Get Out of the Way!

 

I’m a Band Guy! I can’t help it! I’ve played several instruments. I’m not a singer. There’s evidence of that. I can’t stand being at an event where the National Anthem is played or sung, and the audience joins in. Most can’t sing! I know what good singing sounds like. I just can’t do it myself.

 

            Deb and I attend the Air Force Academy Men’s basketball games as season ticket owners. We have the best seats in Clune Arena, with one exception. You can hear EVERYONE singing as the middle school kids who are standing at center court singing their hearts out. Let them sing! Shut up! Sorry. I get animated when I think of this.

 

            First, be respectful of the performers who, surely, practiced a lot to be prepared to showcase their work. They really don’t need your help! Especially since you weren’t at the rehearsals.

 

            This disregard for those performers is not unlike what’s happening in our society right now. Everyone thinks they have a better version of the song and, by God, they have the right to disrespect anyone who doesn’t agree with their version!

 

            Instead of singing at the top of your lungs, why don’t you quietly hum along? That should satisfy your need to be in the spotlight without taking the spotlight away from the folks on the court. 

 

            I understand that as a UNITED States of America (although we’re not quite united lately), everyone’s voice should be heard. I agree, but at the right time and at the right place and right volume! We can’t all be right all the time. Sometimes we need to practice humility and let others share their voice, too.

 

            As I said, I’m a Band Guy! I’ve been honored to play with some extraordinary people who made up incredible ensembles. One of the characteristics of those descriptions is the humility expressed by the musicians on the set. There’s nothing like playing in a band with cats who don’t get in each others’ way. Even better, who support each other.

 

            One of my favorite mentors, Chief Master Sergeant (deceased) Jessie Brown, a great musician in his own right, once gave me a huge compliment about my conga playing. He said, “What I like about your playing, Bob, is that you don’t get in the way.” I’m not sure I’ve ever been a great, or even good conguero, but I do know that my purpose was always to support the other players, not to be the star. I see that as a form of humility.

 

            I have to admit, I DO sing. LOUDLY! In my car. With the windows up. There’s a time and place to express yourself. Be respectful of others and find that time and place. Then sing like no one’s listening!

 

            I say all of this to make a point about leading. One of the most important things a leader does is get out of the way. Respect your followers. Do the work and find out how much they’ve worked to accomplish what they’ve accomplished and encourage them to do even more. Don’t butt in. Let them thrive! It’s usually easier to do the task yourself because you can do it better. But what you’re doing when you do that is destroying the harmony needed to sustain a good team.

 

            You’ll get your chance to sing, but a leader whose interest is the team, not the self, sings background… quietly.

 

Be GREAT! You ARE!

 

¡HEIRPOWER!

bob vásquez!

Amateurs vs Professionals

 

Dr Stephen Covey shared a profound truth with me that I share with people in the service business because it’s incredibly powerful, especially when executed properly. Here's the thought…. “Amateurs sell products. Professionals sell solutions.” Read that again. “Amateurs sell products. Professionals sell solutions.”

        I retired from the United States Air Force twenty-four years ago. I remember going over to the Personnel Office as I was trying to get my retirement paperwork completed. I needed one last document to finish the process. I found the office and a young person behind the counter. I explained what I was intending to do and that I needed said document. Her eyes shone as she encouraged me to go online and download a form XXX. Piece of cake! NOT! I did download the form back at my office, but I didn’t understand many of the questions on it, nor what to do with it. I returned to the same office and found the same young person. She gave me more information. I went back to my office. Completed the form. Returned to her. After several trips back and forth, I completed everything as required, and here I am! God bless her. She could have used some guidance, but didn’t, obviously, have the tools to be a professional. She tried her best, though.

 

    What a professional would have done is understood my intent, that is, completing all of my retirement paperwork so that I could go on my new adventure, then guided me toward that end. “Chief, here’s what you need. Let me download that form for you and help you fill it out. We’ll do it right here and right now. Do you have all of the other documents you need? If not, we’ll fill them out now, too.” See the difference? Now, you may say that the young person had other things to do than to take care of an old Chief who was, evidently, worn out. But the time and effort we both invested in the product, could have been better invested in the solution.

 

    What does that person you’re intending to serve need to reach the final solution? Does the person have all the resources needed to accomplish that? If not, do you? If not, can you find someone who does?

 

       I’m convinced that we all want to be known as professionals by those we serve. It’s not that difficult to be so. But it starts with knowing where you need to go and making the time to do it right. Every person we serve deserves that. We all start as amateurs, but success will come when we’re professionals. Amateurs sell products. Professionals create solutions!

 

       Until next time, Be GREAT! You ARE!

 

                   ¡HEIRPOWER!

                             

                                  Chief bob vásquez!

 

Know and Care!

 

You may have heard the kind-of-a-joke that goes like, “What’s the difference between ignorance and apathy?” the answer being, “I don’t know, and I don’t care.” It’s almost funny, but as my mentor, Dava Flowers, suggested in an email, maybe we should think about those two topics because the Youngsters are looking for a better answer. Dava is a Youngster. She’s twenty. A college student. She’s a leader in the Civil Air Patrol (CAP). The email was about Dava and Nicholas Tupper, also a Youngster, and CAP Cadet, had hosted a "Fight Apathy" Meeting “where young people from my school can come together and share leadership stories and humanitarian ideas with other students and the leaders in my community.” Do you see why these Youngsters have become my mentors?

I, way too often, hear Old Schoolers complain about our Youngsters, they may be your followers, who live in an “all about me” culture. All they care about is themselves. Maybe. But if that’s so, where did that culture come from? They didn’t create it. They inherited, or assimilated into, it. I’m convinced that our followers, including our Youngsters, care. I think that, by Nature, they have to care. The challenge is what do they care about? That’s where we Oldsters come in.

How many times have you heard that (always others) “they don’t know what they don’t know?” That’s ignorance. We’re ALL ignorant of something! In my case, many things! I’m okay with that. I try to make up for that by learning as much as I can about as much as I can. Maybe you, Leader, should find out what your followers do, or don’t, know (which, by the way, would make you less ignorant) and help them to know! Interestingly, Dava’s note referred to action as she stated that her goal was to get her peers to “ACTUALLY DO SOMETHING.” One of my most favoritest adages is, “To know but not to do is not to know.” I’m not sure who said it, but it’s a profound thought. As a leader, you’re charged with leading. Duh…! Where? YOU don’t know unless you know what your followers know! And that takes getting to know them. Start there! Once you know what they know, or don’t, you can, with them, set a direction for growth. And you know what you’ll accomplish that’s deeper than you anticipated? They’ll know that you care! WHOA! My leader cares! What a GREAT climate to live and work in!

Your followers care. They do! About what? Find out! Then guide them toward assimilating what they care about with what you care about and what you BOTH care about. There’s power in that! When we all care about the same thing, we’re likely to do something about it, as Dava expects from her peers. But until you make the time to get to know them, YOU won’t know what they don’t know.

Notice that I introduced Dava as my mentor. I’ll soon, I hope, write a book titled PowerPact Mentoring, which will be based on a workshop I do. Traditionally, the mentoring process is an Old Schooler guiding a Youngster toward some end. We live in a new world. Dava and I will soon launch a podcast that we’re calling Creating Leaders of Character. Her main purpose in that project is to help me to know what I don’t know. Help me reduce my ignorance of who our Youngsters are and how they think. I don’t really lead anyone anymore, but as I encourage you to be a leader, I need to know about our followers so that I can give you better advice.

So, (as all Youngsters start every sentence) get to know your followers and show them that you care. Life, and leading, is so simple once you understand the complexities! Know and care! That is all!

Be GREAT!

You ARE!

¡HEIRPOWER!

Chief bob vásquez!