Living to Ride, Riding to Live

Phew… it’s a few weeks since I’ve written.  In the meantime (in order of occurrence, not importance), I’ve parted ways with my former employer, gotten married and become hopelessly addicted to cycling.

While only riding for three months now, I’ve met a ton of great people and rekindled the Kaizen spirit within that had gone dormant for a bit.  As if that’s not enough to get one addicted it’s also helped me focus in on what really matters in my life.  A few examples:

1. Having a team makes you better. Riding alone means you’re constantly working.  Constantly grinding.  There are no breaks.  Having a team around you gives you a chance to play off of each others strengths to ride longer, ride faster and help push each other to improve.  In my case, I owe a lot to the great riders I’ve recently met.  Always quick to encourage and coach, by virtue of their experience and fitness, they’ve also pushed me to run at speeds and mileage I wouldn’t have otherwise considered.
2. Leading is hard, but worth the payoff. Riding out front means you’re working harder, but it also means that you’re doing your part to help others.  The unspoken appreciation for the job your doing is enough.  You’ve given up yourself and earn the respect of your fellow riders.  And, you’ve also improved yourself by driving yourself harder than you would if you were in the back of the pack.  It’s a win-win all the way around.
3. Your mind often prevents your best accomplishments. I’ve learned to listen to my body rather than that rabid, junkyard dog barking upstairs.  Rather than think of how far or how fast I’ve ridden and assume I should be tired, I let my legs tell me that.  Likewise, I’ve always been the one to self-edit my ideas or stop myself from taking professional risks because that junkyard dog is smart enough to see the downsides.  Let the real obstacles stop you.  Don’t stop yourself.
4. Focus on what you can control. You can’t control the hill in front of you or the wind in your face, but you can shift gears so that you keep your steady rhythm and keep pushing forward.  Thinking about your form, your cadence and really pulling through every cycle improves your (or at least my) speed and makes me a better rider all around.  Knowing how to get the most out of each stroke helps to get me over Olde Stage when the wind is in my face, but it also helps me pick up the pace and be a better leader on the speedway of Highway 36.
5. Expect the unexpected and stay flexible. Cars are everywhere and not all drivers are nice (random observation: bigger the vehicle, the bigger the asshole behind the wheel…usually, though sports cars and BMWs are the exception that prove the rule – but that’s another topic).  Most drivers are courteous and give a little extra room, but you’ll encounter those who have no vision beyond their own self-interests and the hood of their jacked up GMC Yukon.  They’ll honk, swerve or ignore you completely.  You have to expect that and proactively anticipate accordingly.  Then you have to let it go.  It’s not like you can catch them.
6. Live the moment. You can cover a lot of ground on a bike, but you cover it at a pace where you can actually take note of what you miss when you zoom by in a car.  A dilapidated red barn, steep canyon walls, the flowing of the river.  There’s a lot of stuff out there that we’d enjoy but we often miss it because we’re too focused on the destination rather than the journey.

Anyhow, gotta go.  I haven’t been on the bike all day and I’m getting the shakes.

Has Discourse Run Its Course?

A video was forwarded to me last night that compelled me to respond. I never reply to mass forwards within our family, but this one touched a nerve. It wasn’t that the message was attacking the Presidential candidate I’m backing, but rather how easily the content and tenor of the message lulled the readers into not thinking for themselves and truly considering just how they were being manipulated by the message. Let’s not give up on critical thinking and discourse. It’s vital.

The video that got me fired up.

The forward asked whether we were bothered by the video. My response:

___________

This video bothers me.

It bothers me that we allow ourselves to succumb to superficial claims that fear monger and play off our deepest seeded racist thoughts.
It bothers me that it’s been viewed 4.5 million times and otherwise smart people don’t think through just how this video manipulates our innermost fears and potentially secret thoughts.

I’d like to believe that we’re all smart enough to dig a little deeper and look beyond the color of ones skin, the origins of ones name or whether they are willing to wear a lapel pin. Frankly, my mom taught to do just that and I’d like to believe she’ll do the same.

I’d also like to believe that we don’t all get judged based on the words that come out of our acquaintances’ mouths. Who among us hasn’t been friends with someone who was a stark raving racist? Were you not embarrassed by what was said? I have been on both accounts, but I wouldn’t want to be painted with the same brush. Should I have stood up and renounced them as a friend right there? Maybe, but I didn’t. Does that make me evil? Does that make me any less fit to represent and lead a diverse group of people?

[note: Obama has renounced Rev. Wright's remarks repeatedly. Take your pick on which article you want to read. Kudos if you make it through all 464,000 mentions.]

Obama has symbolized a new type of politics. Whether you agree with his points of view or not, he has brought over 5 million new voters into the political process. He has mobilized a generation that has been dormant since 1968. For the first time in forty years we have a generation of people believing not just in our country, but in what our country stands for and what our country can achieve. They’re believing in the ideals that symbolize America. People are being reminded of what makes our country great. We are a country that judges people on merit, that gives everyone a fighting chance to make something great of themselves and that protects our right to hold differing points of view from the majority. We live by the golden rule. By taking ten-second sound bites of all the things we as well as our friends have ever said, could one make a video that shreds your true beliefs and ideals apart? Damn right they could.

Let’s start using our heads before we succumb to these trite, banal attacks. These attacks may work on elementary school playgrounds, but we should be above that. Let’s hold ourselves to a higher standard. Let’s hold ourselves to a standard that we’d like to see in our leaders.

As for your vote, that’s for you to decide. But, please, don’t throw it away by allowing yourself to be so blatantly manipulated. Use your head. Look at the issues, look at their platforms and make an informed decision based on the issues for which you care most deeply.

Yes, the video bothers me.

The Job Description of a Leader

A leader need not be the one at the top of the organization, but the one at the top of the organization must recognize the company’s leaders. A leader can be the best or worst asset to a company. Yes, the worst.

The difference between the two is how well embraced the leader is by upper management. If the trust is there the one at the top need only point the leader in the right direction. But without that trust and collaboration a true leader need only use his powers of influence to point out the flaws in the plan to bring down a company.

“You’re either with us or against us” is more apt for bring leaders into a company’s fold than it is for going to war.

The leader’s job description thus entails:

• Be confident. Knowing what you don’t know is the key. There is a difference between being confident and being obstinate. A leader is open to ideas from others and can recognize good ideas when s/he sees them. Confidence in your own abilities means being able to admit when you’re wrong or don’t have an answer.
• Be transparent and honest. People are smart. They know what’s working and what’s not. A leader is someone who can stand up and say what needs to be said. It doesn’t always have to be rah-rah pep rallies. If that’s all you give, then you’re not a leader. A leader can admit when things are going badly and genuinely communicate the realities of the situation.
• Be Infectious. Times won’t always be good. But if you’re always realistically optimistic and able to truly celebrate the good times people will rally behind you.
• Be willing to share and open to feedback. Focus on the positive but always look to improve. The same goes for others. Bring out their best by always supporting them with your knowledge, sweat and/or advice. Consistently giving feedback, positive and constructive, will show others that you have their best interests in mind.
• Focus on the people, not the goal. This may be a little surprising, but with the proper incentives the goal will take care of itself. Accomplishing goals is about motivation. And keeping people motivated is crucial because some goals are big and take time to achieve. Like Maslow’s heirarchy of needs people can only become motivated and accomplish their own personal goals when their basic needs are taken care of and, thus, non-factors. In the corporate sense, the basic needs are eliminating political bullshit by knowing the individual, what they want to achieve and actively helping them work toward the goal on a daily basis.

Being a leader isn’t really rocket science. If you work by the Golden Rule you’re already half way there.

Comic Relief

My post yesterday reminded me of a cartoon Dean, a friend and former co-worker, used to have hanging above his desk. I think it sums up the first couple points pretty well.

Web2.0 and the Decline of Civilization

Just finished reading a great post from Neil Robertson about the changing tide of editorialization of the web and an idea he has to solve it. It was great because I’m so incredibly over the Web2.0 movement. Done. Finished. Sayonara bitches. But his post got me thinking about all we’ve gotten from the Web2.0 revolution.

First, an acknowledgment that Web2.0 is a stepping stone. A necessary evil. The future is brighter and the Internet will change our lives for the better (more on that in a future post). In the meantime, we’re suffering the consequences.

Web2.0′s wonderful gifts:

1. The utter loss of intelligent content
2. Extremist discourse
3. Loss of real-life connectedness

The Loss of Intelligent Content to Consume

The most destructive piece of Web2.0 is user generated content (UGC). UGC is driving us ever more quickly down the road of becoming dumber and lazier.

From the publisher side, Web2.0 is laziness in action. It removes the writer and editor (read: overhead and content quantity constraints) from the process and ensures that rather than producing one good story or article a day, tens of thousands can be produced. This was a big deal at Yahoo! before I left…and still is. But editing, filtering and surfacing the good stuff was rarely considered.

Laziness never wins in the end (see: the hare).

With the exception of the top half of 1% of blogs, UGC makes us dumber. We’re fascinated by lip-syncing fat kids in front of webcams or by Justine Average’s lifestreaming. We’ve found the Lowest Common Denominator.

This has a Reagan-esque trickle-down effect. More of our media consumption is happening online and the other outlets are struggling to keep pace. What happens? The 5:00 news is essentially Entertainment Tonight read by someone with a deeper voice. Reality shows. Singing/dancing shows. Game shows where the only skill is knowing how to pronounce the number on the front of the suitcase. Really?

Filters are gone. Sex, babies, dogs and sex sell. Why try anything else?

Am I an old crumudgeon already? Am I an elitist?

I long for the days of G.I. Joe telling me a story with a moral. After all, “…knowing is half the battle.”

Extremist Discourse

Being able to share your opinions (yes, like I am) without regard to your audience creates more radical views. Face to face communication is gone. No longer do have have to actually listen to other viewpoints. After all, UGC is all about me spewing my thoughts on a page like verbal diarrhea. It’s me ‘speaking,’ rather than listening.

And if I don’t have to listen or suffer the consequences of having a viewpoint that doesn’t fall within our societal norms then what’s to stop me from believing that I’m off course?

In order to get noticed through the noise you have to be different. Or extreme. You have to have an opinion that gets people fired up.

If not, what’s the point of contributing?

For example, the video of the guy on a cubicle rampage has been passed along to me several times today. If he was just angrily packing his papers into his briefcase and muttering under his breath would it be a ‘hit?’

Loss of Connectedness

We think we’re more connected these days. I have 279 connections on LinkedIn and nearly as many friends on Facebook. Look how popular I am!

But reading a newsfeed, seeing status updates and reading tweets doesn’t make me any closer to my friends. Yes, I know what they’re up to but this is a poor substitute for actually living in real life.

I’m hopelessly addicted to the Internet so this isn’t a rant about the time we spend online. But the Internet gives me the feeling of connectedness without the connectedness itself. A far worse crime in my book.

We’re missing out on the shared experiences that form strong bonds. Going to the movies isn’t the same as sharing YouTube videos because there is a lot more conversation and context around our theatrical adventure.

A whole generation is growing up thinking that a 140 character message that leads with “[your name] is…” is the same as actually talking to their friend.

Looking Ahead

So what’s it all mean? Like the 2004 Presidential election there isn’t much we can do about it now. But we can look ahead and make sure we don’t repeat the mistakes we’re living through today. More on that later…