It was a cool October morning last year when I rendezvoused with a good friend, Izzy, his wife and brother, for a trip to Skydive Arizona for a life-changing 13,000 foot tandem free-fall sky-dive. It’s taken me this long to write a blog post about it because I wasn’t able to relinquish the need to capture the experience in words on this page; it simply cannot be done. Doing it should top your list as it will fill you with a single focus like you haven’t experience since you were a kid, light you up like Christmas tree for a month and will probably knock silly any phobias or hangups you’re dragging around.

Put simply: Talk about a change in perspective! It’s like taking a month off, and it only takes the morning.

A video follows, you can jump to the jumping or watch the whole thing below…

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLeLbNbjoGk&feature=channel_video_title&w=540&hd=1]

You see, my wife Sharon Discorfano is an animal advocate, law student, and all-around awesome partner.  Though she’s been practicing a veg-diet for longer than I’ve known her, she was patient with me — no doubt because of how my other awesome qualities overshadowed this flaw — she never forced the issue.  That said, the constant stream of information from the various animal-rights/advocacy organizations made an impact. And last year, around this time, I’d finally seen one suffering animal too many; I could no longer reconcile loving animals so much and then participating in their suffering.

In February of 2010, I decided to take the plunge and give up meat.  At the time, I had given up most processed foods, junk food, refined sugars, etc., in an effort to lose weight – I was weighing in at around 288 pounds; and though I’d lost about 20 pounds already and  felt better at 268, I still didn’t feel great! I felt as though I really needed a lifestyle change to alter my relationship with food, to change the way I felt about food. This was my headspace when I opened the mailbox, grabbed the pile of correspondence, and found an envelope with that image of a pig crammed into a gestation crate.  One the other side of the envelope, a picture of a a downed cow and a fork-lift operator cruelly tormenting this horrified cow, clearly exhausted and resigned to its fate. That was it! I’d had enough. I’d been wrestling with that inner voice for long enough: I needed a change, and all signs pointed to giving up meat.

So there I was, precariously perched on the precipice of a new lifestyle and a new life.  I was fat and tired, and now I decided not to eat any of my favorite comfort foods.  Pepperoni pizza, cheeseburgers, sub sandwiches with salami and provolone, smoked salmon — all among favorites. February 17th began the Lent season and, although I’m not Catholic, I decided that I would start with giving up meat for the 40 days of Lent. Surely I could try out this new plan and see how it went, right? Just to raise the stakes of the game a bit, I also decided that I would stop salting my food. I really wanted to get back to basics and reconnect with food in a healthier and more fulfilling way.

I will interject here that having a partner that is already on the path probably makes a huge difference. I’ve spoken with some folks that have struggled with the bi-diet household… and it can be really tough. Sharon was a huge source of inspiration and, as I will share, we’ve had a ton of fun since I’ve made the changes! To all of you living with others, however, remember this: what finally got me over the hump was time, not pressure.

Luckily, since Sharon already was eating a veg diet, most of our shared meals were vegan (though I often added cheese topping to mine).  This made it really easy for me on the dinner front; the real challenge would be meals outside the home. For breakfast, I gave up the usual egg sandwich for hot oatmeal with raisins and cranberries. Occasionally, I would add a bit of granola for texture but, for the most part, it was dried fruit and hot oats to start the day.  For lunch, I chose to go the raw salad route, which, for me, is a real challenge because I’m allergic to a number of raw vegetables. Due to my food allergies, I had, for years, avoided salads because they didn’t make me feel well.  Because I was committed to the change at this point, however, I experimented with different combinations until I found something that worked.  And I discovered there was a salad I could eat!  Raw spinach, carrots, garbanzo beans, wax peppers, and a few slivered almonds with low-fat ranch dressing. Eureka!

When I first started eating this way, I admit that it wasn’t the most exciting or palate-pleasing diet, to say the least.  In the beginning, I found the oatmeal somewhat bland and the smell of bacon in the company cafe enticing.  However, after about a week, I’d already begun to notice a change and that motivated me. First, breakfast seemed more sustaining that it had in years.  I wasn’t getting mid-morning hunger pangs and my energy level felt really consistent.  In addition, I’d begun really noticing the flavor of the oatmeal; it was no longer bland, it seemed almost creamy. My salads had me salivating as well.  Maybe it was the tangy wax peppers or the perfect textures of the food combination — whatever the reason — I was hooked!

Easter marks the end of Lent and is typically a holiday morning out with my fantastic in-laws.  We head to a local Easter morning event complete with an impossibly vast buffet.  My eating experiment had run its course and, here we were, 40 days later. I was feeling a tremendous improvement: I’d lost another 30 pounds and people had really begun to notice a change in my body and in my energy level.  Folks were telling me I looked younger and happier.  I sure felt both!  I was making a spiritually whole and morally sound decision with every bite of food.  I felt better than I had in years. I was losing weight, and the thought of the animals I had spared from suffering as a result of my day to day choices was a huge motivator. Sharon later told me that she’d expected my experiment to come to an end on Easter. Although she was certain much had changed, she had no expectations that I would continue on a meat-free path.  But I did.  And, not only that: I felt that day that I wanted to solidify my commitment and take the next step: eliminate eggs and dairy.  I would eliminate entirely my consumption or use of animal products.

So many people have said to me, “I could never give up cheese,” or, “I love meat.” To those people I always say, “That’s what I used to say.”  But I can truly tell you that I have never — not once — looked back, because of the feeling I have knowing how my choices make a difference. I live every single day without placing the burden of my need to survive on a creature that can’t speak for itself. My decisions leave animals off the table. I am choosing to live each day harmoniously. I can look at a cow and feel only appreciation, no guilt.  It is simply liberating.

Nearly a year later, I have completely transformed my day-to-day existence.  I have lost 100 pounds, and I am a vegan cooking whiz in the kitchen.  Sharon and I have made recipes from some of the best vegan cookbooks out there nearly two or three times a week since last April and, in doing so, we’ve connected on a whole new level. There is something so amazing about carving out the time to enjoy cruelty-free sustinence. I sleep more soundly, which I love; I’ve stopped snoring, which Sharon loves. I’ve lost 100 pounds, and I look 10 years younger. I love getting moving now and I’ve even taken up things I never thought I would, like skiiing!

I can tell you that it wasn’t all that easy — not at the beginning. But it’s all about results, and the results were there quickly.  I felt better about myself, my choices, and my impact almost immediately. And I’m enjoying my food more than I ever have before.

Dan’s journey starts with a terribly unfortunate accident in which he was serverly burned by a flare.  During many years-long recovery he began to notice things that his caretakers did that defied, in his opinion, all logic.  An inquisitive and curious soul, he began questioning the staff on why they did things the way they did and began noticing a pattern of irrationality to which he would devote many years of research to develop the series of ground-breaking studies on which his book is based.

This interview was amazing — share comments and thoughts below!

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In this interview, Simon talks to Aaron Eden and I about what he calls the golden circle and how you can use the techniques outlined in Start With Why to pretty much anything you’re tackling.  He also introduces us to his Left Siders community, started to increase collaboration.  Sadly, an audio issue led us to lose the last few minutes of the interview, but the other 45 minutes is fantastic!

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This recipe is easy, and tastes like it was made by a gourmet!

Watch the video!

I had a great time talking to David about his journey at Intuit and the way he applies connecting with customers to drive impactful innovation.  David is a passionate engineer, quality analyst and customer advocate and has driven innovation to a new level at Intuit.

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View in iTunes

Intuit is a great place to work and there are tons of opportunities for testing and measuring different approaches toidea generation, incubation and development as well as for iterating (relatively) rapidly on process improvements.

In this article, I want to put forth thoughts on the Agile Transformation and on re-thinking some of the challenges weface in our day-to-day.

Fear Factor

Bringing an organization into the Agile domain is often very challenging for a variety of reasons. There are practical considerations, roles and responsibilities to define (and un-define), existing dysfunctions, and so forth. However, the root of most of the challenges faced when leading any sort of organizational change is fear.

Why Fear?

Because it means change and for whatever reason it seems like many of the people I have managed, worked with and for, at one time or another fear change. Isn’t it fascinating that we aspire to deliver greatness in what we create, which fundamentally means change of some kind, yet we find ourselves and others fearing the very change required to produce that greatness? I just love these paradoxes!

Why do people fear change?

Besides the obvious reasons — fear of failure, losing job,position, rank, looking bad – I believe that people think they are supposed to find stability. People seek a groove(see: rut) and ride that groove as long as possible. While there is merit in stability and finding your rhythm, there is danger in finding too much comfort there. As stated clearly in the Agile Manifesto, we must be good at responding to change! It is my wholehearted belief that many of our greatest failures come from commitment to a failing approach over being intelligently flexible. Our [work]culture promotes the pursuit of stability rather than the pursuit of agility & flexibility — this creates a collapse when change is thrust upon us.

What if we were comfortable with rapid, frequent unexpected change? How would this change how we feel or respond when blindsided?

Overcoming Fear

Changing the fear-response is an active process of continual reinforcement and of supplanting the undesired response with the preferable one.  As with any other type of change — personal or organizational – reverting into past behavior is a natural reflexive response.  Leading change in this area requires patience and a safe environment; team members, managers and leaders must feel safe to challenge one-another and more importantly, it must be okay to fail.

Fail fast, Learn fast, Change… Rinse, lather, repeat.

Remember: Change is okay – it should mean that we are evolving!

Process Rigidity

Along with resistance to change, potentially rooted in fear, is resistance to changing the way we work.  After all, why should we change what’s already effective?

Effective in isolation

Obviously, the effectuality of a given team, group or process is relative.  Often, you have extremely effective individual contributors and teams within the organization and there’s good reason to fear disrupting that strong performance.  The problem here lies in missing the bigger picture; the groups are generally highly effective — true — but in isolation; the larger organism is still unhealthy because there is very little interaction between the parts.

If the department, division or group’s components only work well in isolation — clumps of medium to high performing isolated teams– peak performance, progress and innovation cannot occur.

“The whole is greater than the sum of its parts” –Aristotle

What fantastic feeling it is to work within an organization that achieves this Aristotelian principle!

Effective in Collaboration

Changing the way people work to incorporate more collaboration and thus sharing results and outcomes is critical to:

• Creating deep cross-functional understanding the problem domain
• Creating accountability inter/intra-organizationally
• Instilling a sense of investment in the work & results
• Turbo-charging innovation
• Destroying silos
• Creating dynamic and flexible teams

Most people and teams are far more effective in collaboration,though there are those folks that do a great job at being turned loose on a problem.  Often, this is best done during the formative stages of a project – learning, prototyping, getting a firm grasp on the problem – but if you look over the course of time, the isolated approach tends to take you only so far and then collaboration of some type is required to elevate to the next level.

It may seem obvious, but we collect ourselves into teams precisely because collaboration yields benefits.  The issue we tend to face here is that when given the choice between grouping ourselves by what we do rather than grouping ourselves by what we’re trying to accomplish we are apt to choose the former. In doing this, we sap our full creative and collaborative potential.  It may feel comfortable to live in a group of like-skilled designers or engineers, analysts or marketers, copy-writers or sales reps — there is a sense of community and collaboration here flows naturally — unfortunately this has ultimately led us to the work request (toss over the wall) processes we have today.  This is because teams are organized by what the members do.

To be clear I don’t want to discourage the highly effective process of growth and development that results from intra-vocational community development.  Designers should challenge one another to achieve each new milestone in thinking and approach.  Engineers should challenge one another inelegance and simplicity, for example. When I think back over my career thus far, I am reminded that most of the life-changing growth I have experienced has been in working with people outside my community of technicians: leaders, designers, analysts and customers!

Fundamentally, hard organizational lines should not drive -positively or negatively – your ability to organize around the goals and objectives after which you are seeking.  Hard reorganizations are costly, time-consuming and can be a total disruption to teams. And, often, you are in a situation no better suited to deliver optimum collaboration and efficacy. What we’re talking about here is creating flexible groups that are “organized”around what should be accomplished, rather than function – this can be done simply by:

• Explicitly, but flexibly defining the teams and team members around the outcomes – team members should represent appropriate functions for the desired results
• Establishing Accountability – Team owns the outcomes, good or bad
• Giving appropriate autonomy – you expect greatness and expert-level contribution
• Expecting and rewarding failure – this is where the greatest learning tends to manifest

Commit like you’ve never committed before

“Aha! You said be flexible and ready to respond to change!”

So I did, and still hold this to be an inalienable truth.  What you and the organization must commit to is working through the challenges that arise in making the change.  Think about what you are asking!

• Accountability – Teams & Team Members will have themselves to thank for success, and conversely, blame for failures
• Trust – In groups that have struggled, trust is a hard commodity to come by; it is, however, essential
• Autonomy – Folks will be required to leverage expertise,innovation, self-discipline and drive. In low performing groups, it may take awhile for people to become comfortable in this space again.  When they do, it’ll be like wildfire!
• Honesty – No more hidden agendas.  Everyone has to be ready to incorporate delivering honest, real-time feedback… and be ready to receive it!
• Accepting Failure – Adjusting to an environment that allows for and rewards appropriate failure – that in failing and learning fast- isn’t easy; especially for overachievers and a-types!

The challenges are all surmountable, the payoff is great and your employees, customers and stakeholders will all be overjoyed to participate in this kind of environment!

Thanks, reader, for making it this far.  I’d love to hear feedback on experiences others have had making this journey.

Note: This work represents my opinion and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of my employer, my wife, or anyone else I know.

That’s right, we will be showcasing the awesome (almost) year of support the community has shown this unique letter-writing experience! We will have some great giveaways so make sure to stop by if you happen to be attending!

You may Register for the conference or just show up and grab an exhibit hall pass. We think they are about $10.

Thank you to everyone who’s helped spread the word and has show such heartfelt support for this project. We appreciate it so much!