that struck me most was every action seemed to have the potential for dire consequences.

Life had consequences.  Many things were literally impacting life and death, and not just for the soldiers, but for the families as well – not just the potential for the loss of a loved one, but the sacrifices made to support the war effort.

I truly believe we had five decades of life (1950-2000) with little or no consequence.  That is, no matter what we did, we could keep going. That was most certainly not the case from 1900-1949. The Great Depression forced many decisions that impacted the rest of life. And WWI & II presented the potential for literal life and death decisions daily.

Yesterday I thought about other wars compared to WWI & II.  I actually found myself asking if they are comparable. In terms of the number of Americans killed, they are not. War is a more remote thing today than it was five decades ago.

I don’t want you to think I have completely minimized the risk and suffering faced by those in the armed forces now or by others living challenged lives today. The fact is those two groups, however – in number – are very, very small.  They are also, however, among the few living lives of daily consequence – making decisions that may indeed mean life or death.

I don’t need to elaborate on that context in war, but I am reminded of the state of youth gangs in the United States and the fact that gun deaths in America are dominated by shootings by one gang of members of another. I am also reminded the vast majority of those members don’t know how to read. They had lives of consequence before they joined the gang… or the military. But they were among the few.

We have had incredible prosperity in America for fifty years.  But not all of us. And those who have had to live in perpetual life-and-death circumstances have more often than not come from lives far from prosperous.  

As we remember our veterans today perhaps there is the potential of an expanded view. Some who join and fight do so because they choose to serve – despite the fact they had alternatives, they didn’t need to serve. They chose lives of consequence.

Others are facing consequences daily over which they have had less say or control.

I’d like to believe that those of us who have more in life should be choosing more often to take actions that have a positive consequence – to make more LIFE-and-death decisions – to choose to give up some of ours, by choice, so others who have little or no choice have more.