Good vs Evil; What Does it Really Mean? – Part One

I have been reading the book “The Shack” (or actually listening to it on CD) for the second time. This time something stood out which was a discussion by the main character, Mac, and the Holy Spirit about good and evil.

So here is the question I pose to you…what is good? And what is evil?

Before you answer this think about it for a minute. I mean really contemplate the questions, what is good, what is evil?

To stimulate your thoughts i thought i would provide the definitions from dictionary.com of each:
* good – morally excellent; virtuous; righteous; pious
* evil – morally wrong or bad; immoral; wicked: evil deeds; an evil life; harmful; injurious: evil laws.

Read those definitions again.

Now what is good? And what is evil?

Let’s start with what is good?

I challenge you to list some things you think are good.

Here is a list of things I feel are good:
* God
* America
* Freedom
* Serving others
* Being a parent
* Friendship
* Married life
* 12 Stone Church
* The BCS
* Georgia Bulldogs
* New York Yankees
* WrestleMania

What does your list look like? Is it exactly like mine? If not why not? You may disagree with some of my list and I may disagree with some of your list. So if what I listed is good and what you listed is good, what really is good?

Stay with me here…

I know many people that absolutely hate married life, they hate the BCS, they hate the New York Yankees so in their world these things are … EVIL. However on the flip side millions of people love these same things so in their world these things are … GOOD.

Have you ever thought about that? You know that the things you think are good are actually evil to someone else and on the flip side the things you deem evil are good to someone? When I thought about this I was stopped dead in my tracks. It staggered me.

I was like what really is good? And what really is evil?

That is what I plan to dig into over the next couple of days on this blog. Let’s take this journey together…

Actions Speak Louder Than Words

As a leader for many years in corporate America it never ceases to amaze me the attitude of so many employees.  Too often they ask for guidance. They ask for responsibility. They complain about who gets promoted and who doesn’t. They ask to learn and to gain knowledge. They claim to want to move up the ladder. However their actions rarely support what their mouth is saying.

Too often when these same people are presented the opportunity to apply for a position they make exduses as to why they can’t apply.  “The hours are not right, I don’t like that supervisor, the time is not right, what if I don’t succeed, etc.”

This year I have spoken to several leaders that have afforded their employees the opportunity to learn or participate in projects that will enhance their careers. What we have found as a group that less than 5% of the employees that say they want more actually go for more. Instead they do not manage their careers instead they choose to sit back and wait. They do nothing.

One of my friends gave his team the opportunity to participate in a mentoring program. While several members volunteered only one put any effort into succeeding in the program. The others would make every excuse possible as to why they could not complete assignments.

Another friend gave their team the opportunity to become a ‘manager for a day where they would get an opportunity to be the manager for a day.  They would attend meetings, conference calls, and have the chance to learn quite a bit. Here is the eye opening part; 98% of the team said they wanted to be in management only 2% volunteered for the opportunity to be a manager for a day.

Over the years I have given opportunities to do some of the same but unfortunately very few employees take advantage of what is presented to them. It gets frustrating to see so much talent go to waste but it is encouraging when you see someone without all of the talent but tons of desire succeed.

Bottom line is your actions speak louder than words. You may say you want to be great but if you don’t take steps you will never be great. It is great to hear goals but if people never put actions with the stated goals they will never be met. So I challenge you to stop speaking and start doing.

Halloween at the Mall

Over the past several years we have gone trick or treating at the Mall of Georgia. While we enjoy going around the neighborhood we have a long commute and it is just not day to get home in time to go out.

This year we went to Discover Mills Mall on Sunday the 30th and the Mall of Georgia on the 31st for our trick or treating activity.

It is amazing to me how many stores do not participate in this event. While many stores actively get involved there are as many that do not do anything.   Stores such as Toys R Us Express, Medevial Times, The Lego Store, Lunar Golf, the movie theater, and Game Stop do not seize the opportunity to touch their core audience.

The trick or treating event is a perfect opportunity to promote your business. Each year you have hundreds and many even a thousand people to promote your business to, to place information in a bucket or bag, to hand a parent a coupon. Each kid that comes to your store for a piece of candy has a mom, dad, aunt, grandma, or someone that brought them. Each one of these adults spend money and they could spend money in your store. Instead you sit in your store and do nothing.

If I owned or ran one of these stores I would attach a coupon to every piece of candy I handed out. Each one would be good for the next two weeks.  The coupon would hype up any kid’s items I carry. If i had no kids items i would promote what I did have.  Hello people this is an audience begging to take something from your store and you don’t give them anything? Amazing!

Here are my suggestions:
* cookie store should give out cookies
* Medevial Times should have their knights out there handing out candy and coupons
* the preztel place should give out pretzel bites (or a coupon for free ones)
* Cinnabon should give out their cinnabites (or a coupon for free ones)
* Lunar Golf should give out free rounds of golf
* Lego Store, a small oack of legos
* Disney Store should give out Disney related stuff (oh wait they do, and maybe that is why they are where they are)

It ain’t rocket science people. It is just simple marketing.

Why Leave?

Recently I read a statement by Francis Chan where he was speaking to the Chinese about Americans who may leave a church due to the loud music, the lack of services, not enough programs, too many programs, or the church got too big.  I thought about this for a while and came up with another way to look at why people leave a church.

Let’s look at why people leave jobs. Many times the reason someone quits has very little to do with the company. It has very little to do with the benefits and many times very little to do with their paycheck. Most of the times a person quits a job due to leadership. In other words they quit their boss.

Most of the time it takes some probing to find this out. They will complain about benefits, pay, etc but at the core it is their boss. A boss or shall we say leadership creates an atmosphere. They create vision. They create morale in the employee.  When the morale goes south the employee starts looking elsewhere and then the lack of pay, benefits, etc rise up. Now I am not saying they quit the CEO, the President, the Vice President, but rather they quit their direct supervisor, no matter the level.

I say the same thing happens to church members. They quit the vision or theybdont see the vision being carried out. That may not be by the pastor but instead by the volunteer leader over a ministry. Or a staff member that is in charge of a ministry.  The leadership in the church is responsible to create an atmosphere, or shall we say member morale. However this starts at the Senior Pastor but does not stop at the Senior Pastor.

The Senior Pastor must cast vision but it must be bought into by the rest of the leadership team.  Then the leadership team must pass it on to their teams who must buy in and pass it along.  If this doesn’t happen then you are looking for disengaged members or volunteers, no different than a disengaged employee at your office.

I believe we too often assume that our teams just buy in for the greater good of spreading the gospel. However we have to look at our members and volunteers as partners in the crusade.  We must communicate to them and LISTEN to them, yes we must LISTEN to our teams and members.  That doesnt mean we have to vote on things but instead that we listen to their concerns and suggestions. No different than what we should do at work. This gives us an opportunity to explain why the music is loud, why we don’t have Sunday school, why we may not have a lot if programs, etc.

See I believe members leave a church due to leadership.  For whatever reason they no longer see the vision or even worse they no longer feel a part of that vision.  They do not feel like anyone listens.  They don’t feel like anyone cares. They become disengaged from the church. 

I say to you or shall I say I challenge you to communicate regularly to your staff, volunteers, members and such. Consider these people your customers or employees.  Ask yourself this question ‘if I was a customer or employee and treated the way I have been treated would I want to do business there or work there?’  If your question is no then you need to make adjustments.

Lessons From Disney – Part Two

Yeah it took awhile to getvpartvtwo out but here it is…

On my recent trip to Disney World in Florida I had some really cool thoughts. While they are known as one of the top customer service companies in the world I say it is more than that.

Their entire culture breaths serving. Yes I said serving, because that is what they do. They serve you from the time youngetvon their property until you leave. Your experience is one of respect, kindness, helpfulness, and any other fluffy word you can think of.

As you think about Disney you may think ‘I wish my company did that’ or you think ‘my company could learn from them’. While you are right I am going to challenge you in another way…

What if we simply ran our lives like Disney runs Disney World?

What if we applied the same principles to our everyday interactions?

See if we can apply the principles to business and become profitable think how profitable our lives become if we apply them to our personal lives each day. Think about how profitable other lives become.

The world would be different, we would have less stress, man it would be wonderful.

So I challenge you to Disney-ize your life. Make others happy, serve them when you can and watch his your world becomes magical.

Lessons From Disney – Part One

Recently I spent a week at Walt Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, FL. First off let me say that I am a huge Disney fan and totally love the place.

OK now lets take a brief look at my trip. As we al, know Disney personifies customer service. They are totally committed to making you as happy as possible. From the moment you enter the Disney area everything is different. I mean everything from the traffic signs, the landscaping, the colors, not to mention the service you get from the hotels to the parks is just different. Dare I say it is all just plain better.

So what did I learn. One thing is that it is an example of how private enterprise is better than government. How you may ask. Well the roads are laid out with a purpose. They make sense. The signage around the grounds makes sense. They are clear, easy to read, and are easy to follow. Contrast that to your city. How easy is it to find things in your city?

The way you are treated is is second to none. It is trained from the top down in the Disney corporation. How were you treated last time you were at the post office? What about those of you that use VA hospitals?  How was that service?

See our government doesn’t really care how you are treated because often they have a monopoly on the service you are using.

How about the bus system at Disney? Yep again very easy to understand and follow. Now I know that bus systems in other cities are much larger but are they really constructed with the customer in mind? I can speak for Marta in Atlanta and promise you the bus system is crazy. The one in Disney is easy to use and understand. Plus they place an attendant there to assist you in busy times. Marta? Yeah right.

Now I don’t mean this as a political soapbox but at the end of the day our government is more about themselves than any of us. The politicians are more about keeping their jobs and their power than caring about anyone thatv voted for them. They could learn a lot from Disney, as could many other companies and organizations.

What would happen if the government ran the post office, bus systems, DOT, and many other areas like Disney? Dare I say we become more efficient? We don’t have the slums that our cities experience? We don’t have the level of crime we have in our society?

See attitude affects each of this areas.  If our government spent time trying to create a happy country, a fun city, an entertaining day everyday I say that it will trickle throughout our society.

Would it be easy? No. Would it be cheap? No. Would it be worth it? YES!!!!

Watch for part two soon…

A Few Changes

I am making a few changes here at gregtroxell.com I plan to center this blog more around leadership and how we can improve our lives.  I have created a new blog called Troxell Sports and Entertainment that will be about all kinds of other stuff. That is where I will continue to talk about my Free Agent Fan journey as well as write about all things sports and entertainment. 

Please check it out often and keep checking out GregTroxell.com as it evloves into a life enhancement resource.

Free Agent Fan – Part Two

Recently I did a post about becoming a free agent fan of the NHL due to the recent relocation and sale if the Atlanta Thrashers. To quickly summarize I wrote each NHL team a letter via email stating that I am a fan in need of a team. In the letter I stated what I bring to the table as a fan then asked the question ‘why should I be a fan of your team’.

Today I will update you on a couple of the teams that I have heard from during this process but before I do I will list out how I plan to make my decision.

Some of the criteria I plan to use is as follows:
* content of team letter
* tradition
* community involvement
* youth hockey involvement
* stability of team
* players
* intangibles

With that said as of today here are the teams I have heard from:
* Pittsburgh Penguins
* Toronto Maple Leafs
* Nashville Predators
* Carolina Hurricanes
* San Jose Sharks
* Montreal Canadiens

Next step is to evaluate the letters. I will start summarizing them in part three of this blog series.  So far the responses are pretty interesting.

Stay tuned as the journey to finding a new NHL team continues…

Free Agent Fan – Part One

As you know the the Atlanta Thrashers were recently sold and they moved to Winnepeg.  Well that left a lot of fans in Atlanta and surroundings without an NHL team to pull for.  Prior to the Thrashers coming to town I had some teams I liked but once the Thrashers came to town I had to pull for my home team.

So now my Thrashers are gone.  What is a hockey fan to do?

I looked at it just like a player would if a team folded, they would become a free agent and shop their services around.  So that is what I have done. I declared myself a free agent fan.  My first step was to email all NHL teams and let them know what I bring to the table as a fan of their organization.

Here is what I sent to each team:

I am a former Atlanta Thrashers fan who has now been left without an NHL team to call my own. I am now what I like to call a free agent fan that is in search of a new team. Instead of just picking a team to root for I thought I would reach out to the various NHL teams and ask the question why I should be a fan of your team.
First here is a little about me and what I bring to the table as a fan of your team:
* I bring with me a love for hockey however I am not an overly rabid fan. I attended a few Thrasher games each year along with several Gladiator (ECHL) games each year.
* My seven year old loves hockey and currently plays ice hockey
* I support my teams through ticket buys (which will now be difficult), merchandise (t-shirts, jerseys, etc.), and will proudly display your logo on my car.
* I am a fan that spreads the word of hockey through conversation on a regular basis.
* Overall sports fan
* Family man

While that may not be a lot, I am a loyal fan through thick and thin (hey I have been an Atlanta Falcon fan for years and we see how good they have been up until recently) and I will support the team in every way possible. I look forward to hearing from you as to why I should choose the -insert team name- as my new NHL team.

Over the next few days and weeks I will post up the responses I get along with the decision as to what NHL team will be my favorite for the 2011-2012 season and beyond.

Right now I am not sure when I will make the decision but my plan is to narrow it down to three teams and choose from there.

Stay tuned…

Three Years Ago Today

Three years ago today my daughter was born. I can’t believe it has been three years already. I look at her now as this pretty little princess full of energy. Just three short years ago she was in the NICU at Gwinnett Medical after being born at only 2lbs 15oz.  She spent a few weeks in there and I can’t thank the wonderful staff enough.  At the core though it is God who deserves the glory!

Anyway here is this vibrant three year old that does gymnastics on Saturday and started ballet today.  Wow, just wow!  It is amazing how far she has come and how much our family has grown in these past three years. 

They grow up so fast (yeah I feel old saying that).  Happy birthday Ashley!