Sunday, March 18, 2007

Fortune

FOR THE WEEK BEGINNING FEBRUARY 19, 2007

INSPIRATION FOR TODAY:
"Many people avoid risk when it is really fortune's accomplice."
~ Sting

SPIN THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE!

When Captain Meriwether Lewis & William Clark led the Corps of Discovery in 1804, what were the risks? Grizzlies? Attack by unfriendly natives? The unknown? In the masterpiece book "Undaunted Courage," it is clear that Lewis & Clark faced those and many other unexpected challenges to their intrusion into the great Northwest via the Missouri River. Without their courage, their tenacity, and their curiosity, much of the northwest corner of our country would likely not be a part of the United States.

On a different level, a five-year-old mounts her bicycle and pushes off from the curb. Fear grips her tender heart, yet she makes the effort. Her reward? She has learned to succeed by trying - by taking measure of the risk of a bruised knee vs. the thrill of achievement.

So what risks have you taken lately? Have you dared take a new direction in anticipation of some hitherto unknown fortune? Have you dreamed "outside the box" and then taken steps to bring your dream to fruition? If not - why not?

Perhaps you want to expand your career objectives. You may need to risk capital, effort, and even ridicule from your business associates. When you succeed, you risk standing out from the crowd - an uncomfortable position to some. Maybe you want to communicate more fully with your children, but dread the risk of alienating them through frank discussions of sensitive issues.

Common expressions like "nothing ventured - nothing gained" are not words from some Caspar Milquetoast. They are sound advice from someone who has taken the risk and gained the fortune. No matter what fortune you desire, it is available to you only when you are willing to take that all-important "first step." Not a single good in life comes by staying in bed with the covers pulled over your head. Go ahead - seek your fortune - and step out from the crowd.

(Originally published February 24, 2003)

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posted by The Office Grapevine at 11:42 PM 0 comments  

Get Over It!

FOR THE WEEK BEGINNING FEBRUARY 12, 2007

INSPIRATION FOR TODAY:
"Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired, and success achieved."
~ Helen Keller

REJECTION PROTECTION?
Watching "American Idol" has become a sort of national pastime among those who either enjoy it wholeheartedly or as a guilty pleasure. Most will tell you that they watch as much to see contestants get rejected as they do to see the rise of The Next Big Thing. When a horrible audition is followed by outrageous displays of agony or even anger, it illustrates a disturbing trend of entitlement that's developing in our society.

What happened to the days when there were winners and losers? We've reached a dangerous point where our children are competing in sports where everyone gets a trophy, or they don't even keep score. Birthday parties can't be mentioned in class unless every student will be invited. Does this protect the development of character, or completely undermine it?

Self-esteem is just that - it's about you and how you handle acceptance or rejection. It cannot be given by others, and it cannot be developed without experiences that run the spectrum from success to failure. Competition provides a critical arena for such experience, but only when it is acknowledged that some will do better or worse than others, and that such an outcome is acceptable.

An unhealthy sense of entitlement emerges when we never have to lose and thus face our failures. Some of those "American Idol" contestants, who honestly have no talent, are completely crushed by the rejection that follows their 30-second audition. These young people are completely unprepared to hear the truth, completely unprepared to walk out of the room without their "golden ticket." It's pitiable that they've been raised to believe they can have whatever they want, without having put in the hard work to achieve that success.

One bedrock of our society has been that anyone can achieve their dream, and it's true. But success is determined by understanding the difference between dreams and reality, and by the strength we gain from working through our failures on the road to our goals. Our ability to succeed walks hand-in-hand with - and cannot move forward without - our ability to handle rejection and failure. Walk on.

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posted by The Office Grapevine at 11:35 PM 0 comments  

Friday, March 09, 2007

"The House of Mondavi"

Something near and dear to my heart is the time spent working at Robert Mondavi. Now there is a new book by Julia Flynn. The brief description from Julia is listed below. Look for this book in June 2007.

If there was a single mantra that I heard over and over again in my interviews of former Mondavi employees for “The House of Mondavi,” it was that working for the Robert Mondavi Corp. was the single best job they ever had.

I hoped to discover why. In the course of interviewing more than 250 people, I searched for clues that would help me explain what was unique about Mondavi, particularly in the decades before the company went public.

I learned about the weekly donuts, the quarterly wine program, the harvest parties, and the way that members of the Mondavi family would reach out to employees in trouble or in need. I also got a feel for Mondavi’s sheer velocity in those days, when it was leading the way in the global wine industry.

My book tells the story of the rise of the House of Mondavi, as well as its fall – explaining how the Mondavi family ended up losing control of the company as it headed towards a sale. It looks at the group that some dubbed “The Raiders” – the outside directors led by Sir Anthony Greener – who ended up ousting Michael Mondavi as chairman and installing Ted Hall.
It is a fly-on-the-wall narrative of what went on in Mondavi’s boardroom, in New York hotels, and at Ted Hall’s Long Meadow Ranch that led to a painful split between Michael and the rest of the family.

“The House of Mondavi: The Rise and Fall of an American Wine Dynasty” will be published by Penguin’s Gotham Books on June 21, 2007. It is available now to pre-order on Amazon.com.

If Robert Mondavi alums would like to sit down with me for a reading and a question and answer session after the book is published, perhaps during your next reunion in June, I’d be happy to participate. More information about the book can be found on www.houseofmondavi.com.

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posted by The Office Grapevine at 11:04 PM 0 comments