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Mountains to Mountains by Tracy Kidder

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People need to know this Dr. Farmer and his work.

He is Dr. Paul Farmer is close to Mother Teresa in his work to help the poor across the world, but mostly in Haiti. He not only is a doctor but he also specialized in anthropology so he has an unique view of the world and a special place in his heart for the poor.

Because of this and his work in one of the poorest regions of Haiti (which qualifies as one of the poorest places in the world) he helped create cures for TB and many other diseases.

He worked locally in Haiti and in Boston as a doctor, flying back and forth. PLUS, the would speak all over the world about ways to improve the health care system for the poor. He was the “go to” guy for the World Health Organization (WHO) on many topics but also for many other global organizations.

He created clinics in Peru, worked with the Russian prison system, and so much more.

This is a piece of history more people should know about. Loved this book.

Highly recommend this one.

Why Adaptability Quotient may be the Most Important Intelligence

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As I think about what companies need from employees today, I think they need people who can adapt to the ever-changing landscape of work—and life—that we all face. I could give you the example of a 100-year pandemic but that one is too obvious. Just think about what you were doing five years ago in your work and what you are doing now. For most of us, things have changed a lot. For me, the explosion of cloud-based options for documents, photos, and more is one big change.

When I am working with a client, I start by trying to get a sense of their skills and the value they add to the workplace. I am not as concerned about their formal education as I am about the skills they have developed over the years and their ability to grow in a job.

Employers tell me to give them a person who shows up every day, works hard, and asks questions when they don’t know how to do something. They will train them to do nearly any job. I would add that the ideal employee would also have a high Adaptability Quotient (AQ). Bosses hire people to solve problems, but the problems change and the person needs to adapt to new problems—otherwise bosses will find someone else to solve the problem.

Image by Marc Pascual from Pixabay

What is Adaptability Quotient?

What is AQ? Natalie Fratto has a great TedTalk (see below) where she describes how she determines which startups she wants to invest in by measuring their ability to adapt. I think her lessons are valuable for any person looking for work and wants to stand out in their next job. She looks at three things:

How well does a person react, or adapt, to obstacles? We all face obstacles every day. Sometimes it is as simple (or difficult) as not being able to log into Zoom. It might require updating Zoom,  restarting the browser, restarting the computer, or something more advanced like figuring out how to change the settings for your laptop camera. Are you able to figure it out or do you just quit and say you can’t do it?

A person with a high AQ will figure it out. But how do you find out if a person can deal with obstacles? Natalie suggests asking “what if…?” questions.

  • What if you come to work and find out the supplies did not arrive yesterday?
  • What if the person you are working with calls in sick and you have a major project you are working on together?

These questions give insight, not into what you did before (behavioral questions) but into what you might do in the future.

What can you UNlearn in order to be more adaptable?

Her second way of determining a person’s AQ is to see if they are “unlearners.” An unlearner is a person who challenges the accepted norm of how we do things. I think this trait has been one of my strengths over the years working with students in high school or college. There were often policies and procedures everyone was supposed to follow. But every once in a while I would have a student I wanted to try something different with. For example, fitting a student into a slightly different class schedule so they could attend two periods of a vocational-technical program that was three periods long.

I wanted to find creative solutions, outside the box, in order to better serve those students.

So the question is, what can you UNlearn in order to be more adaptable? Hmmm….

Exploration determine adaptability quotient

Her third way to determine a person’s ability to adapt is to look for people who are always seeking new information—exploring new ways of looking at a situation. I think about all the cloud-based options for storing data and sharing information and how they have evolved. I am always asking myself, how can I free up more space on my computer and adapt what I do so that I can access documents from any device? Where else might I adapt in my work with this knowledge? Another hmmmm….

So when we are working with our clients, I believe we should be exploring their ability to adapt. Then to encourage them to take an employer’s mindset to adapt to the situation and be an asset to the company using their AQ as one of their “intelligences.”

If you would like to watch Natalie’s Ted Talk, check it out here.

Jim Peacock is the Principal at Peak-Careers Consulting and writes a weekly email for career practitioners. Peak-Careers offers discussion-based online seminars for career practitioners focused on meeting continuing education needs for CCSP, GCDF and BCC certified professionals as well as workshops for career practitioners and individual career coaching.

He is the author of A Field Guide for Career Practitioners: Helping Your Clients Create Their Next Move and The Adventure of Finding Me in New Zealand. He is also the recipient of the 2020 Kenneth C. Hoyt Award from the National Career Development Association and the Mid-Atlantic Career Counseling Association’s Professional Contribution’s Award in 2020.

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A Chain of Thunder. By Jeff Shaara

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I love history, but I love history more when a person can make the stories come alive. In all of Shaara’s books, he captures the historical characters by giving them believable voices. What did they say? How did they say it? What type of personality did they have? Shaara does this in all his books.

When I was attending college at the University of Wisconsin- Stevens Point, I had a history professor, Dr. Frank Crow, who taught history the same way. By giving a feel for the personality of the people who was talking about . I still remember Dr. Crow talking about Benjamin Franklin with all his attributes and foibles.

The siege of Vicksburg is another great story about the Civil War and the difficulties that not only soldiers faced on both sides, but the civilians in Vicksburg.

The Last Green Valley

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by Mark T. Sullivan

Wow, I could not put this book down. I’d read in bed and not get tired. I only turned out the light when my wife came to bed. I even turned off hockey games on TV so that I could read more.

Mark Sullivan interviewed Adeline and Emil and many others who were affected by the German / Russian armies that caused the Martel family to leave Ukraine as refugees trying to get to the allies to protect them. Stalin was horrible and Hitler was too. These poor people had no safe place so they left their homes in the Ukraine (timely topic with Russia invading Ukraine as I read this book) and had obstacle after obstacle to deal with.

Not the least of which was Emil (the father) being taken by the Russians to a prison in Poland where 75% of the prisoners died from starvation, over worked, and / or diseases.

The day after finishing the book I still replay so many of the struggles they all suffered through and find it amazing that they were able to survive and ultimately thrive in Montana.

The best book I have read in a few years and although it is based on a true story at the end of World War II, I am sure there are refugees today who have similar struggles trying the best to live a normal life.

Finding balance in my life

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One of my three guiding words in 2022 is “balance.” But what does that mean? 

Do you have to give up something or rearrange something in order to increase time spent on something else?

Does it mean that every day is balanced the same?

Does it mean you prioritize one thing over another?

Pixabay/ MoteOo

For me, balance is an awareness. An awareness that we have choices each day with where we spend our time and energy. The past year I have been thinking about what I love to do at work (live workshops) and where I have the least amount of energy. Surprisingly for me, as I explored this, I ultimately ended up taking individual career coaching off my website so I could focus more on trainings. I still do some career coaching but I wanted to shift that balance.

Guess what happened? I started getting requests to do more workshops. Yep. Two different state career associations, a state community college system, a college out west, a college in Boston, a medical company who wants to focus on retention, all contacted me this year…amazingly soon after I took career coaching off my website.

My challenge to you. Remember that you have choices, priorities, and tasks that you have some control over. “Where focus goes, energy flows,” was advice my business coach gave me and it’s true. Decide on your balance points, send the message to the “universe,” and you might be surprised what happens next. I have been pleasantly surprised.

Most of us need and/or want to work and all of us have lives outside of work. One thing I have always done is use all my vacation time each year. I even negotiated for additional vacation time in one position (and got it). Time away from work has always been important to me and I found that being refreshed made me a better worker.

Oftentimes one week was not enough to really re-energize and when I could, I tried to take more time off. We are complicated animals, we humans, and we need to be active. We also need a mix of activites so our brains can rest in different ways.

My challenge to you. Have you taken all your vacation time this year or do you at least have it planned? If not, consider ways you can use those hours/days to relax and reinvigorate yourself.

I also try to find balance within each day. I set an alarm for 45 minutes so that I remind myself to get up and move around. I try to take a 15-minute meditation break around 2:30pm each afternoon, and I am always surprised how much more energy I have when I return to work. Most days I take a walk either in the morning or after lunch. The other “balance” strategy I use is not opening emails throughout the day. I try to bunch them up so that I have time to finish projects and to just “think” through things a little better. Balancing my day and balancing my weeks are both strategies I try to be aware of.

My challenge to you. Make sure you are doing something to take control of your day and not always with your “pedal to the metal” with no time for yourself.

Because “balance” is one of my guiding words for the year, I write it down in my journal every time I write. This nudges me to think about how that word can fit into my day. I am constantly thinking about ways to keep me from working so many hours each week. I know I am at a different time in my career than many of you, and I put many hours into Peak-Careers when I started, but now I am thinking about how to manage my time better and to work closer to a 35 hour week…or less. 

There are some weeks I still work 40+ hours, but by thinking about balancing my life, being aware of it, and considering how to balance work-life, I am always trying to keep my priorities straight. Is there a way for me to stop work a little early? Can this project or 25 unread emails wait until tomorrow so that I can spend time with my family? Balance is awareness.

My challenge to you. Think about your work-life balance, be aware of other people in your life that you want to spend time with, and your own personal mental health time.

I want to share with you this poem, “The Valuable Time of Maturity”  by Mário de Andrade that really resonated with me.

” I counted my years and discovered that I have
less time to live going forward than I have lived until now.

I have more past than future.
I feel like the boy who received a bowl of candies.
The first ones, he ate ungracious,
but when he realized there were only a few left,
he began to taste them deeply.

I do not have time to deal with mediocrity.
I do not want to be in meetings where parade inflamed egos.

I am bothered by the envious, who seek to discredit
the most able, to usurp their places,
coveting their seats, talent, achievements and luck.

I do not have time for endless conversations,
useless to discuss about the lives of others
who are not part of mine.

I do not have time to manage sensitivities of people
who despite their chronological age, are immature.

I cannot stand the result that generates
from those struggling for power.

People do not discuss content, only the labels.
My time has become scarce to discuss labels,
I want the essence, my soul is in a hurry…
Not many candies in the bowl…

I want to live close to human people,
very human, who laugh of their own stumbles,
and away from those turned smug and overconfident
with their triumphs,
away from those filled with self-importance,
Who does not run away from their responsibilities ..
Who defends human dignity.
And who only want to walk on the side of truth
and honesty.
The essential is what makes
life worthwhile.

I want to surround myself with people,
who knows how to touch the hearts of people ….
People to whom the hard knocks of life,
taught them to grow with softness in their soul.

Yes …. I am in a hurry … to live with intensity,
that only maturity can bring.
I intend not to waste any part of the goodies
I have left …
I’m sure they will be more exquisite,
that most of which so far I’ve eaten.

My goal is to arrive to the end satisfied and in peace
with my loved ones and my conscience.
I hope that your goal is the same,
because either way you will get there too .. “

https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-valuable-time-of-maturity/

Jim Peacock is the Principal at Peak-Careers Consulting and writes a weekly email for career practitioners. Peak-Careers offers discussion-based online seminars for career practitioners focused on meeting continuing education needs for CCSP, GCDF and BCC certified professionals as well as workshops for career practitioners and individual career coaching.

He is the author of A Field Guide for Career Practitioners: Helping Your Clients Create Their Next Move and The Adventure of Finding Me in New Zealand. He is also the recipient of the 2020 Kenneth C. Hoyt Award from the National Career Development Association and the Mid-Atlantic Career Counseling Association’s Professional Contribution’s Award in 2020.

Sign up to receive my TOP 10 TIPS WHEN WORKING WITH AN UNDECIDED PERSON. You will also receive the career practitioner’s weekly email on a variety of career topics, industry news, interesting events, and more. (Sign up)

Crossing Paths: A Pacific Crest Trailside Reader

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Edited by Rees Hughes and Howard Shapiro. Illustrations by Amy Uyeki

All proceeds go to the PCT Association

This is the 3rd book in the PCT Trailside Readers. All three are collections of stories from people who have hiked the PCT with a few stories from history along the trail in the earlier editions.

Rees and Howard are my two backpacking buddies who I have hiked with for over 40 years…we know each other. We recently hiked in Vermont on a section of the Long Trail. Here is a glimpse into that trip if you are interested.

my backpacking community

We hiked the PCT as section hikers starting in 1981. I have about 1800+ miles completed and Rees and Howard have both finished all 2650 miles.

I loved the first two trailside readers but I have to say there is something about the stories in this one that really stuck with me.

There is a story about a father and daughter who hike the trail and how their love of the trail developed over time. A wonderful story about a guy who would hold cello concerts along the way by having people deliver his cello to his next food pick up spot. His favorite was the night he played at Timberline Lodge at Mt. Hood…it must have been magical.

Plus a story from Rees who talks about our time on the trail over 40 years and how we had met a trio of “old men in their 60’s” in 1981 and we all said to each other after they left, “we want to be those guys.” And we are.

If you love hiking, you’ll love this book for sure as it is filled with short 2-5 pages stories of people’s experiences along this beautiful, sometimes scary, always memory filled trail