The movie is the true story of recently widowed father of two, Benjamin Mee (Matt Damon), who decides to buy a run-down wildlife park and move his family there to give everyone a fresh start away from sad memories.

Of course, memories aren’t so quickly left behind and running a zoo isn’t easy, either!  This heartwarming story takes viewers through the evolution of the family’s grief and recovery, with a sprinkling of humor.  One of the life lessons in the story is something handed down from Mee’s father to him, and from him to his children:

You know, sometimes all you need is twenty seconds of insane courage. Just literally twenty seconds of just embarrassing bravery. And I promise you, something great will come of it.

Think of these words when you’re about to have a difficult conversation; be brave enough to say the first words.  When attempting to do something you’re unsure of, twenty seconds of courage will get you started.  When choosing a new path, bravely take that first step.

When making New Year’s resolutions later this week, be brave enough to think big!  What do you want to change?  What do you want to start?  What do you want to stop? Remember, all you need is twenty seconds of insane courage.  Something great will come of it.

Happy 2012!

Tuesday Tidbits are weekly messages I send to my leadership team. They are generally short & sweet, often focused on leadership or teamwork, always positive and, hopefully, motivational. I hope you also find some meaning in them.

At one point, Beane goes to the home of Scott Hatteberg, a player that all the other teams thought was washed up. Scotty used to be a catcher, but an elbow injury and surgery meant he couldn’t throw the baseball any more. But, what he could do was get on base. Here is generally how part of the conversation went:

Beane: I don’t care about your elbow. As far as I’m concerned, you’ve thrown your last ball from behind the plate. I want you at first.

Scotty: But, I’ve been a catcher my whole life.

Beane: Well, you aren’t anymore. Do you want to play for the Oakland Athletics? Then you’re going to play first base.

Scotty: But,

Beane: You don’t know how to play first base. Of course you don’t. We’re going to teach you. We are going to teach you.

I’m not giving away the rest of the movie by telling you that Scotty accepted the offer. He still wanted to play baseball. He struggled a lot at first. Even though Scotty had been playing the game since he was a kid and had been a good catcher, it was really hard to play well in a completely new position.

Guess what, though? He learned. He changed. Scotty became an adequate first baseman, but more importantly, scored a lot of runs. And, scoring runs is what helped the team win games.

I was so struck by this interaction that I pulled out a pad of paper and pen in the theater and scribbled as much as I could recall. What a great lesson for us all!

Things change. We are sometimes asked to take on new roles. New leadership may have a new way of playing the game. They might think that different things should be a priority. But in the end, if you can approach the game with an open mind, play to your strengths, trust the new vision, and come together as a team, chances are you’ll win the game.

In baseball or business.

Tuesday Tidbits are weekly messages I send to my leadership team. They are generally short & sweet, often focused on leadership or teamwork, always positive and hopefully, motivational. I hope you find some meaning in them.

Well, I for one would never have thought to put Lady Gaga and Mother Teresa side by side in an article about leadership.  Fortunately, someone else did.  Click HERE to read the Shumpeter post, published yesterday in The Economist.

Newslink: Leadership features articles about the development and practice of leadership skills in today’s business world.

A couple things are great about this.  First, I get free books to add to my library.  If you’ve followed any of my posts, you know I love books and love to share them with my team, so adding to my library is a good thing.

Second, there is no pressure to post a “positive” review.  I am simply asked to share my unedited thoughts about the book here on my blog and on at least one commercial site.

Over the next week, I will be posting three such reviews:

This Is The Moment, by Walter Green

On This Day In Christian History, by Robert Morgan

Surviving Your Serengeti, by Stefan Swanepoel

I hope you find these reviews, and others posted here, useful.  Please share, what books have you read lately?  Would you recommend them?  Why or why not?

If you are lucky enough to live in a community with a theater specializing in independent films, you have access to a cultural gem.  One such community is Maitland, near Orlando, Florida, home of the Enzian Theater.  I had the pleasure of enjoying a show there several years ago, and the wonderful experience has stayed with me.  Given the timing of both my trip to Utah and the Sundance Film Festival, the Enzian Theater is a perfect topic for this week’s Sunday Service.

“As Central Florida’s only full-time, not-for-profit alternative cinema, Enzian exists to entertain, inspire, educate, and connect the community through film. For more than 25 years Enzian has championed the belief that “Film Is Art.” Along with first-run independent features, Enzian offers a variety of special events, such the nationally-recognized Florida Film Festival.” (www.enzian.org)

An evening at the Enzian is much more than just watching a movie.   While waiting to be seated, you can enjoy drinks at the Eden Bar, an outdoor delight.  Once inside, guests enjoy full table service; drinks and appetizers or a complete meal as they watch the show.  The menu  reflects the same “creativity and individuality” as the theater’s movie selections.

As mentioned above, the Enzian Theater is also the home of the Florida Film Festival, this year from April 11-17.  Described as “the best regional festival I have ever attended” by Eugene Hernandez, editor-in-chief of indieWIRE.com, it celebrates current cinema, independent films, food and fun.  For local residents and movie stars alike, the festival is an event in filmmaking.

If you would like to support the cinematic arts through the Enzian, you can become a member of the Enzian Film Society.  All members enjoy discounted tickets, a free popcorn at each show, free special screenings, and advance tickets for the Florida Film Festival.  Annual memberships begin at $60 and go up to $2200, with corresponding,  increasing benefit advantages. 

You can also help the theater continue its excellent programming and community arts programs by donating directly to its operation.  For 25 years, Enzian has been a non-profit community-supported organization.  With only a quarter of its operating budget coming from ticket sales, it cannot operate without financial contributions.  If you can help, click HERE and support the theater’s mission to “entertain, inspire, educate, and connect the community through film.”

Even if you don’t have any ties to central Florida, I would urge you to seek out your local indie theater and support it.  The arts community in your area needs your help, too.

Storytellers broaden our minds: engage, provoke, inspire, and ultimately, connect us. -Robert Redford, President and Founder, Sundance Institute

Photos courtesy of www.enzian.org

He is probably best known for his roles on Taxi and Who’s The Boss. His recent  appearance on Oprah, however, was about his dream job, at which he has been working for the last year; high school English teacher.

Danza originally went to college to be a teacher.  To help pay his way, he was also an amateur boxer, and that avenue eventually led him to acting.  But, after many years on the large and small screen, he decided at the age of 58 that he wanted to go back to his original passion and teach.  He remembered how he struggled with motivated learning, and really believed that he could help today’s students.

Imagine being a 10^th grade student at Northeast High School in Philadelphia who walks into the classroom on the first day of school and sees Tony Danza.  And, he’s your teacher!  Imagine being a teacher walking into the faculty room, and Tony Danza is now your peer.  It was not an easy road for him, for sure.

Long story short, Danza got off to a rocky start, but ended the school year strong.  After so many years out of school, he just needed to focus his passion, find his stride, and then his students responded.

At the end of the Oprah piece, short clips were shown of students and faculty commenting on how Danza did in his first year back to teaching.  One of the comments made by Mrs. Linda Carroll, the school principal, stood out for me.

You are not a teacher until someone is learning.

Couldn’t we say the same about leaders? 

You are not a leader until someone is following.

Many people claim to be leaders.  In the absence of anyone following, are they really leaders?  If leadership is influence, and no one is being influenced, is there a leader?  If you’re a leader, who is following?  If Oprah interviewed them, what would they say about you?

If you want to know more about Tony Danza’s latest career choice, read THIS interview.  Although he is specifically commenting about his role as a teacher, many of his insights apply to leadership of all kinds; self-control, empathy, giving to others, and more.

In closing, I invite you to consider this:

If you could have your dream job, what would it be?  What’s stopping you?  Feel free to share your thoughts by adding a comment.  You just might inspire someone else to pursue their dream job!  Imagine the possibilities!

Sometimes I wonder about my life. I lead a small life – well, valuable, but small – and sometimes I wonder, do I do it because I like it, or because I haven’t been brave?

So much of what I see reminds me of something I read in a book, when shouldn’t it be the other way around?

I don’t really want an answer. I just want to send this cosmic question out into the void.

- Kathleen Kelly in You’ve Got Mail

I’m a great fan of Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks movies, probably because I love romantic comedies.  I could watch You’ve Got Mail and Sleepless in Seattle over and over!  They touch the heart and make the soul smile.  However, if you really pay attention, even the lightest plot can have some very thoughtful moments.

Take the above quote, for example.

Many people aren’t brave.  They choose the safe path, the one with the least risk and the least opportunity for failure.  Failure.  That’s how most of us would view an unsuccessful attempt at something.  Not the brave, though.  They view it as an opportunity for feedback, to learn how to do it better the next time.

In THIS article, Overcoming The Fear of Failure, Arina Nikitina states:  

Fear of failure is one of the greatest fears people have. Fear of failure is closely related to fear of criticism and fear of rejection. Successful people overcome their fear of failure. Fear incapacitates unsuccessful people.

The best thing to do is not to avoid the things we might fail at, but instead, we must learn how to fail.  Martha Beck wrote THIS article for Oprah.com a couple years ago: How To Fail Your Way to Success.  Through her humorous storytelling, Beck reminds us that:

We shouldn’t assign more significance to a failure than it deserves…Sometimes, there just isn’t anything you can do about failure…Some failures pave the way to sucesses…We must accept that failure is a part of life.

The second part of the movie quote above also demands our attention. 

 When we think about our lives, does it remind us of books we’ve read?  Or, has our life been such that we should write a book about it?  Are we sitting back and letting life just happen?  Or, are we bravely charging into life’s possible experiences?  Are we making things happen?

So, why is life the way it is?  Is it because of the path we took or because of the path we didn’t?  It’s an interesting question, isn’t it?

I don’t really want an answer. I just wanted to send this cosmic question out into the void.

Also celebrated on April 1 are:

• Boomer Bonus Day
• International Tatting Day
• National Fun Day
• National Fun At Work Day
• Poetry and the Creative Mind Day
• Sorry, Charlie Day
• St. Stupid Day
• US Air Force Academy Day

The first week of April is also known for:

• International Pooper-Scooper Week
• Laugh At Work Week
• Golden Rule Week
• Medication Safety Week
• Testicular Cancer Week
• Alcohol Free Weekend

And, this was NOT an April Fool’s Joke!  Have a fun day!  Hopefully, the jokes won’t be on you today!!

PS: Thanks to BrownieLocks for the holiday listing!

The show provides an insight to how vertical communications and a corporate vision can break down as the gap between front line employees and executive level employees widens.

I am particularly sensitive to this, as the company that I work for has grown significantly over the last few years.  Two years ago, as my responsibility grew to six departments, I added two Directors to my structure.  This caused quite a stir initially, as some felt that I was removing myself from the day-to-day leadership of our business unit.  On the other hand, I felt that adding these two remarkable people would actually strengthen the leadership team as a whole.

Then, this past weekend, my office was moved from the 4th floor of the building where five of my six departments are housed down to the first floor of our original building with the rest of the executive team.  Some people have again commented that I’m “leaving” my departments.  I have tried explaining that my first priority has to be as a member of the executive team, and that focus will serve all of the departments well.   One’s peer team is the primary relationship and one’s vertical team is secondary (albeit a very close second!).  That is not something easily understood by the people who think that, as their leader, I should be still be constantly among them.

I am glad that our communication is such that people feel comfortable sharing their concerns with me.  Hopefully, my ongoing behaviors will continue to provide the space for that, no matter what floor my office is physically located on.  I know that it is up to me to keep all of those important relationships, with all levels of my team, alive and healthy.

Which brings me to Sunday night’s episode of “Undercover Boss.”  Bill Carstanjen, COO of Churchill Downs, Inc., travelled to some of their lesser known horse track locations.  He helped feed horses, clean banquet rooms, and support jockeys in their race preparation.  Bill learned a very important lesson; if he didn’t really understand the day-to-day challenges of the employees on the front-line, he could not being as effective as he otherwise could be as a leader.

In closing comments to his staff, after the big “reveal” of his true identity, Bill shared the following comment:

The most important things in life start with human interaction.  It starts with talking.  It starts with caring.  That’s something we all need to understand better.

I hope that the viewers of the show stayed tuned in through the very end to hear Bill’s statement.  It was a critical lesson he learned, and an important one for us all to understand.  The one thing I would add is the need to listen, too.

How can we act on this today?  To whom can we demonstrate that we really care?  Starting today, who can we interact with and learn from?

Still needed?

The above question has been gnawing at me.  I hope that after you read this post, you will add a comment sharing your thoughts on the need for this day.

Yesterday, I saw numerous tweets, press releases, and other sorts of publicity about International Women’s Day (IWD).  With each one, I grew slightly more frustrated.  I was born in the late fifties, so the fight for equality seemed to be happening before my eyes as I grew up.  Between my parents’ influence and societal changes, I turned out to be an example of all that is great about being a woman (my opinion, of course).  And those things come down to the choices I made.

My parents were German immigrants and I was raised in a very traditional, male-dominated household.  I was quite the independent teen, but after I got married and parenthood came along, I chose the traditional path of being a stay-at-home Mom.  Years later, I started working and eventually built a career.  After my kids finished school, I went to college.  Today I hold an executive position for a company I love going to each day.  I never viewed my path as putting my life on hold or that my happiness was secondary; I viewed this as the life I chose and I was very happy with that.

I’ve also never been a supporter of the idea that the “glass ceiling” is still imprenetrable.  I believe that we make choices in our lives and our careers that impact what path our professional lives take.  Rather than complain about being limited by those choices, I think we need to own the choices we make and the results of those choices.  If we don’t feel that we are paid enough, recognized enough, or promoted enough, I suggest that we need to look at ourselves first.  What changes do we need to make to develop our professional skills, communication style, or leadership philosophy in order to gain what we want out of our career?  Or, perhaps we need to change jobs or employers.  We have choices.

I think some of this is also generational.  My daughter, Heather, is an entrepreneur.  She is college-educated.  She developed her passion and honed her skills working for a couple different public relations firms over the last seven years, as well as volunteering her efforts for several non-profits.  This past December, she launched her own company, Geben Communication.

Heather’s achievements have come through her own intelligence, hard work, desire to grow, being customer-minded, socially aware, and focused on hearing what her customers really need and then delivering it.  She is celebrated as a great public relations and social media expert – not as a great woman public relations and social media expert.  The circle of friends her and her husband share includes other women who are focused on building their careers right now, while other friends have decided the time was right to start a family.  All of them are seen as successful, no matter what life choices they have made.  This reflects a change in how the younger generations view women.

All that is a little background to help you understand my question: Why do we still need a separate day to celebrate ”the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future?”

Before I upset the feminist apple cart, I figured I had better do some research as to how the day came into being.

Way back in 1911, the idea of a Women’s Day was introduced by Clara Zetkin, Leader of the ‘Women’s Office’ for the Social Democratic Party in Germany.  Women from several countries had been working for years to gain the right to vote and the equality they hoped that would bring.  According to the IWD website,

[Zetkin] proposed that every year in every country there should be a celebration on the same day – a Women’s Day – to press for their demands. The conference of over 100 women from 17 countries, representing unions, socialist parties, working women’s clubs, and including the first three women elected to the Finnish parliament, greeted Zetkin’s suggestion with unanimous approval and thus International Women’s Day was the result.

Here we are, 99 years later, and we are still designating a special time to focus the world’s attention on the achievements of women.  Why?  Is there an International Men’s Day?  No.  We don’t need a designated day to celebrate the contributions of men.  Why can’t we simply celebrate the achievements of people as they make their mark on our society?

Doesn’t this continued separation actually further the idea that women somehow require separate acknowledgement?  Doesn’t it send the message that our achievements are not as world-changing as those of men, and we therefore need to call special attention to them? 

Haven’t we made enough strides in the last 99 years that we can be confident in allowing our work stand and be noticed on its own merit?

I also feel obligated to add that I am not saying that we should ignore the plight of women in other countries who are still struggling to gain equal opportunities.  That effort deserves much support.  But, that is not the purpose of this day.

Interestingly enough, this year’s IWD fell on the day after the Academy Awards at which a Best Director Oscar was awarded to a woman for the very first time (Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker).  While watching the coverage after the Academy Awards, I heard an interview with Barbra Striesand.  She made the following statement:

I hope there will come a time when it will not be about a woman director and a man director, but just who the best director is; when there’s no regard for gender, but just the talent of the work.

Exactly, Ms. Striesand, exactly. 

Consider these questions: Does continuing International Women’s Day help the cause of equality?  Or, does it merely continue the idea that the achievements of women need to somehow be specially noted and celebrated?  What are your thoughts?