Hotels continue to be my home away from home and though it can be stressful with all this travel, I’m blessed to have the business. Every month I seem to visit with you about the hectic nature of what I do, the explosive unpredictability of my calendar and the business of thinking.  It is at the heart of what I do.  Check out our weekly blog at www.creativeventures.com and click on Steve’s Corner to follow everything from new ideas to entertainment.  I add a new post every Friday.

One of our real traction ideas for 2007 has been The Narrative Arc.  The Narrative Arc defines behaviors, an often ignored part of building best practices.  Our infatuation with statistics and the metrics that create them have often enticed us into believing that all our answers are found in the numbers.  Don’t get me wrong, the numbers are critical to building growth strategies, but they don’t stand alone as the sole strategic platform for building organizational direction.

Look at Tiger Woods’ stats - they are staggering.  But they alone don’t define his achievements.  They are a RESULT of his behaviors, his approach to practice, to change, to depth of knowledge.  Those behaviors balance the metrics as a FULL picture of Tiger’s best practices.

The best part of building Narrative Arcs (we have three working now) is that, when asked properly, people will tell you their behaviors.  You may have to discover the patterns of their answers, but they will tell you.

Superior behaviors form patterns, and many are repeatable across product and division lines.  Spend some time focusing on the behaviors that make you unique in your industry.

Let’s finish up our journey into understanding the process of true organizational TRANSFORMATION.  Here is what has been put on the table the last few months:

• Simplicity:  The great skill set to bring to any endeavor is learning to simplify complex issues.

• The Challenge:  All transformation starts with a challenge, something that pushes the system.

• Small Victories:  Initial accomplishments create much needed momentum and you can leverage that critical form of energy.

• Change The Way You Think:  The greatest challenge to transformation is that you have to change the way you think in order to change the way you behave.

• Pay Attention:  Things are happening all around you and change comes quickly.  Look for opportunity.

Finally, we come to the last piece:

• Be Bold:  Playing small does not serve the world.  It was only five years ago that Apple was thought of as a computer maker and now they dominate the music world and are getting ready to take over the cell phone industry.  Aristotle opened the Lyceum, a new school dedicated to new thinking, without a single student.  Einstein pushed ideas that initially had no way to be proven, in a field defined by proof.  Think BIG.

Nothing gets the business blood flowing like a good discussion of the greatest demographic blob of all time, the fabled Baby Boomers.  This generation has created more wealth, advancements, and creative impact than any group in history.  Now we (yes, I am a charter member) are in the autumn of our lives and it seems everyone is worried about us:

• By 2021 there are projections that the work force will be short 6 million workers.  Especially hard hit will be medical services, aerospace, engineering, and utilities.  Companies are trying to keep us around with flexible work hours and new compensation ideas.  They don’t want the “brain drain” to kill their productivity.
• We control a huge hunk of wealth, and everyone from bankers to financial planners are worried we are going to take it with us.  They are wondering where the next generation of rich folks will come from.  The wealth we have created is going to go someplace - figure it out.
• AARP continues to lick its chops as they become more powerful and influential representing the interests of us Boomers.  Membership is about 32.5 million and growing.  Think we might pique the interest of the political machine?
• The sucking sound you hear is our impact on Social Security.
• We live longer and impact a whole range of issues from housing to health care. Issues that simply were not around 10 years ago.  Turning 50 now gives you 30 more really good years to buy stuff.  We are still leading the consumer revolution.

It’s nice to have so many people caring so much about us!

Here is the deal.  Take a hard look at a world that is changing before your eyes, pay attention and you just might find golden opportunity.