DW's Blog
Teacher And Student
by DW Green — November 2, 2022
In essence, we’re both student and teacher.
As Adam says “Being a mentor to someone who’s a freshman in life is one way that you can make your workplace a great place to work, and shop.” Being a mentor to anyone, regardless of his or her age, status, or station in life is a good thing. I have been blessed with many amazing mentors in my life, beginning with my parents. And I’ve learned from younger generations too. As mentor’s we are teachers, sharing our wisdom and experience.
It’s been said that when the student is ready, the teacher appears. In essence, we’re both student and teacher. As students we can improve our awareness of restrictive thinking and seek to be ready for own teachers to appear. As effective teachers we make our impact by understanding the needs of the student. We light the way and ease the way—we facilitate learning—but the student has to walk the path.
Mentoring builds powerful relationships that can last a lifetime. Success in any venture is simply the automatic consequence of being the best that one can be as a lifes...
read moreStorytelling
by DW Green — October 26, 2022
Storytelling is a strategic branding concept and storytelling as a communication tool.
Tombstone Arizona is best known for Boot Hill and the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. It was home of the legendary Earp bothers and their nemeses the Clanton’s and Frank and Tom McLaury. The townspeople were largely Republicans from the Northern states and many of the local ranchers (some like the Clanton’s, were also rustlers) were Confederate sympathizers and Democrats. The story of Tombstone in the late 1800’s is a very interesting story. And like any great story, it includes the four basic elements of storytelling:
The Message
The Conflict
The Characters
The Plot
In business, storytelling works on two levels: Storytelling is a strategic branding concept and storytelling as a communication tool. And like the frontier boomtown story of Tombstone, it includes the same four basic elements of storytelling.
Klaus Fog writes in his excellent book, Storytelling. Branding in Practice. “Tough times lay ahead for companies that shut their eyes and continue to compete only on product and price.” ...read more
Is Your Website ADA Compliant?
by DW Green — October 19, 2022
Provide a user-friendly website for all customers.
As you know the Americans Disability Act (ADA) is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability. Including a person’s ability to successfully navigate websites. There are number of companies that provide ADA compliancy solutions.
Here are three that we use for our clients:
1. SiteImprove Daily Scanning … $7,000-$10,000/YEAR
2. BetaBreakers screen-reader user testing … $2,000-$4,000/TEST
3. AccessiBe automated web accessibility widget … $45/MONTH
We’ve had a positive experience with all three. It donned on me that the AccessiBe widget is a “visible” option for users as an ADA icon is noticeable on the homepage. It’s also a visible reminder that your company is committed to providing a user-friendly website for all customers.
Feel free to contact us for more information.
Read More – True Stories
...read more1 Billion Trillion
by DW Green — October 12, 2022
Life Is what it Is, and what it Is, Is its meaning.
Wondering about wonder.
Imagine:
- There are 1 Billion Trillion Stars in the observable universe.
- There are 1 Billion stars in the observable Milky Way Galaxy.
- Our Sun, the center of our solar system, is One of those Billion stars in the Milky Way!
- Our beautiful, life supporting planet Earth, revolves around the Sun at 67,000 mph!
- Modern Human Beings have been evolving on the planet for about 200,000 years!
- The current world population is 7.98 billion
- The population of the United States is 332 million
- Just think of the countless number of brilliant, incredibly talented individuals who have collectively created the quality of life we all enjoy today.
Things Much Bigger Than Us
by DW Green — October 5, 2022
We counteract that bias by looking at nature.
It is almost impossible to stare up at the stars and not feel something. As cosmologist Neil deGrasse Tyson has explained, the cosmos fills us with complicated emotions. On the one hand, we feel an infinitesimal smallness in comparison to the vast universe; on the other, an extreme connectedness to this larger whole.
Obviously, given that we’re in our bodies every day, it’s tempting to think that’s the most important thing in the world. But we counteract that bias by looking at nature—at things much bigger than us. Looking at the beautiful expanse of the sky is an antidote to the nagging pettiness of earthly concerns. And it is good and sobering to lose yourself in that as often as you can.
Read More – Never work a day in your life?
...read moreLet Go
by DW Green — September 28, 2022
Leadership grounded in love produces an enduring value that lives in your heart and not on your résumé.
When you let go you are free. Free to see and to act without filters. Difficulties will arise, celebrations will erupt, titles and people will come and go…and you will have gleaned the most you could from every moment and created experiences that will change you and the people you serve. Pay attention to the things you hold onto in your leadership. The things that bind you. Look at them unflinchingly and see them for what they are. Then let them go.
Let go of…
Control – You don’t really have it anyway. If you think you are in control rest assured that circumstances will conspire to teach you otherwise.
Outcomes – Allow things to unfold differently than you imagined. The way you see the outcome determines what it will mean to you, not the outcome itself.
Fear – When you are afraid, you project thoughts, attitudes and beliefs onto people and situations creating serious leadership blind spots.<...
read moreDon’t Let Your Attention Slide
by DW Green — September 21, 2022
Attention matters.
Winifred Gallagher, in her book Rapt, quotes David Meyer, a cognitive scientist at the University of Michigan: “Einstein didn’t invent the theory of relativity while he was multitasking at the Swiss patent office.” It came after, when he really had time to focus and study. I wonder if it was an invention at all? More like a discovery!
Attention matters—and in an era in which our attention is being fought for by every new app, website, article, book, tweet, and post, its value has only gone up. Attention is a habit, and that letting your attention slip and wander builds bad habits and enables mistakes.
You’ll never complete all your tasks if you allow yourself to be distracted with every tiny interruption. Your attention is one of your most critical resources. Don’t squander it!
Read More – The Vision, the Mission
...read moreOpinions are like…
by DW Green — September 14, 2022
“What if we let our opinions go?”
Opinions. Everyone’s got one. Think about all the opinions you have: about whether today’s weather is convenient, about what liberals and conservatives believe, about whether so-and-so’s remark is rude or not, about whether you’re successful (or not), and on and on. We’re constantly looking at the world around us and putting our opinion on top of it. And our opinion is often shaped by dogma (religious or cultural), entitlements, expectations, and in some cases, ignorance.
No wonder we feel upset and angry so often! But what if we let these opinions go? Let’s try weeding them out of our lives so that things simply are. Not good or bad, not colored with opinion or judgment. Just are.
Read More – How do you handle an emergency?
...read moreCompany and the No-Name Trap
by DW Green — September 7, 2022
“The word company is warm and represents relationships.”
In the marketing classic Positioning, authors Al Ries and Jack Trout, probably the world’s best-known marketing strategists wrote that it is unwise to use initials for a company name. They have coined the practice the “no-name trap”. While there are successful exceptions to the initial rule, Ries and Trout warn against using the letter “w”. As “dou-ble-U” is the only letter in alphabet with more than one syllable. Unfortunately, I didn’t read the book until after I had named my company…unknowingly falling into the “no-name trap!”
I named my company DW Green after myself. It is easy for me to remember and I wanted to honor my parents. Neither is named DW, though DW is my father’s initials. Ries and Trout might still approve because DW Green is only 5 syllables long! And green is a popular word now.
When I incorporated DW Green, way back in 1988, my choices from Alaska’s Corporation Commission were Corporation, Inc., or Company. ...read more
This Determines What You See
by DW Green — August 31, 2022
“Why can’t they see my point of view?”
The photoreceptors in your eye take in 1 billion photons a second. Your brain only translates 40 of the photons per second, the rest get discarded. These 40 photons determine what you see. So, it’s like you are presented with 1 billion choices and you only get to pick 40. Obviously with 1 billion choices everyone’s forty picks are not going to be anywhere close to being the same. This is why we all see the world differently and why we all disagree with each other, thinking, “Why can’t they see my point of view? It’s obvious!” The truth is they are not seeing the same way you are seeing. What determines the 40 photons your brain translates?
Your beliefs!
