SYNAPTIC I » Food For Thought

Mushroom Man

Gil Namur — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 16:10:44 +0000

Recently, I had the great pleasure to meet Bill Weaver from Across Borders Media. Bill has won many awards for his outstanding work often focusing on stories for a sustainable future. He sent me the following clip. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Not far from the shores of Cortes Island, there is an ancient and mysterious mushroom pictographs. Beside it, high on an old-growth fir tree, is a giant fungal growth that may hold the key to curing the world of tuberculous. Coincidence? Renowned mycologist Paul Stamets thinks not. Join us on a journey we took last summer to unravel the mystery of the Mushroom Man.

From Bill Weaver – Across Borders Media

Length: 7 minutes 5 seconds

About Bill Weaver

About Across Borders Media

Tomorrow, we’ll have orange sandwiches!

Gil Namur — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 00:47:25 +0000

In my last article, I suggested that when someone says something you don’t understand, don’t be afraid to say so and to ask for clarification. Shortly after posting this little nugget of wisdom, my friend Eric called me to see if I had time for a chat over a coffee. I had not seen him in some time and was delighted for the call and a chance to catch up with him. He had lots on the go and I wanted all the juicy details.

Early on in our conversation, he began to tell me about an exciting prospect he was hoping would come together for him. It involved working with a very interesting and accomplished man on a fascinating project overseas.

Eric: This guy is amazing Gil! He has enjoyed a tremendous career and is a Prophet Western.

Me: (thinking .. huh.. a Prophet Western?) Excuse me Eric, a Prophet Western?

Eric: Yes, that’s right! I am really hoping that we get the opportunity to work together and that ….

Me: (totally befuddled now) I’m sorry Eric. I don’t understand! A Prophet Western? As opposed to an Eastern Prophet?

Eric: (now laughing heartily) Nooooo .. he is a Professor at the University of Western Ontario! A Prof at Western!

Me: (blushing a bit) I knew that!

As silly as this may seem, I have witnessed this type of misunderstanding on many occasions. Worse, I have also witnessed the results of not having the misunderstanding clarified. In the example above, had I not asked Eric to shed some light on my confusion, I might have assumed that Eric was embarking on some kind of deep spiritual journey. A Prophet Western evokes a very different mental image than does a Prof at Western!

Whether the word is spoken or in writing, if you don’t understand it, ask for or seek out its actual meaning. I have seen seasoned executives make catastrophic errors in judgment due to such misunderstandings often leading to loss of business and huge embarrassment. As happened with Eric, I would much rather blush a little bit by asking a question than to go off telling our mutual friends that I believe he will soon be working with a Prophet!

So, what does this all have to do with orange sandwiches you ask?

Some years ago, my wife my super fantastic and wonderful wife Colleen and I were discussing some things we needed to accomplish over the next few days. Neither of us was feeling very energetic as we were both fighting a cold at the time. When I suggested that we look after one of those things right away, the ensuing conversation took place.

Colleen: Why don’t we do that tomorrow?

Me: We should do it now. Tomorrow will have its own challenges.

Colleen: (beginning to laugh) What did you say?

Me: (wondering what’s so funny) I said, tomorrow will have its own challenges.

Colleen: (now in hysterics) Please .. umm .. HUH???

Me: (now laughing very hard but still not understanding why!) I said, tomorrow will have its own challenges. What’s so funny about that?

Colleen: (barely able to speak for laughing so hard) I thought you said, tomorrow we’ll have orange sandwiches!!!

Since that day, whenever we know that there are difficulties ahead, we lighten the moment by saying, “Yes, tomorrow we’ll have orange sandwiches!”

Postscript:

This is the first article I write since September 25th. Some of you have asked about that. I had been writing at least one a week, usually two! Well, let’s just say that there have been many days from then to now and many of them had their orange sandwiches!

Oh .. and speaking of orange sandwiches, just for fun, I thought I would see if there were any pictures of orange sandwiches out there before I sliced one and placed it between slices of bread for a photo shoot. Who knew! They actually exist and they look good too. Now, I’ll have to try to make one. I’ll let you all know how that turns out!

Photo Credits

Prophet from the MS Word Clip Art Collection – tweaked by me
Orange sandwiches – © Mourner / Vladimir Agafonkin

What are they talking about?

Gil Namur — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 16:20:26 +0000

If you have ever started your own business, you will most likely have had to deal with various agreements and documents that are difficult to read, much less fully understand on a first go through. I am referring here to things like shareholder’s agreements, incorporation documents and the various legal and financial contracts that may be necessary for you to run your business.

Until recently, I thought that the most difficult language to understand was legalese. Apparently, legalese is allowed to break all grammatical rules. Some of these documents have sentences that ramble on for an entire page without a period. Check it out sometime. Take a legal agreement, paste it into your word processor, and see what kind of reaction you get from your grammar checker. Mine complains by underlining everything!

Have you ever read the fine print on the back of credit card agreements? Holy Moley! Legalese outdone? I heard recently that a Professor of Law had given a copy of her credit card agreement to her second year students. She gave them all 20 minutes to read it and answer one simple question; what is my interest rate? Not one of them could figure it out. It’s no small wonder that the general population can’t figure it out either.

A few days ago, much to my amazement, the bewildering language of both lawyers and financial institutions were outdone by who I would have thought would be the least likely of culprits, philosophers. My wife Colleen and I were watching a show on TV that featured eight philosophers talking about the meaning of life. I love philosophy and have eagerly explored it all my life. I believe I have a good vocabulary and a reasonable understanding of many philosophical concepts. In all honesty, I understood perhaps 50% of what I heard in that show. Four of the philosophers were easy to follow. The other four, well, Colleen and I looked at each other with blank expressions and asked; “what are they talking about?”

The problem is the overuse, or perhaps, the abuse of vocabulary. While I understand all of the words they used, the complexity of each spoken sentence will require me to watch this show several times to get a handle on what they are saying. This is unfortunate, as I really don’t have the time to do this but would love to know what they were presenting. Instead, my lasting impression is that it was all gobbledygook.

Let me give you an example. Which of the following two sentences do you prefer? Which one conveys to you all you really need to know?

The meandering and nebulous nature of the homily expounded by these cerebrally inclined orators initiated intracranial cephalalgia.

Listening to and trying to understand these well-educated thinkers gave me a deep headache!

I have mentioned lawyers, financial institutions and philosophers. Marketing departments often speak in confusing language as well. For example, in the article Product knowledge is essential to your success, I talk about ‘toning down the jargon’.

When speaking with your clients, please, tone down the jargon. Don’t expect your clients to know all the buzz words. Use simple words and avoid acronyms. For example, avoid this: “We use a SCSI drive backplane architecture with RAID level 5 to provide your enterprise with systems that are fault tolerant thus providing built in redundancies to ensure the availability of your mission critical applications twenty four seven.” Please, find a simpler way to say that. Don’t go too far to the left though. “Dude, our storage solutions really rock” is not a great choice either!

My point in all of this is simple. When trying to communicate an idea to someone, it is my humble opinion that using the simplest language possible is the best option. Showing off your great intellectual prowess is not the point. Successfully communicating the idea is what counts.

The other side of this is even more important to your personal growth and/or the success of your business. When someone says something that you don’t understand, don’t be afraid to say so. Ask for clarification. If none is offered, get advice from a friend or a colleague. Too many people in this world are guilty of pretending to understand things in order to avoid embarrassment. That’s just silly. You are depriving yourself of an opportunity to increase your knowledge. From a business perspective, in order to make good decisions, you need to understand what you are signing, before you sign it. You need to understand your strategies and business philosophies before you state them to your staff and potential clients.

All of that now said, I have a decision to make. Seeing as I recorded the show on philosophy, shall I go back and watch it again or shall I move on to the next article, which is also about communication and how we often misunderstand things because we heard them incorrectly? I already have a title for it…

‘Tomorrow, we’ll have orange sandwiches!’

I think I’ll write more, my cranium will appreciate the break!

Photo Credits

All pictures from the MS Word Clip Art Collection

I don’t know but I’ll find out!

Gil Namur — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 16:23:51 +0000

Entering the corporate world in my 20’s was an interesting and eye-opening experience. Having owned a few businesses already, I had an entrepreneurial approach that was extremely helpful to me, but often clashed with what some of my managers expected from me. One of those clashes involved a manager telling me this:

Never ever, say to a customer; “I don’t know”.

I absolutely refused to follow this advice and the conversations that followed with my boss were not pleasant. I wasn’t fired, but he was clearly unhappy with me!

Here is much better advice. When a customer asks a question that you don’t know the answer to, the best answer is this:

I don’t know, but I’ll find out!

When you do this, you are telling the truth and operating from a position of integrity. You are also making a commitment to get an answer. When you follow through and get back to your customer with an answer, you are demonstrating your reliability to follow through on your commitments.

Never forget that building long-term relationships based on trust are critical to your success. Demonstrating your integrity and reliability will go a long way towards establishing trust.

There is another very important dynamic to this. The statement; I don’t know, contains within it the seeds of learning. Freelance Writer Michael Kwan has written an insightful article titled ‘You’re Allowed Not to Know Something’. I highly recommend that you read this fine article.

Photo Credits

Gil and son Andrew © Gil Namur

Colin Lewis – making a difference in the lives of children!

Gil Namur — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 22:58:02 +0000

Recently, Bob Burg honored me by writing about one of my recent articles, Humbled by an angel at his Go-Giver blog. While I was there, I noticed a post by Bob about Colin Lewis titled, Go-Giving Wisdom (and the Proceeds Go to Orphans).

Colin’s passion is to help others achieve their potential. For years, he has been delving deeply into books to discover the ‘hidden wisdom’ within them and link it to his personal and professional experience to provide what he calls “School of Life” manuscripts.

Colin succinctly and beautifully summarizes these books into ‘Wisdom Notes’. Wisdom Notes can help to open our minds to new ways of thinking, provide inspiration, motivation and knowledge to help us on our path to self-improvement.

So why am I telling you this?

Via Wisdom Notes, Colin is focused on raising US$ 1 million for orphanages in Poland via the Chiva Foundation, which Colin and his wife recently established with a $55,000 contribution of their own.

By providing children with the opportunity to grow up in a ‘family environment’, they develop their core values, including being enveloped with love and community. The Chiva Foundation is committed to helping underprivileged children grow up in a safe, loving environment where they are also educated in life skills, arts, music and sport.

How can you help?

The proceeds from Colin’s Wisdom Notes are going directly to the Chiva Foundation. The notes sell for $45.00. For that price, you will receive 104 Wisdom Notes to books such as:

Man’s Search for Meaning, Tao Te Ching, The Letters of Seneca, Think and Grow Rich, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, The Wisdom of Heraclitus, A New Earth, Happy for No Reason, The Success Principles, Joseph Campbell Companion, The Magic of Thinking Big, The Writings of Emerson, The Diamond Cutter, The Prophet, Walden … click here for the full list:

As Bob Burg put it, “You will receive the benefit of Colin’s remarkable wisdom summaries and be supporting some terrific and needful kids at the same time.”

Colin has provided synaptici with these free samples of Wisdom Notes to the Go-Giver by Bob Burg & John David Mann and The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran! Have a peek and just click on PDF sample to view the Wisdom Notes.

Colin, you are making a huge difference in the lives of underprivileged children by bringing them hope and helping them to obtain an education. I wish you every success in your efforts and thank you for your giving spirit!

Please visit these other pages that also support Colin’s efforts:

Photo Credits

All photos from Colin’s web sites

Humbled by an angel

Gil Namur — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 21:05:22 +0000

Recently, I was reading part two of an article that I appreciated by Bob Burg titled, To Have A Body. In it, he discusses how too often as humans we judge others by their appearance, like judging a book by its cover. Bob’s article brought back a memory I would like to share with you.

First, a little bit about where I was and what I was doing at that point in my life.

I was feeling great and probably a little too smug. It was 1990 and I had just won the national Strategic Account Executive of the Year award for Toshiba. My career was in overdrive and everything was going my way. The local university had asked if I would take part in a technology show by setting up a booth to display the latest laptop computers and talk about the future of the industry. At the time, Toshiba had the most innovative products on the market and had the lion’s share of that marketplace.

For many reasons, I was delighted and excited to take part in the technology show. I was passionate about the technology and loved to talk about it. Now I was going to be able to do so at a university venue to academics many of whom were from the various science faculties. I love science! What could be better?

We set up a beautiful booth and displayed our best products. On the first day, the booth quickly filled with professors and students all wanting to talk about their various projects and discuss how our technology could help them further their research. I was fascinated and enjoying every moment. It was about noon, and there were many waiting to speak with me. Just then, a woman in a wheelchair rolled into the booth. She was a quadriplegic. She had a tube close to her mouth that she would blow into to move and steer her motorized wheelchair. She also had a whiteboard on her lap that she could write on using a long erasable marker, again using her mouth to do so. As well, she had a bib of sorts, as she would salivate quite a bit whilst using her mouth to write or drive her wheelchair.

She wanted some information. I felt very awkward as I approached her. She had written a note that was difficult to read. The note asked if I could give her some information about a particular laptop computer. What, I wondered, would she do with a laptop computer? I grabbed a brochure and placed it in a basket she had on the wheelchair. She wrote another question on her board. The communication between us was slow and very difficult to understand. I was aware of the others waiting in the booth and I was anxious to get back to them. When I had answered her, she grunted a thank you, smiled as best she could and slowly left the booth. I could tell she wanted to ask more questions…

As she rolled out of the booth, I engaged a professor who was studying quasars. Wow! Astronomy, my favorite science. I was elated… for about one minute. I could not get the woman in the wheelchair out of my mind and began to feel awful for not having spent more time with her. She deserved every bit as much of my attention as anyone else. I felt I had let her down because I was unwilling to spend the time with her. In a way, I had judged her. I had made a decision to spend as little time as possible with her so I could get back to those that were easier to communicate with mostly because I was interested in what they had to say. Though I was polite, I never gave her the courtesy of showing her the same level of interest.

The next day, the booth was packed. Around mid-morning, the woman in the wheelchair returned. When I saw her, I respectfully broke off from the conversation I was having with a physicist. I walked over to her and said hello. On her lap was a neatly typed note with several questions. With an awkward tilt of her head, she motioned to the note so I picked it up and read it. After I had answered each question, she again grunted a thank you and motioned that she was going to leave. I stopped her and asked her what she was researching. She began to write on her board. This was going to take a while. I grabbed a chair and sat next to her so we could communicate more easily and gave her 100% of my attention. She was doing some very interesting research! She also had a tremendous sense of humor and not one ounce of self-pity. I asked her how she had managed to type the note that she had brought with her and she explained that she had an interface that allowed her to use the blow tube to type by blowing in patterns similar to Morse code. She wanted to incorporate a laptop and a small printer into her chair so she could type messages wherever she went.

We spoke for about an hour. By the end, the communication was getting much easier. During that time, I had wiped her chin for her a few times with Kleenex that she kept in her basket. She finally told me that I really needed to get back to the others who had been waiting patiently. Sighing, I agreed and gave her all of my contact information and invited her to contact me anytime at all. I told her I would be happy to drive out to the university so I could answer her questions and carry on our conversation. Alas, we never saw each other again.

The one hour I spent with her ranks as one of the most humbling and beautiful hours I have ever spent with another human being. Trapped inside her broken body was a beautiful mind and a wonderfully creative imagination. Despite her appearance, she was as graceful as any human I have ever met. Though I am sure she didn’t know it, she brought me back down to ground and taught me lessons I will never forget.

As we move through our lives, we meet people that we sometimes judge too quickly. I believe some of these people are angels sent to teach us valuable lessons. The woman in the wheelchair certainly was, and if she happens to read this, I have these words for her.

From the depth of my heart … thank you!

Photo Credits

Angel © chrisholtphotos

Quasar © NASA – Public Domain

Toshiba T1200XE © unknown

William Kamkwamba on building a windmill

Gil Namur — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 00:10:06 +0000

When he was just 14 years old, Malawian inventor William Kamkwamba built his family an electricity-generating windmill from spare parts, working from rough plans he found in a library book. – from TED.COM

I cried happy tears as I watched this remarkable young man make a short presentation about the windmill he built to produce power for his family. If you are not inspired or moved by this, then you are either asleep or a stone. This video clip is a testament to some of the attributes that separate us from other species. Imagination and ingenuity leap to mind. It also shows what great things can come about when someone is willing to make a difference … when someone dares to dream! William Kamkwamba certainly did that!

William, I want to thank you for clearly reminding us what a beautiful and powerful thing the human spirit is. May the wind always blow fair for you!

Length: 4 minutes 12 seconds

About William Kamkwamba

William Kamkwamba’s Blog

About TED.COM

Waiting for others can break your momentum!

Gil Namur — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 21:28:17 +0000

It’s early on a Sunday morning and I am waking up with a coffee in hand taking in a wonderful sunrise. As my synapses slowly start to fire, (I am very slow to wake in the mornings) I remember that yesterday, I wrote a piece on the importance of being responsive and now find myself reflecting on the last point I made in that article.

“Business initiatives are all about motion and momentum. When you are unresponsive, you stall or stop that momentum.”

It occurs to me that there is a very important lesson I have learned about this dynamic that I should share with you … as soon as I am fully awake!

I have come to believe that there is no such thing as standing still. We are all moving forwards, or backwards. There is no middle ground. Whatever your endeavors may be, motion and momentum are essential to your success.

A few times in my career, I have waited far too long for someone to get back to me or to complete a task that was central to the business I was working on. In both instances, the combined lost opportunity costs were significant. How did this happen?

By nature, I am an empathetic and forgiving person. This serves me well in my relationships. People gravitate to me and trust me easily. Many of my friends and associates call me just for personal advice or because they know that I will happily lend them a non-judgmental ear.

In business however, I have had to learn to tone-down this aspect of my personality. This has not been easy for me. It’s hard to fight your own nature. In both the cases I mentioned above, I made the mistake of being far too forgiving of delays. What I should have done was set a hard deadline. If that deadline was not met, I should have politely disengaged those individuals and found others to move forward with. Part of my hesitation in doing so was because we had so much momentum. As well, they were friends. To engage new resources would have been a big step backwards. A detour … I hate detours! The thing is, as bothersome as a detour might be, it is the only way around an obstacle and necessary if you want to get to your destination. Stated otherwise, it’s much better to take a few steps back in order to be able to move forward again.

In both instances, I ended up resenting my friends. Sure, they let me down, but, I enabled them to do so. That’s my part in it, my failure if you will. When I regained my objectivity and had the time to evaluate what happened, I was much angrier with myself than I was with them. I knew better. I no longer resent these people. After all, I am a forgiving person. They taught me a very valuable lesson. Let’s hope I was a good student.

If you find yourself in a position where you are waiting for others to complete tasks that are central to your progress, don’t wait too long. If they are friends, be aware that there is a delicate balance between business and friendship. Set a deadline and have an alternative course of action available to you. If you don’t, you might end up authoring an article … just like this one!

Photo Credits

Motion and Detour from MS Word Clip Art Collection

Michael Pritchard’s water filter turns filthy water into drinkable water

Gil Namur — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 21:01:28 +0000

Too much of the world lacks access to clean drinking water. Engineer Michael Pritchard did something about it — inventing the portable Lifesaver filter, which can make the most revolting water drinkable in seconds. An amazing demo from TEDGlobal 2009. – from TED.COM

This is a remarkable invention that has the potential to save millions of lives at a fraction of the cost we would have thought possible not so long ago. This, because Michale Pritchard found the current mechanisms used to deliver water to those who need it most inefficient and unacceptable. And so, he took action and created something much better! Well done Mr. Pritchard .. well done!

Length: 9 minutes 32 seconds

Additional Links:

About Michael Pritchard

About TED.COM

Going for Harmony in your lifestyle

Catherine Novak — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 21:58:09 +0000

Here we are on a long weekend in Victoria BC, which is currently boasting the world’s best weather, and I want to finish a lot of writing commitments in the next couple of days. In fact, I’ve been working at least a part of every day for what seems like weeks. My dearly beloved, who has been watching me build my business and take on additional projects as well for all of 2009, is beginning to question my “balance” (which is like the pot calling the kettle black if you watch how he works 50-hour weeks and then attacks the basement renovations as if a new cold war is approaching).

Yes, I am parked behind this computer for many hours every day. Yes, the yard is untouched, except that we have trimmed the lawn to a uniform height and are putting up with the growing patches of brown. Yes, my “holidays” have been put on hold, and when I go away with the kids I bring a computer and an internet stick. Should I take a look at finding some balance in my life?

Let me pass along an analogy I’ve found incredibly helpful in times like this. Many lifestyle coaches advise us to achieve balance in our life. So we feel we need to carefully plan each day with the right amount of work, rest, “quality time” and so on. It’s fine advice if you have a routine that you have set – great for maintaining a pattern that is already clicking along.

But what about when you are giving birth to something new? As a mother of three, let me tell you that during labour there is no question of taking a break and finding balance. You are in it for the long haul and until that baby comes out, you’re not doing anything else. People who are adept at starting new ventures know that giving birth to a new idea is much the same. At times like this, the best you can hope for is harmony.

By thinking of harmony instead of balance, you give yourself permission to let different “instruments” take center stage in your life for a time, and it’s ok if sometimes the effect of the moment is a high-volume guitar solo, or an aria. That solo will last a moment or two, then it ends and something else becomes the focus of the music. Harmony expects rests along with the melody, and crescendos as well as quiet. A piece of music that is “balanced” throughout risks blandness. Achieving harmony in your life requires you to look at the bigger patterns, and plan beyond the day-to-day. Harmony sometimes demands all-out performance, then a period of recovery. And it seems to me that harmony will create a more dynamic result than carefully-maintained balance.

So the next time a well-meaning friend tells you that you need more balance in your life – ask them to look at the bigger picture. Maybe you are creating something bigger, and more harmonious, than they can see from close up.

About Catherine Novak:

Catherine draws from over 25 years of communications and adult education experience. A graduate of University of Victoria, she’s lived and worked in locations as diverse as London UK and Lillooet BC, and returned to Victoria – her spiritual home – in 2004. Catherine is owner of WordSpring, specializing in working and social media consulting. As well, she teaches social media strategy and tactics in independent seminars and at Royal Roads University.

Visit Catherine Novak

Photo Credits

Guitar Player from MS Word Clip Art Collection