There are so many options available, that considering how your service or product stands out from the crowd is worth thinking about. There is the negative side of standing out. Not catching the error in during the review of the proposal could make a seemingly competitive bid a very easy choice against you because your best foot forward does not measure up for the potential client. Or simply being loud does not mean that anyone will listen even if some of the message is good because they have already hit the mute button on you either figuratively or literally.

What about when you do your best and this is the standard in the culture or the competitive landscape? After an experience of “losing” my bag in Tokyo I heard a story of a former CEO of my company from when he was setting up the Japanese office in the same city. He purchased a bike while he was living in Tokyo that he used to get around. When his time was complete he parked it in front of the office and forgot about it. Three years later he returned to Tokyo and went to the office to find his bike still there, without having been locked up.

Was the bike unremarkable and therefore no one paid it any attention? Perhaps. But even the most junky bike in Seattle I have seen stripped to it’s frame as it was the only part of the bike locked to the bike rack. Rather the cultural environment in Tokyo is one in which people don’t steal bikes, therefore in order to stand out in this environment is very difficult. When competition is tough and you have a rival that has brought their best team, has a strong moral center, and has already delivered to clients at the level being proposed at the moment…this is when things get interesting. You don’t even have to be in a commoditized market to struggle with this, as the standard is just higher.

So in the U.S. you might be doing a great job if you never steal a bike, but if you live in Japan that is just expected. How do you up your game? If you are looking for some thoughts you should check out the book, Purple Cow   by Seth Godin about transforming your business to be remarkable.

“In a crowded marketplace, fitting in is failing. In a busy marketplace, not standing out is the same as being invisible.”
― Seth Godin, Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable

Just about a year ago was the first time I traveled to Tokyo, Japan. As life would have it I’m getting to go back again. Here are the things I enjoyed:

• Great place for my daughter to have her first international experience
• Got a great haircut
• Food was amazing
• My co-workers there rock!
• There were free umbrella’s or very cheap umbrella’s everywhere
• People were extremely hospitable
• Ate great Indian food, that was a surprise
• Subway is so easy

The things I didn’t like:

• More ex-pats then I expected
• People were taller then I had anticipated

In Japan, you have no idea what they are saying, and they can’t help you either. Nothing makes any sense. They’re very polite, but you feel like a joke is being played on you the entire time you’re there. -Bill Murray

Your resources are limited, there is fear that you don’t have everything necessary in order to get the job done. So you wait, you ask, you wait, you hope, and you look around why the world appears to be passing you buy. If you continue to wait until everything is perfect no one would ever sell anything, get married, or have children.

There are a few stories in the Judeo-Christian tradition that struck me:

• Pulling in the fish on the beach at the Sea of Tiberias (John 21)
• The Widow’s Olive Oil (2 Kings )

There are probably other examples of supernatural moments where the physical were effected in a way that benefited those in need. The nets of the fisherman did not break and they were able to feast on the shore with Jesus. The widow’s oil did not run out and she was able to earn an income and save the live of her son with only one bottle of oil.

Are these supernatural acts? or are these just great story telling? Regardless the encouragement for you and me is the same, what we have is enough and we should not sit on the sidelines until things improve, grow, or are more stable. Action creates growth and live in the hope that what you have is enough to get you through.

“The great advantage about telling the truth is that nobody ever believes it.”
― Dorothy L. Sayers

There is a difference between being centered and being at the center. In both cases the center is where the action is happening. Personally, being at the center is where I love to be. This morning while attending the Seattle Pacific University Downtown Business Breakfast, Doris Kearns Goodwin spoke. It was amazing.

She shared with us many stories but the one quote I took away was about Theodore  (Teddy) Roosevelt. His daughter, Alice Roosevelt Longworth  was saying that he disparately missed being president, because he liked being at the center.

My father always wanted to be the corpse at every funeral,
the bride at every wedding and the baby at every christening.

-Alice Roosevelt Longworth, on her father

I have a freshman. A freshman daughter that is already interested in planning how she is going to get into the college of her choice, she lives the mantra “Always be Prepared” more then anyone I know. It is great because she helps me step up my game. Last night we went to the college planning night at her high school.

I figured that if I got one new piece of data that was helpful in it I would be good to go. I got a few. First this video was shared..and it is my new thing:

Also during the financial aid session I got these stats: In the state of Washington the average cost 1. for Community college=$14K 2. for public college=$25 3. for private college=$60K. That is a pretty clear wake up call, but it is always helpful to know what you are up against. Also there was a great session on Running Start, which means my daughter will have the opportunity to graduate high school with an Associates Degree thanks to the state of Washington. We new about this program but the session gave us more details and got us more excited

Today I read about the girl that was accepted into 5 Ivy League schools and she wrote about Costco: Love for Costco got a high school senior into 5 Ivy League schools. College planning time is a time to create for kids and parents.

So what is your Space Jam? Needless to say I’m really excited about what my family is creating and what it means for us all in the near future!

I guess there’s a few things I could do instead of basketball… I could be a farmer… I could be a missionary and go back to the jungle again…

-Shawn Bradley, Space Jam

Empathy takes listening

Empathy is a slow boil

Empathy considers what it is like to walk a  mile in someone else’s shoes

Empathy means removing yourself from personal emotions yet not emotionally

A powerful opportunity is there in empathy. The ability to understand someone and yet not agree with their actions. The ability to work with them and perhaps change their mind if they are open. In a service industry empathy is key to successful serving customers. In a family it is key to having good healthy relationship.

Found this article on this in the Huffington Post, Empathy Is the Key to a Successful Business

“We must learn to regard people less in the light of what they do or omit to do, and more in the light of what they suffer.”
― Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison

There are a few types of secrets though most people pretend that they are all the same.

• The specs secret, before the iPhone launch everyone knows what is going to be announced
• The worst kept secret, told in confidence but everyone in the office is already talking about it
• The “in-confidence” secret, that is told to you with the agreement you will never mention it to the person it is about. Warning rarely kept by me:)
• The surprise secret, keeping the party from your loved one requires tons of effort and must be analyzed if the effort is worth it
• The I’m dying to tell everyone about it secret

At work I have a dying to tell everyone secret, right now I’m working on a project that I cannot wait to have public. This should be made public within the next month, but after working on it today I have to let some steam out!!

Don’t only practice your art, but force your way into its secrets; art deserves that, for it and knowledge can raise man to the Divine. -Ludwig van Beethoven

At what pace is it best to start your week? Common practice for sales teams has been to have a Monday morning all hands meeting, to focus and motivate the team to go knock it out of the park regarding their goals the rest of the week. Others look at refocusing on goals after returning to work, making sure when you do start taking action you know that the correct things are being addressed. Then there are others who must read something to inspire creativity and innovation.

All of these work. Also an important questions is to think about when does our week really start? Most weeks I try to provide myself space on Sunday from work, but in general work does not stop just because it is a particular day of the week or hour. It seems that Einstein’s Space-Time rules do not exist for work as it is outside of space:)

A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week.  -George S. Patton

…it’s time to deceipher.
The ills of the world make the situation lighter.

-Phife Dawg

On March 22, 2016 one of my favorite musicians passed away, Phife Dawg from A Tribe Call Quest. There were so many great tributes and articles in the last week, that I was able to enjoy them without feeling the need to add to the mix of the many wonderful things that everyone was saying. The connection provided by Phife to the universe for me was evident last week as I was surprise as to how many other people were impacted by his work! Last Tuesday I had a day in the car with a co-worker and all we listed to was Tribe, great way to grieve and tribute.

In 1990, People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm was released by A Tribe Called Quest. Phife and Q-Tip were 20 years old, they had been working at the rap game and made it. To me this was amazing that people so young could do something so amazing. Not only did I dance my ass off to their music but I was inspired by their work and the ability they had to stick it to the man. From Check the Rhime on Low End Theory:

Industry rule number four thousand and eighty,
Record company people are shady.
So kids watch your back ’cause I think they smoke crack,
I don’t doubt it. Look at how they act.

Over and over again these guys amazed me. When they put out the Love Moment a friend reminds me that I sent him an email in college saying that it was “the best album ever made”…that may have been a slight overstatement after years of reflection. What stands is this group of guys impacted my life deeply, they changed my social relationships, and they provided me funk and hope when I needed it.

Google tries to solve big problems, good customer service is based on understanding your clients problems and working with them to solve them, being a good human means understanding the ills of the world and making the situation lighter. Today lets do that.

Many people find that running or working out in a group provides the positive support needed to keep them motivated. Over the years I have discovered that I prefer to run alone. While doing that it is good to challenge yourself in alternative ways from group competition.

The negative split is described as “A perfect negative split run is when each mile is faster than the last. Most runners still consider the run to be a negative split if you start slower and finish faster, even if there is a mile or two in the middle where your pace is slightly positive.” often I consider running the second half of my run faster then the first. In addition to the physical benefits of this challenge the mental game helps with focus. What if I swing my leg just a fraction further, what if I run these stair just a little harder, small incremental changes can make all the difference.  Also since in a morning runner most of my first half if a run i am waking up so improvement is possible.

This is a good process for all of life. The big goals get most of the attention, perhaps too much. The incremental changes in our life and work make most of the differences. if you are good with the small things the big things tend to line up. So what does it mean just to be a little better then yesterday. Taking one extra minute to reread the article or email you wrote, make that additional call, or whatever it may be.