One town we over-nighted in was Glenwood Springs, CO. A pretty cool town, hard by the banks of the Colorado River with an authentic Western heritage—Doc Holliday died there. The river is raging at the moment due to all of the snow melt and runoff, and it defines Glenwood as a river town. While walking around town one evening I stopped into the Hotel Denver, as I’d not seen it before. A nice example of how to renovate a beautiful old hotel and yet somehow keep it fresh. And on the wall in the lobby of the hotel is this quote:

“No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man”.

The words belong to Heraclitus, an ancient Greek philosopher (535 to 475 B.C.) who must have known something about rivers, and life. It struck me first as rather cryptic, almost like a riddle. But as I considered the words, what came up for me were the twin notions of flow and change. The metaphor of “the river of life” is not a new one, but this Greek fella seemed to put a new twist on it for me. I’m not sure I can articulate what that is exactly but little did I expect to walk into a hotel lobby in Glenwood Springs and be so surprised and inspired by the words of an ancient Greek.

But I do know that we followed the river that next day on our ride, watching it flow and change, and I realized that we, the riders, were all flowing and changing along with the river—part of the same force. And we knew that by the end of the ride we’d not be the same people as when we started—we’d come to the end of the trail different, changed, inspired… and you bet, tired. I guess that why we do it—to get in the flow, feel the change and let it sweep us along while we ride. It’s quite an experience.

So, there is some work involved here—it does not just magically happen. At the foundation of it all is for leaders to begin, perhaps for the first time, the journey of self-mastery. And it is a journey, not a destination. It begins with building true self-awareness, of acceptance of who they are. This work is often about understanding behaviors that stem from their personalities, or egos. Next, it requires being open and responsive to feedback about themselves as leaders and people. This can lead to leaders discovering what really motivates them internally and learning how to tap into that energy to become more self-managing and self-propelled.

Over time, leaders see more clearly their place at work and in the world. The platform of self-awareness and acceptance enables them to develop a personal vision, supported by understanding their core values and purpose. This goes beyond the question “what do I want to accomplish?”—an important question, certainly—to asking “why am I on the planet, what’s my role here?”. The latter is a much bigger question, but one my coach asked me six years ago that I’m still working on via my personal journey of self-mastery.

The practice required to stay on the self-mastery path as a leader is to be a life-long learner, to be consistently curious about all manner of things and people. To be and remain engaged and connected, to not lose that child-like sense of wonder and yet remain grounded becuase sometimes you’re the one who has to make the tough decisions. In my judgment it’s a courageous choice because it’s a challenge to become an explorer in your own life—you may not be comfortable with everything you learn. However, you may grow beyond your wildest dreams.

The author of the article, Zev Chafets, spent a few days with Cramer before writing the piece and one evening was invited to Cramer’s Elks Club to meet the guys and play a little air hockey and shoot pool. Perhaps your first reaction to this news was like mine—seems a little unlikely and…what’s the catch? Turns out, there is no real catch according to the author, who does a good job objectively profiling Cramer I might add.

Cramer has had a roller-coaster ride of a life and by his own admission, feels lucky to be alive. And in his world, he’s a personality, a performer, an author who says he is sincerely trying to help the little guy make money in the stock market. He’s lost money of course, but made a lot more. In short, he’s a very visible dude. And yet here he is, hanging out with the local businessmen and leaders of Summit, NJ drinking beer and shooting pool. Why? He wants to be there—in my judgment he needs to be there. He says the Elks are “…good fathers, good men, good friends. To them, it comes naturally. It doesn’t to me. I learn from them”.

In my work with execs and high-achievers, I sometimes encounter folks like Cramer. And often, all they want is to be liked and accepted for who they are as human beings versus admired for their persona or net worth. And they yearn to spend time with good, grounded people—“good kings” as I call them. By the way, they can be male or female, these good kings. It’s not about gender, it’s about who they are at a soul level. Spending time with good kings, like the Elks of Summit, NJ, is healing for Cramer—that’s one of the reasons he’s become one of them. So, what’s the catch? There, he can just be Jim.

“A coach is someone who tells you what you don’t want to hear so you can see what you don’t want to see so that you can become what you’ve always wanted to be.”

I have to confess I like the quote and the intent of Landry’s message, although I don’t believe that an executive coach’s role is necessarily to tell his or her clients what to do. Working the client’s agenda and uncovering “the big want” for the client is the central focus of a coach’s job in my judgment.  Athletic teams are different—a little more of a command-and-control environment there.

But, Landry touched on something else that is important for coaches, and that is clearly identifying with the client what is blocking them from reaching their full potential or in Landry’s words “becoming what you always wanted to be”. Going to that place, to where your hidden or unrealized gifts reside, the backstairs of untapped or yet-to-be-unleashed genius—that takes courage. I’ve worked with folks who did not want to go there—at first. But eventually they gathered the nerve to face that fear and break through it, which is the first and toughest stage in catalyzing transformational change. I call this leaning in to fear, running towards it versus away from it—if you can’t get out of it, “it” being your current reality—get into it. What you will discover is that the fear is simply a story you’ve made up about yourself or your situation—it’s not truly real. Once you realize this, the path is much clearer and brighter because you can change the story and take definitive steps towards becoming what you always wanted to be.

Dick Schulte

It is difficult to put in our modern context what Louis endured and how he managed to come home alive. He suffered through the most harrowing and inhuman treatment a person could ever imagine. He witnessed many of his friends and fellow POW’s die tortuous deaths, sometimes for simply moving in their chair or asking a question. The inhumanity described in the book is just simply hard to believe—what is even harder to believe is that Louis, and many others, did survive and returned home to re-build themselves and their lives.

And yet. This is a story of triumph and redemption as well. For many, the war never ended after they got home. It haunted them until they passed. For others, like Louis, in spite of the challenges of re-entry into post-war America, he eventually flourished. He chose a life of service to underprivileged kids and gave willingly of himself and his resources. He did it via a spiritual awakening and discovering how to forgive even his most brutal captors—it allowed him to move on and make the world a better place.

So, if you’re ever having a bad day or are stuck or think there is no way out of your current situation, think about Louis, what he endured and the mental and physical pain he suffered—both from others and self-inflicted. How did he eventually learn to deal with it? He chose forgiveness and the first person he forgave was himself.

Dick Schulte

He said “To dare is to lose one’s footing momentarily. Not to dare is to lose onself.” That is a bold statement, yet so insightful in my judgment. And the accounts of Kierkegaard’s life indicate he definitely walked his own talk. It also reminds me of Eleanor Roosevelt’s famous saying—“try do to something every day that scares you.”

It all got me to thinking about what I would dare to do in 2011, stepping out of my comfort zone to try something new, take a risk without worrying too much about the outcome. I am still pondering the question—don’t have an answer yet. But I will come up with something that feels right after checking-in with my heart and my head. And I would pose the same question to you. What might you dare to do in 2011? What crazy, risky, courageous, wonderful thing have you been thinking about doing—for a long time—that you just have not pulled the trigger on yet? Is it something completely new and exhilirating, is it a conversation with someone you’ve been putting off, is it letting go of stuff from your past that is dragging you down?

Whatever IT is, I hope you dare to take action. Because instead of losing yourself, you will discover new truths about you that have been there all along.

Dick Schulte

1. Four ingredients of a successful entrepreneur—Idea, Belief, Passion and a Willingness to Act.
2. Asking the right questions—what, to whom, and when?
3. Be willing to see other perspectives, putting yourself in the shoes of your customer so that you can really see where you can innovate for the customer.
4. WW—Watch to Wallet. The amount of time someone spends with your product/service will reflect on that person’s spending.
5. Necessity is the mother of Invention, Scarcity is the Father.
6. Failure as an entrepreneur is a qualification, and should be taken with the right spirit.
7. Having the right team is the key to success. Investors do not invest in an idea, they invest in a team.
8. The right team can take an average idea and make it succeed, while an average team can execute a great idea into failure.
9. Entrepreneurship is a mystery and the job of the entrepreneur is to transform the mystery into a puzzle that must be solved with the right combination of creativity, insight, boldness and work.
10. Entrepreneurship is about dealing with uncertainties. It’s more about developing a strategy to navigate the uncertainties, staying lean and agile in the process.
11. In the present economy, people driven by knowledge will automatically attract wealth. People not driven by knowledge may lose their wealth.
12. Entrepreneurship is the art of staying afloat while you are not profitable.
13. Cash flow matters more than attractive margins.
14. Your approach to things is what differentiates you as an entrepreneur.
15. Experiential learning is more valuable than institutional learning—learn from experience.

Frankly, I’m still not sure about blogging—the value of it. But I do know that I have a point of view and information to share from time to time, and that folks who visit the TruPath site might actually have an interest in what I’m sharing. Thus, I am committed going forward to writing once per week in this space and it seems natural to make that resolution on December 30th, 2010. Putting the commitment in writing, for me, is the clincher because now it’s out there in the Universe. As I remind my clients consistently, once you make a commitment to change, to summon the courage to do something new and out of your comfort zone—and make it public—amazing things can happen that you might not expect. I am now open to the possibilties this change can bring.

So here’s to making amazing things happen, for all of us, in 2011. I wish for all of you nothing but good things in the new year and that you are intentional and tenacious about getting what you want in 2011.

Peace.

Dick Schulte

The TruPath website was updated today to include information on two services I have added to the repertoire. First, something I’ve actually been doing for five years and that is facilitating executive forum retreats. This work has been done largely with YPO forums based in Colorado, Indiana, California and Texas, assisting forums in exploring in a retreat setting how they can connect and interact more deeply and authentically. I truly enjoy this work and look forward to continuing it for many years to come.

Second, in coaching executives I’ve discovered that in some companies there is a lack of clarity, or even an absence, of focus on core values, company purpose and company mission. I created a model and process, the Performance Pyramid, in 2001 as CMO of Voyant Technologies that specifically speaks to creating, codifying and commuicating these foundational elements for businesses. I honestly don’t know how companies of any size can grow and perform successfully without knowing, and living, these three key elements that underpin company objectives, strategies and tactics. How can great execution take place in an environment where people are not clear on how to behave, why they are there and what they intend to accomplish? So there is a process for getting there cleanly and effectively that I am now offering. It works, it’s powerful and is key to truly motivating teams and organizations.

As you can see, the business is evolving—check out the new services I am offering. It’s all happening around my passion for creating great leaders, great cultures and thus, great companies that can indeed change the world.

Dick Schulte

He says “…the essence of being successful as an entrepreneur is building something that “makes meaning”. Meaning is not about money, power, or prestige. It’s not even about creating a fun place to work. Among the meanings of “meaning” are to:

• Make the world a better place.
• Increase the quality of life.
• Right a terrible wrong.
• Prevent the end of something good.

Goals such as these are a tremendous advantage as you travel down the difficult path ahead.”

As usual, Guy gives us great food for thought in simple terms. While making money is important and critical to the longevity of for-profit enterprises, and maximizing shareholder return the Holy Grail, that’s not what gets business leaders, and certainly their troops, up in the morning in my judgment. Not all of them anyway. For some it’s about making a difference, indeed making meaning, because to get people to sign up for the mission, to go where they’ve not been before, it just can’t be all about the money. There’s gotta be more to it.

Dick Schulte