The Other Bucket List

There are only three buckets in the professional and organizational worlds and you are in one of them.







The Pro-Active Bucket

The first and most beneficial and productive bucket of people is the Pro-Active Bucket. This bucket is filled with people that have something to prove. These "buckteers" have a bias-for-action. They are risk takers and never run from a fight. These are the 20% that get 80-90% of the meaningful work done in their professional endeavors and their societal contributions. Without this bucket, not much that can be labeled as productive gets done. These are the leaders, leading themselves and now, or in the future, leading others, either by appointment, or by assumption. This bucket is filled with learners.

The Re-Active Bucket

This bucket is filled with people that are always in a tizzy. Nothing productive happens because of their actions, stuff happens because of a lack of their actions. They are always in a hurry and cannot tell anyone, with any clarity, where they are headed, or when they might arrive. Stuff is forever getting in the way of real progress and they truly cannot see the forest because there are too many trees. The "why-me" refrain is common and protects them from a deep self evaluation. After all, in their minds, the events leading to this state of chaos is not a result of anything they did. It is, what it is. This group has no time for learning.


The In-Active Bucket

People in this bucket are more often than not occupying bucket space because life is unfair. They sit around and wonder what happened and rarely ask why. They say things like; "I am doing the best I can." "I did my part and others did not do theirs." " I did not put myself in this place, the unfair and unreasonable business world did." and on and on. Clearly life is far too clear to them. And this life, the life of the In-Active is not a life of choice but a life of chance. Of course they will not accept that if they were willing to take a chance or take multiple chances they would either, not be in this bucket or be climbing out. This group will not let go long enough to learn.

You are in one of these buckets. Which one?

All I Need To Know

All we need to know.

There was a book published a while back that was filed with simple and profound wisdom. The book's title is; All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten, by Robert Fulghum.

Robert was largely right about many subjects but here is where I am at odds. 

All I really Need to Know, I learned from my parents, mostly my Mother. 

My Father taught me to never fear any task, just get to the doing. 

Mother had a way of teaching that was primarily focused on me (one of six children) because I needed more teaching than others. Call it stubborn, obstinate or disinterested, I was a problem child and Mother's lessons usually had to be repeated several times before I got the message. 

My Mother had a real commitment to my growth and the growth of the other five siblings. Problem was, I took most of her time and energy. She never quit. She would often double-down.

What I learned at home was what I took to school and into life. 

Some of the lessons my Mom taught me: to take the high road, to listen more than I talk, to get up every day and put my left foot in front of my right foot and walk, to be dependable, to use proper language no matter the circumstances, not to drink too much and never smoke, to eat as right as I could and only as much as I need, to love my brothers and sisters, to respect the USA and to stand during the pledge (because not standing was NEVER an option), that the teacher was always right, not to trust everybody only they who truly deserved to be trusted, to save, to clean my room, to get better at anything make sure you are hanging around better people, that expectations should be reasonable but high, that you don't have to settle for less, that just because you grew up somewhat poor you do not have to stay poor, to never stop leaning, to go to Church and to pray, and never leave the house unless I had on clean underwear! 

She always added that if I was in an accident, she would be embarrassed if my underwear were not clean. Still, to this day am I a bit confused as to the logic and importance of that directive. 

The point is that I learned from someone who cared enough to teach, even to the point of pain.  

All I need to learn, I learned from someone else. 

Teach or be taught.

Get to Yes by Getting to Know

When you want to get to yes. Get to know.

If you really want to get to know someone better and thereby strengthen the relationship for the right reasons, be proactive. 

Here is where you start; Ask what they do and why (the why is more important than the what)  where they grew up and where they went to school, what they like, what they pursue, their passion what they would like to do, their hobbies, what they dislike, whom they admire, what they read and what they read recently, their family and more of what you can sincerely learn. Ask; "If we do build (or strengthen) a relationship can we sincerely share expectations?"

There is a world of information available about people and their professions to they who are willing to devote the time and truly desire to know more about what really matters. The very best source is of course the person themselves. 

Not much matters in a relationship if there is not a sincere desire to learn. 

An amazing thing happens when you strive to get to know someone better. People open up, overtime. Ask questions and listen to answers. 

I could write an entire piece (and likely will) on what should happen when you ask a question. So here is what has to happen; listen. 

Listen with a desire to learn and that means you are not listening while thinking of a response as most people do. 

It is amazing what people will share with you if you ask and they know that you really do want to know, and you really do care about them. 

In a business situation take notes. It is hard to remember what you had for lunch yesterday much less the important stuff a decision maker just shared. 

When you really want to get to yes, you will get to know!

Learn To Read-Read To Learn

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I am a reader. 

 

The reason I am a reader is not just because I am in the newspaper business. Yes, I do read the newspaper daily. 

The reason I am a reader is because I have learned, by reading, that leaders are readers. 

There is a building in downtown Lawton, Oklahoma and hundreds of other cities and towns in America, that prominently displays that it is a Carnegie Library. 

Andrew Carnegie was a self-made, rich-man. A total of 2,509 Carnegie Libraries were built between 1883 and 1929. All of them were built with Andrew Carnegie's money!

Andrew Carnegie believed that the knowledge contained in books would provide the “industrious and ambitious” the knowledge they needed to succeed in whatever they chose to be successful at. He was not interested in helping those that did not want to be helped. 

You must learn to read, and you must read to learn. There is no short cut to this prescription for accelerating and sustaining your success. 

Most of my reading is business and self-help books. I read with a highlighter and the more relevant and impactful, the more I highlight. I can then revisit the books and reread the highlighted portion to reacquaint myself with those messages that meant the most at the time I was reading. 

A business book I recently read is:

The Advantage by Patrick Lencioni.

“Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else In Business”

What I learned from The Advantage;

1. Companies must be smart and have great organizational health

(Health is the way the author describes companies that have a strong culture) 

2. You have to slow down to go fast

3. People in healthy organizations learn from each other

4. Leaders must overcome the tendency to run from discomfort

5. Conflict must occur, and trust must be established for that to happen

There is much more I highlighted, but this is a great look at what I learned in just this one book! 

Currently I am reading a collection of Harvard Business Review articles on Mental Toughness and it is very enlightening. 

Not all of my reading is business. I just finished The Lords of The Plains by Max Crawford. Max Crawford is an amazing writer. 

There are thousands of sources to choose from that deliver edifying reading material. It is probably a good idea to be somewhat selective in your reading material, but read something, daily. Ask your friends what read and what they have read recently. 

The positive benefits to reading are too many to list, but an expanding vocabulary is surely near the top of that list. And if you don’t know what a word means, look it up!

Learn to Read-Read to Learn.