Continuing to Disrupt...

The Facebook group of friends and family connected to my friend Dave, is still pretty active, 3 plus years later.  The posts come in waves.   Sometimes they're generated by the triggers, like what happened to me last Friday.    


Sometimes it's when old things are are suddenly found again...


Bonnie posted tonight:
"Just found some "truisms" that Dave posted outside our tiny work space at the Disruption Consultancy. So worth another look!"

a little knowledge can go a long way 
a name means a lot just by itself 
a sense of timing is the mark of genius 
a single event can have infinitely many interpretations 
decadence can be an end in itself 
everything that's interesting is new
if you can't leave your mark give up
just believing something can make it happen 
lack of charisma can be fatal 
people are boring unless they are extremists 
playing it safe can cause a lot of damage in the long run
push yourself to the limit as often as possible 
revolution  
symbols are more meaningful than things themselves
taking a strong stand publicizes the opposite position 
you must disagree with authority figures 
your actions are pointless if no one notices

Sign of the Times

As anyone who has ever lost a close friend will tell you, it's not necessarily the big milestones (birthdays, anniversary of passing) that trip you up, it's the random day to day moments when something you do, say, or hear happens,  and the only person you really want to talk to about it is them.


This happened to me Friday when I was going to a meeting at the new REI flagship in Soho.  I was rushing from the subway and suddenly looked up and blinked a few times in the bright winter sun when I realized it was in the Puck Building in Soho.

The new REI store is amazing, it's like walking into a slice of Boulder, and since its opening in mid December has been a magnet for a community of outdoor and nature loving New Yorkers.  From a work perspective, I had stumbled upon 'my target audience.'


Though it's a sign of the times, and one that made me miss my friend, the debunker, the high beam on the dark road.  Dave always made us laugh while also so accurately interpreting 'what this means' from a larger social commentary perspective. 


The Puck Building used to be the HQ of SPY Magazine, an iconic social satire magazine that existed in the late 80's to 90's, that finally folded in the late 90's when the age of irony seemed to end.  90's martini drinking and laughing about Donald Trump antics and what celebrity was 'separated from birth' from was no longer funny, and we ushered in an era of Real News, fear and earnestness.  


In New York part 1, I spent a good portion of the mid to late 90's in Soho, working for a funny, edgy, fiercely independent ad agency, where I first met my friend Dave, who passed away three years ago.  This was when Soho wasn't a corporate mall, when we hadn't sold the company,  when everyone I worked with kept the bar very high on 'great creative' as the top priority.  


Different time, different place...  


I did love the new REI store, and felt that it's part of an overall "New York is getting better" wave, though all day I missed hearing what Dave would say about it. 

He might say, something he often said to me about California, "It's right for the way you're living today." 

Or he might say,  what he also often said, and how he continues to still influence us:


"Just go have an adventure!"

First Snow!

I was in Florida in late October and missed our unseasonably early snow storm here, that ended up shutting down parts of Westchester, Connecticut and New Jersey for a week.  


Even though I'm already tired of wearing my big puffy coat, and fantasizing about the next big, equally unsexy puffy coat I will buy, and have already had a big dose of spring fever and some magical thinking that we would actually miss winter when we had 50 and 60 degree temperatures around the New Year...there is something so exciting about waking up, looking outside, and seeing a carpet of white for the first time.


I remember a line from John Irving's "A Prayer for Owen Meany" where the author mentioned that his grandmother used to say snow was very healing. He commented on her New England perspective, saying that it was a typical Yankee way to think:  If there's a lot of it, it must be good for you! 


This leopard has not changed her spots.  I am still sea air, salt water and palm tree dreaming, though first snow of the season makes everything feel fresh, new, alive with possibilities.


While by far not my favorite month, that is the gift of January. 

Let Your Voice Be Heard

March-like winds and rain have roared into New York, killing a few umbrellas yesterday in the process.  


While I have been (really!) enjoying milder winter temperatures, it's hard to ignore direct connections to warmer temperatures, warmer oceans, rising sea levels and long terms implications of what 'climate change' means for natural resources, species and our world population before it became politically-charged term.


Last night some of this was addressed at a "Discources in Science and Nature" event series at the NY Academy of  Science, where a couple of our scientists and other scientists were part of a panel discussion about "Energy for the Next 20 Years."   (A subject matter also not politically neutral...In fact, nothing like a debate about nuclear power to completely distract questions related to New York State's looming decision about hydrofracking!)


Some of the dense subject matter was not for the lay-person.  What struck me most was how the better speakers kept my attention, and caused me to think about things a bit differently. 


Interestingly, Seth Godin wrote a post about this this morning, which I think is useful to remember in any 'speaking occassion' you have, even if it's just one on one.  


 I remember once at a presentation skills class the coach said to us: "Remember, people are rooting for you. They don't want to sit there and be bored.  They don't want you to dial it in. They want to learn something, they want to be engaged, they want to be inspired."   


In other words, it's not about you!


Here's Seth's post.  Connection is everything! 

It's extremely difficult to read a speech and sound as if you mean it.

For most of us, when reading, posture changes, the throat tightens and people can tell. Reading is different from speaking, and a different sort of attention is paid.

Before you give a speech, then, you must do one of two things if your goal is to persuade:

Learn to read the same way you speak (unlikely)

or, learn to speak without reading. Learn your message well enough that you can communicate it without reading it. We want your humanity.

If you can't do that, don't bother giving a speech. Just send everyone a memo and save time and stress for all concerned.

New Year, New You?

I  haven't written a posting since the end of November.  While I realize my readership isn't exactly, ahem, Oprah-like, I've been conscious of my non-writing and apologize for the lack of it.


The post Thanksgiving holiday blender of December seemed more action packed than usual this year.   At work there's always a sense of everyone trying to get it all 'done' before the holidays (which of course is perpetuated at a very process oriented organization). With family, friends, loved ones, certainly an urgency to see everyone, do everything, be social and make merry during a concentrated thirty day window.  I also tend to have that lingering "I think I'm Martha Stewart" thought pop up from time to time in my subconscious, typically like others, when you're really busy and then decide to run yourself a bit ragged shopping for the 'perfect' gift, making the 'perfect' meal, helping keep up the 'perfect' holiday tradition.   


Post Christmas the new theme takes over in the bubble, the year in review, highs and lows,  what do you want to do for 2012, who do you want to be, where do you want to go?   What are your goals and resolutions?    It's not emotionally neutral territory...Especially for people I know who have suffered a great loss during the past year. 


I personally had a more superficial  response to the new year approaching by literally checking a bunch of nagging things off that internal To-Do list ranging from buying new shower curtain liners to Brita replacement filters.  (As if carrying over these mundane things 'to do' in 2012 somehow matters?)


January's calm helps to still the waters.  When I think of a new year, in my mind's eye I picture how things look in the woods outside of my cousin's house in Higgins Lake, Michigan, after a blanket of snow.  Trees bare for the season, with morning sun reflecting off the white canvas.  The beauty of enjoying the moment, just as it is. The freshness of what's ahead.  Spring in slumber.


In the end, whenever that may be, the to do list, the goals, the resolutions, what we want to achieve...I don't think they matter as much as whether or not we listened to our dreams (the real ones, that only speak to us when we actually do slow down), and how much we loved.


Happy 2012 everyone. Expect great things.