Tag: donald trump

Don’t waste a near-death experience.

By now we have all seen the assassination attempt on Donald Trump. As an optimist, I am hopeful that some very good things will come out of this very bad event. I hope it provides a perspective-altering experience for Trump, for politicians, for speech writers and for the American people.

There are simple facts about divisiveness. If you divide severely, make fun of people, belittle and laugh at people, or treat people as if they are dumb, or incompetent, you will eventually find a breaking point. We saw that clearly in the movie Billy Madison when we discovered that Steve Buscemi’s character Danny, who was bullied by Billy in school, had created a list of people to kill, which included Billy Madison.

Danny (Steve Buscemi) crosses Billy Madison’s name off of his list of people to kill after Billy apologizes for how he treated Danny in school. Then Danny put on some lipstick in a very strange and memorable ending to this scene.

I am hopeful that the assassination attempt has triggered a reset. I hope this serves as a reminder that there are limits to how far we can push. (Unless you are Salt n’ Peppa, who push it real good.) I hope that we start to realize that it is better to share your own positive plans and visions than it is to tear other people, parties and ideologies down.

I hope this serves as a reminder that the most powerful people in the world should be cautious about labeling others as threats to democracy. Because it has a very real chance of inciting others to take up arms to put down that threat in the name of preserving our great democracy.

The Gift of The Close Call

I have had some close calls in my life with what could have been very bad outcomes. We probably all have. For me, each of those situations served as an inflection point. I was different after the experiences than I was before. I had a better sense of the boundaries of safety. I developed a better understanding of cause and effect. I realized how lucky I was to be given more time and more chances to get things right. Which is the basic theme of 50% of country songs.

When you are faced with an abrupt ending, it shines a spotlight on how you want to spend your second chance. It forces you to reevaluate and recalibrate. And it makes you think about your legacy, and what people will say about you after you are gone. Which is the basic storyline of 50% of the movies made in Hollywood. That’s why there is that moment at the end of Home Alone when Buzz tells Kevin, ‘It’s pretty cool that you didn’t burn the place down.’

If someone shot at me it would force some self-reflection. I would question my words and my actions. I would recognize that I may be pushing people too far. And that I may not be exhibiting the kind of empathy and compassion that would have kept me out of the very real crosshairs. I am hopeful that this event has forced some valuable soul-searching, eye-opening, and dare I say, ear-opening that will lead to better actions by everyone involved.

Key Takeaway

Don’t waste a second chance. When you are faced with a premature ending to anything, let it be a positive force in your life that helps you rewrite a better ending. These moments are gifts. But you have to be ready to receive them. If you do, these experiences have the potential to help you change your life for the better, if not the course of history.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

+For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.

Do you process your feedback for growth or defense?

When you receive feedback from the world you process it with one of two devices in your noggin.

  1. Your Growth Processer
  2. Your Defense Processor.

The Growth Processer says: I have the ability to get better with this feedback. I can learn and improve and enhance my abilities and capacity. It acknowledges that you have room for improvement, and you have discovered an opportunity to press your advantage further. Think of this as the Billy Joel Processor. Because it starts evaluating feedback by saying, You may be right. I may be crazy.

The Defense Processor says: I should not change. I am already where I should be. The world doesn’t know what I know. There are important reasons for doing what I am doing and I need to defend against change or modification. I need to build a wall to protect my processes, decisions and style. Because they are not only as good as they ever need to be, they are better than anyone else. Therefore, I need to defend against decay. Think of this as the Donald Trump Processor. Because like Franks Redhot, he uses his defense processor on everything. Which offers a sense of confidence and superiority. But it prevents all possibility of growth and improvement. (Because just imagine how many times his hairdresser offered up a less imaginative hairdo.)

Real-World Example (But not from the MTV Show.)

If you are part of a race team you have to always be looking for ways to get faster. Speed is growth in racing. Everything that ultimately leads to speed should be sought out, embraced, and accepted. It’s simple. It’s scientific. It’s how you get better faster.

Key Takeaway

Always look for opportunities to improve. Find the valuable gems in your feedback. Consider everything. Think like a race team. Seek out and soak up everything that presses your advantage forward. It will help you get a little bit better every day.

*If you know someone who could benefit from his message, please share it with them.

+For more ideas on personal growth and self-improvement check out my book What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.

An idea to make debates useful again.

On Sunday night I watched the presidential debate. It was ridiculous. Don’t get me wrong, I was highly entertained. But the debate failed miserably at its sole purpose: helping Americans become better-informed voters. There was so much talk about non-issues, non-answering of questions and unverified fact-spewing that all of America was dumber for having watched it. Entertained, but dumber.

When it was finally over I switched channels and watched the Sunday night football game. Taking in the final 15:00 minutes of the Packers and Giants game was like mental sorbet, cleansing my palette before I prepared to think like a human again on Monday morning.

But a funny thing happened when I woke up the next morning. I had an idea to solve the debate problem.

Let’s make debates more like football games.

One of the great things about a football game is that it follows a clearly defined set of rules. There are pre-established ways to score points. There are also consequences for breaking the rules. The debates should have the same structure.

edhochuli

Instead of having a moderator like, say, Lester ‘Don’t-Mind-Me’ Holt, we would have referees, like Ed Hochuli. Ed is a trial lawyer when he’s not flexing his zebra stripes.  He’s the man we need controlling the candidates.

The Perfect Agency Project’s debates look something like this:

  • Moderators are replaced by referees (didn’t I just say that?): refs put the question in motion, blow whistles to stop the talk and penalize participants for breaking the rules of the debate.
  • Penalties: The ultimate penalty in a debate is air time. If you fail to answer the question, stray off topic or introduce false information, you have to sit out questions. Debaters have to serve there ‘Time Outs’ in a hockey-style penalty box. I would have Martha Stewart design it.
  • Run over your time limit: a whistle blows and your mic is cut off. If we can humiliate Hollywood stars by cutting their mics off during an acceptance speech, surely we can do the same to long-winded presidential candidates.
  • Talk when it’s not your turn: You lose time. This is just like being offsides in football. Or encroachment. Or interference.
  • Unpresidential-like conduct: Your mic is cut off. A third-party candidate walks on stage and replaces you for the next question.
  • Answer a question: score points on a 1 to 7 scale based on the quality of your answer.
  • Don’t answer the question: no points
  • Make false claims: the referees stops the debate, sites the facts, sends you to the Martha Stewart penalty box.
  • Nachos: Let’s all eat them. Just because.

But this is just a start. Now it’s time to add your ideas to the comment box. Don’t mention any candidates by name. It’s not that kind of show. Just the football-style rules we could incorporate to make the debates fair and informative. Points will be awarded for good rules. A flag will be thrown on anything that is offsides. Ready? Set. Omaha!