“…when I was 12, I was watching a bad science fiction movie called Devil Girl from Mars,” she told the journal Black Scholar, “and decided that I could write a better story than that. And I turned off the TV and proceeded to try, and I’ve been writing science fiction ever since.”  Octavia E. Butler

Octavia Butler, Author

When I founded my company, I searched for a name that would keep me focused on providing the best service possible. The goal was a brand that would bring to mind excellence each time I had to write it down, spell it out or leave a voice mail message for a potential client. DORO does that for me. Octavia Butler is the author of some of the most incredible science fiction of our generation, including the book Wildseed from which I took the name. Her writing is everything I would like my business to be: innovative, prescient, smart, creative and BOLD! How did she become an award-winning author, scholar and winner of the MacArthur Foundation Genius Grant – the first EVER in Science Fiction? She started with a simple thought: I can do better than that!

There’s something that you know you do well. Maybe you have a knack for organizing spaces and places that awes all of us who are challenged when it comes to figuring out where to put that one piece of paper?  It could be your unparalleled baking skills, proven by that pound cake that no can taste without closing their eyes and saying, “Girl, you put your foot in this cake!” The bottom line is, there is at least one thing that you can do well. And once you do it well, you can do it better!

Some folks are destined to do something so well that world takes notice, like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,  Julia Child or Susan Taylor. Others like my grandmother are legends in their own neck of the woods. What’s similar about each person known for their personal prowess or skill is the fact that they began with the thought that they could do it better. They then practiced, failed, succeeded, practiced some more and worked their behinds off until they reached better.

As I continue to work towards my own better, I am astonished by the number of things I do poorly (like that paper organization thing.) But that’s where I find the person who does it better than I ever could and we work together. Each client teaches me something. A current client has killer networking skills, while another has unimaginable hustle. And they choose me for what I do better than they could – developing a brand.

Imagine just where we would be if we all believed and then worked on our own personal “better thing.” Our families, communities and companies could then work their way to best! Today, we begin with believing.

The 2012 Start!

Entering the 2nd week of the year 2012, many of us are already reconsidering some of those resolutions. They always sound so good in the days leading up to the New Year and nothing feels impossible when the ball drops at midnight. A few days later, school starts again, everyone is back hard at work and there’s no Dick Clark countdown to motivate us each day.

But as we begin to gather on The Porch again, sharing stories, dreams and plans for increased productivity, it’s important to make sure that we keep the most important goals in the forefront. Just is critical is the daily decision to remember those personal landmarks and courageously pursue them, though they may only be important to us.

A hospice nurse wrote a blog post about the five regrets that people have shared as they prepare to make their transition. What gave me the most relief while reading it was the fact that each of the people made their way to peace. Finding peace is a journey, it requires action. We don’t happen upon it, but rather we make choices daily that lead us to that place.

In a nutshell, the five regrets that the nurse identified in the blog were the following:

1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
2. I wish I didn’t work so hard.
3. I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.
4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

First, making the changes necessary to avoid regret is a major step. Each time we adapt our lives to fit the happy place we envision, we remove regret. Can we do the same for our businesses and professions? What’s the look back list for your business? I’ll make mine and share over the next few weeks.

For now, we’re back on The Porch and hopefully, prayerfully working on a 2012 that we will be able to say was “The Best Year of My Life So Far!”

Let’s get it!

Professor Derrick Bell

“Why does it always have to be you?” Jewel Hairston Bell asked her husband. You can imagine the late Mrs. Bell dropping her head in her hands – not again – as her husband made headlines once again. Not now, she may have hoped, when life could be simpler for a while. But her husband, the esteemed, intelligent Professor Derrick Bell, took it upon himself to stand against societal diseases that still plague America today such as racism, classism and sexism. The first African-American tenured professor at Harvard Law School made loud noise in the intellectual community when he stepped down from his post just as he did when he fought for civil rights decades earlier and left his position at the Justice Department.  “I cannot continue to urge students to take risks for what they believe if I do not practice my own precepts,” declared Professor Bell.

I can only imagine that his decisions to write uncomfortable stories, quit prestigious positions, leave prominent posts to speak drove his wife to ask that question - why does it always have to be you? Perhaps just once it could have been another, I assume she asked her husband. That would certainly have made life a little easier. But not everyone is placed on this earth for “easy.” Certainly Mrs. Bell knew the answer to her own question before she asked it; she knew the man she married.

For those gifted (or burdened depending on the perspective) with a nagging idea or desire, there really isn’t a question. Prof. Bell took to controversial topics the way fish take to water, it’s just where they’re supposed to be. There’s choice in the matter, but it’s not the choice that most believe it to be. If you’re one of these people, you know exactly what I mean.

READ: Professor Derrick Bell NY Times Obituary

As Professor Bell did, you may notice a problem, situation or inequity that seems to be glaring. It seems so big that you wonder why can’t everyone see this clearly? Or you see an opportunity that most are looking over.  The choice to act narrows as you mature and soon gives way to your only options:

See yourself.

How to act, not if. When to act, not why.

The how and when questions pop up once you’ve simply accepted that the burr in your saddle won’t go away. The itch or desire to something different, create something special or share your gifts in a unique way can’t be eliminated. Many days you may look in the mirror and wonder why you just can’t do things in the simple, expected, customary way. That might be easier. But you weren’t born for easy. Before the words even leave your mouth, the answer is always staring back at you.

The Best Mix!

On my last two attempts, my tested, trusted pancake recipe failed me. I learned to make them nearly 30 years ago at the apron of my grandmother who taught me to cook by “feeling.” We didn’t measure much. I still cook the same way today, trusting some invisible measuring cup in my wrist to tell me that it’s just the right amount of salt, cinnamon or garlic. Many business owners use that same internal clock.

While operating a business or managing a project, we often begin with a scripted sheet to outline the specific steps required to complete it. Continuity and consistency keep business on track. We amend it slightly to adjust to new technologies or additional staff, but the core of it remains. It’s been proven and it’s comfortable. It’s what we know to do. And we always trust our gut. Then along comes the project that doesn’t quite work with the set strategy we’ve used for years or very long months.  Something is off and we can’t identify it.

So how do we fix the pancake problem?  At first I was just going to throw out the batter and try again, and again, until I got the familiar taste and texture.  But as my old uncle would say, “If you keep doing what you always did, you gonna get what got.” Developing new procedures or updating old ones requires a certain amount of reflection and refocus.  I decided on this approach to the batter that I hope will also work with my business.

The Pancake Principles

1. Call the Cooks – Someone else out there grapples with the same issues that you have. Someone you trust, who also shares your same focus on exceptional results has tackled the same topic. Ask them for feedback and tips.
2. Try New Ingredients; Know Your Old Ones Well – Even if you haven’t changed your approach, it doesn’t mean that your subcontractors, vendors or other professionals have changed theirs. If something has shifted, stay in touch with the market to know where to find the best new talent.
3. Don’t Throw Out Everything – Perhaps there’s just one small glitch in your method. Keep what works and identify the trouble spot as quickly as possible.
4. Test Before Serving – Test any new processes or procedures with internal projects before using them with clients or customers. [I learned that lesson the hard way!]

Here’s to tasty brunch and the best product possible! Do you have anything to add? Please share!

15% of Innovation

Since 1948, 3M^© asks its employees to spend 15% of their paid time to work on products of their own choosing.  That 15% rule sparked the development of some of 3M’s most recognizable products – the most notable being the Post-It.

What?! In this day and age, a company allows employees to take time and dream up new ideas, strategies and products without direct orders and supervision? You mean to tell me that a company actually believes that it has hired smart, forward-thinking individuals who are committed to company growth? Amazing! But not all companies think that way.

Recently, while working on a long project, I mentioned that I’d put in considerable thought work on a blog series, to which the CEO replied, “Well nothing has been done.” I was shocked. I believed that the CEO understood the importance of building a case and thinking it through before investing too much time. But instead, the exec was clocking pennies.  I’d moved to what one of my former co-workers called the fast food approach. “May I take your order please,” the creative director would say and grab a plain tablet when he felt that his ideas where being dismissed not because they were bad, but because the client was focused only on time.  Why be creative at that point? Just direct.

In many working environments, every single second of a 40-hour week must be devoted to specific projects. Workers worry about the extra 15 minutes they spend actually thinking because that time isn’t trackable. But companies like Google, whose own 20% rule spawned Gmail and Google Earth, understand that there is nothing as rewarding to company as an engaged professional with room to think.

Everyone has to watch their budget. Time costs, for certain. But I’d much rather invest in a talented thinker than a frightened worker who shuts down innovation before it begins. A lot of success might be tracked back to that 15% of freedom.

Sources:

“How 3M Gave Everyone Days Off and Created an Innovation Dynamo” by Kaomi Goetz

Art Fry, Creator of Post-It Notes

Art Fry wanted to keep his place in his hymnal while singing in his church choir. Wrestling with a bookmark that kept moving, he recalled a presentation he’d seen for the adhesive product developed by 3M© colleague Dr. Spencer Silver seven (7) years earlier in 1968. Aha! Add the hymnal to the random yellow paper that was available as they tried out the new idea and you have the “Post-It.™” It would take a few more years and misfires before they settled on the right name and strategy. But his simple need then changed how the world leaves messages for coworkers, kids and friends.

We’ve all had that Fry-like  “Aha!” moment where we realize something that we’ve seen, read or heard recently can solve a problem for us. The issue may not be world peace or bullying, but it still resonates with others looking for similar resolution.  For seven long years, Dr. Spencer had something that he believed to be useful, practical. He presented it to audiences, before the days of PowerPoint, who may or may not have seen its effectiveness. Finally, however, someone else took the idea to a new page in the story.

Something about Dr. Silver’s new glue stuck with Mr. Fry long enough for him to connect the dots. Maybe it was “Your glue helps me sing Nearer My God to Thee,” (my grandmother’s favorite hymn.) Had the two not been determined and certain that the product was viable, we wouldn’t have had that infamous scene in Sex in the City when Berger breaks up with Carrie on the post-it note on the mirror. Or we wouldn’t be able to ask a colleague to see you ASAP!!! with a note to the monitor. Yes, there’s something to be said for sticking to it.

So for the entrepreneurs, designers, dreamers and product warriors, let’s try the Post-It Approach today:

1. If you have a product or service that you believe in, be tenacious.
2. Get your presentation in order and speak to everyone in the audience, not just the money folks. You don’t know who has the answer.
3. Be open to someone who sees your product or service differently – and possibly better – than you do.
4. Repackage it, rename it, resell it – until it sticks!

Tomorrow… from the 3M perspective.

Through the wonder of Netflix, I watched much of the old Cosby show on the laptop over the past few months. It began as a nostalgic look back for me, then quickly my critical eye took over. The other characters were great, but Claire was a study in class, stern but loving parenting and sexiness. The playful banter between she and Cliff, often at the end of an episode with no words, set to beautiful jazz was something to witness. Next I noticed that I don’t see it anywhere anymore.

I was excited when Private Practice and Grey’s Anatomy began with two smart, beautiful black women doctors – married with kids – were principle characters. They were soon divorced and almost dismissed as women in favor of them as mother figures. Some of that has been corrected but my heart was still hurt with the casting decisions. Why couldn’t Bailey stay married? I just gave up watching.

So maybe if we demand More Claire, writing such as the disrespectful crap we saw yesterday will barely make a ripple rather than starting a wave of drama. Here’s Claire!

If you allow a business, even a successful one, to dictate the terms of your life, you will always find reasons to delay making the big personal decisions...” If Not Now When on INC.com by Meg Cadoux Hirshberg

Keeping it in Balance

This morning, I followed the instructions of yesterday’s productivity message by setting my own agenda before checking out the email and waiting texts. As I decided which tasks to add to list, I noticed an unsettling trend. All of the personal life tasks that need attention were being pushed down the list by the increasing workload. In some cases, it’s inevitable.

As INC.com columnist Meg Cadoux Hirshberg points out, there is little space carved out for the personal in the life of an entrepreneur. “Theoretically, entrepreneurs control their lives and schedules. But the exact opposite is usually true: Entrepreneurs are whipsawed by their businesses,” she writes when discussing the issues of building Stoneyfield Farms with her husband. Again the issue of managing productivity moved front and center.

Completing one more task, making one more phone call, sending that last email of the evening  – all of the to do’s that work their way into the bedroom at the end of the evening take away from important items that one must do for herself.

Trying to remind yourself of your own personal project tasks can be difficult. Hirshberg was married, supporting her husband’s vision but she also voiced the need to pay attention to work/life balance. If you’re single, no one’s there to pull the coattail to force a 3-day weekend in order to ultimately increase productivity. Thankfully, there are those like my twitter friend who make me promise to take time and then send me tweets like this one she sent last night: “glad you are taking the 5 you promised…gonna hold you to your promise on this one.”

Hirshberg suggests that there is no right time to do anything when running a business so she and her husband forced the time into the schedule. That family time and rest were crucial to their ultimate success.  We work better when our bodies and minds are rested and prepared to handle the day. Let’s add a challenge to be productive in our personal lives.

Today’s productivity challenge:

1.  Add two personal tasks that you’ve avoided to your calendar.
2. Set an end time to your work for the next three days.
3. Delegate tasks that can better executed by someone else. 

Let’s make it work!

Confident … Calm… Strong… Take control of that mountain.“  Kelly – Spin Instructor

Day One: Creating your own agenda.

In this morning’s class, the instructor pushed each of us to visualize a push up a hill. The analogy immediately took me to my real mountain: the work hill. On my desk, on the bedroom floor, on the bed – almost anywhere I look there’s some actionable item. Later, I thought even more about the concept of taking control of the actual projects and jobs that dominate my weekly calendar. With that I decided to focus the next 10 posts on Productivity.

Where to start?

We often use mind games to deceive ourselves into believing that we’re productive. One is the Shell Game. Moving one specific task to a different shell (list) delays actually working on the project. The next is the 20 Questions Game. You begin the process and immediately ask a number of clarifying questions that don’t make anything clearer; they do nothing but defer action. You may have other tactics that you use that make it harder to get more done.

In the article, “Being More Productive” in the May 2011 Harvard Business Review (HBR), David Allen and Tony Schwartz discuss the many ways leaders can create a culture of productivity. One tip in the article deals with how we begin the day. “Another ritual I have that aligns with David’s work is to always do the most important task of the day first thing in the morning, when I’m most rested and least distracted. Ninety percent of people check their e-mail as soon as they get to work. That turns their agenda over to someone else,” said Schwartz. Until reading that, I hadn’t realized how true that is as I often reach for the PDA first.

Creating your own agenda is critical to conquering the hill. Spend time this week determining your PWA – personal work agenda – in order to best prioritize the work on your plate. Let’s get at it!

LINK: Being More Productive on HBR.org

‘Won’t you please, please help me?’ The Beatles Help!”

Busy, busy, busy!

The goal is productivity – not simply being busy. As I gain more experience as a business owner, I’ve learned the most important words to reach that optimal level productivity.  They necessary, but very simple:  “I don’t know and help.” While you don’t always have to use those words explicitly, one must be willing to acknowledge when there’s more research or information necessary. It’s liberating, stress-relieving and many times, a great cost-saving technique. Nine times out of 10, someone nearby or within two email questions knows the answer. Not using those words or asking for help can dig really deep holes that can kill a contract or career.

It’s great to read successful business owners and thinkers discuss the process. Jason Fried, co-founder of 37signals and author of Rework, penned an article on Inc.com titled “How to Hire an Assistant.” In it, he wrote about his company’s search for an administrative assistant for the first time since its founding. Letting go of tasks that need to actually get done vs. live forever on a to-do list requires that we control freaks release some things. In a Harvard Business Review blog post titled, “The Words Many Managers are Afraid to Say,” Linda Hill and Kent Lineback  discuss the importance of asking questions AND listening to the answers.

Taking the time to understand the exact assistance or answer you need has to be the first action step in the process. I imagine the beginning of the process is reminiscent of a 12-Step meeting of some sort. I guess I’ll go ahead and start here.  “Hi, my name is Mia and I’m an overextended business owner.”