beBetter 

2022 will most likely still be full of ups and downs but we made it through the last two years so hopefully we approach this year with more grace, compassion and patience.

CeCe and I have just landed in Charlotte, grabbed our rental car, and are headed towards Highlands, NC, which is a little more than a 3-hour drive. My Waze app tells us the interstate is SLOW in several places and as we look around, we are traveling about 20 MPH right now. So, I pull up an alternative route. It’s longer with many twists and turns, but it might get us there 20 to 30 minutes sooner based on traffic flow.

Finally, we are having some cooler weather. I make my way to our backyard to pull these five tomato plants up, throw them over the fence and stack my wire supports for next year. It’s going to be slightly more difficult than I had planned as CeCe has her Zinnias planted right next to them and in fact, they are intertwined and growing together. Now I know this is sacred ground as many of these are in full bloom, plus it saves us a little money as CeCe always finds ways to have fresh flowers in our home.

Sitting on the balcony of an 18th-floor condo overlooking the beach, it’s a great time to reflect, recharge and THINK. We are on our annual Havens Beach Retreat with almost 40 family members including kids and grandkids. Mom and Pop Joe are the headliners and run the nightly domino games. What a blessing with a mixture of fun and chaos!

Opening our condo door in Oxford, MS (home of my Ole Miss Rebels), I hear this fluttering noise and quickly look around. What is that? Quiet now. It’s about 9 p.m., dark, and I have had a long day on the lake fishing so I’m really excited about getting upstairs and hitting the bed early.    

There’s an old saying, “When you see a turtle on top of a fence post, chances are he did not get there on his own.” In my case, truer words have never been spoken.

My mother-in-law, Happy, loves to come over and visit in the late afternoons and sit by the fireplace outside, weather permitting. She can be quite funny and we so enjoy her visits. This afternoon she is really on a roll and sharing story after story.

As I listen to the team go over the new plan on process improvement, I’ve heard the word “efficient” several times. It’s obvious that we have certainly made an old manual process more automated and more efficient. Efficiency is not a bad thing — unless we let it destroy being effective. First, let me own that this is a pet peeve of mine. Being efficient is NOT the same as being effective.

One morning, I was fishing in the front of my boat on Ross Barnett Reservoir in Mississippi. I had an odd feeling that morning that things weren't just right; however, I wasn't able to put my finger on it. I became engrossed in a conversation with another fisherman about our LiveScopes. When I turned around to grab another color bait, I saw that my boat was full of water! I was literally on the verge of sinking.

“I would take a 7:30 a.m. hair appointment. I mean it, I would not hesitate.” I listen in shock as I look into CeCe’s eyes to make sure I heard her correctly. This one statement says so much about how eager we are to get our lives back. CeCe hates to get up early! However, after weeks of sheltering at home, she will do just about anything for some semblance of normalcy.

I can hear CeCe in the gym upstairs as she’s obviously in the middle of her daily iPad workout. Since the shelter in place orders took effect, CeCe has religiously worked out with these online routines. Today, I heard something that stopped me in my tracks.

Entering the restroom, my eyes are immediately locked on this image and I can’t stop staring at it. This visual is cemented in my mind, and I walk out of the restroom with a new realization: we are officially in panic mode. It is showing up in different ways, but it is showing up in everything we are doing and experiencing.

For the last few weeks, we have been discussing the technology-fueled disruption headed our way as part of the blog series, 5 Questions that Might Make Us #beEvenBetter. The rapid and radical transformation from this gathering storm inspired me to seek advice from some of the top leaders in our profession and, in the process, develop a routine of considering key questions regarding the future I’m charged with leading.