ABOUT RICK

It has been said of me that I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up.

I’ve made a living in a variety of ways in my life from working cattle on a ranch to making lumber in a sawmill. I’ve been an oilfield worker, professional photographer, carpenter, minister (20 years), realtor, developer, writer, speaker, founded an organization that empowered 120,000 volunteers to provide 20 million meals for disaster relief in Haiti and spend a great deal of my effort empowering people to feed the hungry.

I’m exactly what I want to be: curious and flexible. I leave very few stones unturned.

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An Abandoned Bag of Groceries: The Power of Positive Interpretation

03/06/2014

“No one can ever take away from us our power to interpret our own circumstances.”– Dr. Vincent Amanor Boadu- Kansas State University

I was bundled like an Eskimo plowing through the bitter wind screaming through the streets of Washington, DC, when I spotted a paper grocery bag sitting by a lamppost.

I’m obviously from the Midwest because I didn’t even think to call 9-1-1. Instead, my curiosity got the best of me so I took a peek.  There were several gourmet chocolate candy bars that looked scrumptious.

I wondered if someone had left it there by accident or on purpose. I wondered if I helped myself to a candy bar some talk-show host would run out behind a building with a t.v. camera.  I wondered if I should take it back to the grocery store a block away.

My answer depended upon my interpretation of the circumstance.  If someone accidentally left it there, then my reaction would dictate I take it to the market. If some talk-show host was sitting a trap, then I was already a rube for fondling the candy bars. However, if someone left it there with the intent of providing food to someone that was needy, then heaven had come to earth and the spot I was standing on was holy ground.

As I walked away- I left all the candy bars there- my interpretation fueled by an active imagination took me to positive places that led me to the following conclusions:

      • The person had been asked by a wheel-chair bound veteran for some money, but didn’t have any so was unable to give
      • The person had watched a show the night before about how poorly the government treats wounded vets
      • The person walked away considering how grateful they were to have a good job, good health, and a warm place to sleep
      • The donor had gone to the grocery store and bought things on his credit card and returned looking for the wounded vet, but he wasn’t there
      • It had to be a man because the selection of groceries was more unhealthy than a woman would buy
      • The person decided he would find a spot for wounded veterans in his business

Out of that simple exercise of the positive power of imagination, I began researching ways to engage wounded vets in a meaningful way in business.

All because of an abandoned bag of groceries.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Leading by Helping People Find the Fundamental Principle

03/03/2014

Finding the right answers to our problems requires us to shake them around until the fundamental principle falls out. Once we know the fundamental principle, then we start finding the right answers. A recent car purchase by our high school son was an opportune time to exercise the finding the fundamental principle concept.

I think my wife wanted the hot sports car more than our son. I had to admit, a sexy little two-door convertible looked pretty good on my beautiful wife.  I could see her cruising down the road with the top down, her hair blowing in the wind, and singing Cruise with the Georgia County Line. We would have had to buy him another car because I was certain she was going to keep the sports car to herself.

The dilemma was this; we could get a much nicer, five-year newer, fifty-thousand-miles-less car with another 50,000 miles left on the warranty.

Oh, the agony: a sexy older car with 100K or newer sedan with 50K and a warranty?  Since our son had his own cash to help buy the car, the decision fell on him.

It was a no-brainer for me, but I’m not a high school senior. However, his question was this: a fancy sports car that makes him look cool or a financially much better deal?

It was a great opportunity to work him thru my find the fundamental principle concept that I have taught all of my children: if you can’t figure sometime out, start breaking it all down to answer this question; what is the fundamental principle.  Quite often we get lost because we’re finding answers to the wrong questions. However, forcing ourselves to break it down helps us see clearly the path to the right decision.

Whether you’re buying a new car, trying to determine what’s wrong and what’s right with an organization, or making decisions about the path your are personally or professionally taking, there’s a way to find the fundamental principle.

Here’s how  you sort it out to find the fundamental principle:

    •  Keep asking questions until the fundamental principle becomes clear
    • Ask others to help you ask the right questions
    • Step outside the question and give yourself advice like you were talking to someone else
    • What core value in your belief system needs to be front and center to make the decision?
      • Financial?
      • Image?
      • Peer pressure?
      • Practical?
      • Duty?

When you figure out what the basic question is and what core value you have inside of you that is driving that decision or explanation, then you can move forward with greater clarity.

Then you can complete these sentences:

    • I am making this decision because (this fundamental principle) is driving my decision
    • I am taking this path because (this fundamental principle) is going to guide me down this fork in the road.
    • We are having this problem because (this fundamental principle) is being compromised.

Good leaders help people wade through the confusion and settle on the fundamental principle. And when you identify the problem, then you can identify the solution.

There is an old proverb that says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” That often assumes vision means to look into the future. I beg to differ; I think vision is sometimes to look in the middle of the chaos and find the fundamental principle.

Oh, by the way, he chose the newer car. It seemed a solid financial decision was much better for him than looking cool with the top down.

But I can already tell you what my wife’s next car is going to be!

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The Benefits of Giving Yourself a Different View of a Storm

02/22/2014

In the Midwest, we’re pretty sure hell has finally frozen over.  The first storm dealt a knockout blow in December and each time we try to stand, another one sucker punches us then kicks us in the ribs while we’re writhing on the floor.  It’s been a rough winter.

However, I watched a recent winter storm from a different view and it reminded me of the benefit of giving ourselves another way to looking at the storms in our lives.

I fought my way through the pugilistic pounding of a blizzard with whiteout conditions and forty miles-per-hour winds to the apartment of my friends, Floyd and Kathy Hammer- the founders of Outreach, Inc. They recently purchased an apartment on the 5th floor of a building on a hill overlooking Des Moines, Iowa.

Once inside the apartment, I realized how different it was to watch it from five stories up rather than on the sidewalk leaning into the fury.   The American flag at window-height was eerily illuminated and flapped violently in the blowing snow.  The streetlights cast a sequined glow over cars plodding along the treacherous lanes. The treetops gyrated like upside down eggbeaters. It was beautiful.

Here are the benefits from a different view of the storm

    • I could think clearly enough to know the storm was only temporary

Often when we’re in the middle of the storm, we think it will last forever.  Granted, while the effects of the storm might linger for a time, storms do blow over.

    • I could see the positive results of the storm

The Midwest has been fighting a drought for some time and the storms have brought much needed moisture for our crops, rivers, and lakes.  However, when we are in the middle of a personal storm, it’s very hard to see positive results- we just want the storm to end.

    • I need to be prepared for the storms 

Most of us prefer to maximize pleasure and minimize pain so we don’t want personal storms to come our way.  However, it’s better to put the seatbelt on before crash instead of after it. I was reminded to sink my roots deeper in my faith before the next storm hits. I’m not a pessimist; I’m a realist; another storm will come.

    • I need to seek protection from the storms

Storms are going to hit; that is life. Key to making it through the storms is finding places of refuge. I find refuge in the solace of my wife; in the giggles of my grandchildren; just being around my children; giving greater effort to my work; and long walks along a Kansas creek.

Dr. Vincent Amanor-Boadu, a professor at Kansas State University, says, “There is one thing no one can ever take away from you; your power to interpret your own circumstances.”

A different view of the storm gives you the power to interpret it how you choose.

 

Note: Thanks to Polly Hupfeld from Outreach, Inc.- who suggested that I write this blog after I told her how cool it was to watch the storm from five stories up!

 

 

 

 

 

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Are You a Parachutist or Truffle Hunter?

02/18/2014

Dr. Keith Sprunger of Bethel College opened his History of Civilization course by saying that historians are either parachutists or truffle hunters.  Parachutists like the birds-eye view of the world and truffle hunters are down in the dirt digging for gold.  One is not better than the other; just different.

Historians are not the only ones that can be broadly categorized as parachutist or truffle hunters; I think it’s a good way to understand almost any interaction in a group of people at work, on a volunteer committee, or even at play.

How you know you’re a parachutist:

  • You enjoy studying theories of leadership, human behavior, and organizational dynamics
  • You’re more interested in why people do things than how people do things
  • You invest your energy in understanding the connectedness of various parts
  • You can see how to leverage one part to help another part work better
  • You can easily spot breakdowns in systems because you understand how the whole machine works
  • You can analyze entire systems
  • You enjoy strategic planning
  • You understand and need truffle hunters to function at optimal performance so the whole system functions at maximum capacity

 

How you know you’re a truffle hunter:

  • You love processes
  • You enjoy being isolated on one particular assignment
  • You continually modify and tweak one area or one part until you reach a state of perfection
  • Metrics and evaluations are more important to you than theories and concepts
  • You create new tools and skills in the pursuit of doing the task with greater excellence and efficiency
  • You understand the devil is in the details
  • You want the strategic planning to be done so you can get back to work
  • You understand and need parachutist to function at optimal performance so the whole system functions at maximum capacity

Sometimes parachutists hunt truffles to help them appreciate detail; sometime truffle hunters jump from the plane to understand the lay of the land.  Highly functioning organizations have both.

Parachutists can spot prime truffle hunting ground that’s out of view of the truffle hunters; truffle hunters can provide parachutists with rich, tasty morsels of pure delight.

Which one are you?

 

 

 

 

 

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5 Ways to Stir Up Good Things in People

02/13/2014

One of the best compliments I ever received was when I was told I stirred up good things in people.  I needed to hear that because I had once been told I left a wake of destruction everywhere I went.

Therefore, I’ve made it one of my life’s goals to be a swizzle stick that stirs up good wherever I go. While there might be a few folks who will tell you I’m a long ways from it, nonetheless, it is my goal and I work hard to keep it.  Oh, sure, it seems some folks get put in my way to test my commitment to the goal, but I plod onward. It’s the only New Year resolution I’ve ever kept.

I learned this lesson actually by watching other people. For those who make my life much better, I take inventory of what they do for me then I turn around and apply that to others.

So here’s what it means to be to be a swizzle stick to stir up good;

      • Listen- It is amazing how much you can get people to like you just by actively listening to them. Not just nodding your head, but really paying attention to what they say because what they say tells you what they dream about.
      • Look for opportunities to genuinely compliment- flattery is silly; but a thoughtful compliment is like a shot of Red Bull. In addition, passing on compliments from someone else is a great way to stir good stuff in people. People like to know that others are saying nice things about them.
      • Recognize the gift they have to offer- Regardless of what you call them, I believe people have certain gifts that are unique to them and, if you can figure out what they are, you’ll go a long ways in helping them be better.
      • Challenge mediocrity- People who make us better are people who challenge us to higher levels of excellence.  Sometimes, “you can do better than that,” is not an insult but a challenge to excel.
      • Develop- I’d like to know that people are better off for knowing me, not because I’m some cool guy, but because I somehow made them better at what they do and who they are. I look for openings to coach, encourage, challenge, and cheer.

Most folks know the opening few lines of Psalm 23: “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want….”  But they miss the best line at the end: “Surely, good things and kindness will follow me all the days of my life…”

Good things and kindness:  now, that’s a good trail to leave behind.

 

 

 

 

 

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© 2014 Rick McNary | Writer and Speaker