Academik

Listeners - I mentioned TuneUp on the podcast a while back and I wanted to let you know it’s finally out.

I’ve been helping the company for a little more than 6 months now and I’ve got to tell you that their iTunes plug-in is legen-and I hope you’re not lactose intolerant because the last half of that word is-dairy.

You drag and drop songs into the TuneUp sidebar on iTunes, and it finds the correct album, artist, genre, year, title, etc. in seconds.  With a collection that’s more than 10 years old and includes tracks from friends,remixes, stuff I’ve collected from world travels and everything I’ve downloaded for the podcast, TuneUp was able to miraculously clean about 85% of my collection.

While it didn’t clean everything it certainly made the task of manually cleaning the rest of my music feasible and after a little bit of work every song in my library has an artist right now.  That in itself is an accomplishment.

In addition to cover art and song information, TuneUp also lets me know when artists are coming to town and shows music videos and eBay merchandise from any playing track.  It’s been a great way to explore my music in a way that I never would have taken the time to otherwise.

Get on the road to a cleaner music collection at www.tuneupmedia.com

I’m fortunate enough to have great friends in this fine city by the bay.  One of them happens to work here, another shoots photos like this, and Bryan, a past colleague, helps Puma throw killer parties in the city.  A few weeks back they did an in-store party with The Morning Benders.

I’m sure everyone comments on this, but they look  young, real young.  I think the guys with razors are faking it.  There was no alcohol in the store, (unlike previous parties) protecting the under-age crowd (and band) from going wild and ransacking the place I assume.  The Benders sat down in front of mics on the top floor of the store and proceeded to woo us with their  melancholy pop.  Think Vampire Weekend and The Shins shaken, not stirred.  The group mixes rock, pop, country, and folk across the CD and within songs to drive forward heartfelt and sometimes sorrow-filled lyrics showing that while lead singer Chris Chu may look young, his heart’s been put through its paces.

One reviewer says of a previous album, “the songs evoke exuberance and melancholic introspection without drowning in sonic ambition.” On Talking Through Tin Cans, the Morning Benders have become sonically more ambitious without losing the exuberance that makes them instantly attractive, or the melancholy which has me looking for mix-tapes to include them on.  While not all the songs are worth consistent listens, the rise and fall melody of “Patient Patient” will quickly get stuck in your head.

The second song of the album, “I Was Wrong”, opens with “I’ve seen love kick a man while he’s down” and wonderfully proclaims, “I was wrong… when I said you were right”.  Too many people from the past have deserved something similar delivered with the same tongue-in-cheek pause between admission and admonition. Other stand-outs are the ode to crumbling relationships in “Heavy Hearts” that kicks into high gear around 2:40, and “Chasing a Ghost”, the album’s most raucous track.

Below is a song called Morning Fog from a previous album… one that he performed live and I highly recommend (although this recording doesn’t do it justice).  The band has also released a collection of songs called “The Bedroom Covers” that are, as you expected, cover songs from Chris Chu’s bedroom.  Download them from their blog before the link dies!

What do you get when you mix great music, a diverse and beautiful city, and some very creative people together with the support of City Sightseeing Tours? The Audiobus.

My good friend Justin Miller of Phonofly is plugged into the music scene and a very good judge of things and people (and if not, he’ll buy you a Newcastle) so when he mentioned some sort of “bus” show last night with local musician Goh Nakamura I was instantly intrigued.

Goh has gained quite the following from his Youtube video for Embarcadero Blues, and is playing shows on both coasts.  His fingers slide easily across the fretboard, and his voice owns its “fall in love again for the first time” feel without trying too hard.  Shegeek, Justin, and I arrived promptly late at 6:23 and were quickly waivered, signed, stamped with rouge stars and ushered into the upstairs of the British double decker bus from City Sightseeing Tours.

The back of the bus enshrined Goh as he played.  Patrons sat in pairs listening to the concert on headphones sprouting from the middle of the seats (I’m guessing the retro-fitting on this bus took quite a while to pull this off).  Odessa Chen, an acquaintance of Justin’s, sat down across from us.

As we prepared for the trip, the wind started to howl through our skin and I lured Odessa over to my seat with the promise of warmth.  She quickly hopped over and introduced herself and then we were off.  Goh began with a song from his first album as we started our journey down Mission street.

Right about the time that Goh started his cover of the Cure’s Just Like Heaven I noticed Odessa looking to the heavens - there was something magical about that moment, feeling like we were canoeing across the sky, the current turned to clouds as we meandered among the skyscrapers defining our route.  Soon after, we turned onto the Embarcadero and watched the Bay Bridge build its way across the way.

Odessa and I pretended to be tourists in this city reborn before us, if only I had brought my camera! Pictures have never done her justice though.  We rolled through his stories from the Embarcadero to Dogpatch to Potrero Hill.  And just as the city arched its back to show us the beauty of her rolling hills, we descended quickly underneath the highway and up through Mission Bay.

At times, with eyes closed, I lost myself in the music; at others, I let my eyes lose me in stories I was creating for the streets and sky before me.  At the best of times, my brain took input from both and bound something within my chest that began to swell. It felt infinite.

Odessa’s Show: 08/08

“It was the cat-poles around the lake at his grandfather’s farm that inspired Ben Sollee’s debut album Learning To Bend. The frailty of those awkward looking plants standing stoutly against winds that challenged even the strongest of nearby trees is an affecting metaphor for human struggle and perseverance. This idea is central to Learning To Bend.”

Ben Sollee is that artist you keep in the clip for special people in your life. He’s that song on a mixtape that everyone always asks about after it’s given.  It’s the album that shifts among political, upbeat and fun, to sensitive so you can find something to relate to no matter what the phase of your life.

I first heard Ben from http://aurgasm.us.  Apart from my natural inclination to give any song with a cello a chance, the first song posted at Aurgasm had me hooked. It’s a remake of “A Change is Gonna Come”, originally a 1964 civil rights song by Sam Cooke, Sollee has turned it into an upbeat song about the war and the hope that a change is gonna come for America… Starting with a simple cello and vocal, when the drums and French Horn (?) hit, it feels like coming home to summers on a lake, surrounded by good friends and an intimate comfort.

The first track on the album, “A few honest words”, is a charming, slow, and plodding track that will immediately draw you in.  Speaking to the deceit of our current administration the track begins with, “If you’re gonna lead my country/if you’re gonna say that it’s free/I’m gonna need some honesty.”  The song’s slow and simple nature allows listener the chance to imbibe the somber reality of the lyrics.

Other highlights include the raucous “Bury Me With My Car” (When I’m gone / bury me with my car / cuz if anywhere is where I end up when I’m gone / I’m gonna need my ride to get around ), the dance inspiring “It’s Not Impossible”, and the sentimental “I Can’t”.  Sollee’s debut album leaves you wanting a private backyard concert, at times twirling among friends, at others watching the maestro play and taking in all that his music means… what they mean to us…

Visit www.bensollee.com for more information
Click on the album title above to buy his music from eMusic, non-DRM goodness.

Friday is the final day and reserved for clients to present their
impressions of the venture and how they’ve changed their
perspective. Each client walked through their top 3p’s (ours were
planning, process, and people). I’m working to include the
presentation here as soon as I can.

The stories were really inspiring and I realized overall how
impressive our clients were: the oldest interior design/architecture
firm in Jakarta (they do multi-million dollar mansions), the largest
private Internet provider in Indonesia, the leading marine supply
vessel provider in Indonesia… and yet one of the most powerful
stories came from a small husband and wife team who were in real
estate. The company was struggling and their relationship was
struggling as well. During the venture they realized God was calling
them to a different market segment, concentrating on higher end
properties, and they worried what their two silent partners would
think of this new shift in direction.

During the first week of the venture they prayed for a solution…

Without any instigation (apart from their prayer) the silent partners
called a meeting during the first weekend. They wanted out of the
company, and were willing to be bought out for 2/3 of what they bought
in for! The couple couldn’t believe it - this was exactly what they
wanted, gift wrapped and presented to them with a bow on top : )

For Wintermar, Martin and Kiki presented their insights over the past
two weeks to an audience that included their managing director, Kiki’s
direct supervisor, 3 Christians who had asked to attend, and 2 members
of Martin’s family. The essential part of the talk was the creation
of employees with competence and character to address corruption and
communications within the company. While it didn’t feel like an “a-
ha!” moment for me or them, I realized that the change had really been
planted within them and the Wintermar employees who had come to watch
the presentations.

The change which had taken place in the MD’s heart, was not being
communicated effectively to the entire staff, for fear that the
religiousness of the message would scare or offend them. We had just
equipped him with two more people to champion God’s management of
Wintermar. Sometimes a venture is drastic, other times it is
subtle. Sometimes it encompases the beginning, middle, and completion
of change, othertimes simply the beginning. I think in Wintermar’s
case it is simply the beginning. For Kiki, I think it was the
beginning of something completely new. For Martin, well, I’m not sure
about Martin, but he’s recommended his sister and brother both
participate in the next venture in October (our 7th in Jakarta) so I’m
assuming it was impactful for him (he was quite bashful about speaking
much of the time - I’m assuming for fear he might say something amiss
in English).

After all the presentations we gathered together and went to Harum
Manis for a group dinner (local + foreign consultants + clients) and a
final wrap-up by the leaders about what we’d done during the trip. I
finally got to meet Steve and Phillips, Kiki’s son and husband
respectively. Steve was hilarious and used my presence as a good
excuse to practice his very good English (he’s only 5!). During the
middle of dinner Andre, a local who had heard my talk at Jakarta
International Christian Fellowship on Sunday, arrived to talk about my
story and how he could look at his work as glorifying to God.

His parents were successful product distributors, and had invited him
into the business many times. When he was in between jobs he would go
to work for them, but every time he did they became angry with him
when he would not doctor receipts for clients. He explained how it
went against his principles, but they told him that if he wouldn’t
manipulate client receipts, that they would simply go to someone who
did. So he quit and began work at an international real estate
development firm as a financial assistant. The job isn’t fulfilling,
but he worked with numbers and could do so with integrity. His parents
offered to fund a new business, but he refused to be under their
thumb….

He was really frustrated with how he could be involved in the business
world, do his work well and with integrity and make a profit…
something we think that goes hand in hand in the states was actually
viewed as a detriment in Indonesia. I didn’t have many answers for
him, but I really felt that the success of his parents business and
their offer to help him start a new company was a huge blessing. I
told him that perhaps the change needs to come in his parents spirits
before it can come in their business. It’s a topic we’re often
hesitant to broach with strangers and loved ones alike, but often it’s
the topic that gives us the most insight - what is our spirit like?
Are we fulfilled? What’s our purpose here? Are we making a
difference? These simple questions lead to remarkable discussions and
deep revelations about character and thought. This challenge
resonated with him.

He’s another one I’m looking forward to checking in on over the coming
months… and I’m looking forward to finding out similar answers to my
own questions.

Thursday morning came quickly as we struggled to finalize the
Scorecard and final presentation. While we had a lot of ideas on
strategies for what needed to be done we had a dirth of action items
and KPIs to measure whether or not we would be effective.

I worked through our last 4 P’s - Place, Planning, Positioning, and
Presence to fill in the gaps. As I struggled to find unique action
items and KPIs for strategies that overlapped I realized how much we
need struggle for growth. When I first arrived in San Francisco I
went to see an exhibit at the Moma for Matthew Barney including the
8th (I think) edition of a series of films about growth and
restraint. He uses a ellipse with a bar across it to express the idea
that energy without restraint and focus is wasted, and that growth can
only occur when our energies are forced against a restraint. The
easiest example of this is weightlifting, where the restraint of the
weights and the subsequent struggle to lift them produces muscle
growth. Our mind and spirits work in much the same way.

I’m not sure if I mentioned this in a previous post, but the idea of
struggle in faith was very apparent during the trip - faith that God
would work through us and provide us the answers to questions we
certainly didn’t have the answers before. At some points exasperated
with our discussions and not really making any progress, I had to turn
to God to lead me. It was up to me to turn the struggle over to
God… to use my breakdown as an opportunity for Him to break through.

A leader told the story of another consultant who breezed through the
Scorecard with her client because they had made it very pretty, they
had filled in all the blanks with what they thought were the pieces of
the puzzle, but subsequently denied God the opportunity to participate
in the process. When confronted with this revelation, the client tore
up the Scorecard with only a few days to go and started from scratch.

I felt we had let God work through us, and it was becoming more clear
that the real work of the venture was meant to change Kiki’s heart,
and to proliferate the ideas of Rep throughout the company. I passed
the scorecard on to Kiki and Martin around 1pm and then went for lunch.

I worked on supplemental documents throughout the afternoon and
finally met up with Kiki and Martin in the evening around 5 so that we
could go over any questions they had. Kiki was working through
assigning the Scorecard action items to specific people and
establishing deadlines while Martin prepared the final presentation.

I left for a final team meeting in apt 9b and for the first time felt
the end in sight for the venture. We sang at the top of our lungs
during worship that night, laughing and dancing in the cramped
apartment space. Giman, one of the local consultants, was singing
above everyone else - giving us inspiration! We then went back to our
favorite local restaurant for some more cuisine served up in wood,
metal, and seashells… We laughed and enjoyed our dwindling time
together.

Well Tuesday and Wednesday swept by rather quickly.

Tuesday began with some prayer around the issues facing Wintermar,
Kiki, and Martin. The time went very quickly as we prayed mainly for
families and then we went into a visioning session where we encourage
clients to broaden their minds and think big about what they want to
do. It’s the grade-school exercise where your counselor asks you, “If
you had a million dollars, what would you do?”, but in business form.

The session did not go as hoped because we brought up a sensitive
issue (we didn’t know it was sensitive at the time) and tried to pull
some ideas out of them. They didn’t respond. It was like their
tongues has been taken away from them. It was frustrating for all of
us, and the leaders said that it was the only one during the day like
that.

Afterwards we went over to City Walk and worked on our Scorecard for
Wintermar. We spent time filling in the blanks that we had.

Wednesday we covered our last two P’s - Place and Process.

Place asks the question - does your office or store communicate your
purpose? does it reflect the values of the company? What are the
colors? How much natural light is there? Does the place help reinforce
good health?

Having visited Wintermar several times now I knew they were doing many
things right. There’s a basketball court in the basement and a
fitness center on the top floor. The office looks very professional
and contains one of the nicest board rooms I’ve seen. Kiki mentioned
that the office can grow pretty loud because so many of the employees
are communicating with crew on the boats - I asked if they had
headsets to make them more comfortable being on the phone all day. No
- well there’s one thing we can do to make the employees feel better
at the office. I noticed a Muslim prayer room - was there anything
for Christians? No. There’s another option. The company name was in a
few places, but I didn’t ever see anything that stated the company’s
purpose or values - we decided it would be good to have a plaque with
Wintermar values in the entryway so that clients and employees would
be reminded of them every time they entered the building. Martin also
had a great suggestion that the company could encourage family values
by providing dormitories for families to stay when their husbands/
fathers are working long-term away from home. We didn’t know how to
quite manage that so I’ve recommended crew be given vouchers for
flights home during long term stays. The idea will need some
refinement, but by realizing what was missing on the boat, we were
able to create a dual impact : making employees happier and
encouraging strong family values.

As for Process Wintermar has a lot of great processes in place for
communication and evaluation. Kiki had mentioned to me though that
crewing and office HR use different payroll systems which makes extra
work for everyone. Aligning those two systems was our first
priority. Then I asked how prayer was included in the hiring
process? If they had given the company to God, then why were they
continually making decisions without consulting the CEO? We
encouraged Kiki to include prayer over resumes when she’s hiring and
for the CEO to pray over new employees (also a way for him to talk to
new employees about their values). The goal would be for staff
turnover to be reduced, and for new employees to be the right
employees (measured by the percentage who stick around after their 3
month probationary period).

With our last 2 p’s behind us we went back to work on positioning and
presence, two p’s that were a struggle considering we were dealing
with the HR department and not an entire company. We decided that
the positioning statement of the HR department would be “the
communication bridge between management and employees” and we worked
on strategies to communicate from the top down and from the bottom
up. For the former, that included creating a communication structure
within the company and creating a company vision/planning letter from
Pak Sugiman every 3 months so that employees had some idea of where
the company was going.

For the bottom up strategy we advised the creation of crew and staff
support teams that would talk with employees and low-level managers on
a regular basis. All employees (including boat crews) should be given
access to email on boats and on-shore. Wintermar already had a lot of
the right processes in place for fielding employee comments, or
communicating emergency issues so we hoped that the support teams
would give them an outlet for the minor day-to-day issues that they
never thought to communicate to management.

Tomorrow is the last unstructured day and we should have all our
materials done tonight… we don’t, but I’m sure we’ll be ready by our
Friday 11am deadline for our presentation!

So remember how I said that I spoke at church on Sunday… and that a
few people came up to speak to me afterwards… well one of them
explained that she was working with a group of Christians on the
island of Sumba and that she felt it was really necessary for them to
hear our message and our testimony. She prayed during my testimony
that God would send me to Sumba to preach t o her group…

As I planned to head to Manando, one of the best diving spots in the
world to do a few days of SCUBA diving before I head to Hong Kong, the
Lord really put it on my heart that I needed to be obedient to this
call. I sent Myrne, the woman who approached me, an email earlier
today explaining this and asked her if it she felt it was necessary
for me to go right now or if one of the Indonesians on staff would be
better suited to speak to her congregation.

The Lord thankfully made this decision very apparent and she replied
with the name of the pastor there, her phone number, gave me flight
information, assigned me a tour guide and a translator, and acted as
if the decision had been already made. And so I begin planning for a
trip to Sumba, a small island not too far East of Papua. There are
mostly on villages on the island, and electricity will be available
only at night. “There is one email station, but it is broken most of
the time” Myrne tells me. : )

I have great expectations for this trip, and it looks as though one of
the Rep team from Indonesia might accompany me as well which would be
a huge blessing. So, this blog might get even more interesting soon…

I’ll leave Saturday. There’s still a lot to do with Wintermar between
now and then so please continue to pray for Kiki, Martin, Sugyman,
Darmawan, and the other employees that we might guide them toward’s a
higher purpose for the company.

We covered 3 Ps today and If i tried to include all my notes from
today you would be inundated…

Starting with Profit
We started with a film clip from the Passion of the Christ where Judas
receives the 30 gold pieces for betraying Jesus, and then later
repents and tries to give the money back. We talked about this at our
office that more money rarely means more happiness with employees (and
people in general). How often do we long for something which we think
is going to make our lives much better, only to receive it and
immediately start longing for something else… has this happened to
you in your life?

we talked about the idea of profit not as the reason for the business,
but the validation that what you’re providing is valuable. This had
profound impact on my vision for Wintermar’s HR department… thinking
that the number of people they had under them an indicator of profit
and validation that they were doing well. They worried about
maintaining crewing staff again, but we hammered home the point that
God’s resources are limitless, and when you’re acting in His will then
the resources will be provided.

I challenged Kiki and Martin that the profit they had in people should
be invested back into the community, not just in the form of money,
but also in terms of volunteering which improves employee morale along
with the reputation of the company.

We are blessed to be a blessing and money is like blood, if it doesn’t
move, then it’s not accomplishing its purpose. We asked clients to be
realistic in where they are, but faithful in where they could go with
God’s help.

We heard from Pak Suroso who is an architect and his vision for city
planning and development was changed by the training from a profit
centered model to a God centered model. This has allowed him to think
of the different elements that bring people together and closer to God
within a city. He challenged his office to begin paying for software
which they had previously pirated, and they began paying all taxes
that they owed. He thought that avoiding these costs was a
competitive advantage, but quickly realized that by doing such he was
acknowledging the weakness of God to make him successful by acting
rightly.

The second P of the day was planning - discussing three simple questions

• Where am I now?
• Where do I want to be?
• How am I going to get there?

Martin and Kiki explained to me that they’ve got lots of planning
built into their process:
- HR weekly meeting to discuss progress about what they’ve done, and
what’s to come
- 1 hour Friday afternoon
- Monthly meeting, each department has one, mgmt has meeting
- Discuss company management strategy
- Creation and how to implement
- MGMT measurement review every 3 months
- discuss the employee’s questionnaire
- discuss measurements of other department
- docking, vessel utilization, operational down time, etc.
- Planning & Development Department
- discuss non-conformity that we’ve found and how we’ll improve
- yearly - management measurement and review of all 4 quarters
- 6 month evaluations

Sounds like a lot of meetings! I’m glad I’ve only got 8 people who
are all within earshot : ) So planning was good and we’re just
working on how to make Martin more proactive as opposed to reactive.

The final P for the day was Partnering and this one brought about a
lot of dialogue and is going to require a big mind-shift for Wintermar.

When we talk about partnering we discuss the idea that 1+1 > 2… The
value and synergy of working together should increase that number to
more like 5 or 7. We encourage companies to start small, citing that
“he who is faithful with little, will be trusted with much” and that
each partner should be equally yoked. So Wal-Mart will never be a
good partner for smaller suppliers since it often becomes their only
customer and thus they are totally dependent on Wal-Mart, but Wal-Mart
could easily replace them. Good partners are people that are willing
to share your burdens and your successes. For us, our partner list is
quite long…

• employees & their families
• recruitment agencies
• government
• universities
• academies
• training organizers
• supppliers
• competitors who might share excess crew/boats in times of need

As I began to suggest that they might develop an internship program
with Universities and Maritime Academies I hit a break wall of secrecy
within the company. The idea of having a stranger come in was very
disconcerting because they could steal company secrets like their
salary list or procedure manual. I tried for about 20 minutes to
understand their concerns, and explain why they weren’t an issue (why
would an intern know the salaries of other employees? even if another
company had your manual, they wouldn’t be able to implement it with
the same character and heart as you). If you gave Michaelangelo and I
both the exact same painting materials - our output would be much
different. Eventually we pulled Errol into the discussion and he made
them realize that if other companies are stealing their materials,
then that means Wintermar is the leader in the industry. By the time
other companies are able to implement their procedures, Wintermar will
have already developed new ones, and be acting them out in a manner
which is consistent with their values and purpose - something other
companies can copy in text, but not in spirit. It was a very long
discussion and one that opened my eyes to a barrier that is holding
the company back.

This is something that we’ve discussed in my own company and we’ve
agreed that it’s much better to be open about what we do. If we
propose standards and procedures the increase the level of service and
quality in our industry then we’ve improved things for everyone (which
is good for all) and establishes our position as a leader in the
industry. It also forces us to continue to re-invent ourselves to
stay on top.

More thoughts to come….

Saturday:

We went to Taman Mini, a theme park that has different sections
devoted to the different islands and areas of Indonesia… I’m hoping
to post all the pictures soon, but this place was incredible. This
place gave me a lot of great ideas for my future homes (JWLS - you’ll
love them!). Aside from being mauled by a horde of pre-teens and
catching a glimpse of an old lady with a platinum grill, the adage a
picture is worth a thousand words applies here. Will let you know
when they’re up.

Sunday:
This morning I was asked by Errol to help him present Rep at Jakarta
International Christian Fellowship, a local church that meets in a
conference room at a nearby hotel/office building. I didn’t find out
that I would be speaking until about 10 minutes before I left at 8
this morning and so I spent the first part of the worship praying, and
really feeling God moving me to talk about 3 points:

1. God wants you to hear this message that he sent two people half-
   way around the world to give it to you
2. A personal testimony about how I discovered Rep and the events
   leading up to it
3. How I’m excited about what God is doing in my life which creates
   a natural dialogue for witnessing to people, especially in the
   workplace (due to the fact I’ve got to explain why I’m going to be
   gone for the entire month of May)

We had a number of people be quite moved by the talk and many came up
to talk to us afterwards. There was a woman running a ministry in
Sumba, an Indonesian island nearer Australia, who asked us to come
visit and I’m pondering heading there before I leave for Hong Kong
next week. We’ll see where God wants me. We brought some books and
pamphlets with us and during the two services we spoke at we mostly
sold out.

One conversation I had afterwards brought up a really interesting
point that I’d never considered before… If we’re created in God’s
image and he is the ultimate creator, then to deny our own creativity
is to deny part of God that exists within us. Thank you Edwin for your
insight, and your dedication to ensuring children tap into this.

I all my time this afternoon prepping deliverables (Kiki and Martin
put in work Saturday to update things) for a mid-trip evaluation.
This evening we had a great team dinner at a nice Indonesian
restaurant and I was excited to be sitting next to Margie, one of the
leaders for the Indian Community Development Program. We spoke for a
long time about India… Seems like a fascinating, but very
challenging place. Can’t wait to spend more time with them throughout
the week.