Following Your Heart (and other lame ideas)

A warning to the tame: This week's blog is not for everyone. (Like that's news.)

It's not for the faint of heart or for those who have no yearnings.

It is for those who have dreams -- but who are afraid to hear the voices screaming to them in the night, while driving, while daydreaming at work or wherever or whenever those voices speak.

Yes, this week's blog is for those who are lucky enough to hear voices but who are afraid to (1) admit it, and, more importantly, (2) do anything about it.

Before we move on, let's clarify. We're not talking about seeing dead people (so last century), visualizing spontaneous combustion (Carrie's got the corner on that market), or hearing voices that urge you to cause harm (call 911 now).

We're talking, instead, about the 'voices' in your head, speaking to you from your heart, that are urging you to live your life to the fullest. (Too sappy? Okay, you may be right. But these times could use a little sappiness, no?)

Given my work, I regularly have the opportunity to discuss the aspirations of others. The session typically begins with a review of professional goals -- a conversation that is remarkably 'corporate' and, as such, is devoid of emotion. A rather matter-of-fact, dry discussion, all things considered.

Every so often, though, that conversation evolves to a much more profound and sensitive arena. With a certain shyness, a visible apologetic affect, and not unlike a child opening a hand to reveal a special marble or stone, the individual slowly describes a dream she or he has had for years about the career longed for, about the the life truly desired. No longer is this a monotonic conversation! On the contrary, this is a discussion filled with passion, longing and hope. The voice quickens, the eyes brighten, and you can almost hear the heart sing.

Not unlike Kevin Costner's character in Field of Dreams -- where voices were actually heard. Voices telling him, say it with me, to 'Build it and they will come', or 'Go the distance', or, even better, 'Ease his pain.'

Messages he didn't understand. Messages that caused conflict and pain. Yet messages, from his heart, that led him truly home and fulfilled him in a very big way.

On a personal note, I've often wondered how I'd react if I heard a voice or -- in somewhat more culturally-acceptable terms -- had a calling. A voice or calling urging me to pursue a different career, devote my energies to a new or different cause, choose a professional path substantively different from my own. Would I acknowledge it? Would I listen, really listen? Would I do anything?

I wonder.

Indeed, it's a truly magical moment when an individual has the courage to admit to oneself and to me that a voice from the heart has been heard, that a passion boils, that a dream exists. In many ways, there's nothing quite like watching someone connect to the truth that lives within.

So, I pose two questions:

1. Is there a voice, a passion, a dream living unrealized within you? And, if so,

2. What are you doing about it?

Count yourself among the very lucky if 'Yes, there is' is your response to #1. Lucky because having a passion, a dream, is amazing and puts you in a special category, given the dearth of humans who appear to have them. Also lucky because passion fulfilled makes for an amazingly enriched life.

Count yourself among the vast majority of humans if your answer to #2 is 'Nothing yet, anyway.'

And herein lies the opportunity, summarized so cleverly in the title of this blog: Follow your heart! Go for it! Now!

That said, there's no need for any rash decisions. Instead,

• Listen carefully to the passion that is speaking to you
  
• Consider what it would be like to pursue your dream
• Develop a few steps to begin the pursuit, and, of course
• Take those first steps.

So, you've always wanted to be a dancer? Cool. Don't quit your day job just yet, but do enroll in a local dance class. Thought that being an artist would be wild fun? Great. Take an art class or two. Dreamed of being a major league ballplayer? Join the club (no pun intended) and find a local league in which to play. Love music and always wanted to sing on stage? Wonderful. Find a teacher, practice, and see what you've got.

Because here's the thing: Going for it is what it's all about. Maybe you've got talent; maybe you don't. Sure, it would be nice to have the requisite talent to achieve your dream. But, far more importantly, it's the pursuit of your dream that's essential. For, without doubt, that journey will enrich your life exponentially.

And, who knows, maybe if you build it they will come.

A Rallying Cry: Fuerza

The Job of Work comes to you this week live and in living color from the beautiful -- and damaged -- city of Santiago de Chile. Evidence of the huge earthquake that hit this country on February 27 abounds. While the streets are largely clear of debris, roofs, walls, windows and, in some cases, entire neighborhoods, have been destroyed. Older buildings, constructed before seismic standards were instituted here, appear to have taken the brunt of the enormous power of the initial 8.8 magnitude quake and the numerous aftershocks that followed.

And we haven't yet seen the coast, where the devastation is even more profound.

Like many modern cities, Santiago's older buildings and neighborhoods define its charm. More importantly, they define its history. As a close Chilean friend bemoaned while assessing the damage, "We have lost our past. Our history is gone."

We who live in and around San Francisco know exactly of what he speaks.

Yet, there is a bright side. Courage and conviction often are born from disaster. And nowhere is that more evident than here in Santiago. Indeed, the earthquakes and tsunamis have served to rally the people of this great city and country.

Their rallying cry: Fuerza. Strength.

The people of Chile are using the disaster as a catalyst -- a catalyst to accelerate change.

These photos, plus others like them, are being used widely to bolster national and civic pride, to replace fear and loss with strength and determination.

A national marketing campaign, if you will, to sell courage and conviction.

And it's working.

You see it in neighborhood clean-up efforts.

You see it as people assist others whose homes were damaged.

You see it in the care offered to the injured.

You see it in the support offered to those who lost loved ones.

You see it in the patronage of businesses disrupted by this natural disaster.

You see it in the drive to rebuild.

And, importantly, you see it in the determination people express as they talk of the progress their country has made during the last two decades -- a progress that, most would say, cannot be wasted.

Indeed, the people of Chile have endured a great deal during and since Allende. Their recent history has very dark periods. Not surprisingly, it's an era few here will discuss openly. Also, not surprisingly, it's a time most Chileans want to move beyond.

Even so, the biggest fear that exists in Chile is not that another earthquake will cause more damage. Or that there will be more loss of life.

No, the widespread fear here is that the rallying cry will, in the end, be ineffective. That it will lose its power. That Chileans will, too soon, go back to their pre-disaster routines. That the urgency produced by the earthquake will abate. That the passion to become one of the world's great countries will wane. That, ultimately, the destruction caused by the earthquakes and the tsunamis will have been for naught.

And that, most believe, would truly be a disaster.

Fuerza, Chile. Fuerza.

Who Will Be First?

It didn't take long. Far less time than even I could imagine. With the wonderful images of Costa Rica still strong, it took but a few minutes of listening to the radio on the drive home from the airport to bring me back to the realities of our economy.

Impending layoffs at Cisco. Severe revenue shortfalls in the City & County of San Francisco, forcing the mayor to eliminate 15,000 full-time jobs and hire most of those people back as part-time employees. Unemployment climbing. Many electing simply to walk away from homes that have lost more than 50% of their value nearly overnight.

That was the news at midnight last Sunday. (Note to self: Next time try music.)

Which of course raises two questions:

1. Is there any possibility of the San Francisco Giants moving to Costa Rica, making my decision to move there that much easier? And,

2. When will this end?

Given that the first is somewhat unlikely -- even though the Giants are 3rd on the All-time Futility List, having not won a world championship in 56 years (behind only the Cleveland Indians and, yes, the Chicago Cubbies) -- let's consider the second.

This horrific economic climate will end when companies again begin to hire.

It's not as if many companies don't have the financial where with all to begin hiring now. (Sorry for the double negative. Speaking Spanish for three weeks will do that. Also sorry for the use of 'where with all'.) Indeed, many companies are awash in cash. Billions of dollars, all things considered. Even so, the vast majority of companies are reluctant to add to their overhead.

Why, you ask?

It's rather simple, actually. For any public company, stock price is king. 'King' may be an under-representation. 'Supreme Poo-bah, All-powerful Ruler of The Universe and Holiest of Holy Grails' is likely more accurate. Stock price up is a good thing; stock price down is bad. Why? Because, class, those who have invested in the company -- the actual owners -- want to make a pile of money from their investment. And they want to make that pile of money now. And again next week. And again the week after next. And on and on and on.

No need to criticize. Anyone who buys a piece of a company, no matter how large or small that piece is, expects the proverbial 'return on my investment'.

So, most public companies are in the unenviable position of needing to grow their top and bottom lines each and every quarter. And if income isn't growing (the top line), then the way to 'grow' profit (the bottom line) is by cutting costs. And the #1 cost in nearly every company on Earth? Yes! People.

The circle is a vicious one:

• Sales slow
• Some analyst writes a report saying that your company may have its investments tied up in companies that may not be rock-solid (sound familiar AFLAC?)
  
• Stock price drops precipitously
  
• Cost-cutting needed
• Tons of employees laid off
  
• Profits improve
  
• Same analyst writes another report saying that your company is taking 'aggressive and appropriate action to address its significant issues'
  
• Stock price improves

And everyone smiles. Everyone except the millions who are out of work. Everyone except those who have lost their homes. Everyone except those who have lost much of their dignity as their joblessness sees no end in sight. Everyone except those who, shockingly enough, need money to pay their monthly bills.

The overall economy still sucks because fewer people have money to spend and those fewer people aren't spending as much as before. They're buying less clothing, fewer cars, fewer homes, fewer expensive bottles of wine, less jewelry, traveling less and going out less often. There are simply too few people spending money.

Let's take a brief time out and ask yet another set of questions: Wall St. analysts, whoever they may be, what of them? Who are they? Do they do anything? Why does anyone listen to them? (Reminding me of the wonderful scene in Bull Durham when Kevin Costner asks Susan Sarandon, "Don't you think you're a little over-dressed for the Caroline League? Who are you? Do you have a job?")

These analysts have the power to undermine even the most conservative, solid corporations with only their opinion -- opinions which may be wrong. These analysts, many of whom have never produced, marketed or sold anything, are compensated obscenely because their 'reports' produced millions, if not billions, of dollars of income for those who do nothing but make money when a company succeeds or fails.

And when the analysts are wrong, and layoffs result, is there ever an apology? An 'Oops, I messed up. So sorry!' No, of course not. So, just a thought, given the harm analysts often do: How about we start our economic turn-around by tarring and feathering analysts and driving them screaming from the country? I hear that Antarctica has room.

Thanks, I needed that.

Time in. Back to our vicious circle.

So, if the economy needs more people to spend money -- which it does -- and many companies are awash in cash as a result of the cost savings they realized following their layoffs, I ask this:

Where are the companies with the courage to put an end to this? Which company will be the first to say 'Enough is enough!' and begin to hire? Which firm will use its sea of cash to stop the unemployment bleeding, turn the tide and begin to employ the many talented, experienced, hard-working people who are out of work largely because their company needed to 'enhance profitability'?

Because enough is enough. Unemployment is bad for everyone. And because we're better than this. Indeed, it's time to put America back to work. Now.

Do I hear an 'Amen'?

Devastation Up Close And Personal

Thank you to all who wrote concerned about Chile and the impact of last week's devastating earthquake. As the death toll continues to fluctuate -- now nearly 300 people have been confirmed killed -- and the extent of the damage is fully understood, it is clear that this is a disaster of mammoth proportions.

On a personal level, my close friends and their extended family members -- and there are many of them! -- all survived unscathed. They were among the very lucky.

Accounts of the fifth most powerful earthquake on record are horrifying. My friends' story goes something like this: Very early in the morning, a loud, deep sound from within the Earth woke us. Then, the house shook violently for two minutes. We held onto each other, listening to things fall from shelves and walls. And then a long silence.

All of this happened at about 3:30 a.m. In the dark. Can you imagine?

One of the families escaped certain danger by, amazingly, having left their farm the day before the quake to return to the city. (Summer vacation is ending in Chile.) Had they stayed one more night the massive walls shown here would have fallen on the children. Note the width of the walls. There are beds underneath.

One more night.

My friend's decision to leave a day early undoubtedly saved lives. But what of those whose decision to leave a day early undoubtedly led to injury or death?

Thankfully, this is not a blog devoted to the metaphysical or to religion. (We can talk metaphysics later, assuming there's a good bottle of wine involved.)

Since then, the region has been beset with 51 aftershocks of between 4.9 and 6.9 on the Richter scale. (For those of you unfamiliar with the logarithmic nature of the Richter scale, a 6.9 quake is 100 times more powerful than a 4.9 shake.) Think some nerves are a bit frayed?

Very sadly, though, the destruction has touched everyone. All know someone who was either injured or, tragically, lost a loved one. (While not well-communicated here, the tsunamis that hit Chile soon after the quake were killers. Many swimmers -- especially children -- were washed away when the first waves hit. Indeed, the tsunamis have caused more death than the earthquake itself.) All know people whose lives are now forever changed.

Also, very sadly, is the observation that this earthquake has erased yet another segment of Chile's history. People, communities, politics and structures define a country. Chile has lost much that defined its long history. Many of the country's older, cherished buildings were destroyed, buildings that had survived years of political tumult and had stood to signify both the good and the bad. These buildings also stood as symbols of hope, of what could be. Yet, now they are gone. Entire portions of Chile's central coast have been washed away. These, places, too, are now gone.

It's as if the earthquake and tsunamis took the older, more refined Chile and left only the younger, modern Chile. How does a proud country, one attempting to become a great nation of the world, overcome such loss?

Chile will rebuild its roads and bridges. It will repair its infrastructure. It will build anew. And if my friends have anything to say about -- and they do -- it will again thrive. And I'm sure I'll hear all about it firsthand when I'm with them in a couple of weeks.

In the meantime, consider helping Chile. Buy their wine. The sauvignon blancs are particularly good, as are the carmeneres (the Chilean merlot) and cabernet sauvignons. And before drinking, join me in a toast to the wonderful people of Chile who are, at this moment, attempting to rebuild their lives and their country.

Next week we'll get back to business. Literally. I promise.