Methodology

“Everything that can be invented has been invented.”—Charles H. Duell, U.S. Commissioner of Patents, 1899 We all know the Mr. Duell was slightly off in his assumption about the future. It seems more difficult than ever to come up with great new ideas because we think everything has been invented, but that is by no means the case**. There are millions of problems in the world that still need to be solved, and we aren’t even close to the end of innovation until all of life’s little nuances are taking care of.** Too many people today don’t share their ideas with others because of fear—fear they’ll be stolen, put into action, and end up embarrassed like Seth Green in The Italian Job after his roommate stole the idea for Napster when he was napping in his dorm room. ...

I don’t have class on Fridays, but they are inevitably my busiest days. I can’t explain why I go through the week with a moderate amount of responsibilities each day and Friday ends up as the Superbowl for meetings, but it’s a fact of life, so I suck it up and deal with it. Last Friday I had a few meetings (read: more than I would ever want at the end of the week) to attend in the late morning, but I wanted to sneak a run in before hand. Being a typical college bachelor, I needed to iron my shirt and pants that were balled up in the corner of my room before my morning of meetings, but I was confident I would have time to take care of that once I got back. I was wrong. ** ...

In my involvement with The Sales Centre (which has gotten a lot of action in my blog lately) I have the opportunity to meet with executives almost every week. It’s a fantastic opportunity for me to learn from these executives, but my role, at the end of the day, is to tell them why investing in The Sales Centre is the best recruiting move they could possibly make. I, along with three other fantastic, motivated, dedicated students, essentially pitch the value of our organization to companies that fit well with our self-funded program. We had a sales call last night, and it went very well. I had a great team helping me out, and I was very happy with how the call went. Once my portion of the race was over, I passed the baton (and our potential client) off to two more terrific sales candidates to finish off the evening at dinner. About fifteen minutes after our call, I received a text asking me to check on our client’s car. He remembered parking on the street in front of a meter that had a bag covering it. Normally, those bags aren’t much of an issue. The Athens Meter Maid Society has a tendency to put those plastic yellow slippers over top of the change collectors long before the spots are needed. As many of you may know, yesterday was Election Day. Our client was parked just outside of the Athens County Board of Elections—the office where all of the ballots were being delivered and counted. As I checked on his car, I saw there was a police vehicle with a flurry of patriotic lights letting out a radiant glow over the entire block just behind where our man was parked. A tow truck was hooked up to a car just a space away, and they were calling in the cavalry (read: more tow trucks) to force the surrender of the insurgents (read: tow away every car on the block). ...

This morning I made a terrible decision. I was in a rush to get to the gym because I had a lot of things I wanted to accomplish this morning (like writing a blog post). I went out to my car and realized there was frost coating the windows. I didn’t have a scraper, so I proceeded to put roll down my windows, blast the heater, and spray the windshield with washer fluid as I drove. I ended up leaning my head out of the window to see where I was going, gasping for breath as the cold air berated my face. ...

There are people you just naturally click with. There are other people you just don’t get. What determines the “click factor”? We’ve been taught the Golden Rule our whole life: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” While in essence this is true (you want to respect them, love them, treat them kindly, etc.), treating them exactly how you want to be treated isn’t always effective. ...

(Welcome to the newest section at The Point of Impact, “Executive Experience.” From time to time, I’m blessed with opportunities to sit down with big wigs. This is what they tell me.) While I may not be interested in becoming a corporate America CEO anymore, I believe there is still plenty to be learned from those who are running the show at companies. Last night, I had the chance to attend a session with Dan Squiller, CEO of PowerGenix, a company in California that produces green rechargeable batteries. It’s intriguing to hear about how people have navigated through life to get to where they are today. Dan graduated with degrees in electrical engineering and organizational communication from OU, and now he’s a CEO. He’s worked and lived all over the world, but it was no walk through the park. He struggled to find balance in his work and home life, but his realization that money doesn’t bring happiness allowed him to correct his course. The following are my top takeaways from Dan’s session. This is mostly paraphrasing with my input dashed in, so if you don’t like what he said, I’ll take the blame. ...

Lately, my posts have been few and far between. For that, I apologize; unfortunately, I can’t promise it’s going to get any better any time soon. I’ve been challenged to reevaluate how I spend my time. Discovering where you invest most of your time will show you where your priorities lie. While I’ve gotten pretty good at time management, I haven’t completely prioritized what I’ve been doing. I’ve been scrambling for the last six weeks to keep my feet underneath me, and so far I’ve made it. Now that I’ve had a chance to catch my breath, I’ve realized I have some rearranging to do. ...

I apologize for this being a less than jam-packed week for posts. I proclaimed “Leadership Week” and then left you hanging—my bad. I hope I can make up for it on a slam-dunk, week-ending post. Last Friday our Missional Team Leader for Campus Crusade for Christ, Brian McCollister, had the leaders of our movement over for dinner. Brian talked about Jonathan in 1 Samuel 14:1-13. In the passage, Jonathan asks his armor-bearer to fight against over twenty men in a half-acre area. His armor-bearer responds by saying, “Do all that you have in mind. Go ahead; I am with you heart and soul.” ...

Without vision, people are discouraged. If people are discouraged, your efforts to lead them are going to be fruitless. Vision is important. Action without vision is like running with no direction: you’ll end up somewhere, but that doesn’t mean it’s where you want to be. It’s easy for leaders to get caught up in the motions of “leading” without having a plan of where to go. Whether you know it or not, you’re heading somewhere with every single decision you make. You are either moving closer to your goal or you are moving in the wrong direction. ...

(As foreshadowed last week, this is the first post of “Leadership Week.” If you aren’t a leader, read along and let’s see if I can change your mind.) Whether you know it or not, you have a leadership style. If you don’t know your style or you aren’t loyal to any particular methods yet, I’d like to show you the way I do things, and explain why I think that’s the most effective way to rally people around you. ...