Cool Thoughts

New York City. TJOW comes to you this week from the amazingly warm city of New York. And when we say 'amazingly warm', we really mean hot beyond human comprehension. Friggin' hot. Heat that takes your breath away. Heat that enshrouds you, invades your pores, and saps every bit of energy. Heat that disrupts brain cell activity. Heat to make you cry.

How hot? 104 degrees in Central Park with, because someone has a sardonic sense of humor, high humidity. Weather you can swim in. Weather, we're told, that feels like 113. Like we have the capacity to feel the difference between 104 and 113. Maybe some can. To me, it's simply brutally oppressive.

I don't know about you, but once the temperature passes, say, 95, it moves into that range I refer to as Way Beyond Reason, or You've Got To Be Kidding, or, Why Did I Shower?, or, more aptly, Just Shoot Me, Please. Uncivilized heat.

New York is not alone, of course, as much of the nation has been sweltering and more for the last week. Newark, New Jersey, set an all-time high of 108, Washington, D.C., set a record for a peak heat index of 121 degrees, Philadelphia set a daily record of 103, Portland, Maine, reached 102 degrees. (Portland, Maine.) At that's just in the East. In some mid-west regions, around Oklahoma City for one, the temperature hovered at 100 degrees at midnight. That's just wrong.

To put this in some perspective, Phoenix was 103. In the summer. In the desert.

Have you tried cooking an egg on a sidewalk? Apparently, this is all the rage in many parts of the country. If you do, keep in mind that the same thing that's happening to that egg is happening to you. Be sure to wear sunscreen. We recommend an SPF rating of at least 2,000. Wear a hat. And, to play it safe, cover yourself with aluminum foil. (Shiny side out.)

So, as a public service to those suffering through what meteorologists have been referring to as 'a massive heat dome', 'an intense inversion layer' or 'extreme heat' (insert wisecrack here) -- and what we refer to as 'really atrocious weather' -- this week we offer Cool Thoughts. Not necessarily thoughts that will keep you cool, mind you, but thoughts we hope you find cool. You know, not cool -- but cool (a la the Craw, not the craw! for you Get Smart fans). But, who knows, maybe ideas can be both cool and cool. You decide.

• Doing more with more (see last week's blog) is more than a clever line. It's a concept to help improve performance, one designed to enhance quality and service. It's an approach to sustaining growth. And if you read last week's blog (we know who you are), you know that the second 'more' does not mean more people, more resources or more time. It means more engagement, more commitment, more mentoring, more enthusiasm, more fun. Our experience suggests strongly that your people have ideas about what to do. They need to be given the opportunity to explore those ideas in a structured way, refine them, and to be shown how to implement them effectively. That's where we come in. Literally.

• Working harder isn't the answer. Given that most equate 'working hard' with 'putting in way too much time', our clients tell us that many of their people have peaked or will soon do so. More effort is not the ticket to improved performance, nor is working smarter (whatever that is). What is viable is working differently. Creative, dare we say, elegant solutions come when leadership requests new ways to get things done. It's the 'new' in that statement that can drive breakthrough ideas -- and breakthrough performance.

• Behavior change -- real, lasting behavior change -- can happen while you watch. We've heard all of the rumors about change being cumbersome, difficult, and painful. There's undoubtedly some truth to these rumors, but we haven't experienced these problems. Our data is clear: People will change their behavior if there is a compelling reason to do so. And, given a compelling reason and effective change processes, they'll do it quickly. As a result, our approach to change is significantly different from others and, according to our clients, more effective. Check out Shiftpoint. It's an example of one of the highly effective behavior change tools in our quiver.
  

• Will the real leaders please stand up? If there was ever a time for leadership, this is it. I'm not referring to managers who simply call themselves leaders. I'm referring to bold individuals who set an ambitious, visionary goal, instruct her or his people to develop a plan to achieve it, and, once approved, empower (I can't believe I just used that word) people to implement that plan. With precision and speed. An individual who makes things happen with and through her or his people. An individual who leads change, who seeks and finds different, better ways to get things done. That's a real-deal leader. They can and should exist throughout your organization, not just at the top. And we can show you how to build them.

Cool thoughts. Maybe it will lead to a cooler week ahead.