Every parent of the forty who were recognized last night can have a bursting heart this morning.  Today, I am also thankful for the diverse talents among the entire group of honorees.

There were doctors, lawyers, military professionals, and authors.  We were introduced to local legislators, musicians, and entrepreneurs.  We met a man who owns a racing team and another who writes a food blog. We heard success stories rooted in a wide variety of pursuits.

Every one of these men and women are deeply involved in their community.  As impressive as their personal resumes are, it was great to see the that they also used their passion, skills and commitment to help the underserved.  Many of the Forty under 40 serve on non-profits boards, mentor youth, advise start-ups, or have founded their own community service organization.  They fight hunger, cancer, and child abuse.  They preserve neighborhoods, cultures, and history.

I come away from these types of events hopeful for our future.  We are lucky to have the honorees’ enthusiasm, energy and smarts to lead us there.

.

Preparing for the move has included some tough decisions.  Do we really need to keep the faded print that we won’t hang on the wall anymore…just because my parents gave it to us? (No.) Do we need to keep the big clunky, chunky 10 year old TV….just because it still has a clear picture? (No.)  Should we hold on to my grandmother’s porcelein coffee and dessert sets…even though we just display them but don’t use them?  (Yes!)

Taking our teams into the future requires the same examination and, sometimes, very tough questions and answers.

Are you retaining people on your team who were once team leaders but aren’t willing to learn new skills for continued success?  Are you tolerating less than good productivity because a team member is a really nice person and great at organizing pot lucks?  Are you hanging on to processes that don’t work, just because that’s the way we’ve always done it?  Are you investing too much time trying to ‘save’ someone, when they have proven to be unwilling to save themselves?  Are you asking people to follow you, but you aren’t being a good follower yourself?

The right questions today can set the stage for a bright future.  I’m keeping that in mind with every item I’m choosing to take with me to our new home.  We all need to consider that as we take our teams to our new future.

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.

HopeMob?  My curiosity was piqued.

To quote its tagline, HopeMob is “where generous strangers unite.”  The website has a process for registered members to influence which charity drive is the current feature story.  In addition to the feature, there are also three stories locked in as next and twenty more in waiting.  It’s an interesting way to generate awareness and commitment.

The current featured event is an effort to raised enough money to donate five tandem bikes to schools for the blind.  Imagine the joy for a child to be on a bike, feeling the breeze on his or her face, even though blind!  Tandem bikes are not cheap, costing $590 each.  For the next 48 hours, donations will be matched, up to $1000.  So far, about half of the money needed for five bikes has been raised.

Click here to read more about HopeMob, the featured event, and how you can register and donate.

Follow HopeMob on Twitter or like them on Facebook.

One of the strategies she shared definitely applies to what we do everyday.

We all have big goals, in both our personal and professional lives. Sometimes, our goals can be so daunting they almost paralyze us. Alison suggested chunking the big goals into manageable increments. She shared this story of her experience as the team neared the mountain’s summit:

On the way up to High Camp, we were at 26,000 feet. This is called the “death zone.” At 26,000 feet, your body is slowly dying. You are taking 5 to 10 breaths for every step. After we made it to High Camp, we headed to the summit at 10:30 pm. We needed to be at 29,300 feet to reach the summit. I got overwhelmed as I did the math of how long it would take to get there by taking a step, 5 to 10 breaths, another step, and so on. I took the strategy of breaking it down into smaller increments. I picked out a rock a few hundred feet in front of me and focused on making it to the rock. Then I would find another goal.

Instead of worrying about going another 3000 feet, she set her sights on the rock a few hundred feet away. Then, perhaps another rock a couple hundred feet ahead. By setting smaller goals aimed at the larger goal, the task seemed more manageable and the goal achievable.

What big goal do you have? If you are sometimes overwhelmed by the magnitude of it, try Alison’s strategy. Set smaller goals, always moving in the right direction. Reach them, create new ones, steadily moving toward the big goal. Soon, like Alison, you’ll reach the summit of your Mount Everest, too.

If you are interested in the rest of Alison’s strategies, click here to read her story.

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.

The scenery is incredible.  Living in the relatively flat Ohio landscape, the Rockies are a sight to behold.  Today, we are driving across the state and I’ve been told that the scenery will be even more spectacular.  I can’t wait.

I’m meeting really good people, too.  Hard-working, salt-of-the-earth kind of folks.  They care about each other, they want to do well, they want to make a difference, they are excited about the opportunities of our growing company.

Today, I am thankful for the reminder that most people simply want to add value.

Yesterday, I met with someone who had recently been promoted to a frontline team leadership position.  I asked her what was the most challenging part of her new position and what was the most rewarding.  Her answers?  The most challenging for her is the mastering the multi-tasking it takes to be successful.  The most rewarding?  (This is as close a quote as I can recall…)

I feel like I’m really making a difference.  I’m helping other people be successful.  I feel like I’m adding value.

How important for all of us to remember. 

.

Failing to plan is planning to fail. – Anon.

Planning is bringing the future into the present so you can do something about it now. -Alan Lakein

Let our advance worrying become our advance thinking and planning. -Winston Churchill

Organizing is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it is not all mixed up. – A.A. Milne

Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work. -Peter Drucker

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.

However, as someone who has spent more than ten years immersed in building on a culture of service, studying the impact of leadership, and committed to the application of love in the workplace, I also know that many important things are not tangible and can’t be measured.

Or, so I thought. Enter Chip Conley ‘s new book, Emotional Equations.

Using simple arithmetic equations, Conley helps us see that we really can count and measure the things that make life important, that contribute to real success and genuine happiness.

For example, did you know that Authenticity = Self-Awareness x Courage? Chapter 12 will explain it to you. Or, skip ahead to Chapter 18 and discover that Faith = Belief / Intellect. Or, go back to Chapter 5 and learn why Regret = Disappointment + Responsibility.

This book isn’t only fascinating math, but peppered with interesting stories from the author’s life, current events, and history, all bringing the concepts to life. To get a flavor of Conley’s message watch his TED Talk, Measuring What Makes Life Worthwhile, (2010). If you are looking for a way to measure what is important in your life, or trying to make sense our of your emotional experiences, and live a life of creating happiness, this book is for you.

What you do each day can easily be measured. How, though, do you measure who you are? These are two very different things. Who you are includes integrity, purpose, curiosity, attitudes, self-esteem. All these things can be measured; not just in hunches or thoughts, but using science and math. Emotional Equations will show you how.

Order the book on Amazon (click here for audio version on CD), Barnes & Noble or download from iTunes. You can also like the book on Facebook and follow Chip Conley on Twitter.

Note: A free copy of this book was made available through a literary agent. The above opinion is entirely mine, and was not pre-approved, edited, or influenced in any way.

For this new year’s week, I challenge you to develop some stop, start, continue resolutions for yourself.  Complete the three sentences below.  Write down your answers.  Save them in a file, tuck them in a drawer, add them to your calendar at the end of the quarter.  Then, on some selected date, review your progress toward achieving them.  Good luck!

I resolve to STOP:

I resolve to START:

I resolve to CONTINUE:

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.

Take twelve fine, full-grown months; see that these are thoroughly free from old memories of bitterness, rancor and hate, cleanse them completely from every clinging spite; pick off all specks of pettiness and littleness; in short, see that these months are freed from all the past—have them fresh and clean as when they first came from the great storehouse of Time.

Cut these months into thirty or thirty-one equal parts. Do not attempt to make up the whole batch at one time (so many persons spoil the entire lot this way) but prepare one day at a time.

Into each day put equal parts of faith, patience, courage, work (some people omit this ingredient and so spoil the flavor of the rest), hope, fidelity, liberality, kindness, rest (leaving this out is like leaving the oil out of the salad dressing— don’t do it), prayer, meditation, and one well-selected resolution.

Put in about one teaspoonful of good spirits, a dash of fun, a pinch of folly, a sprinkling of play, and a heaping cupful of good humor.

And, I would add…mix well and share generously.  Happy new year!

Many people make personal resolutions to do something different in a new year.  Lose weight and exercise more.  Stop smoking.  Spend more time with the family.

What about resolutions for your business or career?  Today’s newslink is to a list of ten action items for the new year, compiled by IDG Enterprise CEO Michael Friedenberg.  Click HERE to read his list, published December 15 on CIO.com.  Add a comment below and share what you would add.

Happy New Year!

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