Management Craft

My Events and Questions About Your Town

Only three weeks left until I hit the road for the Year of the Breakthrough Tour. This weekend I did a test ride with Hazel loaded up will all my tour bags. I have one dilemma not yet solved - whether to bring my laptop. I think I need to bring it but my Apple iBook is pretty heavy and I am not looking forward to adding this weight.

The tour is pretty well set, but I do have a few time slots that are not filled. Let me know if you have any ideas! They are:

• Dallas area - June 1st
• Mid-Atlantic - from Charlotte to DC - June 7-10th
• Chicago are - June 15th
• Salt Lake City area - June 25

Here's the latest map - click on it to pull it up in Google Maps and zoom in. Please note that the route is not actual - Google assumes highway driving, but I won't do that if I have time.

I'd love to meet up will people on an informal basis all along the way. A couple/few people in a coffee shop type thing. Let me know if you want to meet.

Here are a few of the public events scheduled (private/in-company events are not listed here) - I'd love to meet you! All of the events will be appropriate and beneficial for managers, entrepreneurs, trainers, HR pros, and anyone interested in generating breakthroughs and achieving goals.

This Saturday, May 5th, I will be at the West Seattle Barnes & Noble speaking at 11am.

Note: I know this chart looks kind of wonky, HTML is not my strong suit, if you know how to make it more readable, drop me an email. Thanks.

City	Date(s)	Event
Seattle, WA	May 5, 11am	West Seattle Barnes & Noble
Brookings, OR	May 21-22	Event Details Coming!
Santa Rosa, CA	May 23	Event Details Coming!
Cupertino, CA	May 24, 6:30-8:30pm	Event at HP, Oak Room, 19447 Pruneridge Ave. Registration link coming.
Dallas, TX	June 1	Available!
Birmingham, AL	June 4, 9-11am	ASTD Birmingham Chapter, Location and registration link coming.
Atlanta, GA	June 5, 7-7:30pm	Fayette County Library
Charlotte, NC	June 7	Available!
Winston-Salem, NC	June 8	Available!
Roanoke, VA	June 9	Available!
Chevy Chase, MD (DC Area)	June 10	Available!
Baltimore, MD	June 11, 6:30-8pm	Pratt Library, Main Branch
Philadelphia, PA	June 12, June 13	Event Details Coming!
Chicago, IL	June 15	Available!
Milwaukee, WI	June 16, 2-3:00pm	Schwartz Business Books in Brookfield, 17145 W. Bluemound Rd.
Des Moines, IA	June 18	Event Details Coming!
Fargo, ND	June 19, 5-7pm	Women's Business Exchange, Location and registration details coming.
Fargo, ND	June 20, 11:30-1pm	ASTD Fargo Chapter,  Location and registration details coming.
Salt Lake City, UT	June 25	Available!
Boise, ID	June 26, 5:30-7:30pm	Event from Workplace Excellence, Business Review, Idaho Business Forum, The Owyhee Plaza Hotel, 1109 West Main Street, Boise. Register here.

As I gather together all my information, I'd love to get a few bits of information regarding the towns along my route. Please take a look at the above map, and it if looks like I might be coming by your town (or one you know very well) please check out the questions below. Thanks!

Imagine you are me, riding through town on Hazel. I generally have some time, but not days, to enjoy the towns I pass through:

1. What sights should I NOT MISS seeing - what's extraordinary about this town?
2. Roads I definitely want to avoid
3. Best casual food, best coffee shop
4. Are there sections of the area I should avoid because they would not be safe for me or my bike?
5. Other interesting tidbits.
6. Does your state allow motorcyclists to drive in the HOV lanes?

Leave a comment or email me at lhaneberg AT gmail DOT com. Thanks!

Time

The always provocative Raj Setty and his team have started a new blog that is dedicated to helping readers better use time called Time Matters. Something we all need!

He asked several folks the following question:

What is the one question about time, that, if answered well - will help the person make the most of his or her time?

What do you think of my question (see it here)?

Put Time Matters on your list of regular reads!

Beyond Telecommuting from Home

This idea looks very good to me. My concern is the carbon emissions of the vehicle that needs to pull this, but if I can figure that one out - perhaps the smallest appropriate puller in biodiesel - I might want to give this way of working a try for a year or two, staying put in places for a month or two at a time.

The key difference between a standard wee RV and one that would work well as a mobile living and office space is comfortable working space. The seating and surface areas of many RVs are not great for hours of computer work.

Perhaps I should design one... call it the mobile writer's retreat. Anyone interested?

It needs to be as lightweight at possible to reduce the size and weight of vehicle that needs to pull it.

Will we see a return of the benevolent gypsy?

How much time do you spend working at a computer? With wireless technologies improving, could you stay connected and work from a remote and moving office?

Fireside Chat with John Herman

Failure isn't fatal! Chat with John Herman

In this 20 minute podcast, I chat with author, entrepreneur, and self proclaimed failure guru, John Herman. Sixty percent of businesses fail. Learn the three common characteristics of most failures. Herman shares the critical piece of information most business leaders don't know. Herman shares his tips, wisdom, and lessons learned in his new book called, Hermanisms: Axioms for Business and Life. Herman also wrote The Innkeeper Tales: Modern-day Canterbury Tales to Entertain, Elighten and Empower. Thank goodness for failure or we might not have the Hershey bar (I lived on Hershey bars as a child, swiping them from my parents' store in Canada). 

Don't be a "sceptator." Listen to this podcast!

Here are a couple Hermanisms:

#3 Business is a continuum. Success is the cumulative good result of riding out the waves crashing against you.

#38 Facing reality is sobering. Ignoring reality is like being drunk.

#50. Th most bitter part of failure is questioning your own effort.

You can listen to my podcast with John Herman by clicking here:

You can also download an MP3 version of the podcast here: MP3 Download

And just a reminder.....

Here is the Podcast Feed for the entire Fireside Chat podcast series:

To see the complete list of podcasts in this series, select the Podcasts and Webcasts category on this blog or see the list on my main website here.

You can also find this series on iTunes (and several other podcast sites), just search under my last name for Fireside Chat.

Strengths Revolution

This is your brain on your strengths. Any questions?

Do you know what your strengths are? What makes you strong (that's the definition of a strength - something that makes you stronger)? If you haven't already, check out the podcast I did with Marcus Buckingham - a man on a mission to enliven the strengths revolution.

One of my strengths is facilitating new understandings. It is fun to explore new ways to use this strength and I find that it's one of the main reasons clients call again. What about you - for what do people call on you - again and again?

No Mac Browser - That's Not Good Enough

You know, in this day and age it seems unbelievable that a website would think it OK to not work in either Safari or Foxfire for Mac users. But from time to time, I run into one and...

They don't get my business.

Case in point. I just put my car up for sale on Cars.com. I was going to post it on NW Autos.com but I could not use their website unless I was working on a PC or using Netscape - neither of which I do. By choice.

So Cars.com got my business.

Hello..... wake up companies, being Mac unfriendly reduces your revenue and annoys people who write blogs.

Paradox of Inclusion

I love this post from Chris Corrigan called The Paradox of Inclusion. Read the whole post and the comments, it is very interesting.

I think it is valuable inquiries to periodically ask ourselves, are my actions and thoughts really supporting what I believe? And even, do I really believe what I say are my values?

I am not suggesting his line of thinking so that we can out ourselves as hypocrites. With new knowledge and insights we can choose to make changes that better line things up.

Managers ought to think about where they stand on the topic of inclusion. Many managers use the word inclusion when they talk about the fact that they invited a few more people to a communication meeting. That's PC inclusion, but not real inclusion. Do you welcome inclusion when:

• Ideas are being generated
• Projects are being selected
• Decisions are being made
• You know others do not share your view
• Work systems are being designed or improved
• When the company strategies are being crafted

I have known a few managers who said that they were not looking to be inclusive and had no intentions of trying. This is better - being candid about where you stand - than saying one thing and doing another. That said, these managers will also find that they will lose their best people who demand to be an active partner in the business - this is the new standard.

The biggest farce we managers pull occurs when we get people together and ask for their input and say it will matter when people know that the decision has already been made and the input is viewed as something to get in order to look good. And guess what, we don't look very good at all when we do this.

Where do you stand on inclusion and do your words and deeds line up with your beliefs?

Lisa Gets Cranky with Wayne

I was a guest on Wayne Turmel's Cranky Middle Manager Podcast. You can hear our fun and spirited (Wayne is always spirited) podcast here.

Also, be sure to sign up for his newsletter - if you are a manager or want to know how to keep them out of your way (kidding, sort of), you want to get Wayne's newsletter. Instructions for signing up are in the podcast post.

Tell me what you think!

Virginia Tech

It's important to acknowledge this tragedy.

Most of us feel pain and our hearts go out to those closest to the lost and wounded.

I also think we way overexpose these news stories - too much of the same news played again and again on every channel, radio, blogs, websites. I don't think it's helpful. 

So I will leave it at that.

Candy Bar Management

What it says in the back of my Vosges Calinda Bar:

How to enjoy an exotic candy bar

See... There should be a glossy shine to the chocolate bar demonstrating good temper, a tight bond between the cocoa butter and the cocoa mass.

Smell... Take 3 deep breaths. Rub your thumb on the chocolate to help release the eucalyptus aromas. Inhale deeply.

Snap... Break the bar in two pieces. Hear a crisp, ringing pop, which indicates a well-tempered bar of chocolate. You will hear the loudest snap with dark chocolate, a soft break with milk, and a faint whisper with white.

Taste... Place a small piece of chocolate on your tongue and press it to the roof of your mouth. Within thirty seconds, the chocolate square will melt in your mouth releasing aromas of cardamom: effusive eucalyptus and citrus amongst the fruity, robust finish of Venezuelan dark chocolate.

Feel... Plums arrive fresh and filled with vitamin C, walnuts reduce cholesterol and keep your heart healthy and cardamom aids digestion. Dark chocolate totes along even more antioxidants and a legend of love at first sight. We will leave you to discover the aphrodisiac powers within.

OK, other than that last part about the aphrodisiac powers, I can totally relate this to great management. Have you ever rubbed a thumb on your chocolate? I had not, and I consider myself a super user of chocolate.

Amazing label, isn't it? A lot of care and love went into describing the experience they hope you will enjoy when partaking in this chocolate bar.

What experience do you hope your employees will enjoy and can you describe it in provocative and evocative terms (again, sans the sex)? And what about your products and services? Are you creating an emotional connection with your customers?