Small Business Wisdom

Timing Matters

I sat in my office on a warm summer morning and reviewed my appointments for the day ahead. I scanned the calendar and stopped at the 11 o’clock meeting. A great smile overtook me and I reclined in my chair remembering back more than two decades.  I recalled that it was summer when I first met them. They are labeled, somewhat charmingly, a mom and pop business. When I first met the husband and wife team they were very much in love and planning a new venture. Their love story was the stuff of novels and feel good movies: High school sweethearts separated by time and circumstance who reunite in mid-life to find their youthful fires had turned to warm embers and welcome embrace.   

Within a year of their reunion they married, and they presented in my office for start-up assistance. Over the next three years we worked together to launch their enterprise and direct it toward their goals. About a decade later I saw them in the office of a colleague as he assisted them in developing an e-commerce line to supplement the original business approach. Through the years their personal relationship deepened and flourished while their business grew in parallel. A month earlier I received an e-mail from them telling me they were on my calendar and wanted my assistance to help them exit their enterprise. My reflections turned from their story to my own history as I thought about the notion that many of the ventures I helped launch in the mid to late 1980’s were today contemplating exit and succession plans. 

 They arrived on time for our meeting and we were excited to see each other and catch up on our stories. Their business history was one of steady growth and enjoyment for more than 15 years followed by a few serious setbacks and, in the past couple of years, some health concerns. The business was in a three year decline and they were ready for retirement and a change of scenery. While the business was in difficulty the bond between husband and wife had deepened to a graceful rhythm of respect and affection.

I reviewed the financials they brought, referred them to a colleague for an in-depth financial diagnosis, and scheduled a next appointment when they had the findings. When they left my office I was both delighted to see them and a bit burdened by my intuition regarding the cursory analysis of their venture and exit plan. Their primary business asset was in real estate and the market was sharply down. In the last three years revenues were down from the 2005 high and flat the last two years. It seemed, at first review, this was the time for a turnaround rather than an exit and I looked forward to the findings of the financial diagnosis and business valuation analysis.

We met again a month later and the husband was clearly distracted upon arrival. He solemnly handed me the financial reports and business valuation and they waited silently while I reviewed the materials. The detailed reports confirmed my initial intuition: valuation was down 60% from 2005 and the real estate valuation was down by a third.

In the month between meetings I had sketched a turnaround plan that was appropriate for the business situation and their state of health. Without commenting on the financial reports I reviewed my turnaround with them. They smiled, exhaled, and agreed we had an effective and enjoyable plan for them to sell and exit the business…in 2010, two years from now. They were relieved we had a firm direction and were emotionally prepared to renew themselves and their venture to create an optimal exit from the business ownership life stage.

Exiting a venture requires as much planning and thought as launching one, possibly more. By creating a five year exit/succession horizon the business owner can effect the change with optimal timing. Because in exit as in launch, timing matters.

Be joyous! Let now be beautiful. Blessings, Thomas.

Walkabout Part II

We left Las Vegas for a three day respite in Victorville, California. It is a small town by California standards, population 100,000, and we enjoyed three days poolside surrounded by palm trees. From there we traveled west to Carlsbad and a visit with Carlos, Jeannie, and family. Carlos and I were machine gunners in the First Air Cavalry in Vietnam 40 years ago. He was a remarkable soldier, a dear friend, and deeply-bonded brother. This was our first visit since we each went home in May, 1969 and we both immediately fell into full fellowship and joyous reunion. Carlos was a small business owner during his career and built more than 2,000 residences and commercial structures before retiring. Now he does construction “good works” by referral only. Our visit was deeply satisfying on so many levels and I left their home with the feeling that I had re-connected with the deepest parts of my earthly roots.

Next stop – Los Angeles! We arrived in LA around noon on the ninth day of our walkabout. Connor held the greatest anticipation about his first view of Los Angeles. His career goal is to be a professional singer/songwriter and Los Angeles is the center of that universe. We arrived excitedly, our spirits only slightly dampened by the thrill ride known as the LA freeways. We checked into our hotel in North Hollywood and quickly lined up the requisite Hollywood tourist activities. We enjoyed a day at Universal Studios and were equally engaged by the arts of filmmaking as we were by the diversity of the 100,000 or so visitors to the park. People from around the world were present that day and we enjoyed the languages, costumes, practices, and physical characteristics of the diverse human family.

The second day we decided on a quiet morning. Connor slept late and practiced the guitar accompaniment and vocals for a new tune. I took a long walk to experience the sounds, sights, and smells of the cityscape of the largest urban setting in the U.S. The culture shock was palpable. The noise, the crowds, the pace were all played in the key of…more. Every one appeared to be talking on their cell phone while blowing their horns at inattentive drivers. Crossing the street was high adventure and the notion of pedestrian right of way a long lost civility. The streets were dirty. The air colored a deep desert brown. And everyone appeared to be in a frantic rush to…wait in line. Forty deep at Starbucks. Thirty deep to the on ramp. An hour and 15 minutes to a table for dinner. After all that culture shock came…the aftershock. More accurately, the 3.8 earthquake that rolled into the 5.4 earthquake followed by 20 aftershocks. “Moderate,” declared CNN. As I put my arm around my son’s shoulders and we sought the small safety of a doorway, moderate was not the word that came to mind. North. Now. Were more likely my mental mantra. “Did you enjoy the California foot massage?”, inquired dear Carlos. Not much, I thought, and smiled faintly into the cell phone. I made a vow to never again complain about the gray, the rain, the cool northwest climate so inhospitable to the sun. I have already broken it, unapologetically. I still like the warm. I still like the sun. I just don’t like LA. Hmmm…Las Vegas was fun!

Be joyous. Let now be beautiful. Blessings, Thomas

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Walkabout

One drive through the Columbia River Gorge, on to southern Idaho, and through the Nevada desert made it clear there is ample wind and solar opportunities awaiting the entrepreneurial spirit to solve problems and create profits through the solution.

My son, Connor, and I just returned from a five state, 2600 mile, journey that combined business and vacation. I keynoted a national conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, and we visited the campus of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). I keynoted with my signature talk, The Imagination Era, and detailed a high level strategic perspective for the next 15 years .The talk was well received and had the desired effect of broadening perspectives and encouraging a vision of an inspired future state. The second day of the conference I presented, “Navigating A Recession” and taught the six key leadership actions to succeed during a down economy while positioning the venture for greater success and profitability when the recovery arrives. Again, the presentation was well-received and resulted in significant group discussion and sharing. In the evenings in Las Vegas we attended two shows at the casinos and I enjoyed my son’s exposure to comedy and music at the highest levels of performance art. I noticed the great numbers of Asian and European tourists taking advantage of the weak U.S. dollar and the wonderful attractions available in a renewed Las Vegas as it has completed the transition from a gambling mecca to a family tourism repertoire.

I believe we will see major advances in energy micro enterprise through the coming decade as local power generation, storage, and transmission entities emerge.

Our visit to UNLV was delightful and we had an opportunity to visit with two faculty members of the film school and Connor had his first small taste of university life outside his father’s professional sphere. While we drove through four western states we noticed an increased amount of wind and solar power generators and had a lengthy discussion about future energy solutions. One drive through the Columbia River Gorge, on to southern Idaho, and through the Nevada desert made it clear there is ample wind and solar opportunities awaiting the entrepreneurial spirit to solve problems and create profits through the solution. I believe we will see major advances in energy micro enterprise through the coming decade as local power generation, storage, and transmission entities emerge.

The unfolding economic landscape mirrored past observations as some businesses and locales were flourishing while others were clearly depressed. Overall, the theme was business is down. Interestingly, residential real estate was depressed in Las Vegas while construction on several high rises in the new city core progressed.

In my next Blog, I will continue the story of our five state journey with a report on Southern California.

Be Joyous! Let Now be beautiful. Blessings, Thomas.

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Always Feed The Crew

Every Thursday we go to the recording studio to create elements of the audio book, website, or blog project. The routine serves as a continuing deadline to advance our work  and provides fellowship opportunities among the team members who often work alone, aided by the various technology tools that characterize contemporary small business.  Linda, the Institute's creative director, provides overall direction to product creation and always makes sure we are all well fed.Her mantra, always feed the crew, has become an important cultural touchstone in the developing personality of the institute. We hold creative sessions over morning coffee and post-production meetings over lunch. While that sounds simple and normal enough, the expression "always feed the crew" holds deeper meaning for our young organization. The genesis of the expression traces back through her 20 years of media work and the importance of creating rhythm, synergy, and rapport among the various creative disciplines collaborating in a film production. Often, the crew would be on location and nature might provide a five minute window of just the right light during a 24 hour day. To catch that moment, a collection of artists and crafts people had to be present, ready, and in tune with each other. The presence of food and refreshment served both to bond and nourish a collection of individuals into collaborative creative community.

Every small venture has their shared truth. Those small expressions that both simply explain and express deep connection. The shared language and shared meaning creates the "us" that is much greater than the sum of the individuals. The expression simultaneously explains a simple truth and creates a bond of collaborative excellence. It expresses the necessary magic of intuitive knowing that all high performing ventures utilize.

Pay attention to the every day language of your enterprise. Note the short form communication that permits high performance and economy of effort. Listen carefully to the knowing expressions of continuing problems or challenges, they almost always contain the sign posts to important innovations. Last, appreciate the rhythm and synergy of your enterprise. It is a very real artifact of your venture and was breathed into life during the formative era of your business. In the case of the Ridgefield Institute, the expression, always feed the crew, means what it literally says but it also signals to each of us to give our best craft to each other, to trust one another, and to strive to create distinctive work in service to you.

 

Be joyous! Let now be beautiful.

 Blessings, Thomas.

Happy First Birthday

“Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.”  With that Carl Bard quote I concluded the Renewal Seminar.  Renewal is always the first seminar in any business improvement program I deliver.  It was January, 2006 and I surveyed the twenty seminar participants who would join me in a year long program to strengthen their small ventures, and perhaps, inspire the small group of non-business owners to future launches.  After the seminar, a tall woman shyly approached the lectern and introduced herself.  I had noticed her attentiveness during the lecture and noted the unmistakable sparkle in her eyes.  I had seen that look many times before and silently predicted to myself, “18 months, 24 at the longest , she will be in business.”

She shared her story: 15 years experience in her field, employed by a state-wide firm, self-directed, passionate, yearning to innovate.  Further dialogue revealed she was largely self-educated and that she exhibited the two traits of the self taught  1) a great depth of knowledge, and  2)  a lack of confidence in her teacher.  “What do you do for fun?” , was my last question.  Puzzled, she replied that gardening was her passion and walking her method of reflection and recreation. “Alright, I said, your assignment this month is to walk every day and start planning the vision of your garden this spring.”   She smiled in agreement and left.  Over the course of the next year we met every month at the seminars with the group and in individual counseling sessions between the monthly seminars.  In May, 2007, 17 months from our first meeting, she launched her venture,  We met periodically during the year and reviewed first year performance in May, 2008.  The results were impressive!  Total revenues for the year exceeded six figures.  By month three in business her revenues exceeded the salary and benefits from her former job.  Her consultancy was home-based so overhead was low.  She landed a rent-payer account within the first six months in business.  In all, she had a client roster of six accounts and .70 cents of every dollar fit her profile of “fun and profitable work”.  She had successfully negotiated a key contract with a desirable account by refusing to discount her fees despite significant pressure from the client’s business agent and her strong desire to land the account.  “But what if I lose the bid over a few thousand dollars,” she asked of me.  “Your rates are reasonable, I countered, you will work this account for a decade.  Be strong, you’ll land the deal and want the work because the dollars are right.”  She followed the counsel while dying a little inside.  After a three month process she signed the account and positioned herself for continuing work at an attractive contract rate.  There was one more contract, her former employer, that she really wanted to sign.  “Give it a year, I counseled, there seems to be something magical that happens a year after an employee leaves.  The employer forgets the resignation and remembers all the reasons they were disappointed you left.”

Every element of her first year report card was excellent.  Work content, client number and type, revenues, profits, and enjoyment of work.  We closed our meeting with a three month sales plan going forward and the beginning research frame for her to create an intellectual property to supplement the service components of a consultancy.  “You did it”, I exclaimed at the end of our session.  “That’s as good a first year as we could have imagined.  I am so proud of you!”

About a week later I came out of a counseling session with a client and turned my cell phone back on.  The missed call and message waiting signal was lit.  I accessed the voicemail and heard her excited voice, “My former employer and I just concluded a one year consulting contract, she gushed, one year and a day from my leaving.  I just wanted you to know”, her message concluded.  I smiled as I drove and thought, Happy First Birthday!

Be Joyous! Let now be beautiful. Blessings, Thomas.

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Friday, May 23rd, 2008, was destined to be a memorable day. My son, Connor, was off to Disneyland, participating in a high school choir festival. He is a gift to me and he loves music. He is a talented musician, vocalist, and composer. My partner, Linda, and I had cleared our calendars months in advance for the Memorial Day holiday and, coupled with Connor’s trip to southern California, we had scheduled a four day respite from the work of launching the Ridgefield Institute onto the national stage. I decided to do an early Friday morning e-mail check before shutting down all business channels for the long holiday weekend. Among the e-mails from the University, students, and clients was an e-mail with the subject “Request for Information” from an unfamiliar source. At the ready to delete, un-read, my instincts guided me to open it. It started, “Hello, my name is Alan Van Dan, and I believe we served together in Vietnam.” I was stunned! And I immediately remembered the name and the man from 40 years earlier.

Vietnam vets differed from the veterans of other modern wars. At 12 years duration, Vietnam was our nation’s longest war and had three distinct phases. The war ended without the national satisfaction of victory and the soldiers who served there were much younger than the combatants of previous wars. That, and other factors, led to an invisibility and isolation as the unwanted companions to returning veterans. The young soldiers who shared such depth as brothers in arms returned to build civilian lives without the benefit of fellowship, understanding, gratitude, and national embrace.

For me, the return home was difficult. War protests, villianization of the veterans, undiagnosed and untreated post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were joined by physical injury, disturbed sleep, night sweats, and unending horrific images of war. I struggled, silently and alone, for 17 years, until I was diagnosed with PTSD and began to receive some therapeutic assistance.

Now a flood of memories, images, and updated histories were made known to me through a torrent of e-mails. Names of men I loved and admired – were brought back to my consciousness. Histories were updated. Divorces, strong women who stayed.  Careers, children, and grand children were reported. In the course of a week forty years of experience were added to the history of these courageous young men and their service to country. The small band of brothers were now surrounded by a greater community of family and friends. One soldier kept a poem I had written at 19 years old. We all had nicknames in Viet Nam combat units, mine was the poet. As I read the poem I was taken by how insightful and contemporary one passage was:

…but I came and tried to do my share so now I die, but they don’t care
By them, I mean those who sent me here
Back at home they have no fear
They push the buttons and pull the strings
They care not of the terrible things
That I had to do and I had seen
And what terrible agony war had been…

  

I have been very distressed since March, 2003, and the U.S. invasion of Iraq. The similarities with Vietnam are striking. The pretext to war, misleading of the U.S. public, manipulation of the media, terrible sacrifice on the part of the few, and a largely uncaring response from the citizens back home.

The only thing that has changed between Vietnam and the war in Iraq is the identity of the “they” lamented in my 40 year old poem. Now it is a president who didn’t serve in his generations’ war and a vice-president who wrangled five deferments from active military service of any type, even domestic reserve duty. The president’s “bring it on” comment rings hollow from a man who didn’t have the courage to face “it” in his youth and his strutting “mission accomplished” image is exposed for the counterfeit bravado of a non-combatant posing as commander-in-chief.

Generally, this blog relates significant experiences to small business ownership. But that will be absent in this missive. Instead, I urge you to increase your awareness of the veterans among you and actively work to increase your awareness of what is happening in the Middle East. Move past the rhetoric and seek authentic truth. If you are living a life of present-mindedness and renewal, you are both author and editor of your life’s story. Call up similarities in these wars and hold our leaders accountable for their actions. Bring home our soldiers. Give them the care and respect warranted by their courage and sacrifice. Their lives are forever marked by war. Do not let yours be marked by indifference.

Mother Theresa counseled that, “We cannot do great things in this world, we can only do small things with great love.” I have been reminded this past week of the small things done with great love by the young soldiers of Company C, 1st Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, First Air Cavalry Division in the jungles of Vietnam 40 years ago. Their actions went unnoted by the history books, their towns people didn’t stand up and cheer their arrival home, and often, even family and friends didn’t understand. But each of them know, and their brothers stand in quiet witness, to their great courage and sacrifice, and, yes, their nobility, on that small stage, far away, and long ago. Thank you, brothers! And thank you, Alan and Tweek, for leading me to the last mile home.

Be joyous! Let now be beautiful. Blessings, Thomas.

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Forty years ago today, May 21st, 1968, Private First Class Thomas G. Jones landed at Tan Son Nhut airport in Bien Hoa, outside Saigon, Republic  of Vietnam

I was quickly flown to An Khe, headquarters of the First Air Cavalry Division.  Shortly thereafter, I joined Company C, 1st Battalion, 12th  Cavalry regiment, who were on a mission out in the field. Out in the field referred to dense jungle settings and Charlie Company was deep in the jungles of Quan Tri Province, the northern-most region in South Vietnam. I was 19 years old. Before arriving in Vietnam, I had completed Basic Training at Ft. Dix, New Jersey, and Advanced Infantry training at Ft. Jackson, South Carolina. During advanced infantry training the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated and civil riots were occurring throughout the United States, including Charleston SC, the largest city in proximity to Ft. Jackson. Late that evening we were called out of our barracks, assembled in formation, and issued a complement of M-14 Rifles, rubber bullets, and wooden batons. Then, we were informed we were being trucked in two and a half-ton troop carriers to the outskirts of Charleston , to support the National Guard and local police authorities to contain the rioting if it spread beyond the city core. Late that night the convoy rumbled along the South Carolina  roads toward an uncertain scenario for a complement of very young soldiers who had been in the army for about four months. We rode in silence and arrived at our assigned position outside the city limits as the local police and, later, the National Guard, were engaged in riot control activities. As we waited, I looked around and realized that most of the 20 soldiers in my truck were African-Americans. Suddenly, one young soldier spoke and said, “I’m not shooting my own people. They murdered Dr. King, and drafted me to go fight their war in Vietnam . I’m not going to fight my own people tonight.” With that, most of the other young men shouted agreement and we returned to waiting in silence for the order to move in or stand down. Finally, the order to stand down and return to base was given, and we drove in silent darkness back to Ft. Jackson.

I saw combat action my first week in the field. Less than a month after my arrival in country we received news of the death of Robert. F. Kennedy. The nation mourned the loss of hope as Robert joined Reverend King and his brother, John Kennedy, in the parade of idealistic young leaders taken from us through a single violent act. And the war raged on in that pivotal year that changed the world, 1968.

As the year wore on Charlie Company engaged in numerous combat actions, fire fights as we referred to them, and I progressed from gun squad ammo bearer, to assistant machine gunner, and then, to carrying and operating one of two machine guns in the platoon. By early fall I was Sergeant Jones, a tested combat veteran, not yet 20 years old. Several years after my tour of duty Quan Tri fell to the North and was leveled in the fighting. Later, the whole of Vietnam fell and the images of the hasty retreat from the American Embassy in Saigon  were forever etched in my memory. Those visions renewed my grief over the terrible toll of war for so many young soldiers who died, were wounded, or would carry the scars of war on their bodies and minds for a lifetime.

When I returned home in 1969 I used the GI bill to earn two associate’s degrees, a bachelor’s, master’s, and finally, a Doctor of Philosophy degree. I committed myself to learn, to teach, and to serve. While I wished to forget the horrors of war I wished always to remember it’s lessons: life is precious; each relationship you share with those closest to you is sacred; and that the commitment of service to others gives purpose to every action. It is those lessons that brought me to teaching and learning. It is my hope that these efforts in service to you are of value as you strive to create joy and wealth through your small business ownership.

 

Be joyous. Let now be beautiful. Blessings, Thomas.

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Last winter the flu visited our home. It spent 5 days with my son, another five with me, and for good measure, five more days with my partner. Never a welcome house guest, it turned an unwanted visit into a marathon of minor misery. I tended to my son’s illness, gave into my own, and wrestled with my partner’s continued refrains of “I don’t get sick” while she succumbed to the bug.

When our household returned to health, I returned to work and the task of addressing unanswered e-mails and voice mails. I was shocked! More than 200 e-mails and two dozen voice mails had amassed during my downtime. Shock turned to an overwhelming sense of over work then, strangely, to calm. The world hadn’t ended during my absence. Stock markets didn’t crash, homes didn’t get foreclosed on, war hadn’t waged, and the economy didn’t sink into recession during my time away from computer and cell phone. Actually, all those miseries did occur while I was occupied with my family but I do not believe my absence was the cause.

After several days of fury trying to catch up, I gave up with a laugh. No, I thought. It all goes too fast, there is too much here for comfort. So I stopped trying. I have begun turning off my cell phone during my “islands of time” in the car between client visits or teaching assignments. I have begun leaving my cell phone at home when I go out for a walk or to work in my garden. I have taken to checking my e-mails less frequently. I am consciously working at S-L-O-W-I-N-G down. The funny thing is no one, except me, seems to be noticing. The important things are still getting done. If my children are out or away my phone is still handy for immediate access, if needed. I listen, and sing along, to more music in my car. I am writing more at home, studying more for my classes, researching more for better answers to solve client challenges. All in all, getting to slow has been a deliberate, and increasingly conscious, decision to find a gentler pace to 21^st century life.

I know you are busy. But my question is, busy doing what? Responding to the immediate or reflecting on the important? Are you present to the moment and the relationships in your life, or preoccupied with the urgency of insistent, but largely inconsequential, demands? Only you can answer that. How can you know? Slow down, get quiet, be focused, be present. The answer is there. You need only take the time to listen.

 

Be joyous! Let now be beautiful. Blessings, Thomas.

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Blog Thomas G. Jones, Ph.D.
5-8-08

It is 4 a.m. and I am having another episode of my love/hate relationship with sleep. For the past 40 years sleep has been an unreliable companion. As usual, I am in the middle of some creative project. This time it is bringing a book to conclusion. For the past six weeks I have been one new chapter and several chapter re-writes away from the manuscript conclusion. At 3:40 a.m. an idea rushed through my sleep and into the forefront of my consciousness. Get up, make coffee, get writing was the message that replaced the empty space called sleep. Great, except no ideas decided to join me at morning coffee.

Click! On goes the TV and soon I am listening to Scott “The Piano Guy” Houston on Washington Public Television. He is a masterful pianist and an effective teacher. To a room full of students he implores, “Life is too short to play dumb music.” What a great line and simple truth.

For small business owners the corollary is, “Life is too short to do dumb business.” Think about it. One of the basic lessons in my small business management program is to describe the ideal customer and the ideal business. As I review this work with the learners a few themes are always present: fun people; interesting and challenging work; and, attractive profits. Then I ask them to name how many such clients they have that fit the profile. Usually, the response is from one to a handful with many more customers or projects described as work taken to pay the rent. We all do this. Especially early on in our business venture. In fact, every business owner that I have worked with that created admirable success went through a process of firing early in customers, usually through pricing increases.

That process created capacity to find and acquire customers and projects that yielded more fun, more challenge, and more profits.

The thoughtful business owner creates an ideal client profile and measures each account against that profile at least annually. Then, the business owner calculates the gap between the account and the ideal and strategizes the steps to close the gap. This process permits the owner to mindfully grow the business. In some cases the gap is too great to close and the owner manages the account out of the business to create time and capacity for more satisfying work.

I suggest that this process be an ongoing leadership activity for every smaller venture. If you were riding down the road in your car and the station was playing the worst 100 songs ever recorded you would turn off the music, find another station, or sing to yourself. One of the joys of small business ownership is the “I get to” feeling each morning as you consider the day ahead. As Mr. Houston counseled, life is too short to play dumb music. Too, life is too short to work on dumb business.

 

Be Joyous! Let now be beautiful. Blessings, Thomas.

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Blog Thomas G. Jones PhD
5-3-08

Once, there was a distinct difference between the philosophies of the Republican and Democratic parties. The republicans believed in the Jeffersonian ideal that “the government that governs least, governs best.” The greatest democratic president was Franklin D. Roosevelt, who counseled that “we have nothing to fear but fear itself.” That philosophy translated to the belief that society was “our brother’s keeper” and that many needs, such as care for the elderly, were best handled by centralized, big government. For the past 100 years those philosophies have battled and found traction in the alternating Republican and Democratic administrations.

Since Ronald Reagan it has looked more like Big Business-v-Big Government. In truth, I believe it has been the tax and spend democrats versus the borrow and spend republicans. Now what?

As the republicans debate among themselves and advance their candidate, they seem to seek nuanced differentiation while ignoring the war that has claimed, at least, the lives of 200,000 Iraqi citizens and more than 4,000 U.S.service men and women. Too, they are charging $3 million an hour on the national credit card.

Anyone familiar with the 1918 Paris Peace Treaty that ended WWI knows that Great Britain fought in newly created Iraq for eight years before throwing up their hands in frustration and going home. Our Iraq war was five years old in March. I wonder if we have three more years of horror ahead before we learn the lessons of history.

The democrats, meanwhile, are preaching change: change everything the Republicans have done since coming to power in 2000. While ignoring their complicity in the Iraq war debate, they finger point and promise business not as usual.

For me, I must fight the “none of the above” feeling and wonder how it all got so wrong. But if I have learned anything in my life’s journey, it is that “crisis precedes discovery” and that “the darkest hour is just before dawn.” Our system is broken, our choices too limited. The political process has become just one more media product packaged to play in short sound bites and digital quality images, just one more complex international system presented between commercial breaks. Thus, I am sure, we are in the last days of a time when capitalism has overwhelmed democracy and playing to the camera outweighs thoughtful discourse.

I will make the most informed choice possible, vote for the candidate, and urge you to do the same. If we are to believe the comment that “people get the government they deserve” then it is up to each of us to be deserving of intelligent, moral leadership. That would be a change. And that’s the change we should be seeking from our national leadership.

 
Be joyous! Let now be beautiful.

Blessings, Thomas

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Of Things Small and Important

Friday, May 23rd, 2008, was destined to be a memorable day. My son, Connor, was off to Disneyland, participating in a high school choir festival. He is a gift to me and he loves music. He is a talented musician, vocalist, and composer. My partner, Linda, and I had cleared our calendars months in advance for the Memorial Day holiday and, coupled with Connor’s trip to southern California, we had scheduled a four day respite from the work of launching the Ridgefield Institute onto the national stage. I decided to do an early Friday morning e-mail check before shutting down all business channels for the long holiday weekend. Among the e-mails from the University, students, and clients was an e-mail with the subject “Request for Information” from an unfamiliar source. At the ready to delete, un-read, my instincts guided me to open it. It started, “Hello, my name is Alan Van Dan, and I believe we served together in Vietnam.” I was stunned! And I immediately remembered the name and the man from 40 years earlier.

Vietnam vets differed from the veterans of other modern wars. At 12 years duration, Vietnam was our nation’s longest war and had three distinct phases. The war ended without the national satisfaction of victory and the soldiers who served there were much younger than the combatants of previous wars. That, and other factors, led to an invisibility and isolation as the unwanted companions to returning veterans. The young soldiers who shared such depth as brothers in arms returned to build civilian lives without the benefit of fellowship, understanding, gratitude, and national embrace.

For me, the return home was difficult. War protests, villianization of the veterans, undiagnosed and untreated post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were joined by physical injury, disturbed sleep, night sweats, and unending horrific images of war. I struggled, silently and alone, for 17 years, until I was diagnosed with PTSD and began to receive some therapeutic assistance.

Now a flood of memories, images, and updated histories were made known to me through a torrent of e-mails. Names of men I loved and admired – were brought back to my consciousness. Histories were updated. Divorces, strong women who stayed.  Careers, children, and grand children were reported. In the course of a week forty years of experience were added to the history of these courageous young men and their service to country. The small band of brothers were now surrounded by a greater community of family and friends. One soldier kept a poem I had written at 19 years old. We all had nicknames in Viet Nam combat units, mine was the poet. As I read the poem I was taken by how insightful and contemporary one passage was:

…but I came and tried to do my share so now I die, but they don’t care
By them, I mean those who sent me here
Back at home they have no fear
They push the buttons and pull the strings
They care not of the terrible things
That I had to do and I had seen
And what terrible agony war had been…

  

I have been very distressed since March, 2003, and the U.S. invasion of Iraq. The similarities with Vietnam are striking. The pretext to war, misleading of the U.S. public, manipulation of the media, terrible sacrifice on the part of the few, and a largely uncaring response from the citizens back home.

The only thing that has changed between Vietnam and the war in Iraq is the identity of the “they” lamented in my 40 year old poem. Now it is a president who didn’t serve in his generations’ war and a vice-president who wrangled five deferments from active military service of any type, even domestic reserve duty. The president’s “bring it on” comment rings hollow from a man who didn’t have the courage to face “it” in his youth and his strutting “mission accomplished” image is exposed for the counterfeit bravado of a non-combatant posing as commander-in-chief.

Generally, this blog relates significant experiences to small business ownership. But that will be absent in this missive. Instead, I urge you to increase your awareness of the veterans among you and actively work to increase your awareness of what is happening in the Middle East. Move past the rhetoric and seek authentic truth. If you are living a life of present-mindedness and renewal, you are both author and editor of your life’s story. Call up similarities in these wars and hold our leaders accountable for their actions. Bring home our soldiers. Give them the care and respect warranted by their courage and sacrifice. Their lives are forever marked by war. Do not let yours be marked by indifference.

Mother Theresa counseled that, “We cannot do great things in this world, we can only do small things with great love.” I have been reminded this past week of the small things done with great love by the young soldiers of Company C, 1st Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, First Air Cavalry Division in the jungles of Vietnam 40 years ago. Their actions went unnoted by the history books, their towns people didn’t stand up and cheer their arrival home, and often, even family and friends didn’t understand. But each of them know, and their brothers stand in quiet witness, to their great courage and sacrifice, and, yes, their nobility, on that small stage, far away, and long ago. Thank you, brothers! And thank you, Alan and Tweek, for leading me to the last mile home.

Be joyous! Let now be beautiful. Blessings, Thomas.

Download of_things_small_and_important.mp3

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Forty years ago today, May 21st, 1968, Private First Class Thomas G. Jones landed at Tan Son Nhut airport in Bien Hoa, outside Saigon, Republic  of Vietnam

I was quickly flown to An Khe, headquarters of the First Air Cavalry Division.  Shortly thereafter, I joined Company C, 1st Battalion, 12th  Cavalry regiment, who were on a mission out in the field. Out in the field referred to dense jungle settings and Charlie Company was deep in the jungles of Quan Tri Province, the northern-most region in South Vietnam. I was 19 years old. Before arriving in Vietnam, I had completed Basic Training at Ft. Dix, New Jersey, and Advanced Infantry training at Ft. Jackson, South Carolina. During advanced infantry training the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated and civil riots were occurring throughout the United States, including Charleston SC, the largest city in proximity to Ft. Jackson. Late that evening we were called out of our barracks, assembled in formation, and issued a complement of M-14 Rifles, rubber bullets, and wooden batons. Then, we were informed we were being trucked in two and a half-ton troop carriers to the outskirts of Charleston , to support the National Guard and local police authorities to contain the rioting if it spread beyond the city core. Late that night the convoy rumbled along the South Carolina  roads toward an uncertain scenario for a complement of very young soldiers who had been in the army for about four months. We rode in silence and arrived at our assigned position outside the city limits as the local police and, later, the National Guard, were engaged in riot control activities. As we waited, I looked around and realized that most of the 20 soldiers in my truck were African-Americans. Suddenly, one young soldier spoke and said, “I’m not shooting my own people. They murdered Dr. King, and drafted me to go fight their war in Vietnam . I’m not going to fight my own people tonight.” With that, most of the other young men shouted agreement and we returned to waiting in silence for the order to move in or stand down. Finally, the order to stand down and return to base was given, and we drove in silent darkness back to Ft. Jackson.

I saw combat action my first week in the field. Less than a month after my arrival in country we received news of the death of Robert. F. Kennedy. The nation mourned the loss of hope as Robert joined Reverend King and his brother, John Kennedy, in the parade of idealistic young leaders taken from us through a single violent act. And the war raged on in that pivotal year that changed the world, 1968.

As the year wore on Charlie Company engaged in numerous combat actions, fire fights as we referred to them, and I progressed from gun squad ammo bearer, to assistant machine gunner, and then, to carrying and operating one of two machine guns in the platoon. By early fall I was Sergeant Jones, a tested combat veteran, not yet 20 years old. Several years after my tour of duty Quan Tri fell to the North and was leveled in the fighting. Later, the whole of Vietnam fell and the images of the hasty retreat from the American Embassy in Saigon  were forever etched in my memory. Those visions renewed my grief over the terrible toll of war for so many young soldiers who died, were wounded, or would carry the scars of war on their bodies and minds for a lifetime.

When I returned home in 1969 I used the GI bill to earn two associate’s degrees, a bachelor’s, master’s, and finally, a Doctor of Philosophy degree. I committed myself to learn, to teach, and to serve. While I wished to forget the horrors of war I wished always to remember it’s lessons: life is precious; each relationship you share with those closest to you is sacred; and that the commitment of service to others gives purpose to every action. It is those lessons that brought me to teaching and learning. It is my hope that these efforts in service to you are of value as you strive to create joy and wealth through your small business ownership.

 

Be joyous. Let now be beautiful. Blessings, Thomas.

Download a_time_to_reflect.mp3

Last winter the flu visited our home. It spent 5 days with my son, another five with me, and for good measure, five more days with my partner. Never a welcome house guest, it turned an unwanted visit into a marathon of minor misery. I tended to my son’s illness, gave into my own, and wrestled with my partner’s continued refrains of “I don’t get sick” while she succumbed to the bug.

When our household returned to health, I returned to work and the task of addressing unanswered e-mails and voice mails. I was shocked! More than 200 e-mails and two dozen voice mails had amassed during my downtime. Shock turned to an overwhelming sense of over work then, strangely, to calm. The world hadn’t ended during my absence. Stock markets didn’t crash, homes didn’t get foreclosed on, war hadn’t waged, and the economy didn’t sink into recession during my time away from computer and cell phone. Actually, all those miseries did occur while I was occupied with my family but I do not believe my absence was the cause.

After several days of fury trying to catch up, I gave up with a laugh. No, I thought. It all goes too fast, there is too much here for comfort. So I stopped trying. I have begun turning off my cell phone during my “islands of time” in the car between client visits or teaching assignments. I have begun leaving my cell phone at home when I go out for a walk or to work in my garden. I have taken to checking my e-mails less frequently. I am consciously working at S-L-O-W-I-N-G down. The funny thing is no one, except me, seems to be noticing. The important things are still getting done. If my children are out or away my phone is still handy for immediate access, if needed. I listen, and sing along, to more music in my car. I am writing more at home, studying more for my classes, researching more for better answers to solve client challenges. All in all, getting to slow has been a deliberate, and increasingly conscious, decision to find a gentler pace to 21^st century life.

I know you are busy. But my question is, busy doing what? Responding to the immediate or reflecting on the important? Are you present to the moment and the relationships in your life, or preoccupied with the urgency of insistent, but largely inconsequential, demands? Only you can answer that. How can you know? Slow down, get quiet, be focused, be present. The answer is there. You need only take the time to listen.

 

Be joyous! Let now be beautiful. Blessings, Thomas.

Download getting_to_slow.mp3

Blog Thomas G. Jones, Ph.D.
5-8-08

It is 4 a.m. and I am having another episode of my love/hate relationship with sleep. For the past 40 years sleep has been an unreliable companion. As usual, I am in the middle of some creative project. This time it is bringing a book to conclusion. For the past six weeks I have been one new chapter and several chapter re-writes away from the manuscript conclusion. At 3:40 a.m. an idea rushed through my sleep and into the forefront of my consciousness. Get up, make coffee, get writing was the message that replaced the empty space called sleep. Great, except no ideas decided to join me at morning coffee.

Click! On goes the TV and soon I am listening to Scott “The Piano Guy” Houston on Washington Public Television. He is a masterful pianist and an effective teacher. To a room full of students he implores, “Life is too short to play dumb music.” What a great line and simple truth.

For small business owners the corollary is, “Life is too short to do dumb business.” Think about it. One of the basic lessons in my small business management program is to describe the ideal customer and the ideal business. As I review this work with the learners a few themes are always present: fun people; interesting and challenging work; and, attractive profits. Then I ask them to name how many such clients they have that fit the profile. Usually, the response is from one to a handful with many more customers or projects described as work taken to pay the rent. We all do this. Especially early on in our business venture. In fact, every business owner that I have worked with that created admirable success went through a process of firing early in customers, usually through pricing increases.

That process created capacity to find and acquire customers and projects that yielded more fun, more challenge, and more profits.

The thoughtful business owner creates an ideal client profile and measures each account against that profile at least annually. Then, the business owner calculates the gap between the account and the ideal and strategizes the steps to close the gap. This process permits the owner to mindfully grow the business. In some cases the gap is too great to close and the owner manages the account out of the business to create time and capacity for more satisfying work.

I suggest that this process be an ongoing leadership activity for every smaller venture. If you were riding down the road in your car and the station was playing the worst 100 songs ever recorded you would turn off the music, find another station, or sing to yourself. One of the joys of small business ownership is the “I get to” feeling each morning as you consider the day ahead. As Mr. Houston counseled, life is too short to play dumb music. Too, life is too short to work on dumb business.

 

Be Joyous! Let now be beautiful. Blessings, Thomas.

Download life_is_too_short.mp3

Blog Thomas G. Jones PhD
5-3-08

Once, there was a distinct difference between the philosophies of the Republican and Democratic parties. The republicans believed in the Jeffersonian ideal that “the government that governs least, governs best.” The greatest democratic president was Franklin D. Roosevelt, who counseled that “we have nothing to fear but fear itself.” That philosophy translated to the belief that society was “our brother’s keeper” and that many needs, such as care for the elderly, were best handled by centralized, big government. For the past 100 years those philosophies have battled and found traction in the alternating Republican and Democratic administrations.

Since Ronald Reagan it has looked more like Big Business-v-Big Government. In truth, I believe it has been the tax and spend democrats versus the borrow and spend republicans. Now what?

As the republicans debate among themselves and advance their candidate, they seem to seek nuanced differentiation while ignoring the war that has claimed, at least, the lives of 200,000 Iraqi citizens and more than 4,000 U.S.service men and women. Too, they are charging $3 million an hour on the national credit card.

Anyone familiar with the 1918 Paris Peace Treaty that ended WWI knows that Great Britain fought in newly created Iraq for eight years before throwing up their hands in frustration and going home. Our Iraq war was five years old in March. I wonder if we have three more years of horror ahead before we learn the lessons of history.

The democrats, meanwhile, are preaching change: change everything the Republicans have done since coming to power in 2000. While ignoring their complicity in the Iraq war debate, they finger point and promise business not as usual.

For me, I must fight the “none of the above” feeling and wonder how it all got so wrong. But if I have learned anything in my life’s journey, it is that “crisis precedes discovery” and that “the darkest hour is just before dawn.” Our system is broken, our choices too limited. The political process has become just one more media product packaged to play in short sound bites and digital quality images, just one more complex international system presented between commercial breaks. Thus, I am sure, we are in the last days of a time when capitalism has overwhelmed democracy and playing to the camera outweighs thoughtful discourse.

I will make the most informed choice possible, vote for the candidate, and urge you to do the same. If we are to believe the comment that “people get the government they deserve” then it is up to each of us to be deserving of intelligent, moral leadership. That would be a change. And that’s the change we should be seeking from our national leadership.

 
Be joyous! Let now be beautiful.

Blessings, Thomas

Download positive_change.mp3

A Time To Reflect

Forty years ago today, May 21st, 1968, Private First Class Thomas G. Jones landed at Tan Son Nhut airport in Bien Hoa, outside Saigon, Republic  of Vietnam

I was quickly flown to An Khe, headquarters of the First Air Cavalry Division.  Shortly thereafter, I joined Company C, 1st Battalion, 12th  Cavalry regiment, who were on a mission out in the field. Out in the field referred to dense jungle settings and Charlie Company was deep in the jungles of Quan Tri Province, the northern-most region in South Vietnam. I was 19 years old. Before arriving in Vietnam, I had completed Basic Training at Ft. Dix, New Jersey, and Advanced Infantry training at Ft. Jackson, South Carolina. During advanced infantry training the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated and civil riots were occurring throughout the United States, including Charleston SC, the largest city in proximity to Ft. Jackson. Late that evening we were called out of our barracks, assembled in formation, and issued a complement of M-14 Rifles, rubber bullets, and wooden batons. Then, we were informed we were being trucked in two and a half-ton troop carriers to the outskirts of Charleston , to support the National Guard and local police authorities to contain the rioting if it spread beyond the city core. Late that night the convoy rumbled along the South Carolina  roads toward an uncertain scenario for a complement of very young soldiers who had been in the army for about four months. We rode in silence and arrived at our assigned position outside the city limits as the local police and, later, the National Guard, were engaged in riot control activities. As we waited, I looked around and realized that most of the 20 soldiers in my truck were African-Americans. Suddenly, one young soldier spoke and said, “I’m not shooting my own people. They murdered Dr. King, and drafted me to go fight their war in Vietnam . I’m not going to fight my own people tonight.” With that, most of the other young men shouted agreement and we returned to waiting in silence for the order to move in or stand down. Finally, the order to stand down and return to base was given, and we drove in silent darkness back to Ft. Jackson.

I saw combat action my first week in the field. Less than a month after my arrival in country we received news of the death of Robert. F. Kennedy. The nation mourned the loss of hope as Robert joined Reverend King and his brother, John Kennedy, in the parade of idealistic young leaders taken from us through a single violent act. And the war raged on in that pivotal year that changed the world, 1968.

As the year wore on Charlie Company engaged in numerous combat actions, fire fights as we referred to them, and I progressed from gun squad ammo bearer, to assistant machine gunner, and then, to carrying and operating one of two machine guns in the platoon. By early fall I was Sergeant Jones, a tested combat veteran, not yet 20 years old. Several years after my tour of duty Quan Tri fell to the North and was leveled in the fighting. Later, the whole of Vietnam fell and the images of the hasty retreat from the American Embassy in Saigon  were forever etched in my memory. Those visions renewed my grief over the terrible toll of war for so many young soldiers who died, were wounded, or would carry the scars of war on their bodies and minds for a lifetime.

When I returned home in 1969 I used the GI bill to earn two associate’s degrees, a bachelor’s, master’s, and finally, a Doctor of Philosophy degree. I committed myself to learn, to teach, and to serve. While I wished to forget the horrors of war I wished always to remember it’s lessons: life is precious; each relationship you share with those closest to you is sacred; and that the commitment of service to others gives purpose to every action. It is those lessons that brought me to teaching and learning. It is my hope that these efforts in service to you are of value as you strive to create joy and wealth through your small business ownership.

 

Be joyous. Let now be beautiful. Blessings, Thomas.

Download a_time_to_reflect.mp3

Getting to Slow

Last winter the flu visited our home. It spent 5 days with my son, another five with me, and for good measure, five more days with my partner. Never a welcome house guest, it turned an unwanted visit into a marathon of minor misery. I tended to my son’s illness, gave into my own, and wrestled with my partner’s continued refrains of “I don’t get sick” while she succumbed to the bug.

When our household returned to health, I returned to work and the task of addressing unanswered e-mails and voice mails. I was shocked! More than 200 e-mails and two dozen voice mails had amassed during my downtime. Shock turned to an overwhelming sense of over work then, strangely, to calm. The world hadn’t ended during my absence. Stock markets didn’t crash, homes didn’t get foreclosed on, war hadn’t waged, and the economy didn’t sink into recession during my time away from computer and cell phone. Actually, all those miseries did occur while I was occupied with my family but I do not believe my absence was the cause.

After several days of fury trying to catch up, I gave up with a laugh. No, I thought. It all goes too fast, there is too much here for comfort. So I stopped trying. I have begun turning off my cell phone during my “islands of time” in the car between client visits or teaching assignments. I have begun leaving my cell phone at home when I go out for a walk or to work in my garden. I have taken to checking my e-mails less frequently. I am consciously working at S-L-O-W-I-N-G down. The funny thing is no one, except me, seems to be noticing. The important things are still getting done. If my children are out or away my phone is still handy for immediate access, if needed. I listen, and sing along, to more music in my car. I am writing more at home, studying more for my classes, researching more for better answers to solve client challenges. All in all, getting to slow has been a deliberate, and increasingly conscious, decision to find a gentler pace to 21^st century life.

I know you are busy. But my question is, busy doing what? Responding to the immediate or reflecting on the important? Are you present to the moment and the relationships in your life, or preoccupied with the urgency of insistent, but largely inconsequential, demands? Only you can answer that. How can you know? Slow down, get quiet, be focused, be present. The answer is there. You need only take the time to listen.

 

Be joyous! Let now be beautiful. Blessings, Thomas.

Download getting_to_slow.mp3

Life Is Too Short To Play Dumb Music

Blog Thomas G. Jones, Ph.D.
5-8-08

It is 4 a.m. and I am having another episode of my love/hate relationship with sleep. For the past 40 years sleep has been an unreliable companion. As usual, I am in the middle of some creative project. This time it is bringing a book to conclusion. For the past six weeks I have been one new chapter and several chapter re-writes away from the manuscript conclusion. At 3:40 a.m. an idea rushed through my sleep and into the forefront of my consciousness. Get up, make coffee, get writing was the message that replaced the empty space called sleep. Great, except no ideas decided to join me at morning coffee.

Click! On goes the TV and soon I am listening to Scott “The Piano Guy” Houston on Washington Public Television. He is a masterful pianist and an effective teacher. To a room full of students he implores, “Life is too short to play dumb music.” What a great line and simple truth.

For small business owners the corollary is, “Life is too short to do dumb business.” Think about it. One of the basic lessons in my small business management program is to describe the ideal customer and the ideal business. As I review this work with the learners a few themes are always present: fun people; interesting and challenging work; and, attractive profits. Then I ask them to name how many such clients they have that fit the profile. Usually, the response is from one to a handful with many more customers or projects described as work taken to pay the rent. We all do this. Especially early on in our business venture. In fact, every business owner that I have worked with that created admirable success went through a process of firing early in customers, usually through pricing increases.

That process created capacity to find and acquire customers and projects that yielded more fun, more challenge, and more profits.

The thoughtful business owner creates an ideal client profile and measures each account against that profile at least annually. Then, the business owner calculates the gap between the account and the ideal and strategizes the steps to close the gap. This process permits the owner to mindfully grow the business. In some cases the gap is too great to close and the owner manages the account out of the business to create time and capacity for more satisfying work.

I suggest that this process be an ongoing leadership activity for every smaller venture. If you were riding down the road in your car and the station was playing the worst 100 songs ever recorded you would turn off the music, find another station, or sing to yourself. One of the joys of small business ownership is the “I get to” feeling each morning as you consider the day ahead. As Mr. Houston counseled, life is too short to play dumb music. Too, life is too short to work on dumb business.

 

Be Joyous! Let now be beautiful. Blessings, Thomas.

Download life_is_too_short.mp3

Positive Change

Blog Thomas G. Jones PhD
5-3-08

Once, there was a distinct difference between the philosophies of the Republican and Democratic parties. The republicans believed in the Jeffersonian ideal that “the government that governs least, governs best.” The greatest democratic president was Franklin D. Roosevelt, who counseled that “we have nothing to fear but fear itself.” That philosophy translated to the belief that society was “our brother’s keeper” and that many needs, such as care for the elderly, were best handled by centralized, big government. For the past 100 years those philosophies have battled and found traction in the alternating Republican and Democratic administrations.

Since Ronald Reagan it has looked more like Big Business-v-Big Government. In truth, I believe it has been the tax and spend democrats versus the borrow and spend republicans. Now what?

As the republicans debate among themselves and advance their candidate, they seem to seek nuanced differentiation while ignoring the war that has claimed, at least, the lives of 200,000 Iraqi citizens and more than 4,000 U.S.service men and women. Too, they are charging $3 million an hour on the national credit card.

Anyone familiar with the 1918 Paris Peace Treaty that ended WWI knows that Great Britain fought in newly created Iraq for eight years before throwing up their hands in frustration and going home. Our Iraq war was five years old in March. I wonder if we have three more years of horror ahead before we learn the lessons of history.

The democrats, meanwhile, are preaching change: change everything the Republicans have done since coming to power in 2000. While ignoring their complicity in the Iraq war debate, they finger point and promise business not as usual.

For me, I must fight the “none of the above” feeling and wonder how it all got so wrong. But if I have learned anything in my life’s journey, it is that “crisis precedes discovery” and that “the darkest hour is just before dawn.” Our system is broken, our choices too limited. The political process has become just one more media product packaged to play in short sound bites and digital quality images, just one more complex international system presented between commercial breaks. Thus, I am sure, we are in the last days of a time when capitalism has overwhelmed democracy and playing to the camera outweighs thoughtful discourse.

I will make the most informed choice possible, vote for the candidate, and urge you to do the same. If we are to believe the comment that “people get the government they deserve” then it is up to each of us to be deserving of intelligent, moral leadership. That would be a change. And that’s the change we should be seeking from our national leadership.

 
Be joyous! Let now be beautiful.

Blessings, Thomas

Download positive_change.mp3