MACV-TM

Many Americans have experienced “earthquakes & tsunami’s in their own personal lives. I know, at age 62 I found myself shaken out of a 23 year career that I loved and wondering how I would care for those who were dependent upon my income.

It came suddenly and the landscape of my life was devastated. Certainly not visibly like the devastation in Indonesia or more recently Japan and not even comparable to the horrific exoerience of the individuals there, yet, on a micro size my hopes and dreams were replaced with a survival mentality and my fight for the inclusion in the workplace of individuals I had served who were disabled suddenly turned into a hand-to-hand struggle against hopelessness and insignificance personally.

Okay, I sound like a drama queen, but honestly, the struggles I experienced were very real… sure, everything is working out fine, but it doesn’t remove the memory… and with the memory comes a passion to try to help others who may find themselves in a similar situation. That is one purpose for re-vamping MACV-TM, to identifyu with and attempt help others fight the hopelessness in others that has (since holding babies at an Orphange in Vietnam) been my personal nemesis in the workplace. 

As I reflect on my experiences I plan to share not only the battles I engaged in, but also some tips on what weapons worked best for me in the battle so that perhaps your victory will come with a few less “wounds” to yourself or to others around you.

My first piece of advice - Don’t isolate yourself, hang around upbeat people, and become an upbeat person to help others!

Whoops, We were wrong!

Standing beside the paper recycling line I stared at the discarded Chemistry textbook that I had just pulled out of a carton… a colorful “Periodic Table of Elements” had my complete focus.

There they were, the 116 little boxes with names (actually symbols representing the names) of the elements that made up every physical object on the planet.  But I wasn’t really thinking about them… instead of “H” for Hydrogen I was seeing “V” for Vision… “E” for Encouragement, “K” for Knowledge … you get the idea. The 21 Growth Factors that enable the Tropical Rainforest to be the most diverse and productive system on the planet even though it exists in an environment of scarcity… AND like our businesses in the current economy, must make it through hurricanes and long dry seasons. 

I began to think of a sign I had seen recently,  Discontinued Textbooks – $1- $2…  undoubtedly the authors of these were very knowledgeable, and certainly did not purposely present ideas that have proved to be worthy of being discontinued… then I thought about the rainforest… since time began it has worked efficiently and effectively while maintaining a peace filled environment by simply doing what it was designed to do. 

Perhaps there are  keys here that we have somehow overlooked… discovery of what we (personally as well as our business) are designed to do… then create a peaceful environment within our own selves to learn to be effective and efficient in doing that. 

Seems pretty simple, like a Periodic Table with only 21 elements instead of 116… but, then again, the business we’re building is not quite as complex as a universe (or even planet Earth), so perhaps it really could be that “simple”… but it would be wise to remember hitting a baseball with a bat could be considered “simple” yet grown men are paid huge sums of money if they can accomplish that simple act  one out of 3 times… simple does not mean easy.

What do you think?  Could we be missing something here?