Follow-up on Fari

When I came back from vacation this year I wrote a post about an author I had met at our Super Bowl Party in the jungle. His book, Fastball Fari, is about the first woman to pitch in the major leagues. (It's fiction.) I shared that while a copy of the book was at the party and I could have read it, I decided to wait to purchase my own copy.

Michael Cruit beat me to it, by sending me a copy. Oh my gosh, it is such a fun read. If it were on display in the new authors' section at Barnes & Noble, the comment would say, "This book keeps you guessing right to the end. The characters are wonderfully developed so that pictures parade through your mind as you read the book. The ending leaves you wondering, 'what's next."'

Sometimes new authors or self-published books are not compelling. I can tell you that if you go to www.lulu.com and purchase this book, you'll have a fun read. Michael would love to hear from you about how much you either liked or disliked the book.

He lives in Costa Rica at the mouth of the Sierpe River, that empties into the Pacific. He has no Internet connection, but he comes into "town" from time to time and then does read and reply to emails.

So either order the book or purchase the download. It will take more than one plane trip to finish the book, but you won't mind carrying it on a couple trips.

Yea for Lori

My good friend Lori Cannon, was selected as the Distinguished Community Woman of the Year by our Girl Scout Council and this award was announced Thursday morning at their annual volunteer recognition breakfast. I can't think of anyone who deserves the award more.

Lori and I met the day I first visited a BNI group in December 1995. She gave me a referral that very day, wanting to use my sales coaching services. And we have been fast friends ever since then.

When I think of all the stuff Lori has donated her time to, it is really amazing. She trained for and ran her first marathon with Team in Training for the Leukemia Society in my father-in-law's honor. She raised $5,000 to be part of this team.

Lori has gotten me into oh, so much, too. Whether it was a sponsorship for the Exchange Club Center for the Prevention of Child Abuse, or being part of the rowing team for Toledo's Dragon Boat races or being on the committee for the Girl Scout Camp CEO, each time she pulled me in, I knew that we were going to have a lot of fun. She is the one who recruited me for our Master Mind group.

People go to Lori, when they need someone to help them think through a problem. She has this wonderful knack to help people figure out the best way to solve issues without telling them what to do.

Lori sold memorials (tombstones) when I first met her (and she sold a lot of them, because she took the time to allow people to tell her about their loved ones.) In fact, when my father-in-law died, she helped us to create his monument. In 2000 she became a financial planner for Edward Jones and as with everything else, she has attacked this new endeavor with gusto.

I was thrilled to be sitting in the audience on Thursday morning when Lori was recognized for all she does. In accepting the award she shared that her parents set the tone for her future involvement with the community. And she asked all of us to continue to set an example for the scouts as they continue to come along.

Thanks Lori for setting the example for all of us to follow!

Please weigh in on Lori and her accomplishments.

Status Quo

In the last couple weeks I was at a networking event where I met a person who is connected to the housing industry. Here in NW Ohio, that industry is rather challenged right now.

In our conversation I asked this person if she were taking this time to solidify relationships and to develop new ones. After all, my thought was, if business is slow, make use of the time available in a productive manner.

This person's answer basically was, "No, I'm just doing a lot of the same."

I just shook my head later because I know this person expects a miracle to happen. Many people are losing their jobs because they are not producing. Doing the same old, same old, will probably get you a pink slip pretty quickly.

What are you doing in the challenging economy to position yourself for future success.

Creating Community

Recently a friend told me that she thought I was an expert in creating community around like-minded people. H-m-m-m-m, I had never thought about this concept, but when I did, it really rung a bell with me.

I started to think about all the times I have rallied the troops.

When I lived in Detroit, I was a member of a ski club. Our club had a racing team, a small racing team. It was part of a larger council of many ski clubs who also formed teams. Each year a trophy was given to the team with the most points gained over the season. Now, because our team was small, we never had a chance at the bragging rights.

I decided that we could turn our situation around.

The council was for adult, recreational racers. In other words, there were levels for the really good racers, but there were also levels for those who could barely get down the hill in the snowplow position. Having raced for only one year, I realized how much racing had helped to hone my skiing skills in general. I had become a much bolder skier.

When I started we had about 25 racers under our banner. Most were the elite, tear down the hill really fast, variety. I began recruiting at the opposite end, convincing new skiers that this was the best way to go if they wanted to really have fun skiing. Before I was done, we had 75 people on our team.

When any of these new racers were out on the race course, we were there to cheer them on, to carry their coat down the hill and to dust them off if they fell. Each week we told them how much better we saw them and when one of our new racers placed in the race, we were there to cheer when they received their trophy.

I wrote a Q and A column for the club newsletter, to highlight racing. I answered (or got answers) to all the questions I had when I started. If someone asked me a new question, you can bet it was in the next issue. This was back in the early '80s, so including pictures was not easily achieved, but we tried to paint visual pictures as much as we could.

In those days, many of us traveled out west each year to participate in national races. So many times our racers won their class. I am sure it was because of the support they received from the group as a whole.

And guess what. For many years, our team won the annual council trophy. We brought a community of like-minded individuals together and achieved something that we had never thought possible.

I have some other thoughts on community, but I'll leave you with this today.

What do you think makes people band together?

Mellow Yellow

Traditions. It's funny how they just get started.

My son, Andy and daughter-in-law, Debbie, and daughters, Kaitlyn and Lauren, came yesterday to help dye Easter eggs and generally catch up with each other. Usually, the trip takes about two hours for them to get here. They also bring their dog, Lizzie, and before Lizzie it was Ashley.

IT IS TRADITION that when they get here, the three Ohio monsters, meet the Michigan canine as she comes in the door. All h _ll breaks loose, as the Ohio contingent loves any other dog. There is such excitement that the Michigan dog always creates a yellow puddle several feet inside the front door. (We are a relaxed household. The hardwood floors make it easy to clean.)

You'd think we'd be smart enough to go to the door, paper towels in hand. But oh no, we're always taken aback. Where did that puddle come from?

What wacky traditions have made their way into your home?

What Can I Say?

It happened again.

You think I'd get off the soap box.

I attended the Toledo Human Resources Association, Diversity Day event on Tuesday morning. I take my hat off to the group that put it together in getting some really good speakers, including Matt Roloff, the man whose
family appears in the TLC reality show Little People, Big World. He happens to be a dwarf, so he talked about his work in helping the world to know the challenges that Little People face in the world.




Only one speaker used PowerPoint. And used it badly.

I don't understand why presenters think they have to read their bullet points to us as they show us their backside. On a scale of 1 - 10, I'd give this presenter a 4. She presented a lot of facts and figures, and a few stories to back up the facts. That is the only reason I marked her so high.

The other two speakers, spoke from the heart. One was just as "learned" as the PowerPoint presenter, but he had two stories for each point he made. It made it easy to understand the abstract principles he was using.

As I have said before, lose the PowerPoint. Make contact with your audience members. Technology can be toxic to the relationship you want to develop with your audience.

P.S. The only person I have seen use PowerPoint well is Scott Ginsberg and that's because he DOESN'T use any bullet points and instead uses the screen as a backdrop for his presentation.

Where Have I Been?

OK, I'm back from being sick. Last weekend, if I could have found a gun and then figured out how to use it, I would have. Still not 100%, but I'd say about 75% there.

There enough about that. Gable, the only good dog, and I are going for a walk later to celebrate me feeling better.