Day 23 - My Father's Legacy

As you may know, my father passed away 2 weeks ago at the age of 83. He was a brilliant man (holding several patents in the arena of air conditioning and refrigeration products) and leader (rising to the head office of a substantial public company). He leaves behind a wife of 56 years, a daughter, 3 sons and 10 grandchildren.

But, I thought I'd take a moment to share with you what I believe his greatest legacy is through the words I delivered at his funeral this past weekend ...
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In telling people of my father's passing, I found myself repeatedly referring to him as a great man.

And,following one of these conversations, I began to think about that statement more and more. I began to wonder exactly what was it that made me refer to him as great ...

Was it his Herculean work ethic ... that drove him to strive for levels of excellence beyond that which us mere mortals often settle for?

This amazing work ethic powered him to almost single-handedly plant dozens and dozens of bushes around my childhood home and renovate a condo for my growing family. It was a work ethic that inspired him to put in tireless hours on the job only to return home to lead a boy scout troop or travel 3 hours away on countless weekends to repair and renovate an apartment complex in his desire to provide as well as he could for his wife and his family. 

His work ethic truly was great. But in my heart, I knew THAT wasn't what I was referring to.

Perhaps it was his brilliance ... more specifically his "MacGyver-like" mechanical brilliance that seemingly enabled him to fix or improve just about anything with a roll of duct tape, can of WD40 and a paper clip.

His mechanical brilliance was legendary with family, friends and neighbors alike ... as he continually invested his time and talents into the lives of others by keeping dryers, pool cover motors and ice makers running ... or foraging in a junk yard and finding just the right parts to transform high school floats into animatronic masterpieces that were well ahead of their time and worthy of a Disney World parade.

His mechanical brilliance was truly great as well .. but still not what I seemed to be referring to.

Finally, in a moment of introspection, it hit me ... the one thing that seemed to stand out as a theme of his entire life ... 

It was a principle that he actively demonstrated every day ... his deep desire and commitment to leave every situation better off than when he first encountered it.

It was this principle that caused him to see every circumstance with a vision for how it could be better. Whether it was seeing how a newlywed couple would be much more comfortable in their new little home with a couple air conditioning units installed.. or after perusing a school project that I'd produced -- suggesting how it could be better. At the time, I may not have always recognized the merits of his suggestions, let alone appreciate them. 

But, in hindsight, I began to see how they were motivated by love and coming from his desire to help and improve.

And, while there are words I wish we both had said (or said more often), I can see that for my dad, Love was not about words or even feelings. No, for him, Love was an active improvement in the lives of those who were in his care or sphere of influence.

My dad was not a perfect man, but he was a truly great and honorable man. 

Ephesians 2:10 Tells us - "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

My father's legacy was not that of endowments or libraries or hospital wings. Instead, he built people and things throughout his life and left a "wake of improvement" wherever he went.

He left his thumbprint on the world .. a thumbprint of works - in a way that only he could.

So while we will most certainly miss the daily presence of the husband, father, grandfather and friend that we knew, we can be comforted. For we will never have to miss the eternal effects that he had in each of our lives and in the lives of generations to come.

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As I seek to be more conscious of the legacy I'm creating throughout my daily activities, I am challenged by the example that my dad left me ... and encouraged that he probably never knew the extent of the positive effect he was having on others (as many of us might not know our own impact either).

I pray that in sharing this you are challenged and encouraged as well!

About This Chart: For those who haven't been following, I created this daily chart for the purpose of communicating and tracking some of my more important goals - publicly. You can read about it in THIS EARLIER POST.

Day 22 - Resetting The Sails

What do you do when you've set out to accomplish big things and you experience challenges, setbacks and utter derailments along the way?

That's something I've had to grapple with over the last few days as I have experienced both self-inflicted and outside challenges on the road to accomplishing my 79 day goals.

In the arena of self-inflicted challenges, I completely overcommitted myself with project work - not leaving enough margin to focus on the goals I established - which are more important in the big picture, but not quite as urgent!

In the arena of outside challenges, my father suddenly took a turn for the worse and passed away ... and in the days leading up to our unexpected trip to North Carolina for his funeral, my wife and 6 kids were all stricken with a very nasty stomach bug - leaving me as the 'last man standing' to clean up and help nurse everyone back to health.

However, even taking all that into consideration, I probably should have only lost 6 or 7 days out of the 79 days I've alloted for reaching my goals.  So, why did it take longer? What did I do to compound the challenges and make it harder to keep going strong? Faulty Thinking!

FAULTY THINKING #1 - Perfectionism - I KNOW ... these posts and my other projects are FAR from perfect. But, that doesn't keep me from 'noodling' with them and working and re-working them to death so that they wind up taking longer than they are probably worth and represent an overwhelming task when the 'squeeze' is on with the rest of life.

The Solution - Step up the volume and force myself to allow projects to leave my desk before I'm comfortable with them... AND, remind myself daily that mediocre execution beats perfectly undone any day!

FAULTY THINKING #2 - Self-Imposed Rules - When I first fell behind, I began thinking that I had to go back to where I got derailed and catch up on all those days of posts. So, the overwhelm of getting behind became more and more daunting with each passing day.

The Solution - Reframe my failure - I came up with the goals and activities in order to increase my service and value to others. They were put in place to help me grow. So, why would I use them to beat myself up instead? (It's a bad habit I've had since I was a kid and I'm finally trying to change that.)

Additionally, I need to reframe my view of temporary setbacks. Too often, I act as if they are like taking a wrong turn on a road where I have to backtrack to where things went wrong before proceeding. Instead, if I view the journey to my goals as a sailing expedition, I recognize that even when I am blown off course, I can simply set a new and more direct course to reach my goals based on where I am right now.

The good news is that some progress has continued to be made and, unlike some of my past failures, I didn't wind up giving up completely. Hopefully, by sharing all of this, others of you who may struggle with the same faulty thinking can find encouragement and help.

Meanwhile, I've reset my sails and charted an alternative course - still fully intending to achieve everything I set out to accomplish.

About This Chart: For those who haven't been following, I created this daily chart for the purpose of communicating and tracking some of my more important goals - publicly. You can read about it in THIS EARLIER POST.

Day 4 - A SUPER Sunday!

Super Bowl Sunday is always a fun experience - even for those like myself who aren't normally into watching sports. There's just something about a big exciting event that draws people together and creates fun experiences.

I brought my 'tribe' to a church Super Bowl party complete with a huge outside screen showing the game and more food than anyone should consume. Despite cold weather and the potential for a civil war with 3 of my sons rooting for opposing teams, a great time was had by all!

As far as the game itself goes, I offer no value in commentary on the play by play action. What I walk away with, however, is incredible respect for two teams who have both worked incredibly hard to be the very best in their business - both playing their hearts out and playing it clean (no fights, not a bunch of personal fouls - just fierce competition).

I'm also left with incredible respect for Sean Payton, the coach for the New Orleans Saints ... who would appear to be a man of guts, confidence and the willingness to change things up and try a different tactic when the one he's using isn't working. Like my friend and client, Rebel Brown, he seems to be willing - no - EAGER - to challenge the status quo! And, boy did it pay off!

In my opinion, the 4th quarter interception may have been the 'nail in the coffin' so to speak, but the game was won with the unprecedented decision and flawless execution of an onside kick in the 3rd Quarter. Not only did it garner New Orleans the points needed to get them back in the game, but it caused a huge emotional shift in both teams that affected the remainder of their battle.

As far as the Super Bowl commercials go - don't get me started... It's a yearly RANT of mine! As a top-tier ad agency Creative Director in my early days, I developed a disdain for overpriced super bowl commercials that sought to entertain with little, if any, thought of creating desire in the heart of a target audience let alone actual sales. Every year it's the same ... most of the companies whose commercials are ranked BEST by consumer studies ...  are, as brands, completely forgotten! Those same consumers simply couldn't remember what product or service those ads they loved were actually advertising. Certainly, agencies could do better at leveraging the power of a massive audience than that.

Here are some of my takes on the 2010 ads and winners/losers in my opinion:

1) In the Cute & Clever category - Coke and its sleepwalking ad. For me, it was a throwback to watching Mr. Magoo cartoons back in the day. This is a meaningless category and Coke could have done better with some sort of engagement to a social media campaign or involvement with a special promotion of sorts. But, being Coke, they seem to believe that all they need to do is reinforce their brand.



2) In the Most Effective category - Etrade and the babies. I think they managed to create something that was entertaining and at least worked SOME of their service benefits and positioning into the ads. And, through funny use of the babies, they have great viral potential.





Honorable mention in this category goes to Denny's ... not so much for the commercial itself, but for the marketing strategy. Offering a FREE Grand Slam breakfast and then following up on Grand Slam Giveaway day by giving guests a coupon book with coupons for breakfast and dinner deals month by month through June! (NOTE: The only reason why I would give Etrade the slight edge in this category is that it is more focused on long-term establishment of the brand versus short-term transaction. However, if in-store follow-up is done right, then Denny's will be the bottom-line winner by far.)

3) In the Funniest Line category - a tie ... between Etrade and the "Milkoholic" exchange (see above) .. and HomeAway.com with the hotel front desk clerk who exclaims, "It's complementary with an 'e.' The water complements the room. It's not free." HomeAway.com also managed to get some point in their commercial by stirring up fear (and sometimes memories) of hotels and vacation properties that didn't measure up to their advertising.



4) In the category combining Worst Commercial And Greatest Missed Opportunity - Taco Bell with Charles Barkley. Not only was that an embarrassing use of a celebrity and annoying to watch, but it also did NOTHING to take advantage of the massive audience to expand Taco Bell's market.



The way I see it, they have an entire NBA season to remind everyone that they are the choice of "late night gangstas and playas." They had a massive opportunity to go beyond brand reinforcement - and build connections with a much larger, broader audience. I would think that ads aimed at increasing awareness of their lower-cal, lower-fat, Fresco menu would have gained them market share without negatively impacting their existing audience. What? Didn't know Taco Bell HAD a Fresco menu with healthier options? Yeah.. that's my point!

I could definitely go on ... but I'd rather let go of my frustration and redirect my attention to the small business owners and authors/speakers and consultants I deal with who want to make every marketing dollar and effort produce results rather than create ads for the sake of vanity.

All in all - it WAS a Super Sunday and a great time with my family! Here's where the progress chart is at ... will be surprised if I didn't lose a little ground in the weight category with the Super Sunday junk food ;-)

About This Chart: For those who haven't been following, I created this daily chart for the purpose of communicating and tracking some of my more important goals - publicly. You can read about it in THIS EARLIER POST.