The Gardener

I am the worst gardener ever. I can tell you stories upon stories of gardens which have not survived under my care, lawns that have been ruined only to be replaced and ruined again, and fruit trees that never bared their fruit. A gardener, horticulturist, or botanist I am not.

However, I appreciate the analogy that gardening offers my own life. I still toil in the yard battling weeds, sowing flowers and celebrating when I prevail over a corner of the yard that has been my nemesis. Each of these things and more reminds me of the care that goes into any activity worth cultivating.

In my own start up company, of course this analogy of gardening is also relevant. There are some activities that require greater care to grow and flourish. And the things that grow rapidly, those that sprout tall in the least amount of time, might not develop deep roots nor survive unfavorable conditions. It is the things I am attentive to, the details I sweat, that allow for growth that is from strength and not easily withered. I am further reminded when there is pruning required, that this act of cutting off results in the promise of healthier growth. Even though at the time I may only feel the bite from the teeth of the saw.

Growing something from nothing requires care, attention and time. It requires the labor of digging deep, preparing the soil, and the eradication of invasive weeds that threaten to choke what it is you mean to grow. Does it require work? Yes. Are there forces at work both for and against you? Yes. Is it worth the effort? I say, yes.

"All gardeners live in beautiful places because they make them so."
- Joseph Joubert

Gaming for everyone

I know, I know. The latest buzz words are games and gamification. But I have to tell you, I love games. I have always been a gamer of some sort. In fact, the original game of Might and Magic on PC swapping in and out 5 1/4" floppy disks was the reason my career has been in Information Technology the past 23 years. I programmed on the Commodore 64, played pong and Pitfall on Atari, and dropped quarters in Star Castle at the arcade. In more recent years, I have enjoyed some team building online with Battlefield 1942 and City of Heroes.

And though I have spent countless hours with video gaming across the PC, Playstation, Nintendo and other platforms, I also like non-video games. My son and I play a card game with each other called Magic the Gathering. We have hundreds of cards now that we mix and match to build a deck to conquer one another. (I have even been known to buy some cards off of ebay to try and get the upper hand). We have chess boards in the house where we can sit down on a moments notice and go for the best two out of three. In these more recent years, I have enjoyed sharing the fun of games in all kinds of forms with my son.

But there is a big difference between my son and I. I can be highly competitive, and he generally is not. In fact, given the choice he would prefer to play cooperatively and be on the same team as opposed to one of us having to come out the loser in a contest. At first, I found this to be curious, even odd. I remember my oldest daughter playing Monopoly at age 7 and refusing to explain a rule to my father in law in hopes he would make a mistake she could capitalize on. And I thought to myself, "right on". I thought maybe I could work on this inability to compete with my son and perhaps help correct his behavior. It didn't take me long to realize that it did not need correcting at all, but this skill of his needed encouragement. It is not a flaw. It is his strength.

With this profound discovery of mine, I have found it curious in the manner by which many companies are engaging in gaming tactics to motivate people. Often the formula is simply to get people to compete for status. However, as I have found, not all gamers are equally motivated by the same things. Throwing competitive gaming elements together will not engage all possible participants in a one size fits all strategy. It is necessary to accommodate the competitive and the cooperative types. The meek and the assertive. The passive and aggressive style players. There are more than just competitive people who enjoy the fun of playing games.

Gamification needs to be fun at its core and engaging for all types of players. The individual who prefers Solitaire and crossword puzzles should not be left out. A rich playing experience incorporates storytelling and character development for some types of players. Game mechanics are fun when the level of difficulty matches the skills of the player. When gaming elements are too easy, they quickly become boring and erode their engagement qualities for the player. Why not let players determine those boundaries for themselves. It is my wish that software developers and designers who are incorporating gamification go beyond the short term quick hit earn points and badges model. I wish for them to implement more experiential frameworks that allow openness for players to explore the game elements in the style they are most attuned with. Not having to feel defeated or even having to engage with others socially if they prefer not to. But to enjoy gamification for the pure love of playing the game, however they choose to interact with it.

The Classics

Humphrey Bogart, Jimmy Stewart and John Wayne are some of my all-time favorite actors. By today's standards, their movies aren't flashy with computerized special effects or budgets in the unheard of millions. They just brought raw classic acting to the screen. They were loved for their own styles, each different from one another. Yet all of them legendary leading men. Every now and then, I pop an old classic on and enjoy simpler times by the likes of films such as The Maltese Falcon, The Man who shot Liberty Valence, or El Dorado.

These days I myself occasionally feel like a classic. A throwback from days gone by. I am part of a startup community and I am over the age of 40 years old. This is counter culture to the entrepreneurs of today. There is an expected formula to follow for big box office hits and large startup successes today. My profile doesn't fit, simply because I am considered too old and haven't done it before now. Yet the actors I mentioned are considered iconic, even to this day. They are legends who proved themselves time and again to defy the odds in film after successful film.

• Humphrey Bogart was short and had a lisp, flunked out of Phillips Andover and didn't break into the A-list of actors until the age of 42. Yet in 1999, the American Film Institute named him the Greatest Male Star in cinematic history.
  
• Jimmy Stewart was a boyish-looking, skinny unlikely leading man some have referred to as even biographically boring. Yet he is one of the more highly decorated award winners in film history starring in more than 100 films and considered one of the more beloved leading male actors ever.
  
• John Wayne began his acting career as an injured football player losing his scholarship and with an unlikely screen name of Marion Morrison. However, he went on to act in a reported more than 175 films. His work on the Searchers has been singled out by filmmakers and actors alike as the greatest performance by an actor on film, ever. When you want to watch an epic western, there is no equal.
  

Each of these men in spite of their drawbacks were reportedly driven, hard-working men of high integrity. These men of the past are inspiring to me. They give me the courage to be my own self and take all of my own experience and pour it into the stage I am given. I may not hit it big right away. My first few startup efforts might not be blockbuster hits. However, perhaps with persistence my own Oscar awaits. I share the highly driven, hard-working and high integrity philosophy of these leading men. And if I am discarded by some because I do not fit the profile, I am all the more fueled to become a leading man in my own style just as these men did.

The Junction Boys

I think it was about two years ago that I read the book The Junction Boys by Jim Dent. It is a compelling story of Paul "Bear" Bryant who suffers his team through a grueling training camp in Junction, Texas. For those who could, many ran back to the life they had and escaped the brutality of the now infamous training camp. But for others, there was no place to run back to. Bryant willed he would get the most out of this team he had inherited. And those who had no alternative, would be required to endure it.

When I had finished the book, I remember contemplating the motivation these players must have had to endure the onslaught of physical and mental cruelties suffered. Most of them clearly had nothing to go back to. Texas was going through a fourth year of major drought that resulted in families losing farms and ranches. Parents broke the plates of the boys leaving their homes to symbolize there was no dinner table to come back to, as many could no longer feed them anyway. It seems obvious to me that motivation is easiest achieved through self-interest. However, American society seems to have become centralized completely around positive rewards for self-interest as the only means of motivation. Isn't it equally true that one can be highly motivated for fear of the result of not enduring? That the outcomes of not achieving may be more painful then the present effort persistence requires?

I do not believe all motivation should be to avoid punishment or pain. In fact, my business is quite the contrary. Nor do I believe all motivation should be derived from the pursuit of pleasure. The Junction Boys story is a reminder that achievement can be the result of no other option but to win, to endure, to prevail because there is no other choice.

I would argue that motivation only for the pursuit of pleasure can be compromised. When things get too difficult, we may justify the reward is not worth the present level of pain. Whereas the motivation derived from avoiding a more difficult alternative cannot be avoided. It cannot be compromised. Therefore, it is at least possible that motivation, because there are no other alternatives to fall back upon, is perhaps the most compelling motivation of all.

Let's say to become independently wealthy - for life, you must endure an incredibly difficult task that would be just barely tolerable. One that you doubt your ability to achieve and would require great personal sacrifice. Now compare that with having to endure that same task or to be sold into slavery - for life. Doesn't being independently wealthy seem like an optional goal whereas slavery does not? Sometimes it might be worth the exercise for you to consider what the penalty might be for not achieving, rather than just only considering what you might have to gain by it.

Oh yeah, and the Junction Boys? Two years later, Bryant led the team to the Southwest Conference championship with a 34–21 victory over the University of Texas at Austin.

Potholes

Early morning is a great time for me to think. And this morning I was thinking about all of the many potholes the road to any worthwhile destination has. Every long road to a destination has twists and turns, but the twisting and turning continue to carry you forward towards your destination. Some might even find the turns exhilarating and full of excitement as they press the pedal even harder and lean into the curves.

But the potholes are a different story. They slow us down. The deeper ones are uncomfortable to move past. The ones some are faced with may even suggest you turn around, change your course, or even head back home. The thing about potholes are they came into being as a result of a road traveled before. Someone else pushed past this point, in fact many have. It was their tires who widened the hole and deepened the obstacle.

As I think about my own startup experience so far, I am reminded of the ups and downs. One day having leaned into a curve and the rush of the feeling coming out of it. Other days in which I rattled my self over a pothole and came out sour at the obstacle. I am reminded this morning to look beyond the road and at the scenery, and therefore gain enjoyment from the ride itself.