"Getting Help in Opening Doors to Change"--How do we do that today with the resources we know?

Most mornings I go to the grounds of my local hospital and do water aerobics at a "wellness" center.  Many of these mornings I engage in informal conversations with one or two colleagues concerning business--past, present, and future.  We have even more time for these conversations on Sunday mornings when we get together.

This has been a great way for me to get lots of new ideas--even today--and keeps me getting some valuable exercise the first thing every morning.

Yesterday's conversation was about informal advisory groups for CEOs.  Some of these are more formal--boards of directors.  Others can be as informal as membership in a discussion group (or a virtual think-tank).

The challenge is the same--some people have lots of expertise and experience to share.  Some CEOs could really benefit from that expertise and experience.  How can the two groups get together?

Beyond that, the people with expertise and experience still need income--though probably not as much as they used to get while they were acquiring their expertise and experience.  CEOs who could use the help may have limited funds (especially in today's economy) to pay for outside consultants or for a high-price-tag membership in an advisory group service.

Some Inner Dialogue
"If we do today what we did yesterday, we'll get more of the same results." (In today's economy, we may even get fewer results or lower quality results.)  What do we need to change?  What do we need to change to?  How can anyone else know my business?  How can I trust anyone to share that I don't know how to handle a challenge my business faces?

"What do I do best?"--I make a positive difference in the world by helping people and organizations learn to  change to improve their quality of (business) life now and for the future.  How can I open doors to be able to do this for more people and organizations?

In the course of my 40+ years of work, I have come across professional consulting groups where CEOs of moderate-sized companies pay a monthly fee and meet with other CEOs and a consultant on a monthly basis and other consulting firms who send in a business analysis to probe the needs of the company, then follow-up consultants to address the specific needs the company decides to work on.  These firms usually work with small to mid-sized companies.  The global consulting firms I have worked with normally have global clients and multimillion dollar consulting contracts.  Many of these have to do with implementing new information technology throughout the company, though some are smaller and focus on business processes and strategy improvement.  While executive teams make the "buying decision" for consultants and set overall direction, most work is supervised by upper management.  The large firms have a few seasoned professionals guiding teams of gifted and less experienced professionals who actually do the work for the client.

All of these models work, though, in today's society. We need something more or different.  Many companies--due to reduced income from multiple sources--are pushing out senior people and replacing them with more people with less experience that command lower salaries and have more room to grow with the company.  Requirements for specialized skills in the latest software are also influencing requirements for both consultants and employees.

Ultimately, the CEOs of the small to mid-sized companies still face the same challenges and have even fewer resources to find new and innovative solutions.  Most are faced with the problem that "It's hard to remember when you're up to your waist in alligators that your goal was to drain the swamp."

Back to my original question today, how can I get help to do what I do best by working with the resources I know today?  If anyone has any thoughts, please post a comment or contact me through my Wiki Projects page.

Careers in the 24th Century--Support Tools and Reality Checks

In this 21st Century, research has indicated that people can expect to change careers 12 times and have many more jobs.  Some of the same literature talks about the fact that jobs have not even been thought of yet while thousands are finishing bachelors and masters degrees to prepare them for jobs that are already obsolete.  Shift Happens 2008 (Did You Know 2?) is an eye-opening sequel to Shift Happens (Did You Know) first released in 2007.

Not only are traditional job search and recruiting tools obsolete, so, too are many of the career preparation tools.  One tool that I found useful in working with students in middle and high school is http://www.careercruising.com/.  If you are interested to see what I did with it, visit the Footprints Project page of my wiki space for middle schools.

I completed the career skills questionnaire my students would be expected to complete (117 career-skill-related questions) and Career Cruising came up with a list of 40 careers (jobs) my choices matched to.  I was doing this to test the validity of the software as a tool and was impressed that, of the 40 choices, in the course of my career I have worked in 14 of the jobs listed--and still I have always done the same thing (in a wide variety of ways).

What I do--I make a positive difference in the world by helping individuals and organizations learn to change to improve their quality of (business) life now and for the future.

It's amazing to me that I've done that in 14 jobs already, and sometimes more than once in any given job.  What's even more amazing is that I haven't had more employers in the course of 40+ years of working.
Reality Check:  The order of careers was based on my preferences and I was amazed by how my experience in these careers was reflected in the questionnaire.

Change is Upon Us

When I went back to graduate school in 1985, I wanted to get a doctorate that would let me work with adults and organizations who needed to learn how to change. My doctorate (which I completed in 1992) did prepare me to help adults and organizations learn to change and my post-doctoral Master of Arts in Teaching (completed in 2008) prepared me to extend this service to children as well. 

I invested about $200,000 in my doctorate degree in terms of tuition, books, and loss of income while a full-time students.  Much of what I learned was timeless.  I know this because in my dissertation research I tracked the origins of reflection on learning concepts to the time of Confucius--about 300BC. (For a full-text copy of the dissertation [ATT9229831] visit this link.)

Since earning my doctorate, I have worked with thousands of people and more than 60 organizations in helping each learn how to improve their quality of life.  My investment was worth every penny. 

My goal now is to find ways to share what I do with more people.  Can you help?  If so, contact me through my Wiki Project page.

Performance and Change Management Consulting for "Big 8-6-5-4" Firms

When I left the U.S. Army after a 10-year career, I was not aware of the "Big 8" Accounting and Consulting firms until I joined one as a Management Consultant in Los Angeles.  Coopers and Lybrand (now part of PriceWaterhouseCoopers) was one of the big firms and I was a management consultant in their Litigation Management practice.

I have been a professional performance and change management consultant for 40+ years.  I began learning how to do what I do so well as a volunteer instructor for the American Red Cross then built skills while on duty as an officer in the U.S. Army.  I continued this practice as a management consultant for my own and for other consulting firms until I went back to earn a doctorate degree to work with even more people and organizations.  After earning my doctorate, I worked again for a "Big 6" Consulting Firm--Andersen World Wide and Andersen Consulting (now Accenture).  Times had changed and I was able to utilize what I had learned in my doctorate degree while working with Andersen Consulting. 

I left Andersen Consulting in 1998 to join another consulting firm as a senior business consultant in change management.

Today there are only four or five major consulting firms like the ones I used to belong to.  Times are changing and one of the real challenges is that client needs are changing, too.

Large consulting firms have large staffs and command high fees.  Large corporations can afford those fees.  Small to mid-sized organizations cannot.  Who takes care of their needs?

There are a few consulting firms that target small to mid-sized businesses.  Beyond that there are lots of individual consultants offering a variety of services.  Unfortunately, the need for service greatly exceeds the availability of consultants.

One person can make a big difference by working at top-levels in a small organization.  That is a tremendous "value added benefit" to small to mid-sized companies seeking out the right consultants at the right time.

Teaching--Student Loans--Forgiveness for Teaching Service

President Barack Obama has generated a call to service in many sectors.  The federal government has had a program in place to "forgive" or "cancel" some or all of student loans taken out by techers if they work for a pre-set number of years in "at-risk" schools.

While this is an excellent way to build a cadre of qualified teachers working in "at-risk" schools to help students learn, it is of vital importance to these teachers, especially teachers who have entered teaching as a second (or later) career and who had to go back to school for another advanced degree to meet state teaching requirements.

Part of my day today was invested in contacting school districts where I used to work and going to the Human Resources department to have them complete an employment verification for the time I was a full-time teacher in an "at-risk" school in their district.  When I have all the signatures from the school districts and other relevant signatures, I can send the entire package to the bank holding my student loan for their consideration for forgiveness.

I am applying for the elimination of $5,000 worth of debt in return for five years of full-time teaching in at-risk schools.  Had I taught special populations in these at-risk schools or extremely important subject matter, I could be eligible for $17,500 worth of debt cancellation.

Reducing my student loan debt by as much as $5,000 is certainly a great way to invest the day before Labor Day.  In one Human Resources department I found everyone still working this afternoon and now have one more form completed.  Next week I'll go to a different district for another signature on a form.

It's also fun to reconnect with former employers and to see who I know who's still working where I used to work--or of the changes that have taken place in the intervening years.

Connections--Staying Connected--Friendships--Colleagues--Names and e-mail

Earlier this summer I started upgrading my Yahoo Contact List (started in 2002),  using it to invite people to my LinkedIn Network.  (See an earlier post about this.)

I found out during this "exercise" that many of my e-mails on my old Yahoo Contact List were out of date.  I was able to reconnect with some friends and have lost touch with others.  Telephones and addresses often change more frequently than e-mails.

LinkedIn offered a new feature, putting some names on the upper right of the "home page" that may be someone I might know.  One of the names was of a friend I worked with closely in the years 1999 and 2000 and whom I haven't seen since.  I was delighted to find a new e-mail and quickly invited him to my "network."

The e-mail "bounced" (the same experience I had been having with my Yahoo Contact list e-mail for this friend).  I then did a "search" on LinkedIn for my friend and found that there are at least two or three people (six entries) with the same name.  Which of these is my friend?  I don't really know--the names are identical and there is a logical reason why either of two addresses could be the right ones.
When I joined Facebook this summer I found many of my more "Internet savy" family members on Facebook.  LinkedIn seems to be more for friends and professional colleagues.  They are still close and also have at least one foot in the "business" world.

I know that, while I regard my own name as unique, at one time there were 12 people with my name with accounts at a bank I was using in the Chicago area.  A Google search on my name reveals lots of people I don't know and may rarely show anything connected with me.  While I don't have my home address widely around on the Internet, the contact page on my website offers several good ways to contact me.

Friendships and connections are important--to all of us.  If someone I have lost touch with happens upon this post, please use the contact information and send me an e-mail.  We often work closely with business colleagues and build friendships--then move to different activities and different people as we change what we do and where we do it.  For example, many of the people I knew in Action Learning or consulting I lost touch with in my six years of K-12 teaching.  Some of the colleagues I met in one school district I may lose touch with when I change buildings or districts.

Long ago (and, for some, still today) Christmas card lists were important ways to stay in touch.  For more and more of us--including myself--e-mail is my first channel for communication, including for cards.  Telephones are next, followed by "snail mail."

Staying connected really does require some work--on everyone's part.  There was something about a person I came to regard as a colleague or a friend that is an essential part of that person and I wouldn't want to lose touch with that person or that essential part.  I have some friendships that seem as close as yesterday, even if there have been years between our face-to-face meetings.

I'd also like to be able to bring talents and resources of some friends and colleagues to new projects I may encounter.  Hopefully more current contact lists and e-mails will allow me to do that.

Freedom, Choice, Priorities, and Streams of Income

As we age, we have opportunities for multiple experiences.  My birthday is coming up this month, in fact, it's one week from today.  This has been a great time for reflection.  Part of my reflection has been about "freedom."  The freedom I am referring to is more than the freedom we enjoy as citizens of the USA.  That's wonderful in itself.  This freedom is about the possibility of making choices and priorities regarding quality of life now and in the future.

Robert Allen has written a series of books dealing with the importance of streams of income.  He talks about "money mountains" and that streams of money flow from these mountains.  If everyone has three or four of these mountains, then, if the stream slows or drys up from any one, enough money is still coming in from the other mountains.  The economy in the USA in 2009 shows the importance of many of these ideas. 

Some of these mountains include our employment (jobs, businesses, farms, what we do to earn income).  There are several investment mountains (stocks and bonds, residential and commercial real estate to name two).  The Internet is another mountain which can add a variety of income generating opportunities.  Another area of need is the concept of residual income.  Robert Allen suggests that network marketing may be one way to begin to generate residual income, though it is not always easy to find legitimate network marketing opportunities that someone wants to engage in.

Freedom comes when we can make the choices and priorities we want in our lives and have sufficient income to support them. 

Birthdays are good times to think about retirement.  I know I won't stop working.  I love what I do too much.  What I want to have the opportunity to do is to choose whom I will work with and to be able to make my fees reasonable and affordable so that I can work with more people and organizations.

An axiom in investment is that high rewards come from high risks.  In employment, high salaries usually are associated with high demands and expectations--and less freedom.  Often people choose to invest time and energy in high paying jobs today for a better quality of life tomorrow.

As I grow older, my tomorrows are today.  I want more freedom in my life and am willing to work for that.  The resididual income I have in place from work and experience done "yesterday" and my lifestyle choices today help me balance my freedom to choose what I'll be doing with my life in terms of income.

I need to keep working the "multiple streams of income" ideas to keep my future quality of life as good as it can be.  Health care insurance is important to creating this sense of freedom.  No matter how much reserve we accumulate, health care needs in our future can consume everything we have.  With a good balance of health care insurance as part of our daily quality of life choices, we can preserve our freedom and quality of life in our futures for a much longer time.

Health Care--Baby Boomers--American Recovery Reinvestment Act--COBRA--Medicare

As a baby boomer with an aging parent, health care, Medicare, and the American Recovery Reinvestment Act are all important to me in many ways.

My mother, now 94, has full Medicare coverage (she worked for 45 years and earned it)--both parts A and B.  She also has the AARP Medicare Supplement Insurance and Aetna as her Medicare D (pharmacy-plan) provider.  She's paying premiums for all of these insurance coverages and, after paying her doctors her 2009 deductible of $135, most of her medical bills are paid for.  The pharmacy bills are different.  Aetna offered a good plan--I've had to change providers every year since they started the Medicare D program).  Mom has been averaging about $165 out of pocket per month since January for her medicines.  We've switched all we can to generics.  Coming up soon (perhaps this month) she will go into the "hole in the donut" of the plan.  The initial coverage will have been used up and she will have to pay for her medicines until she reaches a "catastrophic level" of out of pocket expenses.  When I looked into this last December, this may amount to as much as $450 more per month for September, October, November, and December.
As a baby boomer, I can expect higher costs for health care as I age.

I can certainly see that we do need better systems in place to provide quality healthcare to everyone--without anyone being "ripped-off" in the process (by scamming people, doctors, medical facilities, etc.).  I have also experienced some of the health care providers submitting bills to Medicare, then billing my mother for the same fee.   I have to stay on top of things to make sure that legitimate bills are paid by the appropriate organization or insurance and to remember not to write a check for every bill I receive in the mail from a healthcare provider.

There is much emotion and drama being reported in the media about people and their concerns for health care.  My local congressman wants to have a telephone "town meeting" to talk about health care this evening. It's important!!  (See my post about CCRCs last week.)  Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia have forms of "socialized medicine" that include both public and private doctors.  Various ideas have been proposed in the USA as to what kind of coverage is needed.  Many Senators are advocating the health care package provided to Senators and members of the House of Representatives as the model for everyone.  I don't know what their coverage provides.

I have Aetna's EPO plan with a dental supplement.  I had a marginally effective vision plan and, since I have my eyes examined at Sam's Club and Costco and get my glasses there when I need new ones, the Sam's Club and Costco prices are not so high that I absolutely need a vision plan.  I do need annual check-ups from an internal medicine physician, a dentist (twice a year), and an eye doctor.  These are to keep me in good shape and to make sure I don't have major problems not being tended to in a timely manner.

Individually and for families, getting and affording good health care is essential.  Not having it can cause permanent damage to health, family cohesion, and even death.

Keep working, Congress, to get all of us the best possible health care coverage from now on.  (I'm worried about the ongoing viability of Medicare and Social Security as we baby boomers continue to age and there are fewer workers to contribute to these funds.  Having a workable alternative that will be good for the next generations is important, too.)