We’ve been renting our beach house during the summer for the past 7 years. At the end of every rental season we tear the place apart. We steam clean the carpets and furniture, we wash out every cabinet and everything in the cabinets goes through a sanitize cycle in the dishwasher, we wash all of the comforters, pillows, and mattress pads, we power wash the exterior decking, furniture and clean the windows. Even with all of that maintenance there are things that just *need* to be replaced in order to make this house a home. We’re in the early planning stages right now… and lately the focus has been on the kitchen.

Here’s a picture of the kitchen as it exists today:

In general it’s a decent, functional kitchen. It has custom made solid maple cabinets and a tile floor, but the appliances are pretty low end. We upgraded the countertops to granite a few years ago after the renters burned the formica. When we did that, my husband and I installed the tile backsplash as well. That was a fun project.

This round of improvements will replace the dishwasher that is incredibly loud and is starting to make a strange death rattle at the end of its cycle. I had a Bosch in Raleigh and it was the best dishwasher I have ever owned. It uses a fraction of the water and electricity of a standard dishwasher and it is so quiet that sometimes you don’t even realize it is on. Yep, I am getting another one of those – cost be damned.

I also fancy myself somewhat of a good cook and I do my best work on a gas range. The electric burners are hard to work with. They don’t provide instantaneous adjustments, and they don’t have the heat output to boil water quickly or sear well. In Raleigh I had a 36″ FiveStar commercial range with a gas oven and open burners. It wasn’t self cleaning and the open burners were a bitch to clean and to light… but oh did it cook! I had planned on downgrading somewhat at the beach. Part of the reason is that I’ve only got 30″ to work with – a standard size range. The other reason is the cost of a commercial quality range. Well, so much for that nice thought. This week I ordered a 30″ FiveStar dual fuel convection range. This time I’ve upgraded to sealed gas burners and an electric convection oven. The microwave will also be upgraded to a stainless steel hood. I am so excited!

Yes, there was some rationale behind this decision. My last FiveStar was 14 years old and it was going to last for another 30 years. Quality. Period. The main reason behind this shift from a cheaper product is the fact that with my new diet cooking is an integral part of my life now. I gain a great deal of satisfaction from preparing most everything from scratch from fresh ingredients. This range is a tool that will provide me a lot of benefit and a lot of joy. It’s also a boatload cheaper than a Thermador or a Viking and it has very similar capabilities. It has a lot more burner output than a Kitchenaid, LG, Bosch and GE that I looked at – though it costs a bit more than those. C’est la vie. I don’t usually buy things to make me happy, but I buy things that I know are good quality and that will last as long as I need them to.

For now, the refrigerator will have to wait. I left a nice stainless steel counter depth fridge in Raleigh. I learned I don’t like side by sides in general and I don’t like GE appliances, specifically how they are laid out. When this fridge starts to act up I’ll get a nice french door model. Unfortunately we’ll probably need a crane to deliver it to the house… another reason to wait. Yes, a crane. The small model we have now barely made it up the staircase and our home has a reverse floor plan and it is on stilts. That means the kitchen is on the equivalent of the 3rd floor. Delivery men hate us.

For now I sit and wait and plan. There are going to be a lot of before and after pictures coming over the next few months as we reconfigure the house from a “rental” layout to a “home”. I can’t wait to see how it turns out.

The more I think about this, the more I realize that it’s not so much what I am going to do, but what I am trying to accomplish. Goals and actions are quite different. I’m working toward very high level goals – and the actions that are necessary to achieve those goals are merely a byproduct.

• Spend more time with family and friends – Also known as the “no hermit” rule. Unless I can’t actually do something I plan on accepting every invitation that comes my way.
• Work only with people I respect and trust – Over time, I plan on doing a little consulting for “toy money”. I will only take on assignments with people I genuinely like working with and who I trust.
• Stay healthy and fit – Good whole foods comprised mostly of fruits, veggies, nuts and grains. Exercise – and lots of it. This might not be a structured program anymore, but whatever seems like fun at the time. Hiking, biking, kayaking, volleyball, weight training and so on. The number on the scale doesn’t really matter as long as I feel good.
• Become more aware of the world around me – In other words, continue to learn. This touches everything. I’ve started a list of all of the different varieties of birds that I see in my yard. I’m reading a lot more classic literature. I’m learning more about other people’s political biases that I had previously dismissed.
• Bring creativity and fun to what I do – You can never have too much fun – and every task no matter how mundane can be filled with creativity. Check out this fruit bowl that I made over the weekend. I could have just chopped up some fruit for a party that I was going to, but instead I spent part of my day learning how to make something that would delight the eye.

The thing that I like best about my goals is that even if I do a little bit more than I did in the past, I will consider myself successful. If I pick something like “hike the Appalacian Trail” (which quite frankly I would like to do, but it is just not feasible right now) and I don’t get to it, I’ll feel like a failure. In my work life I always thought that very specific goals were most important because they gave me something to shoot for. In my retired life – it’s just the opposite. The joy is in the journey. I’m picking goals that bring more joy to my life and less “gotta accomplish this” stress. How refreshing!

My key takeaway from this book was not the process and exercises that were presented to help generate creative solutions to problems. Instead it was a point that was brought up many times in many different ways. As managers and leaders we play a very large part in fostering a creative environment. Our attitudes and biases can enhance the creative process, or they can completely stymie it. A command and control manager rarely leads a creative team. That leads to only one person’s ideas driving the team’s results. Managers who lead creative teams engage the hearts and minds of their employees to solve the biggest business problems. You have to step back and acknowledge that you are not always the expert, but that the members of your team are. That is why you hired them and why they remain part of your team.
This book builds upon previous work by Goran Ekvall and Scott Isaksen describing the dimensions of the climate for innovation. In order they are (with 1-6 being the most important overall in studies):

1. Challenge and involvement
2. Trust and openness
3. Freedom
4. Risk taking
5. Idea time
6. Idea support
7. Debates on the issues
8. Interpersonal conflict (negatively correlated)
9. Playfulness and humor
10. Value for diversity of problem-solving style

Are your employees challenged by their work and emotionally engaged in it? Do you promote an environment of trust and openness that facilitates risk taking and freedom of opinion and action? Does your team trust you enough to admit their mistakes early or to ask for help? If so, you are well on your way to fostering a creative environment.

After some reflection, my strengths were pretty much on target.

• Relator – I develop close relationship with people and my friends trust my judgment when they need advice.
• Learner – I am curious and dig deeply into topics that attract my interest.
• Command – I push people to excel.
• Significance – I need to be be independent and for people to take me seriously.
• Input – I collect information like some people collect shoes.

The one that really resonated with me is the last one – Input. I am currently reading 3 books at once. I have a stack of 4 more on my “to read” list right now and my library due date is looming large. I have more interests than I can count. I’ve always been frustrated when I hear “just take your favorite hobby and turn it into a business and you can be successful.” I think that’s because I don’t know where to start. My short list for favorite hobbies is a crazy laundry list. Weight training and nutrition. Sports cars. Volleyball. Investing. Cooking and using local produce. Business strategy. Leadership and management. Social media. Chronic disease management. Photography. Gardening and landscaping. Birdwatching. Kayaking. Eldercare. Wine. Construction. Green technologies.

This opened my eyes. My favorite hobby is processing information. Weird way of looking at it, but that’s exactly what it is.

The book is small and a quick read and I’d recommend it.

First off, this is a quick read, but there are a lot of great concepts in it. I’ve dabbled a bit in my own personal branding so this resonates with me. However, I haven’t spent any time attempting to monetize what I do – I am still doing it mainly for myself. Writing this blog provides a creative outlet and it also helps me focus my thoughts and my thought processes.

What I really like about the book is the concept that no matter what your passion is – there are other people out there just like you. If you’re willing to put in the time and energy (yes, this is hard work – it won’t happen by magic) to share what you know, and to interact with folks who share your interest you can become a well regarded expert in the community surrounding your passion. This means sharing what you read about, answering questions, providing key insights and having online conversations through a variety of social media formats.

Another key point in the book is that it is very important to be yourself. Be authentic. If you try to hide your personality, whether it is serious, outlandish, or sarcastic, you’ll inevitably fail because you won’t come across as genuine. Also, chose the medium that is best suited for your personality. Some people choose the written word, others podcasts, and still others video. If you can’t write, don’t! If you’re uncomfortable in front of the camera – don’t pick that medium either!

And lastly – patience in this space is a virtue. You won’t likely find a big audience or make much money in under a year. It just won’t happen, so don’t expect it to.

1. Blow out the cobwebs – In the garden this means cranking up the gas backpack blower and removing the remaining leaves out from the shrubs (hence the smell of two-stroke). In my personal life it means kicking up my exercise program a notch and getting outside for long walks and runs when the weather is good. At work it typically means clearing out my desk of old projects and responsibilities that are hanging around.
2. Get my hands dirty – In the garden I’ll be pulling the netting off the pond and clearing out the dead plants and other winter debris. In my personal life I’ll be looking at all the little things I’ve been procrastinating about over the winter. At work it means that it is time to pick up a new skill or hone an existing one.
3. Use my imagination – In the garden it’s time for planting the early vegetables and for rearranging the landscape. In my personal life it’s time to plan my next vacation. At work, it’s time to brainstorm new project ideas.

What does Spring make you want to do?

If you want to get a feel for what this book is like – check out an adaptation from the book on his website. How Do You Know If Your Dream is Obtainable?

I’ve never read any of his books before and I just happened upon this one in the library while I was in the throes of navel gazing about my own future. These last 9 months (nine!! where does the time go?) of job searching and soul searching have been both good and bad. At first I really needed the time off but more recently I’ve determined that it is time for me to *DO* something productive. The question has been: “what?” Do I want to keep doing what I had been doing? Or do I want to try doing something completely different with a huge learning curve and a higher likelihood of failure? I’ve gone back and forth from one day to the next. I’ve been on interviews that seriously felt like my soul was being sucked out of my body… and then I’ve regretted not being more enthusiastic about the position! Well, maybe my gut was trying to tell me something. I think that it is time for a change. I am always happiest when I am learning something new. The bigger the learning curve and the more support I have while learning, the better off I am.

This book really helped me put my dreams about the future into better focus. I think that my favorite question is “The Ownership Question: Is my dream really my dream?” Who hasn’t said that they want to do something because it’s what they are “supposed” to do? Clearly that’s not your dream. Or maybe you are doing something for someone else… that too, not yours. Sorry. How about you want to keep working on something because you’ve been doing it for all of your career but it isn’t fun anymore? hmmm. Sounds like that isn’t your dream anymore either.

I’m all for leveraging strengths and I know what mine are. I connect with people and I like to think that I bring out their best. I don’t lose sight of the big picture. I am extremely organized and I can be detailed oriented when necessary. I can run a complicated project like no ones business. I just need to apply all that to something a little different than what I have been doing.

I leave you with this final thought:

“Think of your comfort zone as a prison you live in – a largely self-created prison. It consists of a collection of cants, musts, must nots and other unfounded beliefs formed from all the negative thoughts and decisions you have accumulated and reinforced during your lifetime.” Jack Canfield

Some parts of this book feel a little bit outdated due to the primary case study that is used: sustaining vs disruptive changes in the hard drive industry from the 1970s until the 1990s and how the companies in the industry coped with the changing business landscape. However, the messages that are represented are still valuable.

Key points for me include:

” Most managers learn about innovation in a sustaining technology context because most technologies developed by established companies are sustaining in character. Such innovations are, by definition, targeted at known markets in which customer needs are understood. In this environment, a planned, researched approach to evaluating, developing, and marketing innovative products is not only possible, it is critical to success.

What this means, however, is that much of what the best executives in successful companies have learned about managing innovation is not relevant to disruptive technologies.”

In a nutshell, if you are going after the same customer base or market segment you always have – with a known set of needs you won’t get any market research information to help you create disruptive technologies. In reality this data will discourage your attempts.

-and-

… the vast majority of successful new business ventures abandoned their original business strategies when they began implementing their initial plans and learned what would and would not work in the market. The dominant difference between successful ventures and failed ones, generally is not the astuteness of their original strategy. Guessing the right strategy at the outset isn’t nearly as important to success as conserving enough resources so that new business initiatives get a second or third stab at getting it right. Those that run out of resources or credibility before they can iterate toward a viable strategy are the ones that fail.”

Here, the message is that no one gets disruptive technologies right on their first attempt. Make sure to conserve resources and iterate repeatedly until you find that market or that strategy that works.

-and-

Not only do you need the right people to be able to develop your disruptive technologies, you need the right processes, and you need the right values or priorities. This is what makes it so hard to succeed in large companies which have qualified people and the money for the resources. However, the bigger the company, the more rooted in existing processes it is, and the more likely that the priorities of the organization as a whole are tied to large percentage gains in revenue which a new disruptive technology in a nascent industry is unlikely to provide.

As a leader you have to at least turn a blind eye toward play, and in most instances it is wise to encourage it. You just cannot expect everyone to sit at their desks for 8+ hours a day without a break, though the worst managers seem to demand this. I definitely remember being growled at by a senior manager a very long time ago when the entire aisle that I worked on was embroiled in a rubber band fight. This was before nerf weapons really became sophisticated. Full scale nerf wars are hilarious and 5 minutes of insanity can help people blow off some steam.

Games are also a good way for folks to have some fun – and they promote a natural gathering place during breaks, lunches, and after work. I’m partial to ping pong tables, but I’ve also seen pool tables, foosball, and video games foster a sense a community in a team.

Keep things fun and people will want to come to work.

How do you determine who is really smart versus someone who is a poser? Sometimes it isn’t easy. There are a lot of people who talk smart, but when the rubber hits the road they can’t get things done. Really smart people can apply what they know in a practical way. They also learn more from their mistakes than their successes. The fact that they are willing to acknowledge their mistakes is a big part of being smart. Some people never make mistakes – all of the problems they encounter are blamed on external forces outside of their own control. Other people never make mistakes because they never put their ideas into practice. Philosophizing about the best way to do something without actually trying it out isn’t a good way to get smarter.

I like working with people who I consider to be smarter than I am in their area of expertise. As a leader I don’t need to know all of the technical details of a project. Heck, I might not even understand all of it. That’s ok. I’ve got someone who does working for me. It’s really great if they know what they know – and even better if they know what they don’t know. That provides an opportunity for another expert to be involved – or it provides an opportunity for growth and learning.

What is not being smart:

• Going to the right school or getting the right degree and considering education as “completed”.
• Having a very strong opinion without being able to see other options.
• Being firmly rooted by experience. i.e. – this worked before it will work again.

What is being smart:

• Curiosity about the world and how it works. Striving to learn something new everyday.
• Having a strong opinion, but also having a willingness to listen to new ideas.
• Using experience as a basis for creativity – this worked before – how can we make it even better?