As my readers know, I love to learn. Learning is one of my key strengths. I have developed a habit of recording on daily basis lessons that I have learned, whether from my clients, my friends, the media, books, presentations, and observations of life.
Here are some of the key lessons I learned in March. Many of them have to do with power.
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Power can be good or bad, depending on who uses it, and for what means. Power can also mean the power of the universe, of weather, or spirituality.
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The Power of Adequate Shelter. Those lucky enough to own homes have a particular type of power in our society. The lucky ones benefit from the mortgage tax deduction. They tend to live in the safety of well-groomed, well-protected homes. Those who can’t afford to buy a home and have to rent, often are charged an exorbitant rate to live in what is often substandard housing. The least fortunate, too often do not have any housing at all. In March, we had a discussion on housing and the future of office space. For more information on this topic, you are welcome to review the videotape from this session. View the recording here.
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The Power of “Asking”. As some of you may know, for the past several years I have been playing with the idea of writing a children’s book. Intended for 4 to 6-year-olds, the book would tell the story of Robby a little child who loves birds. He lives in a house with his zany grandfather, Izzy, who loves baseball, and especially, Mark Fryrich, a beloved Detroit Tiger pitcher in the 1980s, who looked and acted like a bird. Of course, the story has many autobiographical elements.
Once I had finished the text, I needed to find a professional artist to illustrate the drawings. It’s the visuals in a children’s book that attracts the young reader more than the words. So, I started asking almost everybody I knew if they could recommend a great illustrator. A friend gave me the name of someone at the University who would be excellent. However, he thought the person would never be available because of his busy schedule and worldwide notoriety.
The very next day as I was getting my haircut, I overheard a conversation between a stylist and her customer. She asked the man what he did for a living, and he replied that he was an artist. As I eavesdropped on the conversation, I heard him describe his art. Listening, I realized this might be the very man who I had heard about the day before.
I waited until after he had finished his haircut and introduced myself. I spoke about how I had just heard about him the day before. Then I described my book. As chance would have it, it turned out that he was a huge Tiger fan and felt that the story of Mark Fidrych deserved to be told. At his request, I sent him the text and page layout.
Amazingly he liked it. After another meeting, it looks like now we will be working together. More about this to follow.
Why the power of asking? I have learned that you have to let people know what you were looking for if you expect to get it. People have amazing resources, especially in a town like Ann Arbor, where everybody knows somebody who is an expert in something.
If I hadn’t asked, I never would have found the artist. In my life, I have learned to ask often for the resources I need. If you’re afraid to ask, it’s highly unlikely you’ll get what you want.
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The Power of Serendipity. Serendipity isn’t some cosmic, unexplained phenomenon. Rather, it tends to be the product of intense searching, taking risks, and persistence. What is the meaning of serendipity? Of course, I thought I knew. But in retrospect from the example above,
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If I hadn’t asked for suggestions,
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If I hadn’t been listening intently,
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If I had not had the courage to approach the artist,
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If I had not had the chutzpah to “pitch” my story in a brief, quick, compelling manner,
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If I had not followed up quickly,
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If all these factors had not occurred, I would not have experienced “serendipity”. It’s kind of like making your own luck. As I look at my life, I see that taking action has led to many serendipitous experiences. Serendipity lets me see opportunities and makes my life fun.
In the weeks to come, I plan to discuss other types of Power. The Power of Trauma over our lives, The Power of Genetics, The Power of the Group, The Power of Friendship, and The Power of Connect. I end this newsletter with a quote from Warren Buffett on The Power of Restraint,
“You will continue to suffer if you have an emotional reaction to everything that is said to you. True power is sitting back and observing things with logic. True power is restraint. If words control you that means everyone else can control you. Breathe and allow things to pass.”