Living Your Question and Decisions

Posted by Vince Poscente on Thu, Mar 30, 2023 @ 07:47 AM

How will I serve with love?

This question is pervasive 365 days a year. It’s a question that I live by. It’s a question instead of a statement. It is the direction on my compass that I keep checking in with.

It’s my question. It may not be your ideal question. Therefore:

What intrinsic question resonates with how you wish to live your life?

how will i serve with loveYears ago I took a course put on by Context Associated. They delivered a profound set of self-development courses where one realization led to the next.

The first course I took was called The Pursuit of Excellence. The salesperson, now a friend, pitched it when I was preparing to go to compete in the Olympic Winter Games. Silently I wondered, “What do I need to learn about excellence when I’m already going to the Olympics?” (It turns out I had a mountain of self-discovery to experience.)

The subsequent courses revealed more and more about how I could live fully.

The value of taking a course with other people is you can hear their journey and learn from external insights. It was the single most important thing I did in my life (at a time when my first marriage was in shambles). That marriage ended but the growth continued.

By the final course, I learned a bunch of ways to thrive. The most valuable takeaway was how to live IN my question.

What is your question? What has no answer beyond what is answerable (dare I say “livable”) right now?

Living in this moment ➡️ living in your question ➡️ may be the path to inner peace.

How will I serve with love?

Making great decisionsAlso...we humans don’t make sense sometimes. We think the best time to make a rational decision is when we’re comfortable. But we are frequently inclined to pivot when we are emotional, uncomfortable, or both. What’s up with that?
 
If I had a soap box it would be placed in the middle of “Safety Square.” The world of corporate safety is a fascinating reflection of the human condition. When things are good, and no one is getting hurt, the safety initiatives are generally on autopilot. But the second an incident occurs a call for improvement is enforced. When people get hurt or killed, a commitment to change has the full attention of everyone.
 
Regarding commitment, whether it is safety at work, home, play, or in relationships, the secret lies in seeking discomfort.
 
No one likes to seek uncomfortable feelings - but that is where change is inspired.
 
Recall the yin and yang symbol. Rational decisions mix with emotional decisions. Get too emotional and logic fades away. Stick to pure logic and decisions have no urgency.
 
Paradoxically, get too comfortable and urgency is elusive. Get too uncomfortable and decisions become desperate.
 
John F. Kennedy said, “The time to fix the roof is when the sun is shining.” Do we do this? Of course not. We wait until it rains while a leak causes more damage than was necessary.
 
We, humans, could make better decisions.
 
We could embrace the optimum zone in The Commitment Paradox.
 
But that makes too much sense.

#selfhelp #servewithlove #yourquestion #setbacktobreakthrough #goalsetting #achievment #truth #dominantthoughts

Tags: Goals, Motivational, Business Leadership, Inspirational, Changing Times, Safety

What Role Should Humor Play after Tragedy?

Posted by Vince Poscente on Sun, Sep 25, 2022 @ 06:30 AM

Chautauqua Institute after the stabbing.Recently I was asked on Wbap News Talk 820 if Mr. Rushdie’s family thanked me for helping subdue his attacker. “No. I’m just glad he’s okay. But I do know, he owes me a beer.” This cracked up the radio hosts and leads to a good question.

What role, if, or when should humor happen after tragedy?

💡 Note: There's an entire section in Jamestown’s National Comedy Center dedicated to answering "Too soon?"

Think back to 18 days after New York's 9 11 tragedy. One quandary was to postpone or proceed with SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE's 27th Season Premiere. Paul Simon opened with The Boxer. Next, the executive producer asked, “Can we be funny?” New York's mayor said, “Why start now?”

This was a pressure release for an entire nation. An inflection point for mending hearts as we each stumbled forward.

MLK Jr. said, “The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.” Silence in tragedy is deafening. Laughter amidst pain is medicine.

Immediately after Salman Rushdie’s near-fatal stabbing, I came back shaking. As one of a few who subdued the assailant, I later returned to friends at a writer’s retreat. Before I broke the news of Mr. Rushdie’s attack, everyone was excited for the day ahead. The room flipped into quiet and sustained shock. After a time, Jon, who is inherently kind and funny, said, “Vince, I came close to joining the event this morning. But… it’s probably good that I didn’t because while you were heroically jumping on stage, I would've feverishly ran the other way.”

Jon's humor did more than interrupt the traumatized mood, it was a salve for the soul. It was a catalyst for healing. It allowed us to embrace the process of recovery rather than stay frozen in the quagmire of stuckness.

Here’s to Rushdie's recovery as we face life's challenging earthquakes and aftershocks.

#Rushdie #ComedyTragedy #setbacktobreakthrough

Tags: Goals, Self Development, Motivational, Business Leadership, Changing Times, Safety

Rush Toward Chaos - Upstanding vs Bystanding

Posted by Vince Poscente on Wed, Sep 07, 2022 @ 02:28 PM

For the next few paragraphs, I’m going to take my own advice and share a life-altering event in the hopes that this experience may help someone. As an author and speaker, I encourage others to be transparent, vulnerable, and honest so I need to do the same.
 Salman Rushdie piece in Sh Pk News
How do I recount the violent attack on Salman Rushdie while describing my role in protecting him? To be candid, I struggle with this. Friends encouraged me to write what I honestly still can’t grasp.
 
It was a serene August morning on Lake Chautauqua. Arriving early, I took a front-row seat at a literary festival. Peace quickly distorted into chaos as an assailant leaped on stage and repeatedly stabbed Rushdie. * (The grotesque sound of the blade thrust into a vulnerable body is what haunts me as I write this.) I was not alone in realizing Rushdie needed immediate help. 
 
A few steps onto the stage, three of us were able to overpower the assailant. Grabbing his collar with my right hand, I pulled the entire pile of bodies away from Rushdie. The guy on my left secured an arm. A guy on my right repeatedly said, “Pin the knife.” A police officer joined in and cuffed the assailant's wrists.
 
Citizens came to Rushdie’s aid too. Soon I recognized I wasn't needed any longer. The host asked everyone to calmly leave.
 
Sensing a logjam of people, police, and eyewitness reports, I walked toward the exit but stopped to see Rushdie lying in a pool of blood. He was cared for by a doctor and others from the venue.
 
Without any burden of second-guessing, the surreal experience keeps replaying in my mind - and heart.
 
Friends have said words like courageous and brave. That’s what it might look like from the outside. From my perspective, I was simply among those nearest to help.
 
Others have admitted they don't think they would have jumped in. Running toward chaos is an unnerving notion when personal safety is threatened. Meanwhile seeing something, then doing something is the instinct to protect. 
 
It is clear that how quickly we choose to act and what we do matters beyond our comprehension! It is also clear we each have a choice to be a bystander or an upstander. There have been times in my life when I've done one or the other. 
 
My personal earthquake and the aftershocks pale in comparison to what Salman Rushdie will have to recover from. It is Rushdie who is the courageous one. He is a warrior of free speech and will be undaunted by censors or threats.
 
*After being stabbed over ten times, Mr. Rushdie is on the path to recovery. May we all hold his well-being in our thoughts.
 
#chaos #PTSD #Rushdie #freespeech #setbacktobreakthrough
 

Tags: Motivational, Business Leadership, Inspirational, Changing Times, Safety, Radical Safety

The Hazards of a Self-Serving Bias

Posted by Vince Poscente on Wed, Nov 04, 2020 @ 03:57 PM

A self-serving bias can cut two ways. Avoid any form of self-destruction.

As you'll see in this video, if you take credit and say, "Those good things are due to me," then you have a self-serving bias. If you say, "Those bad things are not my fault, they happen to me because of someone or something else," then you have the other side-of-the-sword where you are playing the victim.

Basically, having these kinds of biases hobble your growth.

The solution is to let go. Let go of the credit. Let go of the victim language. Just let go of the bias altogether.

It all correlates to the versions of the truth. There's your truth. The other person's truth. Then theirs likely 'the truth.'

Having a bias may make you feel good. You may feel vindicated. You may feel 'right.' Your bias may launch you into, "The good fight." But if bias has anything to do with ego or fear, it is a bias that is on the road to dysfunction.

If you absolutely HAVE to HAVE bias, then have a bias for LOVE while you have a bias against hate.

As Martin Luther King said, "Hate is too great a burden to bear."

Look for ways you can observe without judgment. Look for opportunities to clarify someone's point of view. Challenge yourself to actively listen over silently formulating what you're going to say next. Self-serving biases diminish your relationships with others, and, get this, your self.

Breakthroughs in life happen when you are constantly in the solution loop of listening, not talking. Test out what you think and challenge your own beliefs. Be part of a conversation not a one-way stream of your biases. Being right is far less important than being happy.

Let go of the self-serving bias.

Tags: Self Development, Sales, Team Building, Motivational, Business Leadership, Inspirational, Changing Times, Safety

How to Eliminate Fear (or at least make fear insignificant)

Posted by Vince Poscente on Wed, Nov 04, 2020 @ 03:05 PM

Fear can be the bane of our existence. Getting rid of fear(s) will be a lifelong pursuit. 

The paradoxes surrounding FEAR is multilayered: 

  • Run away from fear it gets larger.
  • Run towards fear and it gets smaller.
  • If you let fear go up, confidence goes down.
  • If you minimize fear, confidence goes up.
  • Fake that you're not scared and you're only kidding yourself.
  • Embrace your fears and you are courageous.
  • If you ignore what you fear, you're ignoring what is important to you.
  • If you dive into the middle of what scares you you're on your way to fulfillment. 

This video is a small exploration into the power of fear. Whether that power is in your hands or out of your control is absolutely up to you.

Enjoy.

Tags: Goals, Self Development, Sales, Business Leadership, Inspirational, Money, Changing Times, Safety

Goal Acceleration | Raising Good Kids | Making the Sale and MORE

Posted by Vince Poscente on Tue, Sep 15, 2020 @ 03:15 PM

Conversations with Dune explore a variety of inspirational topics, practical tools for entrepreneurs, insights for parents, and anyone searching for a better way... Enjoy this one hour and fifty minute interview. 

Tags: Goals, Self Development, Sales, Business Leadership, Inspirational, Money, Changing Times, Safety, Neuroscience of Safety, Safety Training

Wrapping Her Arms Around Safety with Lanessa at Lennox

Posted by Vince Poscente on Wed, Aug 12, 2020 @ 06:10 PM

Here are some safety leader ideas from Lenessa Bannister, VP of Lennox Stores at Lennox International. I took the notes for you:

  • Strike a balance of communication. Don't have too much information nor too little. Our corporate team has a Safety Engineer while we brought in resources to prove we deeply care about safety.
  • The Safety Mindset succeeds when communication and consistency are cornerstones of our approach. You will never be perfect. Even at a time of ZERO recordable, maintain your safety culture.
  • Best ways to communicate safety programs surround campaigns, use characters, and has to be in short bits to respect the time of the employees. 10 to 12 minute increments. Entire team has to be consistent with the message. Each zone personalize it with the needs of the team.
  • Mobile communication helps with a distributed workforce. Walk throughs, safety training, video walk-throughs when auditing our safety protocol - even during a pandemic.
  • Events help with communication initiatives. Specific to Power Lift we had them sign the poster and take pictures of them signing it. Shared a collaborative video that "We are committed to safety."
  • It's important for Leadership to engage and give a face to involvement. Lennox does a tiered approach where everyone completes training. Involvement is posted and leaders show they stand with everyone else to go through training. Leaders are asked to bring up the safety training on their team meetings and team calls.
  • All recordables lead to constant improvement.
  • We have a peer to peer recording structure to ensure everyone feels safe to share without punishment from a higher-up. This increases the transparency. No one will be penalized for recording an incident.
  • We call it a "Priority" not an "Initiative." We find this helps our safety numbers and even helps our bottom line. A single injury in a two person store, we know that productivity goes down when there is an increase load on the other person
  • Customer service is consistently getting better with reduced recordables.
  • Our work won't be done even when we get to zero.
  • Making Safety Training interesting, we do competitions. Part of their role is sales we make sure it is a fun competition. Training is rolled into the point they get. Still has to be delivered in short bits. If there is an hour content module, then we split that into four short bits.
  • To keep safety a priority, it's human nature, we want to be part of a celebration.
  • We develop a playbook for safety initiatives, process change, recognition, ideas for our systems to stay strong.

Talk About It. Live it. Celebrate it. 

 

Tags: Safety, Radical Safety, Neuroscience of Safety, Safety Training

The Rebel Leader Safety Interview with Greg Kiraly

Posted by Vince Poscente on Thu, Jun 25, 2020 @ 01:41 PM

Welcome Greg Kiraly with his decades of experience in the corporate world and especially with leadership in the safety space. Greg is a leadership speaker, coach and consultant along with his REBEL LEADER podcast. Greg is an experienced executive in all aspects of electric systems operations. He has demonstrated expertise in safety strategies, system reliability and cost controls.

 

 

Greg dives into various topics and ideas for safety leaders:

  • What is the data telling you about what things could go wrong and how to reduce incident rates?
  • Employ innovative approaches to the emotional connection for employees. For example, at Hydro One they used a Safety Brand that was "For Family, For Life." 
  • Build a program around your Safety Brand and emotional connection while you consistently look for opportunities to support that brand.
  • Employee engagement works best if it has those employees involved in any and all initiatives. 
  • Reentry happens best when communication is the tip of the spear.
    • Do the right thing immediately. Ie Tylenol being pulled off the shelf by Johnson and Johnson during the tampering scare.
    • Give updates that are meaty, frequent and confident
    • Ensure employees trust there will be permanent change, for good.
  • It is always a mistake to make too drastic of a swing when reacting to a crisis or an issue. Keep it measured by continuing to engage with your employees in the conversation.
  • Leaders need to be seen where the work is. Don't just sit in your office. Try to do what an employee does. This will elevate the respect that they have for you. Be sure to have insight on what they go through. 
  • Ensure there is a leader in every companywide safety training course. Do this consistently.
  • When it comes to safety:
    • Challenge Everything (especially established norms)
    • Set the Bar Incredibly High (ie Zero Incident)
    • Execute Relentlessly (employees want to see action)
  • Pride is the deadliest of the seven deadly (corporate) sins because then you're not open to change.
  • Cynics can hijack safety initiatives. The solutions is to pull them aside and ensure you spend time with them. Get their input. Do what it takes to turn them around.
  • The "Cowboy" mentality is a frontline employee or leader who throws caution to the wind and sets a bad example. This can be a cancer in a culture. If they can't change their ways, then they need to be let go.

Tags: Safety, Radical Safety, Safety Training

Radical Patient Safety

Posted by Vince Poscente on Fri, Jun 05, 2020 @ 03:19 PM

Radical safety is being able to have patient safety in the front line of making sure that we all come together in a safety protocol.

 

The neuroscience of safety is not about checking a box. It's understanding the human condition, and that's tough.

Think of a time when management drove towards a goal but not everybody was fully invested in the process towards that goal. How did that work out for you?

So here's the opportunity to have people invested in the process, which the ultimate goal of patient safety. The often overlooked FIRST STEP in setting up patient safety is not protocol. Nor is it explaining the mindset necessary for patient safety to occur. It is a personal connection of each hospital or facility employees' deep seated goals and drivers that align with the patient safety objectives. The single greatest approach is involves an experiential methodology infused into the onset of training. It is NOT just a motivational talk. It is NOT just a compelling speaker or leader. It involves a presenter who leads an experience that Velcro's the exact messaging attached to that experience.

Leaders, I'm talking to you. People never forget a profound experience. You too, never forget a profound experience. In turn, if you deliver a profound experience to your people, they will not only be impacted by the content you're determined to deliver, they will be influenced to execute flawlessly.

Put is this way, the ratio between the conscious and subconscious mind is the exact same ratio between an ant and an elephant. The ant is the conscious mind on the back of the subconscious elephant. And your ant is making decisions.

We're going in this direction. Where are we headed? We're headed this, I'm in charge, I'm in control, this is where we're headed. We're going West. What if the elephant is headed East? Which way does the ant think he's going? West, ending up East. And we end up in a different place all together.

Examples include: We need to meet compliance or OSHA regulations. Or let's DO these steps towards patient safety, these are our safety procedures. But when you have transformational change, you have behavioral change when people's ant and elephant are headed in the same direction.

To have that kind of alignment, to have that kind of alignment of somebody having an emotional connection to why they're going in the direction they're going, it's a game changer.

How important is focus in a patient safety program?

It's absolutely essential because then you shift from the push of behavioral change to the pull of peak performance in any patient safety culture. To the leaders and managers micromanaging every step, change the focus directly on empowering every healthcare provider in the organization.

Be the rising tide and clear the way for them to do their jobs and walk in a controlled and aligned way. It's when our employees are empowered to have a radical patient safety mindset, is when they truly understand the cost of settling for a conventional safety mindset.

But it's the mindset that beliefs, attitudes, and truths that will sustain longterm change. We will have issues if we are just going from actions to results. These actions create these results. Parents do it, you know we look at our teenagers and say, you know what these results aren't where we need them, we need to be able to change our actions. But it's really BAT the JAR, it's the beliefs, attitudes, and truths that set up our judgments, which setup our action, which will setup our results. And until we focus on this cognitive model, we're going to have issues.

Three years after I competed in the Olympics, my dad passed away. When he was diagnosed they gave him three weeks to live. Yet, we had a year together. We had a quality of life.

And when I say we, I mean WE. Yes, my dad was the patient but we were at his side. Yes, you made a difference in my dad's life, but you made a massive difference in my mom's life.

You make a difference in communities' lives. You look beyond the transaction the bed number to the person, that point on the end of the wall, what matters. You don't take your eyes off the difference you make in people's lives.

I can say for a fact you made a difference in our family's life. And we will never forget that, ever.

Empower your staff and managers to work together. This takes us from a conventional safety protocol to a radical safety program. And that's where everybody's invested. The tide indeed rises and we all rise to have a superior patient safety culture.

Tags: Safety, Radical Safety, patient safety

A Radical Safety Approach to Reentry

Posted by Vince Poscente on Thu, Jun 04, 2020 @ 05:54 PM

Much like Apollo 13’s urgent and calculated need for a specific reentry trajectory, we need a safe and specific reentry into The New Abnormal, post-pandemic work life.

Utility Worker SafetyWhile there’s a practical set of standards we all must follow, your organization will be making a mistake if it does not lead with the personal set of standards for reentry. Allow your practical standards to be more effective and embraced company wide.

Let's start with looking at a radical change from the behavioral change bias that exists in most conventional safety cultures. Instead of starting with Behavioral Change, think about Peak Performance Before Behavioral Change.

As an Olympian and Team Leader for Expeditions in the Himalayas, I find myself scratching my head when safety professionals lead with behavioral change. I’m not arguing that behavioral change isn’t important. In fact, it’s essential for a vibrant safety culture to institute behavior change initiatives to reach the elusive goal of zero incident. But, what if we can create a world-class safety culture with optimum safe behavior (without starting AT the behaviors themselves)? This is where peak performance can radically improve the adoption rates of safe, post lock-in behaviors.

Continuing to wash your hands, six-foot physical distancing, open spaces over enclosed environments, optimum foot-traffic lanes and even face masks are all practical applications of minimizing the spread of any kind of virus. Yet, peak performance is a function of a deep sense of connection to the outcomes you desire. For an athlete, it’s winning a race or competition. For a musician, it is an epic performance or song. But how does that translate into a peak performance for a fork-lift operator or a technician who spends a third of his or her time in a vehicle? The secret is in The Emotional Buzz.

A number of years ago, a large American Oil Company was struggling with tragic deaths and severe incidents as pipe was being laid in remote parts of Columbia. No matter of ‘Behavior Change Messaging’ was getting the desired effect. Senior executives took a radical approach to messaging from a different angle. According the team leader at the time, “We took our message to the spouses of the construction workers. Essentially, we said to the wives,

‘Hey, do you want your breadwinner to make it home tonight? Let’s remind them how important it is to you that your husband is careful and conscientiously being safe at all times.’

Immediately we saw a reduction in the severity and frequency of recordable incidents. We learned to approach the problem from the heartstrings and not just to the eyes and ears.”

The Emotional Buzz is a catalyst for internal motivation. It is what North is on a compass. When an individual has an Emotional Buzz attached to her or his everyday life, there is a clear attachment to behavior that is aligned with the outcomes sought. 

First, establish the Emotional Buzz for your employees and you will have an easier time attaching behavioral change in a world-class safety culture. 

Tags: Changing Times, Safety, Radical Safety, Neuroscience of Safety, Safety Training