Finding Answers or Creating Solutions

I had the privilege today of spending time with a local professor of one of Colorado’s leading universities.  It’s always a privilege spending time with him and I’ve had the opportunity to guest lecture with his students.  What makes it exciting to work with him is his intense and deep-seated pursuit of education excellence.  He endeavors to find ways to not only enhance the learning experience, but to deepen it in a way that prepares his students for successful careers.  His care and concern for those entrusted to him is what education is all about.

We discussed the recurring concern he has with student’s abilities to apply critical thinking.  I reflected on these concerns in a piece I wrote over the summer (http://connect2action.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-death-of-curiosity-and-critical.html).  As we talked about his latest efforts and experiments with new technologies and techniques to improve creativity in learning, it occurred to me that there is a huge difference between finding answers and creating solutions.

With the vast resources available today, it’s far easier to find the answer to a particular question simply by looking it up.  Beginning in grade school, students discover that a quick Internet search will often yield the specific answer to nearly any question.  If that is all that is required, to what extent has learning taken place?  If searching for and retrieving an answer is sufficient to meet the academic requirement, has the student learned anything of perpetual value?  One of the things we discussed was the application of learning from one context to another.  In other words, if certain principles hold true in one context, how might they apply in another?  If you don’t have to solve the problem through analysis and deduction, you probably won’t have the skills to adapt one set of principles for a different situation.  Further, you probably won’t be able to recognize when certain principles apply and when they don’t.

 

Creating solutions requires skills far beyond finding answers.  In my experience in industry, it’s evident that many are missing this important link in the education they are receiving.  Solutions not only require foundational knowledge, but the ability to connect the dots in new and creative ways.  It requires a high degree of curiosity and a certain explorer mentality.  It’s not enough to know the answer to a problem.  Instead, value is found in knowing how the answer was derived including the many paths of failure along the way.  It also requires an ability to know when a situation is different enough that a standard answer doesn’t apply.  Adding to the complexity is the human dynamic which often distorts or changes the environment in unpredictable ways.

This is the work my professor colleague is focused on and I applaud and respect him for it.  We should encourage ourselves and others to ask ‘how’ and ‘why’ instead of simply asking ‘what’ the answer is.  Curiosity is a creative attribute and we need to cultivate and value it in our organizations.  If we hope to develop solutions to today’s problems, we need to quit relying on a simple search for answers and instead journey into that creative place within each of us.

Duane Grove is founder of Connect2Action, a strategy execution specialist at the intersection of employee engagement and executive leadership, igniting innovation as a lever to accelerate your growth.  Follow Duane on Twitter @connect2action and connect with him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Google+.  Learn more by visiting www.connect2action.com.

Fresh Tracks

As is typical this time of year in Colorado, we awoke to find fresh snow on the ground.  I left the house early to get to a meeting with clients and found myself blazing a trail through the new snow on the road.  As I marveled at the beauty while staying focused on the road, it occurred to me that laying fresh tracks on the ground has a lot in common with life.

Our lives are too often consumed with following the tracks of others.  We go through our daily routines without having (or creating) the opportunity to do something new and different.  Is it any wonder we sometimes wake up in the morning feeling bored or dissatisfied with our life?  Even with snow on the ground, we find ourselves driving along seeking the tracks of those who have gone before us.  After all, it’s safer that way.  We risk less when we follow someone else.  What about the person ahead of us with no trail to follow? 

Like driving in the snow, when you have to be the one blazing the trail, there’s a certain anxiety and tension that comes with it.  Where are the lines?  Have I drifted off the road?  Am I over far enough to prevent the person coming the other way from running into me?  In life, when we have to create a fresh track and the familiar markers are hard to find, we too also face the uncertainty with a degree of anxiety.  Blazing trails though is what leaders do.  They embrace the challenge and take satisfaction in knowing that others behind them will have an easier time staying on the road.

So next time you have the opportunity to be the first to set down new tracks, embrace it.  Just like the snow will give way to the plow, other drivers, or the sun, these opportunities don’t come all the time.  Relish the moments when the path ahead of you appears clean and fresh.  Know that taking the lead is making the way clearer and safer for those who follow.

Duane Grove is founder of Connect2Action, a strategy execution specialist at the intersection of employee engagement and executive leadership, igniting innovation as a lever to accelerate your growth.  Follow Duane on Twitter @connect2action and connect with him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Google+.  Learn more by visiting www.connect2action.com.

The Value of Engagement in Midst of Crisis

A thought often overlooked as a key resource for companies in crisis is their employees.  Companies with a track record of positive employee engagement can draw on that investment to help navigate turbulence when it surfaces.  Every company will face the storm clouds of crisis at some point in time.  Be it workplace violence, natural disaster, loss of a large client, or more commonly, a blow to leadership confidence and competence.  Widely publicized integrity issues within several large corporations recently are not isolated incidences.  These types of crises happen all the time.  How leadership handles these situations determines how much or little damage is done and how long it takes to recover.  Engaging the workforce should be a key component in every turn-around strategy and if well executed, often actually accelerates recovery.

The natural tendency for management teams in crisis is to be insular.  This is precisely the wrong tactic.  While highly sensitive or confidential information should be wisely protected, complete silence indirectly raises employee and public suspicion.  Depending on the severity of the crisis, companies frequently find themselves dealing with an exodus of talent.  In turn, those leaving the company are the very people the company can ill-afford to lose.  When things turn sour, the best talent moves on because they can, leaving a company holding the bag.  Transparency and honesty go a long way to assuring people that there is a recovery path and give employees a reason to stay.  The ideal alternative is to empower your employees to be part of the solution.

Companies with an established employee engagement culture are far better equipped to handle any crisis.  These companies have proven to their workforce that their voice matters, management takes action, and employees are valued, visible, and vital.  Companies without an established engagement framework can still benefit from getting employees engaged in crisis response and recovery if properly guided and equipped. 

A crucial first step in the response phase is communication.  Employees need necessary facts unfiltered by politics or spin.  Of important note and what most managers do not realize until too late is that in the absence of facts, employees create them.  Frequently, the facts employees create are often far worse than reality.  You want your employees to be part of the solution, therefore by all means trust them enough with the right information.  For example, if a company needs to make a potentially damaging disclosure to the SEC or investors, proactively inform your employees on the issues at hand and don’t let them read about it on the Web or in the paper or worse yet, from a family member!  At a minimum, inform the workforce in parallel and be honest.  If the company is about to report a substantial problem, make sure employees hear it from management and at the same time ask for their assistance in the recovery.  This principle holds true regardless of the type or source of the crisis.

The second step is engaging employees to gain insight and ideas in how to respond appropriately and then more important, how to move into and through recovery – as fast as possible.  Small tiger teams, focus groups, brainstorming, and other forms of engagement get the conversation moving.  Employees involved in the conversation will feel a greater sense of ownership tied to the outcome and are less likely to feel de-valued or forgotten in the midst of the storm.  Implement an approach or process to triage ideas and move them through the communications stream as quickly as possible.  As employees see management leaning into the storm and actively interacting with the workforce, more ideas will surface.  Don’t be surprised in the beginning if the ideas that come forward seem somewhat pedestrian especially if your organization hasn’t established an engagement culture as its norm.  However, the longer and more consistent management is in drawing forth and critically evaluating input, the better the ideas will become.

Lastly, provide regular feedback throughout the process and recognize employee contributions including those you choose not to use.  As employees realize that every idea and initiative to move through the crisis is valued and carefully considered, they will be more inclined to stay in the fight with management. 

Additional insight into key attributes of employee engagement are available in a previously published article titled: “V” is for Employee Engagement at http://connect2action.blogspot.com/2012/10/v-is-for-employee-engagement.html

Duane Grove is founder of Connect2Action, a strategy execution specialist at the intersection of employee engagement and executive leadership, igniting innovation as a lever to accelerate your growth.  Follow Duane on Twitter @connect2action and connect with him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Google+.  Learn more by visiting www.connect2action.com.

Keep Playing to Win

For companies facing into a highly uncertain budget environment, there may be a tendency to hunker down and protect what they have.  This approach is certainly understandable particularly for companies with large franchise programs and client accounts to ‘keep sold’.  However, going defensive sets into a motion a downward spiral that erodes competitiveness making it more difficult to win in the future.  In situations like this companies start playing ‘not to lose’ instead of playing to win.

Trying to build a fortress around your portfolio is playing defense.  In medieval days, a well-constructed castle could sustain months of siege but sooner or later a determined adversary would break through.  Building walls may keep threats at bay for a while, but it also pens you in and limits your freedom of maneuver.  Bobby Knight said “Most people have the will to win, few have the will to prepare to win.”  This should be a call for companies to lean forward and draw on the creativity of their employees to find new ways to win.  Like a great sports team, practice and preparation is key to maintaining a competitive edge.  Companies that hunker down are sure to lose their competitive muscle making it more difficult to win in the future.  The old adage “if you don’t use it, you lose it” is certainly true when it comes to competition and winning.  It’s just as easy to get on a losing streak, as it is a winning one.

There is no doubt that budgets are declining, opportunities decreasing, and both companies and consumers remain hesitant about investing and spending.  That doesn’t mean that growth isn’t achievable.  In every economic contraction companies emerge that run counter to the trends and find ways of growing, sometimes very fast.  These companies choose to ignore ‘conventional wisdom’ instead believing they can grow and they make it happen.  A teashop near my home has had a small sign in the door that states clearly that while others have reported a recession, they have chosen not to participate.  While I don’t know how they are doing financially, they certainly seem to have customers whenever I visit.  Growth is as much attitude as it is product, business model, or any other factor. 

This is also a great time to review what you’ve been doing and make adjustments.  Changing things when all appears to be going well is difficult.  Employees don’t see the need, investors/shareholders aren’t interested in unnecessary risk, and managers are comfortable keeping the wheels running on the current track.  When things get tough, there is often more appetite for change, even radical change.  People expect you to take action before a crisis emerges, to get ahead of the curve.  Taking advantage of the environment to make changes that need to be made is a good way to move the organization in a new direction.  As Rahm Emanuel said “You never let a serious crisis go to waste.  And what I mean by that it’s an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before.” 

Finally, you want to stay in the game to win because it attracts talent.  Most people are competitive and everyone wants to be on a winning team.  When you start playing ‘not to lose’ you begin to zap the spirit out of your workforce.  People become accustomed to doing enough to get by, but not much more.  The unintended consequence of affordability initiatives can be an attitude of ‘cutting corners’ and doing more with less.  If management doesn’t keep the context clear and concise, what was intended as a means of getting more competitive can be interpreted as playing defense.  Here, communication is critical and employee involvement key to staying focused on winning.

This certainly doesn’t mean that a simple attitude shift will make the economic conditions improve.  However, it is certainly easier to take on competitors who are ‘down in the mouth’ and suffering.  Staying focused on customers, finding new ways to address their needs, and seeking out new markets is often easier when things are tough.  It sounds counter-intuitive, but there are plenty of success stories that should encourage companies to maintain the winning edge.  So if you’re an organization that has been victim to the economic conditions, go back into the competition gym and get back into shape.  If you’ve been playing ‘not to lose’, start playing to win again.  And if you’ve been winning, put your foot on the accelerator and take advantage of what’s working for you.

Duane Grove is founder of Connect2Action, a strategy execution specialist at the intersection of employee engagement and executive leadership, igniting innovation as a lever to accelerate your growth.  Follow Duane on Twitter @connect2action and connect with him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Google+.  Learn more by visiting www.connect2action.com.

Make Engagement a Strategic Imperative

The great news is that employee engagement (EE) has become one of the most widely acknowledged topics in business today.  Companies recognize what many statistics show, namely that the majority of employees experience low levels of engagement.  Like many business topics, EE has become an industry to itself with survey providers, consultants, authors, and active discussion boards across social media.  It’s heartening to see the interest, but the danger for many organizations is that EE becomes yet another “initiative” for busy executives to attend to.  While some take the topic with great sincerity, others are simply looking for shortcuts or quick fixes to get the EE monkey off their back.

The preponderance of material and thought leaders in EE comes from either human resources (HR) or communications.  However, the soul of engagement in my opinion is strategy.  Without a strategic foundation, EE is wholly ineffective.  What’s the sense of getting employees excited without a compelling focus; that focus should be the organization’s strategy.  Sustaining high levels of engagement can only be possible when the majority of employees understand both the “what” and “why” they should be energized.  Getting people all ‘pumped up’ without that foundation becomes wasted energy and employees grow cynical as they perceive they are being manipulated rather then authentically engaged.

A colleague who leads EE for a large organization recently asked me where it belongs in the company.  The dialog inside of his organization is not unlike what I’ve consistently observed and heard across a wide range of industries.  There are many lobbying for EE to be an HR responsibility and others are pushing for Communications.  There is yet a third voice from the Organizational Development (OD) group.  All three options miss the mark from my experience.  I suggested to him that it become an integral component of the Strategy team.  The recommendation caught him off-guard, so I explained the logic.

In most organizations today, talent acquisition and retention has become a strategic imperative.  HR departments are generally focused on process – namely getting people recruited, placed, and then managing performance management and compensation systems.  The legal obligations of HR often make them conflicted when it comes to engagement and innovation.  Communication on the other hand is skilled at just that, communicating.  Most communications departments are focused externally on getting the company’s message out and are less equipped for the hands-on demands of an effective EE effort.  One could argue that OD may be a good place, but many organizations don’t have a strong OD group.  Also in my experience, OD behaves more like an outside consultancy spending time diagnosing problems rather than as an integral part of the team.

Strategy is focused on the future and with that emphasis, they can project where and how an organization needs to be oriented in order to achieve objectives.  By focusing engagement efforts on areas of strategic leverage, acceleration can be achieved and employees have a better sense of direction and logic for the effort they expend on behalf of the company.  Companies could be well served by spending less effort diagnosing problems and more on bringing the company’s future into reality.  Many organizational issues dissipate when people get focused on a common set of objectives.  It’s also much easier to identify employees unwilling to share the journey and address them more directly.  When EE becomes an integral component of the company’s strategy, it gets more executive attention and individual actions can be evaluated in context.  Employees can ask themselves the question: how are my actions advancing the objectives of the team? 

The final missing component is translating company level strategy into focus areas tailored to the roles and responsibilities of individuals.  This isn’t easy and executives often fail to connect those dots.  Simply briefing the company’s strategy to employees is wholly insufficient.  People need to relate the work they do with the accomplishment and advancement of the whole.  Therefore, engaging employees in the process of associating their work with the strategy is vital and usually takes substantial effort.  When done well however, momentum comes more readily and easily.

Engagement therefore is a strategic imperative and shouldn’t be treated as simply another employee morale initiative.  You’re probably better off not trying to implement an EE initiative if you’re not going to commit to doing it well.  Failed efforts accelerate cynicism and undermine company performance.  If you’re serious about EE then, make it a cornerstone of your strategy.

Duane Grove is founder of Connect2Action, a strategy execution specialist at the intersection of employee engagement and executive leadership, igniting innovation as a lever to accelerate your growth.  Follow Duane on Twitter @connect2action and connect with him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Google+.  Learn more by visiting www.connect2action.com.

“V” is for Employee Engagement

Employee engagement (EE) has become a focus area for many companies particularly as they realize statistics consistently show that an engaged workforce delivers far better results.  Many of those statistics also indicate a high level of disinterested or even disengaged employees in many companies.  While the emphasis on engagement is a positive shift, many organizations bury initiatives within Human Resources or Organizational Development rather than treating it as a truly strategic issue.  A simple survey of companies shows many approach the topic as an HR issue.  If a company doesn’t employ its HR as a strategic asset, asking them to take on the EE task often becomes simply another function instead of a strategic lever.

Another phenomena in the EE world is the proliferation of surveys and other communication related initiatives.  Some great work has evolved out of this focus with a new suite of survey tools more specifically focused on evaluating engagement as opposed to employee satisfaction.  However, if companies don’t have a strategic plan in place to capitalize on the insight generated by surveys, even engaged employees can become disinterested or disengaged.  With the explosion of consultants, tools, and books on the topic, EE is rapidly becoming another specialty area that busy executives are being pressed to address. 

EE at its core however is far simpler than all the buzz makes it out to be.  There are four simple concepts that if applied consistently can dramatically increase the level of engagement, all without elaborate surveys and tools.  They are:  Vision, Valued, Visible, and Vital.  These four Vs are the core of EE.

Leadership must first have a clear vision for the organization they lead.  This isn’t about fancy vision statements supported by posters and other rah-rah initiatives.  What I’m referring to is a clear focus for why the organization exists, what it stands for, and where it’s going.  It creates a compelling force that employees easily recognize and can embrace.  In my experience, when vision represents a true aspirational statement of intent, it has the ability to generate creative momentum and alignment.

For employees to become engaged, they must feel valued not only for the work they do, but their contributions to the company’s success.  This starts with first-line managers regularly noticing and recognizing individual employees.  They must be reminded that the work they do is important to the company regardless of what function they perform.  This is particularly true for employees in positions that may not be very visible to others.  It’s far too easy for people to judge one position more important than others and when that happens, the people in roles not viewed with the same respect as others can become quickly disenchanted.  Think the janitor or receptionist isn’t as important as a program manager?  Just try running the organization without them or have a receptionist that greets callers with disdain.  Being valued is one of the most essential human needs and managers that get this right often find themselves surrounded by employees willing to go the extra mile because they know leadership is grateful and they notice.

Employees also want to realize they are visible to the organization.  What this means is that they aren’t treated as back office or ‘behind the scenes’ assets without faces.  This is particularly hard to do as organizations grow and people become lost in the maze of organizational hierarchy or in the case of geographically dispersed groups, become the forgotten outpost in Timbuktu.  To make sure people remain visible, management must maintain a strong two-way flow with managers regularly shining a spotlight on their teams to senior management and leadership routinely taking the time to meet directly with employee groups and individuals.  Taking the time usually equates to ‘they care about me’ and increases employee affinity to the company.

Lastly, employees want to know they are a vital part of the company’s success.  To do this, the company’s strategy must be clearly traceable to the work of every individual so they can associate their own efforts with the success of the entire business.  This isn’t as difficult as it may sound.  Translating strategy and aligning individual work with company objectives can be as simple as connecting the dots between decreased re-work on the factory floor to improved throughput and decreased operating cost.  The key is to localize the message.  For example, if John is able to decrease re-work at his position by 5 units per day and if John’s colleagues all did the same, they would be able to ship 500 more units per day and generate an additional $10,000 profit per week.  That ultimately means that the profit sharing pool will be $480,000 larger this year.  When people can connect what they do in practical terms that not only benefit the company, but themselves as well, employees will begin to realize how vital they are to the business.

I’m not suggesting you abandon surveys, fire consultants, or shut down initiatives.  If these activities are generating value and improving engagement, then by all means keep using them.  What I am suggesting though is that you not make EE into another elaborate set of projects and initiatives supported by dedicated staffs, large budgets, and frequent management reviews.  EE is as simple as following the four Vs on a consistent basis.  In the end it’s all about Leadership 101; treat others as you want to be treated, ensure they feel valued, are visible, and they know they are vital to the success of the organization.  Support them with a clear and compelling vision and help them connect the dots between their individual effort and the bigger picture.  It’s as simple as that.

Duane Grove is founder of Connect2Action, a strategy execution specialist at the intersection of employee engagement and executive leadership, igniting innovation as a lever to accelerate your growth.  Follow Duane on Twitter @connect2action and connect with him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Google+.  Learn more by visiting www.connect2action.com.

You can find Duane’s blogs at:

www.mindfulperspectives.blogspot.com

www.connect2action.blogspot.com

When Innovation Goes Horribly Wrong

The hot topic in many businesses today is innovation.  I haven’t met a client yet that isn’t talking about and actively searching for ways to innovate within their business.  However, there are times when innovation can actually do more harm than good, and not much is written on the failures that can result when initiatives aren’t implemented well.  While nearly every organization can benefit from increased focus on innovation, there are some common pitfalls that must be understood before you embark on a path to make innovation part of your organization’s approach.

Over the last 20+ years, I have designed and implemented a number of innovation initiatives within large organizations.  From those efforts, I’ve gained some valuable insight into how to make innovation a successful part of your enterprise, and equally important, where things can go down the tubes fast.  Here are some key points to remember:

1.  Simply declaring innovation as a focus area doesn’t deliver results.  Any effort to rekindle the spirit of creativity in your organization must be well planned and sustained consistently.

2.  Leadership is imperative – it’s non-negotiable.  If your entire leadership team isn’t committed to it, then stop now and address the detractors.  The fastest way to stifle innovation is to have a leader not “all in” with the intent and direction.

3.  Patience is key especially in established organizations whose success and culture has evolved around an industry reputation.  Don’t expect breakthrough ideas out of the gate.

4.  Consistently recognize ideas and their authors no matter how trivial or insignificant an idea may appear.

5.  Be flexible and adapt your efforts as they evolve.  Implementing a structured process for innovation is antithetical to creativity.  Innovation is often a messy, unstructured ecosystem and attempts to cram it into a structured process won’t get you to the next breakthrough.

Let me address each of these points now in further detail.

First, many executives have recognized that innovation is the spark they may need to ignite new growth.  When markets mature, competition stiffens, and customer buying behavior changes, it often creates a sense of urgency and a call to action.  Declaring that innovation is now a part (or a renewed emphasis) of your strategic intent is not likely to suddenly open the gates of creativity and unleash latent potential.  Time invested up-front in identifying areas where innovation is warranted helps create focus.  One executive I worked with for years often says he wants employees to innovate, but not while in the midst of a critical installation procedure on the shop floor.  Instead, if the employee identifies a better way to do something, he wants them to take note of it and then recommend the innovation where it can be evaluated and potentially introduced in future efforts.  Experimenting on a customer’s product where mistakes can be catastrophic is not what you’re looking for.

I’ve seen far too many instances where the executive office launches off on a new creative initiative only to have mid-level managers blow the whole thing off.  The dissonance created when leadership isn’t on the same sheet of music is the surest and fastest way to kill any initiative.  What’s more, even if the top-down pressure is intense, managers have subtle ways of blocking good ideas from bubbling up.  For example, a manager may suggest (or require) employees review their ideas with them before submitting.  Employees not wanting to expose themselves to criticism by their manager will likely chose to remain silent.  Therefore, if management is serious about innovation as a value, then they must create ways for employees to circumvent the chain of command and there must be clear accountability from top to bottom that holds managers who create barriers responsible. 

Another mistake organizations often make is in believing that once they’ve allowed and encouraged employees to be creative, a flood of great ideas will suddenly emerge as if the gates have been open and all the pent-up energy is unleashed.  Employees in organizations that historically didn’t reward and value new ideas will be reluctant at first to put their best and most treasured creativity on the table.  So don’t be surprised if the ideas you see initially are low-hanging fruit and not very significant.  The fact is, employees are testing the waters to see how serious management is about recognizing and valuing ideas.  If they see a pattern emerge where these simple ideas for improvement are ignored or diminished, you’ll never see the really big ones unless they emerge from a competitor an employee left for.  Patience is key especially in the beginning, and with patience, persistence.  Recognize and reward ideas in the beginning on a consistent basis, and the chances of finding the nuggets of tremendous success will slowly emerge.  Trust will grow when employees realize you're committed to them and willing to engage with them in the ideation process.

Any idea should be recognized.  Employees aren’t always motivated by financial rewards for their ideas.  In fact, I’ve found that innovation tournaments where prizes and cash are used as motivators are actually less successful than initiatives where recognition is the centerpiece.  Personal acknowledgement and recognition is essential.  What’s even more important is specific feedback on each idea.  If the idea has merit, provide feedback on why the idea is good and what you intend on doing with it.  If the idea could use further improvement, engage in a discovery process and help them refine it.  Finally, if the idea is not to be acted upon, explain clearly what was good about the idea and where it was weak.  Provide feedback on why the idea is not being acted upon, thank them for taking the time, and encourage them to keep bringing things forward.

Lastly, don’t fall in love with your innovation framework or approach!  Let employees shape how the approach will evolve and be open to making adjustments – be a learning organization in practice.  Rather than trying to put in place a ‘perfect’ approach from the beginning, get started with something basic and let it grow organically as employees engage.  Let the process that emerges become one that employees recognize as their own, rather than some brainchild of someone in the executive suite.  Be willing to make mistakes, admit them, adjust, and improve.  If employees see that you’re willing to keep trying, your persistence will pay off.  Let them see that your innovation initiative is itself open to innovation.  Every culture has unique attributes and what worked in one group may be a failure in another, so be flexible.

Duane Grove is founder of Connect2Action, a strategy execution specialist at the intersection of employee engagement and executive leadership, igniting innovation as a lever to accelerate your growth.  Follow Duane on Twitter @connect2action and connect with him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Google+.  Learn more by visiting www.connect2action.com.