J.D. Messinger's Blog

 

 

They came from across the country, ninety-five to be exact. They are mobile feeding units and as of this moment, they have delivered over 312,000 meals, 320,000 drinks, and helped over 20,000 survivors and first responders.

The drivers left their families and loved ones and literally rode thousands of miles into the storm. This is a story about the Salvation Army (SA) I didn’t know, and chances are, neither do you.

My point of view is twofold: first as an experienced first responder (fires, spills, rescues, crashes, infections) and secondly, as a volunteer inside the SA Emergency Disaster Team in the Houston Command Center. Prior to volunteering I was safe and secure, high and dry, inside my house watching all the destruction to my friends and community. I couldn’t take the survivors guilt. I had to get out and help.

What I saw blew my mind and just might blow yours. Consider it a “shattered” illusion–something I thought to be, was’t that at all.

Prior to my insiders view, my only previous contact with SA had been with the Kettle ringers during Christmas and Thanksgiving raising money for those in need.  I had no idea that the Army was one of the most experienced and professional first responders in the nation, and perhaps the world. Their experience dates back to the year 1900, when they responded to our nations worst natural disaster–the Galveston Hurricane, where over 5,000 people perished. It continued in 1906 when they spent their entire national bank account ($4 million at the time) on the San Francisco earthquake survivors. They were also first on the scene after 911, delivering meals and services within less than an hour of the first tower being struck. In case you didn’t know, they delivered over 3 million meals, countless others with spiritual and emotional support, and more…much much more.

Before I continue, you need to know a little about how disaster recovery teams work. I learned this back in 1989 while supervising the Valdez Oil Spill clean-up team. The team begins with an Incident Commander, who has several direct reports: Logistics Chief, Safety Chief, Planning Chief, Operations Chief, Liaison Chief, and a Public Information Officer. Cascading beneath these chiefs is a small army of dozens of people. Lets call this the “Emergency Disaster Team.”

And here’s the bottom line–the point of this blog: I have seen dozens and dozens of these teams, but if my memory serves me correct, never have I seen one so well structured, organized, prepared, and CARING than the angels from the Salvation Army.

I could bore you with all the details, but trust me, this is complicated, tedious, and stressful work. It takes a special person just to be here! And this Army does this  E-V-E-R-Y    S-I-N-G-L-E day, in communities around the nation, for people they never met, will likely never see again, and getting paid 25-35 percent less than comparable non-profit.

Why, why do they do it? What motivates the people? Stay tuned for Part II, where I answer this question and share more from my insiders view.

For now, if you are interested in helping the Salvation Army, know two things: First, during times of disaster, 100 % of donations go to the impacted areas and secondly, here is the link: www.HelpSalvationArmy.org.

 

 

 

The post Outside Looking In: The Amazing Salvation Army appeared first on JD Messinger.

How do you label love? Let me unravel the ways for love hath no labels as the video clearly shows.

Just after the tragic events in Dallas that killed 5 police officers and wounded fourteen others, my wife, family, and I went and visited my daughter Madison who recently moved to Dallas to work at the North Texas Food Bank, which distributes ~ 50 million meals to the needy each year and has a goal to reach 92 million by 2025. It was our first family trip to visit Madison in her new apartment and so we planned a weekend of fun filled activities including a night out on the town. Madison suggested we go to a drag show at the most popular gay club in Dallas. She had been there with her friends before and absolutely loved it. I wasn’t particularly excited about watching a group of men dressed up as woman or being thrown into the LGBT scene with very little notice. The truth is, given the recent events in a similar Orlando night club, I was a bit nervous. Nevertheless, it was Madison’s weekend and I agreed to go. I had no idea that this night out would be a profound and moving experience.

As we entered the club, the first thing I noticed was the four police officers guarding the streets; a caucasian man, a black man, a black woman, and a male latino. The next thing I noticed was the various racial and ethnic mix of police officers inside the club, all connected with a wireless communication device in their ear. The club filled up quickly with hundreds of people. There was a group of about fifteen all caucasian ladies celebrating a birthday. They ranged in age from early twenties to early fifties. I assumed they were all straight, one appeared out of sorts and perhaps out of place. Most were having the time of their life singing and dancing as they sat close to the stage. To my left was an effeminate man. To my right was a transgender man having the time of his life singing, dancing, and holding hands with his girlfriend. Boy could he dance. His smile, ear to ear. The police officer in the corner, a young healthy man who you didn’t want to mess with, was smiling and alert, his eyes moving across the room. People came up to him and patted him on the back. I imagined they were grateful for his presence, and he appeared the same. Meanwhile the bar tender was working the crowd, apparently greeting many loyal customers. He had a huge smile, was extremely witty, and told great jokes.

Drag queen after drag queen came out and danced and lip synched to popular songs. The music was fantastic. I glanced around, transfixed by young and old men holding hands with men, beautifully dressed women hugging other woman, and traditional straight couples enjoying the festivities. The crowd of girls celebrating a birthday were getting wilder by the minute, all except the nervous one. After an hour the loud noise was getting to me and I stood up and went outside to the second floor balcony and looked down upon the street at the four roaming police officers. They too were smiling. There was a black young man next to me, and I said, “I have a new found respect for the police officers after what just happened.” We looked at each other and he said, “I know. I feel the same way.” We started talking and I interjected that I was straight, he said he was as well. When asked what brought him here, he said he was a chef and just recently moved to Dallas and was just enjoying a night out. For a couple of minutes we both stared down at the people on the street as we listened to the music from inside. Finally I asked, “I don’t know any chefs. What’s it like? Why do you do it?” His calm and deep response was soothing to my ears.

“Love. It’s all about love. This is all about love.”

“Tell me more,” said I.

“When you put a plate down in front of someone, that tells you everything. It’s not just the food, but the colors, and design, the flow on the plate. It’s an art.”

Wow, I thought as images appeared in my mind making my mouth salivate. I felt it. “It is all about love isn’t it. I mean look inside! All these people after the terrible racial events and hate crimes, all colors, ages, and orientations, in there singing and dancing.” I stopped, hit by an emotion that stirs me now, nearly ten days later. My heart was expanding, like the Grinch who stole Christmas by Dr. Suess in Whoville.

Now watch the video above and perhaps you will begin to understand the profound impact I felt that night.

Love has no age.     Love has no religion.     Love has no race.     Love has no disability.

Love has no gender.   Love has no party.

Love is color blind, ageless, and independent of ideology or theology.

Love is kind, diverse, patient, generous and compassionate.

Love is universal.

Love is when we open our heart, expressing none of the labels and all of the virtues.

Please vote from your heart.

I can hear a Beatles song playing inside my head, influencing my thoughts.

 

“All You Need Is Love”





Love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love.
There’s nothing you can do that can’t be done.

Nothing you can sing that can’t be sung.

Nothing you can say, but you can learn

How to play the game

It’s easy.

Nothing you can make that can’t be made.

No one you can save that can’t be saved.

Nothing you can do, but you can learn

How to be you in time

It’s easy.

All you need is love, all you need is love,

All you need is love, love. Love is all you need.

Love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love.

All you need is love, all you need is love,

All you need is love, love. Love is all you need.
There’s nothing you can know that isn’t known.

Nothing you can see that isn’t shown.

There’s nowhere you can be that isn’t where

You’re meant to be

It’s easy.







#lovetrumpshate

Thank you for being my teacher Madi,
Love Dad.

The post #LoveTrumpsHate: My Experience in Dallas appeared first on JD Messinger.

Today, I am grateful for the little things, and it makes me feel very happy and dare I say fulfilled. The reason for this gratitude is that I spent most of the day helping my first child who recently graduated from college, my daughter Madison, work on her first full time job. We spent the day reviewing her job offer, understanding her benefits package, developing a budget, and then the really fun part: hunting for apartments and searching for used furniture! These simple activities are part of our invisible bond; a connection between a parent and child which we sometimes call a right of passage, and it’s incredibly powerful.

It wasn’t something I had intended to do today and it forced me to slow down, put aside my long list of ‘To Dos’ and help Madison. In exchange I received an unexpected gift, and gained a memory that I will cherish for a lifetime and for this I am grateful.

I was reminded of this video I saw about Sam Berns and how he was grateful for the simple things despite his extremely rare genetic disease. Sam shares his philosophy and one of the quotes he offers for consideration is from Ferris Bueller, played by Matthew Broderick:

“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you might miss it.”

Sams’ life was taken before it really even started, yet despite his suffering and tremendous adversity, he was happy and grateful, and his life philosophy is an inspiration to us all. Watching his TED talk filled me with a profound sense of gratitude.

Sam was 17 when this was recorded, but his body was about 80. He suffered from an extremely rare genetic disease known as progeria, which causes accelerated aging. This Ted talk was published on December 13, 2013 and less than one month later Sam had transitioned from this life to the next.

As Patriots owner Robert Kraft said, “I loved Sam Berns and am richer for having known him. He was a special young man whose inspirational story and positive outlook on life touched my heart.” Sam was dealt one of the hardest lives a person could have, yet left us with a profound blessing that he passes forward, gratitude.

After tremendous suffering, when asked “what is the most important thing people should know about you,” Sam replied, “I have a very happy life.” Sam went on to say that rule #1 of his life philosophy is to be okay with what you ultimately can’t do, because there is so much you CAN do. His second rule is to surround yourself with people you want to be around.

How many of us have so much more, but exhibit a fraction of the gratitude and grace as this young man? I’ll raise my hand.

Sam left a legacy and like Robert Kraft said, just watching this video touches my heart and soul.

What can you be grateful for today?

How can you see what you can do, and all that is good?

God bless you Madison and Sam, I am grateful.

The post What is gratitude? appeared first on JD Messinger.

I don’t know about you, but I love to create things! In fact, I feel more alive, happier, and on fire when I am using my creativity and ingenuity to make something unique. It’s just fun! In my last blog on famous failures I told you about how I crashed and burned making a television show that ended up being #1 in the ratings (never quit).

Another thing that I had a lot of fun creating was an innovation game called Boiler Room. That game was used to help first responders develop skills to adapt to threats. To my complete surprise, over 50,000 people played that game and every time I just laughed hysterically as I watched them try to solve the problem. What they didn’t know was that I designed the game scenario similar to the Kobayashi Maru training test in Star Trek: its a no-win scenario and what made me laugh was watching everyone die trying. That is until the joint chiefs of the Singapore Ministry of Defense played…and broke the rules! I loved it. They won the game in 42 minutes by breaking the rules.

They were innovative! So  what do we mean when we say something is innovative? I think of innovation as a combination of creativity and ingenuity. This video of Aladdin’s Magic Carpet Prank is a darn good example.

Here’s my left-brain formula: Innovation = 1/3 creativity + 2/3 ingenuity.

It’s also 1/3 inspiration + 2/3 perspiration, which is slightly different from the first formula, but nevertheless provides important clues to understand the innovation process.

Creativity and inspiration comes from the heart and touches the soul. In the most simplistic terms, the ‘concept’ must fulfill hopes and dreams, or overcome pain and suffering, or alleviate fears and frustrations. The ‘idea’ must hit the binding force, the primordial nerve, and fill a deep need (let me make this clear-the idea is not motivated by the money, that’s the outcome silly goose). In the case of Aladdin’s Prank, it makes us laugh and gives hope.

But having a creative or inspirational idea is insufficient to be an innovator, for the implementation phase requires perspiration and ingenuity. This is where the mind comes into the picture. Aladdin was incredibly ingenious in how he made that flying carpet look like it was really flying! Bravo my friend. I hope you didn’t use all three wishes on that.

So you see, innovation is a rare combination of heart (creativity) and mind (ingenuity). I say rare because it is difficult to find this in one business unit, let alone one person. The idea lifts you up and gets you all excited (inspiration), then it takes you down to your knees, begging please, during implementation (perspiration). Making all this happen requires determination. Just thinking about all this can make a would-be innovator start to perspire…or run away.

Innovation is not for the feint of heart (I smell that courage word again, seems like EVERYTHING takes courage).

I could stop here, but I would be remiss if I didn’t share one more important tip: there are two kinds of innovations, linear and radical.

A linear innovation is the combination of ‘things’ that already exist, but are combined in a new way, that adds new value. This is what Aladdin did. He didn’t invent the song, outfit, or skate board. He took all these things that already existed and turned them into something new, that added new value. Steve Jobs did the same thing with Apple’s iPhone. Linear innovations are ~ 98-99 percent of all innovations, and they can be products, services, strategies, or structures.

On the other hand, a radical innovation is the creation of something that changes consumer behavior and industrial patterns, and that spells trouble, right here in river city (showing my age). Examples include the transistor, the television, and the world wide web. Radical innovations are very rare, 1-2 percent, and they are very difficult to implement. As they change industrial patterns and consumer behavior, there are a lot of rice bowls that get destroyed, so the head winds are strong.

If you want to be an innovator, you might want to go stare in the mirror and slap yourself in the face. Hard. On the other hand, if that made you laugh, you just might have the right stuff.

 

 

 

The post What is innovation? appeared first on JD Messinger.

Have you ever failed at something? I have, oh let me count the ways: I failed when I tried to make my first reality TV show, first game, book, leadership course, coaching program…and many more. The entrepreneur reality TV show is a great example and a funny story. Of course it wasn’t very funny in the early days.

The bottom line is this: don’t quit.

Flash waaay back in time to 2003 when Google was just a spud, before Facebook, and years before iPhones entered the scene. I had never done anything like this in my life having just finished changing careers from consulting to being an entrepreneur.

I was a new entrepreneur making a television show about entrepreneurs. No experience in film, story boarding, editing, hosting, graphics. None. Zip. Nada. Discovery Channel heard about it and decided to film the ‘making of’ the show (called Brainwave). As this was my first venture at film making, I decided to film it as well! Here we were, fifty people traipsing around Sentosa Island conducting entrepreneurial challenges to demonstrate courage, ingenuity, determination, and team building as we tripped over each other with a slew of cameras…filming cameras …filming cameras!

The first three months was a monumental crash and burn. We couldn’t get a writer, so I said I would write it. We couldn’t get a host, so I reluctantly said I would host it. We spent fifty percent of our budget, filmed weeks of materials, and it was 98 percent trash. I wrote the script 5, 10, 15 times, then tried again. After 25 times I was getting worried. After 35 times I needed a very stiff drink. Finally after 50 times…fifty times…I threw it away in total frustration.  All I could do was surrender to the film Gods and let it go.

I went on a vacation to Bali (I was living in Singapore at the time). Then something amazing happened. As I was laying on the beach listening to the ocean with not a care in the world somewhere in Margaritaville, the AHA struck me! I leapt off the beach, ran to the hotel, and started scribbling as fast as I could. Six months later the show hit #1 in it’s time slot and #1 on the channel. You can see the show reel here.

I learned a valuable lesson about failure, a few actually. First, as Robert F. Kennedy once said, “Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.” I also learned that failure is not being unsuccessful; failure is quitting after an unsuccessful attempt. If I quit after 50 attempts, then I would have failed. But I didn’t. Failure is a step on the path to greatness, teaching us resilience. Don’t quit!

The list of famous and successful individuals who have failed miserably is long and shocking, or is it? Watch the video. Abraham Lincoln was defeated in 8 elections before becoming president. The Beatles were told they had no future in the entertainment business. Dr. Seuss’s first book was rejected 27 times. Steve Jobs was fired from the company he started (Apple). The list goes on.

If you’re about to quit, please watch the video and you will be both surprised by the famous failures and inspired to press on. It seems the path to greatness is paved from the road of failures.

Failure teaches us determination, persistence, and resilience–one of the most important qualities to survive and thrive. 

Failure is another universal law of life. If you want to amount to anything, you will fail! Evaluate what you did wrong and figure out how to get it right. In my experience surrendering control, and how to, is essential. Never surrender the what or why.

No one ever got it right the first time, not even Steve Jobs, Walt Disney, or Thomas Edison. In fact, if you study the greatest inventors and most successful entrepreneurs–those people Kennedy referred to in his quote about achieving great feats–you will discover that these geniuses don’t fit in a box; they cannot be labeled; they reject the box so strongly that they are ostracized and ridiculed and doomed to fail!!

Until they succeed–until they get it right.

What kept them going? Passion.

Do you have passion? Do you care enough about what you believe in to never surrender, never quit?

If you need some inspiration, watch the 8 most motivating minutes of your life video.

In reality, there is no such thing as failure, unless you quit.

The post Why is failure important? appeared first on JD Messinger.

Is it just me, or is the constant bombardment of negativity dragging you down as well? I used to love reading the newspaper and catching up on the days’ news, but truthfully, I can’t take it anymore. I believe the intensely negative presidential election has a lot to do with it. It just seems completely unbecoming of any president-wanna-be to drag us down and promote division, anger, hatred, and separation. The presidents job is to lift us up.

Recently a group of very close friends got together and we were having a lot of fun. As soon as the subject of the election came up it was as if someone put a spell on us. It wasn’t that we disagreed or argued about any issue, that’s not my point. Everyone just got agitated, stopped laughing, and started talking loud.

More and more I find myself searching for stories, people, events, and music that lift me up, and that is what today’s vlog is about. This is why my last vlog was about the incredibly cute talking twins!

I keep playing this song, You Raise Me Up, and it does just that. It was originally composed by the duo Secret Garden. The music was written by Rolf Lovland and the lyrics by Brendan Graham . After the song was performed early in 2002 by Secret Garden and their invited lead singer, Brian Kennedy, it was only a minor hit in the UK.

Since then, it has been recorded by more than a hundred other artists including Josh Groban, and this version, by Westlife, which helped the song take off.

These songs, and videos, are the essence of the bond we share and this #BindingForce lifts us up. The lyrics really say it all, when we are down and weary, or burdened, we all need someone to lean on. I love how this Westlife remix includes images of loved ones, especially children.

When I am down and, oh, my soul, so weary;
When troubles come and my heart burdened be;
 Then I am still and wait here in the silence,
Until you come and sit awhile with me.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;

You raise me up to walk on stormy seas;

I am strong when I am on your shoulders;

You raise me up to more than I can be.

And that is why, I dedicate this blog to my wife and kids—

Who raise me up, when I am weary and bleary.
Who cheer me up,  so I can maybe see.
Who teach me patience, as I search for guidance.
Who raise me up, to more than I can be.

I see you.

Love forever,

Dad

 

The post Something to Raise You Up appeared first on JD Messinger.

Over 130 million people love this video and so do I!

ABC News did a story on it and host Diane Sawyer described it as a sweet mystery of the universe…a colorful, sophisticated, communication that is more than just babble. It is cute, adorable, hysterical, and innocent all at once. And who can ignore those fat little bellies!

I found some of the comments on the parents website, which came in from around the world, regardless of language, culture, age, and I suppose any other artificial barrier created by humans. Here are a few of them:

I laughed my head off !

This is the cutest thing EVER !

Your video has brightened my darkest days. I have watched this several times and every time it brings a smile to my face.

I really love it, thanks for sharing it. I sent it to all of my friends and family, so that everyone can see this lovely video…and really everyone loves it:)

The story on ABC News has a couple of interesting interviews with experts on the subject. They said this wasn’t just babble, there was a real communication going on here.

Quite a few people think the conversation is about the socks!

Sure looks like that to me. I think Ren (the one on the left with the mismatched socks) is saying to Sam (the one holding the fridge), “Hey dude, you’re missing a sock!” Of course neither know what the heck a sock is. Ren appears to be pointing out the fact that Ren’s socks are mismatched, and it looks like one of them is supposed to be on Sam’s bare foot!

There is actually a term for this kind of communication. It’s called cryptophasia and is a phenomenon of a language developed by twins (identical or fraternal) that only the two children can understand.

Regardless of how we interpret the video, there is no doubt that this touches a primordial, universal nerve, part of the bond we share, and the connection is a combination of invisible forces that can best be summarized by a universal love represented by the joy and innocence of these cute giblets.

It seems to me that we have many voices, but are all singing one song (uni-verse) and that song is the essence of our universal language that doesn’t require a language.

 

 

The post A Universal Language – The Talking Twin Babies appeared first on JD Messinger.

We Are the World 25 for Haiti was published in February 2010 and over 2% of the world (160 million people) has viewed it. What is the primordial nerve that it touches—compassion, unity, love, fear? I think we can agree that it isn’t just gifted singers inspiring us with talent. Whatever this invisible bond, we cannot see it or touch it, but we all feel it.  It’s like a secret program running in stealth mode in our subconscious mind, a common code in our DNA, that reminds us that what happened in Haiti could happen to us… and it does.

As Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson wrote over 30 years ago, “There comes a time when we heed a certain call, when the world must come together as one.” It does not matter if the call is to help survivors of terrorist attacks in Paris or New York, natural disasters in New Orleans or Indonesian, or impoverished children in need of food, clothes or just a hug. The call to action is independent of nationality, culture, race, ethnicity, ideology, gender, age, or theology.

Maybe we all know that one day this could be me and the Golden Rule kicks in—do unto others as you would have them do unto you (Matthew 7:12). Maybe there is a part of us that knows when we give we receive. There are countless famous quotes on giving and receiving from Mother Teresa, Winston Churchill, or Kahlil Gibran, but I like the quote from Saint Francis of Assisi the most, “For it is in giving that we receive.”

I could ramble about the nuances of compassion for days, but I will spare you the details and leave you with just a few simple facts. First, we can’t go on pretending that we are separate. Unity is not some trivial, artificial, soft, or unnecessary concept; it is at the core of what makes us human. Separation is an illusion and those that promote division, anger, hatred, fear, and separation will come to loath the day when they need a helping hand.

In 1925 Napoleon Hill wrote a book called The Laws of Success (modified in 2011), and in 2012 the Templeton Foundation published the The Essential Worldwide Laws of Life, written by Sir John Templeton. Both of these works are based on a lifelong study of the characteristics and virtues that enable a person to survive and thrive, which is why I created an entire theme on the laws of life, to show them in action in these viral videos. As you might imagine, both include the Golden Rule and identify compassion as a critical element to living a long, healthy, and prosperous life.

As Richie and Jackson said, “Together, we are the world, we are the children, we are saving our own lives,” and compassion is a hill we must climb, a title we should claim, a prize worth fighting for.

Fight for compassion, isn’t that an oxymoron? I certainly don’t mean that we should come to blows , but I do believe in a passionate battle cry that is heard from sea to shining sea. I would support a crusade for compassion—a crusade for mercy, kindness, and empathy. I support crusaders who are tender, loving, and lenient. Could an army of compassionate companies and loving soldiers fight poverty and end starvation? Imagine, 25% of the world’s children live in poverty and, despite popular belief there is something we can do to help.

The children are our future and a better world starts with them. So join the families who have already adopted over 2 million children and provide homes to over 400,000 children living in foster care. We are the world. What does We mean to you?

 

Here are the lyrics to We Are The World:

There comes a time when we hear a certain call

When the world must come together as one

There are people dying

And its time to lend a hand to life

The greatest gift of all

We can’t go on pretending day by day

That someone ,somewhere will soon make a change

We are all a part of God’s great big family

And the truth, you know,

Love is all we need

[Chorus]
We are the world, we are the children

We are the ones who make a brighter day

So lets start giving

There’s a choice we’re making

We’re saving our own lives

Its true we’ll make a better day
Just you and me

Send them your heart so they’ll know that someone cares

And their lives will be stronger and free

As God has shown us by turning stones to bread

So we all must lend a helping hand

 

Songwriters

RICHIE, LIONEL / JACKSON, MICHAEL

Published by

Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner/Chappell Music, Inc

Read more: Michael Jackson – We Are The World Lyrics | MetroLyrics Read more: Michael Jackson – We Are The World Lyrics | MetroLyrics

The post What is compassion? appeared first on JD Messinger.

What do we mean when we say something is innovative? After more than a decade in the corporate world of consulting and another as an entrepreneur creating multiple innovations, I think of innovation as a combination of creativity and ingenuity. This video of Aladdin’s Magic Carpet Prank is a darn good example.

Here’s my left-brain formula: Innovation = 1/3 creativity + 2/3 ingenuity.

It’s also 1/3 inspiration + 2/3 perspiration, which is slightly different from the first formula, but nevertheless provides important clues to understand the innovation process.

Creativity and inspiration comes from the heart and touches the soul. In the most simplistic terms, the ‘concept’ must fulfill hopes and dreams, or overcome pain and suffering, or alleviate fears and frustrations. The ‘idea’ must hit the binding force, the primordial nerve, and fill a deep need (let me make this clear-the idea is not motivated by the money, that’s the outcome silly goose). In the case of Aladdin’s Prank, it makes us laugh and gives hope.

But having a creative or inspirational idea is insufficient to be an innovator, for the implementation phase requires perspiration and ingenuity. This is where the mind comes into the picture. Aladdin was incredibly ingenious in how he made that flying carpet look like it was really flying! Bravo my friend. I hope you didn’t use all three wishes on that.

So you see, innovation is a rare combination of heart (creativity) and mind (ingenuity). I say rare because it is difficult to find this in one business unit, let alone one person. The idea lifts you up and gets you all excited (inspiration), then it takes you down to your knees, begging please, during implementation (perspiration). Making all this happen requires determination. Just thinking about all this can make a would-be innovator start to perspire…or run away.

Innovation is not for the feint of heart (I smell that courage word again, seems like EVERYTHING takes courage).

I could stop here, but I would be remiss if I didn’t share one more important tip: there are two kinds of innovations, linear and radical.

A linear innovation is the combination of ‘things’ that already exist, but are combined in a new way, that adds new value. This is what Aladdin did. He didn’t invent the song, outfit, or skate board. He took all these things that already existed and turned them into something new, that added new value. Steve Jobs did the same thing with Apple’s iPhone. Linear innovations are ~ 98-99 percent of all innovations, and they can be products, services, strategies, or structures.

On the other hand, a radical innovation is the creation of something that changes consumer behavior and industrial patterns, and that spells trouble, right here in river city (showing my age). Examples include the transistor, the television, and the world wide web. Radical innovations are very rare, 1-2 percent, and they are very difficult to implement. As they change industrial patterns and consumer behavior, there are a lot of rice bowls that get destroyed, so the head winds are strong.

If you want to be an innovator, you might want to go stare in the mirror and slap yourself in the face. Hard. On the other hand, if that made you laugh, you just might have the right stuff.

 

 

 

The post What is innovation? appeared first on JD Messinger.

We achieve greatness when we inspire others to fight for a noble cause, such as freedom or other human rights, coupled with a special combination of beliefs, values, virtues, and traits, including: will power, determination, and conviction. The incredibly inspirational video above not only demonstrates this, but transfers that energy and power to us, which is called motivation.  That is what great leaders do, they inspire us to motivate ourselves through words that resonate with our spirit and ignite a passion.

We call these individuals leaders, but what is a leader, and what makes a great leader? A leader is a person who has followers and we follow two kinds of people—those with institutional power and those with personal power. Great good leaders marry the two.

Most, but not all, of the people in the video are demonstrating personal power. Institutional power comes from a title and a position, whereas personal power comes from a far greater source—character. A great orator may be a great influencer, but do they have character? Do they say what they mean, mean what they say, and do what they say (integrity)? Do they have honor? Can you trust them? Are they motivated by greed or by the greater good?

Not all great leaders are necessarily good leaders. Great leaders with both institutional and personal power can change the world, but if they are motivated by their ego it causes great destruction. These are great bad leaders. Great bad leaders motivate people using fear, but great good leaders motivate people using heart and soul. As in the video, they inspire us to become a part of something bigger than ourself.

If you want to achieve greatness, then your objective is to be a great good leader, marrying institutional and personal power for a noble cause that serves others. Create personal power by mastering the timeless values and virtues of trust, integrity, honor, and authenticity. Then combine this personal power with institutional power and seek to serve to others. This is how you leave a great legacy. 

In the end, it takes courage. Lot’s of courage.

The post What makes us great? appeared first on JD Messinger.