2010 August | Lorne Rubis

Evolve or Die… Yup, That’s Just the Way It Is

201030 Aug
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Posted inBe Accountable

On August 17, 2010 Wired Magazine declared: “The Web is Dead.”

Huh? What the heck does that mean?

For most of us catching up with the web has been a scramble and now a bunch of techno-snobs are declaring it dead?? Essentially the article goes on to describe the explosion and variety of digital media forms and shifting patterns of media consumption. In other words the web and everything surrounding it is rapidly evolving. Just months ago some elements of digital media were not in the mainstream of our lives; now terms like social media, location-based commerce and virtual currency are influencing millions of people daily.

So what does this have to do with the Character Triangle (CT)? At one level the answer is very little. Our application of the CT values is agnostic to media and medium. On another level, though, it is very relevant.

In the spirit of self accountability, the web is a reflection of collective mankind. We need to evolve and adapt. Not all of us need to tweet, blog, play Farmville, become foursquare citizens or any of the like. But we do need to ask ourselves how and what, if anything we need to do to participate in the web and its evolved state. Digital media is for us. We can embrace it and make it work for us. So in another way digital media can be used to promote all the elements of the CT. And all the benefits it provides.

The web may be dead but we are fully alive. Digital media and the CT belong to each of us in our own unique and personally wonderful ways!

with Character,

Lorne

Help Living In and Out of the Triangle

201027 Aug
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Posted inBe Abundant, Character Triangle

I won’t get into the details because the situation is personal. However, I had purchased someone a substantial gift some time ago and they had stored it at our home. Our relationship with that person has become distant and disappointing. For some reason I became petty regarding that gift; I felt like restricting this person’s ability to retrieve it. When I openly expressed my feelings, our adult daughter, who has heard much about the Character Triangle (CT) over the years, directly but respectfully suggested that I “live in the Triangle” regarding this matter.

That simple statement and reminder quickly brought me to my senses. Of course… I gave that gift without strings attached. Why would I want to govern my previous generosity based on what the person is doing now? That is being scarcity versus abundant focused. Be generous. Do so without expecting reciprocity. There is no question what the right thing to do is. Graciously help the person to easily retrieve the gift.

This situation reminds me how easy it is to personally slip out of the CT and how helpful it is to get support from others. This happens when there is a shared understanding on a common set of values to guide us.

This applies every day in our work situation. When a company has a common set of values in approaching issues, we can lean on each other as we take action and make choices. If we are fortunate, someone will be there to remind us if we’re tempted to stray. As in most cases, teamwork wins over an individual going it alone. Spreading understanding of the CT amongst all members of an organization can be powerful.

with Character,

Lorne

How Do We Manage Personal Change?

201025 Aug
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Posted inBe Accountable, Character Triangle

So we’d like to add more of the Character Triangle into our lives. How do we do that? What helps?

Leo Babauta has authored a helpful and practical personal blog on the topic of “personal change” in the August 11, 2010 edition of www.zenhabits.com. (One of the most popular blogs on the web )

Leo’s advice for driving personal change:

Beat inertia with small, achievable changes (don’t plan on running a marathon, start by walking a mile).
Overcome the resistance of others (get people who are negative on your side to cheer lead or spend less time with them… scarcity people get in the way).
Find the Joy (you have to find the joy in what you’re doing… if you hate running, find the joy in early crisp mornings, or whatever you like about the experience).
Keep the joy alive (find ways of refreshing the joy… e.g. you love the sweat and shower after that run too).
Celebrate little victories (brag about the 5 mile walk on Facebook, put the milestone on the fridge, tell people who care about you).
Make the change part of your life (it’s much easier to do as part of your routine vs. having to do it as an add on… “this is how I live”).
Keep doing it, fail, try again (it is a relentless journey).

To make the Character Triangle a part of you, the same elements of change apply. It is a continuous process of small victories, set backs, more small steps and victories. And so on. It is a habit system. Before you know it you are way down the progress road.

with Character,

Lorne

Will You or I Ever Have to Declare Reputation Bankruptcy? Hopefully Not

201023 Aug
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Posted inBe Accountable

I’m not prone to paranoia but also hope I’m aware of what’s real. A 25 year old teacher in training posted a picture of her drinking on her My Space page. The Millersville University School of Education disavowed her graduation a few days before convocation. The Pennsylvania courts upheld the decision. A 66 year old Canadian psychotherapist was permanently barred from entering the U.S. after a Google search found him writing about his LSD experiments in research 30 years ago. A 16 year old British girl was fired for posting “I’m bored” on her Facebook.

Jeffery Rosen has written a great piece on this matter in the July 25 New York Times Magazine entitled “The Web Means the End of Forgetting”. The premise is that we are digitally captured everywhere and the recording of our actions are essentially permanent. The process and concept of forgetting is being redefined.

Human behavior and so called perfection are complicated subjects at both a philosophical and practical level. That’s why judgment by many people’s beliefs may be best managed by a higher order. However we all agree that we all make mistakes. Compassionate societies historically have provided most of us a way to forget and forgive. Digital systems however, now even more pervasive through social media, theoretically have captured our actions eternally in the most detailed and personal way.

At work, every email and now arguably every tweet, post, credit score, blog, picture, video, etc, in and out of work fills out the story of who we are. We need to be aware and also able to move on when something we are not proud of is captured. Hopefully applying the Character Triangle helps to maximize the best of who we are. That gets captured too.

Warren Buffet, the wise investor philosopher is not very digital savvy. But perhaps his analogue advise is sage for all of us, “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and 5 minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.”

with Character,

Lorne

Character Triangle

Our character is exclusively ours. We define it by how we think and what we do. I believe that acting with Character is driven by what I call the Character Triangle.

What, exactly, is the Character Triangle (CT)?

The CT describes and emphasizes three distinct but interdependent values:

Be Accountable: first person action to make things better, avoiding blame.
Be Respectful: being present, listening, looking again, focusing on the process.
Be Abundant: generous in spirit, moving forward, minimizing the lack of.