You are a Solution

“What is the problem you are solving?” – Selection Committee

You are a Solution

“He’s been working his brains out on this for the past four years.”  Brad Bertoch said on a selection committee conference call.

When his words hit my ears it was as if they began to be absorbed into my mind and heart almost instantly!  It opened a path for me to think about how to take a critical part of creating a successful business, solving a problem not conquered, and apply it to creating a better world on an individual basis. I invite you to walk this path with me as well.

I’ve noticed that people have an interesting approach to their walk through life.  Many people find a single-track-path and stick to it.  They rarely venture off their path and some seem to be walking on a narrow path in a canyon.  As they walk up their path, they look around and say to themselves, “I’m on this path and as long as I stay on this path everything will be alright.  After all, look at the problems surrounding me.  These cliffs are too high and too steep for me to conquer!  What can I do?  I’m only one person!”

What can only one person do?  Someone else blazed the path we’re walking, but most never seem to notice!  After all, very few of us have ever truly blazed a new path.  You might be able to think of a handful of such individuals.  But does it have to be that way?

No!  There are opportunities for new paths to forge all around us. We simply need to look from side to side and solutions will appear before our eyes.  And, we don’t need to conquer an entire mountain to make a huge difference.

Think of making a difference in this way.  While you’re walking forward you see a small stream running down the side of your path.   Your eyes look past this obstacle to a lush and desirable side canyon.  No one has ventured up this gorge because no one has bridged the stream.  Most have simply kept their head down and pushed forward on their open path.  But, you can see the benefits that beckon on the other side.

When you hear such a call you must heed it.  Stop moving in one direction and begin to make preparations to move in another by building a bridge. The thing about bridge building is that the foundation is all-important.  It takes a lot of work to create the right foundation and most of this important component lies hidden.  I’ve seen people begin and quit because they feel as if they aren’t making any real progress.  I remember going through this myself once, only to have a disappointed mentor say, “You were right at the point when things were going to takeoff for you!”  Don’t let a false feeling of little progress deter you!  Once your bridge is complete you are truly off your former path and on to a new one!

At this point you’ve earned a new personal label, Trail Blazer!  This means you’re no longer on a path created by someone else.  You’re the one making the path. It’s hard, but satisfying work.  You get to determine the way forward, the creation of vantage points and the end of the trail.  So, get comfortable with “making it up as you go along.”

As a child I didn’t know that adults made it up as they went along.  I thought they had all the answers.  Such a belief led me to walk my early adult years in disappointment.  Don’t fall into this same trap.  If Adults knew everything, then all of the world’s problems would already be solved!

All the world’s problems are not solved!  So, you and I have the opportunity to create at least one solution to one problem.  Just follow your path until you see a small opportunity, create a foundation to build a bridge, construct a sturdy bridge so you can begin a new path, blaze a trail that others can follow and make sure you enjoy beautiful vistas on your way to the end of the trail. You are a solution!

Adversity's Match

“How have you been able to keep this going all of these years?” – Jennifer Meyer

Adversity’s Match

There were brightly burning fires on the other side of the window.  They seemed to have been perfectly placed as an exclamation mark on our conversation.

“How have you been able to keep this going all of these years?” Jennifer asked our friend Brad Bertoch.

She looked across the table in anticipation of his answer.  I watched them both.

I knew there was no way for Brad to answer that question adequately.  After all, his life over the past thirty-one years contains the whole answer.  I haven’t been by his side for all of those years.  But, I’ve been walking with him for twenty-five of them, a witness to his dedication to improve the lives of thousands.

Brad has been the driving force behind a nonprofit corporation that he has almost singlehandedly kept moving forward.  His performance of perseverance and optimism contains all of the ingredients you and I need to emulate in our own lives.  Everyone can benefit from Brad’s extraordinary traits.

Brad’s deeply held belief keeps his heart’s flame burning.  As a young man Brad surrounded himself with some of the technology-economy’s brightest entrepreneurs.  In doing so he was able to watch how they transformed our world though their work and passion.  This experience allowed him to move beyond belief and to know that “the human condition could be improved as a result of technical entrepreneurship.”

Brad examined his belief in great detail so he could formulate a life path that would allow him to actively engage.  In doing so he has become the embodiment of his core principles. 

He created a nonprofit corporation dedicated to bring his vision in to the lives of hundreds of people.  As a result a strong network of like-minded individuals, who share his view of the world, have surrounded him to combine their efforts for the betterment of human kind.

The work of Brad and his network is very complex, and beyond the grasp of many people, so he created a simplified system that empowers everyone.  In fact, his systems appear to be so basic that the vast majority of people completely miss its elegance.  But, that’s only part of the story.  Even if participants never see beyond the process’ surface and still participate, they still benefit.

I’ve watched as others have proclaimed the certain demise of both Brad and his company.  “The game has passed him by.” Some have said.  Economic conditions have faded on several occasions causing his funding to be in peril.  Competitors seem to be pounding at every door and window in a constant barrage.  Yet, through it all Brad’s heart-felt flame continues to flicker as if it is to be an eternal flame.  His heart’s internal burning allows him to stand tall against all to proclaim, “I’ve seen this before.  I’ve been through it all, I know what we’re doing works and we’re still doing it the right way!”

Brad’s way of becoming adversity’s match will work for you and me as well.  Find your deeply held belief, surround yourself with others who will stoke your passion’s flame, become the embodiment of your core values, devise ways to powerfully simplify your life’s purpose so your internal fire can enable you to stand tall and firm in your right path.

Transformations

“Sometimes we can do the same thing wrong, over and over again, and call it experience.” - David Angerbauer

Transformations

I was standing in a group of Cooperative Venturers.  They’re a group of people dedicated to transferring their knowledge and experience to entrepreneurs seeking to start new companies and find investment capital so they can change our world.  Most of us have worked together for many years.  But, over the past several years I’ve missed one of our members, David Angerbauer.

I had just finished making a presentation on working together as a team when David approached me. 

“Thanks.”  He said.  “We’ve all been doing this for a long time, but today you made me realize something.  Sometimes we can do the same thing wrong, over and over again, and call it experience!”  His caused me to, once again, explore both the strengths and weaknesses of cooperation.

Cooperative Venturing is based on the concept that “two heads are better than one.”  I describe it to others as synergy, teamwork, having an open mind or even an adventure leading to the finding of new solutions.  It’s all about helping people to achieve more than they could accomplish on their own.  Cooperative Venturing is a process where people bring all their personal experience and expertise to the table so they can produce far more than they could as individuals.  And, as David pointed out so astutely, it allows us to discover things jointly that we’re much less likely to discover on our own.

When people begin to cooperate together in a genuine manner they open themselves up to each other’s influence and begin to gain new insight.  Cooperation accelerates new invention and progress when approached as a process for transformation.  But there are possible downsides as well.  I’ve identified five key challenges for you consider personally.

First, cooperation may be better than going it alone, but only when we can competently discuss our different perspectives.  If one person on the team has flawed information, or is less competent, then the outcome can be negative.  So, make sure you establish good communication so incorrect information and be identified and completely ignored. 

Second, successful cooperation requires each personal to evaluate one’s own ability. There’s a known cognitive fallacy called the Dunning-Kruger effect.   This can be described as “the most incompetent individuals often overestimate their skills.”  They just “think” they’re above average!  Having such a person on your team will severely damage and limit performance.

Third, watch out for the overconfidence effect, which is be described as one’s personal tendency for their confidence to be larger than their realized ability.  I like the common saying, “biting off more than you can chew” to describe this.

Fourth, sometimes having too many people trying to work together can become a problem.  I’ve seen others refer to this “social loafing.”  A large group can reduce performance pressure on each individual in the group, but it can actually reduce each person’s contribution. 

Finally, overcome the desire for sameness!  Valuing differences is what really drives cooperation. Do you truly value the physical, mental, emotional, and psychological differences among people? Or do you wish everyone would just agree with you so you could all get along?  Many people mistake uniformity for unity or sameness for oneness.  When cooperating, differences should be seen as strengths, not weaknesses.

Are you looking for more strength, zest and success if your life?  If you are, begin your transformation by recognizing that the greatest resource in our world is people.  Many of those around us see people as the “problem, “ or worse, the destroyers of our planet.  Distinguish yourself by seeing people for what they are, the special ingredient to contribute mental, emotional, spiritual and physical success to your life.

Cooperate with others today and enjoy your own amazing transformation.

Tug at a String

“I had forgotten all about it.” – Rod McDaniels

Tug at a String

It had been months since I’d been able to sit and talk with my friend Rod.  We normally get together on a more regular basis.  Sometimes life just takes over.  But, he graciously and patiently, rescheduled with me a couple of times due to my challenging schedule.

When we did sit down together I noticed he was radiating a profound peacefulness.  It made me feel warm inside to see how well he was doing.  He told me of his family and how well each member is doing.  I enjoyed seeing updated photos while receiving a happenings update.  He also, toward the end of our visit, revealed the source of his current self-assurance so could share it with you.

Rod exposed the beginnings of a large trial and explained how he carefully navigated his way through the challenges that came with it.  I knew some of his story, but this time he went into more detail and I marveled at how he unfolded each event.  Still, a full revealing of how powerful his taught principle is didn’t happen for me until the next day.

Early the next morning I was in the cold dawn feeding my cows and I looked at two large piles of bailing twine that had grown into one huge mass over time.  That big mess was there before me.  (Ok.  I’ll admit to you, that I added to the pile a little myself.)  The pile was so large that I hadn’t begun to unravel it.  I’ve left it to sit in that same spot there for years and years.  So, it still sat on this particular morning.  I looked.  I shrugged.  I began to walk away.

I took one step from it.  I stopped.  I was prompted from what Rod had taught me the day before.  I didn’t need to sort out this whole mess right this minute!  I had already taken the first important step.  I had stopped adding to the pile!  Now I could follow Rod’s example and remove just one string from the mess.

I reached a tentative hand out and tugged at one strand of twine.  To my surprise the string slipped fluidly from the seemingly immovable tangle!  I took that one piece of twine and wound it up in a small circle.  Then I simply took it out to of the hay barn, walked it to my everyday trashcan and made a deposit. 

This one simple act left me feeling as if I had just conquered an impenetrable fortress!  I could see the end of that huge mess for the very first time.  It no longer mattered to me that I didn’t make the mess.  It only mattered that I knew I could remove the entire mess from my life by removing it one simple string at a time over time.

I’m sure you’ve experienced the trauma of an unresolved mess in your own life.  If it’s like mine, it may have started outside of your control.  Those are a horrible kind.  I found myself saying over and over again, “I didn’t make this mess.  I shouldn’t have to clean it up!”  I would simply look at it and feel overwhelmed, resentful and helpless.

The problem is that such feelings were continually causing me to harbor resentment while keeping my focus on the unresolved mess!  Rod’s revelation of how to clear up a mess “one string at a time” allows you and me to become free of burdens easily over time while enjoying hope, strength and joy immediately.

Tug on one string today.