Author: Jason Cox

“The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” – Dan Millman

My home office is in our dining room, specifically on our dining room table.  Like many of you, I built up my home office area to best accommodate work.  I have an office chair, large monitor and plenty of accessories.  However, for the holidays, I needed to vacate the area.  As is our tradition, our dining room hosts all of our holiday treats and Christmas dinners.  We sit around the table, enjoy the feast and pop Christmas crackers.  Yes, we even read the corny jokes and wear the paper crown.  The pandemic limited our ability to gather with our extended family, but we still had a delightful Christmas holiday.

As I re-assembled my “office” this past weekend, I was struck by the amount of stuff I had accumulated.  At first, I blindly started to stack it all back onto the table.  It occurred to me that this was the perfect time to apply lean principles and deploy only what is needed, when needed.  There is an incredible satisfaction when you can thin the clutter and start fresh.  To me, that is what a New Year is all about.  Sure, it is just another revolution around the sun, but there can be a human significance. It is an opportunity to mentally restart.  It is a chance for us to reduce the clutter and begin again on a new canvas.  

As a young art student, I had just been introduced to oil painting.  I had been struggling with a landscape I had been working on for weeks.  I expressed my frustration with my art teacher.  She said she knew what needed to be done.  To my horror she grabbed a tube of Titanium white and with a large brush, quickly whited out all but the outline on my scene.  Shock became relief as new possibilities began to explode in my head.  With the constraints of my past mistakes gone, I could begin anew.  I could focus my energies forward, projecting my imagination and crafting a new world. It was a great lesson to a young artist… Don’t be afraid to start over.

What is important?  What should we start doing?  What should we stop?  What new thing should we build?  What should we leave behind?  These are all great questions to ask as we embark on this new year.  

I’m excited to dream into where we are going!  I’m looking forward to the things we will build, the investments we will make in ourselves and others, and the outcomes we will achieve.  Let’s celebrate the new adventure!  Welcome to 2021.  

Happy New Year!  Let’s make the best of this new slate.

_{Painting note: “Into the Dawn” by Julia R. Cox.}

“Gratitude doesn’t change the scenery. It merely washes clean the glass you look through so you can clearly see the colors.” – Richelle E. Goodrich.

As we roll into this Thanksgiving Holiday, I pause to reflect back on this unprecedented year.  It has been a tough year for all of us.  With the headwinds we have seen due to the pandemic, the challenging consequences, and the toll on our families, friends and businesses, it may be difficult to spot those golden nuggets of thanksgiving in what seems to be a 2020 mine of despair. Nevertheless, there is still reason to be thankful!  Look for that glimmer and you will find it:  Those sacrifices of others to help. Those kind words and gestures to those struggling. Heroes emerging. Incremental wins. Awakenings. Project completions, team accomplishments, and personal achievements unlocked.  Those are all blessings to be celebrated.

Take time to pause, reflect, appreciate and enjoy the beautiful colors of blessings this Thanksgiving Holiday season.

Stay safe and stay well!

“The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.” – Daniel J. Boorstin

Avianca Flight 011 took off from Paris on its way to Spain’s Madrid-Barajas International Airport.  It was a routine flight.  Upon reaching the Madrid airspace, the pilot asked and received landing clearance.  The pilot then unwittingly made a wrong turn on his approach vector.  As the aircraft dropped to 2248 feet, the ground-proximity warning systems started sounding.  “Terrain! Pull up!” filled the flight deck.  The pilot was sure they were on the right path and the altitude was appropriate for the descent to runway 33, so he ignored the warning system.  After all, the airport approach controller would surely inform them if they were on the wrong path.  Moments later, the outer starboard engine impacted the top of a hill at 163 mph causing the right wing to dig deep into the ground, pitching the plane into a “cartwheel”.  The entire airframe spun violently and disintegrated.  All 19 crew members and 162 of the 173 passengers perished. In addition to the negligence of the pilot to heed the warning systems, investigators showed that the airport failed to inform the crew that their radar service had been terminated and they were unable to monitor their craft.

This is a tragic story of the illusion of knowledge.  So strong was their illusion of what they thought was true that the flight crew dismissed the ground-proximity warning system that could have saved their lives.  We often see things like this and blame the pilot for irresponsibly ignoring the clear warning signal.  But how often are we guilty of the same thing?  There is a tendency for us all to elevate our own mental models to the point of silencing anything that contradicts.  Challenging our perceptions or established views is difficult and painful.  We like to form simple models for the world, our work and our systems to make our lives easier. With a model, you don’t need to think, you just act.  Like muscle memory, we fall into the lowest cognitive energy state.  That can be extremely helpful in allowing us to process vast amount of information every single day, but unfortunately, those models can be wrong.  And sometimes, those differences make all the difference in the world.

Last year, when we were able to travel, my family and I spent several days in London.  We traveled around the city using the Underground railway.  As you bounce between Waterloo, Jubilee and Bakerloo among the various cavernous stations, you often hear the public announcement system remind you to be observant and diligent about reporting anything unusual, “See it.  Say it.  Sorted.”   It is to raise awareness of the vital role we all play in keeping ourselves and others safe.  That isn’t just appropriate for riders of the London Tube, it applies to all of us, including our jobs.  

Seek the truth and strive to see problems clearly.  As engineers and scientists, we should always be in pursuit of evidence and truth.  When data presents itself, like an early warning system, don’t dismiss it, report it.  Investigate it.  Adapt to it. Be a warning signal to others.  Make it safe for others to approach you with truth.  Do you feel safe calling out problems or issues to your leaders and others?  Are you hesitant to report or responds to indicators that something may be wrong?  Don’t!  Truth is gold. Leaders need that insight.  Seeing clearly and embracing data, even if it is inconvenient or breaks our illusion, will help us all become better.  I challenge you this week, look for truth, honor the truth and speak the truth.

_{Note: Photo from Creative Commons (link).}

“One person can make a difference, and everyone should try.”

A man was walking along a deserted beach at sunset and saw a young girl in the distance.  The girl kept bending down, picking something up and throwing it into the water. Over and over she kept casting things into the ocean. As he approached, he was able to see that she was picking up starfish that had washed up on the beach.  One at a time, she threw them back into the water. The man asked what she was doing.  She replied, I’m throwing these starfish back into the ocean, or they will die.” The man laughed, “There are thousands on this beach, and many other beaches like this.  You can’t possibly make a difference.  You can’t possibly save them all.”  She smiled, bent down and picked up another starfish and replied as she threw it back into the surf, “I made a difference to that one.”

We have a big family.  I have four kids, a relatively higher than average size family.  But that is nothing compared to the 7.5 billion people in our human family across the world.  With such a huge number of kin, is it any surprise that we sometimes feel insignificant?  How can we possibly make a difference in such a huge ocean of humanity?  With coronavirus, we may feel even more distant and helpless.  Is there anything that we can do that can possibly matter? 

It turns out that we can indeed make a difference.  We don’t need to shift continents or singularly help millions of people.  By helping just one other person, we make a difference.  It can be as simple as a kind word.  Help someone carry their burden, show some compassion, bring some light.  One on one, a donation of time, care, resources or attention can change a person’s life.  If we all make that effort, it becomes even greater.  Collectively we are a formidable force of 7.5 billion points of light that can illuminate and change the world. 

Look for an opportunity to help someone this week.  Be encouraged.  You can make a difference, one person at a time.

“Always remember, your focus determines your reality.” – George Lucas

It is like static, a quiet noise, a low hum or a faint crackling sound.  That’s how some of us may describe 2020. It feels like someone pushed pause and we are all in time out.  We are caught in the current of the void, the stream of random indistinguishable flutters and rings.  

Back in the 1990’s, my dad decided to get a satellite TV dish.  Forever a can-do and frugal engineer, he signed up for the “self-installation” package.  Naturally, that translated to us being on the roof with a bag of bolts, parts and indecipherable instruction manuals. The kit included a simple compass and directions to mount and orient the dish toward the geosynchronous satellite.  A cable ran from the dish into the house to a receiver hooked to the television.  The setup screen displayed the signal strength with an audio signal that went from a low static hum to a solid high-pitched tone when the dish was correctly oriented.  Getting the dish oriented correctly before cell phones was an hour long comedy skit with my dad monitoring the TV yelling out the status to my sister in the yard who was yelling up to me on the roof.  I made slight adjustments left and right then up and down until we finally had a clear solid tone, indicating success.  We had the dish locked on to the satellite.

Getting a good signal during this pandemic has been difficult.  About the time we adjust to the new rhythm, the timing changes.  Some news we didn’t want to hear arrives.  Projects change to match new business conditions. Pandemic tidal forces ebb and flow.  All the while, we keep working and living life remotely with facemasks and limited interactions to keep everyone safe.  A low hum, a static, a faint noise.

Tune in. I don’t know about you, but I’m looking for a clear signal.  It’s time to focus and lock in.  This past week and this weekend reminded me of how important it is to have solid structure, rhythm, traditions and habits. I’m convinced that those are important geosynchronous targets that we can launch to help orient our days, even during this pandemic.  It could be something as simple as events on the calendar, a checklist of to-dos religiously made and cleared, or a purposeful goal with clear directionality.  

This week, I challenge you to a tune-up.  Examine the structures of your week and life.  Do you need to add some framing?  Give yourself the edifice of a clear target.  Focus on clear steps and proceed forward purposefully.  Yes, these are challenging times, but our focus can shape our reality.  It can help us manage and thrive during difficult times.  Focus, lock in and win! 

Photo: Antenna of NASA’s Near Earth Network at the Alaska Satellite Facility