In the office this week, Tahl and I placed a bet on who had the better favorite Bukowksi quote. $5 sat in the balance, with the rest of the RMA staff to judge. No one won - it turned out we had the same quote. I thought I'd share an abbreviated version:
"If you're going to try, go all the way. There is no other feeling like that. You will be alone with the gods, and the nights will flame with fire. You will ride life straight to perfect laughter. It's the only good fight there is."
- Charles Bukowski
Now, links - Bloglines has been down all day so I'm going to take a turn from useful, erudite relationship-oriented links to give you the WEIRDEST link I saw this week:
Sometimes we trade links like this in the office and watch them together - a good way to pick the energy up when it tends to slump around 3.
Talking about building relationships and service at TED
Back from London, Bahrain, and Amsterdam -- what a trip. Feeling reflective as one often does after a lot of travel abroad.
The act of service has been transformative in my life personally. I grew up being taught the power of "paying it forward" in my life by all those who were there for me as a child and young man. Then it became more evident after publishing Never Eat Alone. I began to stand in front of audiences and give my personal testimonial for a life transformed through a life of stronger relationships... I had to hold the mirror up and ask every day if I was living up to my books and talk? And the answer was not always yes!
But a few years ago I began a new chapter in my life of service. It started with Meals on Wheels and the weekly transformation I gained reaching out and touching individual lives so directly in such simple but powerful ways. I guarantee I got more out of it than anyone I delivered that meal to.
Service has now become a contagion for me! I make every effort to tie in acts of direct service around every major trip I do. My work to bring our message to individul children and to help those serving others use our work to better their lives and service... This is truly the joy of my life today.
We're updating the images on our FerrazziGreenlight.com site. Right now we've got, for example, Reagan and Gorbachev shaking hands - an image that crystallizes FG's core belief: Great relationships don't just revolutionize business. They have the power to change the world.
We like the images we have, but we'd also like to diversify. White men are great, but they're not the only ones making a difference. We'd like some pictures from more recent history too.
Send in pics!! Or just ideas, and we'll track down the pics. Don't just think about dynamic duos - teams too! Who are today' game changers?
Couple ideas to get you started:
Microsoft's Founding Employees - if you didn't know the company was founded in the '70s, the hair would give it away!
Pixar's collaborative development process has created some of history's most creative, innovated animated films:
My thought for the week: If you want to be relentlessly creative, stay in motion. I mean that literally, as in, get active, get outside, move around the world at a few different speeds and in many different places. And I mean it figuratively: milk every opportunity for growth that comes your way - especially the fun ones.
Now, this week's links:
The Social Side of Innovation: Jeff Lindsay, author of Conquering Innovation Fatigue, uses Never Eat Alone to talk about how companies can feed innovation.
How to Talk to Your Boss: Read Meghna's post this week on how to have difficult conversations with your boss. You have the power to improve your job, and your relationship. And while I'm linking our own blog, also check out Build Rapport Quickly with Mirroring. It was Keith's tip this week, but due to my goof it went out at 6:30 p.m. instead of a.m. so you might have missed it.
150+ Friends?: How many people can you maintain stable social relationships with - and can social media help you increase that number? Thanks to FGer/guest blogger @alisonbzz for the link.
Now, quick survey for the comments: How many Facebook friends do you have, and roughly what percentage have you met in person?
Life is so amazing and my first night in Guatemala (12/26) humbled and reminded me yet again.
I spent my first day touring the city from 2-5, after an 8 a.m. landing. Honestly, I was frustrated: I wanted to get doing what I was going there to do, service to others.
Meanwhile, unknown to me, a young lady in Guatemala City who has been following me on Twitter was trying to find me. Her boss had introduced her to Never Eat Alone a few years ago and changed her thinking about professional relationships. Then when Who's Got Your Back came out, she read it and gave it to her office mates and created one of the region’s first Lifeline Groups.
She and her friend were driving around Antigua trying to use my Twitter updates as clues to find me to get me to sign their books. ("Do you recognize this picture...?") Finally they got the courage to message me: "We're in the same city, can we buy you a drink?"
Well, skip ahead to dinner with us all: Susette and Sara, my Twitter stalkers, now emerging friends, and of course Emlyn who is my travel coordinator from Cultural Embrace... and if you are still not convinced social media works, also present was a guy Emlyn met at a party a few months before and friended on Facebook. He was traveling and noticed that she was in the same remote town of Antigua (she lived in Austin, he in LA) and had pinged her that day on Facebook... So I said, "invite them all."
To the eight of us at dinner, I asked a simple question that I have asked so many corporate teams moving toward connecting and commitment: "What of your past most influences who you are today?" From a self-described “LA punk” came the story of a trip to Vietnam that made him see his blessings. A chance meeting at a hotel lobby transformed one young lady's life; someone saw something in her worthy of believing in, and it helped her belief in herself. Another woman whose passion has always been to help those who others rejected now leads a travel service hoping to change how we all interact with the world. Finally, a young man whose childhood was defined by a sister’s chronic illness. I marveled at the stories; how close we become when we are given permission to share who we are. Two hours later we had grown to really care.
We live such sheltered lives. I showed up in Guatemala to care for those who the world has forgotten, and started the trip by being introduced to an energetic community of like-minded followers of my work who I never imagined existed. As I prepare myself for the poverty in the villages, I am so thankful for this reminder that we live in a world of rich contradiction and nuance. Chances to connect deeply and “give service” lie everywhere, even in an impromptu dinner for eight.
Warm thoughts for 2010,
Keith
To donate to the kids I'm helping in Guatemala, click here.
Click here to see pictures of Keith's trip to Guatemala on Facebook.
I'll be in Antigua Guatemala - the little blue area.
Charity is the virtue that unites men and inspires their noblest efforts. - Conrad Hilton
First, to those of you who celebrate: Merry Christmas Eve! And good day to everyone!
The day after Christmas I depart for Guatemala for a service trip – part of my commitment to give more back in 2010 through volunteer work. I was going to spend the time taking a vacation, but then thought I could find a way to combine it with giving back. (Think "blending" with a twist: finding opportunities for service during work and personal time!) I started regular Meals on Wheels routes a couple months ago, and since then, I’ve been constantly reminded that the world truly looks different when we are being generous.
In Guatemala, we’ll be working with orphans in an area so impoverished that even the children who have families don't have clean water and can't afford to go to school. In one village we’ll visit, San Mateo, we’ll be working with a couple who started a community center for abandoned children – they have dreams to create a computer lab but right now are just trying to help provide running water and food for 50 or 60 children whose parents can’t afford to take care of them.
Some quick facts on Guatemala:
size of Tennessee
not everyone speaks Spanish; there are 24 indigenous languages spoken
Roman Catholicism is the dominant religion, but many have blended it with traditional Mayan rituals
the terrain is mostly mountainous
primary exports are coffee, bananas, and sugar
75 percent of the rural (mostly indigenous) population lives in extreme poverty
only 30 percent of rural students finish 3rd grade
Technology allowing, I’ll be putting updates on FB and Twitter if you want to follow the journey. And I’ll do a wrap up when I come back.
I set up a page for donations – even just a dollar takes a child one step closer to a better future. It takes many people caring to make a difference.
Hope everyone finishes the year warm and happy – and inspired to make 2010 the best yet!! For ourselves, and for all whose lives we touch.
Every year FG sends an annual Thanksgiving card. This year I got them to make an electronic version too. Here it is - Happy Thanksgiving!
Since we had to shrink it for the blog, you can't quite read the caption. It reads, "Sun Rises Over the Hand in the Sand, Punta del Este, Uruguay 2009." The back story is that the sister of an FGer, April, took it on their trip to Uraguay earlier this year. Talented family!
First, BIG ANNOUNCEMENT: FREE ONE-HOUR COMMUNITY Q&A WITH ME, THIS FRIDAY, Nov. 20, 12 p.m. Eastern, live at KeithFerrazzi.com.Mark it on your calendars now! I’ll be live on camera fielding your chatted questions. Come get some coaching on your business or career, or just ask whatever’s on your mind! Unlike Lucy, of course, I won't be dispensing psychiatric advice - or charging a nickel! This is my way of saving THANKS for including me in your journey toward success.
Now, onto today’s tip. Usually I deliver practical business advice here. I hope you’re OK with me instead sharing with you a quote on romantic relationships that resonated so deeply with me that I wanted to pass it on:
When you love someone you do not love them all the time, in exactly the same way, from moment to moment. It is an impossibility. It is even a lie to pretend to. And yet this is exactly what most of us demand. We have so little faith in the ebb and flow of life, of love, of relationships. We leap at the flow of the tide and resist in terror its ebb. We are afraid it will never return. We insist on permanency, on duration, on continuity; when the only continuity possible, in life as in love, is in growth, in fluidity, in freedom. -- Anne Morrow Lindbergh
Relationships are a constant process of both being and becoming. Don’t be afraid of change – or of the need to “work” on your relationship. That’s how relationships survive. Anne Morrow Lindbergh was married to Charles Lindbergh for 45 years, until his death in 1974.
Does the quote resonate with you, too? How many times have you fallen in love - with the same person?
Last week I asked you to vote on my posting schedule. More than a whopping 170 of you (many of whom were Alex Mandossian's readers, thanks for visiting and I hope you stick around!) voted, setting a new comment record here.
And the winner, by a vast majority, is .... 2x per week!
I really appreciated those of you didn't vote yes or no, but who asked, "What do you want Keith?" Total generosity, I love it. And no doubt, two times a week is much more maintainable for me.
I also appreciated those of you who said, "I WANT MORE!" I'm going to follow through on the 2x per week commitment, Tuesday and Thursday mornings. But starting right away, you can look forward to a Friday post that rounds up the most exciting, useful relationship-oriented news and commentary of the week. Sara Grace, KF.com's managing editor, will publish it, and the entire team (including me) will feed her links. Actually, you can too: sgrace at ferrazzigreenlight dot com. Put it in your address book! And remember, send only posts & articles focused on relationships and relationship building.
Speaking of the KF.com team, have you "met" them? You can read our story here.
And again, thanks to Alex, for the inspiration - and for sending his thoughtful readership my way.
Whenever possible, I want my readers to be in charge. You speak, I’ll listen. As a smart man recently said to me, “You want a marketing genius? Ask the market!”
Here’s the question: Should I shift from three to two posts per week?
Cast your vote! I'll announce the verdict next Thursday. If 2x receives a two-thirds majority, then every Tuesday and Thursday at 6:30 a.m. Eastern, you’ll see a new blog post. Otherwise, I’ll stick with three.
Make your YES/NO vote in the “Comments” – and tell me why.
My thought for the week: If you want to be relentlessly creative, stay in motion. I mean that literally, as in, get active, get outside, move around the world at a few different speeds and in many different places. And I mean it figuratively: milk every opportunity for growth that comes your way - especially the fun ones.
First, BIG ANNOUNCEMENT: FREE ONE-HOUR COMMUNITY Q&A WITH ME, THIS FRIDAY, Nov. 20, 12 p.m. Eastern, live at 
Last week 
Here’s the question: Should I shift from three to two posts per week? 
