Vacation: Finally, Time To Get Some Work Done

I'm officially on vacation and I find it very hard to slow down. Now, it's not like I'm on a "lay-on-the-beach-all-day-whilst-sipping-MaiTai's-under-majestic-palm-trees" kind of vacation but, nevertheless, vacation is a time to check-out, relax, break the routine and try new stuff. Or at least I think it is...and I find it very difficult to get into that mode.

Sadly, I see my vacation as a time to do some real thinking about/planning and organizing of all of the things (mostly work related) that I don't have time to think about while I'm at work. I actually spent the last two weeks saying to people that "I am looking forward to my vacation because it's going to give me a chance to work on some stuff I really need to work on." (It's painful to read that sentence...please, PLEASE tell me you can't relate to it!)

People, this is a problem. It's a problem, first and foremost with me. I am clearly not aligning my time to my priorities if the stuff I really want and need to work on has to wait for an eight hour car ride and nearly two weeks of family visits and rounds of golf.

How did I get here? Well, fundamentally, I think it's about staying busy as a way to validate my importance. But that's the subject of another post. For now, I must vacate this chair and go get some work done.

© 2010 David Berry

The Myth of the Individual

"If I have seen further,

it is by standing on the shoulders of giants."

- Sir Isaac Newton -

A friend of mine once told me that I’d make a great consultant because of my ability to “detach.” I think he meant that while I’m good at helping a group or a team identify and work toward their goals, I’m not really interested in being a team member, allowing me not to get attached to outcomes and allowing me to remain an objective source of perspective and support. At the time I took it as a compliment because it validated my self-perception. I valued my autonomy, the ability to be (or at least act like) the expert but to do so in my own way, on my own terms. I liked being needed and I valued the ability to leave when I was done. Mostly I liked that this model kept things very clean. No attachments and no mess.

Today, I don’t see it as a compliment. What I believe is that my friend was seeing me accurately and describing it in very generous terms. I believe he saw someone who was on the run; afraid to attach because of what it would demand of me; afraid to be needed because I might not have enough to give; afraid to be a part of a team because doing so required me to care less about myself and more about others; afraid to be about “us” instead of about “me.”

The myth of the individual is about thinking I can do more on my own than I can do with others.

The myth of the individual is “I did it by myself” and “look how great I am,”
hollow pleas for affirmation and recognition.

The myth of the individual is that being separate brings distinction when it really brings isolation.

The myth of the individual is that others are a means to an end rather than a source of joyful support, encouragement and inspiration.

The myth of the individual is that keeping score of my riches is more fulfilling than making riches possible for others.

The myth of the individual is that I was born and will die alone, as if no one has provided for me along the way; maybe not everything, and maybe not how I would have wanted it, but enough.

The myth of the individual is that by playing it safe I protect against my fear of loss instead of risking the real loss that comes from a life lived in self-imposed exile.

The truth is this: there is nothing I will ever accomplish in my life, at any level and to any degree of significance that will not require the faithful support, trust and deep generosity of others.


© 2010 David Berry

When "Work" Becomes a "Job"

Human beings are impressively driven to produce. We are powerfully drawn toward creation and contribution, both out of necessity (survival!) and because, when the conditions are right, it feels so good to apply and extend our vast physical and mental capacity. We create for ourselves and we create for others, connected as we are to communities of mutual support and aspiration, be that family, team, faith community or work group.

In short, we want to work.

What we don’t want – what I especially do not want – is a “job.”

“Jobs” are organizational constructs masquerading as “work.”

“Jobs” are someone else’s typically quite limited idea of what meaningful work – my innate desire to create and contribute – should look like for me.

“Jobs” represent most company’s painfully antiquated belief that human beings are actually satisfied with trading time for money; that we will happily set aside our need for creative expression and meaningful contribution in order to serve the organizational good. No thanks.

Making matters worse is that “jobs” come with managers. And most managers don’t know what to do with us.

In Get Rid of the Performance Review!, Samuel Culbert writes: “Few managers get their jobs because of their keen understanding of people, or their ability to bring people together when there are misunderstandings and differences. Most managers have never been taught how to be good managers. It’s almost as if they learn how to be managers the same way they learn how to do performance reviews: by filling in the blanks. Instead of being guided by an understanding of human nature, treating the people who work for them as unique human beings, they base their actions on self-serving logic and clumsy attempts at control.”

Sound familiar? It doesn’t have to.

Life is short and you are a one-of-a-kind creative genius.

Anyone can find a “job.” Go find your work.


© 2010 David Berry

Into the Wild

They want a wilderness with a map

but how about errors that give a new start?

or leaves that are edging into the light?

or the many places a road can't find?

- William Stafford -


So many say they want it to be different. I want it to be different. More participation; more employees (all employees?) ready, willing and able to express themselves, surface ideas, share challenges, engage in open conversation about present challenges and future progress.

"This is what we want, right?" They nod, “Yes. Yes we do.”

I don’t think so.

I don’t think they know what it means to follow that path. Have they anticipated the possibilities? The chaos of expression and its hanging expectation? The messiness of “we want to hear it but we probably won’t do anything about it”? The massive shift in control from the few to the many? The cynicism, the frustration, the “I told you so.”

Do they really know what they are asking for?

I don’t think so.

And yet, there is, down that rough trail, through that dank forest, beyond that surging river and over that mountain the possibility of a new way.

We should go there.

Let's go.

© 2010 David Berry

All In Good Time

Two months ago I was diagnosed with a nodule on my vocal chord. I was told that if I was a Very Good Boy for two whole months it would be all better. (Very Good Boy is defined as follows: strict vocal rest for two weeks; no coffee, no chocolate, no alcohol.)

Today was my two month check-up and I was proud to report that I had indeed been a Very Good Boy. Strict vocal rest was about 85% successful; I haven’t had a drop of coffee and only crumbs of chocolate (you know how “Cookies-n-Cream” is mostly cream, right?) and on a few ‘special occasions’ I had a couple of drinks. It is summertime, after all. All in all, I think I did pretty good. And, when I do pretty good, I expect a pretty good reward.

While I knew from the quality of my voice that I had not quite won the war I was confident that I had definitely made progress. Just not enough. The good news is that the nodule is smaller by one-third. From three millimeters down to two. Somehow my doctor managed to restrain himself from offering an exuberant high-five. (We did manage to congratulate ourselves on how we handled the scope-up-the-nose-down-the-throat-routine. He tried to claim he must be getting better. I assured him I deserved the credit for both my mental preparation as well as my execution at the crucial moment. I was truly “in the zone.”)

Happy though I was to hear of my nodular reduction, I said to him (in a subtle this isn’t quite the birthday present I was hoping for tone): “I thought you said that in 8 out of 10 cases this is resolved in two months,” regretting every one of those “special occasion” drinks. He considered me as the father considers the child’s incessant need for instant gratification and said: “No. It can take longer.”

Silly me. I go back in three months.

And, come Halloween, the drinks are on me!

We're Still Here

"If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put foundations under them." - Henry David Thoreau -

One year ago this week a very significant individual left our company. He was responsible for beginning, cultivating and inspiring a powerful cultural shift in the organization. That shift became transformational for the business over the years and it is still very much alive today. More than that, it continues to grow and evolve. And, it does so because he was more interested in building something that would last - something that was about and for all of us - than building something that was about him, sure to slip away not long after his leaving.

I've had the opportunity over the last five years to help build that lasting infrastructure and what I have learned is that by making it about the whole rather than about the self you ensure a lasting, even permanent legacy of impact.

Thanks to that way of thinking - that singular, motivating vision and the thoughtfulness to support it - it's one year later and we're still here.

this kind of fire

by Charles Bukowski

sometimes I think the gods
deliberately keep pushing me
into the fire
just to hear me
yelp
a few good
lines.

they just aren't going to
let me retire
silk scarf about neck
giving lectures at
Yale.

the gods need me to
entertain them.

they must be terribly
bored with all
the others

and I am too.

and now my cigarette lighter
has gone dry.
I sit here
hopelessly
flicking it.

this kind of fire
they can't give
me.

Independence Day

What it takes to form a nation:

Dedication to higher principles.
Clarification of identity.
Exploration of the unknown.
Devotion to a cause.
Consecration to learning.
Sacrifice, sacrifice, sacrifice.

And, what's at stake:

Freedom from tyranny.
Independence of purpose, thought and action.
Manifest destiny.
Discovery of new frontiers.
Becoming your own authority.

What it takes to develop the self:

Dedication to higher principles.
Clarification of identity.
Exploration of the unknown.
Devotion to a cause.
Consecration to learning.
Sacrifice, sacrifice, sacrifice.

And, what's at stake:

Freedom from tyranny.
Independence of purpose, thought and action.
Manifest destiny.
Discovery of new frontiers.
Becoming your own authority.

© 2010 David Berry