Islands in the sun . . .

Over the past few days, I have been on the island of Hatzic Lake, British Columbia.  I am here in the land of the lotus eaters.   This little community is right next door to Mission, and near Abbotsford, which is apparently the fastest growing city in Canada.  It is picturesque and au naturelle. 

Preying eagles, hungry coyotes, and of course the ever so popular ducks that casually land in the swimming pool, totally and perhaps strategically missing the lake altogether.  It's nature.  Predators, prey, squatters and runners, all participating in the quest to survive another day.

I watched the last episode of LOST, and I am proud to say, I am lost on what the show is about, so I am thankful that I did not invest 3 years of my life watching it. However, with my 2 hours of experience with this mental mystery, I wonder if the island is a metaphor for our own reality where we each hide a piece of ourselves on a special island of our own, so that we always have a common bond with our own reality.

Watching out the window, the eagles and ducks appear to have this figured out. Their DNA and natural instincts prescribe their natural way of life.  You will never see a mouse turning on a hawk, mid field, and the hawk fleeing for its life.  Here on the island, there are rules of the game and one must respect the law of order. And there are distinct roles on this island of personkind: we have healers, thinkers, doers, dreamers, predators and victims.

The island and its time travel qualities is a well played out theme in literature and life. We often escape to islands when we want to get away from it all. There is something attractive about being marooned and isolated from the land lubbers.  We like to escape and be in another place.  Johnathon Swift created "Gulliver's Travels" as a metaphor for the way he saw things, but couldn't express, due to political and social constraints.  Alfred Tennyson wrote "The Lotus Eaters" in 1832 to explore the concept of escapism.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lotos-Eaters

This age of technology creates a new kind of escapism, and leaves yet another gaping hole to the questions:  Are we there? Is this my reality, or is it someone else's?  Does anybody really know what time it is?  Is anybody out there? Can anyone hear me? 

The movie, "Matrix", explores the supposition that we are subject to a master mind / mainframe, and that we are living via the programming of another.  There is a Biblical parallel to this - the concept that the book is written, and fate unfolds as we make choices along the way, but that we are all destined to a truth. We just don't know what it is yet until we find it.

The answer to all these questions, is it depends on where you are standing.  To illustrate, look at the impact of time zones.  At this moment, my daughter is in Australia,  a continent island surrounded by the sea. She is living in my tomorrow, while I am living my my today. Conversely, she is living in "her" today, and I am living in "her" yesterday. 

You get the point.  Time is relative and so is experience, and yes we are all living on our own islands under the sun. But there is a single truth that I have learned thus far in my journey:   if you are the prey to the eagle,  duck.

Some thoughts on being human

There are moments in life when we try and try, and still it's not enough.  There are times when you wish you would have reacted differently, been more kind, been more generous.  There are days when you wince at the things that were said and done.  These are teaching moments.

They teach us to reflect on the situation and remember it, for better and for worse. Teaching moments sting - they make you wince when you think of them.  Teaching moments bring our humanity back to us so that we remember how to be  . . . human.

Being human is not an easy task for us humans, I find.  Quite often, I think that to be human is to be a great aspiration, and not easy to achieve.

So what is a good human?  To me, a good human is someone who is authentic in who they are and live in their own skin, no matter what.  Good humans stand up for others when they need it, no matter what the repercussions.  Good humans ask for help, and they help others, without being asked.  Those are tall orders.  Think of great humans who embodied these principles and who have shaped our world with their actions:   Gandhi, Martin Luther King. Princess Diana, Mother Teresa . . .


Sometimes I worry that there are not enough good humans.  Truthfully, I tend to see a lot of what I would consider "carnivorous" behavior in the world.  People who would swallow their young to get ahead.  People who would sell their friends down a river for a chance to get up stream.  In fact, sometimes I think this kind of behavior is rewarded.  Maybe that's why many leaders tend to have narcissist behaviors.

All I can say is, nobody is human all the time.  We slip into negative behaviors because we are afraid, intimidated, or our pride and ego is driving us.  Good humans feel others and are empathetic towards them.  But they and we are human, so we make mistakes.

I am happy to report that there are good humans walking among us.  A leader whom I respect is the President of the University of Regina.  She said recently at a Women in Leadership Conference:  She said, "leaders cry sometimes. . . because as a leader, if you didn't invest emotional energy, you are not a leader."

Another leader who I believe to be a great human, my friend, coach and mentor,  recently reminded that everyone fails, everyone falters. Everyone wishes they would have done or said things differently.  It's how you pick yourself up that matters.

It's important to remember . . .

 . . . the path you take and the reasons why.
 . . . the people that matter in the decisons you make.
 . . . when to swallow your pride and ego.
 . . . to let the things that matter, matter.
 . . . that after the bandaid is ripped off, the pain subsides.
 . . . that everything heals.
 . . . that each day ends with the sun set.
 . . . that each day begins with a sun rise.
 . . . that not everyone is on your team.
 . . . that those who are loyal and unconditional deserve your sacrifice.
 . . . that that who are not deserve only your commitment to task.
  . . . that self respect and integrity are what you take with you every day
 . . .  to carry your self respect and integrity home each  night.
 . . . that sometimes the sprint is painful, but is far from the finish line.
 . . . what matters.
. . .  what doesn't.
 . . . who does.
 . . . who doesn't.

How to be a Pink Flamingo in a Brown Duck Pond

Today, I heard quacking, but then I realized I was just listening in the wrong language. Of late, I have been observing the fowl world and more specifically communication, adaptation and behavioral strategies.

I am particularly interested in the contrast between the flamingo and the brown duck because I find these feathered friends to be very familiar with our own species. When one thinks of the flamingo, we think of bright colors. The brown duck is often associated with dull, guarded behavior. The flamingo is thought to be gregarious, fabulous, fiery and flamboyant.

The brown duck is staid, serious, safe and dull in appearance. The flamingo celebrates and dances, while the brown duck perches and waddles. Flamingos like to party in mobs (we have all seen the ever so popular lawn flamingo that often converges in packs of 40 or 50) and brown decks tend to prefer the linear approach to moving together.

And flamingos are revered for their beauty. Ancient Egyptians believed flamingos to be the living representation of the god Ra. The Moche people of ancient Peru worshipped nature. They placed emphasis on animals and often depicted flamingos in their art. Brown Ducks make good decoys.

Let me illustrate with some observations and facts.

Flamingos have what it takes to survive a caustic environment.
The flamingo is often referred to as "Fire Birds" and are some of the only creatures designed to survive in the caustic environment of a volcanic lake. Equipped with a filter-feeding system unlike any other bird on earth, flamingoes' beaks have evolved to skim tiny algae from the water's surface. By swinging their upside-down heads from side to side or swishing water with their fat tongues, flamingos siphon the lake water through their filters to trap algae. They can filter as many as 20 beakfuls of algae-rich water in a single second. This unique feeding system gives flamingos a certain security: while they must watch out for predators like jackals or eagles, they compete with no other animals for food.
(Source: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/firebird/html/facts.html )

Flamingos have balance and appreciate a little zen, now and then. 

Flamingos often stand on one leg, the other tucked beneath the body. The reason for this behavior is not fully understood. Some suggest that the flamingo, like some other animals, has the ability to have half of its body go into a state of sleep, and when one side is rested, the flamingo will swap leg and then let the other half sleep, but this has not been proven. Recent research has indicated that standing on one leg may allow the birds to conserve more body heat, given they spend a significant amount of time wading in cold water. As well as standing in the water, flamingos may stamp their webbed feet in the mud to stir up food from the bottom. 

Flamingos flourish famously and with fervor.

Flamingos have no firm mating season. The parents build a mud-cone nest that holds one egg, which males and females take turn incubating. When the chicks hatch, their parents must take care to keep the infants from falling off the nest into the caustic lake. When they are old enough to venture from the nest, chicks join groups of thousands and explore their home lakes, waiting for their parents to bring them mouthfuls of water at mealtimes. flamingos hatch with grey plumage, but adults range from light pink to bright red due to aqueous bacteria and beta carotene obtained from their food supply.


Flamingos love to stand out, and show off. (Seriously, can you do this?)

A well-fed, healthy flamingo is more vibrantly coloured and thus a more desirable mate. A white or pale flamingo, however, is usually unhealthy or malnourished. Captive flamingos are a notable exception; many turn a pale pink as they are not fed carotene at levels comparable to the wild.


Flamingos love to flash mob dance. 

Posturing and signaling with their wings, bowing and bending their necks, running back and forth as a group, and then suddenly taking flight to wheel around the edges of the lake -- a crowd of dancing flamingos is one of the strangest, most breathtaking sights in the natural world. Is it a mating ritual? Are the birds burning up excess energy? Or do they do it simply for fun? No one is really sure.

Click on the link here to see Flamingos flash mob dance: http://www.boreme.com/boreme/funny-2008/flamingo-mating-dance-p1.php

A lesson from the Ants revisited

Companies today are very interested in engaging their employees to the greatest extent possible because an engaged person tends to work toward greater things. Think about it. If you are engaged in a sport, you contribute your best to help the team be successful, because your success is their success. Businesses are like that, but the problem is, a business does not often present an engaging reason to engage.

I do believe engagement is environmental. It is in fact a necessity for the health of an "ecosystem", be it a company, a person, or an ant colony.  If you are reading these blogs, you might remember the one about the ants in Brazil.  They all got together and used their collective strength to carry a piece of cookie 5 times their size back to their queen. In a colony, ants that don't work, I suspect, don't survive. People are like that too.  A person who is engaged in his or her life is actively living. 

So, if engagement is so important to a person's personal ecosystem,  I often wonder to myself - why do people check out?  Why do they opt out? And why would they actually spend time being unhealthy, which sets an entire path in motion.  In the ant world, my guess this would have negative effects on both the ant and the colony.  We all observe this in the workforce.

But what a waste.  It's hard to get in the game sometimes, and yes, it's hard to care about everything. But one has to care about the people to whom he or she is responsible and his or her commitments.  Step back and think about it. What matters most?  I would say family, health and happiness matter the most. The rest is just geography. 

Some crazy thoughts on visions and values

Picture a triangle. At the top of the triangle is the vision. The peak of the represents the pinnacle. The place to be the ultimate goal. A corporate vision is intended to inspire that sense of desire to belong. Having developed many "visions" for organizations, I can tell you that there is a flaw in the making. 

A corporate vision is seen as a necessary part of the model. The Board of Directors is usually charged with the vision. However, many people actually dislike this process. They see it as wordsmithing. Time wasting. When are we going to get to the real stuff is what they want to know.


But the vision is actually the most important conversation to be had, and it should be created with heart and soul. A vision should have a pulse and embody a desire that is bigger than you and me. It spur us on regardless of the barriers. It should be important enough that people will want to be a part of it.


We create visions in companies to unite the masses under a common quest. That's true. But people have this little thing called "free will." They can chose to believe and act on whatever they chose. So, for the highly engaged, it may be a vision that drives their ambition, but is it the vision of the company. Doubtful.


That's where the values come in, which is how we live the vision.  Values are the test of how we treat each other, especially in difficult times.  I like to think of values as a moving train.  When it is derailed, people notice.  In fact, people will hold their leaders to living the values before they will hold them to a plan.  Values represent the human side of the business equation.  Without values, the vision is empty.  

When words fail you.

Years ago,  I was rushed to the hospital with severe abdominal pain. My children were 3 and 5 years old.  I was not able to communicate with the Ambulance drivers, so they had only visual cues and whatever my husband could tell them to work from.  

When I arrived at the hospital, I remember a haze of questions and people yelling - "Who hit you?! Were you punched in the stomach? Who kicked you?"

Were it not for my friends and family, and a good doctor, I likely would not have survived.  I was suffering with pancreatitis - brought about by a gallstone attack.  That day changed my life.  I spent over 4 weeks in the hospital.  Lost over 35 pounds. It took me more than a year to heal, and to this day, I have not had a Big Mac or a piece of cheesecake. 

Here 's why this matters.  This happens to people every day.  The need to communicate succintly, correctly and without delay can be a life and death situation.  Recently I learned of a communication system called "pictograms" that make this possible. 

Pictograms are all around us.  The most familar would be wheelchair accessibility, handicapped parking, stop, go, yield, information and of course, the ever so important restroom signs.  In a health emergency, pictograms can help the patient communicate by picture. There are pictures that denote the part of the body that is hurt or whether it was an assault or an accident. 

Besides life and death, being able to communicate is about human dignity.  As human beings, we are equipped to think, and communicate concepts.  We want to be heard. We want to tell our story. We depend so much on  communication.  But what happens when you can't? Imagine yourself speechless, but not without thought.

If you have ever travelled to another country, and are alone in your own language, you know that feeling. Pictures can help you get what you need.  In fact pictures are the method by which we learn to communciate as children before we learn words and sentences. 

A pictogram is a symbol that communicates information in a milisecond.  Imagine yourself in a hospital setting, or someone you care for. If you haven't been here, you likely will be someday. 

Today I had the opportunity to visit a booth at the SAHO conference that is launching new system using pictograms in health care facilities.  The system is homegrown in Yorkton, Saskatchewan.  The creators have a passion for helping the healthcare system help their patients - otherwise known as you and me.