Lessons in Leadership George Washington 1776

There was a point in the American bid for Independence where it appeared that the effort had failed. Washington’s army was stalled across the Delaware from Trenton, New Jersey. As soldiers commissions were running out they were not re-enlisting in the war effort. Washington was losing confidence of politician, citizen and soldier alike. Something had to change, that was certain. On Christmas day George Washington announced to his remaining troops that they would need to prepare. It was bitterly cold and uncertainty swirled about in the minds of the under-supplied, tired and cold soldiers. Washington asked that Thomas Paine’s “American Crisis” be read to the troops, the opening lines are likely to be familiar to many reading this:

“These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.”

The next day Washington would lead part of the continental army into battle himself for the first time in the revolutionary war. He would also impliment a new bolder tactic, his army would move swiftly and decisively. The objective of the new approach was catching the Hessian garrison off guard across the Delaware River in the battle for Trenton. The plan paid off and the battle resulted in about 1,000 of the 1,500 Hessian garrison being killed, wounded or captured. Most importantly this moment is recognized as an important turning point in the war. Washington restored confidence in his leadership and the effort overall. In fact a few days later a huge portion of his continental army was coming to the end of their commission and Washington would manage to convince half of them to stay the course and re-enlist. News of the Battle of Trenton would travel fast and many more citizens would enlist as a result. Here are Washington’s words he used to inspire the troops to re-enlist:

“My brave fellows, you have done all I asked you to do, and more than can be reasonably expected; but your country is at stake, your wives, your houses and all that you hold dear. You have worn yourselves out with fatigues and hardships, but we know not how to spare you. If you will consent to stay one month longer, you will render that service to the cause of liberty, and to your country, which you probably can never do under any other circumstances.”

Applying the lessons of this epic innovation and leadership example we can transform our own personal and professional lives. When we face  challenges we can choose to give up and walk away like some of the soldiers of the continental army did. Or we can choose to demonstrate leadership,  innovation and act quickly to overcome the challenge. I understand and recognize this as I have felt this very inspirational human experience on a number of occasions. While no-one wishes for this kind of adversity, there is a confidence in yourself that could not exist without successfully navigating them. Perhaps that is why the difficult lessons we learn from tend to have the greatest impact on our lives.

I hope you have enjoyed this Independence Day tribute on this 234th Birthday of the United States of America.

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Do Golden Apples fuel your business relationships?

Today I had scheduled to do some follow-up calls with a few of my long time IT clients. After a few 20-30 minute chats I felt like blogging about it. When I started my IT business back in 1997 I was very interested in making every customer a “customer for life”. It was a simple goal and while it has not been 100% successful I am extremely fortunate that the majority of my current clients have been clients for many years. As a result they really know me and I really know them. I know about the personal and professional challenges they face, the highs and the lows. Really we’ve been through a lot together, we are like a family. I know about their families and they know about mine. When we talk we catch up on personal business, share ideas and support each other. I was also reminded that business is always personal for me.  My clients are friends and I enjoy their friendship. In business it is always a delicate balance. Luckily, as my own boss, potential clients and I can choose to work together. In my prior career I did not have the luxury of this. I can tell you among many of the perks of being your own boss, for me the ability to choose who I work with is a huge perk.

Freia, from Das Rheingold, with the tree of golden apples

Some people may read this and think that I am naive, but there is more to this. I had one client years ago that made me miserable. One of my close friends told me a story that someone had told him some years prior by the founder of a large warehouse store. It was the tale of the golden apples. Basically the saying was as long as the golden apples (money) were falling off the tree not to worry about difficult clients. I’ve used this to console myself over the years and I have to say I am at a point where I no longer agree with this. If your customers values are not in line with yours and it is causing you stress, you will be better off firing them and finding new customers. When I take stock of my customers today, they are all in line with my values. I do not feel that this is an accident. I think that ultimately when your values are out of whack, relationships will be dysfunctional. I think part of my position here has come with age, I am very comfortable today with who I am and I am not afraid to tell someone if they are asking me to do something that I do not feel I can ethically, successfully or efficiently execute. When I was younger I was much less self assured, I was driven and competitive, I guess I was what I needed to be at the time. Today I am glad that my values drive my business and personal relationships. I am open about who I am, what I stand for and genuinely enjoy establishing relationships with people who share my values.

I would love to hear your opinions about this post and your own personal experiences or philosophy on this. I will feature a couple of the best examples that come up in the post.

Featured Comments:

Occasionally I receive comments on my blog that really impress me and I want to showcase them (and the commenter!) in the post:

“Great post, Joe! This reminds us that usually when people grumble about their jobs and out of their unhappiness, make the transition to become an entrepreneur, one of the reasons they usually cite for their discontent in being an employee is they have issues with the people in their environment, and with the people with whom they have to interact. Unfortunately, once the new business-owner has survived the inevitable period of financial insecurity, they become determined to never experience that again, and this is usually when they make the subconscious pact with themselves to accept all money, no matter from whence it comes. The effect of this ill-advised decision is to create for themselves, all over again, the same kind of environment that they had once dreamed of escaping — a work environment in which they are exposed to troublesome individuals.

This post is a great reminder to business-owners about one of the elements that factored into why they decided to become a business-owner in the first place. Control over their work environment. Thanks for this!” – Kathrina Rashid

Kathrina was a recent guest blogger on my blog, you check out her post entitled “Sexual Assault Awareness by Kathrina Rashid PHD“

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Tags: Entrepreneurs, Happiness, Joe Hackman, Joesgonesocial, Motivation
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The 4 benefits of being attacked by bees

Joes view at the ER

One week ago tonight, right about now I was walking down a trail behind my house. I heard the buzz of some very angry bees, a sound I had heard before and learned not to stick around to find out why they are angry. I started to sprint towards home and realize “oh no, you’re running down hill and won’t be able to stop”. Before I could slow myself down my right ankle folded and I hit the ground and slid and rolled on the trail a bit before coming to a stop. I could feel something was seriously wrong with my ankle but between the bees and the fact that I knew the pain in my ankle was sure to get worse, I limped home like a wounded animal. I was in a lot of pain when I got home, I took a quick bath while icing my ankle and popped 800mg of Ibuprofen while my wife and 4 year old son prepped for our trip to either urgent care or the ER. I admit I was not very rational while under great amounts of pain, but there was a decision to be made. Urgent care is in Walnut Creek about 25 minutes away and the ER at San Ramon Regional Hospital is 10 minutes from my house. Then I remembered my healthy community day at Leadership San Ramon Valley. The President of the Hospital Gary Sloan and one of his top ER doctors had been a part of that program. I remember a hospital is a business and I felt like I should support the local hospital and deal with people that I can trust.

So off to the ER we go, I won’t get too much into the details because really there are a few important facts about my visit and those are enough:

1. My ankle was only sprained and they ruled out breaks, etc.
2. The advice the doc gave was really useful.
3. My doctor was the guy I met at Leadership, small world.
4. I was glad I went to the ER at San Ramon Regional.

How can there possibly be benefits to this?

After I hurt my ankle I was really stressed about how this was going to affect my work. I have so much going on every day, for starters I wasn’t going anywhere for ~3-4 days while I kept my leg elevated and my ankle iced. It was hard for me to imagine what the benefits of being laid up for a while would be. My work was going to suffer, house projects, social life, bah humbug I was  in bad attitude city.

Saturday I was on the couch ALL DAY. I watched World Cup Soccer, slept, read, slept some more, wow I sure slept a lot. I had no idea I was so tired. There was benefit #1 – I really needed some rest. I slept in Sunday and repeated my FIFA, Sleep, Read, FIFA, Sleep process. Did I mention even though I read I didn’t read much because I would get tired and fall asleep.

“There was benefit #1 – I really needed some rest.”

Sunday I also did some planning for the week ahead of me. I realized that I still needed to set my goals for the week even though I was obviously going to have a temporary handicap. Sunday night with a lot of help from my wonderful wife I setup a laptop and second screen that I felt  I could use while I kept my leg up on the couch, or at the very least that I could periodically lay back and put up my leg. This was going to be a handicap big time for me, I am used to a 30” Samsung LCD flanked by 2 21” Samsung LCD’s (and not the wide screen ones, old school 1600×1200!).

Monday rolled around and I slept in a little bit, close to 7:30AM. Really late, I know, but with a 4 year old at home parents reading this will understand what this is like. Getting around was a pain, trying to work was a pain, I tried to keep my best face on. This wouldn’t last forever. One of the things I did Monday was work on long term goals. I wrote down very practically what I wanted to accomplish in my professional life. This was benefit #2 – setting long term goals is really important. One of the things I realized while doing this was I needed to set daily and weekly objectives for myself. I took out a notebook (I can write faster than type when I am lying on my back with my foot up) and started writing dates. Each work day was ½ a page. I wrote down the things that absolutely had to get done those days. I had to be selective, as I was not going to be spending 10 hours at my desk typing away with my sprained ankle. I noticed something very interesting, the things I wrote were contributing directly to my long term goals. Duh in hindsight it seems so simple.

“This was benefit #2 – setting long term goals is really important.”

Tuesday I kept resting up but I also used the time when I was resting my foot to take in some world cup soccer. My eyes and brain started getting used to the game, it was a rush watching a well-executed goal especially if it was undertaken by the team I had adopted to root for during the match. Being a tourist of Football is really fun, not much invested, a lot of what I was seeing was new and if the team I was rooting for lost it was no big deal. This was benefit #3 – I learned to love watching World Cup soccer.

“This was benefit #3 – I learned to love watching World Cup soccer.”

USA! USA! USA!

Wednesday I kept up my new passion watching World Cup Soccer. It was exciting as heck to watch Donovan score the game winning goal in stoppage time in the US best showing since 1930. I would have missed this piece of history had it not been for my injury. There is just no way I would have been able to justify the time to watch. In addition to watching history in the making, I was getting a little better at working on my laptop and my attitude had improved a lot by the end of the day. I even got bold and drove around the neighborhood, did I mention I sprained my right ankle?

Thursday was fairly ambitious I had scheduled work at a client site and added a lot more to my “must get done list”. I really felt solid by the end of the day. I started to see the benefits of the injury to my ankle taking shape and the eternal optimist inside me knew I’d see it eventually. This was benefit #4 – there is opportunity in any situation.

“This was benefit #4 – there is opportunity in any situation.”

By today I was absolutely sailing, I got more work done in less time than I have on many days where I don’t have anything to blame for slowing me down. I feel much more prepared for the weeks ahead and 1 of 4 of the weeks (by most estimates) that I will spend using crutches is done and I am roaring and ready for the next 3.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this personal story, I’d like to leave you with a quote about life by the late Joseph Campbell:

“We must let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the one that is waiting for us.”

Featured Comments:

Occasionally I receive comments on my blog that really impress me and I want to showcase them (and the commenter!) in the post:

“You know Joe this is one of those posts that is so genuine that I have to read it over and over just to prove to myself that you wrote it. In the normal every day life there can be indeed moments of triumph, self discovery and even finding a greater deeper appreciation for what you have, where you have come and understanding things won’t stay the same. They won’t stay where they are now and with positive thinking, a bit of focus and keeping yourself well stocked with resources like energy you can tackle about anything. Thanks for sharing.” – Lyndi Thompson

Lyndi is a Social Media and Online Marketing Specialist, you check out her blog at http://lyndit.com

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Tags: FIFA World Cup, Happiness, Inspiration, Joe Hackman, Joesgonesocial
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Danville Welcomes Home Corpsman Kevin Patrick Bradley

Tonight I was fortunate to have taken a small part in a welcome home ceremony for Kevin Patrick Bradley. Kevin is a Corpsman who just returned home from deployment over seas in Iraq and Afghanistan. It made me extremely proud of the effort that the local community makes to support our troops. The San Ramon Valley is a very special place and a number of my neighbors, friends, local officials and veteran’s turned out to give Kevin a warm welcome home. Kevin was very appreciative, humble and professional in his response to the ceremony.

I streamed the event live on uStream, something I am planning to do more of. It creates a fairly low quality (at least from my Droid phone in 3G coverage) live video and audio feed from just about anywhere. I can’t help but think that there is room for a team-mate on these adventures. It would be much more effective to have one person recording and the other interviewing and socializing at an event like this. For now I will persist with my current testing, keep an eye out for the Facebook and Twitter updates from my uStream account. Here is the embed of the majority of the event on uStream:

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Tags: Bluestar Moms, Danville, Joe Hackman, Kevin Patrick Bradley, Lafayette Flag Brigade, Sentinels of Freedom, uStream, VFW, Welcome Home
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2010 is a great year to start a business

I started to write a Facebook wall update earlier this week about starting a business:

“The economy may have faced challenges but it seems like a great time to start a business. I would encourage anyone who is out of work to consider pursuing your dreams, reach for the sky. There are so many great tools out there to use. If you need a nudge send me a note about your idea and I will try to….”

Then I realized that this was a great opportunity for a real article. So why is 2010 a great time to start a business? Let me share a few of my favorites:

1. People are receptive to new and creative ideas.
2. There are plenty of problems to solve.
3. The playing field can be levelled quickly via creativity and technology.
4. It’s easy and cheap to start a business.
5. If you’re already out of work, why not try?
6. Small businesses can respond more quickly to changes in an uncertain market.
7. You’re probably going to need to earn more money to live the same lifestyle.
8. It’s exciting and fun to be in business for yourself, your chance to shine.
9. You can get REALLY cheap labor, especially through September.
10. A business model that will work today should pay dividends for years to come.

The market for new Ideas

Lots of businesses and individuals have problems that are not being solved. They are feeling pain and that means there is opportunity. If you can find solutions to the things that are holding them back today you will have a long term customer. As these businesses improve they will feed your small business, it is possible to grow with a few choice customers for many years to come. It really doesn’t take a ton of clients. Find the pain points that you are passionate about solving. When all else fails find out what other people are saying can’t be done, and do that.

A level playing field with lots of tools

Technology is a great equalizer and it can be leveraged in almost any business. Any business can for example leverage the cheap and free web 2.0 and social media applications. With tools such as drop box you can share up to 2GB of files for free “on the cloud”. You can setup a voicemail and conference call number with drop.io for free also. With Skype you can talk to international prospects via video conference and shrink the world. With Amplify.com you can dive in, interact and share information with an astute audience. Using Facebook you can keep your family, business and friends informed about your new venture. There is really an app for just about everything these days, and most of them are free! Being creative and experimental you will find what works and does not work for you, don’t be afraid. These are days that favor the bold and creative. You don’t even need much to get started, any individual can “do business as” themselves and work out of their home, car, Starbuck’s, Peet’s and Panera Bread. Always remember the bigger your competition the slower they will be to respond and adjust, you on the other hand can be nimble and quick.

“You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.”  ~Walt Disney

Employment Challenged

Depending on where you live un-employment is at historically high rates right now. That’s a fact but not an excuse to sit idly and not do something about it. There are huge benefits to adversity, most people would never see their potential without it. I am actually one of those people, I have set and achieved much higher expectations for myself based on the innevitable bumps and bruises that life has brought me. So ask yourself this. Would you let your current adversity go to waste or would you prefer to improve your life right now? In the future you can look back at these days and think how valuable they were to your personal and professional development. Or you can just continue to feel how you feel right now and wait for something to change. It is wonderful that we have the choice, there is only one decision that makes sense to me.

Incentives to Hire

Do you know that if you started a business today you could hire eligible employees and get 80% of their salary and payroll taxes paid through the end of September 2010? Not to mention the people you hire would be extremely grateful to join the realm of the employed. This opportunity seems to be one of the greatest hidden secrets of 2010 but it is part of the ARRA and it is conceivable that the benefit could be extended beyond the current expiration date. Check out this article I wrote on this very subject.

It boils down to choice

There are plenty of what are now probably obvious reasons why 2010 is an exceptional year to start a business. What about some of the less obvious ones? It is inevitable that more challenges will face us all in the future. There is a mounting debt to pay off, risks of inflation, and higher taxes to name a few. For that reason there has never been a better time to elevate your earning potential where you are firmly in the driver seat. Whatever you could live comfortably on in the past is probably not going to be enough in the future. This reminds me of a quote by Warren Buffet (From Facebook) in August 2009:

“The people that behaved well are no doubt going to find themselves taking care of the people who didn’t behave well…” ~Warren Buffet

So we all have a choice, we can be a part of the problem or part of the solution. As an entrepreneur you have the opportunity for an exciting, challenging ride. Believe in yourself, work hard and you will live your dreams. Expect challenges and setbacks, use them to make yourself stronger. If you ever need an extra nudge find mentors in your family, friends and business associates that you can get a nudge in the right direction. Social media is a great place to find the smiling optimists, it soon becomes evident who among your friends and peers are those tireless cheerleaders. If you lack that structure you can always respond to “I need your help, tell me how I can help you“.

“When it is dark enough, you can see the stars.”  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Tags: Amplify.com, Facebook, guerrilla marketing, Joe Hackman, Joesgonesocial, Panera Bread, Small business, Social Media, Social Media Marketing
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Will this recipe inspire you to live a better life?

Do you have two to three words to describe your purpose? I do today but I did not for most of my life. Recently I wrote about how I’ve become more social, but something else has also been brewing. I’ve also been finding more purpose and direction in my personal and professional life.

During my foray into a more engaged and social lifestyle these were some of the steps that I took that led me to become more inspired:

1. Formed a business support group.
2. Supported more groups making a difference.
3. Encouraged connections between people.
4. Opened my mind to inspiration and learning.

Business Support Group

With a number of my clients, friends and my own business facing big challenges in 2008 and 2009 I decided to do something to try to make a difference. The precursor was writing an article for my business website “Success in 2009 from your IT Guy’s Perspective”. Shortly after that was published I decided to form a group with the intention of providing support and encouraging interaction between the members. Eventually this group met and became what I would call a business support group called 1Degree. The One Degree was the number of degrees of separation between the members. Every member has a direct connection with one or more other members. The group provides a supportive structure for people to share ideas and encouragement. I’ve received a number of compliments from members how the support and positivity meant a lot to them during their most challenging time. Many of those challenges persist today but we’re still working together to move forward. This experience gave me more confidence in myself and my ability to make a positive difference in a challenging time. Recognizing that action was especially important when the cards were down.

Support for Groups making a difference

A few years ago I joined the Danville/Sycamore Valley Rotary Club out of desire to give back. It was during a time of unprecedented prosperity in my business. Through this involvement I have kindled a deep passion for helping others. I also met a number of amazing people who work very hard to make a difference in this world and I have aimed to provide them with support in those endeavors. Some of my favorite causes include Asante Africa, The Wheelchair Foundation, Hayward Youth Academy, LN-4, and Trust in Education. I have made an effort to support these groups through Blog Talk Radio interviews, articles, sharing technical expertise and working strategically through Rotary to support their causes. It is incredibly satisfying for me to look back at what has been accomplished and to realize all the great things we can still do.

Encouraging Connections between People

Helping people and solving problems goes hand in hand. I often notice patterns that represent opportunities and try to provide the spark to have that opportunity ignite. This could be as simple as suggesting a website or article to someone but more importantly involves connecting people. This is something I realize in hindsight that I have watched and read about people doing over the years. It is incredibly satisfying to get a report back from two or more people that are benefiting from an introduction that I made. Helping people feels good, this is just another way to help.

Open Mind to Inspiration and Learning

Closing ourselves off is a defense mechanism. Traditionally this is something I quickly would do in a number of situations. For instance if a sales person called me on the phone, I would be annoyed that they were “wasting my time”. It is easy to watch the news and think that people in general are bad. It is hard to have conversations with a lot of people and not think people are good. It can be a challenge to keep an open mind but it is very important because it allows us to learn. Awareness is a powerful tool, being aware of our defense mechanisms allow us to consider new possibilities. One of the best examples I have of this is when a hip hop artist reached out to me on Facebook. He had seen something that I posted and thought it was interesting. He suggested I check out videos on YouTube that he had done. Most of them were not really my thing but one of his videos really connected with me. It involved the loss of someone he really cared about that had a lot of impact in the direct of his life. I experienced something similar in my past when I lost my mother to cancer. This story has repeated frequently since, strange connections leading to enlightenment and personal growth.

Guy Kawasaki and Chris Major

I have to thank Guy Kawasaki and Chris Major for their part in the forming of my personal mantra. Chris for noticing what I was doing and coming up with the actual words and Guy for planting the seed that a 2-3 word statement is much more powerful and important than big long winded business plans, manifesto’s and the like.

A Mantra Recipe

So the simplified version of my recipe, will this work for you?

1. Start with some confidence and leadership building.
2. Add several handfuls of causes bigger than yourself.
3. Blend in some meaningful interpersonal connections.
4. Add some inspiration and learning.
5. Infuse the value of simplicity in a message.
6. Introduce 2 simple words spoken at the right moment.
7. Simmer for 2-3 days and serve.

My mantra is “Building Bridges”

My personal mantra was first spoken by Chris Major during a conversation at Leadership San Ramon Valley class of 2010 Education day in February 2010. We were having a conversation during one of the breaks from the session. Chris had recently been on my Blog Talk Radio show talking about Hayward Youth Academy. After the interview wheels were spinning for Chris. He recognized that what I do, what matters most to me is building bridges. Whether it is providing support for causes locally or around the world, connecting with unlikely new friends, teaching my son, or using technology to fill gaps in businesses – Chris was right, I am in the bridge building business. It had to simmer for a few days, but once it had it was ready for consumption.

I hope this helps you find inspiration, ideas or in some way live a better life.

I will close with the original You Tube video by Guy Kawasaki that talks about the importance of a Mantra vs a Business plan. I’ve in turn adapted this to the difference between a manifesto and a mantra in your personal life.

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Tags: Blog, Inspiration, Joe Hackman, Joesgonesocial, Motivation, Social Media
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Visual Lesson in Leadership

I saw this today on Amplify.com and love the message. The real courage resides in the hands of the first follower, not the leader of a movement. Without that first follower the movement never takes off. Brilliant.

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Tags: Amplify.com, guerrilla marketing, Joe Hackman, Joesgonesocial, Social Media
Posted in Amplify, Inspiration, Leadership, Lighter Side of Things, Social Media Strategy, Video, community | View Comments