And all writing is creating or spinning dreams for other people so they won't have to bother doing it themselves.

She opened up the online system, prepared to click the checkbox that would send her on her way to the paved life of dry cleaning pickups and dropoffs, glittery downtowns, hours long meetings in grand boardrooms, and fatter salary checks than she’d ever imagined.  She’d spent the last two years at a fancy financial advisory firm doing the unglamorous and time-sucking work typical of a recent college graduate.  “Copy, paste, copy, paste,” she used to joke to her friends when asked about what she did at work.  Despite the self-deprecation, Sandy thrived at the firm.  Her double major in social psychology and finance provided her with the perfect skillset to navigate the hierarchical, OCD environment of a typical financial workplace.  She learned how to tie her weekly goals to the two dimensions, for example:

                  By Friday …

a)     Build a spreadsheet that Mark (one of the partners) makes at most ten comments on

b)     Find time to compliment each partner at least once about the one thing that they are the most insecure about

Jean loved hearing how she was more analytical than the other male partners at the firm, Brian enjoyed hearing how fantastic he was at schmoozing a client, and Mark would revel in comments that alluded to how his attention to detail was the defining factor for his great success.  These compliments bought Sandy quite a few free lunches with various partners at fancy restaurants, invitations to join their exclusive gyms and clubs, and on one occasion, the use of Mark’s beach house for a weekend.

Of course, when the business school application season came around, the partners were thrilled to recommend her.  On one calm morning, Jean pulled Sandy into her office for a brief mentorship session.  “Sandy, let me tell you as one woman to another,” she started in her uncomfortably mothering voice, “business school is your ticket to achieve your dreams of becoming a partner in a financial firm such as ours one day, in fact, perhaps even our own!  You have shown your potential as a natural in this business.  The world is your oyster …” 

‘blah blah blah’ is all Sandy heard as she stopped listening to Jean and began to observe her, her frenetic movements, her raisiny, pursed lips, her starched collar and high-cut trousers cinched at her starved waste, her wrinkly unadorned fingers.  Jean once claimed she was 40, ‘bullshit,’ Sandy thought as she continued to ignore Jean’s mentorship session. 

Years later, after Jean was dropped from the partnership, she would write Sandy a series of long-winded emails, sharing her deep sadness, the fact that she had waited too long to live her real life, her disappointment at having missed her own youth, and describing in painstaking detail, the lonely life of an unemployed, single middle-aged woman.

By the end of Jean’s mentorship rant, Sandy was certain that she didn’t want to be a Jean, or a Mark, or a Brian.  But, business school seemed like the route of least resistance, so she applied nonetheless.  A few months later, she received an acceptance email to Harvard Business School.  It seemed that the only options were to stick at her job or move on to business school and defer a life decision until later.

So there she sat, mouse hovered dangerously over the Accept button, considering how simple it would be to check the Decline button instead.  She mused to herself as she paused, two completely different lives standing just a quarter of an inch away from one another.  So, in a momentary lapse of her usual level-headedness and risk aversion, she tested what it felt like to click “Decline.”

Sandy stared at the screen.  This is what it would have looked like if she had ever had the time to daydream of a different life.   Her eyes crossed letting the screen blur in front of her, the two check boxes melding into one.  What will life be like now?  She clicked ‘OK.’

Coach

sunday afternoon i was wandering about my apartment, cleaning the dishes, putting together my laundry, turning on my computer to view the upcoming week's schedule, preparing myself for a week of business school applications, consulting projects, runs and gym visits, daydreaming as always about the next thing i want to do with my life ... when the phone rang.

it was my mother, calling for the second time that day (something she never does), i just heard from a high school friend of mine that something may have happened to coach - you should call him.  where did you hear this? on facebook, she said.

facebook? of all places ... and through my mother's high school friend, no less.

thanks for telling me, i murmured, i'll call you back tomorrow.  i dropped my cleaning, stopped my daily musings on the meaning of my life, and sat down in a reverie.  coach, you see, was the first person who ever believed in me more than i ever believed in myself.  the first person who made me believe that i could be a sensation.  the only person who stood with me while he brought me there.

and i'm not the only one who can say this about him.  i can assure you that there are hundreds, if not thousands, of his runners and students over a period of four decades that this wonderful man taught and coached at thomas jefferson high school.

his students and runners have come from a variety of backgrounds over the years - from the very privileged to the most disadvantaged.  i remember hearing stories about coach picking students up in the middle of the night from the most dangerous neighborhoods in richmond, virginia, when they were in grave danger, making sure they made it to school, and of course, to cross country practice.  in his classroom, and on his team, he made a family for them, gave them goals, trained them to see their talents, and provided the support to help them realize and do whatever they wanted to complete in their lives.

i'll never forget the day that coach approached me after running an 800 meter race at some track meet in eastern virginia.  hey, is this the first time you've ever run a race?  yes sir.  well with times like that on your first race, you're going to go far.  are you running cross country in the fall?  nope i'm a field hockey player.  i suggest you rethink that.  on my team, i assure you that nationals are in your future.

who knew?  i ran track just because my buddies were doing it to get in shape that freshman spring.  i was a wirey, pallid, bookish 14 year-old, and the thought of becoming a nationally ranked athlete ...

changed me.

students who weren't on coach's team never understood the draw, the family, the obsession with one another and running that coach had created amongst his runners.  they called it a cult, and we bore the label as a badge of honor.  yes, coach had created a cult, a good cult, the kind that allows everyone to live in this world knowing and believing in their own talents, supporting one another, overcoming challenges together, proving to themselves and others their ability to reach goals, to succeed and to breeze past the finish line faster and stronger than ever.

in the backs of buses, on the cinder track, along the neighborhood sidewalks surrounding tj, amongst our throng of barekneed runners in coach's dusty classroom, engulfed in the humid air of the Arthur Ashe Center, each of us lived out our dreams and potential to the tune of his carefully crafted coaching.

his teams would beat all odds and win states, individual runners would become all-americans, students would graduate and run in the top collegiate track and cross-country teams on scholarships.  and just so you know, tj was tiny, coach was picking from a very small pool of high schoolers.  he was working with faith, goodness and pure coaching talent against all odds.

though he made each of us into champions, coach himself was the true champion.  the man is a legend, a modern day hero who has truly changed hundreds of lives.

so today, two days later, i continue to pray for a safe recovery of this man who deserves the opportunity to be here with all of us who love him dearly for as long as possible.  and through this, i've realized something very important ...

coach believed in me.  coach believed i could have everything i wanted, that i had the talent to go get it, and that with those goals and talents, i could do something world-changing and good.  enough of this thinking and wondering and deciding.  choose a goal, chart a path, and go for it.

it's time to be a little like more coach too.

for all of us.

choose what you love.  live it.  be it.  bring it to others.  help them realize their potential.  and realize your own in the process.  bring good to the world.

How to Travel Without Thinking Too Much

I don't think I'm alone when I say that I get stressed out when making travel plans.

It sucks.  The cost, the logistics, the sorting through search engines with way too many amazing options, the idea that I have to pack, what to do with my basil plant, and making decisions.  It once took me THREE DAYS to decide on which hotel to stay at in Dubai for a couple nights.  Like it matters?  Ugh and ugh.

 

Traveling is supposed to be relaxing.  Shouldn't travel planning be relaxing as well?

I decided to take my chances and make it relaxing today.  Here's how I did it, and suggest you try this too:

Step 1: Check your bank account, got enough there to save you in case of disaster wherever you're going? probably

Step 2:  Go to a travel site.  Choose the place you want to go, find a hotel, find a flight.

Step 3: Book it.  Just do it.  Now you have to go.  

 

Relaaaaaaaax and Go

After that last post, I decided to do an experiment.  I mentioned awhile ago that I've started running again.  If you've ever tried to get back in shape by running, much less running around San Francisco, you'll sympathize with what I've been going through - exhilarating valleys followed by nauseating hills, followed by now significantly less exhilarating valleys followed by now significantly more nauseating hills, etc etc.

I used to be a runner.  A great runner.  I once won first place in the junior olympics southern regional cross country tournament, and there was another time where I placed top ten at Footlocker southern regional, and then I ran for a split second at Stanford before switching to the lightweight crew team.  So, my point is that it's frustrating seeing my times on three mile runs now, knowing what I used to easily do, and knowing that I am now struggling to get those times too.

And then I realized something ... I was struggling!  So, I took my advice from the last post, and decided I'd try taking a run "with my pants down" (i.e. relaxing) and watch what would happen.

Time flew by during that run, I saw children playing on the streets, thought about what I would do for the rest of the day, the week, the month, noticed the sunshine, and enjoyed the views at the tops of the hills.  Every once in a while, I would find myself struggling again, pushing to go faster, then I would remind myself to relaaaaaxxx and go!

I ran a mile further than I've been running lately, and ran 40 seconds faster per mile than I had been running for the last month.  Something tells me there's really something to this pants down thing.

Do get caught with your pants down

My boyfriend and I took a walk to Bernal Hill this evening.  We set out originally to catch the sunset, but a brilliant conversation distracted us from our goal, slowing our gait without our realizing.  By the time we reached the top of the hill, we were surrounded by a 360 degree view of the city's twinkling grid of lights under a very black sky.  It's a breathtaking sight to see, but Bernal Hill is creepy at night - no lighted pathways, rocky, steep trails, dogs off of their leashes, lots of wind.... So we descended as quickly as my treadless cowboy boots could handle.

Muses was the topic of conversation.  Namely, the fact that many people attribute their creative genius to a force outside of themselves that is conjured at random moments.  So how do we capture those random moments?

As we walked along, we veered off into a mini park between houses.  And there, randomly, was a slide.  A gargantuan slide!

I hastily swung onto the slide and coasted down a little less quickly than I had expected.  When I reached the bottom, I turned around, and there at the top sat my boyfriend.  Stuck, unable to slide.

"What happened?  Am I not a little boy anymore?"

"Lean back!" I suggested.  It didn't work.  He pulled himself down the slide kicking the heels of his boots ahead of him.  He tried again, swinging harder from the bar at the top of the slide.  It still didn't work.

"Maybe it's my pants, or maybe I'm just getting old," he said.

"So then take them off," I jokingly responded.

"Good idea!"  He dropped trow, swung from the top of the slide, and slid down that slide faster than any adult would feel comfortable with.  Pure genius...

Moral of the story: genius comes when you let your pants [ahem, guard] down.

PS he was wearing long johns.

... and by the way, you're saving the world

So now that I've given out these super energy efficient lightbulbs to dozens of cutting-edge cafes, restaurants, bars and design shops in SF, I need to create marketing materials to educate and intrigue consumers about the product that is lighting up their field of vision.

First stop: Google
Search phrase: "Green Marketing Strategies"
Result: a bunch of boring philosophical articles on best practices for marketing nichey green products

I appreciate the marketing and branding jargon, but frankly I don't have time for it right now.

I began to list successful products that were substitutes for prior "dirtier" products.  Here were my top three:

1. Toyota Prius
2. Civic Hybrid
3. Phillips "Marathon" lightbulb

From these three examples, I learned something AMAZING today that I want to share.

Toyota began marketing the Prius 2 years before it was available for purchase.  They spent millions of dollars on marketing that educated consumers and, in particular, early adopters.  When the Prius came out in 2000, it was purchased by a relatively small group of these early adopters.

Honda began marketing the Civic Hybrid in 2002.  They focused on appealing to the mass market immediately by positioning the vehicle as a regular Civic, but with the added benefits of increased gas mileage and environmental friendliness.  It quickly became greatest selling hybrid in the US.

Phillips began marketing the "Earth Light" in 1994.  Marketing targeted the green-conscious consumers.  This was a niche audience, and despite the superiority of the bulb, sales were dismal.

In 2004, Toyota marketed its Gen II Prius to target the "Early Majority."  They created a larger vehicle, and utilized tv advertising to tout the vehicle as a “performance car that happened to be environmentally friendly."  By 2008, Prius sales had far surpassed the Civic Hybrid sales.

In 2000, Phillips changed the name of the Earth Light to Marathon to explain its benefit of long life.  The marketing message was "save money on lighting" versus "save the Earth by saving energy."  Consumers liked the fact that they could buy the CFLs and not have to replace the bulb for weeks or months.  The Marathon increased in sales by over 10% year on year from 2000 onward.

In 2010, Toyota's tagline for the Prius is "Harmony between man, nature and machine."  The campaign paints the Prius as offering what buyers want--advanced technology, more power, interior space, safety, and the magic 50-MPG figure--while simultaneously giving nature what it wants: lower tailpipe emissions.  Prius sales are now far, far beyond sales of any other hybrid vehicle on the market.

Civic Hybrid ... who would buy one when they could have a Prius?

So I think this is amazing because it means two things:

1. People buy green when the product is presented to them as being, foremost, a high performance technology with the added benefit of a positive environmental impact

2. If a company educates consumers without asking anything of them, then consumers will eventually pay the company back.

Door to Door Giving

In the process of trying to take some time off, I decided I'd take on a fun, little contracting job for a company I've watched grow over the past year. As it turns out, this work is mostly fun and rarely little. As for my free time ... poof! gone for now.

The company makes lightbulbs, LED lightbulbs to be exact. LEDs are the best efficient lightbulbs on the market right now - they're pretty, they last forever, they use virtually no energy, and they're safe to dispose of. Did you know that CFLs (the lightbulbs shaped like a coil) have liquid mercury in them and are extremely dangerous if broken or left in a landfill? They're so awful that in 2012, CFLs are no longer going to be available for purchase in the US.

The drawback for LED lighting is that it costs a heck of a lot, and I don't know anyone who feels comfortable fronting a chunk of change for a 25 year commitment to a lightbulb. In order for massive adoption of a new technology in an otherwise mundane area of people's lives to occur, the lightbulb paradigm must change. This is where I come in.

We decided that people must begin to see the bulbs in places they like to go, learn about LEDs firsthand, and be given the option of purchasing the bulbs on the spot.  We're giving out 5 free LED bulbs to choice locations in San Francisco. Locations include bars, design shops, furniture stores, restaurants and cafes. Each lightbulb that replaces an incandescent will save that location an average of ~$20 per month in energy savings ($2.00 for CFLs).  It's a no-brainer for these locations, or so you'd think.

Of the 50 emails and calls I have made to locations, 5 have expressed interest.  Of the 20 in-person visits I have made to locations, 2 have decided to take the bulbs.  The vast majority of companies are simply not interested - citing their current design specs (understandable), their need to speak with HQ (understandable), or their distaste for third party marketing in their own stores (understandable, but these are just lightbulbs).

My opinion as to why people are not interested is that most are uncomfortable with change, even when it is nonimpactful.  The reason I believe this is is that the locations that were open to the idea were those that were the most cutting edge, successful, popular and young cafes/restaurants/bars in the city.   Upon my call or email, they responded with a resounding "yes, please come in! We're looking for ways to be green, and this seems like the perfect opportunity."

I'm suddenly not surprised that these are the most well-reviewed, well-attended locations in the city these days.  These types of locations are managed by open-minded, enterprising people, people who are a pleasure to work with and meet.

My task of finding 30 locations is going to be tough.  But, when I find the "right" locations, it's wonderful, and as far as I'm concerned, these are the locations that are going to continue to thrive as the world changes around them.  Let me know if you have any locations in mind - whether it's in SF or Silicon Valley, I've got a huge task ahead of me.