More business savvy from Arlene Dickinson; don’t die at 60 with your millions
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Change, Wellness
Arlene Dickinson is smart, savvy and easy to listen to. She’s CEO of Venture Communications, ‘one of Canada’s largest marketing firms’.
At a recent talk she gave, she was asked for her top advice. Here it is, plain and simple.
‘Thank god you don’t live in Haiti [or more recently earthquake stricken Chile]. We are blessed to live in this country.’
More specifically:
- ‘opportunities exist to get through tough times, we have freedom and democracy, we have so much’
- ‘we have to look forward, that’s what entrepreneurs do, make it happen, there’s always a market’
- ‘it’s a marathon not a sprint – take care of your diet, sleep and exercise – stay healthy. The average millionaire in the US dies at the age of 60′
Are you sprinting or in it for the marathon? How do yo know?
Like this post? Here are two more about Arlene’s business philosophy.
Tags: arlene dickinson, business, chile, democracy, earthquake, entrepreneur, freedom, haiti, health, lee-anne ragan, marathon, millionaire, philosophy, rock.paper.scissors, sprint, venture communications
Aim for regrets
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Change, Conflict
A while back I listened as Arlene Dickinson kept a large audience rapt with her business successes and her trials and tribulations. She’s the only woman on the wildly successful Dragon’s Den, “where aspiring entrepreneurs pitch their business concepts and products to a panel of Canadian business moguls who have the cash and the know-how make it happen.”
Arlene talked of years ago, riding up a ski lift with a young looking guy who was carrying a ‘weird looking board’. They chatted. The guy gave her his card as he wanted her marketing help.
Her thoughts? This will never fly. There’s no way these things are going to be allowed on the mountain. No way, uh uh.
The weird looking board turned out to be none other than a Burton snowboard, a company which has been ’standing sideways since ‘77′. Burton built the worlds first snowboard factory and is now the largest snowboard brand in the world.
What I love about Arlene’s story is that she goofed and kept going. Sure she has regret but none larger than the regret if she hadn’t pushed forward, as a single mom and hadn’t built a successful business. The Burton regret is peanuts by comparison.
Instead of regret being a measure of what we didn’t do and what we missed, perhaps regret should be seen as an indicator of a life fully lived, of chances taken, of new paths forged through densely shrouded forest.
If you don’t have regrets maybe you’re not stretching enough and playing it too safe.
Regrets don’t have to mean what we missed out on but rather can be a measure that we took chances, reached for the gold ring, tried new and scarily different things. We should aim for more regrets. While some ideas will go sideways (ergo the regret) lots more will be successful.
What do you regret? What does your regret indicate?
Like this post? Here’s another post on Arlene’s business philosophy.
Tags: burton, change management, Creativity, learning, lee-anne ragan, regret, rock.paper.scissors, snowboard
Bobsledding – brake or steer? You can’t do both
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Change, Conflict
Bobsledding circa 1910
As the sun sets on the biggest celebration Vancouver’s ever seen my thoughts are returning to the Olympic bobsled competition I watched recently in Whistler.
Run like hell for up to 50 meters, hop in, head down and then, if you’re the guy in back, you’re only role is to brake. The person whose back you’re nestled into steers. At up to 118 mph or 180 km/h.
Bobsledding was invented in the late 1800’s when the owner of a resort in San Moritz, Switzerland was trying to find things for his wealthy guests to do. Enter the rejigged delivery sled et voila bobsled. Only problem was the bobsledders were having too much fun sliding down the village alleys and lanes …. and smashing into folks. Enter the dramatic reason to build a dedicated course.
From my icy perch at Whistler I watched the sleds roar around the track – you could hear them come thundering down from some distance away. Occasionally sleds tipped over and still kept swallowing up the track at an alarmingly fast rate.
I wondered what it must be like to be the guy in the back. The guy who puts on the brake. Who says ‘whoa’. Who’s role is to stop the sled, or slow it down. And all of this without being able to see.
How many of us have our heads down and are focused on the brake? As in ‘Nope, can’t do that’. ‘That won’t work’. ‘We tried that before it crashed and burned’.
How many of us give up our role of steering, of having control over the direction of our lives? It’s easier to follow the pack’s course. Less risky. Less chance of failure. Less chance of sticking out like a sore thumb.
I say the stuck out thumb is the one that gets the ride.
How can you stick out your thumb, steer your own course and leave the braking to someone else?
Tags: 2010, bobsled, bobsleigh, change management, control, learning, lee-anne ragan, olympics, rock.paper.scissors, vancouver, whistler, winter olympics
Beating the dual drums of familiarity & excitement
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Change, Conflict
I was reading an article on stewarding online communities the other day and it talked about balancing comfort and familiarity with newness and excitement.
I think we all need comfort and we all need excitement. What varies is our individual ratios of one to the other.
Some of us like to eat the same thing for breakfast, take the same route to work, do our work in a routine way, take the same vacation at the same time of the year in the same place with the same folks. Those routines are comfortable, knowable and knowing to some. Pushing these folks to do something new can be anything but exciting, rather something to be dreaded.
Welcome our custodians of tradition our bearers of familiar rhythms and predictable cycles.
Others crave difference, the thrill that comes with being edgy and trying something new, whether it be a new idea, a new hobby, a new vacation destination, or a new way of doing something simply for the sake of newness. Unpredictability is something they yearn for and seek out. Pushing these folks into a routine can cause untold headaches and rebellion.
Welcome our seekers of adventure, our experimenters, our celebrators of change.
During the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics I’m sure this ratio is something coaches, athletes and officials are acutely aware of. The desire for the familiarity of home coupled with the edginess brought on by adventure and novelty.
And you? Where do you sit? What drum do you beat with most frequency, that of familiarity and comfort or the one that’s new and exciting?
Tags: adventure, Change, comfort, excitement, familiarity, lee-anne ragan, rock.paper.scissors, routine
Curious definition of stress
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Change, Conflict, Parenting, Wellness
I went to a talk at my kids’ school the other night about drug abuse prevention. Interesting material and great presenter.
One of the things that caught my attention was the presenter’s definition of stress.
Before I tell you what it was, what’s yours? Definition of stress that is.
The dictionary calls it “a state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or very demanding circumstances.”
Sounds significant.
The presenter called stress the result of emotions that aren’t dealt with.
Simple. Clean. Manageable. This means that emotion we don‘t deal with or acknowledge is a shortcut to stress.
I like that she didn’t say you have to necessarily solve your stress inducing problems. She didn’t say bliss out and force a smile on your face.
She did say acknowledge.
As in my shoulder hurts again. I feel under pressure.
As in my scalp is tingling. I’m chock full of anticipation.
As in my chest feels tight. I’m scared.
As in my heart feels bigger than my body. I’m full of love.
As in my throat feels tight. I’m sad and about to choke up.
Dealing with your emotions hits as home run. Dealing with your emotions is a direct path to reducing stress. Clearly.
And you? How are your emotions connected to your stress level?
Tags: change management, drug abuse, emotion, learning, lee-anne ragan, rock.paper.scissors, strain, stress, tension
Fail forward
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Change, Communication, Conflict
When Albert Einstein was asked what the best source of invention was he replied ‘mistakes’ (as heard on Terry O’Reilly’s Age of Persuasion).
The only time we don’t make mistakes is when we’re sleeping (found on an IKEA postcard).
Why then do we deny mistakes? Cover them up? Hide from them? Are embarrassed by them?
Is it fear of not fitting in? Feeling like a fool?
I still remember, from grade 10 science class, that getting a burn from steam is worse than getting a burn from touching something hot. I remember because I initially got the question wrong. The act of correcting it seems to have seared (no pun intended) it in to my brain.
Here’s to mistakes in all their glorious messiness. Here’s to failing forward.
And you? What mistakes have you made lately?
Tags: age of persuasion, albert einstein, cbc, cbc radio, change management, ikea, invention, learning, lee-anne ragan, mess, mistakes, perspective, rock.paper.scissors, terry o'reilly, training
Head down – it’s in the details
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Communication
This is the view from the Athlete’s village in the Welcoming Ceremony area …. when you look down. As a 2010 Vancouver Olympic volunteer I’ve learned a lot about details, alot about looking down.
I thought I was a detail person to start with. I had nothing on the Olympics.
Names on athlete’s participation certificates are double and even triple checked. Processes, like distributing mail, have multiple forms to fill in. Allocating Victory Ceremony tickets for non-accredited participants takes a looooooooooonnnnnnnnggggg time. I created the form (with multiple columns to check off) to prove it.
Allocating complimentary tickets to sporting events to the National Olympics Committees takes even longer.
As volunteers we have our heads down, focused on details, minutia, routines, schedules, counting medal pouches over and over, adding up numbers, double checking, triple checking until we’re all but cross eyed.
This so the athletes can look up. Look to gold. Look to shaving off a few hundredths of a second. Look to making a difference on the world stage.
What do you look down at? What’s your view of the details?
Tags: 2010 olympics, details, lee-anne ragan, olympics, rock.paper.scissors, routine, vancouver, winter olympics
Leaving behind Tim Hortons at the Olympics
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Change, Wellness
This is the view that greets me most mornings as I start my volunteer shift as a NOC assistant for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.
Tim Hortons on the sidelines. Cups of caffeine left behind, lined up along the garbage can, as we weave our way through security into the athlete’s village. No liquids allowed.
There’s a million reasons to celebrate… the Olympics, this city, being Canadian.
The Olympics have taken over. We find ourselves cheering for unfamiliar sports (who invented the skeleton race anyway?). We burst into singing the Canadian anthem with pride and spontaneity.
Love them or hate them we’re immersed. Schedules run amok. Routines are out the window. Familiar traffic routes are no more.
I have to concentrate to figure out what day it is and what time of day it is. The other day I jumped out of bed at 5:37 am shouting expletives because I thought I’d overslept and missed my 5:35 bus which would take my sleepy butt to my next volunteer shift.
That is until a sleepy husband reminded me I was on the night shift.
When were you last immersed in something, when up became down and right became left? And thinking of those lonely Tim Horton cups, what did you have to leave behind in order to move forward?
Tags: 2010 olympics, celebrate, change management, lee-anne ragan, olympics, perspective, rock.paper.scissors, routine, tim hortons, time, vancouver
Best case scenario
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Conflict, Creativity, Wellness
“Your mind will automatically go to the worst case scenario. So practice the best case scenario.”
Wise words from my massage therapist.
I love when my attention is caught and held by something that shakes up my preconceptions. That highlights patterns of thinking that I wasn’t aware of. When my synapses sparkle.
With all due respect to my amygdala, the two almond shaped bits buried deep in our brains, that filter all incoming information and ask one main question of it all.
Am I safe?
If the amagdala decides yes, then the information is passed along to to our cerebral cortex for higher thinking. Seth Godin calls the amygdala our lizard brain (because it’s the only part of the brain that a lizard has). Jill Bolte Taylor, the famous neuroscientist who experienced a massive stroke, writes about it in her book “Stroke of Insight”.
We’re already really good at awfulizing or practicing worst case scenarios. Our amygdala’s work overtime.
It’s time to assuage the amygdala’s doubts and let it rest. Let’s practice best case scenarios. Imagine what the world would be like if that was our default…..
Tags: amygdala, awfulizing, best case scenario, change management, Creativity, jill bolte taylor, learning, lee-anne ragan, lizard brain, rock.paper.scissors, seth godin, stroke of insight, worst case scenario
A sneak peak of the Olympic Opening Ceremonies
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Change, Social Responsibility
Rock.Paper.Scissors playing RCMP roving characters at the North Van Olympic torch relay, pictured here with Premier Gordon Campbell.
I was lucky enough to take part in the dress rehearsal of the 21st Vancouver Winter Olympic Opening Ceremonies.
The same ceremonies that will be viewed by some 3 billion (with a b) eyeballs later today.
I spent most of the time with tears coursing down my face. If you were there and if you inhaled deeply enough you would have been able to smell the slight tinge of saline mixed with an older, slightly musty smell… the smell of Canadian pride being brought out, dusted off and worn for all to see.
Shivers danced up and down my spine like aerial acrobats. My mouth gaped like a kid on Christmas day, getting the present ever. Ever.
I was caught off guard by the emotion, the deep swelling of pride in this nation.
The same nation we’re slow to praise and quick to make fun of.
We’re not noisy about our love affair with our country like our neighbours to the south. In fact we often get drowned out by them. But the pride is there nonetheless.
For the first time First Nations were an integral part of the ceremony. Colours were a blur as nations from the east, west, north and central came and danced and welcomed the world.
The biggest roar was saved for the Canadian athletes as the rounded the bend. For a moment we were united in celebrating their feats to come.
Massive three-tiered banners of fabric hung from the ceiling alternately became the ocean, trees and totem poles as light was shone on and through them. Through some sleight of hand it transformed us, the audience. Gasps were audible. Hands became sore from clapping and throats hoarse from yelling.
The opening scenes were pure BC beauty. Remote snow capped mountain, rugged and regal. And then a lone snowboarder. On top of the world. With a kick he set off, all swirling snow and powder puffs. All eyes were on him as he skimmed effortlessly down crazy steep slopes. Then for a second he disappeared…
… until he burst onto the stage for real, sliding down a huge ramp and with a graceful flip ended up in the middle of the stadium. A sweet taste of what was to come. Magic. Being swept away.
A spoken word artist worked his magic by describing this, our indescribably country and that maybe being Canadian was a simple as saying ‘please’ and ‘thank-you’. And yes, our Z rhymes with Ted dammit.
When KD Lang took to a massive central podium, dressed simply in white and captivated everyone with her version of Hallelujah, she reached deep into everyone’s heart and for a moment, removed the cynic. With breath caught and eyes kindled by with hope, you were caught up in a net cast wide with possibilities.
Audience members were given lights and we played our part as we lit them in sync, until wave after wave, the stadium was alive with light. Other times our lights were the constellations and yet others thunderbolts.
Confession time: for the dress rehearsal we didn’t actually get given the lights but rather pretended to wave them about. Ever resourceful though, folks brought out cell phones and the glowing screens were almost as good. Better in some ways as we all yearned to be part of the magic.
With my IPhone flashlight app I got to be a part of the ceremonies. Not passively sitting there, being a quiet receptacle. But rather, as the social media world has showed us, at the centre, involved, loudly and proudly.
Maybe we can do it. Maybe we can dig ourselves out from under the weight of poverty, war, racism, terrorism and other soul-crushing issues. Maybe there is a god above.
Let the games begin.
(We were asked not to share anything about the ceremonies until the real thing; hence the blackout the first time this post was published this morning. This version is the full version, now that the games are officially underway. I was filled with awe to be part of the rehearsal and have been slightly giddy with keeping the secret.)
Tags: canadian, first nations, hallelujah, KD Lang, leap of faith, learning, lee-anne ragan, olympics, opening ceremonies, pride, rock.paper.scissors, snowboard, vancouver, winter olympics