David Greer and Wally Bock

Even after thirty-five years of business, I still get excited when I have the chance to meet someone in person that I’ve only met virtually before. In the old days, I would communicate by telex, fax, and telephone before meeting people for the first time. Today, it is often through this blog or Twitter than I interact with people.

Yesterday, I had a change to meet Wally Bock in Charlotte, NC where he lives. I’m pretty certain that Becky Robinson of Weaving Influence first introduced me to Wally via her Twitter feed. For more than two years I have been reading Wally’s blog posts. I’ve written about Wally in my earlier post Connecting People (where I talk about Becky too).

This blog is about Business, Communication, and Collaboration. Connecting with a thought leader like Wally brings together all three themes. Wally and I compared our extensive business careers, contrasting the numerous challenges that we have both overcome as we have moved our careers and life ahead. While I knew Wally reasonably well from his four times a week blog postings, it was nothing like having a face-to-face conversation for a few hours.

After lunch together, Wally and I strolled the downtown streets of Charlotte in the early spring sunshine. While we live in very different cities, I felt connected as we walked by the cherry trees, fresh with new blossoms, exactly as the cherry trees are in Vancouver.

Wally shared some of the history of Charlotte with me, including the fact that the city was founded in 1755 at the very corner where my hotel is located today. While not originally from North Carolina (Wally is from New York), he has married, moved, and lived in Charlotte and come to know the history of the area. From how the railway brought opportunity for textile mills and distribution to why Charlotte is now the second largest banking center in North America, after his home town of New York.

Whitney Johnson, author of Dare, Dream, Do, coined the phrase #TWIRL (Twitter In Real Life) for the experience Wally and I had yesterday. Whatever it is called, I appreciated the opportunity to meet and connect with Wally 1-on-1.

How can you connect today?

Guy teamed up with Shawn Welch (via Google+) and together they created APE to help guide the rest of us through the process. This year, I would like to publish a book at Webtech Wireless on GPS and Automatic Vehicle Location technology and solutions. I’m building a team to create the book, but I also have plans on how to publish and release the book in both digital and printed forms. I needed APE to help us climb the learning curve.

I ordered four copies of APE from Amazon.com (you cannot order the print version from Amazon.ca). Here’s a video of me opening the box, having an Amazon experience, and talking about Authors, Publishers, and Entrepreneurs.

Take scrolling a computer screen. The concept, or mental model, that I use for scrolling a computer screen is based on a real-world model, scrolling a piece of paper. You might wonder why I even think about scrolling paper. When I first started in computers, we used continuous feed paper that was folded over. In order to look at what was printed last, you moved the paper up so that you could get at the last of what might have been a hundred pages. In the context of a computer screen, if I want to see the text below the bottom of the screen I think “scroll up the contents on the page”. My screen model is based on my long-time physical model.

Many of the people I work with have never worked with fan-fold computer paper. To them, scrolling down means “show me the text below the bottom of the screen”. Recently we were working to a deadline with three of us huddled around one computer screen as we collaborated on some critical marketing material. Naturally, when I asked for “scroll up” the screen would move the opposite way to what I expected. I’ve discovered that when we are collaborating, I need to use different language such as “let’s see the text below where we’re at.”

It’s hard to believe that such a simple concept and the language describing it, such as moving a computer screen up and down, could be fraught with communication difficulties. For clear communication, you must make sure that everyone has the same understanding of the concepts you are talking about and then use the right language, that everyone involved, understands to mean the same thing. As leaders, it is doubly important that we are clear on both.

Are you using language where up means down or down means up?

Today is my 55th Christmas. Like all the Christmases before, what matters most to me this Christmas Day is connecting with my family. My Mom and Dad gave the stocking above to me at an early age. Personalized with my name, you can see the love and care that went into its creation. From the pink bow on the reindeer to the smoke coming out of the steam train, this stocking connects me to all of my Christmases.

I am fortunate, that both my parents, now in their 80′s are still alive. I spoke with them a couple of hours ago. We now live more than a thousand miles apart, yet that connection is still there today. In the intervening years, we have had three beautiful children—Jocelyn, Kevin, and Allen. Behind my stocking, you can see the Christmas stocking we got Jocelyn when she was the same age as I was when I got my first Christmas stocking. Jocelyn is now 23 and for all but one year, we have been together on Christmas day.

When the kids were little, we told them they could get up at any time they liked, open the presents in their Christmas stockings, and then wait until 9:00 am until waking Karalee and I. After staying up late to get everything ready, it was our one morning to be in bed together without having to be up early. Today, it was Karalee and I who were up before 9:00 as Jocelyn, Kevin, and Allen didn’t stir until after 11:00. It didn’t matter, as we all gathered together in the living room to share the joy of our bounty opening gifts and glowing in the joy of Christmas.

As the earth rotates, the winter solstice comes and goes in the Northern Hemisphere, and Christmas cycles back into our lives. We appreciate the thoughtfulness of the gifts, but what we really love is the connection from parent to child to parent to child. The wonderment of Christmas returns to our family. We wish that you may be fortunate like us to have the spirit of Christmas return to your family.

For Seth’s latest book The Icarus Deception he created a Kickstarter Project and I purchased two items on offer. The first was This Might Work, the behemoth collection of Seth’s blog posts. The second was eight copies of The Icarus Deception and two copies of V is for Vulnerable, his newest books. Here is where my experience goes from wonderful to amazing.

Seth kept us informed every step of the way, but I was left with the impression that while This Might Work would ship in November, 2012 The Icarus Deception and two copies of V is for Vulnerable were not scheduled for publication, and I thought for shipping, until January, 2013. Having had my appetite whetted with This Might Work I was resigned to waiting until January for the other two books.

Late last night I arrived home late to another box sitting in the front hallway. Not expecting anything in particular, I was amazed, delighted, and surprised to open the box to find my eight copies of The Icarus Deception and two copies of V is for Vulnerable. The photo above shows me in the Webtech Wireless board room with the whole package. I had to sneak the picture in because later today I’m giving a copy of The Icarus Deception to our CEO Scott Edmonds and my co-workers Shelina Poonja and Jason Hall. I want us to raise the level of our art to create even more incredible experiences for our customers.

Thanks Seth for the early Christmas present and the awesome experience. I can hardly wait to read the books.

Today, I had a blast opening the largest book, This Might Work, I’ve ever purchased. With Shelina Poonja and Jason Hall at a conference room at Webtech Wireless we videoed the whole unpacking process. At Webtech Wireless we specialize in automatic vehicle location using GPS and cellular technology. It tickled me to think that Seth’s colossus printed collection of his digital work might have been tracked during delivery by one of our devices.

Here’s the video of the experience:

We got to travel, something that both my wife Karalee and I really enjoy. While we love travelling with one or more of our three children, there is something extra special about travelling when it is just the two of us. Being with Karalee is part of my ideal day.

Family is important to both Karalee and I. For the weekend, we stayed with Karalee’s sister-in-law at their home near Warburg in the country side to the West of Edmonton. We got to visit with all three of our nephews and nieces and our sister-in-law Carol.  Family is part of my ideal day.

I grew up in Edmonton. One strong memory I have of growing up was of the brightness of the blue sky and the gorgeous fall colors as the leaves change. I woke up early and took a walk in the bright sunshine taking photographs of the country side and fall trees. Photography or visual arts are also part of my ideal day.

The wedding was late in the day, so we had a relaxed lunch before Karalee and I needed to get dressed for the wedding. Relaxing and lack of time pressure are part of my ideal day.

We drove from Warburg to Drayton Valley, about an hour away on the highway. Along the way, I enjoyed the prairie fields and fall harvest, bringing back memories of my youth. I felt connected to my family who all still live in Alberta.

Five years ago, Karalee’s best friend Bobbie Robinson was tragically killed in a head on crash just outside Drayton Valley. Bobbie and Kit’s daughter Brandy Robinson was getting married to Ryan Fredrickson. During the drive we shared and remembered many experiences Karalee and Bobbie shared, including when Bobbie and Brandy visited our sailboat in Tunisia. Remembering powerful experiences is part of my ideal day.

We arrived at the wedding location in good time. We saw Brandy right away and like all brides she looked beautiful. We visited with Brandy’s Dad Kit and all of Bobbie’s sisters before finding our place at the wedding. Connecting is part of my ideal day.

Brandy had given each of us a card for a person to find and introduce ourselves to. Karalee and I went off exploring and meeting new people, getting a chance to have new experiences, something that I include in my ideal day.

It was an emotional wedding. More so than usual, as we all felt Bobbie’s presence. We all had tears when Brandy shared her powerful emotions when she talked about her Mom during the ceremony. Experiencing powerful emotions is part of my ideal day.

Dinner was a beautiful buffet. Did I mention that sharing good food and conversation is part of my ideal day? After dinner a live band took to the stage. Karalee and I danced and visited for four hours. Music is part of my ideal day.

At 2:00 am, we left the wedding hall. Karalee fell asleep as I drove down a quiet Alberta highway in the dark with music playing on the stereo. I had a lot of gratitude for Karalee’s and my thirty years of marriage, our family, friends, and the connections between all of them. Gratitude is part of my ideal day.

Family, travel, Karalee, connection, food, time, connection, photography, and gratitude are all part of my ideal day. I am fortunate that some part of my ideal day is part of every day for me. I want to thank Becky Robinson of Weaving Influence for telling me about Jason Womack and to Jason for his Ideal Day Contest.

I want to end by thanking Brandy and Ryan Fredrickson for the invitation to share their special day. May you find more of your own ideal days to share with each other.

For two years my wife and I lived on a sailboat in the Mediterranean while we home schooled our three children. That adventure gave us a legacy that our family continues to draw from. When we are “stuck” on an issue we can change the tone of the discussion by focusing on the positive, such as when we stayed in the marina in Calvi, Corsica, France, exploring the fabulous village and enjoyed views like the one above.

I was thinking of this today when I read Jesse Lyn Stoner’s blog post 7 Ways to ReWire Your Brain and Become a Better Leader. One of the points that Jesse makes is “Savor your positive experiences”. The post goes on to discuss how we are hard wired to focus on the negative and how by focusing on the positive we can keep our attention on the issues at hand.

I’ve written before about Start with the Wins and the backing science behind positive phycology in Shawn Achor’s The Happiness Advantage. Of course, knowing and doing are two different things. On August 1st it will be a year since I started as VP Marketing at Webtech Wireless. In that year, I’ve worked hard to practice positive principles. While I make sure to start our weekly planning meetings with our wins, I’ve noticed that in daily huddles I often jump into challenges, before asking my team for their wins. Every time that I start with the wins, the challenges get resized and the energy in the discussion changes.

Thanks to Jesse’s post for reminding me to find that positive experience, for me and for each of my team members, each and every day.

In the last couple of weeks, several people have died trying to climb Everest, the tallest mountain in the world. In at least some cases, Sherpas were telling the people to get down off the mountain, but they went ahead to the summit and died on the way down.

Last fall, we took on a Personal Challenge trekking to Annapurna Base Camp in the Himalayan Mountains to the west of Everest. While our trek was only to 4,000 m (Everest is 8,000 m) it gave us a small taste of altitude sickness and the challenges of trekking day after day. While most people think Everest is the most dangerous of the 8,000 m peaks to climb, statistically it is not. A higher percentage of climbers have died trying to climb Annapurna.

In his book, The Will to Climb, Ed Viesturs recounts not only his three attempts to summit Annapurna, but numerous other attempts over the years. Ed is the only American climber to summit all 8,000 m mountains in the world. His advice is simple — the goal is not to climb mountains and summit their peaks. The goal is to get to the top and to get back down safely. When you are at the peak you are only half way there.

The people who died on Everest recently lost sight of Ed’s advice. Some were so committed to getting to the peak of Everest they pushed themselves too far to make it back down safely. As a goal driven person, these events and our experience in the Annapurna Sanctuary remind me that I need to choose goals where we can make it all the way to the end.

In business, as in life, we all face boundaries. Those edges where the rules say we need to stay inside. Whether it is to stay within the lines when coloring or to cross the street only when the light is green.

Seeing the ski area boundary made me think of several challenges about staying within the rules:

Are you sure about the rules?  I’ve noticed that in other countries, lights being red or green are merely suggestions to pedestrians as to whether to cross the road or not. Are you clear on where your organization’s rules are? Or are your organizational rules fuzzy at the best of times and completely obscure the rest of the time?

Is everyone else inside the line? In some organizations, the “rule” is to challenge the rule and cross over to the other side, although there may be a protocol about under what conditions you are to do so.

Do you know the consequences? It’s okay to ski outside ski area boundaries — if you are prepared to self rescue yourself if you get in trouble. Are you clear in your own mind about what the consequences are if you break the rules? Maybe the consequences are not what you think they are.

Can you create change without breaking the rules? By definition, change requires either breaking the rules or defining new ones that are different than the old ones and encouraging and pushing people to cross the old boundaries. If the old rules were fuzzy or missing, demonstrating the new rules and pushing right up to their edge can help lead others to change.

A ski run, a sign, and an edge. They combined to challenge me to think about where I cross the line and challenge the rules. Where do you challenge yours?