Images and Our Unspoken Communication

What image best represents who we are and the reality others perceive about us?

A recent experience renewing my passport got me thinking…I dutifully filled out the forms and went to the local FedEx/Kinkos to take new passport photos.  I smiled, ready, but was told that we are supposed to look expressionless in passport photos.  The photo that resulted is dull and almost scary-looking and bears no resemblance to the person I am — but it will represent me on my passport for the next ten years.   Looking at this image of me you might imagine that I was at the very least depressed and, at worst, that I was dangerous.   So tell me why “expressionless” is the preferred look for a document that will be used to evaluate our identity when we travel?

Images create an impression.  Images tell a story about you.   Are you happy with what your image is telling others about you?

Resolute — Not a Resolution

My office is filled with great ideas.  My desk is piled high with articles I’ve saved that are worth referencing in the workshops I lead. The must-read books I’ve collected over the past month or two are lined up on what is supposed to be my work space (next to the oversized workshop materials from sessions I led in November and December).   I just added one more title to  the growing list of smart, new workshops-to-develop posted on my bulletin board.   My current projects are no farther away than my elbow.  Yes…my office is overflowing with great ideas but the net effect is brain (desk and office) clutter with no clear action plan.

Rather than procrastinate (so tempting when there are other things I could do…), I’m dedicating time this week to converting that excited but overwhelmed sense of potential into a prioritized and workable plan.  What better way to prepare for the new year — not as a resolution, but resolutely acting now so that I am ready-to-go in 2010.

1. Surface Sweep — Today, not tomorrow or next week, I’m organizing the surfaces in my office so that I can see and think clearly.   I’ll evaluate what needs to be filed or tossed.  (Putting stuff back in the same place is not an option.) I’ll decide which book I’m reading next and shelve the others according to whether they are about leadership, management, communication, creativity or business trends.  (Keeping my office library well-organized means that I can find the books I need when I need them.)    I’ll sort through the files and piles on my desk, so that the only thing in view relates to current project work.
2. Prioritize — I’ll create a list of all the great ideas on one piece of paper vs. post-it notes or piles.  Once captured, I’ll need to decide which of the many ideas will have the greatest impact.   Which ideas will have shorter-term benefit and which are longer-term initiatives that need to be started now in order to pay off by June 2010?  What are the top three (vs. a laundry list of ten, twelve or twenty)?
3. Make it Happen! — What’s the first step for each of the three most important projects?  What are the do-able “baby steps” to keep the momentum going?  And my commitment to focusing and prioritizing won’t be done until I schedule those first steps — and the subsequent baby steps — on my calendar.

There’s still more I would like to do and will do, but just imagine the impact of the three projects I’ve now scheduled to make happen.  No more time to write this blog….I’m resolute about ending this year uncluttered and focused!

Four Weeks to Go

Four weeks from tonight we’ll joyously celebrate the end of 2009 and welcome the new year — a new beginning with renewed hope for economic recovery, health and the still-elusive world peace.  Now is the time for CEO’s and their management teams to anticipate how they’ll jump-start the new year.

2009 will be remembered as a year that challenged everyone globally, businesses in just about every industry; homeowners with tighter budgets and families facing the unimaginable prospect of foreclosure; the employed working harder with fewer resources and the unemployed desperately seeking work in a dismal economy; continued terrorism, war and conflict in the Middle East; and a worldwide epidemic.  In fact, the only companies frenzied by too much demand were those struggling to manufacture enough vaccine to fight the H1N1 flu.   2009 was the year of “mission critical” investments, and a paralyzing wave of doom and gloom that prompted too many people and companies to hunker down…and just wait.

2009 kicked off with the historic inauguration of the United States’ first African American president — a candidate who ran on a platform of much-welcomed change.  Unfortunately the euphoria so many felt inadvertently set us up for unrealistic expectations that change would happen immediately.   We’d been waiting so long…Instead the year was marked by the harsh reality that recovery and real change take time.

While we no longer expect life to return to “business as usual” because we know it won’t — as it didn’t after the earlier dot.com bust — we remain hopeful.  We’re encouraged by the language we’re now hearing, “recovery” (albeit slow and not yet in every sector), “growth,” and even industrial “ramp up” to meet renewed demand.   The improved morale and optimism are a powerful reminder of the impact language has on our well-being.

This year’s holiday season that kicked off with Thanksgiving, continues with the eight days of Chanukah, and moves toward Christmas week, is an opportunity to find reasons to celebrate.  New Year’s Eve this year will help all of us look ahead again to new possibilities, renewed positive spirit and a belief that, as Patti LaBelle belts out in one of my favorite songs, we will survive!

Company leaders and management teams should kick-start 2010 with events that inspire and messages that clarify the ways in which each person can contribute to success.   Look ahead now (beyond year-end wrap-up) to plan for dynamic ways to jump-start new attitudes, new ways of working together and new opportunities in 2010.  The potential that next year holds is just four weeks away.