February 2019 – Mixing Pods

And the award goes too…

The Academy Awards are tonight and it will complete the awards season for all of the music and movies releases last year. I honestly don’t really watch the awards shows. I can’t put my finger on it, but it all sort of bothers me and I think that discomfort is what generated this week’s insight.

So, I thought I would hand out Mixing Pods awards of my own (the Tony awards are already taken).

Best Supporting Family Member

To my wife Katie. She is an incredible mom, sister, daughter, niece, friend, coach, and of course wife. She is beautiful inside and out and is truly the soul of our family. She has been so supportive of my goals and interests (and allows me to put stuff out on this blog), and the ability to explore new opportunities. She has great vision, a sense of adventure, and is a comedian at heart.

Best Kiss

This year the award goes to Addie, who discovered mistletoe over the holidays. Taking this 2-year old under the mistletoe triggered the most wonderful giggles and then she would lay one on you. She is so affectionate that it makes your heart melt.

Addie snuggles are the best and her mistletoe kisses are amazing

Best Musical Number

After dinner family dance parties. Addie is was a big fan of ‘Baby Shark’ and ‘Let it Go’, while Maggie shows off her moves to ’24 Karat Magic’ (family friendly mix) and ‘Happy’. Based on the repeat requests shouted at Alexa, I think we probably overloaded Amazon’s algorithms and skewed the popularity of these songs. I hope we can keep these jam sessions going as the girls get older.

Best Late Night Comedy

Right about the time we are settling things down for bed, Maggie gets into a goofball zone and this 4-year old says the funniest things. She ends up pulling in dad and her little sister, which mom doesn’t appreciate very much. After the shenanigans, we usually settle in for a Midnight Feast (Maggie’s phrase for a late night snack), which usually involves a bowl of cereal with two girls and a dad. We are always way past bedtime!

Got to do it now before they get too big!

Best Mentoring Moment

My boss and friend Brian. At the end of last year, I was taking a hard look at my career plan. I had just let some of my thoughts flow freely into our performance management tool. The next day, I had a recurring weekly meeting on my calendar to explore my career. It wasn’t to talk about the client account or how to grow our business, just about me. Brian showed he was truly invested in my future success and a lesson that I plan to pass on to others.

Best Rescue Drama

This was probably the Westminster Fire Department when they had to come out and get our dog Buford out of the icy pond when he went after the geese. They operated quickly and had him out in no time. (Also, thank you to the Police Department for not giving me a ticket!)

Best Comeback

I think this one goes to my friend Derrick, who was at a crossroads a couple of years ago in life. He chose to be honest with himself, get things on track, and chose to forge a path forward. It’s been great to be a part of and witness the transformation. There is great power in someone that can do this sucessfully.

Creative Inspiration

Our friend Candace is in full tilt creativity mode around a new calling to spread joy and explore her art. We use our time in traffic to connect about life, ask meaningful questions, and help the other person grow.

The Cast and Crew.

The most important award and that is why it is last (like Best Picture). We are so fortunate to have wonderful and close-knit families. Parents that support us and love their grandchildren. Aunts that take an active role in life-shaping experiences with the girls. Brothers that are always drumming up adventures. Cousins that make family events feel like family. Friends that might as well just be called family.

The insight from today’s blog is that is the those most deserving of your recognition, attention, and gratitude are those close to you. These are the ones that are shaping your life and the ones you are influencing what happens on this earth more than you may even know sometimes.

Life is good. Take a minute and look across all of your pods and thank those that make a difference for you everyday.

WTF… Did I really just eat 5 doughnuts?

Yes, yes I did.

Tuesday was a really crazy day at the office and things didn’t necessarily go to plan. Our team was not operating on all cylinders, leadership was a bit on edge, and everyone was in ‘urgent’ mode.

So driving into work on Wednesday morning, I thought I had a brilliant idea. I’ll bring in Doughnuts to set a new and positive tone. I mean, who wouldn’t want a doughnut in the morning? Especially during valentines week when there were heart shaped ones, pink frosted ones, and lots with red and pink sprinkles.

The thing is, I love doughnuts. When I was in second grade my dream job was to work at Winchell’s Donut House. Although, it looks like I wouldn’t have made it very far in the business, since I apparently may eat all the doughnuts. I also have passed down the love of doughnuts to our little ladies. My daughter’s 4th birthday was a Donut Party.

Nothing better than a donut party celebration!

Well, Wednesday ended up being even more crazy than Tuesday. In addition, it turns out there are a lot more healthy eaters at the office than I expected. My 3 dozen doughnuts were not going as fast as I thought they would. I was actually having trouble hawking the doughnuts.

One of the boxes ended up staying near my desk and about every 2 hours, I just grabbed a doughnut. I didn’t have to leave my desk, I didn’t go have to outside. It was like having an IV of solid sugar (with Bavarian cream and raspberry filling). So when leaving the office at the end of the day, it occurred to me that I had eaten 5 doughnuts and nothing else. Ouch.

Thursday morning was rough! My body begging for something healthy.

So here are 10 things to do to stop you from eating 5 doughnuts at work:

Don’t stop on your way to work and buy doughnuts!
Understand your demand and don’t buy 3 dozen doughnuts!
Don’t put the box next to your desk! (Maybe put the box on your bosses desk!)
Put the doughnuts in the breakroom, people eat doughnuts when no one is looking!
Realize that peer pressure doesn’t always work with doughnuts (which is weird because it works on me every time)!
Bring a lunch, buy a lunch, go to lunch. Don’t have doughnuts for lunch!
Don’t think doughnuts can change the world!
Accidentally drop the box of doughnuts, there is no 10-second rule at work.
Have a posse at work that encourages you to take a lunch break! (and actually eat a lunch)
Save your doughnuts for the weekend with your kids!

However, the true insight from this blog has nothing to do about doughnuts.

It’s that when we take our work so darn seriously that we can’t stop for lunch or to take care of ourselves, then we may have ended up in the wrong place. Sure, there are times of crunch time, when it’s all hands on deck to get something shipped out the door and you can’t seem to catch your breath. But I’ve been here before where crunch time was 6 months long and my mind, body, and relationships paid for it.

A coffee break isn’t a coffee break if you just come back to your desk with a cup of coffee. Gve your self a break and take care of yourself!

P.S. The diet starts on Monday!

Thank you for letting me change lanes!

So I think those of you that listened to music in the ’90s will appreciate this blog the most.

I was driving home on Friday afternoon after a fairly hectic week. There was an unexpected issue that came up on the project, and I’ve been staying late to meet with my learning group for the altMBA course that I signed up to complete. I just wanted to get home! Ohh, and my drive was from the Denver Tech Center to Westminster, which is about an hour an 20-minute commute on Friday afternoons. I don’t get road rage, but I was dreading it.

When I got in the car, it was on Sports talk radio and I finally had enough listening to guys talk about the Denver Broncos quarterback situation (again). So I ended up moving to satellite radio and landed on the Lithium Station that plays ’90s alternative music.

Then it came on… the song by Geggy Tau, ‘Whoever you are’.
One of the few ’90s songs centred on positivity.

“All I want to do is to thank you
even though I don’t know who you are
You let me change lanes
while I was driving in my car “
Geggy Tau, Whoever you are

It worked. This song about an act of gratitude put a smile on my face and I just sort of embraced the traffic. I found myself thinking about other things that I was grateful for. It went way beyond people changing lanes and being alone in the car moving at 10 miles per hour was the perfect place for me to reflect.

Well, the next song was Rage Against the Machine’s, ‘Killing in the Name of..’ and since I was on the satellite radio, all the f-bombs weren’t edited out. It was awesome! Now I had could rock out and let out any of the remaining frustration and speed up my heart rate a bit.

These two songs together were like peanut butter and jelly and the perfect mash-up to close out a hectic work week and head into the weekend.

After dinner, we had a dance party with the girls. Alexa played Pharrell William’s ‘Happy’, (Despicable Me 2) and Bruno Mars’, ’24K Magic’ (Hotel Transylvania 3) about 12 times each. Our family of four jamming out, dancing and Maggie showing us her attepts at cart wheels.

So next time you need a change in attitude, maybe just put on some tunes to help you change your mind and enjoy the ride.

My favorite ‘Mixing Pods’ Commercial

I mentioned in my last blog that I love commercials. Since the Superbowl takes place today and some of the most creative and inspiring commercials will be airing, I was thinking about my favorite ads through a Mixing Pods lens (insights from work, life, and being a dad).

For some background, I wanted to be an advertising executive in high school and in my early college days. This was the late 90’s, so not the depiction on Mad Men, but more like Mel Gibson’s character in the movie, What Women Want. My role would be the liaison between the client and a number of really creative people to come up with great pitches. I didn’t (and still don’t) have the power to hear women’s thoughts, but I thought I could combine my skills with the creativity in others (I was inspired by some very creative friends). The advertising industry was going through a major shift after being disrupted by the internet, and I found my way into management consulting.

Today, with DVRs to skip through the commercials, on-demand programming that forces a few ads on you, and targeted (sometimes creepy) advertising based on your search history; it feels like some of the fun is gone in trying to capture an audience. There is an art to it.

My Top Choice: The University of Phoenix: We Can Do IT. This was launched in May, 2017 during ‘The Voice’ and I thought it was powerful and amazing. In a one minute animated ad, it captures the strength of a working single mom investing in herself to find another career in IT (Information Technology), after her job was taken over by AI and automation. There are no spoken words, just the lyrics of the Cranberries’ song, “Dream”. The only written words are “We can do it!”, from the Rosie the Riveter poster, the Bachelor of Science in Information Technology Application on her laptop, and the words “We Rise” at the end. I thought this was amazing.

On a lighter side, there are a few other Mixing Pods commercials that have stuck with me over the years as funny and inspiring that I thought I would share below.

GEICO Insurance Hump Day. GEICO is doing their best of Superbowl commercials and this has to be one of the best. The funny thing is that I think I identify most with the camel :).
The Fed Ex Office Meeting. Showing the various personalities at the office and the manager calling them out. My favorite line out of this one is ‘like a lawn chair’, with regards to folding under pressure. I use that every once in a while.
Total Whole Grain Cereal Commercial This is truly random. I am definitely not in the demographic for this commercial, I don’t know why it stuck with me 12 years later, but I thought it was super effective.

Lastly, it’s not a commercial, more of a comedy short by Tripp & Tyler. But this is a great parody of office conference calls. It’s five minutes long, but for those of you that are on calls all day, it is well worth that time watching it.

Anyway, rather the begrudge the next commercial you see, maybe just sit back and be entertained. Someone is trying to write something that will connect with you.