Change

Right now I'm facing a change in my work world, and it's something I'm looking forward to.  But it reminds me of the change in that very same world about three years ago that I wasn't so happy about.  It took me a couple of weeks to get my head wrapped around it back then, but eventually I did.  Looking back now I see that it was very good for me and at some point I embraced the change that was thrust on me and made it my own.  I did more than accept it, I mastered it.  I poured myself into making it the best thing I could.

Are you staring down a change in your life?  Let that change be the catalyst to drive out the very best you have to offer in that area of life.  Embrace change as the thing that renews us, makes us alive.

To keep our faces toward change and behave like free spirits in the presence of fate is strength undefeatable  

       - Helen Keller

Sunflower Wallpaper

Sunflower, originally uploaded by spkb01.

I wanted to start making some of my photos available as wallpaper for those who might be interested. The full res. version of this is available via Flickr. Just click on the picture and you should be taken to where you can save it for yourself. Enjoy!

Taken at the sunflower farm in De Soto, Kansas

Strategy & Vision

Ever have a friend or family member explain their job to you and it didn't make much sense? Well, I have one of those jobs. My job is about strategy, and helping people define it.

Many people try to over think it, but strategy is simple. Figure out where you're starting from, where you want to be, and how you plan to get there over some period of time. It's a vision for the future, something that you can feel passionate about.

Many books have been written by "experts" and then read by "professionals" trying to figure this simple thing out. It's not that the concept of strategy is hard, it's that thinking about it is. Take yourself for example. Have you really thought about where you'd like to be personally or professionally five years from now? What do you see as different from today? What are you doing, how are you contributing in the future? Or does your future look very much like today with the same old routine?

Two things make strategy hard. First, we don't spend a lot of time thinking about the future anymore. Most people (including IT leaders) don't like to think about it. "It's too abstract" they say, or "there are too many urgent things to deal with right now" and they put it off. I think this is a sign of our times. We live in the moment only. We used to be a nation of dreamers who had a vision for the future. Everything comes so fast now that we've shortened our perspective. Kennedy's plan to land a man on the moon and return him safely? is a great example of what I'm talking about. In that speech, Kennedy said:

I believe we possess all the resources and talents necessary. But the facts of the matter are that we have never made the national decisions or marshaled the national resources required for such leadership. We have never specified long-range goals on an urgent time schedule, or managed our resources and our time so as to insure their fulfillment. . . . .

I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth. No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important for the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish

The second thing that makes strategy difficult is accountability. When you develop a strategy you put a stake in the ground, communicate a goal, go on record. It makes you vulnerable to criticism if you fall short. As a rule, we're not big fans of this kind of score keeping.

But I say we should hold ourselves and our leaders to a higher standard. Not setting a vision for the future should be viewed and much worse that setting a target and falling some short. We should demand this from every aspiring leader. We should demand it of ourselves.

When was the last time you heard anyone talk about some goal that is more than a year or two in the future? How 'bout you and I? When did we last think about longer term goals?

So join me. Let's think about the future and make some plans.

Photography Page Added

I haven't been posting much to this blog since I've taken up a new hobby. I've got the photography bug. I spend all my spare time now looking at cameras and lenses, and learning how to use them.

Click on the link at right to check out my most recent work.

This is no way to debate healthcare

I’ve been listening to the highly politicized debate going on about healthcare reform. The extremes on the right and left are preventing a good dialog from happening. It’s in these peoples best interest to cause conflict, not solve it. Almost all people would agree that the current system could use some reform.

So, if we’re not going to hear the truth about all sides in the media, what are we to do? I believe we need a leader who can bring some order to the discussion without adding to the extremism. The President is the obvious choice for this role, but there’s a problem. He’s not leading the debate, he’s only adding to the polarization.

Frankly, I don’t understand why our president isn’t leading this debate from a more neutral position. I’ve heard him speak many times about the evils of big insurance companies, look here for and example. And now today he was putting doctors out in front as the voice of reason that American taxpayers should look to.

Look, this is no way to have meaningful debate.

I don’t think the average person understands the complexity behind our current system. How would they? They’ve been insulated from the inner workings for far too long.

I spent an afternoon trying to map all the players in our current system. Since I think better in pictures than words, I made this list to start with.
(Thanks to Kris for the nice artwork.)

Our only hope of a well thought out, lasting reform is to think about what’s good and bad from each of these perspectives, and then work to keep what’s good and reform what’s not.

What makes me qualified to lead this thought process? I’m not a healthcare expert, but I have had the unique experience of working for Health Insurance, Medical Malpractice Insurance, and Hospital Systems in my career as an IT guy. I’ve seen from the inside what the problems are from these groups.

In the coming weeks, I’ll pick one of these “stakeholders” and blog about the good, the bad, and the ugly.

I’m hoping you’ll join in. I welcome your input and rational debate.

What are your "words"

I found this site that will take a list of words, a url address, or a del.icio.us user id and turn it into word ART based on the frequency of words in the source.

Check it out. Fun!
(This one was created from the contents of this blog)


http://www.wordle.net/create

Cranky Fred on the Economy

A friend at work sent me this link, and I thought it was interesting. Since this blog is a destination of all things interesting I'm posting it here.

Fred Thompson has some good perspective, having been a senator and a presidential candidate. My question: What is he doing besides posting sarcastic videos? Fred, are you there?

[blip.tv ?posts_id=1536208&dest=-1]

You can find more from Fred here.