Matt McWilliams
United States
- 113 comments
- 28 likes given
- 146 likes received
Christ-follower. Husband to an amazing wife. Father to a precious daughter. I inspire, educate, & bring hope to businesses, families, & the occasional porcupine
@SkipPrichard No kidding. What's next?
It makes me wonder if they will change their privacy settings and bury the announcement in some 8-point font link and then sell all my info. to AMEX. Wouldn't put it past them now.
My first though when I saw this was "Brilliant" (also said like the Guinness commercial).
It's the same reaction I get with credit card commercials, awe at the brilliance of the advertising, but disdain for the company.
@Jon Henry @JoshuaWRivers I do! Whatever side I am on. Sort of. Mostly the student, which is usually me.
@Jon Henry You know, I didn't think of it that way, but it is kind of funny.
No thanks, Teach, I've got a lot of information I am processing right now. Can you get back to me in 3 weeks to discuss this new algebra stuff?
Love it!
A quote that really woke me up was from Eric Thomas: "Knowledge isn't power. If knowledge were power, we wouldn't have AIDS. Applied knowledge is power."
I've KNOWN for years the "secret" to living a healthier life. Eat more raw foods, eat just a little less, eat more often, and exercise. Yet, I did not apply any of them. I didn't need to read more about health, I needed to apply what I already knew.
For me now, education should be reserved only for those areas in which I have no knowledge or have applied all of it and want to go further. Honestly, there aren't many of those areas...I have a lot of knowledge stored up that I am working to apply, so it will be a long time before I can legitimately learn something new.
Great Post Jon!
@JoshuaWRivers Still thinking...and thank you!
Great list and has 7 of my RSS subscriptions :)
If I only I could think of a blog you should add to the side...hmmmm
@JoshuaWRivers Yeah "job security" is only a good thing if you really, really, really want to never advance, never evolve, and never be challenged.
"Yeah but that requires that I spend time with them, learn about them, learn how they learn best, and all that lame stuff. Who has the time?" ~Old Me
Great post Josh :)
Typos toward the end FYI
Even though he was a cocky, know-it-all, Smith hestantly, but decidedly, took the new role. - hesitantly
Training soneone to do what you can free you up to pursue that. - someone
@Aaron Nelson Awesome, awesome, awesome!
I have a feeling you will keep us up to date on your progress too. (That is a request as much as a statement :) )
@selfemployedbob Well played sir, well played.
@Aaron Nelson I address this part above in my other reply:
As Dave points out in the podcast about dreams, visions and goal setting, it's so easy to stray from your vision by getting sidetracked by day to day work.
We didn't lose site of the vision...we really never had one it seems.
What sport are you playing when you say you need to "keep both eyes on the ball?" I mean that seriously.
In basketball, the shooter doesn't look at the ball. The quarterback doesn't look at the ball (nor does the center snapping it). The pitcher doesn't look at the ball. They look at their targets. (Yes I get that receivers and batters do but run with me here)
All of those are the drivers to the play. It doesn't matter what is happening around them; defenders chasing them, hands stretched out, crowd cheering, time on the clock, nothing matters but the goal. Nothing.
You say yourself that your company is going through extreme financial struggles right now.
So WHY WOULD YOU FOCUS ON THAT?
If (big IF) you have a vision for where you want to end up, a goal, a basket, a catcher' mitt, you have to focus on that. Focusing on what you have already identified as negative is literally going to get you nowhere. It's one thing to inadvertently do so, but you know the present is not positive, so focus on the future.
Think about this: If you focus on the future, on achieving the dreams you have for the company and fall short, what is the worst that can happen? You go out of business. Probably not going to happen. But it could. Can you live with that?
If you focus on the present problems and keep trying to just make it to tomorrow, what is the worst that can happen? That 30 years from now, you are fighting this same battle.
What a pitiful existence to live. What a horrible way to go through life. I know that you would much rather bust it and fall flat your face, beaten but not battered, ready to try again someday.
The first worst case scenario has a second chance. You fail, you go work for someone else, make good money, and try again.
The second worst case scenario never ends.
Go for it man. What do you want in your business over the next year? The next three? Dream a little, take the time to cast a vision, and for just a moment, one tiny little moment, be OK with the worst case scenario. Fear not the failure. Fear the mediocrity that inevitably comes from never trying.
I know you can do it and I hardly know you. There are others (spouse, friends, etc.) who believe in you. Now believe in yourself, keep your eyes forward (not on the ball), and go do it!
Dang it, clicked post too soon.
It reminds of Jesus' words about the thorns that choked up the new believer's spirit. When leadership allows the vision to be cast aside, it is. When leadership keeps changing course every time a wind blows, every else follows.
I've been a part of some amazing reactions to adversity in business and one horrible, drawn out disaster. I learned from both thankfully. But the one haunts me...in a good way.
@Aaron Nelson @selfemployedbob I could go with that, but it wasn't so much that our ground wasn't solid as we were running in place. We were surviving. Survival is not fun. They are still in business today, running in place.
For us, it was having a place to run to, not just keeping our spot.
We lost our vision entirely. We didn't so much as stray from it as completely forget what it was and lose it altogether to the point that, honestly, I and many others had a helpless feeling. We held a few vision meetings and got all pumped up about them and then worrying about tomorrow creaped in.
@selfemployedbob "It's really amazing to know that I will be able to teach others by using this experience as an example."
What a great way to think already Bob!
Man, that is awesome.
@selfemployedbob OK, that is actually hysterical though.
My assistant uses nothing but Kayak to do all my travel planning. But I can totally see how that rubs people the wrong way.
@selfemployedbob It WILL turn around.
The good news for you is that some % of the companies (lets just say 50%) are going to hemorrhage themselves right out of business.
Stay focused on what you want in the future and do whatever it takes today to stay on that path. Then when the market breaks open a little, you will be in a perfect position to capitalize.
Yeah, easy to say and no I have no exact strategic plans to accomplish that, but I do encourage you to keep focused on big goals for 5-10 years from now.
@lilykreitinger Yeah I did pretty much hyperventilate every day. It really was misery.
I think I mentioned it before on here that most nights turned into "Matt complains about his job to his wife" night. She finally told me on a Friday night that I had to leave. Went to my remote office the next day to work on resume and reach out to contacts. 48 hours later, they laid off 1/2 of the remaining 1/2 that were left from the previous week's layoffs.
@lilykreitinger Sounds like me. I am in home #21 now. Yikes...that is a large number!
Yeah that happened once...so far today.
I've found that in business, focusing on the now (unstable) definitely leads to chaos, team disunity, panic, and poor decision making. I've been a part of a business that reached that dreadful point of "how do we make it to tomorrow?" Let's just say that's about as much fun as invasive surgery.
I never thought of this way before @ChrisLoCurto until I read this, but what we lost focus of was where we were going. The fact was in our business the market was changing rapidly. Our 3 largest privately held competitors were bought by a publicly traded companies. We had so much going for us...we were the largest privately held company. We had the flexibility to do anything we wanted.
I believe if we had asked the questions: "Where do we want to be in 3 years and how do we get there?" the panic, emotions, and disunity would have been replaced with a singular focus on our goal, rational, calm decision making, and team unity.
I've been piecing together the mistakes we made that took a wildly successful business and just about destroyed it. This helped me figure out another piece. Thanks Chris!