Travel

Born-again Minnesotan

January 30, 2020 By Tom Mungavan Leave a Comment

One person in ten considers winter their favorite season. Those who love to ski or snowmobile are probably a good portion of those who prefer winter.

Christopher Ingraham wrote an article in the Washington Post about how to survive and even enjoy winter. He says there are many good things about winter. Most people disagree. He explores how people enjoy winter. He recommends:

Stop being cold. Dress for the cold. Wearing warm layers virtually eliminates being cold. Long underwear may be appropriate at times.

Find activities outdoors that you can enjoy in winter. My experience is that zero degrees can feel quite warm when Nordic skiing in the woods. The air is fresh and clean. Alpine skiing can be similarly invigorating with warm cloths and goggles.

Walking in a park with warm cloths and boots also works.

Snowmobiling and ice fishing are things that some people get very excited to do. I talked to a man with a new ice house that looked like a camper. He was very excited for the ice to form.

Getting away to a warm location as a vacation has many advantages. Looking forward to a warm vacation gives you a few weeks of enjoyable anticipation. You have the time on vacation. When you get back to the cold, you know that spring is not far away. However, it is not a replacement for finding something to enjoy outside.

Get a dog was another suggestion from Ingraham. If you aren’t motivated to get yourself out for a regular walk, taking your dog for a walk every day is a good incentive.

OK , maybe warm cloths, skiing, a warm vacation and getting a dog is not enough to make winter your favorite season. Hopefully, it will make winter more fun and make it feel shorter.

How Old Are You?

March 10, 2017 By Tom Mungavan Leave a Comment

When my father was 60, he referred to himself as being “middle-aged”. His friend asked him, “How many people do you know who are 120?”

A Life Well Lived

Minnesota Orchestra Conductor Laureate Stanislaw Skrowaczewski was born in Poland 93 years ago. He started playing piano at age 4. He loved playing music until he was injured by a bomb during World War II. He became a conductor in Warsaw and Cleveland before he took over the Minneapolis Symphony in 1960. A few months ago we heard him conduct the Minnesota Orchestra with such gusto that it was hard to believe he was 93 years-old. His love for the music was clear. One non-stop performance was 80 minutes long without using the written score. Last year he conducted in over a dozen countries. So how old was Skrowaczewski? Sadly, he died last month. He fully lived all of his 93 years.

Being Engaged in Life

There are numerous studies that all point to being engaged in something you find worthwhile (for pay or not) significantly improves our happiness and our health. I feel blessed to feel that way about what I do. Most of my “work” gives me energy, even though I am well past what many think is retirement age. See my blog Build your Return on Life (ROL) from 2014 about Mitch Anthony’s book “The New Retirementality” that challenges the concept of a retirement age as a leftover concept from the Industrial Revolution.

How Old Should I Feel?

I do not advocate that people should not retire because I have not done so. There are many people who have sacrificed enormously to build their career and feed their families. They have traveled extensively, or in other ways, sacrificed family time to do work that is not all that satisfying any more. Finding a way to remove from your life what is draining and add things that are nourishing is a wonderful endeavor. I know many who have focused on their grandchildren to recapture what they lost with their own children’s growing years. That is a fabulous opportunity to recover. Others have found the artist inside them during their retirement, like President George W. Bush.

My misconception of how a grandfather should feel is very apparent to me. Looking at the photo of the man looking in the mirror pretty well captures the gap. I feel like the younger man, and the mirror reflects an older man. I expected to feel like the older man in my 70’s, but I don’t… most of the time.

I know many who think their 60’s and 70’s are the best years of their lives. Maybe the 80’s too …. I just have not asked enough people in their 80’s. That was not my expectation when I was in my 30’s. That was not how I saw my grandfather in his 70’s.

Should We Allow More People to Work Longer?

Many would say, “Not on your life!” and others would find community, contribution and maybe purpose, if they were able to continue to work. Warren Buffet continues to make good investments in his 80’s. The Supreme Court is filled with senior citizens. Many cultures honor the wisdom of age more than the US culture.

There are definitely limitations brought on by aging. There are also strengths that build with continued age. I was blessed with a grandmother who was young at heart and willing to share honest wisdom such as, “Those who talk about the ‘good old days’ have bad memories. It was not all good.”

The companies who can overcome unfounded age discrimination and also make adjustments, where appropriate, to work rules will have a competitive advantage in many industries.

Travel Tips: Help Uber Find You

October 13, 2016 By Tom Mungavan Leave a Comment

Help the technology work in your favor by being smarter than the app. The GPS is often inaccurate among tall buildings and drivers can use some visual help finding you if you are in a crowd.
Exact Location: Enter your address location if the automatic settings are not correct (Google a store nearby if you don’t know the address) or zoom in to place the pin in your exact spot on the map.
Verbal confirmation: When the driver is close, call him/her to describe how to locate you. (The calls are anonymous for you and the driver.)

August 2016 – Change Masters President’s Letter

August 17, 2016 By Tom Mungavan Leave a Comment

Summer is a great time to enjoy the finer things in life. I hope you have had time to relax and play. We have enjoyed a wonderful summer in Minnesota. Many people think there is snow ten months of the year here. The truth is that Minnesota was the number two tourist destination before air conditioning became wide-spread, because of our beautiful summers and lakes. Summers here are as good as the winters are bad. Who would have guessed?

Road Trip

We have also enjoyed a road trip where we trailered a car to our daughter in LA. With the National Park Centennial we decided it was a good time to start seeing the USA in a way that is only accessible by road. We started with a 4,500 mile (7,200 km) trip. We visited three national parks and also attended our daughter’s pinning ceremony in Los Angeles, where she became a registered nurse. The longer version of the story is in a blog post. [LINK]

We are excited by a number of new initiatives that we will be expanding over the next several months.

Coaches in Cars™

In addition to seeing some beautiful parts of the country, we turned the “windshield time” on the road into creative time. Inspired by James Corden’s Carpool Karaoke , we outfitted our vehicle with eight cameras and used our car as a mobile video recording studio. We wanted to test the viability of the approach, and also capture some great video.

We attached cameras to the outside of the car as well. We photographed some beautiful landscapes that will be included in the Coaches in Cars videos. We are already planning our next trip.

We also used our mobile studio to video-record Tom Debrowski, former Executive Vice President of Operations for Mattel. He continues to be a wonderful source of experience in global operations, and as a very disciplined and motivational leader. It was a delightful experience to work with him; an experience that we can replicate with other leaders to share their enormously valuable experience. I will post additional information as we build on our first experiments.

Remote Communication

We have progressed another step forward in addressing the important area of remote communications. Our first pilot workshop, delivered entirely remotely, was completed and rated as very successful by the participants. Additional information is below.

Change Masters Smart Phone App

We are in the alpha test phase of a Change Masters iPhone app.We will be looking for people to be part of our beta test community once we have it ready. After we have it fully operational for the iPhone, we will expand to Android Smartphones. The Diamond Principle™ app uses our famous OPPOV™ model and our SOME™ model to help build a winning way to influence and persuade. It will be supported by online training and examples.

Here are some recent blog topics of interest:

When “Yes” Means “No”

The New York Times article, “How to Deal With a Foreign Colleague Who Can’t Say No” identifies the cultural differences that must be understood to bridge the remote communication gap.

-In many cultures, saying “no” is seen as rude … so people say “yes” when they mean “no”. [continued …]

3-D Personality on a Flat Screen

We recently completed our first pilot of a virtual coaching workshop with participants videoconferencing from Europe, the Middle East, Asia, South America, and the USA. The “3-D Personality on a Flat Screen” workshop focuses on how to significantly improve effectiveness when using remote communication. It’s amazing to see how we can successfully, and personally, coach people around the world. We use our online video development, along with leading-edge videoconferencing techniques to improve effectiveness and productivity.
There is no longer enough time or money for national or global companies to fly to distant locations, or frequently gather dispersed teams into one place. “I prefer to meet in person” is frequently the response we hear when talking about the use of videoconferencing to connect with others. Audio conferences are often the first line of defense. A number of people spend 50% or more [continued …]

The Secret of Popularity

The article quotes an Australian study that says teens can benefit from being able to tell the difference between ‘perceived popularity’ (the high-status mean girls and boys) and ‘sociometric popularity’ (the nice kid everyone likes).

The same is true for us in the business world. Our OPPOV™ model helps people look … [continued …]

Creating Command of the Room with Charisma (Yes, You!)

Strong executive presence is crucial for success in your professional career. The first thing most people think of regarding executive presence is command of the room with charisma.
We have all seen people who project ease, competence and courage. They appear to own their space, no matter what the situation requires. These people have mastered a sense of authentic confidence and charisma to command a room.
Some believe you have to be born with charisma or you will never have it. We know that this is a myth!
We’ve seen far too many legendary leaders who have intentionally developed charisma in a credible manner. Winston Churchill, John Kennedy and James Earl Jones, to name a few, were all awkward, shy children. Churchill stuttered and James Earl Jones was effectively mute until he was 11-years-old. Each of them became charismatic and confident communicators because they chose to work at building their charisma. [continued …]

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