Mahalo to the Hawaii Vacation Blog peeps!

My response to his goal was “Go For It!!” I always want my children to dream big dreams. Realistically, it’s going to be a big challenge but he throws a better spiral than me (granted not too difficult to do but still…) and has been consistently hitting the weights in the garage. Is that all it takes? Of course not. There’ll be other skills, both physical and mental, that he’ll have to develop and that’s good. I want the challenge for him. I want him to be able to envision a long(er) range goal, work hard for it and either make it or miss it but have no regrets about it.

One of the side benefits of his interest is a chance to talk about people that I remember influencing me as a kid. One of them was Walter Payton, a running back for the Chicago Bears during the 80′s. In looking for some articles on “Sweetness,” I found this video on Walter’s work ethic that I immediately emailed to him. Obviously, there are direct lessons for my son here regarding his approach to football and training. A little more indirectly there are the same core values transferrable to our everyday life, goals and achievements.

Thought I’d share it here. Be challenged. I am.

1. Nothing.

There’s nothing visible on the ipad’s screen once you start your slideshow. Wait, I take that back. There is a black screen with arrows and a count of the slides left in the show. This, outside of the most rudimentary navigation needs, provides me, the presenter, with no way to see what’s on the screen unless I 1) turn to look behind me; or 2) print a list of the slides; or 3) memorize the presentation. No, I take that back. Even with the last two options I don’t know what’s showing. Printing or memorizing the show would help with knowing what’s supposed to be on the screen but the ONLY way to confirm is to look behind, and frankly, that feels unprofessional.

2. Nowhere.

[pullquote]Doing a Keynote presentation on my iPad was a fun thing to do. But, if I had a serious presentation to deliver I would leave my iPad toy behind.[/pullquote]I can’t use a remote control on the iPad for Keynote so I go nowhere. I am completely/utterly/totally tethered to my iPad. This isn’t to much of a problem if you’re presenting at your weekly managment or staff meeting, sitting and showing, but for people like me, for whom movement and proximity is a way to help connect with a room full of people who don’t know me, it makes me look and feel stiff.

Those are the two reasons I consider the iPad useable only for simple, short, semi-casual presentations. There are only two but both have to do with how I feel. Unprofessional and stiff are NOT what I’m trying to communicate. I want my presentation tools to fade into the background and let me do my thing.

Apple’s Keynote on the desktop is, for me, worth the price of switching to a Mac. I feel creative when I’m designing and confident when I’m delivering. It works. Keynote on the iPad is, well, not quite there. It’s fun; it’s a novelty. But if you delivery presentations for a living it’s like having a dull blade on your power saw. It’ll get you there but it might not be pretty and it might get dangerous.

Concept2 Rowing

This is one of my all time favorite companies in the world.  Their product is solid!  I purchased my rower used off a craigslist ad and have been impressed with it from the beginning.  I’ve worked out with a couple of other brands and they just don’t feel as, I don’t know, dependable.  Every time I get on it it works – smoothly.  I’m not a big maintenance guy and it still works – smoothly.  I live in Hawaii near the beach where everything rusts and this rower still works – smoothly.  What else could you ask for?  How about exceptional customer service?

I’m using the Model C.  They’re up to the E model now.  When I first bought my rower I decided to upgrade the computer to better track my crossfit workouts (Why else would I get a rower but for “Fight Gone Bad??”).  I contacted the company through their website, found my product and, BAM!  they’ve got it out the door and on it’s way.  Over the years I’ve had to replace the battery, a wire and a couple of obscure nuts and bolts.  In EVERY case, the communication with Concept2 was fast, helpful and positive.  In fact, in one instance, where I was missing one screw I lost somewhere in my garage, Concept2 just sent me a pack of them – for FREE!

I’ve never been to a retail establishment (do they have one?) but in every on-line and on-phone interaction have been impressed with their organization. In all my “moment of truth” encounters they’ve left me smiling and satisfied.

I love this company!  I wish I could buy more things from them.  Maybe another rower?  Certainly not to replace the one I have because it’s still going strong but maybe to get another as we expand our workouts.  They really are that good. They definitely do NOT suck.

Let’s turn the page now and look at Macspeech.

MacSpeech

If one company doesn’t suck and I’ve just got done writing about them above obviously we’re into the one that does suck.  Welcome to the nails-dragging-across-a-chalkboard experience of dealing with MacSpeech.

I have one product from them so my perspective is limited.  Maybe I’m the only one with a problem.  Maybe I’m the problem. Maybe not. I really, really, really wanted to like this product.

I’m using their Dictate program, a speech recognition software for the Mac.  (I just went to their site to get the url for you and BAM!  I get a video of a women coming out from the right-hand corner of my page that I can’t shut of or turn down or skip who is “welcoming” me to the site.  I hit my mute button.) I’m so inspired with frustration in using their program and communicating with the company that I’m thinking of writing a poem, MacSpeech Dictate, How Do I Not Love Thee, but for now will bullet-point my annoyance, nay, my unhappiness, with the company.

• The software doesn’t work. It’s pretty expensive, nearly 200 bucks and advertised as an accurate, reliable program.  It’s not.  Or wasn’t on my version.  (They since upgraded since linking up with Dragon, which I hear is an awesome company.  More on why I haven’t upgraded below.)  It took me more time to correct mistakes and navigate around with the program than if I would have chiseled my text in stone.  I put in the time to “train” the software and to learn the commands.  I’m not ignorant of computer protocols and software but I could not make this happen.
• The software doesn’t work. Did I mention this already?  Even if I did, it’s worth it to mention again.  Frustrating.  In my hours of looking for help on their forum and online what I found were a lot of similarly unhappy people.  It was kind of depressing.
• The website doesn’t work for a Mac. What in the world??  When I click on “Upgrade” on Firefox and Safari the Step 2 page doesn’t allow me to select the program I have and want to upgrade.  I went on to my son’s Windows pc, fired up Internet Explorer, and LO! It worked!  This is sadly funny to me.  So, what do you do when you find you can’t upgrade but want to?  Click on the “Support” link and contact them of course.

• They don’t like me. Upon receiving my first email they immediately did – wait, I don’t know what they did.  I didn’t get a response to my plea for help.  I sent another and that too disappeared.  I sent a third – still no response.  I sent a space probe questing for life at the end of the macspeech.com email universe and…nothing.  I tweeted my disappointment and LO!  A response!  I received an email telling me that MacSpeech was now following me on Twitter.  Huh?  You’re following me?  Even though they are one of my followers I don’t think they like me.

[pullquote]Here’s the take-aways from this rant/blog therapy:  Communicate and communicate again with your customers.[/pullquote]

What to do?  How about I do the smart thing and buy their competitor’s software?  Nope.  No can because none exist for the Mac.  I’m stuck with them.  But, FYI, since my upgrade to Snow Leopard I haven’t been able to use the software because they didn’t offer a fix outside of the upgrade that I can’t buy!!

You know, I probably could live with the application crashing periodically and inaccurately rendering my speech.  What I have an incredibly difficult time dealing with is the complete and total absence of RESPONSE to my support requests.  I’ve not felt this much non-love for a software company, any company, in, uh, I can’t remember.

Here’s the take-aways from this rant/blog therapy:  Communicate and communicate again with your customers.  That’s it. Even if it’s to say “No,” please say something.

Now, go buy a rower from Concept2 and send me your score for Fight Gone Bad!  Here’s a video of some friends of mine from CFO and their FGB fun.

Do I really want to listen to this guy??

I found this listening test a few years back.  It’s from a John C. Maxwell l book on leadership (bonus points for whoever can tell me which one of the 5000 books he’s written it’s from!) and I’ve been talking about it in workshops and seminars for a long time now.  It’ll take you about a minute or two to complete.  Go ahead and give it a shot. Here’s the scoring key:

Always= 4 points Usually= 3 points Rarely= 2 points Never=1 point

1. Do I allow the speaker to finish without interrupting?   _________

2. Do I listen “between the lines”; that is, for the subtext?  _________

3. Do I repeat what the person just said to clarify the meaning?   _________

4. Do I avoid getting hostile and/or agitated when I disagree with the speaker?   _________

5. Do I tune out distractions when listening?   _________

6. Do I make an effort to seem interested in what the other person is saying?     _________

______Total

Got it? Good.  Now, if your score is more than 24 you’ve scored excellently on this test but your math skills aren’t all that .  A perfect score is, of course, a 24, which requires that you answered “always” to each of the 6 questions presented.  Now, this is obviously not some deep, heavily researched test that’s been normed across multiple groups with large sample sizes. But still, any “test” is supposed to provide some measure of understanding, skills, or knowledge acquired.  Does a perfect score on this test mean that you really are a perfect listener?  Let’s look at some of these questions and find out.

1. Do I allow the speaker to finish without interrupting?

Well, if you’re trying to be a good listener the answer for this one looks like a no-brainer: Don’t interrupt; let the person finish. Perfect.  Let’s move on.  Next…WAIT!!  Is it really a good listening practice to NEVER interrupt?  Are there really never any times or situations where interrupting someone would not only be not rude but helpful and productive?  Hmm…Wouldn’t it then depend?  I Googled “good times to interrupt people in communication” and the entire first page of results was a list of websites that strongly supported the “Thou Shalt Not Interrupt” commandment. [pullquote]All I’m saying is that, maybe, having an “always” score here isn’t necessarily a perfect thing.[/pullquote]

I will acknowledge that people who are chronic interrupters, or who do it subconsciously and without thought should be taking to communication jail and put in some hard time.  But what if I’m interrupting for a reason or on purpose?  What if the person is communicating important steps that I have to get right? Is it ok to stop them and ask them to repeat or to clarify?  Maybe.  I guess I could always wait until they finished but what if I forget or the next couple of steps depend on understanding the previous one I missed?

Heck, what if the person is rambling on and on and on (“until the break of dawn”), and have already communicated their point, and just can’t seem to find an exit ramp to conclude?  Should I patiently and quietly wait for them to finish?  Maybe.  Or, maybe I’m running out of time and have to leave.  What about that?  Is that a good reason to interrupt someone?  Can I not say, politely, “Excuse me but I’m running a little late and have to get going.  Perhaps we can talk later? ” Wouldn’t that be acceptable?  I think so.

All I’m saying is that, maybe, having an “always” score here isn’t necessarily a perfect thing.

Let’s look at question two.

2.  Do I listen “between the lines”; that is, for the subtext?

First of all, what the heck is “subtext?” The last time I heard someone mention this word I was in a Shakesphere class in college (it was a, uh, short-lived class for me). Wikipedia defines subtext like this

Subtext is content underneath the spoken dialogue. Under dialogue, there can be conflict, anger, competition, pride, showing off, or other implicit ideas and emotions. Subtext is the unspoken thoughts and motives of characters — what they really think and believe. Subtext just beneath the surface of dialogue makes life interesting, but it can also cause people to be misunderstood.

Subtext is the message being said without anything being said.  A lot of times it’s the body language or non-verbal communication of the speaker.  For this question is it a good thing to “always” read between the lines when we’re listening?  You know, I’m going to answer a qualified “yes” for this one.  Let me explain.

By qualified I mean that we should be watching the non-verbal clues that people give us – e.g. facial expressions, posture, tone of voice, etc. BUT I don’t think we should “always” be believing what we see.  Interpreting someone else’s body language is, to me, “always” a risky, roll-the-dice move.  We can never be sure that we we are “reading” is what the other person is saying. And yes, trying to interpret someone’s words is just as sketchy.  All of communication, all of effective communication, is a give-take, push-pull, check-suggest activity.

Let’s skip down to the final question.

What's your sign?

6. Do I make an effort to seem interested in what the other person is saying?

Now, this one should be an “always” for sure right?  Well, if  you’re expecting me to identify a  situation where “always” may not always be good you would be…right on!  But why we would we want to NOT seem interested in what the other person is saying?  When we want to communicate disinterest, of course.

My definition of effective communication is when the receiver gets the message the way the sender intends. [pullquote]My definition of effective communication is when the receiver gets the message the way the sender intends.[/pullquote] If this is the case, there may indeed be times when I would WANT to communicate disinterest.  Remember, we’re mostly talking about non-verbal communication here so we’d be communicating through eye contact (or the lack of it), smiling/frowning/scowling and other non-verbals.

What if a girl really, really isn’t interested in listening to the stale pickup lines from some guy in line next to her? Should she make an effort to seem interested?  Should she smile and nod encouragingly? Why would she?  She wants to communicate a completely different message.

Here again the “always” answer isn’t always good.  It depends, it depends, it depends.  (Man, I wish I could have found a test in school this.)

For the record, if you had to err towards one end of this answer continuum I think you’d be safe here on the “always” end then on the “never” end.  That’s a straight up “F” grade for listening.  I can no job, situation or circumstance that would support “never” answers for these question.

I’m sure you can find your own exceptions to the “always” answers for these six questions and hope you do.  I also hope that you think about and put into practices the things we’ve looked at, always. 

That being said, here’s a picture of the MOST INFORMATIVE SLIDE I’ve seen in a long time!  It’s part of a presentation Jonathan Hoag delivered at the Drowning Prevention/Ocean Safety Conference on Kauai just last week.  It was so good I actually took a picture of it so I could refer back to the data. 

Basically, it’s a way to figure out how big the waves are going to be based on data gathered from off-shore buoys.  This is gold.

Maybe it’s just me and the fact that I’ve NEVER been able to figure out how to figure out this whole buoy, time interval, period, direction thing but for the first time I got a glimpse of what it was supposed to be about.  I’m giving props to Jonathan for a clear description and effective use of PowerPoint for my increased understanding.

Here’s three things he did to make it to my “PowerPoint from Heaven” list:

1. First, he had a topic I cared about.  This sound like a no-brainer but if you’re delivering a presentation to people who have absolutely NO REASON to listen to you then no amount of animated text or cool transitions or funny cat pictures are going to help you.  “Know Your Audience” is still vital today.  Why do I feel that presenters don’t take the time to do their homework and get to know me? Now, there is something to be said for being able to demonstrate the importance of your material to your listeners and generate attention from that and I do agree that the burden is largely on the presenter.  Every speech class will give you the same tips for introductions that focus on this issue.  There all very similar.  Here’s a how-to from ehow with the second page giving the standard tips for intros.
2. Secondly, Jonathan had a topic he cared about and owned.  It was obvious for me that he cared about his topic that helps me to engage with him in the conversation.  That’s a strange word to see here – conversation.  You would have expected the word presentation and been with pretty much the majority of presenters.  And that’s the problem.  Even though most of the presentation deliver appears to be one-way (outside of the q&a) the entire time is ideally a two-way communication, or conversation.  The other part of this point is that he “owned” the material.  This guy knew his stuff. Period.  When he said something I believed him. Please don’t try and fake it.  If you don’t know it, pick a different topic or refer. 
3. The final thing is that he had effective visuals.  Outside of the one I took a picture of he had slides with giant waves on Maui, Waimea Bay during the Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational and other spots along with the buoy data.  I was engaged and almost salivating when he finally revealed the slide with the multiplier how-to.  I was prepped and wanted the information he offered.  There was no need for fancy effects from the software.

Overall, good stuff.  It wasn’t a “perfect” presentation – those are rarefied events. There’s a couple of things I would offer to improve but who cares?!?  I can now look at buoy data and figure out how big the waves will be next week!  I’m set!  See you on in the surf

p.s. Here’s an image and a link to a NY Times article on really bad Powerpoints.  Worth reading.

We Have Met the Enemy and He Is Powerpoint (NY Times article)

Here’s 5 reasons why the Kailua Refuse station is getting an A+ from me.

1. They’re ALWAYS open: After loading up my truck with stuff from the backyard and garage, we didn’t need to look for a schedule to see if the dump was open because it (almost) always is!  Except for New Year’s day and Christmas (?) the dump is running 365 days out of the year.  And really, who’s going to be wanting to go on those two days?? It’s flat out convenient. Period.  A+
2. They greeted me when I arrived: You have to stop and check your load when you first enter the Refuse area.  The guard (concierge?) at the front greeted me with a polite, cordial and respectful “Whaddya got this afternoon, sir?,” asked me some clarifying questions , told me to proceed up to the top and “Have a nice, sir.”  It was perfect.  It didn’t feel scripted, he didn’t look bored because it was late afternoon and he’d already asked 250 people other people the same questions, and he got the job done effectively and efficiently.  When I arrived at the top I was greeted politely again, asked more questions to clarify and assist me, and instructed to park in stall 4.  When I said “Thank you” the attendant there said “You’re welcome.” Politeness is so uncharacteristic at so many of the BUSINESS establishments I’ve seen that this really impressed me at my local dump.  Basic human interaction skills, baby.  Solid.  A+
3. They’re friendly: There’s a guy who works the front gate that my family calls “Superman.” He’s an older man, probably retired and working to stay busy.  Every time we go to the dump, if he’s there, he’ll greet us, ask us what we have in the back, listen to our response, and ask “You have any kyrptonite in there? I doubt it because I would undoubtedly feel it if you did.  It’s one of my biggest weaknesses.” Not everybody there cracks superhero jokes but most everyone is positive and helpful.  These are some rough looking dudes here; I’m not talking about aloha-shirt wearing, slacks, suit and tie, types.  They’re local, big, and kind of scary looking.  They deal with that, whether consciously or not, by their friendly, welcoming approach to us when we arrive.  A+
4. They anticipated my need:  I forgot to empty one of the three trash cans in the back of the truck (I was distracted/talking and yes, that happens frequently). I found out when we left the “household” section and had already driven up to the “metals” area.  It’s a one-way road from the area we had just left and I didn’t relish walking it back with the leaking trash can.  The attendant (the same polite one) saw me across the way and called out to me “Whatchu need there?” I told him what happened and he told me not to worry about coming all the way back and to just dump it out in bin 4 right next to me.  It doesn’t look like an example of great service until you break it down.  1) He saw me doing something outside the norm for my area; 2) He was proactive, initiating and anticipating the problem.  3) He offered me a solution that fit the problem perfectly. A+
5. They had me talking about my experience: We work so hard for this positive word-of-mouth and one bad experience and bam! it’s over.  We’ve all heard about how hard and expensive it is to get new customers and how a customer with a bad experience will tell a dozen or more people about what happened.  My trip to the dump turned out to be a checklist how-to for delivering excellent service.  This is definitely what every business wants:  customers who tell other customers about the spectacular experience they had at the hotel, the restaurant, the movie, the dealership, the office, and now, for me, the dump. A+

I would still prefer the Ritz to take my wife on a nice vacation but, hey, maybe a latte and a little drive up to our local dump ain’t so bad after all.

Our values steer our actions.  – Polynesian Voyaging Society

A year or so ago my youngest son participated in a canoe race in Waikiki that was the busiest and most fun contest all year.  There were so many people on the already crowded beaches; it was crazy.  It was a slightly different format than normal.  Usually, the canoe clubs of my son’s age (14 and under) did a quarter-mile on a flat straight course.  In this race, the annual Walter Macfarlane Regatta, they would paddle straight out into the waves, circle a buoy and race back in, hopefully timing it just right to surf a big set back in.  The waves that day were pretty a good size, definitely not for beginners.  For safety, the association substituted an experienced adult in the steers-person seat (number 6) to see the younger crews safely out and back. My son’s crew didn’t win that race but they had a great time in the surf.

He hewa i kapua ka`auwa`a panana`ole.

The fleet of canoes without a compass landed at Kapua by mistake.

The person who is steering a Hawaiian outrigger canoe is responsible for making directional choices and course changes. They use a specially shaped paddle that is weighed in ounces to adjust the direction of a 500 pound canoe.

Our lives, our choices and actions, are likewise steered by what appear to many as small, unimportant things:  our values.  I’ve seen enough people and organizations over the past 20 years as a pastor and as a consultant who either minimized the importance of their values, had no values or had mission/vision statements that were not in alignment with their values. They had no compass, no way to know where they were or where they wanted to be.

Values are defined in one dictionary as “a person’s principles or standards of behavior; one’s judgment of what is important in life.” I think most of us would, if given a choice, want to do what’s important. Why is it that we’ve seen and continue to see so many (myself included) who make choices that obviously are not in the “most important” categories?  Like a novice steers-person we zig-zag back and forth, using more effort and energy than required to get where we’re going (if we ever do).

We can learn how to better align our lives with our values the same way a person can learn to steer a canoe.  Here are 6 things to get you started in both activities.

1. Know where you want to go and what you want to do before you get in the canoe. You want to be clear on who you are and what is important to you BEFORE you have to make choices and decisions. I’ll put up a couple of activities that can help you in identifying these things later this week if you’re unclear.
2. Practice in calm waters. When you’re first learning anything on the ocean start small.  Want to learn to surf?  Don’t go to Pipeline.  When you’re defining your values and basing decisions on them for the first time I would suggest working on
3. Have a coach. If at all possible have an experienced coach or mentor with you as you practice.  There’s something to be said for bulling on ahead and figuring things out yourself but, wow, reinventing the wheel (or steering blade) is probably not a good use of your time.  If you have someone to role-model for you, point out rocks or currents that might affect your journey, and encourage you along the way consider yourself fortunate.
4. Don’t cry over huli-ed (turned over) canoes. Recognize that everyone makes wrong choices, decisions and turns and occasionally tips their canoes.  In fact, if you never make a mistake in choice or direction, you’re probably not risking enough.  You can learn from the times you got wet just as much (if not more) as from the times you stayed dry.
5. Practice in rough waters. This may seem to contradict #1 but if you never go out to test your skills you’ll have a difficult time improving those skills.  Being conscious of how you make decisions will become more natural the more you do it.
6. Keep on paddling. This may seem like a no-brainer but you’ll get better at this the more you’ll do it.  If you tip over, i.e. make a poor course direction, adjust, re-align and continue moving.

I mua!  Go forward!

From Dan Zen Flickr

Aren sent me this .mp3 from a recent recording session in a bamboo forest near his home in Ka`a`awa, on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. It’s like an audio rough draft, raw and unedited, so there’s some non-forest-y kinds of sound but that’s cool for me – real life!

I’m listening to it as I write and have been using it, not to help me sleep, but as an ambient background to help me improve my focus and concentration. Here’s a link to download directly.  It’s about 40mgs and 17 minutes long.  Let me know what you think.

ArenSouza_bamboo_forest