Thoughts From The Garage - 12th Edition

Originally Written:?Friday, June 12, 2020 8:39 AM

Happy Friday everyone!

It’s incredible that yet another week is winding down. Time continues to move forward and yet I feel stuck with the heaviness of the health pandemic, that gave way to the economic pandemic, that further exposed our ongoing social pandemic. Many of you responded last week with your thoughts of hurt, dismay and fear. Sometimes we don’t know what to say or do, so we don’t say or do anything. I hope my words, and more importantly, the words of the great leaders and writers that came before, provided you with some encouragement and some inspiration to act.

Opening Thought

The events over the last month or so remind me that we must be able to live with and struggle through paradox. It’s human nature to want to make sense of everything by applying a simple solution or perspective. To not resolve the paradox means we are subjecting ourselves to a level of stress and discomfort, something the field of psychology calls cognitive dissonance. So instead, we often rush to judgement or a quick solution to feel better. I fear this is what we do with difficult and multi-faceted issues like racial and social injustice.

Last week, a good friend of mine encouraged me to reflect on the specific things that have occurred in my life that triggered such a strong response in me to share what I did last week. In reflecting this week, here is what I came up with:

1. As a child, I was raised in ethnically diverse neighborhoods and under-served communities.
2. I lived in Los Angeles during the L.A. riots, sparked by the brutal attack on Rodney King.
3. Growing up, my family often took in people off the street to help them get sober, find a job and start a new life.
4. My best friends growing up were Filipino, Asian American, African American, Mexican American, French American and a devout Cheesehead from Wisconsin. We were a motley crew.
5. Eight years ago, we adopted two children who had spent more than five years in foster care.
6. For years, our family has worked alongside some awesome relief organizations to help empower woman and families, and care for orphans around the globe.

The common denominator in all of this is the rampant injustice and prejudice I’ve experienced through the eyes of those I have grown up with, lived with, served with and are now even raising. While, at the same time, being painfully aware of my privilege, and not being able to reconcile the paradox. I let these experiences and the paradox fuel my why. My faith compels me to seek justice, love mercy and be humble.

Struggling through the paradox, means living with a level of stress and discomfort long enough to compel you to action. The only action I can come up with in all of this is to just go love everybody, always. I hope we all come to a similar conclusion.

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For Now, I’ll Leave You With This…Recapping The First 11 Editions?

As I mentioned last week, I had planned to recap key themes from the first 10 Editions of Thoughts From The Garage and transition into a new, more strategic, second chapter. I will do that starting with next week’s edition, so I have curated a thought from each of the first eleven editions to recap what all we have covered so far:?

1. Be clear of mind and able to respond in ways that are measured and empathetic.
2. We tend to think about “leadership” as a position, title or office. It’s not. Leadership is much more dynamic and distributed.
3. In times of difficulty, it’s easy to look inward. Instead, we need to be thankful, show compassion to others and be generous.
4. The only way we stand a chance of reaching our potential is first to gain competence in our relationships.
5. Often we mistake leadership with charisma. Instead, it’s about being humble.
6. Be a source of stability in the moment and a source of hope for the future.
7. Leave more time and space to pause, reflect and transition thoughtfully into what’s next. Be kind to yourself and take a minute before you move to the next thing.
8. Honor one another with thoughts of appreciation.
9. Don’t let perfect (what it looks like) become more important than progress and goodness (what it is).
10. A great relationship is about being strong enough to carry the other person when they are down, and being vulnerable enough to be carried when you are down.
11. Seeking justice is a continuous effort that we should never back down from.

Have a great weekend!

Mike