My dad works at a lumber yard. It's a small town place; been around since 1848. In a sea of gigantic, homogenized lumber yards which feature discount prices (and employees with discount experience) Maze Lumber stands out because of its knowledgeable employees and non-crappy building materials. You'd think this would be enough to stand out in the marketplace. However, price competition is a seductive mistress and it can be easy to be intimidated by the Big Boxes (i.e. Wal-Mart, Menards, etc.) and slip into the belief that you must compete on their terms. This ill-fated belief is why so many mom …
Workplayce
A Lesson From Curious George
I saw the movie Curious George recently. I really liked it. The animation was simple, with it's own unique style; different from the hi-tech, hyper-realistic animation that is so common these days. The super great soundtrack by Jack Johnson added a pleasant and whimsical unity to the whole thing. The story, of course, was about the little monkey created by Margret and H.A. Ray. It was fairly formulaic, as many movies of this kind are, but still a fun way to spend an hour and a half. When watching it, I found that there was an uncredited character that appeared quite often throughout the …
The Chocolate Factor
Smart companies know the advantages of adding a little dash of childlike nostalgia into their business plan. In fact, some companies have constructed entire business models around it. Take Ethel's Chocolate Lounge, for example. Described as a "new place to chocolate and chitchat," these lounges have combined the very childlike loves of great chocolate and fancy tea parties and added a grown-up spin. They're based in Chicago area, but I wouldn't be surprised if they started springing up elsewhere. …
High-Class Ho-Hos
Some people assume that "escaping adulthood" requires a complete departure from grown-up tastes and sophistication. Hardly. Let's be honest; we may have enjoyed the delicacies produced by our Easy-Bake oven or our Snoopy Sno-Cone machine, but it wasn't like we had free range of Mom's oven or blender. I'm not advocating a return to a barbaric and unrefined lifestyle. I'm just not a big fan of boorish adult pretension. I think it's really cool when people find ways to add a dash of childlike spirit into the ostentatious havens of Adultville. Like gourmet cooking. …
Childlike v. Businesslike
What did YOU have for lunch two years ago today? Adam Seifer could answer that question. He's the CEO of New York City-based Fotolog, a photo-blog web service. He has taken a picture of every meal he's eaten during the past three years, and posted them for all to see. I found out about this from Inc. Magazine, which adds, Most of Seifer's favorite pictures were taken on major life-changing days, like a shot of a sandwich held above his newborn daughter's incubator at the hospital -- his first meal as a father. …
Escape Adulthood Manifesto
A big, fat, juicy thank you to everyone who voted for my manifesto at ChangeThis.com. The happy news I have to report is that it garnered enough interest to be published on their web site. Basically, it is a summary of my book, an overview of why and how to escape this thing called "adulthood." The manifesto itself is free to download, and you can even e-mail it to your friends to pass along. If you really, really like it, a more in-depth version was printed on dead trees in book format. Read the manifesto. Spread the word. And cure Adultitis. Thank you and good night. …
Disney Has Adultitis
No one is safe from Adultitis. Not even the American entertainment company that was built on, and is synonymous with, the carefree and hope-filled spirit of childhood. An essay on SaveDisney.com sheds some light on Walt Disney and his original vision for his movies and his company: "I do not make films primarily for children. I make them for the child in all of us, whether he be six or sixty...In my work I try to reach and speak to that innocence, showing it the fun and joy of living; showing it that laughter is healthy; showing it that the human species, although happily ridiculous at times, …
Starbucks and the Act of Deciding
When many of us think of our "job," the first word to come to mind is not often "yippee!" But did you know that as an employee, you actually have the choice about whether or not you enjoy your job? Yes, the sheer act of deciding to like your job is the first step in making your nine-to-fives (or ten-to-sixes) more enjoyable. If you're an employer, did you know that creating an atmosphere in which employees love their jobs is not only not as expensive and time consuming and touchy feely as you might think, but can also save you gobs of money in advertising as well? …
Does This Mean I’m Napoleon Dynamite?
Today I went to a National Speaker's Association meeting near Milwaukee. I got to meet and talk to the current President, Scott Friedman. Funny guy and great motivator. He totally gets the "Escape Adulthood" thing and used the term "Adultitis" several times after I shared the concept with the group. We traded books, which was also very cool. He spoke about adding humor to your presentations, but a couple things I took away are applicable to everyone: • Humor is pain, embarrassment, or stress distanced by time. • Comfort never produced greatness. • Don't make a living, design a life. …
NASA Has Adultitis
In my last post, I commented on Mr. Buzz Aldrin, one of the first (and only) guys to walk on the moon. In 1962, in a speech given at Rice University in Texas, President John F. Kennedy challenged our nation to put a man on the moon: We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to …