Before You Inform

“Before you inform, you have to entertain”- David Phillips, Environment Canada’s senior climatologist.

Communication is…

“Communication is the transfer of emotion….

Our brains have two sides. The right side is emotional and musical. The left side is focused on dexterity and hard data. When you show up to give a presentation, people use both parts of their brains. They use the right side to judge the way you talk, the way you dress and your body language. Often, people come to a conclusion about your presentation by the time you’re on the second slide. After that, it’s often too late for your bullet points to do you much good.
You can wreck the communication process with lousy logic or unsupported facts, but logic is not enough. You can’t complete it without emotion.”
-Seth Godin, Free Prize Inside! The Next BIG Marketing Idea, p. 103.

Do something and love it

“Sometimes it is when you do something and you love it, even if it is a failure it tells you something.”

“My career is based on me not knowing what I am doing.”
-Conan O’Brien, on the Charlie Rose show, August 24.

Any destination is achievable

“Any destination is achievable; you just have to keep pedalling every day.”
- Chris Robertson, after cycling from Point Pelee, ON to Tuktoyaktuk, NT, a distance of 6520 kms,
cited in The Penguin Dictionary of Popular Canadian Quotations, edited by John Robert Colombo, p. 110.

A Crucial Act

“Realism is seductive because once you have accepted the reasonable notion that you should base your actions on reality, you are too often led to accept, without much questioning, someone else’s version of what that reality is. It is a crucial act of independent thinking to be sceptical of someone else’s description of reality.”
Howard Zinn, The Zinn Reader, p.338.

Speak and sweep

“When the sales force needed a rousing speech, I gave a rousing speech. When the floor needed sweeping, I swept the floor.”
- Howard Head, inventor of laminate skis and the oversize tennis racket, founder of the Head Ski Co., in A New Paradigm of Leadership: Visions of Excellence for 21st Century Organizations, p. 117.

Plan for the day, anyway

“I wake up every morning determined both to change the world and have one hell of a good time. Sometimes this makes planning for the day a little difficult.”
-E. B. White, in A New Paradigm of Leadership: Visions of Excellence for 21st Century Organizations, p. 19.

Now, my follow-up question, are you planning for this Toastmaster year yet?

What are your personal goals?

What goals to you have for your club?

What will you do to help the Area, Division, and District?

Have you registered for the D42 Conference in Lethbridge, November 3 – 5 yet?

First and last and in between

“The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say, ‘Thank you.’ In between, the leader is a servant.”
-Max DePree, author of Leadership Is an Art, in A New Paradigm of Leadership: Visions of Excellence for 21st Century Organizations, p. 104.

Yesterday’s Boss / Tomorrow’s Person

“Yesterday’s idea of the boss, who became the boss because he or she knew one more fact than the person working for them, is yesterday’s manager. Tomorrow’s person leads through a vision, shared values, shared objectives.”
-Jack Welch, Ex-CEO of General Electric, in A New Paradigm of Leadership: Visions of Excellence for 21st Century Organizations, p. 15.

Emmett’s Law

Something to keep in mind when working on that next speech:

Emmett’s Law:
The dread of doing a task uses up more time and energy than doing the task itself.
-Rita Emmett, The Procrastinator’s Handbook: Mastering The Art Of Doing It Now, p. 9

Carlin on Email, v.2

Within a week of delivering my speech, on emailing more proficiently, I read this, also, in George Carlin’s latest compendium of wisdom (When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?), his take on email:

I finally figured out what e-mail is for. It’s for communicating with people you’d rather not talk to.
- p. 262.

Positive Expectations

In a lot of the management and leadership books and courses, I do not often see mention of setting positive expectations.

Or, often, the so-called gurus give only a cursory mention.

I feel communicating positive expectations to members of a team is a much overlooked key component to a team leader’s success.

The American poet and novelist Carl Sandburg published a parable on this matter.
Below is one version of this parable, paraphrased by Robert Anton Wilson.

The poet Carl Sandburg once told a yarn about a farmer sitting on a fence.

A stranger passes on the road and asks, “How are the folks up in the town ahead?

“How were the folks where you come from?’ asked the farmer.

“They were a pretty mean, selfish, and unfriendly lot,” the stranger said bitterly. “That’s why I left.”

The farmer shook his head sadly. “I’m afraid you’re in for a disappointment. Folks in the next town are just the same.”

A while later, a second stranger came along the road and asked the same question.
“How were the folks where you came from?” the farmer asked again.

“They were great,” this fellow replied. “A kinder, more helpful people I never saw. I really hated to leave.”

“Well,” said the farmer, “don’t be sad. You’ll find the same kind of folks up ahead!”

Biggest (Task) is Change

Thanks to District 42 Governor, Mona Cooley, for passing the following quote on to me:

One of the biggest tasks of leadership (and remember – leadership isn’t about your position, it’s about the way you show up each day) is dealing with change. And when it comes to change real leaders are learners. They are open minded. They hunt down new opportunities. They question everything. They find a better way.
- Robin Sharma, “Learn Your Way Through Change”

Of, Course, I share Wm. Van Horne’s view on what biggest means.

80% of Life

I have often muttered “80% of life is just showing up” or words to that effect.

I usually do this when people imply I have abilities above their own, especially around Toastmaster tasks.

I usually add, “The other 20% is shrugging your shoulders and saying, ‘Yeah, I can do that.’ “

Last month (July), I ran across the correct wording of the epigram which I have been misquoting for the last few years:

“Eighty per cent of success is showing up.”
- Woody Allen, in High Impact Quotations, selected by Richard W. Pound.

I consider these words too, too true.

Carlin on Email

Within two days of delivering my speech, on emailing more proficiently, I read this in George Carlin’s latest compendium of wisdom (When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?), his take on email:

The worst thing about e-mail is that you can’t interrupt the other person. You have to read the whole thing and then e-mail them back, pointing out their mistakes and faulty assumptions. It’s frustrating and it’s time-consuming. God bless phone calls.
- p. 158.

Prime Ministers’ speeches

But while there is yet room for improvement, there is no country in the world where that improvement is more possible, or indeed, more certain. The wealth of Canada is the wealth of half a continent. The talents and the energies of our people are those of free men who work together for the benefit of all. Our wealth, our talents, our energy, and our co-operation constitute the promise of our country.
-Right Honourable
Louis Stephen St. Laurent, Address on the entry of Newfoundland into Confederation – April 1, 1949

First Among Equals collects of some of the most important speeches by Canadian Prime Ministers, including:
-John A. Macdonald’s defense of the Canadian Pacific Railway deals,
-Wilfred Laurier’s Canadian century speech, and
-Lester Pearson opening Expo ’67.

Interesting reading.

Hofstadter’s Law

Something to keep in mind when planning for the Distinguished Club Program or when planning for meeting your speech project goals:

Hofstadter’s Law:
It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter’s Law.
-Douglas R. Hofstader, Godel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid

Think I am kidding?
Keep in mind NHL hockey starts up next month. Exhibition games start before then end of September.

Biggest is easiest

“The biggest things are always the easiest to do because there is no competition.”
-William Cornelius Van Horne, railroad builder, president of Canadian Pacific Railway, 1888-1899.

Cited in The Penguin Dictionary of Popular Canadian Quotations, edited by John Robert Colombo.

For more information about William Van Horne, check out his biography in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography, now online, maintained by Library and Archives Canada.

I found his biography to be fascinating reading, especially the concluding paragraph. It wrapped the whole piece up so succinctly: “Sir William C. Van Horne liked big things….”

Division B Theme

Believe and Achieve.

One of my first duties as Division Governor was to establish a theme for Division B.

After some focus testing (asking trusted friends, “Psst, how does this sound: ‘…’ “?), I came up with the theme above.

I am a believer is self-fulfilling prophecy. If you think you will have a good day, you do. If you see yourself meeting a goal, you will. If you expect the best of people, and you let them know you it, people give their best to you.

“They can do all because they think they can.”
-Virgil.

I believe Division B will accomplish much this year. And, I expect the members in the Toastmaster Clubs in Division B will have a lot of fun as they achieve their individual and club goals.