Silent Night.

So the other night a friend of mine let me go with him to the Make A Wish dinner at the mysterious 'Club 33' at Disneyland.  I could do a whole blog series on the evening-- from pictures with Mickey to the 5 course meal and the unbelievable company and inspiring cause.

But the one thing I want to share now is how the night ended.  The last course was served at 10:30pm (I had salmon-- I can still taste it).  We walked out of the club around 11:30pm.  By this time the park had been closed for hours.  Everyone else was waiting for an escort from the park to lead us to the exit.  But my friend looks at me, and with a grin that is one part innocent and one part impish he said, "Let's find our own way out."

So we spent a bit of time walking through Disneyland park-- with all the lights on-- by ourselves.  The flames of the Tiki Room were on.  The Magic Kingdom was all lit up.  Main Street was open.

And all was silent.

The Kingdom was alive...but still.  Frozen in a warm peace, with just the sounds of our footsteps and occasional murmurs of conversation lifting into the brisk night sky.

So, one of my favorite authors is Frederick Buechner.  Any list of the 20th Century's greatest writers has Frederick's name on it.  He's kind of the male equivalent of Flannery O'Conner.  In his book, "Telling the Truth" he writes about silence as it relates to truth:

"[Truth] is the television news, but with the sound turned off.  There are no words to explain it or explain it away, no words to cushion or sharpen the shock of it, no definition given to dispose of it with such as a fire, a battle, a strike, a treaty, a beauty, an accident.  Just the thing itself, life itself, or as much of it as the screen can hold, flickering away in the dark of a room.


A man is making a speech outside on the flight of stone steps with one fist going up and down, his lips moving, a single wisp of hair lifted up by the breeze like a feather, and there is a crowd watching him or not watching him as the spirit moves them or fails to move them.  They are black and white, men and women, and even some of the ones who are watching him seem to have their eyes turned inwards as though they are watching something else inside, listening to some other voice.  

Somewhere else jerry-built houses lie in ruin, and a fat woman in a Mother Hubbard stands in what was once a doorway with a cat in her arms, behind her a man in a T-shirt with a caved-in mouth.  A beautiful young woman in a long dress sits down at a piano, and a pair of men carrying a body on a stretcher between them hot foot it down a city street in a running crouch while from high windows snipers' bullets fly out silent as a dream.  A great ship cuts through the water with many flags.  A whole mountainside is awash with flame.  A girl in a picture hat raises a pair of binoculars to her eyes.

Truth itself cannot be stated.  Truth simply is, and is what is, the good with the bad, the joy with the despair, the presence and the absence of God..."

I think this is why I like silence so much, why I used to go on walks in the nearby park when it was snowing outside when I was in college.  The crunch of snow under my feet and the distinct sound of silent snowfall.

Silence captures a moment and can-- for some-- make life feel more present.

This holiday season go on a walk.  Find someplace quiet.  Leave the ipods, radios, ambiance and company (if you can stand it) behind and be alone with Life.  It is happening, always.  The good and the bad.  The joy and despair.  The presence and absence of God.

That night, my friend didn't know, but I had always wanted to explore the Disney Park when it was empty.  Walt used to do that often before the park opened in the morning.  I think he liked the silence as well.

So while we were at Club 33 to celebrate an organization that made wishes come true for others, being there with my friend made a wish come true for me.

Spark Good in China

Sam's friend sparking good in Hangzhou, China.

Fellow Sparker Sam Pike is leading a Spark with college students at Zhejiang Financial College in Hangzhou, China.

Here's his story:

"The urge to do a China Spark group grew out of a desire to engage in meaningful conversations with the students surrounding me."

"Often, they allow their excitement at speaking with a foreigner to overload all other thoughts or emotions. While normally hilarious, such responses also get tiresome and leave [my colleagues] and I looking for ways to move beyond those jittery interactions."

"We started holding it at a tea house next to the dorms, normally drawing an interested and engaged crowd. While there are certainly better weeks than others, the group is gaining confidence and continually choosing more meaningful sparks.  In fact, last week we had a girl decide to call up her father who has refused to talk with her for the past four years."

To learn more about how to spark good at your university go to http://www.sparkyouruniversity.com

To sign up to receive monthly updates about Spark Good Studios click here.  To share your story about your spark email us here!

Bresee Foundation

I had a great meeting last week with Boris and Julia who work for the Bresee Foundation.  The Bresee Foundation is a nonprofit community center that is a source of faith, hope and service to low-income youth, adults and families in central Los Angeles.  They serve nearly 2,000 individuals annually, primarily at-risk youth from the Mid-Wilshire, Koreatown, Pico Union, and Westlake neighborhoods.

Spark Good Studios is partnering with Bresee (mostly Boris) to try a small experiment to see what happens when "at-risk" youth begin taking risky acts of altruism.

While we were talking the topic shifted from Bresee to all the people who volunteer there but then have to move away.  One person we discussed had moved to Los Angeles to pursue fashion and was now having to move back to the midwest from whence they came.

Which is when I said, "So who says someone has to move to Los Angeles or New York to do fashion?  Who says a small town in the midwest can't become the new fashion hub of the world?"

We all agreed but it still sounded kind of...you know...stupid.

Then again, 200 years ago New York was only a town of 20,000.   And now with globalized markets and democratized technologies anyone, anywhere can find a voice and change the cultural landscape of literally the entire world.

The irony of our conversation was that the Bresee Foundation exists to give hope to kids who might not otherwise have it.  But at risk kids aren't the only ones who need hope.  Cities need hope as well, and so do fashionistas destined for Topeka, KS.  Just like a kid in Pico Union can go to college, so too can your town become a creative force in the world.  Just like Los Angeles was built (and needs to be rebuilt) so too can your city be built and rebuilt.

Hope isn't locked to a geographic location.  Hope goes where creativity goes.  It goes where the hopeful go.  So what cultural force is your community going to be because you're a part of it?  200 years from now why are people going to move to your city?

And how are you going to give hope to those who are searching for it?

A few "Clicks" buys Beds for the Homeless

An excerpt from an email I got yesterday from my friend Josh:

Hey buddy -

Thought you might like this since it is a direct result of one of your Spark Groups.

If you remember, Jenn Kenning took on a risk to start a Non-Profit during one of the Spark Group's back in January at Jonn Hipp's house. Well it is  underway and I am on the Board of Directors and have been a part of it since the beginning. 

We were just approved last night as a Finalist from over 1000 submissions for a $250K Grant from the Pepsi Refresh Project:

Our first project will be to provide 71 full-size beds and bedding essentials to the Los Angeles Downtown Women's Shelter by December 1, 2010 for use in their new shelter building and then an additional 53 Full-Size beds and bedding essentials by June 2011 for use in the newly renovated Original Women’s Shelter building.

The new Non-Profit is called A Good Night's Sleep.  The genesis of this project was actually inspired from both the book "Wide Awake"by Erwin McManus and the movie the Blind Slide.

To help out our friend Jenn simply go to the link below, register and rock the vote.

http://www.refresheverything.com/agoodnightssleep

Spark on!

 

TOO MANY NON-PROFITS!

Have you ever wondered why people feel the need to start up their own non-profit for a cause rather than just work with the non-profits that are already working for that cause?

Wouldn't it be more efficient, focused and drain less resources to have one BIG non-profit rocking the water problem, one BIG non-profit tackling the homeless problem, one BIG non-profit healing the disease problem, etc?

It has become trendy in my world to criticize non-profts in a city with more non-profits than any other city in the United States.  "They should stop asking people for money and go out and get real jobs," I heard a friend of mine recently say.

But does he feel the same way about...say...photography?  I mean, shouldn't there be just one BIG photography company that runs all of the worlds photography needs?  Wouldn't that be more efficient?

And shouldn't there be just one BIG clothing company, and one BIG bank and one BIG school and one BIG government and one BIG church and one BIG TV station or film company where everything is streamlined and efficient?

Think about your profession.  Shouldn't there be just one BIG [insert your profession here] to take care of all of the world's needs?

If you're like me, answering that question gets uncomfortable.  It seems like when you start making one BIG anything you start losing something else.  You start losing uniqueness, you start losing leadership development, leadership expression and-- in the long run-- you diminish a culture's capacity to create, not enhance it.

Not everyone loves being a worker bee in middle management of something huge.  Not everyone should.  Some people love to start new things.  Other people love to run old things.  Some like to take broken things and fix them, others like to take the best and make it better.

Non-profits and For-profits should work together when they can, absolutely.  But the presence of many unique people tackling the same problems in their own unique way with their own unique social networks should be celebrated, not condemned.

The same goes for business, governments, churches, universities, and-- yes-- non profits.

We need more of them, not less.  And the ones we have now need to be better.  So get on it.

Take It Off The Shelf

Right now there is a book on my shelf, taunting me.

It was an impulse purchase from Amazon.  I tend to buy books in bulk and then read them over the next, say, 20 years. If “1-click purchase” was crack cocaine I wouldn’t have any teeth and would live in Baltimore.

Or then again, maybe I have it all wrong.  Maybe it’s like the puppy locked out of the house in the back yard.  You walk by the window and he puts his two front paws against the glass, whimpering.  His puppy-dog eyes say it all:

Play with me.

Whether that book is taunting me or whimpering I can’t be sure.  But one thing I know is that it’s on the shelf.  Collecting dust.  Sandwiched between a sci-fi novel and a self-help book.  How terrible.

I tend to put a lot of things on the shelf.  Not just books, pictures and trinkets from the last vacation.  I can also cram relationships, hobbies, hard conversations and dreams between my IKEA purchased, put-together-myself-without-swearing shelves.

Upon reflection, there’s a lot of stuff that is in my life...but barely.  They’re on the shelf.  “On the shelf” means I think about it every now and then, usually before I fall asleep.  My last waking moment is usually, “Oh!  I would really love to do that!  Maybe I’ll start tomor….zzzzzzzzzzz.”

And on the shelf they stay.  Collecting dust.

"On the shelf" items get talked about over coffee with friends or standing in line for an over-priced movie.  "Hey, wouldn't it be cool if...?" we say.  And then the cup is empty or the movie is over and-- for whatever reason-- that idea never makes it into the texture of our daily lives.

The problem is that many of life’s most fulfilling moments, most rewarding risks and most exciting opportunities tend to stay on the shelf.  Like fine china or a grandfather’s watch—we hold those possibilities with such high esteem that we never bother touching them.

Could it be that the keys to unlocking the parts of our lives we most desperately want to change are sitting on the shelf, right in front of us?

So take your life off the shelf.

www.sparkgood.com

No This Without This.

Take a minute and watch the short Youtube clip.  Go ahead, explore your inner geek.



Okay, so this is how it works:  you don't get the elation of victory without first stepping into the uncertainty of defeat.  In geek:  you don't get to experience the thrill of blowing up the Death Star until you first have to courage to almost die trying.

Everyone longs for the victory, for the elated moment when you get the girl, make the winning shot, overcome the obstacles and...yes...blow up the Death Star.  But those moments are unavailable to those of us who don't ask her out, take the shot, fight the odds or...yes...fly into the heart of the Death Star.

So what's worth trying for?  Go for it.

And if you like pictures:

NO THIS:

WITHOUT THIS:

The Game Is You.

Ever notice how well you can get to know someone when you're not trying to?

Road trips are probably the best example of this.  The point is to drive somewhere, but over the course of the next 8 hours of playing music, reading in the back seat, eating over-priced chips from the gas station and talking about important and mostly not important stuff, you begin connecting with the people in the car with you.

This can happen on road trips, this can happen playing basketball or poker or even watching The Bachelor on TV.

With road trips the object of the game is to get someplace but the result is often times friendship.

With basketball the object of the game is to win, but by striving to win you can often times become friends.

When it comes to Sparks the object of the game isn't a destination or winning-- the object of the game is you. 

Now, not only is that a game worth playing but-- as with basketball and road trips and watching TV shows-- while you play or drive you also connect with people in unexpected ways.

Ask yourself this question:  What games are you playing in your life-- what environments are you putting yourself in-- where the object of the game is you?

Not in a narcissistic way but in a way that helps you become more compassionate, more proactive, more alive.

The Game is You.  And when you play that game well with others you get to know others in surprising ways.

www.sparkgood.com

I Don't Know.

A little while back I tweeted something in Latin.

Huc venite, pueri, ut viri sitis.

 

Considering the meaning of that phrase, this post is appropriate.

 

The response to that tweet was a little unnerving.  A few friends made a joke about it (let's be honest-- Latin tweets are a tad pretentious...and so is using the word "tad")  

 

But a few people actually gave me a hard time about the tweet since they didn't know what it meant.  

 

The irony is that I didn't know what the it meant when I first read it either.  I don't know Latin.  I was reading a book and it didn't tell me what it meant.  I had to look up the translation on Google.  Took me about 2 seconds.

 

Few people who read my tweet knew what it meant.  Almost everyone looked at the tweet and said what can be the hardest 3 words to say in the English language:  I don't know.

 

What's frustrating is when "I don't know" is followed by a period instead of a comma.  "I don't know" with a period is like saying "I don't know and I don't care."  This is fine when it comes to Latin tweets.  But often times we get in the habit of the period with things that actually do matter, and our confidence in our own ability to learn, solve problems and overcome obstacles becomes damaged.

 

"I don't know" followed by a comma means "I don't know but I'm going to find out."  The coma is the 2 second Google search.  The coma is curiosity and a confidence that you can probably figure it out if you put a little elbow grease into it.  

 

Granted, the comma is more important when it matters.  

 

So what matters to you?

I Love Awkward.

I was in a group of people a few months ago and someone in the group was acting a little...awkward.  As that person behaved in their own little world people looked at each other, smirks were exchanged and one person even mouthed silently:  awkward.

Awkward as a title has become a socially acceptable form of rejection.  It often times becomes code for "I don't like that person.  They don't belong."  We feel bad when we say that out loud so we just stick with a euphemism:  awkward.

We like it when Michael Cera does it but not when that dude over there does it.

Of course, this is a little personal for me.  As a textbook INTP-- according the the Meyers Briggs Type Indicator-- I am by definition socially awkward.

And let me tell you:  I love awkward.  My favorite people in the world are incredibly awkward.  It's fantastic.

So here is a short ode to awkward:

Awkward is creative.  Awkward by definition is non-conforming.  Awkward sees things from a different perspective.  Awkward says what it thinks.  Awkward misses social cues, but often times social cues miss the minority opinion that society needs to hear most.  Awkward is not fashionable.  Awkward is not a fad.  It is not a trend.  It is not retro glasses, indie bands, plaid shirts and tight jeans.  Awkward does not have hand drawn title credits.  Awkward can't be bought, taught or faked.  Awkward throws people off-balance.  Awkward is uncomfortable. 

In our best moments we are all awkward.  Which is to say in our best moments we are all unique.  So next time you are tempted to mouth awkward when so-and-so tells a joke without a punchline or that girl over there misses a social cue, remember:  reject their uniqueness and you reject your own. 

I love awkward.

Favorite Book Of All Time

"Everyone quotes G.K. Cheston but nobody reads him."  -- Isaac Anderson

G.K. Chesterton is hand down my favorite author.  He could best be described as C.S. Lewis on crack.  Chesterton was often times called "the master who left no masterpiece" since he was a newspaper columnist for most of his career.  His works include philosophy, ontology, poetry, play writing, journalism, public lecturing and debating, biography, fantasy and detective fiction.

He was witty, poetic, and weighted over 300lbs. A kind of bumbling absent minded professor who would go out to buy groceries for his wife and then forget on the way what he was supposed to be doing.

Sounds like my kind of guy.  Here are a few of my favorite quotes:

"A dead thing can go with the stream, but only a living thing can go against it." - Everlasting Man, 1925

"Progress should mean that we are always changing the world to fit the vision, instead we are always changing the vision." - Orthodoxy, 1908

"Art, like morality, consists of drawing the line somewhere." - ILN, 5/5/28 

What I love most about Chesterton was that he was friends with all the people who disagreed with him.  In a time when philosophical debate could fill a concert hall Chesterton wrote a book called Heretics which was essentially about all of his friends-- George Bernard Shaw, H.G. Wells, Mr. McCabe, Lowes Dickinson, Rudyard Kipling-- and other intellectual giants at the turn of the 20th century.  They loved to debate, and they loved each other-- even though they thought each other were completely wrong and destroying Western Civilization.

My favorite book of his, and my favorite book ever written, is his spiritual autobiography entitled Orthodoxy.  It tells of his sincere journey as an agnostic inventing his perfect life philosophy and, at each turn, how he discovered his perfect life philosophy is more ancient than he thought.

I often buy Chesterton in bulk to give away, more out of affection for the author than how helpful his books tend to be for my friends.  It's a small book, but it took me a year to get through when I was 17 years old.  I now read all or parts of Orthodoxy several times a year.

I highly recommend it to you as well.

Challenge Your Self

Ever meet someone and you can tell that they only read/watch/listen to what they already think/believe/feel?

Like when people only listen to NPR.  Or only Conservative Talk Radio?  Or only FOX?  Or only religious books?  Or only irreligious ones?

Diversity not only helps you understand perspectives different than your own, it can help you see your own perspectives from a whole new light.  Sometimes we learn things that move us to abandon what we thought we knew.  Sometimes all that happens all at the same time.

No matter the destination, it happens when we challenge ourselves.  When we allow ourselves to be exposed to views that are different and perhaps even hostile to our own.

There are a million ways to do this.  But let me offer one:

Two books I enjoyed reading.  Both showed me aspects of my life, my spirituality, that I haven't thought of before.  One is an affirmation of the concept of spirituality, the other is an honest and passionate criticism of it.

Reason Driven Life is a point-by-point counter argument to Rick Warren's evangelical best seller The Purpose Driven Life.  It is smart, dry and frank enough to make religious conservatives very uncomfortable.  

Soul Cravings is a kind of spiritual anthropology that dives into our longings and how those longings point to God.  It is also smart, personal and evocative enough to make any honest skeptic perhaps a little more curious.

Being uncomfortable.  Being more curious.  Not such bad places to be, no?

So whaddaya say?  Challenge Your Self.

What's Your Filter (Part 2)

On an earlier post I asked the question "What's Your Filter?"

All of us have a kind of filter for how we see the world.  How we choose what to interpret as beautiful or healthy or good.  Good has a tendency to hide everywhere.  It hides in science and philosophy.  It hides in different and conflicting models of government and political theory and (occasionally) conflicting political parties.  It even hides in different religions.

There is something beautiful in every faith tradition-- in Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, Christianity, Scientology, Judaism, Humanism and other isms not yet labeled by Humanity-- all have elements of beauty and potential abuses by the same Humanity that labels them.

But no matter what your perspective on conflicting political parties, scientific theory or religion, everybody has a filter that shapes what our views on good and evil are and everyone's filter is shaped by something. 

So when my friend Michael asked me what my filter was I gave my answer.  The filter I try to use-- as best I can in my own clumsy way-- when it comes to searching for Good; the tuning fork I use to find my resonance with beauty; the water stick I use to find pools of compassion, intelligence and life...

...is this troublesome, 1st century, middle-eastern rabbi by the name of Yeshua.  It may sound narrow or obscure, but as best as I can tell the way he saw the world-- the way he lived and related to other people-- was captivating, compassionate, provocative, and often-times uncomfortably honest.  He was counter-intuitive and is-- to me-- strangely attractive.  He compels me the way Abraham Lincoln or Martin Luther King, Jr. or Gandhi does.  And yet these titans of humanity were strangely attracted to this Yeshua as well.

I don't always get it right (less than I probably think).  I've got a long way to go (I can't wait).  But Jesus (Yeshua) is my filter.

And he finds good in the strangest of places.

Quote of the Day - Henry David Thoreau

I got A Civil Disobedience for free on Kindle a few weeks ago...so what else am I going to read in Kansas City after everyone else has gone to bed?

Here's a quote that kept my mind awake when my body wanted to sleep:

"A very few-- as heroes, patriots, martyrs, reformers in the great sense, and men-- serve the state with their consciences also, and so necessarily resist it for the most part; and they are commonly treated as enemies by it." 

Second Opinion vs Team of Opinions

I read recently this fascinating story about how Ted Kennedy worked with doctors to treat his brain tumor in a way that kept him alive longer than anyone thought possible.

For most of us when we get really sick we go to a doctor.  They give us a prognosis and then we go to another doctor to get the famed, "Second Opinion."

This is not what Kennedy did.  Ted actually put a group of doctors who all disagreed with each other in a room and had them battle it out.  A doctor would make a claim or state an opinion and Ted would stop the conversation, look at another doctor and say, "Okay-- so what do you think about that?"

Kennedy believed that this made a huge difference in the treatments and care he received and that it led to his longer struggle with his illness.

Kennedy liked a "Team of Opinions" rather than a "Second Opinion."

What struck me was how brilliant that was, how rarely I practice that same principle in my own relationships and how rarely I hear of that principle on leadership teams.

For me, I tend to go from person to person asking for second or third opinions.  Mostly because it's hard to get people in the room together.  But how often to I try to get all the opinions to interact with each other?

An ancient proverb says, "For lack of guidance a nation falls.  But many advisers make victory sure."  I can't help but think this happens when the advisers get to interact with each other, not just with you.

So what would it look like to have teams of opinions in your life and leadership, and not just second opinions?

What's Your Problem?

This approach is even better than pitching an idea (versus pitching ideas).

My least favorite conversations are when someone either:

A)  Gives me the solution to a problem that hasn't been defined.
B)  Gives me the problem and then gives me a solution and asks me to only give feedback on the solution.

You can't solve problems until you agree on the problem.  And few people want to be brought in to give feedback on something if you've already decided what you're going to do.  I call this "stamp of approval" brainstorming.  It's not brainstorming-- it's just agreeing with what someone else came up with.

So when you want someone's advice or if you're leading a team, don't pitch ideas.  Pitch problems.  You have to sell problems just as passionately as selling ideas.

Say, "I think this is a problem with X" and then ask, "What do you think?" 

Once you agree about the problem, ask, "What do you think we should do?"  If they can't think of anything, that's when you pitch an idea.  If you follow this process you help people get in a creative mindset versus a passive mindset and they will better engage with the problem solving process.

This conversation will lead to truly genuine problem solving and ownership of both the problem and the solution.

Don't Pitch Ideas

Pitching ideas is different than pitching an idea.

Pitching an idea is saying, "what if we made a digital music device?"

Pitching ideas is saying, "What if we made a digital music device that had a screen and a round clicker and you could plug it into your laptop and download and upload music onto it?"

The first option-- pitching an idea-- leaves lots of room for the imagination to get on at an entry level.  You say "digital music device" and there's lots of space in your mind to run around with lots of different possibilities.  You pitch the ideas of the second sentence and, with every idea, you narrow other people's opportunity to contribute to the conversation.

Most of the time when you want to bounce an idea off of someone, you're really wanting to bounce ideas off someone.  Recognize that and simplify your ideas into the most basic idea.  That gives people more room to play.  Sometimes they'll go right where your ideas are-- which is great because now you're on the same page.  Often times people will surprise you with something better.  Either way, you'll both own an idea that you got to build together, rather than expecting them to jump onto ideas you're already running with.

By the way, I don't do this very well.  But every time I do everyone is better off for it.

So when you can, don't pitch ideas (even if they're AMAZING).  Scale it back and just pitch an idea, and then watch something amazing happen in front of you.

6 Reasons I Love My Kindle (For Now)

I know, I know. The iPad is way cooler. Besides, both the kindle and the iPad are super expensive.  If it wasn't for Sarah getting me a kindle for my birthday I wouldn't have been able to afford it.

BUT:

Here are 6 reasons I love my kindle (for now).

1. I bought it used for $100 off.

2. I love that when I was in Mexico I could download books, newspapers and magazines, google and wikipedia for free when everyone else was complaining about international roaming charges.

3. I like to highlight and take notes. I like it even more when the kindle bundles all my notes and highlights from a book into one location and emails it to me as a separate document.

4. I thought I was going to miss the "holding a book and turning the pages" thing. Let me be clear: I don't and you won't.

5. Public domain books are available for free. Since my favorite author is G.K. Chesterton and he wrote in the early 20th century, nearly everything he ever wrote is now on my Kindle for free.

6. As primitive as it is, the e-ink reader technology turns about as many heads as the iPad does. It's still in the early phases of development but it is truly easy on the eyes (especially outdoors). To me, this is the one true advantage over the iPad.

To see where e-ink tech is headed in the near future watch this youtube video.

We should all get excited when there is a low cost device that has the iPad's versatility on a high resolution e-ink technology video touch screen like future kindles.

I give it about 2 years to come out.  4 years to be low cost.

See you in the future.

Interview with the President of Disney Animation

Recently The Economist did an interview with the President of Disney Animation.

If I were to guess, I'd say that most of the people reading this blog couldn't tell you who that is.

Don't feel bad.

His name is Ed Catmull. While you may not have known his name, you know his work since he's part of the original PIXAR team which means he's been a part of every PIXAR film ever made.

The interview, which I think is around 20 minutes long or so, was sent to me via facebook from John Wittig and can be viewed in it's entirety by clicking here.

Now, Ed's a little dry but a total genius. If you stick with it and have a lens for leadership you will come away with at least 3 or 4 gems that could change the way you look at your company, organization, etc.

Here are two quotes that really blew me away:

1. "In a creative culture it's better to fix problems then try and prevent them. If you try and prevent error you screw things up. And the natural tendency for managers is to try and prevent error and over plan things."

I mostly like that quote because I already agreed with it. So sue me.

2. "There is this illusion that this person is creative and has all this stuff, well the fact is there are literally thousands of ideas involved in putting something like [a film] together. And the notion of ideas as this singular thing is a fundamental flaw."

This quote, on the other hand, struck me in a new way that I had never thought of before. This idea has been especially true for me with the creation of Sparks. The initial idea of Sparks incubated through various forms and experiments for over a year. As it evolved (and I'm pretty sure it's nowhere near being done evolving before it dies sometime in the future) there have been literally dozens of ideas from dozens of people that came along and tweaked, fixed and enhanced the original series of ideas.

So sparks aren't an idea. They're a collection of ideas from many different people.

The iPad isn't an idea. It's a collection of ideas from a collection of people.

Ed ends this sentiment by stating that a leader's job is to draw out of a team the thousand ideas you're all going to need in order to be successful.

Genius.

Enjoy the interview.

What's Your Filter?

A few years ago I was in Los Feliz and I got to meet an amazing guy named Michael.

After a few minutes of talking the topic of spirituality came up and I asked him what his spiritual heritage was.

He thoughtfully reflected before answering, looked at me and said, "I guess you could say I was Buddhist."

I asked him what he meant by that and he responded, "Well, there's a lot of different things about all the different religions but I particularly like the calm that Buddhism advocates."

I totally knew what he meant. In my limited exposure to Buddhism I am always attracted to it's transcendent nature, it's sense of peace and connectedness to all things.

He asked me, "What's your story? What's your spiritual heritage?"

"Well," I said, "There are so many things I like about all the different faiths and worldviews that I've encountered so far. I really like the idea of strength in submission from Islam, I like the whole Zen peace in Buddhism, the humility and story-telling culture of Judaism, the puritan work ethic preserved in Christianity, the potential of the human spirit in the new age movements-- even the sincere desire to help people in practical ways that I've discovered through my friends who are Scientologists. It seems like every faith heritage has some merit."

Michael agreed.

I continued, "The hard part is knowing which aspects of different religions are helpful and which are hurtful. Which philosophies of life we should embrace or reject. To make these choices-- which we all make-- we use a kind of filter."

I explained that whether we know it or not, all of us have a kind of filter that helps us figure out what's helpful, what's true and beautiful. Whether that filter is our parents or politicians or the media or our selves. We all have a filter. Often times our filters can be very unintentional which can be very dangerous. And while not all filters can be perfectly applied, some filters are better than others. And at the very least we can at least make our filter intentional.

"So I've tried to make my filter very intentional," I said.

Michael thought for a moment and then asked, "So what's your filter?"

Indeed.

To be continued.

Why Not More?

Let me ask you a question: if you were able to help more people than you currently are, would you do it?

A prediction: many people reading this (if many people read it) will say a knee-jerk "yes." Others will feel a pang of anxiety. Because helping more people sounds, you know, like more work.

More work = more time = more energy = less time on twitter and facebook and with friends and watching The Bachelor or ESPN = less happiness.

But what if I told you that you could help more people and it would actually give you energy, focus your time, make you more productive and increase your happiness?

Again, to some of us we may say, "That sounds great!" But still, we may be a little nervous. A little skeptical, even. There may be a voice that says, "What are you trying to sell, here?"

Where does this voice inside of me come from that is amazing at finding reasons why the impact on the world I'm currently having is good enough?

When I throw an event that I think will help people I find a dozen ways to be satisfied with how many people showed up, even if fewer people showed up than I wanted. Even if the reason fewer people showed up is because I didn't put in the work ahead of time.

"Well, I guess that's who was supposed to show up." I tell myself. The seductive lie of mediocrity.

If I do my best and the event flops, that's one thing. But that happens less often than I'd like to admit.

For some reason I like to keep things manageable.

But I won't reach my full potential keeping things "manageable."

So what's it going to take to help us relentlessly ask the questions, "What more can I do? How else can I help? If I don't have more time, how can I work smarter? If I'm serving 5 people, how can I serve 50. If I'm serving 10 how can I serve 100?"

And how can we not only serve more, but also have more energy and enjoy the process while we serve?

Superheroes are Not Super Leaders

Batman. Superman. Spiderman. Wolverine. The Hulk. Iron Man.

I love 'em. But they're horrible leaders.

Sure, they've got talent.

But if we looked at them in terms of leadership they come up short. Here's 2 big reasons why:

1. Superheroes don't care about leadership succession.

Think about it: that's why they often times don't age in comic books or have to get rebooted like the Batman franchise. They're never recruiting another Batman or Spiderman to take their place. They just run around from one crisis to the next. I want to walk up to Superman, pull on his tights and say: "Do you ever think about what's going to happen when you're old??" Superheros are super-shortsighted.

Leaders in the real world have to deal with leadership succession. Who is going to carry the baton after they die or move on? Don't you wish that whenever the time was ripe we could just reboot the Abraham Lincoln franchise or the series of Martin Luther King, Jr.? Don't you wish Gandhi's only weakness was a rock from another planet?

All those people prepared for leadership succession. Yet Superheroes rarely do.

2. Superheroes don't recruit a team.

If they do have a team the team members usually die-- especially if they're women. This usually gives the filmmakers the opportunity to hire new women (like Maggie Gyllenhaal after Katie Holmes didn't work out in Batman Begins) or new famous co-stars (a la Richard Pryor in Superman IV). Superheroes have friends (to humanize them) and they help in the storyline occasionally but superheroes rarely have teams that they actually need to work with. I mean, even Jesus recruited his 12 to rock his plan of making the world human again. But Superman and the other Fill-In-The-Blank Men are mostly solo acts.

Yet real leaders need teams. Not just for storyline but because real leaders actually have real weaknesses that need real help in order to serve humanity. It's not romantic-- it's pragmatic. While it's true that one superhero can save the world it takes a team to serve the world.

If anything, Superheroes are more like consultants. They come in, assess the damage, fix stuff and then fly away. You don't want them around all the time-- just when crazy people blow stuff up. Then we dust the bat signal off, plug it in and let them do their thing.

That's why I love ensemble cast movies more then superhero flicks. That's why I love films like Goonies, Ocean's 11, Braveheart and The Usual Suspects or TV shows like The West Wing and Band of Brothers. They're teams. Even though they have leaders on these teams, the leaders need the teams to succeed and they have to think about leadership succession.

It's what Superheroes don't. It's what real leaders do.

Get Back Up. Make It Better.

The Atlantic recently did a cover story on "What Makes a Great Teacher." Specifically addressing the inner-city context, the article addressed over 20 years of research done by Teach for America, which is releasing it's research this year for the first time.

With Obama's education plan getting underway-- giving over $4 billion to essentially discovering how to create great teachers-- TFA's research is suddenly relevant to the whole country.

What they discovered was that elements traditionally thought to be associated with great teaching-- charisma, high energy, good grades and an ivy league background-- turned out to be non-issues. (for more on this phenomenon check out Fast Company's article on how interviews get in the way of making great hires).

As they looked for patterns, two traits (among others) began to emerge. Previous indicators of 1) Persistence and 2) Improvement.

As all the things that seduce in an interview-- people skills and pedigree-- evaporate what's left is a person's ability to try again when things don't work the first time and a history of taking things as they were and making them better.

This is why grades weren't necessarily a good indicator: just because you got 4.0 your whole career doesn't mean you have a good work ethic (you could just be brilliant). But if your grades went up over time that was a better indicator.

This applies to leaders as well. When we're looking to recruit or hire or thinking about things to develop in potential leaders these two things we might keep in mind:

Do they get back up when they get knocked down? Have they had previous success not just maintaining something but actually making it better?

For development we might ask: how can we help people develop the persistence to constantly figure out a way to make it work (whatever "it" may be) and how can we help people to constantly try and improve whatever environment they may find themselves in?

And of course for ourselves we might ask: do we get back up when we get knocked down? Do we grow and make things better?

The future of our schools rest in the hands of the persistent and creative.

And I add: so does everything else.

Top 10 TEDtalks.

A few years ago I was introduced to TED. If you don't know by now, TED stands for Technology Entertainment and Design. It represents one of the most explosive and dynamic platforms for cultural change, art and innovation. With a waiting list and a $5,000 price tag to attend (and only if you're invited) TED graciously offers all its talks online for free.

I got to go to TEDxUSC last year and met Chris Anderson (pictured below) the now Rock Star curator for TED and it was an extraordinary experience. (For details on how I embarrassingly got this picture, email me). TED has been a great source of inspiration for me and I wanted to share with you my top 10 talks (thus far!) and a little bit about why each made the list for me. Enjoy!

10. David Gallo - Underwater Astonishments
Check out minute marker 4:18. The next 60 seconds will blow your mind.

9. Elaine Morgan - We Evolved From Aquatic Apes
I love people who champion the minority opinion. Elaine displays such courage and-- interestingly enough-- insight. Inspiration to challenge the powers-that-be.

8. Barry Schwartz - Our Loss of Wisdom
If you love this talk you'll love Barry's books. This is one of the best talks making a case for values-based leadership rather than rules based.

7. Bill Strickland - Make Change with a Slide Show
A little on the long side, but worth watching 10 minutes of. The only talk as far as I know that is accompanied by music. Simply beautiful and inspiring for anyone who wants to create change in the world.

6. Robert Neuwirth - Shadow Cities
Giving dignity to the "slums" that will be tomorrow's cities. If you want to influence the future you need to understand this trend. Inspired me to skype with a "shadow city" expert in South Africa to learn more.

5. Wade Davis - Endangered Cultures
A speech where prose and poetry become indistinguishable. Begs the question: is it possible to create culture and preserve culture at the same time?

4. Jacqueline Novogratz - A Third Way To Think About Aid
One of the most influential quotes for me came from this talk: "Dignity is more important to the human spirit than wealth."

3. JJ Abrams - Mystery Box
The best talk on storytelling that I've ever heard. As an aspiring (and occasionally inspiring) storyteller I think about this talk often. Plus JJ is hilarious.

2. Elizabeth Gilbert - Nurturing Creativity
The best pragmatic case ever made for a spirituality outside of humanity. The world needs more women communicators and Elizabeth is a great example of what one looks like.

1. Sir Ken Robinson - Schools Kill Creativity
I love education. My parents are amazing educators, as were my parent's parents. I teach at Pepperdine University. Years from now this talk will be referenced as a turning point in how America (and the world) looks at education. Welcome to the future.

Rules vs. Values

I have a friend who works for the government and can't tell me exactly what he does.

It has something to do with artificial intelligence and video cameras.

I begged him one time to give me a hint and he said this:

"When you look at a guy walking down the street and he gets into a car, you know intuitively that the guy is -- suprise!-- now in the car. But a computer doesn't know that intuitively. You have to program rules to tell the computer that what it is tracking is now inside something else. Then you continue to do this for every conceivable situation."

After a while, as you can probably guess, there are a lot of rules. Thousands upon thousands of rules.

This is why for the first 50 years of artificial intelligence they haven't been able to make computers that can operate at the same speed and intuition as the human mind-- unless it's in the highly regimented and specified context of games like Chess.

Another approach to artificial intelligence has emerged over the past 20 years or so and it approaches things very differently. Rather than programing thousands of rules, they program simple machines with 3 or 4 rules. Then they give the machine a goal and then give it memory-- so that it can learn.

A few rules.
A goal.
Memory.

What they've discovered is that when these machines are put into mazes and other complex and even dynamic learning environments they are able to learn, adapt and progress to a goal much better than the rule oriented A.I. They can improvise and even surprise the people who invented the machines as they evolve in unpredictable ways.

Leadership in organizations exist in much the same way.

You can create a long list of things you want people to do. You can create lots of rules in a manual or training binder, etc. Or you can help people embrace a handful of values and then be surprised at their innovation. You can train people to death or you can throw them in the deep end and teach them how to swim.

One of the worst things you can do in an entrepreneurial culture is over train. Mostly because what you teach people by over training is "you can't do this yet." But if you give people a goal and help them embrace your values they will find greatness and ingenuity inside of them that they didn't even know they had.

On the flip side, if you're not getting the output you want from people or teams there are 3 possible reasons. 1. The team doesn't know what the goals are. 2. The team doesn't have the same values. 3. The team isn't learning as it makes mistakes and successes.

So how about your work environment? Do they (or you) over train or do they (or you) struggle with one of the 3 problems above?

And how about the cultures you lead-- friends or family or teams or clubs-- do you lead by creating rules or by instilling values?

From Volunteer to Vigilante

What is the first thing you think about when you think of the word "volunteer"?

Here are some responses from a recent facebook poll:

"Knocking on doors getting people to donate canned food."
"Doing something good."
"Helping others."
"Not paid - but that's OK." (Thanks, Mom!)
"To give away your time and energy with no tangible reward or recognition."
"It's always more hours than you anticipated, but sometimes there are unexpected results that make you glad you did."
"Giving up your time to give back to those in need."
"Civic duty, college applications."
"Service."

And several people thought of Tennessee basketball.

Some common themes to these definitions were this: It's something I do here or there. It's helping out. Collecting goods, moving boxes, handing out food, filing, passing out fliers, cleaning bathrooms. It's something I do for college applications.

What I discovered is that, without a serious face-lift, the word "volunteer" has little sex-appeal. And almost always "volunteer" and "leader" are not used in the same sentence. Volunteering is something you do for or with leaders but it is not generally thought of as leading in and of itself.

But why not? How did leadership and volunteering get put in separate categories?

This is why I think volunteering is a good place to start, but eventually we must shift from volunteers to vigilantes.

[vij-uh-lan-tee]: one who is alert, watchful, takes responsibility of.

Vigilantes are people who don't wait to be recruited. They don't serve a little here or there. They don't help a cause. They own a cause. Vigilantes are volunteers who lead. They say "this is something that needs to change and I'm not going to stop serving until it does."

We need volunteers. But we're desperate for vigilantes.

The Music Of Your Life

Once there was a man who was struck by lightening and suddenly had an insatiable appetite for music.

Another man had the worst case of amnesia in recorded history but could still learn and play classical music on the piano.

A third man suffered from Parkinson's disease and could not even button up his own shirt...unless he was humming a tune that he knew from his youth.

These stories in Oliver Sacks' Musicophilia tell of the power of music.

I'm still in the process of finishing my short film. Post-production is the biggest pain in the rear for anyone who has absolutely no skills in it.

My friend Dave is helping me with the score.

I liked my rough cut even without the music. My Assistant Director, Director of Photography and my Editor were completely amazing and helped me get the shots I needed to make what I saw in my head.

Yet when Dave put music behind it...

Everything got better.

Earlier in the year I wrote a blog about how PIXAR can be tempted to do visually what bad after-school specials blatantly do audibly: they use their craft to tell you how to feel rather than the enhancing how the story feels.

Whether you agree with that or not isn't really the point. The point is that music is so...powerful.

Music is like nitrous oxide in the gas tank of a story. Put it in an empty tank and the tank might explode. But combine it with the gasoline of good storytelling and-- watch out-- your soul will soar, dive, weep, laugh, reflect, live in ways you didn't know was possible.

Music is like nuclear power: it can create unbelievable good and can be used for unbelievable harm (i.e. the Jonas Brothers).

Just kidding.

Music not only adds to the stories we tell. Music adds to the stories we live. Like the man with Parkinson's who literally needs music to put on his clothes. Or the man who tragically cannot remember who his wife is but can find joy in Beethoven's 5th.

Music can be a healing balm, or water in a desert that helps parts of us grow that are too fragile to stand up on their own.

What is the music to your life? What's your soundtrack? And what parts of you do you keep hidden that only music gets to see?

Build Well.

In 1932 a carpenter in the small town of Billlund, Denmark created a toy company of small blocks that children could play with.

The company name was LEGO.

Just about everyone loves LEGOs. My nephews are currently 4 and 2 and they love these little bricks of creative goodness. Over Christmas my parents and my wife Sarah and I got Xander-- the 4-year-old-- the same LEGO set. We got him the same stinkin' toy. Same box. Everything.

He didn't care.

He just wanted to build.

Whether it's sandcastles, playdough, boxes in the closet, constructs (remember those?) or LEGOS, children have this almost compulsive need to build.

For a while I looked at my nephews with a jealous nostalgia. "Those kids are so lucky," I'd say. "They get to play with LEGOS." And my wife will buy me LEGOS every now and then.

But then I realized that when it comes to building, getting older actually makes it better.

We used to only be able to play with little plastic bricks. But as adults we have more resources and opportunity to build.

We used to be able to only make little LEGO cars. But now I have friends who design concept cars for Honda. We used to only be able to build castles in the sand. But now we get to build cities. We used to lead only the stuffed animals or action figures on the living room floor, but today-- if we choose-- we get to lead people into a better future.

The older we get the more we get to really build.

Which made me wonder: what am I building? What thing(s) am I giving my time and energy? What does it mean to live a life that builds well?

Incidentally, the word "LEGO" comes from the Danish phrase "leg godt."

It means "to play well." The latin means "to put things together."

May that be true of our lives as well.

May we put things together. May we play well. May we build.

Create Change.

Creating change in the world sounds so intimidating, doesn't it?

I mean, where do we start? The problems are so big.

Sometimes because we don't know where to start we never start at all. Sometimes the problem seems so big that we decide to not tackle it.

Granted, this doesn't stop people with genuine courage. But it might stop you sometimes and it certainly has stopped me more times than I'd like to admit.

So here is a 3-step process to get you going in the right direction. Each step is more complicated than it sounds, but this offers a kind of big-picture outline for how things-- almost anything-- gets started.

1. Model what you really are about.

This is the sincerity-o-meter. Before you call anyone to anything you've got to live it yourself. The blood has got to be on your sleeve before others will bleed with you. Take a cue from Ghandi and start volunteering before you ask others to.

2. Invite them into your modeling lifestyle.

Anything worth doing can't be done alone. Especially if you care about making real change rather than just clocking in and having "doing good" on your to-do list. Once you own it, invite others in. What you're doing is important-- it's worth people giving up an hour, or two hours or money or whatever.

3. Challenge them to challenge others.

This is the last step that most people forget and is also the step leaders jump to too quickly. This is where you challenge the people who come with you who are now-- because of you-- modeling themselves something worth giving their lives to-- to bring their friends along side them.

Step one is self-leadership, step two is others-leadership, and step 3 is cultural leadership. It can be you, then one friend and then 5 of you together doing stuff. Or it can be you, then 10 friends and then 100. Or it can be you, then 50 and then 500.

Either way, you have to ask yourself: how much potential do I have to create positive change in the world? It's not about whether you're as talented as so-and-so, it's about what you are capable of creating. What is the size of the wake you are capable of?

It's probably bigger than you think.

So Model. Invite. Challenge.

Passion. Skills. Opportunity.

I love it when things are simple.

Of course, things are hardly ever simple.

Yet this has been helpful for me: passion, skills and opportunity. These are the three things you need to grow in your life. These are three tools you can use to help others.

Ever feel like you're burning out? 90% of the time it's not fatigue or busyness that's the problem. It's your passion. You've lost sight of why what you're doing is really, really important.

Ever feel like what you're doing is not working? Before you blame everyone else, probably what you need are better skills.

Ever feel bored? Or maybe frustrated that you can't do more? What you're missing is opportunity. You either need to work it out with the powers that be or start creating new opportunities for yourself.

On the flip side, this applies to leading others as well.

If we help people cultivate passion and give them opportunity but we don't help them develop their skills, their impact will be small and they'll be discouraged.

If we help people develop skills and give them opportunity but ignore their passion, they'll burn out and stop caring.

If we give them passion and develop their skills but don't give them opportunity to stretch their wings, they'll get frustrated and eventually leave.

So what do you need? What about the people you lead?

Do they need more passion? Do they need to see why what they're doing is important?

Do they need better skills? Do they need practical, tangible ways to move forward?

Do they need opportunity? Do they need stretching tasks or projects that really challenge them to become who they want to be?

What to do when you can't.

I was talking with a friend the other day and we were discussing various challenges in our lives. About one particular project he was working on he concluded, "It's just never going to be what I want it to be."

Have you ever felt that way? In a relationship or a job or a task or project? It's definitely not the way we wanted it so we concluded that it will never be the way we want it.

About an hour later it struck me. I said to my friend, "You mentioned earlier that your project will never be what you want it to be..."

He knew where I was going before I even finished. He's brilliant like that.

So he finished my thought, "Yeah, I think what I meant was that I don't know how to make it what I want it to be."

Exactly.

How many times do I turn the phrase "I don't know how" into "I can't"?

"I can't" is so much easier. It's so final. It absolves us of all responsibility. After all-- if you can't do it why should you be expected to?

"I don't know how" on the other hand hints at possibility. "I don't know how" means that you can ask someone else. It means you might be able to learn. It means there could be brighter days.

For my friend, surely there were people he could ask who are wiser than he or have done what he wants to accomplish. Surely there's a solution to his problem. Surely there are solutions to my problems, too.

So what are the "I cant's" or "It won'ts" in your life? What if we re-examined those "cant's" and started asking "What if I could but I just don't know how yet?" What could that do for our jobs, family, or community?

Top 10 Films of 2009

I am addicted to these lists.

So I thought I'd add my own.

Disclosure: I haven't seen all the films of 2009 that I'd like to. Most notably: Hurt Locker, Pirate Radio, Julia and Julia and a few others. But I've seen most of what I've wanted to see. So here it is-- my personal favorite films from the past 365 days.

10. It Might Get Loud

This little gem gets as close as you're going to get into three of the best guitarists in the world's minds about their craft. Beautifully done and completely inspiring if you have a musicians inclination or a love of music.

9. Duplicity

Totally overshadowed by a much worse Clive Owen film "The International" -- this poorly marketed and subversively funny film takes two rival toiletry companies and imagines them with intelligence budgets that rival the U.S. Government. Actually, it's not that hard to imagine.

8. Invictus

I am falling deeper in love with Clint Eastwood as a director. His methodical story telling style might drive some crazy...but the subtle greatness that plays out during the course of this film is worth reflecting on and Clint paints the picture beautifully.

7. Sherlock Holmes

What I'm calling the (hopefully) Indiana Jones for our generation. Shia Lebouf isn't going to be him. Brendan Frasier tried to be with "The Mummy" franchise. And with all it's flaws, Sherlock Holmes is still a clever period piece that rips through it's story in a way only Guy Richie can.


6. Inglorious Basterds

Not for the vengeance stuff (I never like vengeance movies) but for the way Quinton knows how to hold you in suspense with simple set pieces and dialogue that slowly winds its way down the plot like a lazy river...that eventually drops into a amazon waterfall of drama.

5. Funny People

This movie touched me with Adam Sandler's lonely artist surrounded by nothing but stale success. The fact that they told the story and made me laugh out loud at the same time makes it one of my favorites of the year.

4. (500) Days of Summer

Best romantic comedy of the year. Sure, it was shamelessly marketed to hipsters. But a choreographed dance sequence the morning after a great night-- complete with animated birds-- has got to make you feel good. And feelin' good makes my day.

3. A Serious Man

I can't stop thinking about this movie. It is hauntingly original. It starts with a yiddish folk tale and ends with...well...it's the Coen brother's commentary on the book of Job. I loved it.

2. The Hangover

Not only is this the funniest movie of the year, it also was a pretty good "who dunnit?" film that was artfully remixed as a "what happened?" film. You didn't always know where the story was taking you...(not that you cared)...but that it actually took you someplace was totally satisfying.

1. Up In The Air

I totally loved this movie. So does the Golden Globes. So will the Academy. Go see it tonight. It won't necessarily make you feel good (I mean, I felt good...but I've heard other people didn't)...but it will make you reflect-- something increasingly rare these days.