Now, that takes guts! And, muscle, hands, and heart too!

When a building is on fire, is your natural tendency to run away from it or toward it? If you were inside it, would you run out as fast as you could or would you run back in the burning building to save a coworker?

Think about your coworkers...

Would you risk your life to save them? Any one of them? Would any of them risk their lives to save you?

Well, risk his life is what Jim Baker did.

Jim is a Kansas City firefighter who was on the scene of a smoke-filled building two months ago today. He was inside, along with his captain and others, when evacuation orders were shouted from those outside. As firefighters from seven companies made their way outside, Jim noticed his captain was not among them. Jim ran back inside the smoke-filled, pitch-black building to find his captain.

Captain Joiner's airpack got snagged on something, and he was stuck. As fire was nearing him, Captain Joiner radioed for help and saw Jim Baker coming toward him. A very strong Jim Baker freed Captain Joiner and got him close enough to the exit for others to help him out of the building.

Jim risked his own life to saved another. Jim saved his captain's life that day.

Both men suffered burns but are recovering, with more healing to come.

The guts of a firefighter are unfathomable to me. But, I recognize when someone uses their muscles, hands, brains, and heart in a gut-filled manner. Saving a life: now that takes guts!

I don't know Captain Joiner, but I do know Jim Baker. I've known him his whole life, and, honestly, his behavior that day is not shocking. No one I've spoken to about this has said, "Really? Jimmy Baker did that? No way!" Most people just nod their heads and say something about what a good person Jim has always been. They are right. His family is one of my all-time favorites. I love his family and am glad to write about Jim as today's Gut Check role model.

Would I be like Jim and run in to a building to save a life? I don't know. But, I am going to work on making the trip worth it in case someone else is faced with that decision about my life.



(http://www.nbcactionnews.com/news/local/story/Firefighters-Recovering-from-Burns/TL4jbeDBI0ajo24MsaPEJw.cspx)

Conjuring up the Christmas Spirit

A dear friend recently asked for a little help conjuring up the Christmas spirit. You should know Pat has a family he loves, a good job he likes most of the time, and a positive outlook on life. He's not down-and-out or self-centered or a Scrooge of any kind. Pat is a great guy doing the best he can to make the world a better place every day.

His question made me wonder if many other similar non-Scrooge-like people struggle to find the Christmas spirit. I've certainly felt the same way. Have you?

With red & green decorations sparkling everywhere, radio stations blasting Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer since Halloween, holiday parties, company parties that can't be called "Christmas" or "party", etc. how could Pat not be in the Christmas spirit already?

Maybe because those things don't really help? Speaking for myself, but doubting I'm alone, the radio stations' competition to be the first to play Christmas music is more annoying than cheerful. The stores pushing Christmas up further every year screams desperation louder than celebration. The horror stories about company holiday events are more nightmare-like than dreamy.

I am not alone, right?

Instead of recommending to my church-going, family-loving friend that he put on some holiday music, buy his presents, and just snap out of it, the list below was shared. It includes a few ideas from me, along with some from others. I share it here, just in case anyone else is searching for the spirit of the season and hasn't found it yet.

1. Write a list of things you are grateful for in 2009, and the people who helped make them happen. Ponder your list every day.
2. Think of how you can honor the people on your list best for the next two weeks. Honor, not meaning gifts. And, the people could be in heaven.
3. Think of how you can make others feel extra special for 2 weeks and don't think about being in the Christmas spirit. Focus on others instead of the holiday.
4. Volunteer at a church, shelter, or food bank. You could even hold your own food drive for a food bank, toy drive for the Marines, or clothing drive for a shelter. And, go there to help sort and store the items.
5. Shovel a neighbor's driveway.
6. Stay within your budget. Anticipating credit card debt can ruin the holidays and the first few months of the new year. Set a budget and stay within that amount.
7. Be Secret Santa by giving a $10 gift card away at the gas station, grocery store, or church.
8. Adopt a family through your church or a shelter. Opportunities for this are plentiful right now.
9. Start a new family tradition.
10. Play with your kids' toys as if they are the greatest things in the whole world.
11. Play with your kids as if they are the greatest things in the whole world.
12. Go to church and really pay attention. No daydreams, no checking for friends in the crowd, no playing around. Really listen and ponder it all--whatever church it may be.
13. Sing Christmas music as boisterously as possible! Belt out the songs at church! Blast the radio and belt out your best Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer ever!

If you do all the items on the list, you could Simply Have a Wonderful Christmastime!

Who knows, while conjuring up the Christmas spirit for yourself, you're likely to do the same for those around you. And, that is the true spirit of the season.

It's Bring Your Brain to Work Day!

Too many managers these days are micro-managing the engagement right out of their people.

Some managers believe they need to micro-manage the minutia in the midst of financial struggles. Some have resorted to having every decision go through them, which is highly stressful and lowly productive. Some managers are sending the signal that employees should keep their noses to the grindstone, not ask questions, and do only what they are told to do.

You've probably dealt with employees who have managers like that lately. You can tell because it is like dealing with someone who did not bring their brain to work. They cannot think beyond what a training manual advises. They cannot make any exceptions to the rule. They might even say something like, "That's not my job. You'll have to talk with someone else."

When managers clamp down, employees get the signal that their ideas are not necessary. While some employees may enjoy coasting in their jobs for a short time, most will resent being treated like monkeys (as in "any monkey can do this job") and will clam up. They will not take initiative for process improvement, customer solutions, revenue generation, or cost savings.

Clammed-up employees leave their brains at home because their managers clamped down and are doing all the thinking for them.

This month's Harvard Business Review has an article about this very topic called "To Be a Leader, Give Up Authority". The authors share research which "provides hard evidence that leaders who give in to the urge to clamp down can end up doing their companies a serious disservice."

The HBR article goes on to stress that leaders are not micro-managers. Leadership is about building responsibility for the business throughout the organization. To build such responsibility, employees need to bring their brains to work. The organizations which will succeed beyond this current economy are those who inspire creativity and innovative thinking. Brains are needed for that!

Be careful: if you send the signal to employees that their brains are not needed at work these days, they just might leave them at home. Send the signal, instead, that this is Bring Your Brain to Work Day and you will inspire the type of thinking and behavior that will lead to success.

Integrity and Generosity in the Heartland

Don worked as a dairy farmer for 20 years, and has spent the last 20 years working at a pigment plant in Indiana. He's worked hard, and, with his wife, Don paid his debts, saved money, raised three great children, and was six months away from retirement last Thursday.

Paul works at the same plant. He's 32, with three small children and a wife who works as a waitress. Paul has been at the plant three years; he's been promoted and demoted (because of shift changes, not performance); he's been doing the dirtiest job in the plant. Paul fills and loads 50-pound bags of iron oxide powder, which is orange and has the consistency of baby powder; so, he literally works the dirtiest job at the plant. Through all the changes, Paul built a reputation as a hard worker who never complained.

More changes were announced Thursday.

Ten employees had to be laid off Thursday, and Paul was one of them. Don, whose tenure and position put him closer to the top of the food chain than the bottom, was not on the list of those sent home. But, he was concerned for those who were laid off, especially Paul. Don could not sleep for thinking about the hard-working man who took as much overtime as possible to take care of his young family without a complaint.

Paul did not complain about the layoff. He did not burn bridges on his way out the door Thursday.

In fact, Paul came to work Friday's shift.

You see, there was no one left to load the bags of orange powder. Paul came in because he knew the job needed to get done or the powder would be wasted. Of course, the company paid him for the day, but many people would have been too bitter, angry, or upset to come in. The nine others did not come in, and some of them held the same position Paul held.

Thursday, Paul went home to tell his wife he had been laid off. Jobs are tough to come by in Indiana these days, so imagine how difficult that conversation was.

Don went home from work Thursday and spoke with his wife too.

Both men came to work Friday with plans.

Paul's plan was to work the shift so the company would not lose its product. Don's plan was a little different.

Don called Paul into his office around noon to tell Paul about the conversation he had with his own wife the night before.

Don told Paul that he volunteered for the layoff, so Paul could keep his job.

Six months before retirement, Don voluntarily left his job so Paul could keep his.

Paul wept upon learning he could keep his job, and through his tears expressed his gratitude. Paul looked Don straight in the eyes, shook his hand, and thanked him.

When Don was asked why he did such a thing, Don said he knew what it was like to be in that situation with a young family.

"I'd been there and never wanted to let another man feel like I had if I could help it."

Don could help it.

Upon hearing this story, Don's son, Greg, said he hopes to be half the man his father is. Greg is very proud of his father, and it's a safe bet Paul's family is proud of him too. If we could all be "half the man" Don is, and "half the man" Paul is, the integrity and generosity could spread from the heartland the way ripples from a pebble spread in the ocean.

When "Work Friends" Become "Real Friends"

When my career began, Emotional Intelligence was taboo. Actually, EQ had barely been invented and definitely was never talked about in management circles of corporations I worked in and with. In fact, an early mentor advised me to hide all emotions and live by the mantra: Die before cry!

I was lucky to have mentors early on and knew it. They became people to lean on when I was confused, curious, frustrated, or anxious--you know, emotional. People didn't show emotions at work back then, which also meant pretty shallow work relationships were the norm. If you had one or two "work friends," you were lucky. They were always called "work friends" and rarely were invited to intermingle with "real life friends."

Today's workplaces are different.

Today, EQ is emphasized all over the place! It's emphasized for leaders and managers, sales people, customer service associates--we're all encouraged to form relationships, genuine ones, with business associates now. It is clear now how employees benefit personally and how organizations benefit financially when EQ is high, so people are more open with "work friends" than in the past.

One of the best examples of such openness happened just this week.

One of my "work friends" is going through a tough time financially right now--heck, these days, she's hardly unique, right? While she's experienced the turbulent flow of emotions, she's doing pretty well in that regard now. What struck me in a recent coffee chat with her was not how open she was sharing her emotions with me, it was how open she was sharing them with several "work friends." She mentioned sharing her situation with ten or so others in the same committee we are on, and she described how generous each had been.

They were generous in ways not measured financially.

It would be too personal to divulge in this forum, but as she shared examples of the simple kindness shown by so many people, tears welled up in her eyes. And in mine.

I was stunned by so many "work friends" giving so compassionately of themselves, and not one had discussed it in the committee. Not one spoke even one word of her situation in a gossipy, derogatory manner. Many on the committee gave of themselves in a deeply personal, selfless, and loving way which never would have happened twenty years ago.

You see, when the organization is highly Emotionally Intelligent, as the committee we share is, genuine relationships really do form. When "work friends" become "real friends," magic happens.

Now That Takes Guts!

With a beaming smile on her face, Dana Maguire crossed the finish line of Kansas City's recent marathon in 1,560th place. There were 1,560 entrants. She was last.

As a friend told her, “Dead-last finish is better than did not finish, which greatly trumps did not start.”

What were you doing October 17, 2009 from 7am until 2pm? Dana may have been dead last, but others did not finish, and another 1.5 million Kansas Citians did not start.

Dana clocked in at 6 hours, 59 minutes and 14 seconds. She told a Kansas City Star reporter that during the race she doubted herself and cried but never considered quitting. She knew early on that she would be last, but she knew she could do it.

Dana found out what she's made of during the marathon. And, she has guts! For her beaming smile, perseverance, and ability to stare quitting in the face and not do it, Dana is this week's worthwhile Gut Check! Way to go, Dana!

(For the story in the Kansas City Star: http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/story/1524835.html)

Now That Takes Guts!

Sometimes having guts is stupid and gets unwanted attention, as it has this week for a USC football player.

The player is using finger gestures he wouldn't use to greet his grandma as fans from the opposing team take pictures before the game. The same player gave the same gestures throughout the game to the student section of the opposing fans. A teammate last year make a grossly offensive gesture behind a female sports reporter. A few years ago, a player from the same team was arrested for battery.

It takes guts to behave that way. It takes guts to allow a team culture in which such behavior happens often. Often. Not infrequently. Often.

The photo made its way around the internet, and since it did, the team's coach had to address the issue. The player said he learned his lesson after the coach spoke to the team:

"Just don't be stupid anymore," he said. "Everyone's always watching and
one little thing can be blown up." (SOURCE: Los Angeles Times)

One little thing?! Clearly, he missed the point. Or, perhaps the right point was not delivered by the coach in the first place.

When a USC band member spewed obscenities at an opposing player during the game, the band director admonished the band member directly and immediately. Meanwhile, the team's head coach seemed annoyed that his player got caught. Maybe he does not get the point either.

Is the point that one should not behave that way or that it is okay if you do not get caught? It takes guts to foster a culture in which the behavior is tolerated, perhaps even celebrated.

Some day that team is going to get caught for the culture it lives by. It will be interesting to see what they are made of when that happens.