Vividly Clear Voice

Percolations

Just as a good pot of coffee has to percolate, so must good ideas develop gradually and be diffused through the quotidian clutter of our minds. I suppose you could summarize the following posts as my “percolations”.  It is an ongoing stream of my various projects, interests, discoveries, and so on.

The Healing Power of Vulnerability

What follows are three extremely wonderful talks by Brené Brown, PhD.  I have listened to all three of these talks numerous times and there is still so much to get from them.

Brené Brown, PhD. studies shame, empathy, vulnerability, courage, joy and love & belonging. These talks are enlightening, and encouraging.  She takes on the subtle messages our culture gives us which turns what should be joy into "foreboding joy" - you know, those thoughts we have when we are just at the peak of feeling joy and we subplant it by the fear that something horrible is going to happen to take the joy away from us.  We try to beat disappointment to the punch by imagining something terrible.  Brené Browntells us how to get out of the prison we can unwittingly create. 

These videos have changed my life!  I am not joking. 

These talks are in the order Brené Brown gave them. This is also the order in which I would recommend you watch them. Each of them is around 20 minutes long.

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The UP Experience - Brené Brown - More Honesty: Less "How To"

This second one was given at TEDx Houston. There is a visually cleaned up version that is posted on the TED.com site but it is very fuzzy at full screen. This one below is the much higher quality original footage.

‪TEDxKC - Brené Brown - The Power of Vulnerability‬

This last video is from TEDx KC.

TEDxKC - Brené Brown - The Price of Invulnerability‬

I look forward to hearing what people think about these videos.  

For the Price of Blue Cheese and other thoughts on Culture

This photo is of the remains of a wedge of wonderful, melt-in-your-mouth Bleu D Auvergne Terre Des Volcans. 

It is delicious with crisp apples.  The missing part of the wedge was enjoyed with two Pink Ladies - who did not hang around long enough to be photographed, i.e. Yum!

What makes this cheese extra special is that I was given it today by a Whole Foods employee.  I had accidently left it in my basket and realized it after I paid for the rest of the groceries.  I handed it to the clerk to have him ring it up.  He looked at the price - which was under $5 - and said don't worry about it and handed it back to me. 

I have a strong hunch that he was allowed to do that.  He was empowered as a staff member of Whole Foods to make a decision to give it to me.  It was a smart choice because the store was busy and I am sure the people in line were thankful that he did not have to do a second transaction, but it also was a kind choice and much appreciated.  For the price of $4.27 Whole Foods gained a lot of points in my book.  It is a store I will keep coming back to. 

Things like this matter to me - empowering employees and also treating patrons well. 

There is another store similar to Whole Foods that is much closer to me.  But I use it only for emergency shopping.  Why?  I am sick of their fliers that look like they are advertising sales but are really just listing the prices they always charge.  It is insulting to my intelligence and confusing to my brain injury. 

When I mentioned my dislike of that type of advertising to two staff at that store (Ballard Market) the reply was "Oh, all the stores do that."   Nope!  I started watching the ads I receive from other local stores (QFC & Safeway) and no, they do not do that or at least do it to a far lesser extent.

The culture of an organization is defined by the Business Dictionary as:

Pervasive, deep, largely subconscious, and tacit code that gives the 'feel' of an organization ... It manifests in (1) the ways the organization conducts its business, treats its employees, customers, and the wider community, (2) the extent to which autonomy and freedom is allowed in decision making, developing new ideas, and personal expression, (3) how power and information flow through its hierarchy, and (4) the strength of employee commitment towards collective objectives.

This is not new information.  Books and articles have been written about organizational culture for over 20 years - and probably longer!  The business world is also full of information about empowering employees to create customer loyalty.  It's the basics of good marketing!  It absolutely amazes me that some companies still don't get it.

Due to the fact that AT&T does not empower their employees I now have a Verizon iPhone.  Boy!  Did it ever feel good to tell AT&T goodbye!  So stupid on their part. 

I tried to get an iPhone way back in early fall but AT&T claimed I was not eligible for a new phone - ignoring the fact that I was on a month to month plan and using a 3 year old device.  I talked with people at AT&T by phone more than once, went into two different Seattle AT&T stores and the Seattle Apple store.  All of the employees I spoke with claimed they "could do nothing".  They all said that I could not get an iPhone until April unless I wanted to buy one at full price - around $600 - which came with a mandatory two year contract to boot.  Umm - I don't think so!

Of course after I switched over to Verizon -  I get a call from AT&T expressing concern and caring and wondering why I had left them . . . uh-huh!  A little late and a lotta false! And the thing is, I will never go back to AT&T if I can help it!  I do not want to be tied to a company where the lowly employees are not allowed to take action to rectify a problem . . . and procure a customer's loyalty.

Culture . . . it is what defines a company.  It is what defines customer loyalty.  And it is also what defines a good blue cheese. 

 

What Social Media Stats Should You Include in Your Book Proposal?

Michael Hyatt published a good article What Social Media Stats Should You Include in Your Book Proposal? overviewing six stats that most agents and publishers deem relevant.  If you scroll down a bit he has some other interesting articles related to writing and publishing.  I subscribe to his weekly digest and highly recommend it to anyone who is involve in writing or publishing.

Also Michael writes very good articles about using Evernote.  There are many blog posts out on the web about Evernote because it is a hot topic.  However, most of the posts you will find are people reviewing it a week after they download it - which is ridiculous!  Evernote is a program that is very easy to use out of the box.  Michael's Evernote posts delve into power-use of Evernote.  They are worth the read.