July 02, 2009

Make it a one-goal day

Amused by a message I received that someone had just completed their to-do list and it included 103 tasks, I paused.

It sounded uncomfortably familiar.

How about yours?

How many items do you have, staring you down, on the to-do list on your desk (or hidden in your drawer)?

Concentrate, instead, on the one most important task.

Make it a one-goal day.

What is that one for you, right now?

Get ahead of the game.

Don't wait.

Don't procrastinate.

Don't let it "age," like fine wine, until it's perfect.

Do it now.

July 01, 2009

Fleeting beauty, but beauty, nonetheless


Rainbow swath sweeping the sky, originally uploaded by jcgr.

Look around.

There's beauty to be found, where you are.

Right now.

Somewhere. Somehow.

On this particular day, in this place, an intense watercolor swath of color painted the sky, visible for miles as we drove.

Take a look around.

Look up.

Look down.

There's simple beauty today, where you are.

It's there, somewhere.

Right now.

June 30, 2009

Musings and perusings on life and fame

It's hard not to think about the power and price of fame with the loss in recent days of a few American entertainment greats.

First, it was Ed McMahon, Johnny Carson's steady supporter, his long-time right hand man. Then Farrah Fawcett, a woman more intelligent and deeper than her first roles might have shown. And Michael Jackson, an entertainment game changer, and for a while, an industry of his own.

Each benefited mightily from the bright lights they sought and attracted. Money. Power. Many choices.

Or so it seems, looking from the outside in.

Each probably - also - paid a higher price than we would ever guess. Who knows?

Perhaps at some point the lights became blinding, the role they were effectively assigned by their great fame became stifling, confining.

Whatever their experience, as we note the end of their bright light lives, it gives us a moment to take a good look, privately, at our own.

Here's a bit of advice others offer, along those lines:

Have old memories and young hopes.
A. Houssaye

There is no medicine like hope, no incentive so great, and no tonic so powerful as expectation of something tomorrow.
O. S. Marsden

We lie loudest when we lie to ourselves.
Eric Hoffer

People become lonely when they build walls instead of bridges.
Unknown

What you think of yourself is much more important than what others think of you.
Seneca

June 29, 2009

Ribs galore


Pineapple ginger ribs, originally uploaded by jcgr.

I didn't plan to make barbecued ribs, and certainly not almost 12 lbs. of them, in June.

The opportunity just showed up.

@LifeByChocolate, a former software engineer who's now a New York chocolatier (you have to love that career path) threw down the challenge to his Twitter friends and followers. The essence of it: make barbecued ribs or fried chicken and write a blog post/s about the results, complete with photographs, recipes, and information about the rest of the team by today, 6/29/09. Then Twitter about the #ThrowDown posts. (There's more, but you get the idea).

"What the heck?" I thought. "If nothing else, it's a fun challenge." I signed up.

And then I, who had never made barbecued ribs before, started pulling out a few of my many cookbooks and got to work.

One cookbook assured me the crockpot was my best way to go. It also advised that for the most meat, we look for country style ribs. 

Of the many barbecue sauce recipes this cookbook recommended for ribs, I chose two sauces and a marinade. Recipes for each recipe I used are included below in this post.

And over about a week of gradual sauce-making, rib-basting and slow cooking, three different barbecued pork rib dishes were complete by dinnertime last night.

As final accompaniments to the third and final dish which I photographed at the start and finish, I planned to roast potatoes, brussels sprouts and carrots in balsamic vinegar. But when the thermometer showed 95+ at our non-air-conditioned house, we opted for a cool balsamic vinaigrette-dressed salad and corn on the cob, instead.

As a final touch to the third and final rib dinner we had this week, I tried a new biscotti recipe, merlot hazelnut.

Here are the various barbecued rib recipes I used, all adapted from Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook, a cookbook I love and use often. We liked all these recipes, and will make each one again.

Blueberry Barbecue Sauce

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, diced
1/4 c. Zinfandel wine
1/3 c. cider vinegar
2-1/2 pints fresh or 2-1/2 lbs. frozen blueberries (we used fresh, from the local farmers' market)
1/3 c. firmly packed light brown sugar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
Juice of 1 lemon
Large pinch of chili powder
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

In a small skillet over medium heat, warm the oil and cook the onion and garlic, stirring, until softened about 5 minutes. Add the wine and vinegar and bring to a boil, scraping up the browned bits sticking to the pan. Transfer to the slow cooker and add the remaining ingredients. Cover and cook on low until thick, 6-8 hours.

Puree with a hand held immersion blender or transfer to a food processor and process until smooth. Season with salt and pepper. Let cool, then transfer to a jar and store, tightly covered, in the refrigerator up to 2 months.

Tangy BBQ Sauce

1/3 c. olive oil
1 large yellow onion, chopped
1/2 c. dry red wine
1/3 c. cider vinegar
1/3 c. fresh lemon juice
1/4 c. firmly packed light or dark brown sugar
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 c. ketchup

In a medium-sized skillet, heat the oil over medium heat and cook the onion, stirring until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the wine and vinegar and bring to a boil, scraping up the brown bits sticking to the pan. Transfer to a slow cooker and stir in the remaining ingredients. Cover and cook on low for 5-6 hours.

Puree with a hand held immersion blender or transfer to a food processor and process until smooth. Season with salt and pepper. Let cool, then transfer to a jar and store, tightly covered, in the refrigerator up to 2 months.

Barbecue Pork Ribs

I used this recipe twice, each with a different one of the barbecue sauce recipes I had already made, above (blueberry in one case, tangy in the other):

2 c. barbecue sauce of your choice, homemade or prepared
1/2 c. ketchup
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
4 lbs. pork spareribs or baby back ribs, cut into serving pieces of 3 to 4 ribs each, or country-style ribs

Combine the barbecue sauce, ketchup, Worcestershire, and brown sugar in the slow cooker. Add the ribs, submerging them in the sauce. If you have a round cooker, stack the ribs, with the sauce in between. Cover and cook on low until tender and the meat begins to separate from the bone, 8-9 hours.

Transfer the ribs to a platter. If there is extra sauce on the bottom of the cooker, place in a bowl and serve on the side.

Soulfully Good Pork Spareribs with Pineapple and Ginger

One 20-oz can pineapple chunks packed in juice, drained and 1/2 c. juice reserved
1/3 c. soy sauce
1/3 c. ketchup
3 tablespoons cider vinegar
2 tablespoons dry sherry
3 tablespoons light brown sugar
2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
1 clove garlic, minced
4 lbs. pork spareribs or baby back ribs, cut into serving pieces of 3 to 4 ribs each, or country-style ribs

Combine the reserved pineapple juice, the soy sauce, ketchup, vinegar, sherry, brown sugar, ginger and garlic in a large, deep bowl; add the ribs. Cover and marinate overnight in the refrigerator.

Grease the slow cooker with some oil and add the ribs and marinade. If you have a round cooker, stack the ribs, alternating them with the reserved pineapple chunks. If you have an oval cooker, put the ribs in the crockpot and scatter the pineapple around the ribs. Cover and cook on low until tender and the meat begins to separate from the bone, 8-9 hours. Serve immediately.

Here's contact information for the initiator/instigator/founder of the challenge, Mark LaPolla, followed by the rest of the 2009 #ThrowDown team, listed in alphabetical order by blog name:

LifeByChocolate
Mark LaPolla, New York
Twitter: @LifeByChocolate

Fresh Eyes
Jan Richards, California
Twitter: @MrsRoadshow

Gluten Free Sanctuary
Leslie McLinden, Arkansas
Twitter: @lesliemac59

Grandma’s Gluten-Free Baking N Cooking
Joyce Paige, Kansas
Twitter: @SilknPearls or @GFGrandmaBNC

LunaCafe
SMS Bradley, Pacific Northwest
Twitter: @LunaCafe

Sensitive Pantry
Nancy Kohler, New Jersey
Twitter: @SensitivePantry


Pineapple ginger ribs just underway


Pineapple ginger ribs just starting to cook, originally uploaded by jcgr.

Barbecued ribs, just starting their 8-hour slow cooking process. This was the third of three barbecued rib recipes I made for a Fried Chicken and BBQ Rib Throw Down I learned about on Twitter.

See the next post for the story and recipes.

June 24, 2009

Four keys to great conversation

Great conversational skills are on the wane, I realized the other day.

And because I love great conversation, I thought back to the best conversational experiences I've ever had, and the circumstances that seemed to create them.

There are plenty of great conversations in my past. Some are absolutely unforgettable, some are with people now gone.

In my experience, great conversation relies on four things:

1. Curiosity about the other person
2. Good listening skills
3. Caring about what you hear
4. Sharing the conversational time and space

My thoughts about the decline of conversational skill have all been percolating for some time. I fully realized it the other day after listening to someone enthusiastically repeat the same thing, many times, at a party.

This was from a person who - I thought - should have been confident, but seemed conversationally lost.

I was curious about why he kept repeating himself. Then I realized he was nervous, unsure about what to say. And that he felt responsibility for filling the empty airspace. And that extreme self-consciousness was, for him, ruling that particular moment, on that particular day.

And then I thought back to times when I was self-conscious in conversation with someone I barely knew. Or when I was uncomfortable in unfamiliar circumstances.

For a variety of reasons, I think great conversational skill is, in some ways dying off. It's perhaps considered "quaint," much like handwritten notes.

The value of conversational skill may not seem like such a big thing except...think back on important moments and experiences of your own.

Weren't some of your most memorable experiences accompanied by great conversation - even if it was brief - with someone else?

And didn't at least a few of your best ideas, and some of your greatest learning occur when you were in conversation, collaboration, sharing of thought?

Moments of moment are often marked by sharing with someone else. Such experiences are compounded when shared with someone who cares, someone who's curious about your experience of that moment, your feelings about it and its importance in your life.

In other circumstances, great conversation sparks ideas that generate new ones. Great ideas can be born in the blending of disparate thoughts that the great conversation wrought. These could very well be ideas that you might never have created, or noticed, on your own.

Great conversation is curious.
It's filled with thoughtful listening, on both sides.
It cares.
It shares.

June 23, 2009

Happy campers, all


Happy campers, all, originally uploaded by jcgr.

A simple happy moment for all.

Sometimes life is perfect, in all its glorious simplicity, if just for a moment.

Here, our younger dog Zoe, enjoys a post-beach moment. In the background, surfers in Santa Cruz enjoy ocean moments of their own.

What was your last "happy camper" moment, an experience when you fully enjoyed what you were doing, and who you were with, even if just for the moment?

June 22, 2009

Full commitment risk-taking and difference-making

Have you seen Seth Godin's Guy #3 post? In the video it includes, a dance tribe spontaneously forms - quite suddenly, once it really starts - at a music festival.

But as Godin notes, this tribe can't happen without Guy #3.

He's the person who sees the potential for one to become many, and then makes a full-body commitment to that thought.

Guy #3 is the catalyst who turns one moved-by-the-music dancer into a pioneer, a leader. Suddenly, through his action, one or two different people become the start of a wave, a movement.

If the circumstances were different, he would be the guy who helped take a good idea to the level of a cause.

It takes courage to do something different.

It takes another kind of courage to call attention to excellent difference, and then to make a full commitment to it through your own action.

- Have you ever been Guy #3?

- How or when could you, would you be?

June 20, 2009

Amusing moments in passing


I don't know...what do you think?, originally uploaded by jcgr.

Out of the corner of my eye as we left a Seattle Mariners-Minnesota Twins game, I saw this group convened spontaneously in front of Agate Designs in Seattle.

The group amused me - as did the dad to the left, seeming to say with his body posture, "Let's GO, guys!" I could just imagine the discussion this group might be having.

What was the last smile you had while intentionally or accidentally "people-watching"?

June 19, 2009

What to say when a friend says, “I think I'll become a consultant. What do you think?”

If you've been a consultant for any length of time, your work life may look desirable to others, for a variety of reasons.

And if so, you've probably been asked this question by at least a few colleagues, friends, family members, at some point:

“Should I become a consultant?”

With current economic uncertainty, the odds are you'll hear the question again.

Many people who find themselves out from under the umbrella of the corporate environment for the first time think that consulting is an easy business to begin, manage and grow.

You know, and I know, though, that's far from the case. It is a business, and it requires the same care, attention, and thoughtful management as any of our clients' businesses do.

Below, here's a summary of what a few of my fellow consultants in a Bay Area-based professional association, Women in Consulting (WIC), advised when asked the question, "Should I become a consultant?"

Hopefully these ideas will help you, too, when you have to field requests for “I think I'll go into consulting...what do you think?” advice:

The consulting life is a good work life, in many ways. Satisfactions include helping people solve problems that may seem overwhelming to them. It's also very satisfying helping them achieve business results much greater than they initially thought were possible. The dissatisfactions? Well, they include not seeing how things play out, once you've made your recommendations and handed the project off.

The benefits are clear, but what may not be so readily apparent is that being a consultant takes a LOT of work behind the scenes. As a consultant, unless you are employed by a larger firm, you are a small business owner and entrepreneur. The service you are selling is some combination of expertise and advice, a strategy, action plan, implementation guidance, problem-solving and specific deliverables as well as your personal style in delivering your solutions.

One needs to devote a lot of time - consistently - to business development to make the business a success. The most successful consultants make it look effortless, but they're always marketing, in some way. Experienced consultants advise that 20% of one's time needs to be spent each week on developing new business with new clients. This is very important for continuing to be successful through changes in the economy, such as we're seeing now.

Running the business, and growing the business is satisfying, if you are an entrepreneur at heart. But a lot of people don't like that part of consulting. And more don't realize how much a part of this work life that is. In addition, we're often in the position of re-inventing our businesses based on changes in our interests and in the marketplace. That means “re-starting,” in some fashion, throughout the life of the business.

Another key part of starting, running, and growing your business is the infrastructure aspect. You are responsible for every part of the business. As a small business owner, you don't have a corporate IT support desk to call for help, nor do you have an accounts payable or receivables person to issue your checks or follow up when receipts don't come in on time. Some of us enjoy doing these activities ourselves while other consultants build a right-sized infrastructure for their businesses or employ virtual assistants to do these things. These are choices we all need to make about how to sustain the business around us while doing the work we are most passionate about.

To test your entrepreneurial interest before going very far down the consultant path, study a few issues of Inc. magazine, Fortune Small Business, or Fast Company. All of these magazines address the small business management life quite well, as do a number of websites. If the problems small business owners are solving don't interest you, it is a clear sign you may be missing the entrepreneurial DNA that's an important part of consulting success.

If you pass the “Am I really an entrepreneur?” test, select a few consultants who do what you want to do in the business segment you like and approach them for informational interviews.

To prepare for your research, think through the types of problems you could solve for a client, the types of organizations you like working with best, the types of people you enjoy working with, and the problems you have solved successfully in the past for some organization. Are they marketing problems? Management problems? Business process problems? Sales? Project management? Fund-raising? Infrastructure or systems?

As a consultant, you are concentrating your business and marketing efforts in one area or another, not all possible avenues of consulting. You have to make it easy for your right clients to find you. You have to be clear about who you are, and what you do that can make their organizations or individual work lives more successful, in some way.

So, to recap:

Do you like the entrepreneurial life? If you don't have a pretty good sense of that yet, start your research there. Start with “Inc.”, Fortune “Small Business,” and “Fast Company” magazines, along with small business-focused websites.

What problems can you solve well? Cite some specific examples you could use to illustrate your problem-solving history you do your informational interviews with a few specific people in your desired field.

Who needs those particular problems solved? As a first fast pass of research into your market, search Monster.com or any of the major jobhunting sites with a few key words to see who is hiring for those types of skills. This gives you a sense of the best markets for your services, either as an employee or as a consultant. Consider using a research tool such as a Hoover's subscription or other business service.

Along the way, of course, you may find you'd really rather be an employee. If, as is sometimes the case, you find a job you really want while you're researching the market for companies who might use you as a consultant, you may find the perfect job for you to take. Pursuing one direction - consulting research - can lead to fulltime opportunities you might otherwise have missed or roles that you didn't know existed in the corporate world. For example, maybe you've started a career in marketing and are researching consulting there, and it leads you to an opportunity you really want in a larger organization in corporate social responsibility.

However you resolve your curiosity or drive toward consulting, take the first steps by taking a research spin. It'll clear up a lot of questions before you decide whether to move further down the consulting career path.

What if the Person Who Asks About Consulting is a Fresh College Grad?

I recently fielded the question to WIC, “I'm a new college graduate and I'm thinking of going into consulting. What would you advise?” I sent the question to the WIC Community list and these are the themes in advice sent by about 20 WIC consultants:

1. Figure out what work you're truly passionate about, and competent at. You need to have a core competency which will drive your consulting practice.
2. Get experience, mentoring, and contacts in that field.
3. It's hard to consult if you've never done the thing you want to consult on. Most people in consulting have expertise developed by working a while in that field for someone else.
4. Few consulting firms hire new BS grads.
5. Large firms generally hire MBAs - bear in mind that those roles typically require 100% travel. Most people find that pattern sustainable for no more than 5 years.
6. Smaller regional firms may have opportunities for people with new bachelor's degrees, but those positions are typically filled through college recruiting cycles in the fall and winter.
7. Hold off on diving into consulting for a few years. As a consultant you lose the opportunity to learn and collaborate with peers from your company or department or company.
8. Mentoring is tremendously important, especially early in your career. Take advantage of every opportunity to be mentored, especially in the early years of a career when you're learning so much.

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