Easy Credit

"[Hall of Fame coach] Red Holzman once told me that the true measure of a star was his ability to make the people around him look good." -- Phil Jackson

Outside the lines of the court, is there an easier way to do that than to give credit where credit is due?

- Your co-worker catches a mistake that would have ruined the project. Why not tell the boss?

- Your insurance claim rep was friendly and helpful. Why not call the service hotline with praise?

- Your waiter went the extra mile. How about an extra tip or a comment card?

- Your spouse did the laundry. How about a hug?

Why Compassion Is Cool

"Compassion flows from an understanding that everything derives its essential nature from its dependence on everything else." -- James O'Toole

Put another way, since everything's connected, whenever we help others, we ultimately help ourselves. As if the simple joy of giving were not enough!

Leading By Exam-Pull

"To be effective, leaders must begin by setting aside that culturally conditioned 'natural' instinct to lead by push, particularly when times are tough. Leaders must instead adopt the unnatural behavior of always leading by pull of inspiring values." -- James O'Toole, from his book Leading Change

What are those values? As it happens, an employee opinion survey came out today that rated at 100% their satisfaction with me as their manager. How would I describe my interaction with them?

1. Finding a reason to smile in every conversation.
2. Taking interest in their interests.
3. Encouraging them to try, at the risk of failing.
4. Saying thanks for every effort, and congratulations for every achievement.
5. Putting life ahead of work to the fullest extent possible.
6. "You may be right, I may be wrong."
7. "I'm sorry."

Nothing that hasn't been written in a hundred books, just reflections of one person in one good year.

Pre-Game Dreaming

"Before each game, I usually do forty-five minutes of visualization at home to prepare my mind and come up with last-minute adjustments." -- Phil Jackson

I'm lucky enough to have a mentor who's the senior vice president of our company. She and I meet on Monday morning, and as of late Friday afternoon I'd recorded my progress from the last month but had little plan for the month to come. As luck would also have it, bright sunshine peeked through the afternoon clouds for a couple hours today, long enough for me to spend some undisturbed time in eyes-closed thought. Picturing my arrival in her office, ideas started to flow. By the time my towel and I headed inside, I felt much more prepared. And I'm sure things will jell further as I clean up in the shower on Monday morning.

Gateway To Freedom

"You can dream all you want, but, bottom line, you've got to work with what you've got. Inevitably, the acceptance of boundaries and limits is the gateway to freedom." -- Phil Jackson

There's only one place where we have no limits, and that's in our own mind. Failure in some degree happens daily. Most will forget the failure itself, and remember how we react to it. No one can stop us from smiling.

It turns out that the gutter guys didn't make it out last Saturday as planned, because 90 minutes of rain fell during their appointed time. More rain later that weekend caused flooding in several basements of units unprotected by gutters. What to do? Curse the darkness (or in this case, the wetness)? Or move on to the solution with quiet determination, calling on the neighbors and comforting them with plans for repair. The repairs may not even be as severe as one might imagine. There's always hope, and so always peace.

Do Over... And Over...

"Tex's system helps... players to play basketball with a capital B instead of indulging their self-interest. The principles of the system are the code of honor that everybody on the team has to live by. We put them on the chalkboard and talk about them almost every day. The principles serves as a mirror that shows each player how well they're doing with respect to the team mission." -- Phil Jackson

Besides the moral that successful teams put the group's goals ahead of the individual, it seems important to have a repeated and clear purpose. Simple things like taking pride in passing the ball to an open teammate is easily forgotten against the thrill of being the scoring leader. Our natural focus is ourselves, which is rightly so for hunger and thirst but can also slip into other aspects. The human mind wanders so easily, that it's perfectly all right to use devices to remind ourselves of our highest goals and keep us on track. Repetition can be dull, or even seem silly, but used properly it strengthens the very neural pathways in our brains, and sharpens focus.

How Far To Heaven?

"In Zen it is said that the gap between accepting things the way they are and wishing them to be otherwise is 'the tenth of an inch of difference between heaven and hell.' If we can accept whatever hand we've been dealt - no matter how unwelcome - the way to proceed eventually becomes clear. This is what is meant by right action: the capacity to observe what's happening and act appropriately, without being distracted by self-centered thoughts. If we rage and resist, our angry, fearful minds have trouble quieting down sufficiently to allow us to act in the most beneficial way for others and ourselves." -- Phil Jackson

A snafu in my leadership of our condo gutter project led to a nearby unit getting rainwater in its basement. The call from the frustrated owner was the kind that knots one's stomach with empathy. The soonest that the gutter guys could come out was three days later, on Wednesday. It was expected to take one day, but a shortage of workers meant that it would take three. Plenty of time yet, I thought, noting that rains weren't predicted until Saturday. On Friday, I got a voice mail explaining that an error by the manufacturer meant that two units were still unfinished out of 32 - guess which ones? Oh, and the need to wait for replacement materials meant that they expected to come back next Wednesday. Yikes! The Zen dudes are right - my mood jumped that tenth of an inch.

Fortunately, time's taught me that the emotional black clouds that storm in during those moments blow over within an hour or so, as long as I occupy my mind with something else. Accepting the possibility of another disappointing weekend, trusting that there was some greater good behind it all, or that everything might turn out okay, brought peace. And wouldn't you know it, gutter guy called and said that he'd be able to make it out first thing Saturday morning after all.

Bare Attention

"One of the most important qualities of a leader is listening without judgment, or with what some call bare attention... I find that when I can be truly present with impartial, open awareness, I get a much better feel for the players' concerns than when I try to impose my own agenda. And, paradoxically, when I back off and just listen, I get much better results on the court." -- Phil Jackson

This week during a management case study at work, we did a little exercise of giving feedback to an under performing employee. The previously well-performing employee has slumped recently, resorting to gossiping and lagging productivity. The old "sandwich" approach applied:

1. Say something good
2. State the problem
3. Say something good

In my younger days, I'd have stuck with the formula. But that didn't seem to cut the mustard by itself. The next words out of my mouth were "is there something about the job or our relationship that's changed and is causing this"? Turns out a recent change in responsibilities left him feeling under appreciated due to his newness. Backing off and listening impartially can make a difference.

Competing Through Compassion

"More than anything else, what allowed the Bulls to sustain a high level of excellence was the players' compassion for each other." -- Phil Jackson

Tomorrow's my kick-off meeting with the new team. Those get-to-know-you moments set the tone, and it's tempting to establish an overwhelmingly or misleadingly strong first impression. When the first-date nerves are fluttering, that unseen gentle hand of compassion for the people who are counting on me can steady the peace within.

Trust The Moment

"Basketball happens at such a fast pace that your mind has a tendency to race at the same speed as your pounding heart... it's easy to start thinking too much. If you're always trying to figure the game out, you won't be able to respond creatively to what's going on. I discovered that I was far more effective when I became completely immersed in the action, rather than trying to control it and fill my mind with unrealistic expectations." -- Phil Jackson

It seems like that could apply to more of life than just the games we play. We spend gross amounts of time planning things to perfection, and throw up our hands when imperfections arrive. Or we worry all day long and into the night about what tomorrow might bring. If we can trust the moment, whatever it contains, we may not live longer -- but we'll live better.

Prescription Meditation

"Concentration means freedom," wrote a monk who specialized in meditation. Concentrating not on something in particular, but rather keeping an empty mind, dwelling only on one's own breathing. Often those who practice the type of meditation called zazen will sit completely still on a cushion, with eyes open but directed downward, focusing entirely on one's breath. Those still, quiet moments can bring quick, occasionally instantaneous relief and peace.

Clinging to Sadness?

"What pollutes the mind is our desire to get life to conform to our peculiar notion of how things should be, as opposed to how they really are. In the course of everyday life, we spend the majority of our time immersed in self-centered thoughts. Why did this happen to me? What would make me feel better? If only I could make more money, win her heart, make my boss appreciate me. The thoughts themselves are not the problem; it's our desperate clinging to them and our resistance to what's actually happening that causes us so much anguish." -- Phil Jackson

I admit, I spent time today thinking about how to get someone to change their approach to things, and maybe I should be studying how they do behave and make the most of that.

Directions For Success: See, Believe, Repeat

"I would sit quietly for 15 or 20 minutes before the game in a secluded part of the stadium and create a moving picture in my mind of what was about to happen. I'd call up images of the man I was going to cover and visualized myself stopping his moves. That was the first part. The next step, which was much harder, was to lay back and not try to force the action once the game stated, but to allow it to unfold naturally. Playing basketball isn't a linear thought process: 'Okay, when Joe Blow takes that funny drop step over there I'm going to jump in and do my Bill Russell imitation.' The idea was to code the image of a successful move into my visual memory so that when a similar situation emerged in a game it would seem, to paraphrase Yogi Berra, like deja vu all over again." -- Phil Jackson

In Joy This Advice

“In basketball – as in life – true joy comes from being fully present in each and every moment, not just when things are going your way. Of course, it’s no accident that things are more likely to go your way when you stop worrying about whether you’re going to win or lose and focus your full attention on what’s happening right at this moment.” – Phil Jackson

What Wins Championships?

"In the transformation of the Chicago Bulls from contenders to champions, Phil Jackson emphasized foremost tough defense and passing skills. It was teamwork in its purest form." -- Senator Bill Bradley, Jackson's former teammate on the New York Knicks