Saturday, October 28, 2006

Creating Value Simply by... Walking!

Some times, the simplest of things can make a difference. In previous posts, I wrote about how a simple smile can make a difference; how the words that we chose have an impact on and around us; or how the attitude that we choose to have towards a daily thing like the weather can affect us and those around us.

Walking is one thing that I have been doing for many years is making a big difference in my own life. I also like to believe that it's a small positive contribution to our environment.

My wife and I have decided that we would be living in the city instead of the suburb of Montréal. This in turn enables us to own only one car. We make a point to use this vehicle as efficiently as possible. Not only is it cheaper on gas, but it lowers our emissions of pollutants.

Part of this allows me to walk part of the distance to my work. So, three or four times per week, I walk 40 to 50 minutes to my workplace.

This gives me an opportunity to do a little low-impact exercise and take fresh air as I do my best to walk through some of our city's beautiful parks. But what I appreciate the most of this time is the opportunity to have a few minutes all to myself and reflect on the various situations in my life.

A simple thing that makes a big difference for me and a small contribution to our planet.

Do you have any simple activities that you do that, like my morning walk, can make a difference?

Friday, October 27, 2006

Good Habits Create Value

Most of us are aware that good habits create value and bad ones destroy it. Here is a very simple example: eating 5 to 10 servings of fruits and vegetables each day will help improve your health; on the other hand, smoking a pack of cigarettes a day will almost inevitably cause serious harm to your health.

A few years ago, my mother was working in a retirement home in my home town of Warwick, Québec, Canada. My father had an uncle who lived there until he was 102! When Pépère Michaud turned 100, my mom asked him what was his secret for having lived such a long and healthy life. Pépère Michaud replied that there was one thing that he had done all his life and another one that he had never done. Mom asked him what those things were and he answered that every day since he had become a young man, he had been taking one shot of Gin. He insisted that he always drank only one and that he consumed it slowly. Then he told my mom about the thing he never did: he never held a grudge against anyone in his life!

Simple, yet apparently, it worked for Pépère Michaud!

Do you have any such stories of good habits that can create value in some one's life?

Monday, October 23, 2006

Creating Value With Your Smile

Did you ever notice some people; they're constantly smiling. Ever notice that these are the people who light-up a room when they enter it, not when they leave.

Sometimes, the simplest things can make a big difference. A smile costs nothing and can make a difference, for you and for those around you.

A smile creates value first because it's the most inexpensive way to improve your looks. A smile says many things to the world: that you are thankful for all that you were blessed with; that you can appreciate simple things like a bright sunny day; that meeting a friend is enough to make your whole day.

A smile is also a way of saying to the people that you are meeting that you are happy to see them; that they can trust you.

Do you have other such things that cost nothing and can make a difference?

Friday, October 20, 2006

On the Importance of Leadership - Part II

In a previous post, I made a point about the importance of leadership for the creation of value - read it here. I highlighted the impact that Bill Gates and Warren Buffet were having on thousands of wealthy Americans.

Well, it looks like this type of behaviour is not a 21st century thing. Following is a quote from Henry Ford that says it all:

"The highest use of capital is not to make more money, but to make money do more for the betterment of life."

In my opinion, whether you like Henry Ford or not, this sentence represents the very essence of capitalism. I'm all for people aiming at achieving and reaching their best. It's just that I believe that it cannot be done for the sole purpose of fulfilling narcistic needs.

How many Porsches 911 can one drive?

Thursday, October 19, 2006

Industrial Designer Offers Perfect Example of The Power of Imagination

This post is simply to invite you to MocoLoco.com, one of my favorite blog, where you can read an interesting interview with Sebastian Bergne, an impressive industrial designer. A very strong illustration of the awesome power of imagination as a tool for creating value.

Do you have other examples of people who create value through their work?

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Imagination: One of The First Keys to Creating Value

Since my initial training was in graphic design, which is one part technical and one part art, I have become acquainted with the creative process and the key role that imagination plays in the creation of value. Most designers are problem solvers and use imagination to do so. Over the years, I have come to appreciate the value of certain solutions to a given problem. In the charitable sector, some people stand out of the crowd as they have come up with simple and efficient solutions to some pretty big social issues.

In the province of Quebec, there is a significant number of children who go to school every day without having eaten breakfast. This is probably also true for other areas of the developed world, not to mention developing countries. Nevertheless, children trying to learn to read have a much harder time focusing on the task at hand on an empty stomach.

Noticing this problem, Daniel Germain developed an organisation whose sole mission is to make sure that children have something to eat before starting school in the morning. Following is an excerpt from their Web site:
The Quebec Breakfast Club opened its doors in 1994 at the Lionel-Groulx elementary school, located in an underprivileged Longueuil neighbourhood. The Club's founder, Daniel Germain, wished to offer all the children the chance to have a nutritious breakfast before going to class.

The project had such a positive effect on the children's academic achievement that, soon, other schools were knocking at the Breakfast Club's door.

Since 1994, thanks to the support of a growing number of partners from both private and public sectors, the Breakfast Club has been able to set up kitchen facilities in 199 elementary and high schools throughout the province of Quebec.

Daniel Germain is a perfect example of one my favorite quotes from Albert Einstein: "Imagination is more important than knowledge."

Do you have stories like this one about people using imagination to come-up with creative solutions to social problems and make a difference?

Monday, October 16, 2006

Creating Value to... Your Spouse?

Why did I write this post? Well, basically, making a difference in this world is all very nice, and I think we should all strive towards this according to our own values.

However, abnegation can only go up to a certain point. What's the point of doing volunteer work and the whole nine yards if you are in such a bad shape that your health is at risk?

What's the point of striving to reach the top of the corporate ladder if you're going to sacrefice those closest to you in the process?

Any reactions?

Saturday, October 14, 2006

Creating Value for Your Spouse

How many of us have ever heard some one speaking badly about their wife or husband; usually when the spouse isn't there? We often hear people talk about their supposedly loved one in terms such as: “He is such a pig!” “She is a real idiot.” We’ve all heard it. Some of us are even guilty to have done it!

Whenever I witness such behavior, I make a point of asking the person doing it the following questions: "What would be the most important decision you have made in your life?" Choosing a mate, along with choosing one's profession, are probably among the most important decision we make in our life. I then make the person realize that if his or her spouse is such an idiot, why is it that she or he would have made such a bad decision by choosing them?!!

One of the worst thing we can do is to de-edify our spouse in front of our children. What this does is it gives our children (or for that matter anybody else) permission to do the same with our spouse or with us. Since familiarity usually breeds contempt, when we have been with a spouse for a number of years, we kind of know him or her too much, almost to the point where they have stopped being special.

Do you feel that you could use better words to speak to or about your spouse?
Please, Thank You and You're Welcome

Like many parents, my wife and I make it a point to teach our children the importance of using Please, Thank You and You're Welcome when they want, receive or give something. I believe that these seemingly innocent words are at the base of most successful human relationships.

Why am I making such a fuss over such a trivial thing as saying Please, Thank You and You're Welcome? Because when you say "Please", you are also saying to the person from whom you are asking "I respect you. I do not take what you have and can give for granted. I bow before you to ask that which I want from you." It is a form of giving recognition and respect.

Similarly, when we say "Thank you", we expressing gratitude, thus acknowledging the other person's generosity towards us. Again, when we are saying "You're Welcome", we are returning the gratitude by acknowledging it.

When we teach Please, Thank You and You're Welcome to our children, we are teaching them the most basic form of respect. We are also continuing a tradition of respect than goes back to the very beginning of humanity; all though I have no historical proof of this!

What does this have to do with creating value? Everything! When you express respect to the other person by saying Please, Thank You and You're Welcome, you are valuing this person, and adding value to a person is an important part of creating value around us!

If you agree or if you don't, please let me know! Thank you!

Friday, October 13, 2006

Deciding to Have a Positive Attitude

Last night, I was lying awake in my bed in the middle of the night. I was not a happy camper. Certain events at work had me worried and I was loosing sleep over it. In my mind I was continuing my complaining about the situation.

At a certain point, I made a conscious decision that I was going to change my attitude to a positive one and I began focusing on what I had control over.

In a matter of a few minutes, I began to think about possible solutions that I could implement the following morning (today!). Of course, I got up from bed, went to my Franklin planner and noted these ideas.

With these new solutions, I began feeling much better and went to sleep a few minutes later. It was like if I had begun pointing the nose of my plane above the horizon!

Without being oversimplistic, this goes to show that in most situations, we don't always choose the contexts that we're in, but we always have a choice of our attitude.

Do you have situations that you've experienced when you decided to choose to have a positive attitude?

What difference did it make for you?

Thursday, October 12, 2006

On the Importance of Leadership for Value Creation

One of my firmest beliefs is that leadership is a foundational element of creating value. Leaders, whether good or bad, can have an astounding multiplying effect. The news regularly brings to us stories about bad leaders that create downward spirals for their fellow citizens. And history books are filled with such sad examples.

In the past few months, a few visionary leaders, namely Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, have made bold moves towards creating social value, leveraging a good chunk of the wealth that they have both accumulated over the years.

Their example is having a ripple effect that has been recorded by a research project on the philanthropic behaviours of America's wealthiest. You can also read this previous post.

Do you have any other examples of such positive, value creating moves?

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Doing What You Love or Doing Something With Passion

I just finished a great conversation with a dear friend about doing something that stirs your passion. Here are some thought about how passion creates value.

I think that doing what is close to our true values is a key to creating value. Passion is a spark. A fire within, and when we are doing what we truly love, we do it with passion. Doing it with passion means that we can do it 24/7 without being bothered one bit.

When we are passionate, we have endurance. Doing what needs to be done becomes a non-issue! I would be curious to know how many people are working at jobs that they hate? I'm pretty sure that there even could be a correlation between passion and longevity... unless you have a passion for dare-devil activities!

Does anyone have any statistics on this?

Does anyone have stories, either your own or someone else's, of someone doing something with passion?

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Because a Friend on Mine Got His Life Saved Thanks to Blood Transfusions, I Now Give Blood Regularly

When I was in my twenties, I gave blood three times. Very sporadically. In Québec, the Red Cross was then responsible for managing blood collection and the provincial blood bank.

Then the "Blood Scandal" pushed me away from giving blood. Eventually, the Red Cross lost this role within our health care system. But this is not what I want to write about.

A few years ago, a friend of mine got a very aggressive form of cancer. We were not close friends, but we knew each other from university. I found out that he had been away due to sickness when I called at his work. I finally got a hold of him and we met over a coffee. He told me his story; how he had gone from 180 pounds down to 123; how the doctor told him that he had a one percent chance of getting through this alive; how, thanks to over three hundred blood transfusions, he had survived. Eventually, he became involved with Hema-Québec. His story made me start giving blood again. It's that simple.

Since then, I have given blood thirty-one times. And each time I can go back, I go. My goal is to give blood one hundred times before I'm sixty. I figure that I'm lucky to be healthy; I might as well share this.

I went today and I can go back again in fifty seven days, which means November 29.

Do you have stories like this one, involving a relative or a friend, that got you to decide to take action and make a difference?