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Bonnie Stevens

Leaders Don’t Waffle When Waffles aren’t the Right Decision

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If you’ve ever gone to lunch with someone who couldn’t decide what to order, you know the pain of indecision. While you, everyone else at the table and the server are quietly on standby, that individual is thoughtfully considering whether it’s a quinoa-bowl kind of day or a full-on loaded burger event.

President Theodore Roosevelt once said, “In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.”

So, following Roosevelt’s advice, you have to go with the quinoa. But some decisions are more difficult. I once knew a National Forest supervisor who was leading hundreds of employees who were feeling the punch of an emotionally charged public campaign against the organization. Although the insults were directed at national policymakers, local workers were feeling like they were getting beat up every day by the bully in the schoolyard.

The situation was so disruptive that the region assembled a public relations crisis management team to assess the problem and offer a strategic response. The team came back with its best three plans and made a presentation to the forest leadership team. The group was moving toward one particular plan of action; however, the person at the top wanted more time to think. The next day was oddly quiet, as many waited ready to launch onto whatever path this supervisor was willing to take.

Finally, when pressed for a response, he reported back that the best path was to do nothing, not a public education campaign, not a meeting with those individuals outside of the organization firing loud insults, not an internal motivational seminar, not even a chicken nugget of inspiration. Nothing.

What many don’t realize, doing nothing is a decision; just as “no comment” to the news media speaks volumes.

As one would expect, the verbal attacks persisted and the public servants continued to feel pummeled. You can imagine how a constant barrage of abuse and no apparent support from leadership can affect morale, health and productivity.

In business, we are all constantly being served up a vast menu of options. However, research shows successful leaders can quickly sort through choices. They make decisions and move forward promptly. Here’s how they do it.

They identify the problem.

This may sound simple, but the real problem can be buried under a pile of symptoms, just like it’s sometimes hard to find the salmon bites under a plate of linguini. Babbitt Ranches President and General Manager Billy Cordasco says, “With environmental concerns, we do this a lot. For example, a large, destructive wildfire is a symptom of an unhealthy fire-adapted ecosystem. Focusing on the problem until there are no symptoms to be addressed is solution oriented.”

They narrow the field of solutions.

Having too many options can be overwhelming and create analysis paralysis. It’s like having a food truck of entrees when a “small plate” of wontons will do. Having a mentor, a sounding board, an advisory council, an experienced consultant or a wise friend with exquisite culinary taste can sort through the choices and make a case for a few good options. Consider the last time you were asked, “Does this make me look fat?” Wouldn’t you rather have a few reasonable choices from which to select? Successful leaders narrow the field of acceptable solutions. They also know that black is slimming.

They don’t look back.

Leaders exude confidence and motivate those around them. They form a plan and move forward. That’s because they’ve done the mental work of following the path of possible decisions from beginning to end. I once participated in an experiential leadership course in Northern New Mexico. One task demanded teamwork and strategic planning to move everyone in the group through a maze of ropes, without touching a single fiber, in an allotted amount of time. This exercise was extremely effective in teaching the importance of thinking through an entire plan of action before implementing it physically, and then following through. Leaders have confidence in their decisions because they’ve already done it once in their heads, they don’t over-analyze and they aren’t afraid to take action.

If they make a bad decision, they make another decision.

You may know companies, relationships or governments in which individuals spend valuable time trying to find out who made that bad decision. The blame game is not fun, wastes time and creates a culture of fear. Ultimately leadership is always responsible. If action doesn’t lead to the desired result, it’s time for a different action. The quickest way to move forward is for leadership to acknowledge the problem and make another choice. I’ve found it especially effective to just claim the mistake, whether it’s yours or not. This pulls everyone off the dark path of blame and hyper-speeds them onto the glowing road of action.

Decisive leaders quickly assess the problem and possible solutions. They choose and communicate clear direction supported by reliable information, and motivate others to achieve a desired result. If further information reveals the decision was flawed or new circumstances require a change in direction, they make a new decision without looking back at who’s to blame, unless Karen orders raw oysters for the team again in a country without a food and drug administration. QCBN

By Bonnie Stevens

 

Bonnie Stevens is a public relations consultant. She can be reached at bonnie.stevens@gmail.com.

Everything Has a Life: Knowing When to  Leave What was Once Good

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Waterbeds. These were pretty “far out” in the ‘70s. By the late 1980s, one in every four or five mattresses sold in the United States was a waterbed. But almost as fast you could say “Tempur-Pedic,” waterbeds in the ‘90s floated out of sight, man.

And this is why your dream job may eventually keep you up at night.

Everything has a life. If you think of yourself as a product, let’s say a fax machine, it’s easy to understand why your first week, month, even years on the job were amazing. You were clever, efficient, innovative, helpful and usually uncomplicated. As co-workers discovered your value, you probably felt pretty good about yourself and the office was a great place for you to be.

But then, change snuck in, or so it seemed. The funny thing about change is we often don’t see it coming, even though change might be driving right through the middle of our office in a bright yellow submarine blaring In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida.

Change can roll in with a new CEO, a different group dynamic on a board of directors, an economic downturn, a health concern or even a change of heart. I’ve witnessed what looked like a whole community having a change of heart during local elections.

Change can feel like you’re not a starting player anymore. Maybe you’re not involved in strategic team meetings all of a sudden, and may not even be included in the email to wear the jersey on game nights.

Change can be painful, but it doesn’t have to be, especially if you remember that everything has a life. That’s a beginning, a middle and an end.

Industrialist John D. Rockefeller said, “Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go after the great.” The wise business professional understands this concept and recognizes when he or she is receiving strong signals that a job, product or relationship is reaching its expiration date. And, that’s an excellent time for you to be in charge of change.

Now hold on, I can hear you saying, “Things aren’t that painful. Not every day. And anyway, it’s hard to find a good-paying job with benefits, for someone my age, with my responsibilities, in this field, in this town, in this lifetime, on this planet, with allergies to fluorescent lights…”

And while I’m sure all of these statements feel real and true, I’m reminded of a friend in the oil and gas business who left an $800,000 a year job with AMAZING benefits because of a concern about the leadership’s integrity. Some core values just didn’t match up and it made him feel sick to represent the company to clients who trusted him. And, guess what? Shortly after leaving, he landed a million-dollar-a-year job, also with amazing benefits.

Motivational books are full of stories like this. The worse your circumstances, the higher the stakes, the better the story. And then you can write a motivational book!

I know many very successful, balanced, intelligent professionals, just like you, who have made the hard decision to leave a “good” job and take a risk for something better for them, and not necessarily for more money or even the same amount of money. It could be more time with family, less stress, a completely different career, being around positive people, going back to school, surfing, baking bread, rescuing prairie dogs, becoming a Pilates instructor…there must be a million better things to do!

What I don’t remember hearing are regrets. Not one.

We all have that parallel fantasy life we visit sometimes where we’re doing exactly what we really want to do, working with incredibly talented and kind people, can hardly sleep because we are so excited about every minute of the day, being treated like the rock stars we are and getting rewarded handsomely for it.

Make the decision now. Leave good enough in the same place you left your waterbed, and chase down that latest dream.

If change is pushing, the universe is calling, and it’s probably an important line to answer, unless it’s a fax. QCBN

 

By Bonnie Stevens, QCBN

Bonnie Stevens is a public relations consultant. She can be reached at bonnie.stevens@gmail.com.

Volunteers are Not Free

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It’s been said that time is our most valuable asset. So, it’s an incredibly precious gift when someone volunteers to give it away. It may be providing labor for a project, like building a home in a developing nation; or offering expertise, like when retired business people volunteer for organizations like SCORE to mentor budding entrepreneurs; or serving people in need, like dishing up meals at the Flagstaff Family Foodbank.

Volunteers are found in non-profit organizations and for-profit businesses. But Keith Davenport, a public relations executive who has been in charge of massive events for Disney and the Olympics, reminds us that volunteers are not free. “They need food, t-shirts, praise. Moments before the event should be the most exciting and inspirational,” he said. “I want this to be an amazing experience for everyone involved.”

Fill a Sandbag, Change Your Life

There are many reasons why people volunteer. Here are three:

1

It’s good for your health. Global Vision International (GVI) says studies show that helping others takes our minds off of our own problems. The GVI website states, “Your stress levels start to decrease, your immune system is strengthened and your overall sense of life satisfaction increases.” A friend of mine reports she pulled herself out of depression by exiting her pity party and volunteering for a mental health facility to listen to others who were suffering. She says that’s the moment her healing began. 

2

It’s an opportunity to give to a cause in which you believe or something for which you have a passion. Animal lovers on the island of Kauai volunteer at the local shelter to take a dog on a hike. Surfers in California and New Jersey take kids with cognitive and/or physical disabilities out on their boards through The Best Day Foundation.

3

  It builds skills and can boost your career. Volunteers come with a wide variety of talents or none at all. It’s likely you’ll learn some things that can be listed on your résumé later, and it could be a great networking opportunity. Relationships happen while filling sandbags.  

Costs Associated with Volunteers

The idea of recruiting volunteers always seems to sound great – especially for organizations that are low on funds and have work that needs to get done. But managing volunteers is a job. Plenty of organizations have paid positions, “Volunteer Coordinators,” who do this. When volunteers are out building trails around Flagstaff, Williams or Sedona, you can be sure someone in the Forest Service has set up the trail-building event, has identified tasks and locations, is providing tools and safety gear, has arranged transportation, put together a risk assessment report and will have first aid, water and snacks available. And no doubt, someone in HR has written a job description for both the coordinator and the volunteer. All of this takes time, expertise and money.

If you haven’t thought through the process of organizing volunteers and assigning specific tasks, you’ll learn in a hurry that you’ve asked people to stand around and look at you, waiting for direction. This is a pretty uncomfortable position to be in and a horrific waste of human resources.

Volunteers need and want something in return. it might be free admission to a concert, exercise in the outdoors, a meal, time with a Disney princess, a merit badge or class credit. They most certainly may also need and want a motivational talk and a celebration at the completion of the project. Sometimes a verbal thank you is enough; often, a volunteers’ lunch and awards ceremony is in order.

When Volunteering Doesn’t Work

Volunteering is a wonderful thing, but volunteering does not work in the workplace. For example, when someone says, “I’ll watch the phones for you while you go to a doctor’s appointment, or attend a workshop, or visit your grandmother,” it doesn’t really matter what the reason is, when someone “volunteers” to fill in for you at work, the stage is set for payback or resentment.

 I’ve worked for more than one organization that gives the “teamwork” speech at the annual company picnic about how we’re all in this together and how we help each other out because that’s our culture. That’s a setup for failure. It leads to unrealistic expectations and what I call “assigning responsibility without authority.” 

 Let’s say your job description requires you to accomplish some task, but your position is not equipped with staff to get the work done or funds to pay for hired help. Reminding co-workers about the field day where everybody bonded over rope climbing drills and thus, “you need to stop doing your job and help lead a factory tour for a troupe of traveling mimes from our sister city because the company says ‘we’re a team,’” won’t get the job done. You have no authority to expect others to participate in accomplishing the goal; yet, it’s your responsibility to lead the company in international mime visits and you will be held accountable.

 I can only remember one supervisor in 25 years of public relations jobs who had the foresight to add “public education and outreach” into everyone’s job description. Even if you worked in computers and rarely spoke to humans, you could be held accountable in your annual evaluation for participating in activities that engaged with the public about the company’s mission, products or services. It became everybody’s responsibility because everybody’s job description said so. Some charter schools require students to perform so many hours of public service before they graduate. Sure, they are volunteering, but they are also receiving something in return.

 Volunteers are wonderful, but they aren’t free. It’s important to think through the true costs before posting the recruitment fliers, or asking a co-worker to attend that meeting for you while you’re doing so. QCBN

 By Bonnie Stevens 

Bonnie Stevens is a public relations consultant. She can be reached at bonnie.stevens@gmail.com.

ERAU Astrophysicists Listening as Black Holes Collide

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gravitywavesCataclysmic events, like the merger of two massively dense black holes, result in vibrations or ripples in the universe that eventually reach Earth. That is how Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University astrophysicists describe gravitational waves that stretch and compress the fabric of space.

“The metaphor that we like to use is that gravitational waves let us hear the universe,” said ERAU physicist Dr. Brennan Hughey. “Most astronomy is done through photons in one way or another – everything from radio to optical to gamma rays is an example of photons at different energies, at different wave lengths. Gravitational waves are a completely different messenger that allows us to listen to the universe rather than look at the universe.”

To receive this messenger, a team of ERAU scientists has been deeply involved in the LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) project from the design and construction of interferometers to analyzing the data. In September, Advanced LIGO detectors in Livingston, Louisiana and Hanford, Washington successfully “heard” the waves produced during the final fraction of a second when two black holes collided and become one massive spinning black hole a billion light years away.

“Gravitational waves are a natural consequence of general relativity, where space and time meet,” said Hughey. “Einstein published the first paper on them a year after discovering general relativity in 1915. So, basically, it’s taken a century for this prediction of gravitational waves that came from Einstein’s theory of general relativity to actually be something that we’re able to detect out in space.”

The black holes that LIGO sensed each had a mass 30 times the density of the sun. Because the universe is so vast and the waves are so weak – about a billionth of an atom – Hughey says it takes a major event like this to be picked up. When heard through an audio file, the merger sounds like a water droplet.

“The thing that’s maybe a little surprising about this observation is that the black holes are as heavy as they are. There’s a whole range of masses of black holes, but this is what we talk about as being stellar mass black holes, which are black holes on the scale of stars and these are on the upper end of what we’d expect to see there.”

As Hughey explains, black holes do not emit light, so they cannot be seen, but LIGO interferometers will help scientists understand the lifecycles of black holes and where they are in the universe.

“Black holes are merging all the time in our universe. The universe is a very big place, so it’s not happening in our own galaxy, but if you look out to millions, billions of light years, there are a lot of these events happening. So we expect that by the time we get our LIGO instruments to design sensitivity, which is going to be a region of about a factor of three farther into space than we’re able to look at right now, we should be able to pick up tens to hundreds of these events in a year.”

Up until September, LIGO had been a physics experiment. But Hughey is hoping this technology will open a new field of study, gravitational wave astronomy. He says LIGO will also help scientists learn more about the of collision of neutron stars, the core collapse of supernovae and possibly the existence of cosmic super strings, which are theorized to be topological defects in the universe formed billions of years ago.

“We do think space is a pretty noise place. Simulations suggest the universe may sound like a jungle at night where you’re going to get some sounds like frogs or crickets out in the darkness and this would be the sounds of the universe with these binary coalescences. We’re not there yet, but that’s where we want to get in another decade or so and I think that will be pretty amazing to be able to listen to the universe at night the same way that you listen to crickets chirping outdoors.”

From the ERAU LIGO Lab, Hughey has been analyzing the gravitational wave signal. Currently he is working to remove background noise to make the sounds even clearer as he searches for transient waves.

Dr. Michele Zanolin is the principal investigator of the Embry-Riddle LIGO group. He also coordinates the supernova subgroup of LIGO, which focuses on detecting gravitational waves from core collapse supernovae and extracting astrophysical information from them.

Dr. Andri Gretarsson helped design and characterize the mirrors that form the heart of the LIGO detectors.

The Embry-Riddle astrophysics group also includes doctorate student Marek Szczepanczyk, plus undergraduate students Kiranjyot Gill, Marina Koepke, James Pratt and Sophia Schwalbe. It is the only LIGO team in Arizona and has been funded by the National Science Foundation since 2006.

Hughey says the next Advanced LIGO “observation” run could happen as early as this summer.

By Bonnie Stevens

 

 

 

 

 

 

Science Festival Book Captures Spirit of Discovery

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Book Festival ScienceWhether they are walking on the moon, chasing lava, racing toward tornadoes, tracking comets, battling superbugs, landing robots or discovering dinosaurs, world-class scientists have participated in the Flagstaff Festival of Science since it began a quarter of a century ago.

A new book, Flagstaff Festival of Science: The First 25 Years, captures the essence of the nation’s longest running, free science festival, traces the scientific roots of the “Skylight City” and shares stories and quotes from its famous participating scientists. The book will be released during a free talk, “Flagstaff’s Science Legacy” by authors Kevin Schindler and Bonnie Stevens at 7 p.m., Saturday, July 18, at Riordan Mansion State Historic Park.

“Thanks to unparalleled deposits of plants and stones and water and bones, to stunningly clear skies that unveil worlds beyond our own, Flagstaff has become a mecca for learning about the universe around us. This program will look at some of the exciting discoveries and dedicated scientists who built this legacy,” said Schindler.

Northern Arizona University President Emeritus Eugene Hughes, Ph.D., is credited with first bringing key scientists and local media representatives together to explore the possibilities of a Flagstaff science festival. In the book’s foreword he writes, “You will see, as you read this brief history of the Flagstaff Festival of Science, that their work, and that of successive groups, has led to the development of one of the finest, if not the finest, festivals in the nation.”

Throughout the book, scientists share their love for adventure and gripping anticipation of what will happen next in their world of discovery. “Science is an adventure of the mind,” says retired U.S. Geological Survey research geologist and founding festival board member Ivo Lucchitta, Ph.D.

Storm chaser Warren Faidley says, “I like it when I don’t know what I’m going to see. It’s like opening a present. Odds are you are not going to see something over the top…but you might. It’s about trying to be in the right place at the right time and being as prepared as you can be.”

Space Shuttle Astronaut John Grunsfeld, Ph.D., says, “It’s that curiosity that drives us all, and has driven us since we’ve been human.”

The book also introduces readers to individuals who grew up with the festival and are now enjoying science endeavors professionally and/or personally as adults. For 33-year-old Samantha Christensen, who began attending the festival when she was eight, meeting the scientists and being in their workspace made science real. “I could envision myself as a scientist,” she says.

Influenced by her festival experiences, Christensen earned a bachelor’s degree in applied mathematics at the University of Arizona, where she also took astronomy courses. Today, she manages the public education program at Lowell Observatory, designs space camps for kids and serves on the festival board of directors.

For 25 years, the Flagstaff Festival of Science has invited youth, their families, visitors and lifelong learners into laboratories, observatories, museums and out to the field to participate alongside scientists.

This year, the Flagstaff Festival of Science will be Exploring New Horizons, Sept. 18-27. Leading the way will be planetary scientist Alan Stern, Ph.D., the man who heads up the pioneering New Horizons spacecraft mission to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt.

“We’re on Pluto’s doorstep and we don’t know what we’re going to find,” says Stern, who is scheduled to deliver the Festival’s Shoemaker Keynote Presentation at 7 p.m., Friday, Sept. 18 in Northern Arizona University’s Ardrey Auditorium.

“It will be fascinating to see the best images that have been captured of the dwarf planet, and hear what scientists are finding out from this amazing journey into the Kuiper Belt where hundreds of other icy worlds exist,” says Festival President and meteorologist Brian A. Klimowski, Ph.D. “It is only fitting that some of the latest images and new information about Pluto will be coming back home to the town where Pluto was discovered.”

Flagstaff Festival of Science: The First 25 Years can be found at the Flagstaff Public Library and on the festival’s website at scifest.org. It is also available as a gift to festival donors at the $100 level and above.

 

“Inspiration for the book came from our rich community of scientists,” said Schindler. “NPR ScienceFriday Host Ira Flato drove it home when he said, “’You can’t get a cup of coffee in Flagstaff without bumping into a scientist.’”

Stevens says she has been in awe of the many local and visiting scientists who have shared their enthusiasm and knowledge with Flagstaff. “It seemed important to document their inspirational stories and messages. My favorite quote comes from Apollo Astronaut Alan Bean when asked what went through his head as he walked in the stillness of the moonscape. He said, ‘“On the

moon, everything is gray. And then you realize, we live in the Garden of Eden.”

“I find the book just wonderful in subject, organization, writing, illustrations and design,” said Lucchitta. “The authors and the designer [Andi Kleinman] should be proud of what they have achieved, and so should Flagstaff.”

The talk, “Flagstaff’s Science Legacy,” hosted by Riordan Mansion State Historic Park, which is operated through a cooperative agreement with the Arizona Historical Society and the Flagstaff Festival of Science, is free. Seating is limited and provided on a first-come, first-served basis. The book will be available to those who attend.

The book, “Flagstaff Festival of Science: The First 25 Years,” was made possible through a science education grant from W. L. Gore & Associates. “We want people to see that science is much more than nerds and pocket protectors. It’s exciting and fun and you don’t even need to be a scientist to work in science,” said 2014 Festival President Steven Smith with W. L. Gore & Associates. QCBN

 

For more information, visit www.scifest.org.