No fail, no success. Know fail? Know success!

by Lawrence J. J. Leonard

Let’s look at this situation and see if we can use it to help us measure success. Here is a common scenario. It will either be a recipe that is fit for a righteous celebration or a tactical party pooper. 

Success Cake

These are our Success Cake people ingredients: The Group Leader, who manages the Kitchen; a stable of Culinary Professionals; the order from our important customer is a request for a Success Cake. Not just one cake, but a Success Cake from each of the Culinary Professionals. The Success Cake must be made according to the established Kitchen recipe.

These are our Success Cake work ingredients: Dedication, punctuality, teamwork, individual effort, leadership, best practices, meetings, feedback, output, improvements, and, of course, failure. Why? Failure in the past is what helps us remember what to avoid and what to prevent.

These are our Success Cake measurements: sufficiently increased brand awareness (chocolate), higher revenues (two layers), and an enlarged customer base (royal icing). If we can meet all three of these criteria, then aren’t we just doing our jobs?

We work together in a kitchen with Culinary Professionals whose experience ranges from a few months in this kitchen, but years in others, to professionals with many years in this kitchen and no other locations. What happens if there is an ingredient missing?

Someone left the cake out in the rain . . .

Memo to … Self

by Lawrence J. J. Leonard

Ever wanted to give that all important communiqué to that ONE PERSON who needed an attitude adjustment, or just begged to be told the way it is? I am just not able to describe the passionate and righteous intensity of that process!

Sometimes that person is me. Sometimes I am the one who should receive that message. In either case, this type of message is not always delivered on time. Missing the opportunity to put someone in their place can be a really GOOD thing. A slow reaction to make this kind of response may be the BEST thing that ever happened to our Personal Brand.

We all know that there are certain people who don’t even know that they are foolish because their power and authority in business, or in our social hierarchy, protects them from getting their comeuppance.

So freaking aggravating, isn’t it? 

What causes this condition?

Truth Recipe

by Lawrence J. J. Leonard

Once upon a time there existed a civilization called the Mesopotamians. These people accepted the logic of the elements, the weather, density, weight ratios, and natural powers much mightier than themselves.

They accepted these things as the ingredients of their lives.

This was their “truth” in its basic and practical form.

Let’s take the cute “Weather Rock,” a charming little tchotchke often sold to tourists in the American west.

The instructions read:

Turn around

by Lawrence J. J. Leonard

When the sun broke through the clouds,
the heat shot through his bones.
He was walking away from her.

She told him to hurry up
and get to the launch zone and leave. 

Time ticked on, helping her anger

Change is not a skill to be mastered

by Lawrence J. J. Leonard

Change is not a skill to be mastered. Why? We can only escort it though our thoughts and deliver it unto our processes.
Once there, we must learn to walk with it. As soon as we start making changes, we only have yesterday for a comparison.  
Nobody has to change. Something about us always does because of the situations we are in.

American writer Libba Bray writes about a character named Gemma Doyle. Doyle has a revelation in The Sweet Far Thing concerning change: “With this power, there is no telling what I can do to change what needs to be changed.”

What is that power? Electric, supernatural, or is it the will to do so?

Even if we don’t have to change,

The Toothpaste Moment

by Lawrence J. J. Leonard

How many meetings have we been to when, unexpectedly, one person in the group comments about something another member has done or said?

We may have heard this declared or even aimed in our direction: “That’s so odd. I just have to say.”

Did the person who just got labeled as “odd”
FEEL something negative because of that declaration?
Yes.

Declarations such as this are markers.
They are the DNA of culture bias.
They are cultivated in

*Reliable *Dependable *Sustainable

by Lawrence J. J. Leonard

The following article dissects communication. Ultimately, it defines relationship. I decided to share this with you because it should be as obvious as a big red barn. For some of us, it will all hit home when reading the last line. No worries. You are still cool with me.

Either way, I want you to get the full effect. There is a word that qualifies communication and is also key to achieving relationship.

It is how a Michelin Star chef prepares each dish.

It is the noteworthy modifier for reliable and dependable service, causing a sustainable relationship between customer and purveyor.

When you figure out this word, please check yourself at the bottom of this page.