Ignite the Promise

Resiliency and 'Bounce'

During the past year, Madeline and I have been giving serious thought about how we might be able to help wounded warriors -- soldiers and families who have been traumatized by military service.  The focus is on those whose wounds are no longer physical, but emotional.  There are 10s of thousands of wounded warriors with many more who do not acknowledge the fact that they have real and psychological problems from the traumas of war.  On top of this there are the spouses and families who are mostly forgotten, not treated at the VA hospitals, etc.  There is a critical need for ongoing support of the wounded warriors and their families.

As part of my education to determine what we might best do, I have been reading a book, Resilient Warriors, that speaks about the steps one might take to prepare for the stress and trauma that all of us experience in our lives. 

The book, Resilient Warriors, is the first of a three part trilogy, The Resilience Trilogy.*  The two future books are Resilient Leaders and Resilient Organizations.  Major General Dees, U.S. Army retired, who served our country for over 30 years, is the author.  

The premise of the book is about 'bounce,' or the ability to recover from severe stress and trauma.  Being resilient is about how high one can rebound following trauma.  Dees provides a Resilience Life Cycle© of 'Building Resilience,' 'Weathering the Storm,' and 'Bouncing Back' and shows how one can learn to build resiliency or bounce.

Here is what I interpreted from this book, i.e., the bottom line in considering bounce: "There are no atheists in foxholes!"  Said differently, when everything is tried and one is alone, then we hope there is a higher being that will hear our pleas and be a help to us.  It is about spiritual strength, having faith that we are not alone.  Dees notes that an important step for resiliency is building spiritual strength.  When responding from stress and trauma, one can either bounce to become better, or to splat (like an egg) and become bitter.  It is also clear that recovering from physical stress and trauma is less complicated than recovering from needs of the spiritual dimension.  The physical can be addressed mostly from the 'outside' while the spiritual must come from the 'inside.'

While many of the examples are from a military perspective, the lessons are clearly relevant for all of us as we all face trials and tribulations.  Dees highlights the goal of bounce by quoting the following: "We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed."  (2 Corinthians 4:8-9 from the Bible)   Hence the goal is to be able to weather such setbacks. 

The better we 'bounce' the better person we can be and the more effective we will be in living life and helping others.  We will be able to make better decisions when under duress as well.  I have no doubts a resilient person lives a fuller and more productive life.

 *Resilient Warriors (Robert R. Dees, Major General, U.S. Army , retired, Creative Team Publ, San Diego, 2011) 

© Baldwin H. Tom CMC, FIMC
www.tbgroupconsultants.com

Adam Keys -- Courage of an American/Canadian

At the closing of Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC in August 2011, I met Army Sgt. Adam Keys.  He was being serenaded in a special song ("Through a Soldier's Eyes") by guest singer Theresa Sareo (who I previously wrote about here).  It was a somber and celebratory event as Walter Reed closed that day after serving our wounded soldiers for 102 years (read my Walter Reed closing blog post here). 

Adam was not expected to live after his Humvee vehicle was struck by an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) in Afganistan.  All his comrades in that vehicle were killed.  Ultimately, Adam lost both legs and his left arm from his injuries.  After 120+ surgeries, Adam is living today as one of the few soldiers who have lost three limbs.

Major General Robert Dees, US Army, retired has written the first book of The Resilience Trilogy, Resilient Warriors (Creative Team Publishing, San Diego. 2011), that is dedicated to "those brave young military warriors of today who continue to go into harm's way on our behalf, many of whom "walk with a limp" with heads held high."  Dees most certainly was speaking about people like Adam when he wrote the dedication.  Dees speaks about 'bouncing back' as a description for resiliency. 

When I met Adam a second time -- this time at the new Walter Reed National Military Hospital Center in Bethesda, MD -- he was talking about getting well enough to make another parachute jump.  When you view the video, you will see that he made that jump.  I recalled that Adam was very matter of fact and was not depressed nor lamenting his condition.  Based on this documentary about Adam, it is clear he has a strong will to live and prosper.  He is on the way, bouncing back!

 © Baldwin H. Tom CMC, FIMC
www.tbgroupconsultants.com

New Fellow of the Institute of Management Consultants USA

At the 2012 annual meeting of the Institute of Mangement Consultants USA (IMC USA) in Orlando, Florida, I was honored as the latest Fellow of IMC (FIMC).  This was a surprise because I was not involved in any application and this recognition was prepared without my input.  Without question it was a very pleasant surprise and I am deeply honored to be recognized for my body of work on behalf of IMC USA. 

My IMC efforts since 1998 included support of the local IMC chapters in Houston and Washington, DC, and support of the national IMC board in Washington, DC.  I served as the National Board Chair for IMC USA and as a Trustee to the international body, International Council of Management Consutling Institutes (ICMCI).  I served as a Special ICMCI Trustee to the United Nation.  ICMCI is the governing body of the 50 national IMCs across the world. 

To put this in perspective, there have only been 50 Fellows in the 44 year history of IMC.  This is an awesome thought and humbling.  I mention it here because I am proud to be honored. 

© Baldwin H. Tom CMC, FIMC
www.tbgroupconsultants.com

Finding Baldwin's Blog

As we move Baldwin's blog feed to Facebook, we will be make some cosmetic changes and hopefully readability changes as well. We will continue to focus on the same subject categories, but will not change the random approach in selecting topics.

Here are three ways to find the blog: 1) go to Facebook; or 2) go directly to Typepad; or 3) go to TBG's website to "Publications" and click "Baldwin's Blog."

We will also continue to share a link to each new blog post in our Tweets, so follow us on Twitter to catch all our latest posts and updates.

That's it.  See you soon!

Five and a Half Years and 285 Blogs

These 'Ignite the Promise' blogs were launched on July 7, 2007 and have been written once a week since then.  Now 5+ years later and 285 blogs, we are moving our feed to Facebook.  THIS IS THE LAST BLOG POST until we start up again on October 7, 2012. I have been somewhat random in selecting topics for each week.  Reason?  It was what was on my mind during that week.  So, in a real way, the blogs serve to catalog what I was thinking over this period.  That's awesome!  Here is the numerical distribution of the blogs:

1. Life balance-94
2. Just Managing-66
3. Consulting-63
4. Current Affairs-44
5. Books-21
6. Religion-12
7. Science-8
8. Globalization–6
9. Social Media-6
10. Travel-5
11. Sports-1

A social scientist might be able to discern my mindset over this period by reviewing the number of entries in each category along with the content of the blogs.  The total number of blogs recorded this way (326) exceed 285 because some blogs are counted in more than one category.

My dominant focus on Life Balance is consistent with my interest in being aware what we do outside of our work to optimize quality of life.  It's about thinking, doing, playing, and interacting with others.  The Just Managing topics tend to be more about getting work done and ways to minimize work stress. Consulting topics are mostly 'how to' ideas that derive from my work as a management consultant. These consulting topics usually arise from some current client need or discussion.  When I blog about Current Affairs, it is usually on some political or societal situation that has bearing on the first three categories.  While I cannot be considered an avid reader, when I do read a book, the topics tend to be relevant to the first three categories as well.  Topics around religion can be controversial and I have only a few blogs there.  I might look more at globalization blogs in the future as we interact more and are affected with world events.  The other categories of Social Media, Travel, and Sports are peripheral and not important blogging foci for me.

Over this period, I've enjoyed downloading my thoughts -- whatever was on my mind at the time, without any theme constraint. 

PS:  I welcome your comments and if you comment on a blog, I will send you a reply.

Thanks for reading.  See you on Facebook!

Regards,  Baldwin

 

© Baldwin H. Tom CMC
www.tbgroupconsultants.com

Blog is moving to Facebook

Please note that Baldwin's blog is moving to Facebook by October 1.  TBG's website is being updated and revamped.  I will send you link to Facebook soon.  Thank you for reading and commenting.

© Baldwin H. Tom CMC
www.tbgroupconsultants.com

Age of Austerity

As I consider the new federal fiscal year (FY 2013) business environment (starting Oct. 2012), I am acutely aware of the key challenge in doing business in the federal space -- the severely reduced funding of our government.  Just today I was directed to an article, "5 Challenges in Federal Contracting," by Charles S. Clark on the electronic Government Executive site.  Although the article is directed at federal managers, it inspired this blog.

As a business dependent on a vibrant federal government and a strong economy, I pay attention to each article that discusses the ongoing and future difficulties to fund business, work, and personnel to do the work needed to keep the U.S. competitive.  From a 28-year high in government spending of $552 billion in 2009, we find ourselves at $532.6 billion (down 3.5%) in 2011.  The downward trend is expected to continue for the next two years or more.  The Pentagon is expecting a half-trillion dollar reduction over the next 10 years.  If the 2011 Budget Control Act (across the board) sequestration cuts that will kick in at the end of 2012 is not addressed by Congress, the impact on the Pentagon will double to $1,000,000,000!   The fallout from this would not trickle down but ‘crash down’ to contractors and the public and erode our country’s competitive base.

The threat of sequestration has rallied many groups to pressure Congress to take action.  Sequestration would lead to millions of jobs lost in the defense, NASA, and Homeland Security industries, plus untold fallout affecting corporations, small businesses, and ma and pa vendors.  In anticipation of the sequestration, industry has no choice but to begin trimming overhead.  Companies, such as ours, are expecting major reductions in federal spending and looking for ways to reduce our business costs from health care, benefits, salaries and raises.

A significant impact of an across-the-board-cut is on the many industries that need sustained funding to remain productive.  “Industry cannot be turned on and off like a light switch” but needs a steady partnership to allow for innovation, expertise, and growth.  It will be very expensive to re-create skill sets that are lost because of a shut-down of industry groups.  Furthermore, the industrial base is “a strategic asset, a weapon” against our enemies.  Businesses like ours make long-range investments in emerging areas to anticipate needs.  The fear of random cost cutting blunts such investments.

Next, the current administration has moved toward insourcing work away from contractors, thus reducing the funding of contractors.  This is a reversal from the prior administration’s policy of outsourcing.  While insourcing makes sense to increase the federal workforce, it has not worked well in cost savings.  While sourcing for talent and expertise is important to maintain a vibrant business, sourcing should not be about cost-savings first, but about obtaining skill-sets required for the mission.  What our firm has done in support of providing a range of expertise and talents is to develop a Subject Matter Expert (SME) team of Certified Management Consultants.^(C)  This team of specialists from the commercial sector are available as needed on any of our contracts.  This use of a ‘resource bench’ provides expertise when needed where needed and at no cost to our clients until they decide to use them.

An important challenge as a contractor in this down economy is to have the lowest possible cost structure.  That means very low overhead.  We use the ‘independent consultant’ model where the consultant’s office is his bedroom – no frills, no fancy furniture or office, just a computer and a cell phone!  OK. Independent consultants (including principles from major firms) eschew the trappings of success and instead pass on their high quality service to customers without inflated costs.  Our firm has no executive office.  Our executives work from their home offices.  Our administrative office is in a strip shopping space and the 1700 square foot space is shared by three firms.  Overhead costs are shared to make it advantageous to each of the firms.  As we work in the federal arena, our salaries are set low and competitive.  We pass our cost savings to our clients in our low labor rates.  With this approach and with over 800 SME’s available for work, we are positioned to offer our government clients best-in-class expertise at discount prices – a win-win-win scenario for us, the client, and our client’s client!

The times they are a changing…and we need to change with the times!

© Baldwin H. Tom CMC
www.tbgroupconsultants.com

Big Data -- A Renewable Resource!

Big data is defined by the immensity of data and information generated on most any topic.  It is immense because of the multiple avenues by which data is created.  Methods for collection and capture can be electronic (sensors), human (social networks), and observational (research, reviews) and can come from any number of sources on a local, national, and global scale.  The data may come in diverse forms – numerical, text, locational or spatial.  This tsunami of data has inundated those needing to manage raw information, analyze, interpret and ultimately deliver that data to inform on a subject.  The collection and transformation of data into information then knowledge and eventually wisdom is the big challenge today.  Decision makers understand that those who can first corral the tidal wave of data will have competitive advantages in the marketplace.  Thus there is a race to develop means to efficiently capture, integrate, and analyze big data.

The concept that big data is a new natural resource was reported by Erwin Gianchandani on the speech by David McQueeney, VP Software (IBM Research) in his June 27, 2012 presentation in Washington, DC, “Big Data: The New Natural Resource.”  A resource is defined as necessary or useful to humans.  In today’s world there is little more important than information as it directly impacts our quality of life.  As with any natural resource, efficiency of harvesting, quality of the material, access to markets and availability directly impact it usefulness and value.  Big Data then becomes a renewable resource when analyzed differently and continually to support infinite decision scenarios.  Depending on your immediate point of view (POV), the data will give you one answer.  When viewed from an alternative POV, the data presents yet another answer.  Thus the same data can provide multiple correct answers and is renewable. 

When big data is harvested the resulting informational resource is used to build solutions.  In the Geographic Information System (GIS) marketplace, this resource can be combined with other raw informational resources to produce accurate, current and reliable insight into any problem with a geo-context.  Want targeted insight to pollution and the impact roads and increased automobile usage have on it, leverage big data via GIS.  Change the combinations of information resources used and that same GIS can provide answers on a completely different scale.  As instruments such as smartphones, GPS or other readily accessible hand held devices collect data with location, that new data resource is added, refreshed and subsequently renewed. 

Unlike the oil, gas and coal we pull from the earth to power our manufacturing plants or heat our homes, big data fuels our decision making, is truly abundant and will never be exhausted.  

Guest blogger, Greg Reinecke

© Baldwin H. Tom CMC
www.tbgroupconsultants.com

Business Heroes

What are the definition of a business hero?  This is a timely and intriguing question.  I am using the seven attributes provided in the May 2012 editorial from SmartCEO magazine (Jeanine Clingenpeel, editor, SmartCEO magazine; May 2012) but have added my personal thoughts to the attributes. 

1. They have strong visions and inspire others to follow:  A vision pictures one’s future state.  In other words, what does one want to become?  It is a destination not yet achieved. A grand vision excites and inspires those who would follow.
2. They give back to the community more than they take:  Some of the most successful business persons have a giving heart.  They believe that they have a responsibility to give back to the communities in which they thrive.  The do 'good' to do 'well' in the marketplace.
3. They set an example:  The best leaders have ‘followers’, i.e., people who look up to them as examples and are willing to join the leader.  Heros lead with their behaviors and actions.
4. They create something where nothing existed:  A successful business hero has a powerful, grand vision of the future.  They articulate a new future that is exciting and beneficial to many.  The idea that something new will be created is a compelling draw.
5. What they build is built to last:  They stay to see each effort to completion and empower others to enhance and sustain each success.  The goal is sustainability rather than a momentary success.
6. Where others see challenges, they see opportunity:  Heros have a positive attitude around challenges. Their positive attitude is contagious and their efforts engage others to the task which enriches all who join.    Success comes from seizing opportunities.
7. They change the world:  The world is changed mostly one step at a time and one person at a time.  Most interesting is that heros don't set out to change the world, they just want to make a difference in the world around them.

© Baldwin H. Tom CMC
www.tbgroupconsultants.com

Change – Like it or Not!

I may be harping on the obvious, but work and family life will continue to change faster than I would like because the economy is still dragging.  When the military budget takes big hits, you know that all federal agencies are going to suffer as well.  In FY 2008, the Army weapons budget was $67 billion.  In FY 2012, the budget was $26 billion.  For fiscal year 2013, the Army’s request is $24 billion, even lower than the budget of 2012. 

These are truly challenging times for federal agency leaders to stay on mission with reduced funds and resources.  What this means is that creative minds will need to imagine ways to get the work done with less.  Like it or not, this means that all of us working in the government sector will need to change the way we interact and do business to help with mission success.  It is our expectation that every single government agency and its units will be engaged fully in changing the way they do their work, both on the task as well as the people sides.

What this all means for the rest of us is that our government will continue to tighten its belt.  The goods and services we expect will be reduced or eliminated.  Personally, I will be more careful seeking things I need versus the things I want, plus be frugal with my time and resources.

© Baldwin H. Tom CMC
www.tbgroupconsultants.com