On the surface, they have what they need to succeed. Thomas Franchise Solutions has a seasoned board of advisors, a sure-footed leader and committed staff, driven for growth. But, their founder and Chairman, Peter Thomas, wants more. A fresh, unconventional perspective. His brainchild, a Youth Advisory Board.

A Youth Advisory Board is not new to organizational development.

State Farm has a youth advisory board. Thirty 17-20 year olds are assigned to address issues important to State Farm and communities across North America. Their service-learning projects help State Farm with a local presence and goodwill.

Brewerytown in Philadelphia has a community Youth Advisory Council comprising of 14-19 year olds. Yours truly even got in the youth activism game thirty-five years ago. I chaired a Teen Board that complimented the adult efforts of the Strathcona Youth Association’s mission to build a local teen center.

The Alberta Children's Hospital in Calgary has been using advising youth for years. According to avid supporter, Eric Perrault, "The Children's Hospital in Calgary (the big lego block) was based upon designs from our youth advisory. Not only were they consulted in the design phase, all structural and programs had to go through them for changes and approval. This may explain why the facility is one of the best of its kind."

TFS takes the Youth Advisory Board concept outside the somewhat insular corporate playground.

What’s innovative about Thomas’ Youth Advisory Board is their assignment. To submit a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats). The youngest member is in middle school. Others are either in high school or college. The youth selected are armed with an entrepreneurial acumen and intellegence oozing with curiosity.

As it turns out, there are many check marks in the win category for TFS and the youth.

Win #1 A Younger Lens for a Bigger Picture - TFS gets to see through a younger lens. TFS's model of investing in franchise companies with a proven track record and profitable model could be strictly numbers driven. But Thomas wanted to augment his investment process with insights of those who the corporate world normally would rather have share of wallet share… not what the young minds have to share. Meanwhile, the youth know they need to look carefully at what they review and translate it for their elder colleagues.

Win #2 Simple Sophistication - The youth dive into the real corporate conversations. By being added to weekly internal communications and other information flow the youngsters gain insight into how bottom line results are driven by organizational decision-making. TFS forces themselves to keep their messaging easy to digest and uncomplicated. The keep-it-simple mantra is self-imposed while paying dividends.

Win #3 Evoking Insights and Outsights – TFS wants to scan for new franchise opportunities while balancing the demands of growing their partner companies. It is incredibly easy in any organization to get caught in the manage-what-we-have cycle at the expense of innovating towards new frontiers. To ignore dealing with change and managing change companies like Radio Shack and Blockbuster have fallen victim to this phenomenon. With the Youth Advisory Board’s consistent input, everyone at TFS pauses to reflect and seek beyond themselves.

Consider eliciting the noggin’ power of a few sharp, still developing, under 25 brains. Go beyond traditional focus groups or surveys. Create a youth advisory board and evoke a bigger picture with simple sophistication. A fresh, unconventional, youthful, motivational perspective may be exactly what you need.

We either ignore, complain or take action when our politicians make a choice. There is one more option: Stay on their horribly-low-approval-rated-butts and make sure they make choices for the people, not the political party or self-interests. This involves a new order of involvement (easier offered than accomplished - but still doable and ultimately necessary in today’s environment of distrusted politicians).

Before the economy turned south in 2008, yours truly hated looking at the numbers. My motivational speaker filtered eyeballs would glaze over at a P&L statement. With a form of numerical dyslexia… words like “budget” actually spelled “snore.” Tax forms made noises like “blah, blah, blah.” Bank statements resembled leaflets for garage doors or lawn care.

That all changed when we had to get serious about finances. The luxury of sitting on the unaccountable porch swing, sipping the sweet ice tea of ignorance was no longer an option.

In the last four years my order of involvement surrounding numbers and finance changed… for the better. It was as if a new sheriff was in town. I got accountable on accounting.

The same, order of involvement surrounding politician accountability and the elimination of citizen ignorance is waiting for us. Do this and your representative will know there’s a new sheriff in town – that sheriff is you.

Here are 3 Do’s to monitor what your political representative(s) are doing for you:

1. Track your representative on Google Alerts . You will be able to follow what he or she is being reported on. If they are representing your interests, you’ll know pretty quickly. If they are blocking progress, climb all over that low-approval-rated-butt. In the US – here is the link to find who your representatives are .
2. Follow your representative on Social Media. Facebook Pages and Twitter work well. If you see something amiss, write them. Post questions about it. Ask questions without publicly jumping to conclusions. Be forceful in getting right with the answers you hear.
3. Get on two email subscriber lists – the representative’s and the political watchdog of your choice. Again, question without judgment. Keep asking questions to get answers. Make those answers public in your own way.

Here are the 3 Don’ts:

1. Do not follow media outlets with political agendas. You’ll only be hearing a biased point of view. Let’s leave brainwashing up to the North Korean government.
2. Don’t trust pundits who use anecdotal evidence or sound bites as universal fact. If you fall into their narrative you’ll be limiting your own voice.
3. Absolutely do not forward emails that polarize or demean. Keep your eye on the prize: Positive results are the solutions you seek. Choosing to destroy someone’s character only throws gasoline on fires of distrust and fear.

Those in the free world have a freedom of rights but not a freedom from responsibility. Hop off the porch swing. Put down the sweet iced tea. Jump into a new order of involvement and seek true, sustained election results.

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It took 36 hours of mind numbing air and car travel to reach the trailhead. Our destination? One of the most remote places on earth. We would be the first documented Westerners to ever hike up this Himalayan Sikkim reserve. While each trekker faced his or her own imaginary and physical limitations, we ultimately experienced what was required - the right amount of adversity.

Thirteen months prior, a devastating earthquake changed the map in these brittle mountains. Small villages vanished and lives were lost in landslides. As the world’s third tallest peak watched over the juxtaposition of surrounding jagged peaks and its gentle Lepchan inhabitants, we climbed into rarified air of magnificence.

Anthropologists have yet to determine the origins of the Lepchans living in this land surrounded by Nepal, Tibet and Bhutan. Lepchans live off the land and are enormously caring and trusting. They were our guides and porters. The Lepchans we trekked with were nothing short of angels appearing surreally when treacherous footholds gave way.

Nature can be the lazy man’s teacher, yet combined with a people of extraordinary presence; the education was all around us. Together we ascended through leech filled jungles and abandoned monasteries. Following the footsteps of the mythical wizard Padmasambava, we touched the shores the sacred Keshong Lake at over 15,000 feet above sea level.

On the most physically challenging part of the trek we climbed 50-degree switchbacks, ascending over 3,000 feet from dense forest to frigid environs above the tree line. At one point, I looked back to Jeff Salz who said, as sweat framed a sparkle in his eyes, “This is the right amount of adversity.”

In some cases, adversity is flat-out entertaining.

On a moonless night, with headlamps piercing the basecamp darkness, three of us brushed chattering teeth. The chill vanished in a heartbeat when we saw a fellow trekker struggle to stay upright in the aptly named ‘poop tent.’ With a flimsy nylon structure, only large enough to house a chair with a hole in it, our climbing buddy started to imitate a scene out of Alien. His headlamp flirted with undulating shadows of elbows, knees and feet flailing to prevent the tent from falling over. Note: Witnessing this kind of adversity makes toothpaste blow out your nose.

Each of us faces adversity.

Some adversity can torture you with sleepless nights. Some is so great your knees may buckle.

But know this: Adversity is the wellspring of wisdom. It’s the foundation of character. Without adversity, your inner power atrophies and your moral compass can lose true north.

It took a great deal of time and effort to put ourselves in a place of hostile temperatures, uncertain terrain and thin air, but we did it. We climbed, not because it was there (or reaching a bucket-list goal for a motivational keynote speaker), but to fill our lungs and soul with the restorative impact adversity can have.

During the struggle it was difficult. Looking back is was an adventure of a lifetime.

Is it time again for you to climb past hardship?

You’ll find the adversity is just the right amount.

Urgency changes your approach.  Think of times in your life where urgency created extraordinary outcomes.  BUT… instead of being victim to urgent situations be the architect of your results. Use urgency as a useful tool.

You know the right tool can save you a vast amount of time.  The wrong wrench used in removing a goofy European automobile's oil-filter can take hours. The right wrench can take seconds.  Imagine being a motivational keynote speaker writing an essay with a quill on a piece of parchment versus writing it on a laptop computer with the appropriate software. It makes perfect sense to use the right tool to accomplish what you want. This frees you up to accomplish more (or have more free time) in another area.

Yet, some tools are not easily acquired.  Urgency is one of them. 

If urgency was a tool in your toolbox of skills, wouldn’t it be great to reach in and use it like a wrench?  Yet, urgency has naturally been dreaded as an external force, a force to handled, be coped with or managed. For example, NASA’s Apollo 13 mission got a dose of urgency when Jim Lovell radioed, “Houston, we have a problem.”  Urgency set in motion Gene Kranz(now a motivational keynote speaker) and his team. Mr. Kranz clarified their efforts with the words, “Failure is not an option.”

Urgency is the state of requiring immediate action.  It involves focusing your absolute attention. It is a quality that conveys earnestness or the need for doing something quickly.  It can be a pressing need.  Urgency implies importance and necessity. 

Negative connotations for urgency include pressure, stressing out, hurrying and rushing.

Urgency is the root word in emergency. If it’s an emergency, it can’t be good.  But if fast results are what you want, then it's to your benefit to turn urgency into a positive tool for you to use.

In the Olympics, if a tennis player knows she’s behind, urgency demands she step up her game.  By being overcome by the pressure, stressing out, hurrying or rushing, she can blow her chances of a comeback. If she uses urgency as a tool, she’ll quickly turn things around.  If she focuses on what’s necessary and important, she’ll improve her game and put momentum in her favor. That Urgency Monkey now climbs all over her opponent’s back. With enough of a killer instinct, she could keep building on the pressure to cause her opponent to choke.

Peak performers use urgency to their advantage.  The tennis player who did not panic stayed on her game.  She didn’t rush her strategy.  She didn’t hurry past opportunities to take advantage of certain shots.  Urgency as a tool was essential in her approach.

Reach into your tool-box and grab urgency as your own. Use it to build your business, drive sales, and get more of what you want in the business of life.

For our loyal readers we have a FREE eBook for you. Get Everything Done FSTR dives deep into the topic of how to get your own urgency tool into your toolbox.

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NY Times bestselling author, Vince Poscente, is the founder of Libretto Publishing and has written five books translated into more fourteen languages. He writes about harnessing the speed of change, the way to reach BIG GOALS in less time, accelerating potential of human capital, how to get out of your own way and best of all, instant impact with lasting influence. Learn more about this expert on alignment, agility and efficiency.

Summer has a way of taking control. Sure, you plan your holidays as you flirt with the illusion of steering your course. But, between kids and other responsibilities, summer sits in the drivers seat and takes you for a ride. Push bossy summer into the back seat and give it a jolt of healthy, quirky fun.

Below is a Summer Bucket List by our 14 year-old daughter Alex. Her ideas might take a left turn here and there but the concept is definitely worth a test drive.

Alex's Summer Bucket List:

1. Have a summer pool party with friends (just for fun)
2. Get dressed super fancy for one day
3. Go one week without chocolate
4. Walk around the lake with our dog Annie
5. Have a two-person scavenger hunt at the mall
6. Listen to Spanish radio for an hour
7. Volunteer at C.C. Young Retirement Home for an afternoon
   
8. Solve a Rubix Cube
9. Do the splits
10. Prepare a full meal for the family
11. Learn a song on piano
12. Make exact Elf spaghetti (Chocolate syrup. Maple syrup. Sprinkles. M&Ms. Pop-Tarts on cold spaghetti noodles)
13. Get “slushied” Glee style
14. Watch Forrest Gump

Here’s Alex’s roadmap for your own Summer Bucket List.

1. Host a special get together with friends.
2. Get dressed up.
3. Nix a vice for a period of time.
4. Take a pet for a long walk.
5. Make shopping an adventure.
6. Stretch your brain.
7. Help local senior citizens.
8. Solve puzzle.
9. Teach your body a new move.
10. Prepare an innovative meal for loved ones.
11. Learn a song.
12. Reenact a scene from a movie.
13. Reenact a scene from a TV show.
14. Watch a classic movie you haven’t seen (or read a classic book you haven’t read).

Too busy to start your list? Then make a bowl of spaghetti, cover it in chocolate, maple syrup, sprinkles, M&Ms and crushed up Pop Tarts. The sugar rush will give you a 45 minute window to not only make the list but also do everything on it.

Vince

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NY Times bestselling author, Vince Poscente, is the founder of Libretto Publishing and has written five books translated into more than twenty languages. He writes about harnessing the speed of change, the way to reach BIG GOALS in less time, accelerating potential of human capital, how to get out of your own way and best of all, instant impact with lasting influence. Learn more about this motivational keynote speaker.