​Colleagues,
 
Today I am breaking my own rules.
 
The past six weeks have been challenging for the Buskey family. We have lost my mother-in-law, and uncle-in-law, and tomorrow will lay to rest my 57-yearold brother-in-law. In between all of this Pam, three of my four kids, and I all contracted COVID-19.
 
I don’t share this as a call for sympathy, but rather as evidence that sometimes our lives are disrupted to the extent that our desires, agendas, and routines either lose their meaning or simply don’t work.
 
As I write this on Wednesday, December 16, I am breaking my own rules:

1. Instead of an MVP list of 3 things that have to get done to call the day a win, I have a laundry list of 21 things… and growing.
2. I haven’t prioritized anything on my list by quadrants (1 - urgent and important, 2 - important but not urgent, 3 – urgent but not important)
3. I’m just wandering around the house doing pieces of one thing before bouncing to something else. It’s 10:45 and finishing this message will be the first thing I actually complete.

 
However, right now I am okay with breaking these rules. I may get to the point later today where I go back to being strategic, but right now it feels okay to meander around. At this moment, that is the best I am capable of.
 
Please take two lessons from today’s message:

1. When you break your rules, do so consciously and with intention.
2. As BB King said (paraphrasing), “Every day I do my best, but some days my best is better than other days.”

 
The daily message is going on a two-week hiatus and will return January 4, 2021.
 
Have a great holiday season!
 
Do good and be well,
 
Frederick

​Colleagues,
 
One of the keys to good marketing is creating a sense of urgency in the buyer’s mind. Why? Because urgency causes us to act without thinking everything through. It also focuses us on the immediacy of perceived loss if we don’t act quickly.
 
Last Saturday I was deep into our kitchen mini-remodel, part of which includes a new sink. I was in the habitat for Humanity Restore looking for treasures and found a new garbage disposal. It was a $150 disposal priced at just $50. It had never been used!
 
I got all excited. We’d never had a garbage disposal before and this was a great bargain. I knew it wouldn’t last long and that I needed to make a decision right then and there.
 
However, as I began thinking it through, I realized a couple of things:

1. I didn’t know how to install a garbage disposal
2. It would require an additional electric plug and switch
3. We had raised four kids and never had a garbage disposal.

 
I realized that the idea of getting such a great deal was driving my desire, and that a new garbage disposal really wouldn’t add to my quality of life.
 
In fact, the disposal would have cost me $50 plus more for wiring and taken a couple hours of time. That time would add to the hours that we were without a kitchen sink. I closed my eyes and could see mountains of dirty dishes.
 
I put the disposal back on the shelf and drove home imagining what I could do with $50 and a couple of spare hours.
 
Do good and be well,
 
Frederick

​Colleagues,
 
My workshop is a mess. It has always been a mess. I could make excuses about the small space, not having enough time, and how everyone dumps junk in my shop (especially me). While these things are obstacles to having and maintaining a clean shop, they aren’t the reason it is a mess.
 
Part of my problem is that I focus on doing the projects. I jump from one thing to another and don’t take adequate time to clean up. I also never invested time on the front end to develop a really good system of organization. As a result, all of my projects are more difficult because I can’t find things and I don’t have space to lay things out.
 
How does this tie to strategic leadership? 
 
Think of an organized shop as representing management and the projects representing leadership. There are lots of thoughts about the difference between management and leadership. Since the 1980’s the idea of managing has become eclipsed by an emphasis on leadership. 
 
From a six dimensions of organizations perspective, we can think of managers as being focused on each of the three supporting dimensions – structures, resources, and people, while leaders are more focused on aligning these dimensions to the purpose.
 
Alignment is much more exciting and rewarding work, but if the three supporting dimensions are a mess, does alignment really matter?
 
I’m trying to talk myself into managing my shop as it will make everything else easier. I’m also trying to talk you into looking at your structures, resources, and people. Are they well organized and in good shape? If so, everything else will be easier.
 
Do good and be well,
 
Frederick

​Colleagues,
 
Another unintended consequence of our new floors has been a kitchen mini-remodel. 
 
We made a last second decision to run the new floor over the entire kitchen instead of installing it around the existing cupboards. We knew we would remodel the kitchen at some point, and there was an island that we weren’t sure we wanted to keep. So, it made sense to detach all the base cabinets and run the new floor under them.
 
As you can imagine, not everything that came out of the kitchen went back into the kitchen! We considered doing a real kitchen remodel but decided we didn’t have the resources.
 
Instead, we did a mini-remodel consisting of moving around some appliances, installing new countertops, and rearranging the cabinetry. We had to buy a couple of cabinets to fit the new arrangement. Also, during all the moving around, our decrepit sing developed a leak, which I happily declared could not be fixed!
 
We have been doing the remodel in phases and several times we have had cabinets emptied out and the kitchen contents packed into the dining room and spilling into the living room. This has prolonged the upheaval in our house, which we began pulling apart in mid-October.
 
While all this mess was an inconvenience six weeks ago, it has now become a serious stressor with negative consequences on our mental and physical well-being.
 
People can tolerate a mess for a while, but eventually it begins to degrade their performance. Of course, you already know this, but it is a good thing to reflect on right now.
 
Do good and be well,
 
Frederick

​Colleagues,
 
Yesterday I wrote about focusing on the solution before the problem. For your Friday reflection today, consider taking some time to run through any significant initiatives you have going on right now and ask one simple question of each of them: what problem are you trying to solve?
 
Hopefully this will be painless, but you may uncover something important. Have a great weekend.
 
Do good and be well,
 
Frederick