Chad Stutzman

The Geek Squad is a team of people or geeks that have a high tech IQ.  They work for Best Buy and can fix nearly any electronic device.  I have not had the pleasure of working with one of the geeks, but I have heard good things.  They wear uniforms and drive VW Bugs to the clients homes or businesses.  I came across their Geek Squad Promises and just had to share it.

• I will never violate the trust of my clients or disrespect their property.
• I will never say, ‘I don’t know’. Instead, say ‘I’ll find out’.
• I will always understand that my clients’ time is more valuable than my own.
• I will assume every problem is my fault, unless proven otherwise.
• I will consider my job done only when my client is completely overwhelmed with joy.  And instead of assuming they are happy, I’ll ask them.
• I will keep every promise I make, including this one.

Those are some incredible promises and if followed lead to great customer service and lasting good impressions.  No matter where you work, this kind of a mindset will make you a more valuable team player.  You can even apply this one to your marriage.  So go out and be a Geek!

Anger is a powerful emotion that left unchecked can destroy all your relationships.  It can come on like a flood and wash away any happiness you may have.  Anger leads to unhealthy conflict, it drives other people away and it eats you up inside.  It’s no surprise that anger can be so destructive, because most people have felt the pain associated with anger.  Either on the receiving end or giving it to people we love.

According to Dr. Gary Smalley, anger is not a primary emotion.  It’s a secondary emotion caused by unresolved hurt, frustration, fear, or a combination of these.  When these things stay inside a person the result is anger.  It gets expressed in a variety of ways.  Sometimes there is an explosion of words or even physical violence.  Sometimes it’s the silent treatment and you shut people out.  To deal with anger, you need to get to the root causes.  Dr. Smalley suggests the single root cause is unfulfilled expectations.  When our expectations are blocked or not met it causes hurt, frustration, fear and then anger.

Pent up anger can lead to emotional damage and even physical sickness.  That is why it is so important to deal with it instead of ignoring it.  It won’t go away until the root issues are taken care of.  Dr. Smalley reveals seven steps that you can follow to empty stored up anger:

1. Define the offense in writing – Write down the persons name and what they did and what it took away from you.  Write down the feelings you had when it happened.  Getting it out on paper helps you to see it and to feel it again.  Bringing those emotions to the surface allows healing to begin.
2. Allow yourself to grieve the loss – If you don’t properly grieve the losses in your life, anger is a natural byproduct.  The five stages of grief are: Denial, “This can’t be happening to me” – Anger, “Why me?” – Bargaining – Depression – Acceptance.
3. Try to gain a better understanding of the offender – Did they even know they hurt you? Do they treat everyone that way?  Are they just immature and selfish?  When asking these questions it helps you deal with old hurts.  It helps you have a new perspective on what actually happened and why the other person may have done what they did.  It may just confirm what you already knew as well.
4. Treasure Hunt the offense – In other words look for the good that has come out of the situation.  Maybe it has helped you to be more compassionate to others or motivated you to treat others differently.  When we experience conflict, adversity, frustrations, or offenses they can create hidden treasures.
5. Write a letter (but don’t mail it) – Let it all out in this letter, this is a powerful way to pour out the anger without hurting anyone.  Writing in a journal is also a great way to deal with hurts, frustrations, fears and hangups.  When you’re finished destroy the letter, I like burning it.
6. Release the other person from the hurts they have inflicted and from future expectations – The Hebrew word forgiveness means “to release”.  To truly forgive someone, you must release them from their responsibility for the hurt they have caused you.  Forgiveness is a choice not a feeling.  This releasing of the other person is also a way to release the anger in your life.
7. Reach out – If it is possible reach out to the offender with kindness.  Only do this if there is no threat of physical danger.  This act of reaching out will take great courage, but could be the beginning of a new healthy relationship or simply a washing away of the offense for good.

Don’t let anger take over your insides.  Start to drill down as to why anger keeps popping up in your life.  Go get some help to navigate through the hurts, frustrations and fears from your past.  Look for the good and make the necessary changes in your life, so that anger does not control you.  This is not a once and done kind of exercise, this is a lifelong battle, because life is filled with hurts, frustrations, fear and unmet expectations.  If you want to be healthy on the inside, work hard at forgiveness and having unrealistic expectations.

Do you ever have times when it seems like your prayers are not working?  Like God is not listening? These dry times can make us feel alone and desperate.  When we pray we look for answers and solutions to whatever is facing us. We also look for a feeling of peace and comfort, and when we don’t get that we can get frustrated. I was having a conversation with some people today about how I have learned to be more compassionate by listening and not always trying to fix people and their situations.

God is like that; He is not a fixer, He is a lover. I think many times God is listening to us and encouraging us, but he is not about to fix us or the issues we have.  If He would do that every time we pray, we would never go through the growing pains we all need.  The process of learning, growing and changing is difficult and it is often in those most trying times that we grow the most.  It’s often when we are at our lowest that God can do the most inside of us.  I believe God is always nudging us to grow in our character and because of that He will allow us to go through some really difficult things.

God is always listening, concerned and compassionate.  He is not going to give us three steps to overcome our issue.  Instead He wants us to look to the Bible, other Christians and other resources to search for answers and ideas.  That is part of the process and God will sit silently until we go through that process.  So don’t give up, keep praying, keep searching and keep growing.  Each time we seek the Lord with all our heart we grow.  God loves us too much to fix us, He sent His son Jesus to die for us so we wouldn’t have to be perfect. Sometimes it is best just to enjoy His love and lean into Him even when we don’t feel the peace or comfort. Sometimes we need to vent to God knowing He is listening and can take it.

By not fixing our situation God allows us to learn from our mistakes and to deepen our faith.  He will often give us little things along the journey to let us know He is with us and for us.  When He gives us those little Only God moments we get that feeling of peace and comfort.  So keep growing in your relationship with Jesus Christ, it’s the most important thing you will ever do.

I recently gave talks to small business owners and a local fire department about leadership.  Leadership is vital in every business, every agency, every department, every school, every home and every church. As I thought about what to talk about I quickly zeroed in on three things that are keys to leading well.

1. Vision determines the direction of the Team –
   • Focusing on the future sets leaders apart!  The capacity to imagine and articulate exciting future possibilities is the defining competence of leader’s.  Leader’s are future oriented while managers are present oriented – You need both, but as a leader you need to be out in front.   If you are not very clear on your vision everyone around you will be even more uncertain.  If you’re a little fuzzy on what the future looks like, your employees, customers, suppliers and everyone else will have no idea what your vision is.
   •   A compelling vision drives an organization and attracts people.  If your vision is not big enough you won’t make much of a difference in your   community.  What do you want people experience when they come into contact with your organization?  How can you simplify your vision so it sticks?   A vision statement is not worth much if it’s only words.  Here is a vision statement I recently read that was pretty good:   Respect, Integrity, communication, and Excellence. – That was Enron’s Mission statement.
   • A clear vision helps to focus a business.  If you are all over the place pursuing everything that comes along, you will burn out your team and employees.  They will be unclear of what the main thing is.   I call this side-ways energy, when you are pursuing good things instead of the best things.  We talk about narrowing the focus where I work so that we don’t get distracted trying to do everything.  When you can focus on being really good at a few things you can make a bigger difference and be way better at it.   So what do you need to eliminate or stop doing that does not fit with your vision?

   2.  Lead Yourself First –

   I heard Bill Hybels the leader of one of the largest churches in America say that a leader should spend 50% of his time leading himself.  That seems like a lot, but when you think about it, it makes sense.   If you don’t lead yourself well, you will not lead others well.   So here are some things we can all do to work on ourselves:

   • Know what your strengths are and what your weaknesses are.  Work in your area of strength as much as possible and surround yourself with people to do what you are not good at.
   • Develop a Life Plan – Identify the 5-8 most important areas of your life and then develop some goals for each of those areas.  Do this for your personal life first and then do it for your work.
   • Read Books – Leaders are readers.  I try to read at least one book a month.
   • Meet with People – Find mentors, people that you can meet with and learn from.  Find people that are great leaders and talk to them, learn from them.
   • Hire a Coach – Executive coach, Life Coach.  They challenge you, hold you accountable, push you.
   • Form a group – Peer groups, Book study Group, Accountability group.
   • Go to conferences or seminars – be strategic.  Catalyst Conference.
   • Emotional Health, Physical Health, Spiritual Health
     • Fears, Hang-ups, bad habits.  We all have things we need to deal with and work on.  Sometimes we need to get help
       • A Counselor, a personal trainer, a pastor/mentor.

   3.  Make Developing Others a Priority.

   The last thing I want to share with you tonight is to develop others.   This is one of the things I am most passionate about.  Helping other people grow.  I really believe that the more value you add to the people around you to more successful you will be.   When you can wake up every day and think about how you can serve and develop the people around you, you will be more energized and your business will thrive.   So what do I mean when I say to develop others.  Here are some thoughts on that:

   • It first starts with you being the right kind of example.  As a leader people are watching you.  They are asking themselves are you for real?  Do you do what you say?
   • Meet one-on-one – Meeting face to face and getting to know the person makes a huge difference.  When people know you care about them, they will become a better employee or follower.  You can’t do this with everyone, but you should do it with some.
   • Meet in groups – Form book study groups with your high potentials or your entire team.  I just did this book with my team – QBQ The Question Behind the Question.
   • Take them on field trips with you
   • Send them to seminars and conferences
   • Encourage them to develop a life plan, meet with people, read books etc.
   • Hire a trainer to come work on areas that are important.
   • Listen

Do those three things well and you will excel as a leader no matter where you are leading.