What do you look forward to?

Our friend Kathy Little works as a supervisor for TSA.
That’s the federal Transportation Security Administration.
Depending on your point of view, her people are:
• Protecting us from crazy people with bombs.
• Subjecting us to personal indignities at the airport.

Kathy sent me an intriging email the other day.
She had a performance evaluation question.
She wanted to know how best to ask:
"What do you look for each day in coming to work?"
That is an interesting question to ask of TSA people.
They look, one assumes, for crazy people with bombs.
They look for liquid explosives in your luggage.

Is Kathy looking to evaluate their observational skills?
If so, that’s the right question.
Or is she looking for motivational clues?
If so, she needs to amend one word in her question
"What do you look forward to each day in coming to work?"
We should ask our people - and ourselves - that question.
What do we look forward to in coming to work each day?

My feelings about work have not changed in 50 years.
Mine is the most exciting and fulfilling work in the world.
I’m serious. Do you feel that way?
If you don’t, what’s changed or gone wrong?
Do your people feel that way?
If they don’t, what’s changed or gone wrong for them?
You need to ask yourself and your people. Do it. Now.
That’s the way of the Enlightened Leader.

Please give me your thoughts at Post a Comment below.
This is a dialogue, not a sermon.

Feedback helps

Tim Tebow's story inspired one reader

You never know which newsletter will touch nerves. It is something of a crap shoot each time you write.

I wrote this week about Karin Muller in the Philippines.
Karin disarmed a group of hostile communist soldiers.
She did it by simply offering them coffee.
Guy Kawasaki wrote about it in his book, "Enchantment".

Rev. Michael Henderson wrote:
"Another good one, Jerry.
"Reflects what St. Paul said in Romans 12:9-21."

Richard Weiler wrote: "BRILLIANT JERRY!
"Thanks for sharing this."

Richie Moye commented:
“I’m reminded of a quote from ex-USC president Thomas Jones.
“Friends come and friends go but enemies accumulate”
"I’m reading the epic story of Tim Tebow’s life.
"He was born in the Philippines to missionaries.
"Thanks for your ration of food for thought."

Turning enemies into friends is important.
A first step is to understand their thinking.
How do you do that? You ask them or their friends.
Then you extend your hand in friendship.
Offer them coffee and the chance to become friends.
Most people will take it and gladly bury the ax.
Forget those who won't. It's their problem.
Have a friends-to-enemies story to share?
Email it to jerrybellune@yahoo.com

Dealing with potential enemies

Think of being thousands of miles from home.
Native Filipinos tell you there’s trouble brewing.
The communists are coming to interrogate you.
You are physically defenseless against them.

Peace Corps volunteer Karin Muller faced such a test.
She gathered all the coffee and sugar she could find.
When the Communists arrived, she invited them in.
“Thank God you’re here,” she said. “I’ve waited all day.
“Have some coffee. Leave your guns at the door.”
The puzzled leader took off his guns and sat down for coffee.
This way she avoided interrogation - or worse.
You can’t interrogate someone you’re having coffee with.
Who dares think women are the weaker sex?

Some time ago, I took one of our elected officials to task.
He was making a mistake and I said so in a roomful of his peers.
He did not speak to me for five years. Actually shunned me.
I thought it was humorous. But the acid was eating at him.
Finally a mutual friend arranged for us to clear the air.
He spent an hour at our kitchen table justifying his actions.
Over coffee, I patiently listened and did not argue with him.
But neither did I agree that he was right and I was wrong.

He was diagnosed with cancer a few months later.
We talked on the phone several times as he underwent chemo.
He’s the hero of this story. He initiated the meeting.
He welcomed the continuing dialogue. Then cancer took him.
I had the last word - and made it a good one.
We published a tribute to him and his achievements.
A little coffee and empathy can go a long way.

Guy Kawasaki tells Karin Muller’s story in his new book.
It’s entitled “Enchantment”. You will want to read it.
For a copy go to Amazon.com and type in Enchantment.
It’s well worth a few dollars and your time to read it.
More on his book later in my Million Dollar Ideas newsletter.

Winners and losers

Hollie Dunaway greeted me with a big hug.
Hollie is all of five feet tall and 120 pounds.
Beside me she is petite - and beautiful.
My mug makes most women look beautiful.

Hollie may be tiny but she is fierce.
Hollie is a four-time world champion boxer.
She has won more than 30 boxing matches.
She was at Billy Stanick's gym helping him.
One of his boxers is preparing for a big bout.
We sat down to talk about her life story.

Hollie grew up on a farm in Arkansas.
No sports. Farm chores came first.
Few boys. First date when she was 18.
Then she met trainer Brian Jones.
He convinced her to enter the ring.
Two weeks later she lost her first boxing match.
“No one taught me to block punches,” she said.

Did that first loss discourage her? No way.
“It just made me hate losing,” she said.
Do you hate losing? Do you love winning?
They’re two sides of the same coin.
My questions for you this morning are:
• What did you do the last time you lost?
• Did you want to quit? To just give up?
• Did you decide you would do what it takes to win?

Life is a constant and unending struggle.
What’s important is how we handle it.
It’s a privilege to interview winners like Hollie Dunaway.
She so inspired me I drove 20 miles to our newspaper.
I sat down in an empty office and wrote about our interview.
I wanted to get it down while it was fresh in my mind.
If you want to read it, it will be on our web site Thursday.
Just go to www.LexingtonChronicle.com
Click on “Rockin’ on the Front Porch”

Love what you do

Like me, you may have never heard of John Calley.
But I’ll bet you’ve seen many of his movies.
“The Exorcist”. “Deliverance”. Blazing Saddles”.
“Chariots of Fire”. “All the President’s Men”.
“GoldenEye”. “Spider-Man”. “The Da Vinci Code”.
Calley was a highly successful movie producer.
Unless you’re a credit watcher, his name means little.
His close friends were names you might know.
Mike Nichols, Clint Eastwood, Stanley Kubrick.

He started in the NBC mailroom and worked his way up.
He retired after making 120 movies at Warner.
He manned his own sailboat across the Atlantic.
He bought a farm and became a gentleman farmer.
MGM lured him out of retirement.
Sony lured him away from MGM.
He lead an exciting and adventurous life.

Here is what’s unusual about John Calley.
He was a film mogul but did not act like one.
No private Gulfstream jets or fancy titles.
No Saville Row custom-fitted suits.
None of the trappings of millionaire moguldom.

Calley loved the work. Loved a good story.
Was passionate about making award-winning films.
Think about that and the fancy title on your office door.
Think about your company-paid golf club membership.
Think about your private aircraft and parking spot.
Are you working for the trappings of success?
Or do you work at what you’re passionate about?

My mother influenced my decision to become a writer.
She read to me as a child. She fired my imagination.
She taught me the alphabet so I could write to my father.
I fell in love with storytelling and writing.
Not the idea of “being” a writer. It was the act itself.
The craft of the work. The endless writing and rewriting.
The editing of others’ work to hone my own.
That became one of my purposes in life.

I hope you’ve found your great purpose, too.

To respond, click on Post a Comment below.