Commonalities

The true key to solving major challenges is commonality of purpose.  A diverse team, focused on a solution, under inspired leadership can solve anything.

I am a firm believer in diversity.  But I don't define diversity by how we look, our belief systems or our lifestyles; I define it by styles of thinking.  If we all think alike, we have mass redundancy.  To solve problems, we need diversity of thought.

Too often that diversity of thinking styles gets in the way.  That is why inspired leadership is a necessary ingredient.  Leadership should encourage, challenge and inspire each of the diverse individuals in a group to exercise their gifts to the fullest.  Then magic happens.

We have a plant which grows on our place called Common Hedge Parsley (Tonilis arvensis).  Don't eat it, it looks like many other plants in the wild carrot family such as Poison Hemlock.  The Common Hedge Parsley is sometimes called "sock-destroyer" because its hairy seeds stick to the socks like Velcro.  The plant is usually considered an invasive weed and is commonly found in Europe and North America.  It is part of the natural diversity within our local ecosystem.

 Navigating Complexity

It is sometimes easy to get "bogged down" when dealing with complex problems.  There is a tendency to become overwhelmed when resolution is not quickly attainable.  Our minds have a tendency to fasten onto the myriads of difficulties rather focusing on individual component parts that are solvable.

I have found that is usually effective to begin by breaking down the problems into discrete, manageable pieces and then taking them one at a time.  It is desirable that they be evaluated according to either importance, or ease of solution and then prioritized accordingly.

When we look first at importance, solution of one problem often goes far in solving other related issues.  However, those large problems often bring a level of difficulty that leads to discouragement and half-hearted effort because our minds continually tell us we can't do it.  Extended periods with seeming lack of progress create a psychological barrier that adds to the burden of what must be overcome for success.

If we begin with smaller problems that are easily handled, we often create a pattern of success that bolsters our mental attitude.  We see the wins -- even the small wins -- as progress.  As each problem is handled and set aside, the list gets smaller and the tendency to be overwhelmed is reduced.

How we approach complexity boils down to a mental game we play with ourselves.  The trick is to convince ourselves that we can solve the problems and then retain that positive attitude throughout the process.  It isn't as simple as it sounds because some problems require Herculean effort to solve.  They may be beyond our ability.  Once you recognize that, you call for help.

The Turk's Cap (Malvaviscus arboreus) is a type of mallow.  It is native to East, South and Central Texas where it is sometimes found growing along streams.  It is adaptable to both shaded and sunny locations.  The variety you see below is a domesticated one we have planted at our home.  The wild varieties are usually red.  I like the complexity of the blossom.

 Fostering Uncertainty

"Although our intellect always longs for clarity and certainty, our nature often finds uncertainty fascinating." -- Carl von Clausewitz

Arriving at a point of certainty is a sure indicator that we have stopped learning and have dismissed any new information that might inform our opinion of outcome as otherwise.  -- me

I want to always be learning.  I desire that those around me be learning.  I want to be around people who are curious, who are looking at things in new ways and constantly aware that there might be better ways to do things.  I want questions that probe current understanding.  I want uncertainty.

That seems a strange thing to desire -- uncertainty.  Most of us want a blanket of security in knowing with certainty what the day holds.  It is an unrealistic expectation.  Safety and security are illusory.

I believe businesses need to foster a level of uncertainty and I believe our educational systems need to do the same.  The fires of curiosity must constantly be fanned -- not always to a blazing heat, but at least to a constant glowing ember that can be brought to flame with addition of new fuel.  Growth is found in curiosity.  Without curiosity we slowly fade.

I am uncertain what the flower pictured below is.  My best guess is that it is a Soft Golden-aster (Chrysopsis pilosa).  It was growing near our entry, and I thought it was very photogenic.  If you have a more accurate identity, please add it in the comments.

 Climbing

I spent a few years believing that I wanted to climb the company ladder.  I made it a fair way up before I learned that it wasn't much fun.  The politics become fierce and the dirty tricks come out.  Too often those rewarded were the least deserving based on merit but were masterful at manipulation and foul play.

Peter Drucker once said something like, "a person will climb to the level of their incompetence."  I think that is very true.  We are each designed with certain gifts and abilities that make us uniquely suited for specific roles.  Those who find themselves outside those roles due to blind ambition or poor choices will reach a point beyond which they can't go.  Others simply reach a point beyond their personal talents and abilities.

One of the most glaring examples that I have seen through the years is to take an outstanding salesman and put him into management.  Some do well in the role, but most are average at best.  Both sales and management suffer due to the promotion.

Pride and greed often get in the way of good decisions.  Pride in the form of "look at me and how far I've come!"  Greed in the form of seeking a higher level of income in a role that makes you miserable.  The key is to find what you are made for and do it to the best of your ability.  Bloom where you are.

The Climbing Prairie Rose (Rosa setigera) is found from Texas to Wisconsin and all the way east to the coast.  The beauty pictured below was in a hidden area of our small acreage.

Encouragement Matters

 Everyone faces times of doubt.  It may be that we feel unprepared or perhaps unworthy.  In times like those it is always nice to receive encouragement.  Hopefully, there will be a mentor there to encourage you in those times of doubt.

Sometimes encouragement can take other forms.  Creating opportunity for others is a form of encouragement.  It may be a bit more subtle but helping to create that small space where someone can find a niche in which to fit is encouraging to their growth.  They may not always recognize your contribution, but as they thrive in that new role or activity, they will remember that you were there.

We have numerous Eastern Bluebirds (Sialia sialis) that grace our place.  Watching them flit from branch to ground in search of food is one of the enjoyable moments of the day.  They feel comfortable enough around us that they have nested and raised a brood.  Yesterday we took a quick peek to see how they were doing.  You can even see the blue tint to the feathers already.  Encouraging them to nest was simply a matter of providing the space -- both in the form of a nesting box and leaving them alone to fulfill their purpose.

 Reaching for the Heights

Trees in a forest tend to grow taller, straighter and faster than those standing solitary upon the plains.  In the quest for light, they shoot quickly toward the nearest source which is typically far above them where the leaves begin to thin and small slivers of the sky are exposed.

There is a price, though, because many of them outgrow the resources available in the soil and they are often weakened and perhaps more susceptible to disease and insect due to poor nutrition.  The large numbers which begin life near simultaneously as a result of one year's seed crop will quickly thin to a handful and then if competition is intense, perhaps none will survive.

A lone tree which is exposed to the elements will be stronger.  It is often somewhat stunted due to the constant battle against the elements, but it also doesn't have to contend with others of its species for the nutrition carried in the soil at its feet.  It tends to spread more widely and occupy a much larger space.

There are many parallels in business and in life.  I will leave it to the reader to draw them.  If you are so inclined, leave your thoughts in the comments.

Below is a photo of one of the many tall Loblolly Pines (Pinus taeda) which grace our small corner of Texas.  I would estimate this one to be 65-70 feet tall.  Others in the background likely exceed 80 ft.  They are very fast growing and have filled the woods with seedlings.

Entrepreneurial Genius

As some of you knew and others probably guessed, my sporadic blogging this past week was due to travel.  Usually I have time to find a Wifi connection, hook up my laptop and post something, but that wasn't the case a couple of days.  Sometimes I have been known to prepare an entry or, two ahead of time and then post them via my smartphone.  Nope, not this week.  Maybe I just needed a little break.

I did run across a Texan this week who was unfamiliar with Buc-ee's.  I was a bit surprised until I reflected on the fact that the phenomenon of these convenience stores on steroids hasn't yet reached the northwest part of the state.  We stopped at the one in the above image on the way back home.  It is one of the newer ones and not the largest, but it has 48 gas pumps -- each of which can accommodate a car on either side.  That means 96 automobiles could theoretically be pumping simultaneously.  You think that's crazy?  I've seen it and with cars backed up in line to move to the pumps.

One of the draws of these retail wonders is their restrooms.  They are designed to handle as many people as the fuel pumps but, I have seen folks lined up in order to have a turn at the facilities.  In fact, a friend posted a photo to Facebook over this past weekend that showed a line stretching about 100 feet or, more at one of the facilities in the central part of the state.

When you think of the saying, "Everything's bigger in Texas," you are probably tripping over the inspiration for these mega-successful stores.  They are springing up along the crowded Interstate highways of the state and each one seems to be bigger than the last.  I never fail to be amazed at the number of people who have stopped to utilize their "money-trapping" facilities that  offer everything from souvenirs to barbecue sandwiches.  Their fuel prices are reasonable and their restroom facilities attract travelers like bees to pollen.

A couple of years ago I was traveling with some visitors that included individuals from New York, Maryland and England.  I took them to a Buc-ee's.  They talked about it the rest of the trip.  I have to admit, I definitely admire the entrepreneurial genius that took the idea of the convenience store to the level of superstore.

Re-making Boxes

Don't let others define you

Based on arbitrary categories

That align in neat boxes;

Define yourself based on who

You were made to be.

We are each uniquely suited

To some task that lies always before us

And that which we do each day

Prepares us for the moment

We step into the gap.

Our lives become a series

Of those gaps where we are the part

Which fills the need that

None other can fill because we alone

Have what is needed.

Boxes are empty places

Surrounded by walls

That attempt to contain

When what we need is to

Grow to our potential.

We speak of thinking

Outside the box when what we

Should be doing is redefining

The boxes in which we find

Our true selves.

Diversity, Weakness and Business

We ran across this big boy yesterday and since he posed for me, I had to take a picture.  He seems to be frowning a bit, perhaps because I was an unknown intruder in his domain, but he seemed gentle enough.  I kept adequate distance between us, however, simply because his temperament was also an unknown.  The "zoom" function is an incredible invention!

Being married to a Realtor has its perks because occasionally a new property will come on the market which she thinks should be investigated.  That is how we happened to run across this hombre; we were out looking at a piece of property.

I'm not a Brahman cattle guy by any stretch, however, they intrigue me.  They have made a tremendous contribution to the U.S. cattle industry by adding a level of heat and insect tolerance through their genetics that is a valuable attribute in the Southeastern part of the country.  I stopped by a friend's place the other day who also raises Brahman cattle; they were licking the flies off of each other.  That isn't a behavior I have ever noted in English or Continental type cattle.  It was definitely something different, but perhaps it is part of why they are more insect tolerant.

It is easy to become focused on certain types of cattle that produce the product most desired by consumers while forgetting the many steps it took to get us to that point.  In that "forgetting" is a great loss, because we continually select for a narrow group of characteristics and often "breed out" things that are just as important.  Where I'm heading with this is that diversity is a good thing.

I have observed similar behavior in business.  Small organizations have a tendency to hire employees that are "most like" those already part of the team.  Often, it allows them to become very proficient at a specific task, but tends to prevent their growth over time.  Focus can be good, but it can also be limiting in such a way that opportunities are frequently missed.

Large organizations typically fall into two categories; just like the small ones described above, or so focused on diversity they fail to hire competency.  That second type is what gives a bad name to diversity.

The best approach to hiring is simply to do a self-evaluation prior to establishing the criteria for hiring.  That inward look is to determine strengths and weaknesses of the organization so that the job description for an open position can be shaped to hire a candidate that "checks the boxes" which overcome the weaknesses rather than simply to reinforce the strengths by being "most like us."

It is difficult for many in management to hire based on covering their own weaknesses.  It is an ego thing and it is not easy to overcome the fear that the new hire will outshine themselves.  Admitting you have weaknesses is not a behavior that is encouraged.  Think back to some of my previous posts regarding genetic programming for survival -- we are programmed to hide our weaknesses rather than to expose them.

Building a successful organization that is equipped for growth requires a willingness to constantly examine and evaluate areas of strength and weakness.  We go to a doctor for a physical exam to look for signs of disease; we should perform similar tasks on our businesses -- perhaps by utilizing outside expertise.

Diversity is a good thing.  It is the way we can improve and grow, but it must be done intentionally as a tool to overcome internal weakness, not simply as an exercise in "political correctness." 

Railroad Crossing, Railroad Cars....

Most of us grumble a bit when we have to wait at a Railroad Crossing.  Yesterday, as I waited, I watched folks in my mirror as they would turn around their vehicles and head for some other crossing that might not be occupied.  This particular track is a local rail which serves the grain elevators and other commercial businesses in the old industrial part of our town.  These cars had likely been recently unloaded and were being accumulated on a siding near the depot until they were taken elsewhere for re-loading.

Railroads are important to many industries and they are particularly important to agriculture.  In 2018 there were 1.49 Million carloads of grain hauled on U.S. tracks.  That was approximately 5% of the total carloads of all rail freight.  It accounted for $5.8 Billion of gross revenue to U.S. railroads which was 7.7% of their total.  Of that grain, 69.7 Million Tons were of corn and 34.6 Million Tons of wheat.  As of the end of 2018 the U.S. Railroad grain car fleet consisted of 281,000 cars.  For an in-depth look, this Report is useful.

Many of the large Railroads have sold off various local service tracks and generally only have retained the trans-continental and other major lines.  Other lines have been shut down, the tracks ripped up and the rights-of-way turned into trails for hikers.  The controversial Rails-to-Trails program has both pluses and minuses.  Many landowners are concerned with unknown numbers of people crossing their land, yet hiking enthusiasts relish the opportunity.  Part of the controversy also lies in the concept of reversion.  Since the rights-of-way are no longer used for their original purpose, there are many who believe they should revert to the ownership of other rights.

When the first rail tracks were being laid in this country, transportation was primarily by wagon.  Freight pulled by teams had to navigate what were often muddy and virtually impassable roads during the rainy season.  If the creeks and rivers were swollen with rains, the wagons might have to wait for days for the water to subside enough for a safe passage.  The rails offered a seamless, all-weather means of moving freight and people from one point to another.  They were expensive, however, and inflexible in their routes.

The great expense of constructing them led to Congressional support for subsidies in the form of land, which at the time was abundantly available, to be given to the railroads as a means of raising capital to extend their lines westward across the continent in order to connect the coasts.  Settlement patterns had been uneven due to climate, discovery of gold and because western settlement had already expanded along the coast due to natural harbors.  The long trip by ship around the tip of South America was expensive and time-consuming, so connecting the coasts by rail was economically attractive to those wishing to move freight or, to travel between the two.

During the Civil War, the rail lines -- particularly in Virginia -- were important in the strategic picture viewed by both sides.  They were critical supply lines -- especially, again, in times of inclement weather when wagon roads became impassable.  Armies generally can move only as quickly as their supplies can be moved in support.  Soldiers can't function long on empty stomachs or, without ammunition.

Railroads and trains are just one more thing that fascinates me.  Think about the weight that is born by a train that may be up to a mile in length.  The engines must be extremely heavy in order to gain enough traction to overcome the inertia and start the train moving.  Once moving, stopping them becomes an even greater challenge.  The physical properties of the tracks are also critical because they must withstand that great amount of weight, even when heated by the friction of the passing cars.  Poor-grade steel would warp and become distorted under the pressure, causing trains to derail.  The beds on which the rails lay also must be carefully constructed to bear the weight.  There can be no weakness in the underlying structure or, the roads would collapse.

It's strange what passes through my mind as I wait for the train.  Rather than turn around, I just watched.  It didn't take all that long and I chuckled as the gates lifted very shortly after the vehicle behind me became impatient and pulled out of line.  It was still in my mirror as I crossed the tracks.

Planning for Adjustments to the Plan

This is a photo of our first "official" Fall calf.  It's a long story but, we have a small group of cattle that are set up for Fall calving instead of Spring.  Rather than go into why we now have two different calving seasons, suffice it to say that sometimes the best way forward is to adjust your game plan and keep moving!

I was pleased to see this calf.  His mother had a Brangus Sire and Angus Dam.  This little heifer's daddy is Angus.  There are genetics for both low birth-weight and growth throughout the pedigree.  I am excited to see how this little heifer will perform.  If things work out, she will become part of the cow herd in the future.

Plans need to have room to accommodate change.  I have yet to see a plan that didn't require adjustment -- sometimes radical adjustment -- to deal with completely unexpected circumstances.  Do you plan to have to change your plan?

If you have read much in the way of science fiction, or perhaps watched a few science fiction movies, you have run across the concept of "multiple futures" or, "split" time lines.  Basically, depending on what happens at critical points determines which "branch" of the future will become reality for you.  Choices determine the path you will continue to move upon.  When planning, we need to recognize those points where we are likely to be forced to make choices depending on what occurs.

When we develop plans, I think it is wise to include something like a decision tree.  Essentially, it recognizes to the extent possible, those nexus points where events are likely to occur which could dramatically affect our plan.  In a breeding program it might be that you suddenly find yourself with a large number of open cows.  It forces a choice.  You can liquidate that part of the cow herd, or you can move them to a different calving window.  You also must diagnose what caused the large number of open cows.  If it was a disease event, you take steps to prevent it in the future.  If it was an infertile bull, you replace the bull.  The point is, if you prepare ahead of time by, at minimum, thinking through the potential issues and responses, it is much easier to make a timely adjustment and continue moving forward.  You have time to look at the numbers and the potential long-term impact of each possible path rather than making a snap decision.

We can never plan for all of the things that might occur, but we can prepare for many things that might, or might not happen.  It is much different than worrying.  We tend to worry about things we can't control, we plan for things that we can.

I have always preferred to focus on offense rather than defense.  Planning is offense in nature -- even if you are planning how to defend against possible difficulties.  It is taking initiative rather than passively waiting for things to happen.  I have worked with people in the past that continually worried about what the competition was doing.  My response was that we can't build our program around someone else's game plan and expect to be successful.  We need to focus on our game and performing to the best of our ability.  If we are constantly reacting to the "other guy" we will never accomplish our own goals.

Life will always throw challenges your way.  Plan ahead, prepare for the likelihood that it won't work the way you hope, but always, always focus on your game and not everyone else's.  Just keep on executing to the best of your ability and good things will happen -- like that beautiful black calf in the picture.

"Oh, look at the pretty flowers!"

Texas is a land of wildflowers.  They are pleasing to view while traveling across the open spaces of the Lone Star State.  They have their place and are useful to wildlife, but some are toxic to many species.  In the photo you see what I believe to be Bitter Sneezeweed (Helenium amarum).  It is an invasive plant that likes to colonize overgrazed pastures.

This one was growing on our place -- not at our invitation.  When a plant is not where it is supposed to be it is considered a weed and we treat them as such.

One of our neighbors has a pasture that is almost completely covered with these weeds.  They grow right up to our fence and then stop.  His pasture was overgrazed a number of times and the weed has colonized.  We see only an occasional plant pop up in our pastures.

In the photo you also see seed heads of Bahia grass and you see a lot of organic material covering the ground.  It is important to let the grasses go to seed regularly in order to maintain plant populations.  The organic material covering the ground helps to conserve moisture, return plant nutrients to the soil, provide strata for bacteria and fungi which break down that material and also to prevent the colonization by invasive species.

Monitoring pastures is something we do constantly.  Every time we cross a piece of ground we are looking at the plants, the condition of the grasses, the moisture levels, invasive plants such as trees and weeds, the shape of manure piles from the cattle as well as their coloration.  We watch for insect species, for other wildlife signs, the height of remaining forage, and many other things.  It is a habit of constantly monitoring and evaluating our operations.

I had a great conversation at breakfast yesterday morning in which we talked about how in every business there is a tendency to quickly "institutionalize" the things we do.  We lose the motivating factors to innovate -- to change -- and things become routine.  The problem is that the world changes around us and sometimes we get significantly "behind the curve" because we fail to change with it.  We stop monitoring the processes because they are "tried and true" and familiar.

Whatever your business, it is important to constantly monitor the processes that brought you success.  Subtle changes, like the appearance of that single invasive plant, could signal the need to make an adjustment, or they might just be an anomaly.  If we aren't paying attention, those anomalies can become part of the "accepted" background and creep in on a scale that is destructive.

Striving for Improvement

In many ways, raising cattle is a series of trial and error.  The key is to find the right combination of cattle for your specific environment.  We are currently on our third iteration of bull/cow breed combinations and feel very good about the results.  In the photo you see one half of our first attempt.  We put purebred Angus bulls on commercial Brangus cows.  The resulting calf crop was described to me by someone who should know as "the front end of the front end."  This pair of bulls was raised by the Bradley 3 Ranch north of Childress, Texas.  They were of great disposition, highly fertile and threw growthy, muscular calves from the Brangus mother cows.  It was definitely a winning combination -- except for one thing.  Brangus cows have wings.

We really could not have asked for better calves, but any time we had to work the cows it was a challenge.  A few of them were just plain crazy.  They were dangerous when confined in the corrals to work.  One of them bent a 2-inch steel pipe with her head simply because she decided to charge it at full speed.  They were also very large and therefore, high energy cost to run.

We had an opportunity come along, totally out of the blue, to sell that piece of land along with all of the livestock.  We took the deal because the individual who approached us wanted it more than we did.  We were out of the Brangus cow business and when we rolled into another piece of land we stocked it with registered Angus cows.  We were so impressed with the bulls that we had purchased, we went back to the Bradley 3 and were able to obtain a nice set of heifers from them.

Because we liked the calves from the Angus/Brangus combination so well, we decided to go with Brangus bulls on the Angus heifers.  We have a good and very knowledgeable friend who helped us to locate some "low birth weight" Brangus bulls and were able to purchase them at an excellent price.  They did their job and we had no calving problems.  The resulting calves were above average, but not in the category that I would call "first class."

As those young cows became "experienced" we switched over to Charolais bulls.  I love the calves we got from them.  They were a little bigger at birth and then took off like a patch of Pigweed after a rain.  The bull/steer calves are heavy muscled and look like weight lifters walking around while the heifer calves are distinctly feminine and yet still larger framed.

Because the Angus cows are more moderate in size than the Brangus we had previously owned, we are able to slightly increase stocking rates.  They are gentle, low maintenance and excellent mothers.  I attribute that to the Bradley 3 genetics.  Despite everyone in this area telling us Angus cows can't handle the heat, they seem to do quite well.  They will shade up during the worst heat, but all have maintained good flesh through the summers and seem to thrive even during dry conditions when the forage is of poorer quality -- much better than our neighbors cattle with Brahman influence.

My point isn't to talk about our cattle so much as it is to say that in business of any kind you sometimes need to go through a number of major changes to find the right combination that works.  It can sometimes be expensive in the short run, but in the long run it pays in Spades.  It may be replacing an inefficient production line, or changing organizational structure.  It could be as simple as changing vacation or, sick leave policy.  The key is to continually be looking for ways to improve -- continuous process improvement.

It applies to our personal lives as well....

Here's one of this year's steer calves.

I Heard What You Said, Just Not What You Meant

Listening is one of the most difficult things to do for many people.  It is especially difficult for people in sales.  Our mind is focused on what we are going to say and not what is being said to us.

Often the words register, but not the intent.  It is usually because we miss the subtle clues that reveal that intent because again, we are thinking about our response, or about our own message.  We miss the non-verbal, or we misunderstand context.

I learned a long time ago that I am most effective as part of a team.  This is just as important in selling as it is in many other aspects of life.  The bad thing is that my preference is to go it alone on most things.  I am comfortable with myself and being alone doesn't bother me as it does some.  I am perfectly happy with silence and no interruptions.

Learning how to work as a team takes practice and perhaps a bit of training.  We can train ourselves if we want, because it is a matter of learning to allow space for others.  Most people are so completely self-absorbed that they struggle to allow space for others.  It's "all about me" is becoming so ingrained into U.S. society, that to be anything else is an anomaly. 

Being part of a team is difficult because it means sharing the glory when we win and sharing the defeat otherwise.  We can't take all the credit and we have to accept the blame -- even if, in our mind, it wasn't our fault.  We need to realize though, that it is always our fault.  What do I mean by that?  I mean we must be proactive in our preparation, proactive in our planning, proactive in the team-building that will keep us, as a team, from anything but our best effort.

That doesn't mean heavy-handedness; it means caring.  We need to care as much for the success of others on our team as we do for our own.  Whoa, that one is tough.  I thought it was all about climbing over the bodies on the way up?  Wrong.  It is about taking as many with us as we can possibly get in the boat.

I suppose this post is a bit rambling, but maybe there is something here of value.  My main point was intended to be that we aren't very good listeners, but where I seemed to end up is that we are most effective as part of a team even though society is telling us otherwise. 

There's an old adage in sales that you should 1) tell them what you're going to talk about, 2) talk about it and then 3) tell them what you said.  Hopefully, since I fumbled the first point you will figure out what I meant....

Investing and Ingenuity

Sometimes you make do with what is available.  I couldn't resist taking a photo of this shovel I spotted on a trip to Niger some years ago.  I've replaced a number of shovel handles through the years, but never had to go find a tree, cut a branch and trim it to fit.  I usually just went to the farm store and bought a handle.  Some people replace the shovel.

I have to applaud the ingenuity of whoever did this.  It was leaning against the wall in a small enclosure where there was a group of young men making mud bricks.  You will notice the wall behind the shovel is made of mud bricks and plastered over to seal it.  Most of the housing in the village where I spotted this was made of the same mud bricks and plaster.  The building materials were primitive, but effective.

I've been involved in a number of startup businesses through the years.  Some burn through cash on the biggest, best and brightest.  Those for which I was responsible for running operated a little differently -- we did our best to get by on ingenuity.  Where possible, we made do with what we had, found an inexpensive way to accomplish the task, or, if it couldn't be avoided, focused our spending on the things that were most critical to growing the business.

I guess my thinking came from both my father and grandfather (maternal).  Both had a knack for figuring out ingenious ways to either build or, substitute something else for what was needed to get things done.  They were the "hands on" type.  They didn't hire someone to change the oil in their pickup, they did it themselves.  Grandpa's barn was a place of repairs.  He had tire-repair tools -- some of which had been made in his shop with a welder and cutting torch -- for patching the tires on the many wheeled trailers, implements and vehicles on his farm.  It didn't make sense to take a tire off and haul it 10 miles one-way to town to have it fixed.  He had a tire patching kit and did it himself.

I wonder today if many new businesses fail because they don't know how to "make do" but, instead act as though they are already successful, spending money on things they could do themselves.  Those are the things "behind the scenes" that are away from the customer eye.  You want your public persona to be polished and professional, but there are always things behind the scenes that don't require the biggest and best -- like the desk and high-dollar artwork on the wall.  If you don't need $5,000 computers, why buy them? Don't sink money into brick-and-mortar until you have to -- rent.  If you don't need a full-time bookkeeper, hire a service.  "Fix your own flats" -- or, replace the handle in your own shovel.

Each situation is different and requires a thoughtful approach.  My point is that if you start a business spending money like a Hollywood Movie Star your chances of failure increase dramatically.  Conserve your resources until they begin to build.  Then, rather than burning through cash, invest back into your business in ways that are meaningful -- that will help it to continue growing.

I remember back in the 90's the primary stockholder of a company I worked for brought his wife, a former beauty queen, with him to see a prototype of a machine my group had been developing.  She was on her knees, looking under the equipment, studying it, trying to understand how it worked and asking great questions.  I'll never forget her comment -- "It's important to see what we are investing in.  I know we are making lots of money but, we don't see much of it; it all goes back into the company!"

It changed my perspective.

A Source of Thorns With Benefits

Sometimes you find yourself in a prickly situation and it seems no matter which way you turn, the consequences will leave a mark.  It's kind of like finding yourself in the middle of a prickly pear thicket on some ranch in the back country of Texas, which is where the photo above was taken.  Some pear thickets can be head high and stretch for what seems like forever.

Anyway, back to the prickly situation -- no, I don't find myself in the middle of one right now, but I ran across this photo and that's what came to mind.  Such situations seem to occur any time there is interaction with people.  In time, feelings inevitably are hurt, or offense is taken over some innocuous remark that may have been misunderstood.  For some reason, those occasions sometimes have no positive solution -- they leave scars in a relationship.

When we see a patch of prickly pear, we see the thorns.  We know that contact with the prolific cactus will leave us digging the tiny, barbed thorns out of our tender flesh.  Each needle-like leaf is designed to quickly detach from the plant and embed itself deeply via the tiny hook on the end of each  small probe.  They work  their way inward until the inflamed flesh festers and tries to isolate them by forming a cyst or, surrounding them with pus.

The thing about prickly pear that we often forget is that they, like other cacti, are nature's reservoir of water in a desert environment.  Each of the succulent pads swells with water which is gathered over a large area by the widely spreading roots that lie just under the surface of the land.  They capture the precious droplets and store them within their own appendages.  Insects, rodents and even larger animals know they can always find life-sustaining moisture in the cacti -- they just have to avoid the thorns.  Ranchers have been known to use flame-throwers to burn the thorns off of cactus so cattle can eat them.  The small fruit which forms at the end of the pads was utilized by native Americans as a food source and even today is often harvested and made into jelly.

There is usually some good that comes out of those prickly situations we find ourselves in, just as there are benefits from the cactus.  When we face those times, we need to think about why they occurred and how they might better have been resolved.  Usually the issue is one of communication.

We humans, in spite of our prolific use of language, are lousy communicators.  That's because we each see the world a little bit differently.  We have our own unique perspective -- lens -- through which we see situations and we rarely truly understand another's viewpoint.  Much of the trouble in this world is a result of that very issue.  Misunderstanding due to differing world views.

I suppose the solution is to invest time in people with the purpose of learning more about their values, their perspectives and their history.  It will provide invaluable clues to common understanding and help to clarify areas of disagreement.  Only then will we be able to resolve those prickly situations effectively.  People are the precious reservoirs of our businesses and our country.  Instead of water, they store knowledge and insight.  Tapping into those storehouses without encountering the thorns is a source of strength and nourishment in what might appear to be a hopeless situation.  Invest in people.

Focus and Squirrels

Have you ever noticed that when you really want to focus on something important, a dozen distractions seem to pop up out of nowhere?  A good friend of mine describes it as, "Oh, look, there's a squirrel!"  I know where he gets that descriptive comment; he's a dog lover and nothing can change the focus of a dog faster than the sudden appearance of a squirrel.

I like squirrels.  I also like distractions when I'm in the middle of some boring task that has lulled my mind into a semi-stupor that causes my eyes to go into auto-close mode.  There are times though, when a distraction is the last thing I need because I am in hot pursuit of some brilliant thought that is running like crazy and if I don't stay on its trail it will get away from me.

Redbone Hounds are probably my favorite dog.  They can focus about as well as any creature I have ever seen.  If one has a scent in their nose their head will be down, tail up and they will be loping along the faint trail of volatile chemicals wafting just above the surface that only they can smell.  When that happens, look out truck because they will run right in front of you without so much as looking up.  We lost one that way.  I suppose focus can have its downside.

For me, the best way to get time to focus on a problem that requires it, is to instill the discipline of no e-mail distraction, no phone distraction, door closed, "KEEP OUT" sign that creates a momentary sanctuary of self-imposed isolation.  That's hard to do in the business world.  Sometimes it is necessary, but it is something that shouldn't be abused.  I also am a firm believer in accessibility.  Being available and open to the needs of others is an extremely important aspect of being effective in the world.  There must be balance.

I know the CEO/Owner of a substantial company who is highly accessible.  He frequently answers the phone if everyone else in the office is busy.  He freely gives out his cell phone number.  He isn't much on chit-chat, but he is accessible for business; however, there are times he will close his door and tell the receptionist to hold all calls.  It usually isn't for long, but if he needs focus-time, he will do it.  Then, of course, he spends the next however-long-it-takes returning all of the calls he missed.  I have never known him to not return a call.  Those two attributes are part of his success formula.  He does occasionally "chase squirrels."  He loves airplanes and helicopters and owns a few.  If you want to get him "off subject" just bring up flying.

As in so many things, I relate my work life back to nature.  It's all about balance.  Sometimes we need to focus, but there are other times...."Look!  There's a squirrel!"

Teamwork is Learned

We all know that teamwork is important.  When a team is functioning as it should, it is a thing of beauty.  Each member knows what their job is and performs it flawlessly in conjunction with other members of the team.  A team may consist of several, or it might just be two individuals that work well together like this pair of Redbone Coonhounds.

I don't recall what these two were focused on when this photo was made, but I suspect it was an opossum.  There was one that lived in a thicket of trees just across the fence you see in the background.  The hounds would raise a ruckus whenever it made an appearance -- unless they were in stalking mode such as in this photo.  Then they would go silent, muscles tense, poised to pounce at the first opportunity.

One day as I worked from my home office, the noise of their frustration made it difficult for me to concentrate on the project on which I was working.  I walked out back and found the opossum hissing at them from the top of the fence.  I decided to end the stalemate and found a stick with which to knock the snarling varmint from his perch.  When he hit the ground, the dogs pounced -- one to the head, the other to the middle -- and the stalemate ended.

The way the dogs worked together was a thing of beauty.

I'm sure there will be people who take offence to the fact I aided the dogs in their quest to end the earthly sojourn of this tick-eating marsupial.  To them I would argue that I only sped the inevitable.  Those dogs were bent on making it happen if they had to learn how to climb that fence to complete the task.

For a number of years I spent a good deal of time on the road making sales calls.  We had a primary vendor whose Rep worked closely with me to build the business since we were introducing new technology into a somewhat reluctantly accepting industry.  Over time, we became a very effective team.  We learned to work together, much like those two hounds.  We each learned to utilize the other's strengths to offset our own areas of "less polish" -- I refuse to use the word weakness in this case, because we each were learning to strengthen those areas by adapting the techniques of the other.

We made a good team.

We all need to build teams -- relationships -- in which each knows their role and fills it in concert with the other(s). 

Trapped in a Box

One of the things we tend to do with the people we meet is to place them in categories.  This is especially true when it comes to the workplace where people are largely defined by what they do.  An engineer is an engineer.  A biologist is a biologist.  A feedyard manager is a jack-of-all-trades related to cattle.  Yeah, they are somewhat of an exception.

The trouble with placing people into categories is that we sometimes miss the fact that there is more to that person than what their career path has defined.  The engineer may also be a pianist.  The biologist might have a hobby farm that employs advanced agronomic techniques.  The feedyard manager -- well, he's so totally immersed in cattle that he probably has a cow/calf operation on the side, or is a golfer -- which in a way is related since it is chasing a little white ball around a pasture.

Every once in a rare while you run across someone who is proficient in multiple areas.  I'm not just talking about a generalist such as I have mentioned in previous posts, I'm thinking of those individuals who have multiple varied interests that they pursue simultaneously.  You might be able to recognize them by their circuitous career path.  It isn't linear, but may cross disciplines in unexpected ways.  I probably fit into that category.

One of the "buzz phrases" that has made its way around the world of business has been related to "thinking outside the box."  There is much to be said for the concept in that it refers to drawing ideas from unexpected areas.  It says, "don't be trapped in your thinking by convention."  I suppose I've never been particularly conventional and tend to respond to the concept with, "what box?"

We place people into boxes -- those categories I mentioned in the first sentence.  Sometimes we trap them in those boxes.  We fail to recognize that there is likely much more potential to that individual than is defined by the "box" we have them categorized into.  Every person has value beyond their role in an organization.  We need to find ways to tap that value and unleash the creativity that comes with it.  Who knows, maybe the future CEO is currently serving as the janitor....

Facing the Wrong Direction

Messaging is important.  I've been perusing a large amount of material produced by corporate marketing offices and it is sometimes a chore to figure out exactly what the company does.  They create wordy paragraphs referencing their culture and sometimes their mission, but the core of what they do has to be ferreted out by digging deeply.

I've written before about Trade Shows and how some booth displays clearly indicate what they are about, but the majority mask their mission in phrases and words that require deciphering.  Their message needs to be concise and on point, but often is not.  Large companies with recognizable names will usually go ahead and draw visitors simply through brand familiarity, but the small ones see the traffic pass them by because they don't realize the value hidden behind the vague and confusing messaging.

Companies need to re-learn how to be clear about what they do.  Their images need to convey the same message.  A good example might be a seed company supplying hybrid seed to farmers.  A simple message would state something along the lines of, "Hybrid Seeds Are Our Specialty!"  In the background there should be fields of growing plants from those seeds.  They could inset some smaller photos of a laboratory, a DNA strand, a happy farmer and maybe even a consumer.  The images should support the core message clearly and concisely.

Instead, what you are likely to see is a technology focused photographic mosaic with happy employees doing things which are not clearly related to the message which is all about their culture.  Wait!  Maybe that is the key.  The messaging is focused inward, not outward.  It is all about me rather than what I can do for you.  Could it be that the same disease which has infected individuals is corrupting the ability of companies to articulate why they exist?

We need to reexamine company messaging.  It shouldn't be inward focused; it should be all about the customer and how we serve them.  It should clearly state, "THIS is what we can do for you!"