Category: Leadership

“Faith is taking the first step even when you can’t see the whole staircase.” – Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Harry Belafonte had an idea.  He wanted to organize relief aid to Africa.  Harry, a successful Jamaican-American singer and songwriter was well-known for his recording of “The Banana Boat Song”, with its signature “Day-O” lyric.  He envisioned writing a new song that would inspire the world.  He made a few calls.  Soon, other singers and songwriters were onboard, including Kenny Rogers, Lionel Richie and Stevie Wonder.  American record producer, Quincy Jones joined in and reached out to Michael Jackson who had just concluded a tour with his brothers after releasing his Thriller album.  Jackson was enthusiastic about the opportunity and told them he not only wanted to sing it, but wanted to help write it as well. Lionel joined Michael at the Jackson family home in Encino, California and went to work writing the song.  They wanted something that would be easy to sing and remember, yet still an anthem.  Richie had a melody which Jackson took. He added music and words to the song on the same day.  A week after starting, Jackson and Richie had the song.

“We Are the World” was recorded a week later.  An incredible cast of 45 artists joined Jackson and team, including Ray Charles, Billy Joel, Diana Ross, Cyndi Lauper, Bruce Springsteen, Tina Turner, Willie Nelson, Huey Lewis, Bette Midler, The Pointer Sisters and Jackson’s siblings.  Upon entering the recording studio, the musicians were greeted by a sign pinned to the door that read, “Please check your egos at the door.” They were also greeted by Stevie Wonder, who proclaimed that if the recording was not complete in one take, he and Ray Charles, two blind men, would drive them home.  

Harry’s big idea had become reality. Once released, the song went on to raise $63M for the relief effort and topped music charts throughout the world.  It became the fastest selling U.S. pop single in history, becoming the first to be certified multi-platinum.  

Think Big!  It’s easy to think small.  But thinking big requires stretching outside our comfort area and more importantly, reaching out to others.  To scale to the impact that “We Are the World” had, Harry knew he needed help.  His vision succeeded because he engaged and inspired others to follow and join his effort.

What are your big ideas?  Who are you going to enlist to help accomplish your mission?  Be bold. Have faith. Think big. In the words of the chorus that might be going through your head by now, “It’s true we’ll make a better day, just you and me.” 

Let’s go make a better day!

Picture on Post: “We Are the World” Album Cover Art

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AjkUyX0rVw

“We are the world
We are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day, so let’s start giving
Oh, there’s a choice we’re making
We’re saving our own lives
It’s true we’ll make a better day, just you and me”

“On every world, wherever people are, in the deepest part of the winter, at the exact mid-point, everybody stops and turns and hugs. As if to say, ‘Well done. Well done, everyone! We’re halfway out of the dark.’ Back on Earth we call this Christmas.” – Doctor Who

I confess, I’m addicted to data.  I love building graphs and colorized charts to visualize that data.  When we installed our Tesla Energy solar panels back in September, I was delighted to have our house powered by that ancient and reliable thermonuclear fusion reactor that shows up each day in our sky.  But, I wanted to see the data!  I soon discovered a wealth of information available from our new Tesla Energy Powerwall system.  I began mining it and even created a simple python library, pyPowerwall, to make it easy to manipulate.  Using that and Telegraf, InfluxDB, and Grafana I had an observability platform and dashboard to feed my data and visualization appetite.  Naturally, the graphs were in full color.  

It’s getting dark.  You don’t need a graph to tell you that.  Our days get shorter in the winter.  We all observe the blanket of darkness that gradually pulls over us, stretching deeper into our mornings and evenings.  But what you may not know is how dramatic that change can be in terms of energy.   Our solar energy system went online at the beginning of October, with 35kWh of energy captured from the sun every day.  It has been on a steady ramp down since that first day.  As we tick inescapably towards our winter solstice, in just two months the energy we get from our heavenly benefactor has dropped in half to 17kWh per day.  The day-to-day graph shows the flattening of the curve as it bends down ominously towards the winter solar abyss of December 21st.   It’s victory over us is felt in the cold wind, the fading colors and the melancholy shadows that scrape against our souls.  Darkness is here.

Light a candle.  Our human family has witnessed this solar dance since our beginning.  We measure the sky and plot the stars to know where we are. We embrace the rhythm of the year by decorating it with celebrations and traditions.  In the darkness of the winter, we light our lights.  We illuminate our winter journey with candles.  We adorn our homes with fragrant greens, twinkling lights, cheerful ornaments and glowing fires.  All the while, we know, the light is coming again.  The glory of the sun will return!   But for now, we celebrate.

It’s almost here.  The dead of winter has arrived.  Cuddle up with a warm cup of coffee or tea, your loved ones and a glowing fire.  The light will return.  We are halfway out of the dark!  Celebrate it. 

Merry Christmas! 

“As human beings, our job in life is to help people realize how rare and valuable each one of us really is, that each of us has something that no one else has – or ever will have – something inside that is unique to all time. It’s our job to encourage each other to discover that uniqueness and to provide ways of developing its expression.” – Fred Rogers

Did any of you brave it out on Friday to see the bustling crowds at stores or the mall?  We did.  I’m a glutton for punishment I suppose, but I do enjoy the excitement, festive mood and the occasional good deals.  To be fair, there was much less this year.   Especially the crowds and the good deals, but the festive mood was still there. Regardless, it was a fun date with my sweetie to parade around the town and spot a good deal or two.

We started putting up Christmas decorations even before Thanksgiving, but this past weekend was the final sprint. Trees, lights, candles and greenery now adorn every room in our house and even flow outside. Present boxes, sweets, music and greeting cards begin their annual appearance.  And, as some of you know, it was the first candle lighting of Hanukkah last night.  As the days grow darker and a bit gloomy, the warm glow of the candles, fireplace and the Christmas lights are healing salves to the soul.

I’m clumsy.  I love helping set up the trees, string the lights and set out the decorations.  But in the process, I manage to bump things and there is the evitable breakage.  I was setting up a small tree next to our dining room and added a small string of LED lights.  It was a low-cost variety and had that irritating 60Hz strobing.  I decided to solder in a rectifier, which did the trick, but in the process, I knocked over one of those big LED-lit candles we have.  It fell to our unforgiving tile floor and the wax broke into bits.  

“Oh great,” I said to myself and then heard the expected, “What did you break now?”  My poor motor skills are well known to my family so they came into the dining room to see the show. They managed to piece the candle back together.  To our surprise, the candle still worked.  The glow of the light in the candle warmed up the entire cylinder and to our surprise, created a marvelous new display, illuminating the cracks and casting new shades on the surface.  It was beautiful!   It looked like a landscape wrapped around the candle, with dramatic shadows to create depth.  The result was a natural and unique work of art that now sits on the shelf.  The broken candle created something new, giving inspiration and perspective that didn’t exist before.

We are all broken.  We all have cracks.  We experience hurts, failures, disappointments, physical limitations, mental struggles and other self or externally judged imperfections.  As my youngest often reminds me, especially when my obsessive compulsiveness kicks in, “Nobody is perfect.”   She is right! The reality is that part of our immeasurable value and enduring purpose is the incredible uniqueness of our seemingly broken bits.  Where we are fractured, the light shines through us best.  Glow!  We are creating something new by embracing who we are, striving yet shining. Our uniqueness gives inspiration and perspective that didn’t exist before.  Don’t hold back.  Be the best “you” you can be and shine!