Trina Hoefling Untethered

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What do you think?
Very provocative Machiavellian set of principles. Provokes multiple reactions in me. Some big YES, some immediate and emotionally reactive/value-based NO and wonder simultaneously.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNALeYJhnhA

I’ve been asked to do a lot of coaching and speaking lately on how I built Tennyson Gallery’s patronage so quickly, as well as how I’ve built such long lasting business relationships. This is the basic presentation that came from those questions.

Networking is the answer, and I share this for those who might pick up a tip or two. I was playing around with SlideShare presentation app tonight on LinkedIn, and here is my first uploaded show. This was done as support for a speech I did this winter for Chicks Who Click. Enjoy! Click on the link below to view the presentation.

http://tinyurl.com/ddw9vs

We have another book on the professional sports steroid / drugging saga.The big book distributors are buying in low volumes, according to NPR, because they believe we, the reading public, have steroid fatigue. We haven’t solved the problem; we just are getting used to its being a part of athleticism.

We cannot turn on a newscast or day time talk show without having to listen to Blagojevitch proclaim his innocence and victimization, droning on and on.

Citigroup seems to have no shame.

The Bush Administration continues to believe that, despite finally acknowledging mistakes were made, they truly were doing the right thing.

My fellow consultants continue to moan that they are less able to charge exorbitant fees for their expertise. While not questioning our contribution and competence, and while I have over a quarter century experience learning that independent consultants must charge significantly more to accommodate the additional personal and business expenses, I do believe that some consulting firms have joined the ranks of some highly paid executives who have lost sight of the financial divide between the lowest paid and highest paid contributors in the organization.

Does anyone see a pattern here?

It is easier to believe proclamations of no wrong doing when the accused truly believes no rules, ethics, morals, or laws were violated.  Culturally, the very air we breathe may be so toxic that we are lost in the rules of the game to the point that we truly are doing what we must to retain the “right” to offer our competence.

Mark Maguire and Barry Bonds are exceptional athletes. If no steroid abuse were happening in baseball at all, they would still be exceptional athletes. Just perhaps with lesser stats. If the virtual physical enhancement playing field were equal, they would still excel. If they took the “high road” and refused to use any asset available to them while others did, perhaps they would have simply blended into the pack.

What’s a star athlete to do?

I grew up in Illinois, and have watched Illinois and Chicago politics my whole life. Blagojevich is a travesty, whether he is blinded to his own culpability or not. What may be the bigger travesty, though, is that he was just arrogant or narcissistic enough to think he didn’t need to cover his tracks. Was he operating at a level worse than most in his practices, or does he simply have a potty mouth and a temper and bad judgment? We ALL know political corruption is rampant. What is the old saying that Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely? Isn’t that why our Founding Fathers built a constitution of checks and balances? (Which is a story for another day….)

Yet here we are. A governor waging a PR campaign second to none, likely convinced he was only practicing politics as usual. And perhaps he was. If he is the poster child for change, I’m all for it. I’m ready for clean air.

The money people have been greedy and corrupt at many levels, but I venture that many top earners are simply riding the wave of their peers. One must make a certain amount of money and bandy a certain amount of power and money around to be considered “successful” in today’s marketplace. Some just plain want all they can grab. Many are simply playing by the current rules. Some have been probably quite unaware of how out of whack it all really is.

If ambitious professionals want to rise above the masses, they must compete against prevailing norms. Our society’s prevailing norms are toxic, and create choices for many - politicians, athletes, executives , consultants - that verge on the line of narcisisstic lack of other-awareness, and many fall on the common practices side of that line. It’s easy to become unconscious sheep, following blindly what is normal and losing sight of what is right.

Common practices suggest that you have to woo and win and barter and trade and wield money and status sometimes in order to rise in your respective profession. You have to garner and horde power wherever you can so you have the ammunition you need.

Frankly, I want clean societal air. Much is falling around us - beliefs, hopes, dreams, salaries, jobs, housing prices. Believe me, I’m affected directly. I would rather be without a house than steal from someone in the name of “This is the way it’s done around here.” I would rather lose my status in the community than  take a job where I know I can’t have a positive impact. It just doesn’t feel right to me. And besides, while I like cash flow and nice things, I’m not driven by them.

I, despite watching my retirement disintegrate around me, breathe the air and make choices. I choose clean air as much as I can find. And yes, I am willing to sacrifice to do that.

Aren’t you?
Shouldn’t our financial institutions? Our professional athletes? Our financial and industry top executives?

And shouldn’t we - as the people of this great society - call them out and support the ones who choose to rid themselves of toxicity they may not have been aware they were breathing in?

We cannot participate in strategic thinking and America’s renewal if we are breathing unconsciously.

We have many choices in front of us. The first is to open our eyes, breathe clean air, expect exceptional humanity from the best of the best, and stop worshiping superstars that cannot sustain super human elitism without great cost to their bodies, all our ethical consciousness, and us.

Happy New Year!

What an interesting ride we are all having together. I have been doing so much private writing and creating that I have been neglecting my blog and networks a bit, but much is coalescing and I am confident the best is yet to come….

Many of you have asked about my 2-day course for the University of Wisconsin, interested but unable to make the class. It is available as a custom inhouse offer, and will also be offered again May 19-20, 2009 in Milwaukee.

In the meantime, I wanted to extend an invitation to an extraordinary evening! This is a unique event because yours truly is featured in the book! If you conduct a series of 50 interviews with experts in a specific field, will it change your life? Brian Schwartz believes it will.

After going through this process himself, he is so convinced about its effectiveness that he wrote a book about it and is now building a business around it. Brian Schwartz, the author of 50 Interviews: Entrepreneurs has interviewed 50 entrepreneurs about their challenges as well as their rewards. He got advice from people who stood in his shoes, felt the same fears, and went through the same challenges.

On January 19, 2009, Brian Schwartz will be demonstrating the process used to create 50 Interviews: Entrepreneurs by interviewing a panel of entrepreneurs unscripted & LIVE during Startup Junkie Underground, a monthly series hosted by The DaVinci Institute in the Denver area (Westminster, for us Colorado folks). https:www.davinciinstitute.com

Brian will also share the truths and insights he uncovered upon interviewing over 50 entrepreneurs. The intent of 50 interviews is NOT to simply offer another book of useful advice (although it is full of useful real-world wisdom). There’s already an ample supply of books that provide all the self-help tidbits you will ever need (in fact, you will get a list of recommendations from the interviewees themselves). Rather 50 Interviews serves as a catalyst for the reader to discover his or her own answers, as we often learn the most about ourselves through observing others. The compilation of over 50 interviews offers the reader endless opportunities to observe skilled, successful, and fulfilled individuals to discover something new about their own life. The framework is one that anyone can apply immediately to immerse themselves in practically any passion.

Every interview was conducted in 2008, and many of the names will be familiar to you, so the content will be highly relevant and applicable. The cost of the event is $25 if you are not already a member of the DaVinci Institute, and will include a $10 credit for all attendees towards the purchase of the book. In the meantime, if you’re not in Colorado or can’t attend, but are intrigued…. you can join the 50 Interviews community on: Facebook Linked In Twitter Happy new year! Let’s make 2009 the best one yet.

I’ve been trying to post about the financial hell and how I’ve never seen anything quite like this, but haven’t quite hit the right way to approach the blog. I have seen big dips over the last 25 years of working with businesses. Without handing out consultant speak and giving a mini-lesson on systems theory and Peter Senge,  big corporate swings - over corrections that bleed the lifeblood of the company - resemble corporate anorexia. I won’t bother to tell the stories I’ve seen, and been brought in to help fix later.

This current reality is unprecedented, and I’m in fear sometimes, too. Would love to say I’m not, and most of the time I am more positive than hopeless, but this is real. ALL my newer clients have put holds or dropped projects from the budgets. (So I have time on my calendar, folks! Take advantage of it and contact me! lol). Kind of hard to stay in denial when it hits my work. My best asset is a long history of doing good work and seeing many ups and downs. But back to Corporate America.

Wanting to cut, and cut hard, is understandable but still dangerous. Get on a budget, yes. Delay optional new initiatives, maybe so.   Historically, though, a couple years after these big swings, the cuts usually end up costing more than if the company used the time to improve and get more lean but NOT go into big sweeping layoffs. These “swing” businesses spend more money to recoup the lost talent and, averaged, have saved nothing. And this behavior doesn’t factor in the cost to the people impacted, either. My friend and colleague Lisa Jackson has said it as well as it could be said, so I will relinquish the blog mike to her, and ask that you read Lisa’s posting.

Find her at http://blog.jacksonandschmidt.com.  I’m sure she would welcome comments as much as I would.