Month: May 2017

The day starts with three missed calls from 06:15 because it sleeps until I turn it on every morning. The guys have arrived early to set up.

A stage set for a real production. Some things, us amateurs can never bring to the table. Professionals…they’re worth every penny.

The dry run takes place just half hour before the curtains rise. The house isn’t full, but all the role players are there.

Lights. Camera. Action!

I don’t have a speech, and impromptu mode takes over. The crowd laughs. Infectious energy infiltrates. Next on the agenda is introduced. High fives are given. Panel of speakers wow the crowd.

The master of ceremony takes over. Everyone’s having fun. We all rise.

Paper airplanes glide across the stage, and the show comes to an end. Congratulations follow. Many pats on the back. Recognition of all the hard work by all behind the stage.

The skills developed up until this point:

1. Going to see the problem first-hand. Understand what’s wrong.
2. Taking over when required
3. Working real time with fellow MBAs – put it on the screen
4. Talent show with fellow MBAs during the first two weeks of the program
5. Toastmasters
   1. Practicing public speaking
   2. Focusing on being the host, or the toastmaster
6. Working in teams and trusting others to deliver their individual parts

Once again, I’m reminded… we don’t need more time. We need more of one another.

The sprint to the finish line. Instructed a junior resource at 08:30 to get something done. It’s now 4pm and the PO is still not issued. After much frustration, multiple phone calls, and last-minute scramble, the PO is issued and equipment will arrive tomorrow morning.

We write the script. We brief the speakers. I drive to meet a critical stakeholder, because without him, we’ll fail. He’s happy. He’s behind us.

We do three dry runs.
Faster! Do it like you’re in front of the audience. Don’t explain. Just speak as if you will, as if you’re on. Go! Again! Ok, good. Now, do it again.

Everything we do is based on a figment of my imagination improved and honed through show and tell with a wide group of people. I practiced my key note speech with the Toastmasters last Thursday with feedback we’re implementing today.

Budget: $3000
Days to plan: 5 days

What we do tomorrow will be recorded in front of a live audience of 50 people. The first time the company will see an in-house production with no help from external creative directors.

I asked for two scripts from two staff members: one junior and one seasoned. The junior’s is full of enthusiasm but doesn’t relate back to the business. A stand-alone piece that adds no value. The senior’s language is appropriate for the executive speakers. It’s relevant and requires little rework.

We spend time and effort to attract fresh talent. The millennials. What are we doing to retain and encourage the senior workforce?

We’re chasing the latest technology. The last frontier. Seeing how it can make us work even more efficiently. How to outsmart the competition.

Too often, we forget about the people who actually do the work. Instead of asking, what can we do better…? Why don’t we ask, what can we stop doing?

How about saying no to ageism? Stop believing the myth of the irrelevance of older workforce. The mature workforce brings with them unique and unbeatable perspective. Some call this expertise from decades of experience.

No system can beat out the wisdom of collective experience and expertise. Couple this with fresh perspective from the millennials, we will change the rules. We can change the world.

We talk about the value of MBA according to the two of us:

1. The network
2. The way we work – put it on the screen and do it together. Prepare before hands, come together and finish the work.
3. General knowledge of everything – enough to talk the talk and get the specialists to do the work
4. Stamp of approval for corporate positions

We recommend our friend pursue either 1) full time or 2) executive. We also think the exchange is a great idea to open up another set of networks.

They all leave, and I clean up. Time to get some work done.
Wait… What is this that I see? A small purse with a passport, credit card and… Oh my goodness, my friend just took a train to the airport for a flight leaving in 2 hours.

So I jump in the car to race to the airport. She won’t get my message until she’s out of the train station. I am 15 minutes away when she calls, panicked. I park too far and run as fast I can to her check-in gate. My lungs still burn

My friend asks the check-in agent if she can get a fragile sticker on the back. They don’t have any stickers. My friend says she’s worried about the lamp. The agent says they don’t allow lamps. I scoff and laugh. My friend is tired and crazy.

I send her off to security check point and start walking back.
Is that a mirage? I see a friend coming back from a business trip. Small world?

I enter R100 into the parking machine to pay R20. It just eats the money like a selfish monster. I must find a parking office to get the refund. Another 20 minutes added to my journey.

I come back home. 8 o’clock greets me. I have gotten no work done this weekend. I had so much to do. The trees shake to the winds as I sit down for the first time in 6 days to dance with words.  We can only react to the external forces of life. The planned 8 hour work schedule totally goes out the window.

7am upper body workout. It’s nice and quiet until someone decides to speak loudly in Spanish. I cringe. Why do some people feel the need to take up all the audible space around them? Why can’t they talk softly to the other person instead of the entire world?

The gym during this time is blissful, especially in the shower, steam room, and sauna. I have the entire place to myself, and I spend my time getting ready. A full hour, in fact. Not having to rush to get somewhere is a luxury that I’ve been missing.

A friend is in town for the weekend and I prioritize spending time with her. Breakfast. Help her buy some lamps for cheap. Get a sports massage that’s too expensive for her in Zug. Buy some snacks for her boyfriend. Maybe I can work on the evening. Except I change my mind. We decide to go cheer a friend and his 3 teammates for the last heat of Last Man standing, a competition from CrossFit. He’s happy we’re there to cheer him on, and I know how much it means to him. Then I rush home to clean and join them for dinner.

Top two steakhouses won’t take reservations so we go to the third best option. Really bad and slow service, but the steak is amazing. We eat. We laugh. We drink.

No work today. A day of taking care of two great friends.

Exhausted, I crash on the couch and think I could just sleep until the morning. Except I don’t. I go out to dinner with the two friends and come back home to crash. I’m not being a good professional worker bee, but my brain is tired from all the thinking and the doing. It seeks social interaction with friends. We laugh. We eat. We drink. We laugh a lot. It’s always fun hanging out with these two. One is leaving for good in 3 weeks. Another one lives overseas.

I’m prioritizing precious time with people that I probably won’t see for a long time, if ever after they’re gone. People leaving used to bother me. So much it would bring tears to my eyes before I would sleep. Goodbyes are no different from Hellos. The goodbyes and hellos are opposite from each other. All goods things come to an end. So I spend time with friends I’ve fallen in love with. Work takes a back seat, and it’s a conscious choice I can live with.

Not ready. No, not at all. I’ve only written the first two minutes of the speech for something that should last over 5 minutes. I must complete two more assignments before the end of June, so I go up to the stage totally unprepared. It’s not so bad, and I get useful feedback. I could have done better, but just being up there was a good enough practice. A lady doing her second speech seems nervous but she’s fantastic. She wins the best prepared speech of the evening.

Why do we wait until we’re 100% ready? If she had waited, she wouldn’t have wowed us with her awesome speech about mindfulness.

What are you waiting for?

If you’re serving a client on a turnkey project, it’s not okay to delay an escalation meeting until the end of the week no matter how busy you are. Especially if the client is rolling out of a new solution in five days. Instead of trying to understand the problem before answering, you suggest yet another call.

The client is unhappy. She cuts you off because you’re not listening to understand. Because you’re just waiting for your turn to speak. You’re not driving action. You are full of excuses.

The client adjourns the meeting, demanding actions from you and your team because you’re getting paid to deliver a solution. No excuses. Just get it done. But get it done right the first time and let’s stop wasting time.

I want to stop the Fear of not being part of the world that has kept myself from growing. Trying to stay small when I’m built to grow. Stalling backwards on a hill, instead of going forward. I must embrace the real me no matter what others do or say.

The most important person I must keep happy is myself. Everything else will follow.

Something I wrote about this time last year. Departure from the grind of work and stuff

Under all the wrappings and tough act, the fragile parts of me breaks into million pieces once exposed.

The heart cries and sobs not knowing how to let go of past demons. Too many what ifs and unanswered longings. Too many regrets. Unresolved pains of the past.

Holding on, not wanting to let go. Too precious to forget. Too angry to forgive. Too blind to see how I’ve grown. Too blind to see how small the world has shrunk.

Until one day I decided to open my eyes. Bravest and closets to me reminds me to live the life based on who I am today, instead of the past me. Unbeknownst to me, I had been stuck on me from the past. The person that I used to be.