Who shows up?

I wrote a post recently titled ‘Just show up’. It references Woody Allen, success and showing up.
And, today, who shows up? No, not Woody Allen, but a guy named Forrest. Close enough to WOODy for me.
He’s a very good listener for starts. And he brings a particular ear, as well. His background is in advertising and marketing, ministry, public relations, non-profit foundations and, while he might not have actually been a bartender, he was a manager at a bar and grill. Again – close enough.

We had a good long ride to Butler and I might have talked the whole way. Really a little different for me. I told him later that, if we meet again, I will try my best to let him get a couple words in.
What I wanted to check out with him is his take on the viability of my GoodWork mini-thanks cards as a potential conversation starter to be deployed by non-prof teams and their fanatic groupies whenever and wherever they go.

Of course, non-profits are always fixed on the budget, but … how else does one create opportunities to start warm conversations, or, failing the actual conversation, leaving the impression of warmth tied to the core mission?

The organization trains and models behaviors and supplies their staff, volunteers, philanthropists, groupies and newbies with varieties of tools with which to further their core mission.
The training on this new tool is to be kind. Simply that. Show up. Say thank you. Be the change. Be grateful.

Minds are not changed nor hearts swayed all at once. You personally might not make any converts – ever. Be kind. Know that it’s all working together.

So, if your mission is to save whales you start by recognizing someone.  Anyone. Strangers are perfect practice partners. Hand them the Thank You card. They will smile. They will turn it over. They will read Save the Whales.

Given everything that’s going on in that moment they may or may not ask you about it. And, in that moment, you may or may not have time for a discussion.
All of that is okay. A warm and personal step has been taken. They will wonder if all the whale people are so friendly.

I made an offer to Forrest to make some cards for his organization at no cost to them – except that I would like them to put a few people in a room, possibly demo a first training, lead a Lunch-and-Learn, and/or track and use the results in my own marketing. I am still learning. Thank the heavens.

No. This isn’t for everyone. For 80% of your people this will just seem like more work. But sometimes all we’re looking for is an uptick of a percent or two. Find your biggest fans and supply them with tools they can play with.
I’d like to make a similar offer to you, dear reader. Let’s make a test. Raise your organization up and see what happens.

Contact David at goodworkcards <at> gmail.com

International weather pressures

I think people like to talk and make connections, generally speaking. And maybe we just have a hard time getting started ... or knowing when to quit.

I met Marco yesterday. He mentioned something about the weather. I might have said something like “What’s a mother to do?” He jumped right on that. Quickly our chat turned to how much complaining about the weather we are engaged in. He cuts hair for a living. He has lots of conversations.

“Yes, it’s cold. And yes, you’ve lived here all your life. You choose to stay here and it was worse than this not too long ago.” Shut up is implied.
That might have been an imagined conversation we’d both like to have.

Obviously a person might not want to talk politics, religion or even sports with a guy holding a pair of scissors, but ... how do we move from the superficial to anything more worthwhile? An ongoing question we both tinker with.

Five years ago Aditiya came from Mumbai to Madison for a degree in electrical engineering. Now he lives in Franklin and works in Franksville. While he now has friends he came to the US alone; no friends, no family.

Why Madison of all places on earth? It was the best school for the price in his chosen field. Sure the weather is a little bother but it comes with the package. He wants to be here.

Inram is a clean-cut, business casual IT guy from Pakistan. Pakistan? I mentally scanned my list and welcomed him aboard. By the time I was done being pleasant and allowing him to begin we’d arrived.  He lives very close to the dealership and sadly we spent too much time talking about the weather. He wants to be here too ... as long as it doesn’t snow too much. Check!

For those of you keeping track at home - Pakistan is the 41st country on my Customers and Countries Checklist.

I met a retirement-aged gal from Greendale a week ago. She’s headed to Florida till the end of April. She sells advertising part time for a religious journal. She sells ads, walks her dog and plays golf.   I think she’s on to something. Move around a bit. Do what you want.

I’m reading Crazy Wisdom by Wes Nisker right now - crazy wisdom from multiple faith outsiders; poets, priests, artists, shamans, musicians, monks, saints, etc.

The Easter Island heads have bodies buried underground and a recently discovered Indonesian pyramid is 20,000 years old. That’s older than is acceptable. Sorry. Humans were not building cool stuff that long ago. There’s something about glaciation and habitation locked up in that story, too. This is what I’d like to talk about.

The forecast for tomorrow is a mix of high and low pressures turning superficial by midday.

Romania, my Romania

I met a gal the other day; generally angry, not necessarily about her car service but life in general. She’s a little loud and a little foul-mouthed. She has teenagers. There was a phone call from one that another had dropped a phone and cracked it. There might have been a toilet involved.

She’s been a clerk at the county courthouse for the last 21 years. Witnessing and listening to sad life circumstances hour after hour, day after day, might have something to do with the anger.

My next rider, Pamela, was introduced to me as deaf, but “she can read lips very well.” And Pamela talked the whole way home. She can speak fairly well. I think she must have learned to speak and then went deaf rather than had been born deaf. But there was no need to read my lips. There was no conversation. It seemed like I heard her entire life story; except her deafness. Occasionally I would turn to her, nod and say “uh huh.”

When I dropped her off I wanted to talk about picking her up. She has no phone. No phone. None. She’d given us her email address so that we could contact her but ... she has no computer. She uses the computer at the library. When I had finally stopped the van so that I could face her and have a dialog she did not want to talk about how we would pick her up.  She did not want to help me figure out how we, the dealer, would be communicating with her.

I think she talks incessantly so that she would not have to have a dialog. I don’t know. It seemed very pushy; defensive.

On a bright note, I met a Lisa. She’s in accounting. Twenty-four years of public and private. As a group the accountants I have met are not very interested in talking about their work. It’s just numbers. How much fun is that? Nine numbers and zero.  Over and over. How could anybody be interested in that? Almost a hundred percent of them. Amazing.

And she broke the mold. Lilting, easy laugh. She’s part time. That might be the difference. After years and years of stressing out over tax season and ninety-hour work weeks, she found a way to work at a firm part time. I can see where that would make a difference.

And, it turns out we know people together. Sort of. We know of some people. But that gave us something to talk about; Wes and Bobbi, Karen and Dave and that lady across the street with the amazing flower-garden lawn.

The high point recently was meeting this young couple in the service drive. It was busy. We were understaffed. Stephan and Relucka simply wanted an oil change and tire rotation.

Relucka was quite cute and Stephan was wearing a black leather, fur-lined aviator cap. I told him I liked it and asked where he got it.

“Her father gave it to me.”
“Perhaps I could buy it from you. I have cash.”
"You probably couldn't afford it."
"Give me a number."
“Well, no. Besides it has lice.”
“Maybe you should pay me to take it then. Give me ten dollars and I’ll take the cap.”

He laughed. She laughed. We all laughed. We talked about juggling, customers and my ability to do little else at that point. She laughed again - which actually was the point. Finally an adviser became available and they got into the system.

They spotted the McDonald’s down on the corner and thought they would wait there. I offered them a ride.

"Oh no. We can walk."
“That’s what I do here.”
“It’s just right there. We can walk.”
“It’s awfully cold. You can walk back if you like.”
“Okay.”

We got in the van.

“You’re not from around here,” I said. “Where are you from?”
“Romania.”
“Welcome aboard. I am so pleased to meet you. You represent the 40th country on my list of customers and countries.”

“You keep count?”
“Absolutely. And it’s great to meet YOU!”

My shift was over at that point. I wanted to punch out, get in my own car and go sit with them. It was a powerful urge. We were having such fun.

Moving Day

UPDATE
My long-time friend George strongly advised me to stay here and not risk losing this voice.

So ... I will.

....

I think I'm moving back to the GoodWorkCards blog because* ... never mind.

It's Moving day and the current post is here.

http://goodworkcards.wordpress.com/2014/01/06/who-shows-up/

The category is ShuttleBug.
http://goodworkcards.wordpress.com/category/shuttlebug/


* ... because Wordpress connects to my LinkedIn, etc. a little easier than Blogger.

Thanks for reading along. See you on the other side.

P.S. A few fine folks told me to write a book. I'll get right on that.

Just showing up

New Year’s Eve Day

The first round trip from the dealer and back, including stops at 35th and National, Layton at Lake Drive, and 116th and Rawson, took 85 minutes on good roads in light year-end morning traffic.

The first gal out was the last back in - 10.5 hours later. And by that time I had logged 184.9 miles around town.

While Pat had packed me some goodies there was no actual lunch time, down time or sitting in any seat that did not include a steering wheel. Every time I walked in the service door at least one of our guys needed me. And given how short staffed we are I didn’t think I could leave. What a silly thought, eh? Perhaps I might have simply posted a sign over the ride board - Out to Lunch - back at 2p.

The driver knows what no other single person knows - the afternoon overview and who is where. Each of our five service advisers knows his own customers and that is about where his interest stops. The driver has to jiggle and juggle the routes to get the customers back in a time frame they’ve been expecting. We’ve got to show up.

I did fetch Mr. B, the sailor from yesterday. His truck stayed overnight. Some sort of tensioner had to come from Chicago. That particular part was not in stock at any other dealer in town.

This time we chatted about airplanes, as well as sailboat racing, and the idea that just showing up was a way to start a career or hobby. Being a part of an airfield or marina will sooner or later get you an invitation or two. It reminds me of the Woody Allen quote about success and showing up.

It was a little more like work to get people to open up today. So. Fine.  I let it be just that. A quieter day. No pushing.

The rumors of the coming snow totals varied widely; from one to nine inches. With the exception of Russell, who thought he’d head over to the movies, not one person was going out on New Year’s Eve. Everyone spoke of looking forward to a quiet time at home. Too many amateurs on the roads.

The high point of this day was meeting Kim Becker. She’s starting her own fitness and wellness coaching practice and she’s got the background for it.

This from the philosophy page of her website: http://kimbecker.vpweb.com

“I am a huge fan of what I like to call “Rocky Training”.  Do you remember some of the training methods Sylvester Stallone’s character used – chasing chickens, walking in knee-deep snow, splitting wood, and throwing around boulders?  Exceptional training does not require expensive equipment.  This is great news for the individual who does not have a lot of space or who travels a lot.  You do not need to own lots of fitness equipment or be a member of a fitness facility in order to achieve and maintain optimal physical wellness.”

So, I met another coach today. I’m making a note of it. While I wrote that the short meeting was the high point, she actually brought me homemade cookies when I dropped her at home. On this long day with no lunch break they were tasty, nutritious and much appreciated, too.

Thank you Kim Becker. And, thank goodness I showed up, eh? So, where are you showing up and is it getting you the success you say you want?

Happy New Year!
Let’s do happy better.


Finally - in the spirit of that exact thing - I came home, we had a lovely little dinner and I rang in the New Year at 8:37 p.m.

.....

“Eighty percent of success is just showing up.” ~ Woody Allen
http://quoteinvestigator.com/2013/06/10/showing-up/http://quoteinvestigator.com/2013/06/10/showing-up/