Celebrating Failure

I'm back in Santa Clara, after a long flight and a free upgrade to business class - Thanks Lufthansa!!
My first trip to Israel was an unqualified success - professionally and personally. Can't wait until I get to go back.

I always ask myself, after a training session - what did I learn?
(The photo above is from the 1st of our 2 sessions)
During this trip, I learned that my free flow of ideas and words gets me in trouble at times.

Three mistakes I made... shared so you don't do the same...

1) Using a baseball analogy while discussing team building.
Earth to Glenn - Israeli's do not follow the New York Yankees. (Basketball works, though)

2) Talking about evolution.
Hel-loooo.... It's pretty safe to assume that most folks in Israel have a different view on mankinds' development.

3) Telling a story based around Christmas.
Right. I'm in the Jewish center of the world, the home of Hanukkah, and I tell a lengthy story about a child receiving a bicycle on Christmas morning, expecting my audience to identify?
Smart, Glenn. Smart...

The good news? Israelis are smart, funny, and direct.
So, they let me know pretty clearly when I was off base.
It didn't cost me any good will, just a little embarrassment.

That, I can live with. As long as I learn from it...

Do Your Acronyms Work?

Let's say, hypothetically, that you create a new position in your company and call it Chief Administrative Officer. So far, so good.

Next, let's say that - for lack of a better moniker - the group adopts that title as it's name.
For example, if you were going to have a planning session for that group, you might hang a sign on the door saying C.A.O. Planning.

Based on the above scenario, I learned something new about myself.
I learned that I'm wired differently than about 85% of my peers.

A couple of days ago, in a meeting, I referred to our group as 'CAO' (pronounced the only way I thought possible, 'cow'). I drew nothing but blank expressions from my teammates.
One member finally asked me, "What's a cow?".
(Cue 'Airplane'-style joke here, "It's a mammal that produces milk, but that's not important right now!")

I thought it was obvious, but upon further investigation, I found that only one other person (out of about 20 people) had made the leap from C.A.O. to 'Cow'.
Didn't anyone else watch "GET SMART" when they were growing up?

Anyway, I kinda like the name.
I always wanted to be a CAO-boy ('76-style, not '05-style).
Some find it a little 'unbusiness-like', however.

So, the lesson?
Read your acronyms aloud... they may surprise you...