Admiral Sir Andrew Browne Cunningham, speaking of the Traditions of the British Royal Navy, famously said, “It takes three weeks to plan a battle.  Three hours to fight one.  Three years to build a battleship and three hundred years to build a tradition.”

All around us are the traditions by which we were raised, taught, empowered (or not) and implanted with the seeds of the parent culture.  It comes to us through school — the history lessons, the folk songs in music class, the folk tales in the library.  Public Media cooks the cultural stew — part conservative and careful, partly organic, partly native, part world and part new-age wild and crazy.  Our individually tailored “channels” pipe new assumptions, beliefs, values, considerations and stories into our separate island homes on the shared continent.  We’re one perhaps, but also a fragmented many…

How did you learn to put on pantyhose?  Who taught you?  Mom probably, perhaps big sister — Joe Namath?  What about the Windsor Knot or the Half?  Tying your shoes?  How long did it take you to learn “Shaking Hands?”  How many teachers?  How about “Tossing the Bat” over who takes the field?  How did that tradition arrive?  What about the National Anthem?  Chanukah?  Communion?  Christmas?  Was there an athletic team club house?  Touching the Bear?  Touching the Oar?  Maybe you’re a Mason, a Moose, an Elk, a Rotarian?  Long meaningful Traditions.

Our premise?  That the thing we loosely call “Culture,” is not a single thing, but a melange of religious, personal, regional, athletic, generational, ethnic, national and sometimes planetary group considerations — all rolled up into a set of “shared agreements” about how we conduct ourselves — at school, at events, at home, in bed and at work.

Here’s the real deal:  We don’t do it so well at work.  Well OK, we do sort of agree on hours, arrival times and minimum standards of dress and deportment.  But where’s the company anthem?  (Only in Japan?)  What about the well-understood standard of conduct?  (Only in the personnel manual?)  What about the uniform?  (You don’t see Jeter showing up late in a pair of baggie shorts!)  What about signs of respect for the Boss?  (Only in the symphony?)

We think that the other spheres of life have a lot to teach business people about how to view our work as a “game,” how to “play” by the rules — instead of subvert them, how to respect and look after the coach/conductor; how to look like (and act like) a team; how to practice, rehearse and prepare.  In business, for the most part it’s culture by the lowest default.  Much of business is conducted in remarkably similar patterns, with little interest in creating a lofty and unique standard of practice.  Have we begun to view people as generic and interchangeable parts in generic business machines, turning out generic products?  Can we do better?  Could we realize a benefit in employee longevity, pride and commitment?

This, friends, is an opportunity!  Who doesn’t dream about wearing the Pinstripes?  Rowing at Henley?  Receiving one’s first respectful bow as a Master?  Earning a Super Bowl Ring?  Who wouldn’t get excited about playing guitar in Bon Jovi?  Part of being human is the ever present desire to be unique — to be “the One!”  Traditions allow us to become part of something unique, to share the feeling of being special.

As business owners, founders, managers and leaders; we have the opportunity to give people a special feeling about working in this special place.  And, it’s not that difficult!  Jon actually made up the band.  Somebody thought up those pinstripes.  Steve dreamed up Apple.  Walt dreamed up Epcot.

Imagine your culture as you’d like it to be; then start teaching the next generation what’s so special about it!  It takes three hundred years — you’d better get started!

Applications:

1. Personal
It’s one thing to fall out of bed and drag yourself to the kitchen.  Why not start the day by establishing the “Traditional Pando Exercise Routine?”  Or maybe you walk home through the park and establish the traditional “Klock Walking Meditation…”

2. Family
Why not set the table perfectly for dinner in the newly designed “Zhou Family Pattern?”  Establish the “Sadaka Standard of Intimacy” by lingering together on the couch for a slow conversation about food, art or upcoming vacations.  Discover the power of a tradition and create the “Sloan Family Reading Hour,” or the “Burt Family After School River Dip!”

3. At Work
It might begin with Meetings: Pause for a five second moment of silence — then listen as the leader states the purpose of the meeting.  Begin!  Call it the “Fusion Meeting Standard” — or create a better tradition and hang your name on it.

It might be as simple as “Navy” Blue, a new logo, Pinstripes or a picture of the founder on the wall.  All traditions began in someone’s imagination.  Carrying them forward is what builds a tradition on the foundation of happenstance.  If it’s explicit, shared, special and repeated — you’re on the way to creating a tradition!  Time’s a-wasting!  Get Started!

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Editor’s Note: We’re evolving and laying new Cornerstones.  Several changes will take effect next week; a new email distributor, expanded recipient list, new format and new masthead.  Look for us at the same time next week.  If you don’t find us in your inbox, go to http://www.thefusiongroup.com/blogs/ to update your subscription settings.  While we’re behind the scenes making the changes, enjoy a reprint of “Finding Cornerstones.”

“Turn left where the old oak tree used to be!”

- Anonymous

Under Water
Minneapolis Star Tribune / Landov
TimePhotos.com

I asked directions on a country road in Louisiana.  The old gentleman said, “Go down the road a piece, and turn left where the old oak tree used to be.  Then go on ’bout five miles.  You’ll meet up with the freeway presently!”

He was so matter of fact about it, that I had gone a “piece” before I realized I had no earthly idea where the old oak tree used to be!  His landmark was REAL to him long after the actual tree was history.  The memory had substance and meaning for him that no outsider could understand.  We use landmarks (trees, clock towers, buildings, etc.) to assist us in navigating from place to place, then to firmly locate ourselves once we’ve arrived (Hey.  I’m in New York, at the Waldorf, under the clock!).

After a crisis, (or a corporate re-org) there’s physical damage and change of course, but that’s just the visible stuff.  What’s perhaps more insidious is the damage you can’t see: the disorientation and the sense of hopelessness.  As one of our neighbors said, “Hurricane Katrina didn’t just f*** with our house, it also f***** with our heads!”

Noticing how debilitating it seemed when disaster overturned all the trees, clock towers and homes, it became slowly clear to me that the damage was not just physical, but intellectual and spiritual.

There was safety at risk, but also orientation (Where am I?), and certainty… (Who am I?).  If the things we identify with are destroyed, our very identity can seem to be at risk as well.

It turns out, we “identify” with our physical, mental and spiritual landmarks – (we call them “Cornerstones”) and take some measure of our “personhood” from each – our work, our partners, our homes, towns, cars, industries and nation.  When change happens, many of our Cornerstones can be overturned, dislodged or destroyed – with powerful effect.  It’s the job of leaders, in the family, the town and the workplace, to put “Cornerstones In Place.”  To explain the game to the players.  To make it clear what we do here; what we stand for and how we play.  Also, to re-install or recover Cornerstones after a crisis – when people desperately need to re-orient themselves – physically, mentally and spiritually.

If you can locate the cornerstones, you won’t have to stop at every old tree.

 Applications:

1.  Individual
The first challenge in life is to select your own Cornerstones which comprise your own unique point of view.  What am I here for?  How do I want to work, play and connect with others?  Where do I choose to live?  What is important to me?  And how do I make this known to others?

2.  Family
Work to explain the family’s Cornerstones to all the members; so they’re not just assumed, but really understood.  (It’s the intangible Cornerstones that are sometimes the hardest to make clear.)

3.  At Work
Seek to discover what the Cornerstones actually are!  What do we do here?  Why?  For what do we stand?  For what kind of exchange?  What style, attitude and methods make this place unique?  What’s my “place?”  How do I fit in?

4.  As a Manager
You are the Director of Orientation!  “Here’s the game.  Here’s how we do it.  Here’s what makes us special.  Here’s your role.  Get to it!”

The hardest thing after a crisis (or any form of change) is “getting back to it.”  Establishing, re-discovering, maintaining and putting people in touch with Cornerstones can help everyone re-orient and re-discover “where the oak tree used to be!”

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“I can see that there’s a lot going on here, General, but does it make any sense?”

- Dr. Stephen Falken
“War Games”

What happened?  Is this the ultimate outcome of the 60′s rebellion?

Following the rules — well that’s a little old fashioned… More like discarding them entirely!  Much of what passes for “Pop Culture” today is “stew;” a little razzle-dazzle, a few story-bits stuck together, some attitude and maybe even an idea;  Presto!  Movies, Politics, and Economics are all reduced to bluster — on all channels.  So what if it doesn’t have a point, a structure, a clear suggestion for a next step or any relevance for a particular listener/audience?  There’s a lot going on here, no doubt.  But does it make any sense?

The results of this overall “cultural dissolve” are Entertainment that doesn’t entertain, Politics that fail to serve or solve; Economic theory and practice that aren’t economical.  Ladies and Gentlemen, we suggest that the “starch” has gone out of our culture!  In the rush to break the rules and freely express ourselves, we’ve also discarded the underlying principles which have for a long time served as the “skeleton under the skin” of our remarkably successful culture.  We think it’s high time to reconsider some of what’s missing in contemporary culture.

A number of our clients have begun to suffer the “starch problem.”  They’ve been casting off the component parts of “Ready, Set, Go!®” in the interest of “uniqueness, personal style” and speed.  So instead of starting by thinking about the objective: (the action they want the audience to take) they stride boldly ahead, also discarding the audience analysis as they start doing by putting their thoughts (every last one of them) onto paper.  While they’re about it, they ingeniously figure out how to reduce the font size on the diagram so that every last word of every last thought can be included on a single 13 box diagram.  When complete, the final product has no desired outcome, no structure, no focus on the audience and no internal logic or structure.  (Oh, and the entire document comes in at a readable 8 point font!  Incredibly helpful for sight reading the script!)  There’s a lot of doing going on here, but does it make any sense?

If you’re discovering that your collar (or your communication) has gone limp and shapeless, perhaps a little starch is all that’s required… Consider a return to the basics of clear communication.

“Ready, Set, Go!”

1. Establish Objective: What do you intend/desire the audience to do?
(This manifests in the box diagram as the Next Step.)

2. Analyze Audience: Why will they do it?
(This manifests in the box diagram as the Main Idea.)

3. Organize Remarks: “Working Backward” from the end to the beginning, in note form only; fill in the remainder of the box diagram.  Finish your composition by polishing the opening.

It’s enticing to discard establishing an objective, but without knowing what you want them to do; how can one “aim” and decide what to ask?  Without an audience analysis, how can one decide which ideas are germane and which are simply gross weight?  Which details must be included and which are simply fill dirt?  Without a simple internal structure and a disciplined flow, how can we track you or recall what you’ve said?  We’re left with lots of detail, lots of information — but little wisdom and no direction.  Form but no substance.  Flavor but no satisfaction.  A presentation with no “Starch.”

Together, the three disciplines of “Ready, Set, Go!” provide an unerring guide to a presentation with a point, a desired outcome, relevance for the audience, and a trackable/recallable structure.  The rules about transitions, grammar, movement, gestures, and visual aids can be bent or even broken; but these principles are both self-evident and sacred.  Don’t waste your listener’s time: Put some “starch” back in your communication and don’t open your mouth unless you’ve thought through the result!

Sure, you can mount up and Go!  But Where?  With whom?  Why?  And by what path?  You’ve got a lot to say but it’s got to make sense.  Show a little starch.  Think first, then do!

Applications:

1.  Personal
Maybe it’s a picnic with a spouse — or a proposal to a paramour or a discussion about a favorite movie.  Whatever the subject, your communication can be merely about self-expression.  But who needs an audience?  If you’re talking with people, consider the audience and their unique point of view, then edit your ideas to the few that are both germane and persuasive.  Do the world a favor, speak less; and persuade more.

2.  At Home
Watching your kids make wreckage of the principles you deem sacred — while they gleefully break the rules?  It’s part of parenting.  But help them make the distinction between “following the rules”: form; and honoring principle: formless.  Breaking the rules has always been a part of making your unique path.  But honoring the enduring principles has been equally important to preserving the value and substance that make us one family of mankind.

3.  At Work
It seems so convincing: Get to it!  Skip all the preliminaries and get your thoughts down on paper!  Don’t waste time, start writing!  Yeah, you’ll get everything on paper all right; everything!  But when your pen starts to slow down, you may discover that you’ve dispensed with all the discipline that makes the difference between well organized “Idea Soup” and a genuine persuasive presentation.  Business communication is rarely about self expression.  It’s business!  It’s about moving someone to action!  Get Ready, and Set, before you Go!

A little starch goes a long way.  Think first!  Then Do!  “Ready, Set, Go!”

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“Less is More!”

-Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
German Architect, Artist, Bauhaus Designer
(1886 – 1969)

“Ability should not become Compulsion!”

-Robert Howard Thomas
American Philosopher, Author
(1932 – )

Before the meeting begins, let’s take stock of your hot presentation:

It’s painstakingly organized, sub-structured into 14 chapters.

It has 213 tastefully designed PowerPoint screens…
(Not all text, no!  There are graphs as well!)

There’s a killer opening, with a prop and an envelope at everyone’s place to assemble as a group puzzle.

You’ve got your best suit cued up for the occasion… brand new – never worn.  New shoes even, and you’re launching the new, very sexy scent.  Killer Tie!

The room will be darkened slightly, the better to see the big screen with the coolest new micro projector.

Handouts are stacked and ready in a file for distribution at key moments.

You’ve got this down!  The story is memorized, down to the jokes.

You’ve timed it down to the second, and if the questions go as planned, you should be outta there in time for lunch!

Does this thing rock!?  Is it not greatness personified?!

Then comes the moment.  The team arrives in ones and twos.

You notice the lights are not dimming as planned.  Walking over to the wall, you slip on your perfect new soles.

Righting the ship, you sail carefully back to center stage and get everyone’s attention.  Intending to show a little style, you attempt a hand-in-the-jacket-pocket a la Kennedy.

Attempt…  Ah, but the new suit’s pockets are still sewn shut.

Oh well, on with the show.  But the sole and the suit have gotten under your skin and you muff just a little and have to stop and re-run it correctly.

Three mis-cues in the first 45 seconds.

You decide under pressure to improvise a little and get to the meat!  Unfortunately, there’s a critical transition involved in the puzzle handout, which you’ve opted to bypass, so people are confused, and you notice a few of them start consulting their iPads…

Can you spell D-I-S-A-S-T-E-R?

What’s the lesson?

In a world where anything (and EVERYTHING) is possible, there’s a powerful urge – almost a compulsion – to attempt it all.  Because you can, perhaps you must!

We’d suggest that just because you have the ability to do something; there’s no reason that you should feel compelled to do it all – especially not in a single presentation.

Of course you’ve got taste – “perhaps in excess…”

Back to the presentation…

Bravely moving ahead, you cue the new projector only to discover that in the time since people entered, the energy saver mode kicked in and turned off the light – it’ll just take a minute to warm up again…  Tick, Tock…

Ability.  Compulsion… Hmmm.

Applications:

1. Personally:  Recognize that modern culture provides us with endless opportunities to indulge our desires for clothing, technology, design, personal discovery, travel and career challenge.  But while the choices are stunning, they seem somehow, not to simplify our lives; but to add to the endless complexity.  The mere fact that you CAN acquire the watch collection of a Rajah, the Wine Cellar of a Sheik, and the Design Library of Mies; doesn’t mean that you should, or must.  Choose Less and Have More.

2. At Home:  The children seem to carry a larger burden today, requiring a chock full iPhone, iPad and personal secretary (read “Mom”) to manage their increasingly heavy personal schedules and obligations.  “Play” has become more directed, choreographed and tense than throwing a ball around in the street.  Is this an improvement – or simply an increase in compulsive acquisition?  Consider a long slow, electronics free afternoon at the beach.  Oh and don’t forget Mom.

3. At the Office.  Over there in the corner, behind the broken electronic whiteboard…  That’s an easel.  Though the paper pad hanging there has been languishing, pull it out of retirement.  Get two (Only Two.  Only Two.) new markers, and hand letter a four word subject statement.  Then put your three item agenda underneath.  That’s it.  Pull off your tie.  Take off the jacket.  Invite people to put the phones in the bowl outside the door.

Walk them through the interactive discussion, marking off each item as finished, writing in a key point as you go along.  When the talk dies down, letter in the Main Idea, and take a breath of fresh air.  You’re done!  Tear off the sheet; leave it with your associate for notes and distribution.  Ahh!  Pick up your jacket, and walk out of the room.  You’re Free!

Papa Mies may have been right.
You’re able to model the creation of the universe in the conference room.
But isn’t that just a little excessive?

Dessert:
Watch James Purefoy in “Beau Brummel: This Charming Man” (Pt.1) on YouTube explaining to the Prince of Wales that there’s Taste, and then Taste in Excess…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QunT9eL-3Q&feature=youtube_gdata_player

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“Everything I’m about to tell you is true.  Or it ought to be!”

-Samuel Clemens
“Mark Twain”
American author, Humorist and Social Critic
(1835 – 1910)

It’s one thing to get in front of it and try to write something entertaining.
Quite another to get behind it and simply allow the story to tell you!

Confusing?  Yeah.  But many experience the challenge of working at the carwash, making up stories that they hope will get them into the movie business.  So they sit around spinning tales with car chases, and exploding planets… Their purpose is simple, mere entertainment – mere money.  They’re in front of a story, hoping to make it serve them.  We suggest they may have it backwards.

The real story teller isn’t trying to entertain, or to make money.  He’s trying to make a path for the story to make a break for it and escape out into the open air of existence.  His stories may entertain.  They may get retold.  At some point, they might get “optioned by Bollywood.”  Money may change hands.  But that’s not the point.  Great writing has a lofty purpose: Introducing the reader to another universe – with all the lessons and inspirations that can be found there.  The story has a point, and the writer’s job is to let it go free and make itself understood.  The teller is there – behind the story – serving it and its ultimate purpose.

The hack makes something up to fill time and space – or waste them.  He has a need, and he writes to fill it.  It’s entertainment – merely.  The hack is above and in front of the story.

The artist is struck by a story and he struggles; listening to discern the small quiet voice, then puts it in writing, then polishes and smoothes – hoping for an easy birth.  Then… he lets it go.  He’s behind the story, and beneath it – making it intelligible to us.  Good stories surely entertain, but they also teach, inspire, enable, ennoble, and sometimes elucidate.  The great ones stay with us forever.  Witness, the stories of The Christ, The Buddha, The Founding Fathers, Diogenes, Caesar, Augustine, Odysseus, and Luke Skywalker.

Now before you rise up at the thought of great spiritual teachers being referred to in the same breath as mere stories; allow us to humbly point out that neither Jesus nor Siddhartha wrote anything down.  But they told stories.  We know of them, as we know almost everything we know, because of the stories that followed them down through history.  Acts became stories, stories became legend, legends become religions…  (It helps to have George Lucas as your screen writer…)  Now of course, some of what we refer to here is fiction.  We think that distinction, while significant; is not so important.  With Fact, a writer re-tells (some say re-writes) the story of a leader – inspiring others to act alike.  With Fiction, a writer tells the story of a leader – inspiring others to act alike.  But it only works if you’re on the right (correct) side of the story.

If you’re having trouble writing, find the great purpose in your message, and work from there.  Start at the end and allow the story to unfold its wisdom through you, rather than trying to make it up from scratch.  Get behind it and work backwards.  Get beneath it and serve.  Then you’ll be on the right side of the story.

A human being can be inspired by anything that connects with his heart, soul or imagination: a parable, a story, a song, a rhyme, a play.  Mere entertainment might do that, but great entertainment always does.  Occasionally a hack, reaching high for assistance; connects with the divine; and discovers a story that will become legend… and so on.  His original profit motive shrinks in the face of genuine inspiration.

As Mark Twain pointed out, “Everything I’m about to tell you is true, or it ought to be.”

Get on the right side of the story and it won’t matter if it’s true – because it ought to be!

Applications:

1.  Personally
Let the story tell you.  Often as we write, we simply begin and thrash around, hoping for something to hit us.  It’s a tough way to work.  Try this instead:  Begin by thinking about the point.  Who’s the reader again?  What should they think, feel, know or understand about life when it’s over?  Now, Start.  How does it end?  Work backwards into the story and allow it to reveal itself to you – don’t force it.

2.  At Home
Helping young niece Kaylee not to be afraid of the noise of the Mustang Cobra we rented for the weekend, we felt a story was in order:

“Hey Kaylee, we’re going for a ride in a very special car.  It has a lion inside – up front there under the hood.  He’s invisible of course.  He’s a good lion, and he’s very powerful – very loud.  So you might be scared if you didn’t know that, but we want to tell you how to handle the lion.  See, I have this pedal here, and when I need for the lion to give me speed and power – I just push and he knows my signal.  Then he comes out and roars!  Want to hear?  OK, here goes!  And then, when we can go slow and easy, we relax the pedal and the lion quiets down.”  (Here comes the point…)  “Mostly, people don’t need the lion when they’re just driving around town like we are.  But sometimes, it’s good to have one on your side.  We have to be careful not to overuse the lion so he doesn’t get tired, and he doesn’t get angry and decide to eat us.  So we use the pedal very carefully.”

It began with, “How do we make this noisy car safe and friendly, then caution against over-use?”

3.  At the Office
The use of fiction (and imagination) to dramatize a point is often overlooked as a pitching tool – when we are so often drowning our prospects with facts… Consider inviting your prospective client to imagine a perfect future as it will be once you are working together:

“So a terrible thing happens in your marketplace, and an instant response is required.  You put in a call to our response desk and we dispatch a team which arrives in under five hours.  We work together through the night in your conference room, building the strategy, working out the handling, and crafting your statement to the press.  Then we coach your Chairman through every conceivable potential line of questioning until he can handle the press, the stress and the interplay while staying cool and in charge.  He goes in front of the cameras 36 hours after the event, and handles them brilliantly.  It’s not over, but the healing has already begun.”

“That, Ladies and Gentlemen, is how our relationship can, and should play out.”

So, you begin crafting your pitch – your story – by first considering the end and then work backwards to build the story.  Factual yes, but also using fiction and imagination to indicate a better future.

It may not be true, but it ought to be!  Get on the right side of the story and launch!

Dessert:

Watch the Immortal Paul Simon perform “Rewrite” on YouTube… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vY0lobGFhrU&feature=youtube_gdata_player

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“He came into our valley that spring, a solitary figure, loping silently down the rutted dirt highway, seemingly at one with the stallion who carried him effortlessly closer to our homestead.  As he neared the porch where I sat, savoring the afternoon, his slim figure took on shape and dimension.  He paused for a moment at the gate to our farm, gazed at me, contemplating the choice; then turned and proceeded down our lane.  Dressed in black from the Stetson pulled low over the brow down to the hand tooled belt and matching boots; he comprised an alluring figure of seduction and of quiet, coiled strength – not menace exactly, but of dangerous confidence.”

-Excerpt from Shane
By Jack Schaefer

“People, everyone got your uniform on (black)?  Remember, we are invisible and omnipresent!  This show requires a lot of perfectly coordinated staging and the audience doesn’t care who turns the machinery.  If they see us, we all lose.  If they see the actors, we all win.  Be great!  Be invisible!”

-Anonymous Broadway Stage Manager

 Shane: the Great American Western; was about a gunslinger – albeit an unusual one.  He came into town quietly, unarmed, without display and went to work as a hand on a small farm in service of a family trying to wring a living from the prairie soil.  In the course of the novel, his presence inspired a man, a woman and a small boy – in each case providing an example of someone of great strength, character and skill without the egotistical need to flaunt or boast.  His power was revealed in the way his inviting silence and subtle questions both allowed and challenged the people in his presence to grow.

Stagehands also wear black, so as to fade into invisibility as they assist the production unfolding on the stage.  Their presence, dedication and skill allow the story on stage to present itself; and their black uniform helps us to suspend our disbelief.

At Fusion, we too are Gunslingers of a fashion.  We arrive without fanfare, quietly waiting for access to the conference facility, where we bring about a miracle of training and facilitation, effortlessly encouraging the shy ones, and challenging the strong ones to better performance and loftier aspirations.  Communication is an intimate act – and coaching the evolution of a personal style requires the skillful blend of great technique, subtle questioning of deep assumptions, and warmth mixed with leadership – all in someone who doesn’t need to show off.  We wear black first of all to remind us that though we may be fast, we are in service of something greater than our own reputation.  We’re here for You.

Excellent Training requires a rare combination of charisma, intellect and The Schlep.  We rise at 5:30 after traveling to the site on the previous day.  We’ve assessed the resources, negotiated with the conference manager, set up the room, prepared the materials and rehearsed the training modules.  Now, we’re in the room and ready as the participants arrive.  Wearing black; are we Gunslingers?  Well, yes.  But also stagehands because we’re going to give directions to the lavatory, set the schedule for breaks, answer every question, handle the special dietary needs and lead/direct/coach/coax the reluctant participants throughout the sometimes harrowing and intense process of becoming excellent communicators.  Once, perhaps twice; we’ll need to show you how it’s done – not to defeat you – one-on-one, but as a teaching example of skill – in service of a big idea.  You’re not up against a killer, but sparring with a friend who shows you a path to your own greatness.  Polishing a gem does require a little friction… When it’s over, we break the room down, pack our bags and hail a cab.  Gunslingers yeah, but also stagehands, fading into the crowd.
Sometimes the greatness lies in being invisible.

Applications:

1. Personally
Consider taking the “Shane” approach to life.  You may find yourself of greater stature in the eyes of everyone.  There’s something different about you, something special, reassuring and comforting about your presence.

2. At home
Consider becoming a more willing Stagehand.  Make stars of your partner or children for a day, week or a lifetime.

3. Professionally
Make the team stronger by being a more supporting player.  You may need to take center stage now and then, but get over it quickly and remember; You’re there for them.

Wear a little black next meeting and remember; greatness lies in the willingness to become invisible.

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“Seymour told me to shine my shoes.  I was furious.  The studio audience were all morons, the announcer was a moron, the sponsors were morons, and I just damn well wasn’t going to shine my shoes for them.  I said they couldn’t see them anyway, where we sat.  And, it’s a radio show!  He said to shine them anyway.  He said to shine them for the Fat Lady.  I didn’t know what the hell he was talking about, but he had a very Seymour look on his face, and so I did it.  He never did tell me who the Fat Lady was, but I shined my shoes for the Fat Lady every time I ever went on the air again.  This terribly clear, clear picture of the Fat Lady formed in my mind.  I had her sitting on this porch all day, swatting flies, with her radio going full-blast from morning till night.  I figured the heat was terrible, and she probably had cancer, and – I don’t know.  Anyway, it came to seem goddamn clear why Seymour wanted me to shine my shoes when I went on the air.  It made sense.”

-Excerpt from Franny and Zooey
Jerome David – J.D.Salinger
(1 January 1919 – 27 January 2010)
American Author
Famous for his novel The Catcher in the Rye)

Not everyone gets the chance to keynote a conference.  It’s a big job.  Batting cleanup.  You’ve got to wow them a little in your own right of course, but you also have to pull the session neatly together and hit a crescendo so the Chairman can sum up, thank everyone for coming and wish them a safe trip home.  That’s the job.  Now do it from a riser in an auditorium for five thousand people.  At a median distance of say – a hundred yards… Oh and do it in the dark with the lights in your eyes.

So how do you insinuate yourself into their lives, get a grip on their heart strings and squeeze a little – and in the dark even?  Most of us have a hard time penetrating our best love’s focus on Facebook, while sitting two feet away over dinner.  But this!  This is a real challenge!

Consider that the auditorium is the dinner table “writ large.”  There’s another person a few feet away in physical terms, “but living at the same time in their own separate and distinct universe – light years away!”  Different thoughts.  Different emotions.  Different concerns and motivations.  Different but perhaps not unique.  And here’s where the fat lady comes in.  Zooey was told by his older brother Seymour, to “shine his shoes for the fat lady!”  Of course she was imaginary!  But over time, Zooey began to imagine her as real, and as human and as needy as any member of the family.  And whether he could see her or not, she would sense – and appreciate – that he had taken the time to shine his shoes before going to the studio to perform - just for her!

So out there in the auditorium are an uncounted number of people – live people not just dimly perceived shapes – each with their cell phone, checking their bank balance, their flight schedule, their Facebook page, their daily calorie count.  And they are hot or cold, tired or exhilarated, young or old, male or female, bored or curious, open or critical – they are human and most important – disconnected – from you, and from each other.  They are – each of them – “the fat lady.”

Reaching and connecting with them begins with your preparation.  Find out about who’s going to be sitting in Section F – Balcony, Center: B-21.  What are her concerns?  What did she spend to get here to listen to you?  What do you want her to understand about the subject?  What do you want her to do when she gets back to her desk on Monday?  Why should she do it?  Why will she?

So you’re preparing – doing your audience analysis – finding out who they are!  You’re taking the time to shine your shoes.  Selecting just the right shirt and this, no that tie.  You’re rehearsing.  Getting the delivery down cold!  Working out the blocking – your carefully choreographed movements on the stage.  You’re getting the mic in place and finding the switch to keep the pre-speech discussions private.  (Don’t forget to turn that mic off afterward…)  You’ve checked your hair and the volume levels.  The notes (if there are any) are placed just so on the lecturn.  You’ve done a turn around the backstage to work off the nerves… and, it’s time!  You’re on!

So as you take the stage, you find and focus on the fat lady sitting in the dark on the Balcony, Seat 21.  You can’t see her.  But here’s where the miracle of true professionalism takes place: All that research, preparation, rehearsal and the shined shoes lets you connect even in the dark at a distance.  She doesn’t know why, but in her private universe – there on the balcony – she’s certain that you are looking directly at her and into her private heart.  And if you look hard and hold on – the power of that connection will diffuse into the space of thirty or forty people sitting in her vicinity.

So you’ve finished the first sentence and you pause for a second, extending the connection.  Then you shift your gaze to the other side of the room, finding another specific seat in another quadrant – another specific person.  And the miracle repeats itself.  One section at a time.  One after another, people are slowly brought together – through you with one another – into a common understanding.

You’ve felt this before I think – at a concert, a performance, a political event perhaps.  Someone on the stage reached out, looked at you and got a fingertip on your heart string.  Yours and everyone else’s.

Shine your shoes.  And take the time.

Applications:

1.  Personally
Communication is a Profession.  It requires homework, dedication, research and the willingness to connect – and doing it in a lifeless corporate conference room is no easy task.  But these are the steps.  Prepare.  Rehearse.  Find someone and look at them directly.  They and their neighbors will feel and react to the connection.  Then move on to the opposite side of the room.

2.  At Home
Without exposure to professionals, children have a tough time understanding how great communication looks, sounds and feels.  Movies don’t get it done.  Find the opportunity to expose your family to great actors, singers, preachers or thinkers in live, personal performances.  Together you can discover what power a single human being can manifest – with enough skill, practice and intention.

3.  At Work
OK, so it’s your first Key Note!  It starts with the audience analysis.  Who is He/She?  What’s eating them?  What do they believe?  Why will they respond?  How must you deliver the message?  Now, get busy and prepare – everything!  And as you get in the room, take the measure of the space; break it into halves, quarters, eighths…  Find a seat in each “neighborhood.”  When the lights go down and you take the stage, there’ll be a person waiting in each seat for that special, personal moment of connection.

Shine your shoes!  The fat lady is waiting!

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“Be. Here. Now.”

 -Yogic Admonition and Book Title
Baba Ram Dass (Servant of God)
Enlightened Yogi & Student of Neem Karoli Baba
(Also in this life; dismissed Harvard professor Richard Alpert and
Co-discoverer of LSD with Dr. Timothy Leary)
(1931 – )

Be Here Now
Published by the Lama Foundation
1971

We’ve all been trying to do more with less of late.  So it’s not surprising that we’re spread thin – twisted even.  This slightly desperate “over-stretched” quality often displays as that out-of-focus expression someone gets before the conversation settles in.  They may be present – physically.  But the mind has not yet focused and the spirit, well…  So (physicists take note) our daily struggle proves that one really can be in two places at one time: Here and Somewhere Else!  *See Dessert

What to do?

“The Mind follows where the eyes lead.”
-Zen Proverb

Look directly at the person sitting across from you.  As you bring them into focus, stay with it until your mind departs that last meeting, and comes to rest in the here; now.  As you start to notice yourself asking mental questions of and about them; you’ve arrived.  Check in to see if your counterpart is equally present.  If not, keep looking and notice the magnetism of your gaze bring them into orbit.  Watch the fog clear from their gaze…  It isn’t a click exactly, usually more of a “slow fade in…”  Two people, one place; same time!  Let the conversation begin!

So, it works with your own presence, and that of another.  Now let’s consider the content.  “What am I going to say???”  All right, calmly seek out that other being, find the eyes, and wait a beat.  Ah, there’s the beginning of an idea – and a box diagram for a discussion slowly comes to mind.  When you find and focus on the target, the appropriate comment appears.

Be. Here. Now!
Simple really, but also cosmic.

Applications:

1.  Personally
There’s what you’re having (but not tasting) for lunch.  There’s the subject of the article you’re reading on the iPad, the music in the ear buds, the temperature of the room, the argument you had this morning on the phone with Mom, the touch of the fabric of your shirt on your shoulder, the pressure of your leather bag leaning against your calf, the fragrance of your cologne, the scratchy quality of the paper you’re writing on, the rhythm nudging you to move with the music, that one unruly strand of hair that’s migrated once again into your field of vision.  Slowly, you notice that the last five paragraphs haven’t penetrated… you’ve been re-playing the moments with Mom.  So stop, and look at the text, notice the shape of the capital S.  As it comes into focus, notice the other perceptions fade.  The power of your focus makes the text take precedence.  The text is now center stage – because you put it there.

2.  At Home
Too much to do; too little time – also dominating the home front.  Here’s a suggestion: Let steady eye contact do the heavy lifting.  No need to enter, talking.  Lead with a long glance and wait for them to speak as you hold their gaze and wait.  This isn’t a staring contest, but a demonstration of interest – a little goes long.  So just decide to be the one who listens more, talks less.  Ask a few more general questions and relax.  Everyone will find you a rapt and devoted audience and marvel at how interesting you’ve become.

3.  At Work
Nothing wrong with being brilliant here.  But first they have to notice that you’re in the room.  Before getting on with the orchestrated presentation or the subject of the appointment; make sure that you have everyone’s full attention,  You know the drill; look, wait and reel them in one at a time.  Two outcomes:  One, it’s a more dramatic opening with that powerful pause.  Two, it ensures that everyone really arrives fully before you begin.  There’s no point in “launching your erudition on a sea of vacuity.”  Look, pause, then launch!

Baba (teacher) had it right in 1971.  The foundation of sanity is to be nowhere else, do nothing else, and to have nothing else but what is right in front of you – this instant.  The mind is a wonderful and dangerous tool: It can take you to the far side of the universe while your body is mindlessly driving into oncoming traffic as the spirit drifts.

Remember: Be Here Now.

*Dessert
“How Can You Be in Two Places at Once When You’re Not Anywhere at All?” is the second comedy album recorded by The Firesign Theatre.  It was originally released in 1969 by Columbia Records.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCzgdF_WjOg

To learn more about Ram Dass, click here:  www.ramdass.org

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