Birdbrains

I generally don’t share stories from my home life, but the past few days have been worth writing about. Four days ago, my wife noticed a hummingbird in our garage. It was confused and couldn’t find it’s way back out. I watched this bird bump it’s head on my garage ceiling a few thousand times in it’s attempt to fly up and away. Eventually, it got tired and landed on the floor. From that vantage point, it saw the open garage door and flew away. It was a proud moment for all of us. Until…

Three days ago, we found two hummingbirds in our garage. I know, we should have kept the door closed, but we really thought the day before was a fluke. So now we are watching two birds that are convinced that the ceiling is really the sky, and that they can fly up and away. One of my boys was concerned that the birds might get stuck behind the garage door, so he hit the button to close it. Bad idea. One bird was caught in the door and died. the other one was Ok, and and we left the door open for him to escape. Until…

Two days ago, my wife comes back in the house. “We have 4 birds”… what in the world is going on?? I now have a flock of tiny birds bumping their heads on my ceiling over and over again. This has got to end. So, I spend a few hours trying to learn about hummingbirds and why they are so stupid, I mean, get stuck so easily. I discover that they often confuse the red emergency release handle on the garage door for a flower. “Birdbrain” is now a saying I understand. I decide that I am going to lure them to the door opening with a hummingbird feeder. Unfortunately, I do not own a hummingbird feeder, so I go buy one, and then hang it in the door way. I wait… and wait. No luck. Those birds do not have the sense to ever look down! So I move the new feeder to where they are and they gladly jump on it and eat. Hooray!! The plan is going to work. Until…

My wife comes home “We have 5 birds now”. Are you kidding me?? My garage has gotten chaotic with little birds bumping up and down. The feeder idea is taking too long, and I really do not want MORE birds than I have. So I decide that it’s time to get out the big guns (not really). It is getting dark, and I begin to put together a plan to catch the birds in a small fishing net that my boys have. One major problem is that the ceiling in my garage is about 13 feet high. After getting my stuff ready, I go in to my garage and see… 6 birds!! 6 birds…I didn’t know we had 6 hummingbirds in our entire neighborhood! Back to the plan. I spend the next several hours standing on the top step of a 6 foot ladder (birdbrain idea), with a flashlight in one hand and a net in the other. I blind the birds with the light and then catch them in the net. I am lucky that I didn’t kill myself in the process.

It actually worked! I got all of the hummingbirds out of the garage safe and sound. I spray painted the emergency handle black to avoid a repeat. All is well. Until…

Yesterday. My wife leaves the door open for a few minutes, and when I go out there are 2 new hummingbirds in our garage. The bird feeder goes back up and I decide to call them pets. One is named “Spot” and the other is “Rover”.

UPDATE: Rover escaped. I am not sure whether I am happy or sad!

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From Duct Tape Marketing…

I ran across this entry on the DTM bolg and was struck by how well it applies to any organization or church trying to get going. Enjoy!

“Big companies thrive on big ideas - or at least they should.

Small businesses, the ones that thrive, tap something else all together. I’ve hung out a bunch over the last few weeks with some really smart, passionate, vibrant and nutty small business owners and they are a different breed.

Sometimes I don’t know how to describe it, I especially struggle describing it to the corner office, large cubicle types, but I think it has something to do with hatching very personal ideals. Small business owners run on ideas fused with constant innovation and caring - ideals.

It’s simply enough to have a vision, a picture, sort of faint and opaque, and then just run like hell. That’s the big eyed eel. And man, that has a special energy that’s just hard to put into words, but you know it when you see it. It’s really scary too, but I find that successful entrepreneurs aren’t fearless, far from it, they simply choose to use fear for what it is - motivation.”

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The End is Near! (again)

It seems like a regular occurance, an advertisement appears letting us know that the current “season” we are experiencing has ended, and the next one is beginning. From “Back to School” sales, to “Christmas Savings”, the items we buy have become the official signal.

A few weeks ago, a major heatwave was gripping our community. It was one of those times that you get excited about setting record highs - because it somehow seems useless to endure 103 degrees without some emotional payoff. On one of the hottest days, I needed something from a local home improvement store (for an indoor project, of course!). As came in the main entrance, I noticed that the lawn equipment was being marked down. That made sense - most people probably buy mowers the first month of summer. A few steps more and I saw what was taking the mowers old display area: Fireplaces. Unbelievable!

I asked the guy setting up the display - “Are you kidding me?”

“Nope” he answered. “Seems a bit early to me too.”

Obviously, this was not a locally made decision. My guess is that a corporate plan was laid out in the past couple of years that said: “Put out the fireplace displays on _____”.

In the rush to bring on the next thing, they seemed to be ignoring the obvious. They may want to sell fireplaces in the deep south during the month of August, but who wants to buy them? Not listening to your customers/clients/communities needs and offering what you think they need is just foolish.

Like this store, many organizations believe they know what is best for those they are trying to serve. And in some ways, they may be right. Unfortunately, the people they are wanting to serve will not come through the doors if they are not paying attention to their clients”felt” or “identified” needs.

Looking and listening in real time is just as important as setting out a 5 year strategic plan. Organizations that get caught up in the future can miss out on the opportunities that are in front of them. Regardless of your long term plan, which is a better way to make money- selling fireplaces or air conditioners in the middle of a heat wave?

UPDATE: As I sit here in September, sweating from the heat outside, I just returned from a trip to the same store. Christmas decorations are now for sale!

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StrengthsFinder 2.0

I have been a fan of the “Strengths” concept for many years. I can remember the first time I heard Marcus Buckingham speak on the subject - I was incredibly excited that the “truth” was finally being exposed!

For years I had studied business books, leadership materials, and real life leaders. Everywhere I looked, people were stuck in the same rut when it came to staff and employee evaluations. The focus was always on “areas to improve”. I personally found it disheartening to have my previous year of service come down to the list of how I failed. Almost universally, this was also tied to my financial compensation for the upcoming year. What a horrible way to approach an evaluation of a person!

I innately knew that what I wanted was for my employers to see where I was being successful, and to push me to grow in those areas. I was painfully aware of my failures prior to my evaluations (with the one exception when I didn’t know my job description had been changed!). Pointing them out seemed more like a way to justify a low “merit” raise than anything else.

StrengthFinders 2.0 picks up on this theme, and has the added bonus of more data to use since the original book came out. In using this tool with various teams, it is always exciting to see them “discover” themselves in a new light - one based on the strengths they bring to the team.

Some in the Church have dismissed this tool as “unBiblical”. On the contrary, scripture is filled with the idea of knowing who God has created you to be and living your life out of that knowledge. Strengths are not “Spiritual Gifts“, but rather the traits that you have. Knowing both your Strengths and Spiritual Gifts is a significant key to understanding who you are and what God has in store for you!

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