January 2012 Newsletter

Jungle Rules: Resilience and Reflective Time Shifting!

In my article in December we were examining how people fit in or didn't fit in with their respective organizations. As I was writing the article, it had occurred to me (again) that just because someone doesn't fit or doesn't choose to fit doesn't mean that they don't have value or are less personally important in the long run of work and life interests.

If you missed the December article or want to review it, please click on the following link: http://aprioritylearning.com/articles/wraping_up_2011.php

Jungle Rules - The story goes like this. There was a young water buffalo who was thirsty and he journeys to the watering hole for a drink. For the first time he notices his reflection in the water. He thinks, "What a handsome dude" and feels just a bit self-satisfied. As he continues to drink he notices something else. The other animals drinking look very different from his reflection. In fact, he discovers that the other animals at the watering hole look very much like the ones he witnessed chasing, catching and eating the ones that look just like him. The other guys have stripes and long teeth and seem to be licking their lips as they stare at him. For the first time he starts to realize that he is different and by no means the dominant animal at the watering hole. Instinctively and wisely he thinks to himself, "Choices need to be made right now."

Everyone likes my story because the analogy is not lost in business today. Being the water buffalo at the watering hole is not such a bad thing if you are surrounded by other water buffaloes. Many times we find that we are something altogether different than the rest of the herd and, if different enough, there can be real danger. If you are a water buffalo in a tiger herd, your odds are not good for survival. For the record being a water buffalo is not a bad thing. Water buffaloes are not inferior or less valuable. Water buffaloes are simply different from tigers.

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Letting Go

Years ago when my son was in high school I learned how smart a trait it is to simply let go of things that are out of my control. You may wonder what I mean by that so I'll tell you a quick story about how that worked out.

My son needed a good school, a different school, to attend because his grammar school experiences were not helping him to be the person he could be. He had more than a few challenges in a "one-size fits all" public-school system. So we looked around at a school that was a better fit for his learning style during his high-school years. Our son, after participating in a summer program, decided to do the four years of high school at the Hyde School in Bath, Maine. The school represents more than just curriculum and getting students into good colleges. They actually insist that their students learn how to behave, confront their issues, to be honest even if it hurts, and to live by a certain value set (integrity, leadership, community service, just to name a few).

Well, this school was right up our alley because their value sets and our value sets were right in line and fit where we thought our son would thrive. Even our young teen-aged son thought he finally found a place where he can be himself and learn and grow into a smart and emotionally intelligent young man.

Today, after having graduated from college two years ago, he is thriving as a young man - not because he's so successful already, but because he has learned mostly to let go of things he cannot control, which was a big learning event not only for him, but for me as well.

The parents of the children who sent their children to Hyde were heavily involved in the learning process alongside their young adults at this school. We would have to join other parents (with our children) and have group sessions about our own behaviors that we needed to work on and show our children that we are willing to learn as much as they are. There were many things I learned while being actively involved in my son's values-based high school and my best learning event was to let go of my son, among other things. Here's what I learned about "letting go" during the four years that our son went to Hyde:

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Risk Taking and Leadership

Risks are an inherent part of everyday life, some risks are big and some are small. When you get into a vehicle and drive to work, you are taking a risk. Although it does not seem that risky as I write this, it is. After driving for years, it has become second nature just as brushing your teeth or tying your shoes. This is not to say I am over confident in my driving. Yet, because it is done every day, it has become part of the routine you forget the sheer gravity of driving. Last year during a snow storm, I found myself far from home and needing to get home. During the slow ride trip home I really had time to think about the fact that this is dangerous and the risks versus reward is huge. In this day of texting and using our cell phones while driving, the risk is even more than we think. We have laws in place to protect people and rules of the road to keep everyone safe. We can be involved in an automobile accident where the car is ruined or we're injured and so on. And the point is that risks are everywhere in life and unavoidable.

Risk as defined by Merriam-Webster's dictionary is a: possibility of loss or injury, b: someone or something that creates or suggests a hazard. Risks happen all around us, not only in our personal life but our professional life as well. It is easy to compartmentalize risks as the example above. Yes there is real danger in driving and we see on the news almost daily the outcome of these risks. As leaders of a team or staff it is important to know that there is risk taking involved. I recently sat down and had lunch with a man who is a local business owner. I asked him why after so many years he was successful and still loved it so much. I was not all that surprised at his response, "I may not be successful at something I try today, but you better look out I will be back tomorrow." As a business owner he thrives in the challenge of trying to succeed every day. He makes decisions and reviews the outcomes. This sometimes is taking on a whole new product line or carrying a new vendor that no one has heard of. Either way he is taking business risks. One of the personality traits I admire the most is the fact that he will take risks and loves every minute of it, and yes he has failed more than once with some of those chances.

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Why SOPA & PIPA Could Change The Internet As We Know It

If you happened to be browsing the web on January 28th you may have noticed that some popular websites like Wikipedia and Reddit were missing in action, protesting two bills currently in the United States House and Senate. The bills are SOPA "Stop Online Piracy Act" and PIPA "Protect IP Act."

At first glance these bills seem like they would be positive for the Internet, certainly most people would agree that piracy is wrong. The devil is in the details of how this bill would be enforced. They wouldn't just step up the penalty for online piracy, they would actually shut down any website suspected of linking to any other website that contains pirated materials or content that is in violation of a copyright infringement. It would be up to website owners and developers to constantly monitor the links and user generated content on the site, which would be very costly from a time and monetary standpoint If accused of being in violation, small businesses and individuals would likely be unable to defend themselves. It would just cost too much. This would yet again play into the hands of large corporations with unlimited resources.

Consider The Following Scenario:
Someone posts a comment to this article on PriorityLearningResearch.com with a link to a site that somewhere deep in it's pages has pirated materials or content that in violation of a copyright infringement which would be very hard to prevent as most websites make changes on a daily basis. If SOPA or PIPA were passed, Priority Learning could be found to be breaking the law and their website could be shut down indefinitely. From what I can gather there would not be a "please remove this from your website warning", the website would simply be pulled regardless of whether or not the law was actually broken or the irreparable damage it would cause the business.

Another thing I'm concerned about is the fact that there are often many different websites located on a single IP. If one website is found to be in violation, all the others located on the same IP could become collateral damage.

Certainly more could be done to prevent online piracy, but turning the Internet in America to more closely resemble that of the strictly monitored networks of Iran and China is not the answer. These bills not only violate our first Amendment rights they could take the Internet we all know and love and change it to a place that is much less expressive and informative.

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