For years, many of my clients, founders I’ve advised, and mentees have asked me to write a book; it took one of them to push me to do it*. So, I wrote a book, Value Proposition: Positioning for Success, on continually creating, testing, and building compelling value propositions that meet or exceed real customers’ real needs. You’ll learn about some famous and not-so-famous successes and flops, highlighting obvious and not-so-obvious causes and solutions. Since I can’t ignore my “professor” tendencies, there are a lot of questions for you to reflect on, ask yourself and your team, and use to guide the development of your product or service.

I hope you enjoy the book. I hope it helps you build things that matter, make a difference, and improve the lives of your customers and those around them…and you. Please let me know!

*Thank you, Charlene Wang, for nudging me and mentoring me.

I Wrote a Book! was originally published in Finding Blue Lobsters on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

I wish you much joy this post-Chanukah, Christmas, Holiday and New Year season. We are richly blessed. May you and yours find fellowship and renewal. And may you bring peace to those around you, today and throughout 2024.

Create Your Own Christmas & Holiday Peace was originally published in Finding Blue Lobsters on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The other day was a normal, uneventful day, which is why it stood out when 3 seemingly normal things hit me:

• Cherish the availability of street parking in Damariscotta while ya can! I needed to pick up a book at the library and voila — a spot was wide open in front of the bookstore and cafe! That won’t be the case for a week from now until September! Little things can bring joy and glee into one’s day — like a parking space! It may seem trivial, but it filled my entire day with a sense of accomplishment (almost like when I lived in NYC and got a parking space 😊).

• Don’t drive to Rachmanioff’s Piano Concerto #2 in C Minor. There is a reason I listen to news and podcasts and not music in the car. Every molecule in my body gets absorbed into the music (especially Mendelssohn and Rachmaninoff) and you shouldn’t do “air piano” and drive to the tempo! Since I was little, I can’t listen to classical music, an opera, without it being a whole-body experience — not idea for Rt 1 in Maine! The power of art to bring us alive and make us whole is strong and necessary — and incorporates our entire self.

• Swimming Upstream, as a metaphor, isn’t fully appreciated til you watch fish do it. Our fellow village of Bristol Mills built a fish ladder to make it easier for the alewives (an important bait and ecosystem fish) to make their long arduous journey from the ocean to the Pemaquid River up to Pemaquid Lake or Biscay Pond to spawn. It’s a gorgeous fish ladder surrounded by nature — by water, trees, birds, fish, sounds — all the flora and fauna and fascination. Nature never ceases to teach us, if we’re willing to see and listen.

Bristol Mills Fish Ladder - Alewives (5/31/23)

So, what 1 or 2 things can you learn today — from the mundane things, meetings, errands, glances out the window, things you drive by every single day? And the learning doesn’t have to be deep, complex, life-changing — just a new thing or new way of perceiving. Give it a try!

What Will You Learn Today? was originally published in Finding Blue Lobsters on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

I want to share the amazing work of Second Harvest Food Bank of North Central Ohio*. They are the epitome of how to create an amazing strategic plan that achieves their mission and vision in innovative ways will (hopefully) make them no longer needed. This is not about virtue signaling, but rather my admiration and respect for their foresightful planning, impact, and gratitude for their CEO, Julie Chase-Morefield and team.

Second Harvest Food Bank (SHFB) started as a small local food bank serving four rural counties west of Cleveland, Ohio, and is now THE community convener for sustainable ways to reduce hunger. Their mission “Grow hope in our region by creating pathways to nutritious food,” and vision of “A brighter future for all by cultivating a healthy, hunger-free community” are being achieved because SHFB doesn’t think like a traditional food bank.

Unlike most food banks that focus on the needs of the organizations that distribute the food (food pantries), SHFB focuses on the needs, constraints, and daily contexts of actual community members who need food. They treat ALL community members with dignity and respect, without judgment or prejudice, because every human deserves dignity.

SHFB has piloted and validated innovative food distribution models, such as putting pantries in local public schools — a huge success. Kids take food home to their families for dinner and weekends, reducing hunger. When COVID hit, SHFB deployed mobile pantries, serving up to 30,000 households a month. The demand for mobile pantries still continues, with 10 to 12 distributions a month even now.

SHFB has several initiatives underway to sustainably reduce hunger, such as partnering with social, health, legal, housing, job, government, and education organizations in creating a downtown HUB in Sandusky, OH and piloting SNAP Outreach 2.0 to raise awareness and support the completion of applications in their region. They have established a county-wide Food Advisory Council with Lorain, OH, to increase access to and consumption of healthy food via a “Food as Medicine” platform with healthcare providers while increasing economic development through urban farm and retail expansion (aided by a USDA grant).

Despite a 40% increase in the need for food, increases in the cost of food and cuts in funding, SHFB remains optimistic that their initiatives will sustainably reduce food insecurity in their region. They’ve already started and made an impact. I have no doubt they will significantly increase food security — and the well-being and futures of those they serve. So, please click the links, look at their plan, learn from how they leverage the strengths of others in creating their initiatives. There is so much to learn! Don’t lose the opportunity!

*Yes, SHFB is a client, but it’s not clear who really benefits as I have learned so much from working with them and am such a better person for it. Yes, I am in the video (ugh!) — and it’s all true — SHFB is a superb organization with excellent leadership. No, you can’t hire them away, but yes, they are hiring so go work for them!

Break the Model! How Challenging Status Quo Makes Lasting Impact was originally published in Finding Blue Lobsters on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Do you measure your, and your team’s, Return on Time (ROT)? Yes, it can be hard to measure. Who wants to be recording every second they’re spending on something? How long should a non-mechanized, white collar type task really take? So, I suggest starting simply — and meaningfully. Since much of our time is spent in meetings, start there. Let’s say you have a meeting with 5 of your top performers for 1 hour. There must be a great reason for having that meeting, right? Figure out the hourly salary for each of you in the meeting and add that up. Did you accomplish something at that meeting that’s worth that amount?

I have a few meeting policies:

• No agenda = Deb doesn’t go (ideally I like agendas 1 week before);
• Clearly state the reason for the meeting and expected outcomes;
• Don’t leave the meeting without specific tasks, owned by specific people, with specific due dates and definition of what ‘done’ means and how you will follow up;
• Recap to the attendees within 24hrs with the tasks, etc.

There are a few more — like I like making the agenda items into questions instead of statements (e.g., “What are the issues and successes of X to date?” vs. “Status of X”) because it focuses the discussion on action versus theory. Anyway, this week, start thinking about your personal, and your team’s, ROT, quantitatively and qualitatively. See what happens! Let me know!

What is Time Really Worth & Is it Worth Your Time? was originally published in Finding Blue Lobsters on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

This is co-authored by one of the first Blue Lobsters, Addie Thompson, my mentee, mentor, friend & brilliant podcaster at The Trail Ahead.

Should!! — how many times has someone said that to us? “You should start working on that report.” “You really should get in touch with them.” Worse, how many times do we tell that to ourselves‽‽ As if others don’t tell us enough, we do as well! Should — a prescriptive word in an un-prescriptive world.

“Should” holds society’s standards and expectations up to us as an inescapable mirror, one that’s been held up to Millennials, Gen-Zs and Gen-Alphas since they were in utero! “You should get all this on your resume.” “You should go to a good school.” “You should do everything you can to get the ‘right’ job.” And then we should on ourselves! “I should go for a run today.” “I should lose weight.” “I should do hours and hours of prep for that interview.” “I should join that group because it’s good for my career.” Says WHO?

Should is a socially acceptable way to judge others and ourselves. Who are we to say what someone else should or shouldn’t do (as long as it’s legal)? Addie learned the phrase “Don’t should on yourself” in college. She follows it rigorously (and Deb is learning to). It’s become a swear word for Addie. And Deb always says, “So where is it written that we ‘should’….?”

When we tell ourselves we should do something, who is really telling us we should? What ideal, unreasonable or inappropriate expectations are we holding ourselves to? And why? Why are we willingly letting ourselves be trapped, hemmed in, held hostage to standards and ideals that are wearing us out and causing mental and physical health issues? “Should” implies a world of scarcity, not abundance! If you should do this, then doing the not-should evokes a sense of closed doors, lost chances, permanent dead-ends. Ha! We know that’s NOT so! As Phuc Tran, a writer & educator, said, “should didn’t improve my past or my future, ‘should’ simply blinded me to what was because I was so fixated on what wasn’t.”

Should holds us up to an ideal (ours, society’s, someone else’s) we may not even want to achieve, perhaps one beyond our grasp or simply one we don’t want to grasp. It’s an exhausting way to live. You can never ‘should’ enough! For Addie, this realization has been powerful. She spent the pandemic at home in Maine instead of in her NYC apartment, a young single woman. She kept hearing (from herself, and also indirectly from others): “I should be living on my own, not in Maine with my dad.” “I should live in a different city with more of my friends.” “I should use this time differently.” Deb, fortunately got to spend most of the pandemic in Maine (and never asks why she Should be anywhere else), but kept thinking she “should use this time to get in shape;” “should learn a new language;” “should write a book.” Again …. SAYS WHO????

Living in a should-less world is freeing and powerful. It lets us be gentler on ourselves and others; more compassionate and understanding. It gives us the permission to follow interests and curiosity outside the should-stereotype, growing in ways that make us more positive, present, optimistic, interested and interesting. In a should-less world, “Could” implies possibility; “Would” implies causality; and “Might” implies curiosity!

So, what can we do to stop shoulding on ourselves? Erase ‘Should’ from our vocabulary! Stop saying it! To others, to ourselves. Addie offers an alternative to someone when they say the word (including, thankfully, Deb!). Erasing the word from our vocabulary shifts a scarcity mindset towards abundance and growth. It can decrease anxiety, relieve stress and keep us present. All with one word!! So, what are you waiting for? Don’t should on yourself!

Don’t Should on Yourself! was originally published in Finding Blue Lobsters on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

I’ve been wondering what habits, patterns, mindsets will remain post-COVID and which will just go away. There is one habit I’m trying to keep and I invite you to make it part of your ‘new norm’ too. It’s the habit of Radical Amazement. What the heck is that, you ask. Well, I shall answer! Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel (one of my all time sages) winsomely said, ““Our goal should be to live life in radical amazement. ….get up in the morning and look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted.” Why? Because “Mankind will not perish for want of information; but only for want of appreciation.”*

Please join me in Radical Amazement. Today, this week, just go outside for a few minutes and look around — take a short walk, look at the trees, grass, flowers, creatures, everything and anything, feel the breeze, cherish the stillness, and dwell in some radical amazement to rejuvenate your mind and soul … to appreciate all that we have and are despite everything, all that remains glorious despite us. And if you’re willing, share it with me here. I wish you the joy and serenity of Radical Amazement.

• Abraham Joshua Heschel’s “G-d In Search of Man”

What if We Become Radically Amazed? was originally published in Finding Blue Lobsters on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

What did you do during the pandemic? That seems to be the question now. For Jessica Esch, her insatiable curiosity combined with her serendipitous discovery of oral histories in the Smithsonian Institution’s Archives of American Art led to the creation of a new form of art she calls typelooping.

Jess dove into oral histories at the Archives, devouring the transcripts of female artists 60 and older. The first transcript she read remains her favorite — that of the mixed media and textile artist, Barbara Lee Smith. So, what did Jess do? Typed Barbara a 10-page letter and mailed it with no expectations of a reply. But Barbara Lee Smith did — “You’ve given me a present, by the way, in telling me that those two days of (relaxed, but difficult) talking about myself had meaning for someone else.” And a friendship was born — Zoom calls, Instagram messages, emails — between two very different artists of different generations from different parts of the country.

Inspired by the Archives, Jess created typelooping to entertain herself during the banality of pandemic life. She used it to learn about other people’s lives, make use of the ‘stuff at hand’ as ‘paper’ for her typewriters and type words as she saw fit, often starting with the women she’d ‘met’ in the Archives. The Archives shared Jess’s story last week! She’s featured in a two-part series as part of the Archives of American Art and Smithsonian Voices blog.

You know, I’m not surprised Jess found her way to something new, to the Archives, to a friendship with Barbara Lee Smith or even the featured blog posts. Why? Curiosity, serendipity and a diverse network are a perfect habitat for blue lobsters.

And Jess should know, because she created my blue lobster logo.

You can hear more of the story on April 6th from 7–8pm (Space is limited!) when Jess talks typelooping with Sarah Baker. Then please, set aside time to meditatively peruse her Fill in the Blanks typelooping series at shinebolt.com. It will add joy, light, and hope to your day, your week, or if you’re like me, your life.

The Curious Case of the Artist in the Archives was originally published in Finding Blue Lobsters on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

How’s zooming going? It’s fascinating how pre-COVID, so many shunned virtual meetings and now we’re over-meeting virtually because it’s ‘easy’ which has led to even more meetings! So, let me share a client’s habit for any and all of their meetings. It’s made a big difference ~ PPO (not PPP or PPE).

PPO is Purpose, Process and Outcome. When you want a meeting, clearly state the Purpose, the Process to be used and the desired Outcome. Here are examples from 2 recent client meetings:

Prioritize the top tactics for a key strategy:

• Purpose: Decide the top 2 tactics to be executed by 7/1/2021 for Strategy 1;
• Process: Take our current list of the top 6 tactics and prioritize those to the top 2 that have to be done immediately and why;
• Outcome: The plan for the 2 top tactics including each tactic’s champion, definition of ‘done’, due/done date, metrics, 90-day action plan of who is doing what when to reach the 7/1/2021 deadline and the tracking/monitoring schedule.

Finalize who will be accepted to a leadership program:

• Purpose: Select the 5 people for the 2021–2022 leadership program;
• Process: Applying the program’s criteria along with each applicants’ career plans, prioritize the list of applicants to the 5 we will accept;
• Outcome: Final 5 identified with personalization verbiage of acceptance letter for each one, to be copied to their manager, and personalized letter of rejection to the rest to be sent by 2/25/2021.

This seems like a no-brainer, something we read in all the ‘effective meeting’ manuals, right‽ So, given our level of zoom fatigue, why not try it? Creating a PPO forces us to see if we really need a meeting, who really has to be there, and what we have to get done. It shouldn’t (ideally) take a lot of time to create the PPO. And, it provides focus, choice and clarity — something we can all use these days! Try it this week!

originally published here.

You Want a Meeting for What‽ was originally published in Finding Blue Lobsters on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

2021 — maybe it’s better to say December 42, 2020 instead of January 11, 2021 (kafkaesque?). We so want major demarcations in time to be major demarcations in hope, optimism, aspiration… change! Sure doesn’t feel like it this year, at least so far. But, I think it will — and to help make that happen, let’s start making our own time-based demarcations, based on our time vs. time imposed by some calendar, society, expectation of the way things ought to be.

So, my 2021 time-based demarcation a punctuation mark — the 54-year old interrobang, a forgotten and perfect punctuation mark for 202‽. Feel free to join me! Use this remarkable, timely, integrated (!?) punctuation mark — set your own timeframes, demarcations and mark them with a ‽

It’s 202‽ was originally published in Finding Blue Lobsters on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.