Tennis balls are yellow right? I have never thought any other way. The facts are clear. You can literally see for yourself. Sure, I've seen some off colored balls from time to time. I've been present for radicals showing up with white or orange tennis balls. Trying to be cool or different.
Recently the International Tennis Federation declared only yellow or white balls could be used.
But never green. I've never seen a green tennis ball.
My wife and daughters on the other hand claim they have never seen a yellow tennis ball? They claim the world is full of green tennis balls.
What is this craziness? Why are they so foolish?
I have looked for common threads. Is seeing a tennis ball as green a gender thing? Could it be women see this particular object differently? Nope, I've asked around and found a couple of things. There are a collection of people who see tennis balls as green. Not all of them are women.
It leaves me wondering how can these perfectly rational people see something so basic so different than me. I've been told they can see how I would see tennis balls as yellow but they insist they are green. I can't even go that far. I don't see any green when I look at them.
Let's back up a step. Maybe these "green tennis ball people" aren't perfectly rational. After all, how could they be considered rational?
They can't even tell the color of a tennis ball.
Enough about tennis balls. Let's consider the big picture.
I would like to get into "group think" and lack of diversity of thought. Maybe even tolerance.
I love my wife and daughters. I respect them and their brains. When they say tennis balls are green they aren't trying to be argumentative. (Although, when the subject comes up, they aren't trying to stop the argument either).
How does this relate to other issues? I think the parallels are quite strong.
In the world we live in today we tend to view the other side of an issue as the enemy. If they can't see things our way they are just flat wrong. Some issues push us away from even being friends. Certainly, people aren't breaking off friendships over the color of a tennis ball, but you wonder where rational people draw the line.
Can we still be friends if we disagree over immigration, gun control, religion or even daylight savings time? (What about a Yankee fandom? Pity yes, befriend no way).
When somebody sees something differently than I do I'm trying to make my first reaction to consider their view.
When somebody sees something differently than I do I'm trying not to let their view define their entire personhood to me.
I know in a business situation we are better off when a diverse group of people shows up to solve a problem. If we all have the same perspective or views as each other our solutions get stale, boring and even a little ineffective.
I've heard it said the first idea is the worst idea but the most important. The first idea gets the ball rolling down the path to making an improvement. But in a room full of diverse thought the first idea is shaped, molded and improved upon. The end product is sometimes nothing like the first idea. But without the first idea, you would still be stuck in the past. The less productive past.
Tennis balls are yellow. But listen to the other person because they might offer an insight you find quite useful.
Sunday, January 27, 2019
Tuesday, January 15, 2019
Sue's Secret Recipe is Simple: Execution.
I have a great wife. She has many wonderful qualities. People hold in her in high regard for several reasons. She is pretty, smart, organized, and a great conversationalist. She is so wonderful I could never list all the great things about her. But for the rest of this blog I’m going to focus on one of the things she is most noted for.
Chocolate Chip Cookies.
She makes the world best chocolate chip cookies. (And she makes them all the time). People request them for parties. People expect them at parties.
When a neighbor from our old neighborhood told me they had bought a acreage and were moving he said “I still consider us neighbors and at Christmas we will still expect Sue’s annual plate of cookies, I’ll stop by and pick them up.” How about me? Will you miss Sue’s charming husband?
Our daughter is all grown up and on her own. When she was staying at our house while we were on vacation, she had a large group of friends over to our house. The friends commented the house “wasn’t same without your mom’s chocolate chip cookies.”
She send them back to college with other people’s children.
At potlucks Sue brings chocolate chip cookies. During the potlucks I go over and tell people, usually the new people, “have you had the chocolate chip cookies? They are terrible. Whoever made them must have forgotten an ingredient.” I once said it from the stage. I have to use the line on strangers because the regulars know what I’m up to. (I wanted to take as many home as possible). It seldom works.
At our new house we have new neighbors. When new people move in we bring them chocolate chip cookies. Sue makes them. I deliver them.
At Christmas time we also give out cookies to our neighbors. When I returned for a second time with more cookies I got asked “The Question.”
What is the recipe?
And just like Sue has trained me I always give the same answer.
It’s just the one off the Nestle bag!!!
Then the person starts to argue with me. “It can’t be, they taste better then anybody else’s, my kids fight over them.” Others says “I’ve tried that recipe and they didn’t taste this good.” Ultimately people try to get to the bottom of things with “What is her added secret?”
The last question is our favorite question because we have a stock answer.
“Love, she adds an extra touch of love.” Most of the kid’s friends add this line for us. It’s legend among their friends they have heard it so often.
You might be wondering what is the real deal and why I’m I writing about it.
I have an even easier answer for that question.
Execution. She follows the recipe.
When I say “she follows the recipe” I mean exactly that. She doesn’t use it as a guideline, she follows it exactly. No substitutions. No rough estimates on amounts. The measuring cup is level. The oven temp is exact. She uses butter, not margarine.
Her execution is perfect.
She executes the plan. She plans for perfection and then gets perfection every time. She has practiced literally hundreds of times. (At least twice a month for over 25 years!!) On the rare occasion they don’t turn out to her standards she starts over again. She doesn’t settle for ok or second best. (But if you know me you already assumed, she clearly wouldn’t settle for second best.)
I don’t know who said it first but you often hear how in football even if the other team knew what play you are going to run you will succeed if execute the play properly.
(I can’t resist throwing in my favorite football quote on execution. When in the middle of a 26 game losing streak to start the franchise a reporter asked Tampa Bay Buccaneer’s Head Coach John McKay “what he thought of his teams execution?” He replied he was in favor of it. McKay and I are talking about a different kind of execution).
Take a good plan, practice your craft and execute the plan and you will have success. Is a very simple recipe for success. It works just like recipe on the bag of chips.
Again, make sure you follow the steps correctly.
Step one, buy the right brand of chips. The recipe is on the bag. From there it is all about execution.
(((Bonus secret. Don’t bake the cookies. Most of the time we just eat the dough. Don’t worry you’re not going to get sick or die. Live life on the edge, eat raw cookie dough. The Chapins have never used a sick day and we eat cookie dough at least once a month))).
Chocolate Chip Cookies.
She makes the world best chocolate chip cookies. (And she makes them all the time). People request them for parties. People expect them at parties.
When a neighbor from our old neighborhood told me they had bought a acreage and were moving he said “I still consider us neighbors and at Christmas we will still expect Sue’s annual plate of cookies, I’ll stop by and pick them up.” How about me? Will you miss Sue’s charming husband?
Our daughter is all grown up and on her own. When she was staying at our house while we were on vacation, she had a large group of friends over to our house. The friends commented the house “wasn’t same without your mom’s chocolate chip cookies.”
She send them back to college with other people’s children.
At potlucks Sue brings chocolate chip cookies. During the potlucks I go over and tell people, usually the new people, “have you had the chocolate chip cookies? They are terrible. Whoever made them must have forgotten an ingredient.” I once said it from the stage. I have to use the line on strangers because the regulars know what I’m up to. (I wanted to take as many home as possible). It seldom works.
At our new house we have new neighbors. When new people move in we bring them chocolate chip cookies. Sue makes them. I deliver them.
At Christmas time we also give out cookies to our neighbors. When I returned for a second time with more cookies I got asked “The Question.”
What is the recipe?
And just like Sue has trained me I always give the same answer.
It’s just the one off the Nestle bag!!!
Then the person starts to argue with me. “It can’t be, they taste better then anybody else’s, my kids fight over them.” Others says “I’ve tried that recipe and they didn’t taste this good.” Ultimately people try to get to the bottom of things with “What is her added secret?”
The last question is our favorite question because we have a stock answer.
“Love, she adds an extra touch of love.” Most of the kid’s friends add this line for us. It’s legend among their friends they have heard it so often.
You might be wondering what is the real deal and why I’m I writing about it.
I have an even easier answer for that question.
Execution. She follows the recipe.
When I say “she follows the recipe” I mean exactly that. She doesn’t use it as a guideline, she follows it exactly. No substitutions. No rough estimates on amounts. The measuring cup is level. The oven temp is exact. She uses butter, not margarine.
Her execution is perfect.
She executes the plan. She plans for perfection and then gets perfection every time. She has practiced literally hundreds of times. (At least twice a month for over 25 years!!) On the rare occasion they don’t turn out to her standards she starts over again. She doesn’t settle for ok or second best. (But if you know me you already assumed, she clearly wouldn’t settle for second best.)
I don’t know who said it first but you often hear how in football even if the other team knew what play you are going to run you will succeed if execute the play properly.
(I can’t resist throwing in my favorite football quote on execution. When in the middle of a 26 game losing streak to start the franchise a reporter asked Tampa Bay Buccaneer’s Head Coach John McKay “what he thought of his teams execution?” He replied he was in favor of it. McKay and I are talking about a different kind of execution).
Take a good plan, practice your craft and execute the plan and you will have success. Is a very simple recipe for success. It works just like recipe on the bag of chips.
Again, make sure you follow the steps correctly.
Step one, buy the right brand of chips. The recipe is on the bag. From there it is all about execution.
(((Bonus secret. Don’t bake the cookies. Most of the time we just eat the dough. Don’t worry you’re not going to get sick or die. Live life on the edge, eat raw cookie dough. The Chapins have never used a sick day and we eat cookie dough at least once a month))).
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