Why Steve Irwin Could Have Taught Accounting

I really miss Steve Irwin.

I admit, his show, The Crocodile Hunter, was due south on the "sophistication scale"of Masterpiece Theatre on PBS.

But I loved the show.

And so did millions of others.

Irwin didn't just tell you the FACTS about a mean crocodile.

He would grab the beast by it's tail and tell you with a child-like exhuberance in how many seconds it could kill him---while keeping a smile!

You couldn't help but love the guy.

Like any good teacher, I think he really knew his subject.

And he was definitely a showman who knew how to please a crowd.

But I don't think it was his knowledge...

Or his ability to entertain....

That made him a great teacher.

I think Steve Irwin's greatness was in his ability to get you CARE about the subject before you LEARNED about the subject. 

He once said:

"I believe that education is all about being excited about something. Seeing passion and enthusiasm helps push an educational message."

As a community college instructor and as a parent, I'm always searching for better ways to communicate.

Be it the accounting equation to my students....

Or how to catch a trout with my 7-year old daughter...

But as any teacher knows...

And any parent knows....

This aint easy.

Today's students,  like today's children, have little patience for incompetence.

And simply KNOWING the subject matter isn't gonna impress them either.

The same goes for fancy PowerPoint presentations and slick videos as well.

I think Steve Irwin instinctively knew this.

He knew that a simple presentation delivered with the HEART, delivered more punch than a presentation delivered only with the BRAIN.

No matter the subject.

This is my first semester teaching students how to train for their first marathon.

As a former "bean-counter" I find myself resisting the urge to get too technical too soon....

Lactic throeshholds, VO2Max, simple carbs versus complex carbs.....

All very SMART information....

But then I contemplate what Steve Irwin would do...

He would first get them to CARE to run...

And THEN teach them HOW.

Just like he did with crocodiles.

AMJ

Taking the Beach

My old boss and good friend, Claude Bergeron, died just before the holidays.

He was 80 years old.

His last message to me a few weeks before he died is still on my cell phone.

Claude was not the Brooks Brothers, 3-piece suit, corporate executive kind of a guy.  He didn't use "MBA-Speak" to talk about "leveraging synergies" or "maximizing core competencies."  He didn't own a BMW with an alarm, but drove a pick-up with a pit bull named Sharky riding shotgun.

Claude was also one of the smartest guys I have ever known--and I can absolutely tell you I learned a hell of a lot more about the principles of success and pushing through adversity from him than I did from my MBA program.

Back in 1997, Claude and his wife Barbara opened the only federally funded community health center for the uninsured population in Klamath County in Southern Oregon.  Before Claude and his wife opened the clinic, if you were pregnant and on medicaid--or uninsured--you drove 60 miles over the Siskiyou Mountains to nearby Medford for prenatal care--an especially harrowing journey during a snowstorm--because very few docs in Klamath County were taking new medicaid patients.

Claude hired me as the Finance Director after their second month of operations to set up the Accounting Department.  I was 28 years old and had never done a "start-up."

But Claude believed in me before I did.

And I am grateful.

That first year was terrifying as we were flooded with new patients--we could barely keep up.

To meet the demand, we kept adding docs and relocating to newer, bigger--and more expensive-- locations.  As the "the numbers guy" I was terrified as we hemorrhaged cash from our exploding payroll and rent.

I fretted about everything--the payroll, the bills, our account receivable balance, the federal reports that were due...

But Claude never worried.

For this was not Claude's first rodeo for he and his wife had opened several community health centers in Northern California and Southern Oregon throughout the years--health centers that would grow to the size of small hospitals.

Serving THOUSANDS of grateful families.

In his typical Redd Fox demeanor, Claude would assuage my fears by ordering me to "stop thinking like a bean-counter" and start thinking like an ENTREPRENEUR.

He would remind me that a "start-up" required a "take the beach" mind-set.  "We are the Marines, Andrew," he would say.  "In a start-up, things are messy and bloody...but you can't get lost in the weeds...you have to keep your eye on the goal of victory by first TAKING THE BEACH."

I love that metaphor.

As I find it applies to many endeavors--including running.

Not getting overwhelmed with the small chores and keeping focused on the big goal.

Taking the beach.

The emails, the phone calls, the forms that need to be completed and signed in triplicate....the laundry, the bills...the hill-work, the speed work...all "necessary" chores that indeed need to be done.

But chores that can easily decimate a vision and make us miss the big picture.

Our goal.

Taking the beach.

The Spring semester starts in two weeks.

I feel some trepidation as I am piloting an experimental business course where the final exam is completing a 26.2 mile marathon (I am serious).

But I can already hear Claude's calming words as I finish typing the course syllabus...

"Stop thinking like  a "bean-counter" Andrew...and focus on TAKING THE BEACH."

Thanks Claude.

AMJ

"It Had to Get Done."

We kicked off the first day of 2013 at the Rooney Trailhead at the base of Green Mountain.

Nothing like some gnarly hill-work to bring in the new year.

Start time:  6:30am--just before sunrise.

Outside temperature: 12 degrees--NOT including the wind.

I admit, we were serving up heaping portions of smack-talk and smug attitudes about our early morning dedication whilst adjusting our headlamps in the darkness.

But smack-talk and smugness is something the running gods rarely tolerate.

As we approached the trailhead to began our run up the icy trail, we noticed a frost-covered 4x4 in the parking lot.

An abandoned vehicle--left by a party goer from too many New Year's eve festivities we assumed.

We assumed wrong. 

For in the distance was an approaching runner...

On his way DOWN the trail...

FINISHING his run...

As we were just STARTING ours...

In the darkness.

On New Year's Day no less.

This guy redefined the word "dedication."

As the runner approached the trailhead to get climb in his frost-covered jeep, I shouted "good work man."

After removing a face mask, SHE responded; " It had to get done."

She closed the door, and drove off.

"It had to get done."

Perhaps it was the dark and the cold, but those four simple words screamed an impressive and indeed a humbling resolve that morning.

A resolve that ran deep.

Real deep.

A resolve that said no hill, no weather, no lousy boss, no lousy economy, not even a damned disease is going to discourage me from the work I need to do to get to the place I need to be.

I don't know where resolve like that comes from.

I wish it came in a bottle so I could splash it all over myself each morning like Aqua Velva.

For imagine possessing this type of resolve in our lives OFF the trails.

Our work.

Our home.

On any day...

Even when it's 12-degrees.

AMJ

Clarity

It's time for clarity.

REAL clarity.

As we wrap 2012,  I think it's time to honestly assess what we are striving for and why.

At work.

On the track.

And at home.

What are the things we are working so hard for?

And perhaps more important....

What are the things we are NOT working for?

These are questions that demand tough choices.

Choices like, what is the work we should focus on that is really going to stand the test of time and actually be worth something after we're gone?

Choices like, do I give up Summers with my kids for that high-paying administrator job?

Choices like, do I train for that marathon to benefit my HEALTH, or take that night class to benefit my JOB?

What is the sorting mechanism to really, and I mean REALLY choose what is important?

And please, no cosmic, esoteric, hippy-trippy cliches from an Oprah book.

Only concrete solutions thank you very much.

I think the late Steve Jobs may have nailed it when he gave the 2005 Stanford graduates the following advice:

“Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life.

Almost everything--all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure--these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.

Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

That's clarity.

If Mr. Jobs were alive, I think he'd caution us that when we reach the finish line of life we will find two lists:  1) a list of the things we DID DO that we should not have and 2)  a list for the things we DID NOT DO and wish we had. 

I suspect the second list will be longer.

Much longer.

I think we will regret the time we did NOT spend with our kids because we had to work weekends.

I think we will regret the business we did NOT start because settling for the corporate job for 20 years SEEMED the safer bet.  But wasn't.

I think we will regret the piano lessons, watercolor lessons or acting lessons we did NOT take because we feared we had no talent.

I think we will regret the marathon we did NOT train for because we deemed ourselves too young, too old, or too busy with schoolwork or yardwork.

My 2000 Ford Windstar's odometer just hit 161,000 miles.

One of the electric doors doors is broken and I'm finding oil spots in the driveway.

I love teaching more than any corporate job I ever had. Indeed, the work is meaningful and has a lasting impact that most corporate gigs lack.

But I admit, I sometimes contemplate trading in my teaching spurs for the soul-killing corporate gig that comes with a fat bonus.

Because trading in the oil-leaking Windstar for that new, pearly-white Suburban with the XM satellite radio sounds really good.

But trading the Summers with the kids for more money--albeit much needed money--doesn't feel quite right.

I guess the choices are money OR time.

Not "all of the above."

I can always make more money--but I CAN'T buy back the TIME.
   
Tough decision.

A decision requiring CLARITY.

I think death is the ultimate clarifier to life's difficult decisions.

It clarifies the LONG VIEW over the SHORT VIEW.

It clarifes WHO is important over WHAT is important.

It clarifies the value of TIME over the value of MONEY.

Clarity.

This Summer, we are planning a road trip to South Dakota for my wife's family reunion.

The Windstar will never make it.

But that's okay.

There's a Hertz rental car nearby...

And I hear they rent white suburbans.

AMJ

No "Wrong" Weather

When I started running 12 years ago I learned a great mantra about winter training:

"There is no such thing as the WRONG weather, only the WRONG clothing. "

In other words,  if we only wait for sunny days to begin our training, we will never begin our training. 

In other words, don't wait for the weather to change.

WE must change to the weather.

I think this notion is a metphor for our non-running lives.

We wait to start that college degree.

We wait to start that business.

We wait to write that book.

We wait to start that diet.

We wait...

For so many reasons...

Until the weather changes.

Until the economy changes

Until our boss changes.
.
Until our amount of free-time changes.

The problem with waiting for these external things to change...

Is they may NEVER change.

Which means we'll never start the things we need to start.

When my running partner and I ran the Leadville 50 last Summer, we hoped for good weather.

But we also brought small backpacks--to carry our jackets, gloves, and hats.

Because when you are running for 13 hours at 12,000 feet, any, and I mean ANY kind of weather is possible.

So here is what I have found to be true:

Great living, like great running, is NOT about waiting for the weather or the economy or interest rates, or the politicians to change to begin the journey.

It's about putting on our "backpacks" and beginning the journey, and then mustering the strength and courage to continue DESPITE the weather, the interest rates, economy or whomever is in office.

Because, when you find the courage to take that first step forward...

And not first wait for OUTSIDE things to change.

Something really does begin to change.

You.

AMJ

Comrades in Pain

We hear the cliche that some people are so kind they would "give you their shirt off their back."

A few months ago, I encountered one of these people--and he really offered me the shirt off his back.

I was on my third and final iteration up Lookout Mountain on a July afternoon.

The clouds were rolling in.

The rain was coming. 

And the temperature was dropping.

Unfortunately, I had made the lousy decision to leave my shirt back at the car for the final trip.  It was July after all. What could be the problem?

Bad move.

Especially when it's wet and cold.

Amazingly, my guardian angel appeared.

He didn't appear with wings and a halo however.

But on a Trek 7-Series Carbon Triathlon with aerobars.

He tossed me a jersey and uttered "good work" as he passed me up the mountain.

Whoah.

In my 43 years on this planet I have never had a stranger offer me anything--no less an expensive race jersey--after a 15 second introduction.

It was a gift.

And a reminder.

A reminder that when it comes to conquering the biggest and baddest giants--especially the painful ones--human beings have an enormous capacity to work together.

To be comrades.

Comrades in pain.

Pain is a unifying force.

It is the one force that can truly bring people together and transcend almost any difference.

Republican versus Democrat.

Christian versus Buddhist.

Because when the monster is big, and I mean REALLY big, like when you are running in the middle of the night in freezing rain--things like party affiliation or religious preference begin to look small.

Perhaps even foolish.

It's funny, an hour earlier, this guy on Lookout Mountain and I may have been competing for the same job on Monster.com or speeding to the same parking space at the mall.

But on the mountain that day....

We were fighting a common enemy.

A big enemy.

We were comrades in pain.

So how about this for an idea...

Admittedly, a naive idea...

Instead of another Blue Ribbon panel to bring our leaders together to solve our nations woes, how about signing up our leaders for a RACE.

A big, gnarly race.

The Leadville 100 perhaps.

Where they will confront a daunting challenge far bigger than Republican or Democrat.

A challenge that will require the courage to work together.

And perhaps even require offering up their shirt for a comrade.

To get across the line.

Together.

As comrades in pain.

AMJ

"Why" is a Big Word

"He who has a WHY to live, can bear almost any HOW."
                                                     ---Friedrich Nietzsche

"Why" is a small word with a big meaning.

A word that can determine if you succeed—or quit.

Each person’s “why” is unique.

But what’s  not unique is the size of the “why.”

It has to be big—no room for sissies here!

Because each person’s “why” has to big enough to motivate when there’s no more motivation.

To provide that swift kick in the butt and get you to do what you said you would do---when it’s no longer fun.

And when it hurts.

Especially when it hurts.

A big “why” will get you out of bed to lace up in the middle of February when it’s cold, dark and an inch of snow on the ground.

A big “why” will force you to open your Accounting book instead of watching the Bronco game.

A big “why” will force you to press on with that fledgling business —even when it’s tough making payroll.

Especially when it’s tough making payroll.

A big “why” will force you to send out more resumes and continue the painful job search—despite the  rejection letters piling up on the kitchen counter.

I think a big “why” trumps brains and even talent.

Because brains and talent don’t provide the inner strength and mental toughness to keep going when it gets tough and you want to quit.

Because it will get tough.

And you WILL want to quit.

So here’s the deal: this week, before signing up for that marathon you have always wanted to run, or are about to quit your day job to launch that new business you have dreamed of opening, or are about to enroll in that degree you should have earned a long time ago.

I say wait.

That’s right, wait.

And don’t contemplate HOW you will achieve these goals—at least not yet.

Focus on the “why” first.

Make sure it’s big enough.

And strong enough.

To provide you the strength for when it gets tough--and it’s no longer fun.

Because it will get tough and no longer be “fun.”

Because you will want to quit.

But here’s the good news.

If your “why” is big enough.

And strong enough.

You WILL find the strength to keep going.

Even when it gets tough.

Especially when it gets tough.

Because a big enough “why” makes the impossible-looking how become possible.

Revealing the path to victory.

AMJ