My buddy Mark Kenyon at the Wired to Hunt blog had a post the other day on the Ultimate Recommended Reading List for Hunters. You can check out his post here. I wrote some thoughts back to Mark in a comment and thought I'd post this here. I might update in the next few weeks for hunting as well. 

My Thoughts on the Ultimate Recommended Reading List for Hunters

I think this is a solid, thoughtful list most hunters should appreciate and use. Thanks so much for putting it together. I’m a big believer in reading and books, especially to connect us to our history and traditions as outdoorsmen (and women). Here are some thoughts on your list and a couple additions.

I agree with almost every book on your list. My favorites are Rinella (everything he writes), all books by the Eberharts on deer hunting, Cameron Hanes’ Backcountry Bowhunting, all of the Eastman how-to’s and Jose Ortega y Gasset’s book. Also agree with Sand County Almanac – every outdoorsman should regularly read this book.

To your whitetail deer section, I’d add Joe Brooks’ Year-Round Trophy Whitetails. Similar to Everhart’s books but some slightly different approaches – good stuff.

I know you focus mainly on deer hunting (and I do as well), but I enjoy a great read. For birdhunters, I have a couple books to recommend:

Gene Hill was one of the greatest writers ever and I appreciate all of his books, but Tears & Laughter is my favorite. Gene’s fans will never look at their dogs the same way again.

Jim Fergus wrote two great traveling books – A Hunter’s Road and The Sporting Road about roaming bird-hunting lands with a yellow lab in an Airstream.

Rick Bass is a great writer (although he can be a bit depressing), and his books Colter and Brown Dog of the Yaak were fantastic. Fair warning – even tough hunters will break down after reading. Make sure you read in a quiet room with no witnesses.

Gordon MacQuarrie literally wrote the books on duck hunting and his three volumes (Stories of the Old Duck Hunters, More Stories of the Old Duck Hunters and Last Stories of the Old Duck Hunters) were solid semi-non-fictional tomes. I say semi-non-fictional because I’m not really sure the events happened, but they are great duck hunting stories. His biography by Keith Crowley will also give you insight into the man, who never really made a lot of money from his work, but changed the way we think about duck hunting.

For old-time writers, I agree with Jordan Seitz – Elmer Keith’s Hell I Was There is one of the greatest autobiographies ever. I’m never sure how much is true, but danged if Elmer wasn’t one of the greatest Americans ever to live. Wish he was still alive and could run for President.

In the same vein, I also admire Jack O’Connor. I know a lot of people either side with Elmer or Jack due to their long-running feud, but I admire both and appreciate all of Jack’s books. A Mizzou grad, Jack is known as the Father of the 270, but used a lot of other calibers. His books The Hunting Rifle and The Rifle Book are two of my favorites. Jack’s biography by Robert Anderson is also a great way to learn more about the man. I never met Jack, but I’ve held his guns and met his son Bradford and consider him to be a hunter we can all learn from.

For safari hunters, Robert Ruark is a great writer. His books Use Enough Gun and Horn of the Hunter are required reading for anyone heading to Africa on safari. Most hunters also remember Ruark for his Old Man and the Boy books, which are solid hunting and life stories of a boy and his grandfather.

For anyone liking the movie The Ghosts and the Darkness (which was a great movie), the book The Man-Eaters of Tsavo by Col. JH Patterson was actually a better read than the movie. Just don’t try to sleep at night after.

Again, great list, Mark!

Dealing with In-Season Injuries

We're one week into the 2012 Archery Season in Missouri and I already had to take a weekend off, but not because I filled my tag. Had a great opener last weekend seeing lots of deer moving and some close encounters with little bucks, but this weekend was different. After driving back to mid-Missouri Friday night, I had to drive a couple hours east on Saturday morning for a funeral. My Aunt Marty had passed away, and even as a hard-core hunter, it's a pretty easy decision to forego hunting for a chance to say goodbye to Aunt Marty. We arrived home too late to hunt on Saturday night and I had church this morning. 

This afternoon, I was out in the backyard with our two labs and my wife. We were just playing fetch with the dogs and I got my feet tangled with our youngest lab and went down hard. I knew as soon as I hit I was hurt - I just couldn't tell how bad. I came down at a bad angle, twisted to one side, and heard a "pop" when I hit the ground. The impact knocked the breath out of me and I spent the next two minutes just trying to catch my breath. That's a feeling I haven't had to deal with in a long time. 

 

After my wife helped me up, I tried to take stock of how bad it was. Externally, no broken hands or arms, but I'm thinking I have a couple ribs. After trying to move the rest of the day, I'm now wondering if my back is out of sorts as well. Everything hurts. A lot. As I was laying on the ground, though, I just kept thinking, "at least this can't be as bad as Jeff Simpson's injury". My heart goes out to the guy, but man, I hope this doesn't jack my season up too. 

My hunting season is already a bit out of sorts. The last few years, I've tried to go West for an early season archery hunt, but a new job in a new state has me concentrating more on learning new products, people and marketing campaigns and a little less on hunting. I'm still planning on hunting Missouri for archery and have rifle hunts planned in Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma. And I'm going to try to round out this year with a late-season bow hunt in Mississippi. That is, those were my plans until tonight. 

 

Tonight I'm trying to take it easy, keep my feet up and stay up on pain medications. My wife already had to help me load my truck for the drive over tomorrow. Not sure how I'll deal with this week, but I'll just have to figure it out. Sometimes life is like hunting season. You can make a lot of plans, but sometimes things just happen, and you have to figure out how to improvise, adapt and overcome. 

 

If I can't pull my bow back, I'll still be in the stand with a camera for some friends. I may be moving slowly for the foreseeable future, but I still think I can devise a pretty mean marketing plan. All things being equal, it could have been a lot worse. It also was a reminder of the importance of living in the moment and appreciating the little things. Just like hunting season, you just have to figure out how to deal with it. So I will. 

Anticipation

Tallboy - one of my neighborhood deer

This morning, I had a lot on my mind as I walked out of the house where I'm temporarily living in suburban mid-western city. My life is a bit in flux right now. this summer, I took a job working for a new company in the outdoor industry. It's a great job with a fantastic team and solid brand, so I'm excited to be here, but I'm also still in transition. I'm living in the new city while my wife is in our former town selling our house.

Since everything is in flux, I'm always looking for touchstones to remind me of who I am and that this situation is temporary. When I can, I find the backroads outside of this city so I can drive around and look for deer. Last night, I drove down a rural backroad and watched a pretty decent 10-pointer and some smaller bucks as they mingled with a group of does less than a hundred yards off the road. Watching the deer helped.

This morning, as I left the temporary house, I realized it was still dark as I was heading into my office. I'm leaving at my normal time, so this means the days continue to get shorter. Rationally, I get this happens every year and I know Fall is coming, but it was a big reminder this morning. This is a pretty big deal right now because my home state's archery season opener is Saturday.

Last weekend as I was home (which will not be my home for much longer), I completed my final pre-season prep. I shot broadheads instead of field points to check my final flight and zero at distance; packed my backpack with the gear I will need in the stand and did one final check of my trail cams; and washed all of my clothes, hung them outside to dry and then packed them into air-proof containers.

I'm ready for Saturday. Since I'm a hunter and not a farmer, Fall has always been my Spring. Hunting season is my time of birth, my renewal. Sitting in a tree stand is a time of solid rejuvenation for me. Wherever you are on Saturday, or whenever your archery season opens, I wish you the best of luck. Not necessarily that you'll shoot a nice deer, which I sincerely hope you will, but that you will enjoy every moment you have in the deer woods. I know I will.

What I think Steve Jobs could have learned from my dad

A couple weeks ago, I finished reading Steve Jobs' biography by Walter Isaacson for the first time. I say for the first time because I think it's going to take me a couple reads to understand the true nature of the biography and perhaps, the man himself. Our church had a book club discussion about the biography for last night and I thought I'd share my thoughts on Isaacson's book, Jobs' life and what I took away from my reading experience. 

Before any of my comments, a couple disclosures. I've always been a Mac guy. I'm writing this post on a MacBook, I used my iPad this morning to process email and I used my iPhone to track my morning run. So for all intents and purposes, I'm a fan of Jobs' work and his legacy. His products have literally changed the way I work and manage my life. To my mind, Jobs is one of the premier inventors of the current and last centuries - right up there with other names like Disney, Bell, Edison and Wright. 

Still, one of my consistent thoughts as I read the biography was one of regret. Even though I celebrated his incredible accomplishments, it seemed like there was always a "but". Here are a few examples. 

•            His early- to mid-life seemed to be significantly impacted by feelings of abandonment by his birth parents, but he physically abandoned his first child and seemed to emotionally abandon all of his children at one point or another.  

•            He was passionate about products (and likely more so about the user experience) but unable to be passionate about relationships - he was often distant and even caustic with co-workers and family.

•            His passion drove many of his co-workers to do more than they thought possible but also drove many people away. 

•            He had an ability to focus like a laser on some important things (products, presentations) but ignored others (early stage cancer). 

•            He was blessed with some incredible talents, perhaps putting him in the most talented ranks of those who ever lived, but never really seemed to understand the creator that provided these talents.

•            He was able to micro-manage the smallest detail of a new product, but seemingly was unable to manage his own emotions in many dealings with other people. 

Steve was able to affect positive change in multiple areas of our lives - entertainment, music, movies, communication, technology. His influence was arguably the most substantial influence of any single individual in the technical fields of the last fifty years. But specifically, his inability to manage his own emotions seemed to hurt him substantially in relationships with other people. I can't help but wonder what he would have been able to accomplish if he was invest in people the way he invested in product design.  

I would not consider myself to be an "emotions first" leader. I believe leader should set high standards and hold people accountable, but I think a leader who can also inspire his people to do more by believing in them can likely accomplish more than one who becomes a tyrant. It's sometimes difficult to understand where Jobs' thoughts ended and Isaacson's began, but it really did seem like Jobs understood he wouldn't have a long life to accomplish all that he wanted. I just wonder if he would have lived the same life if he understood the true impact of his actions on others. But then again, I wonder if we all wouldn't say that. 

I'm not a father, so it is always difficult for me to truly understand what it takes to be a great parent. My understanding is one of Jobs' motivations for working with Isaacson was so that his children could know their father. That's pretty hard for me to understand - at least three of his children lived in a home with Jobs. How do they not know him already? My father was a pastor. He's retired now, but I remember growing up in the parsonage and the toll my father's job took on him. All jobs can be difficult, but leading a church seems to be a more difficult vocation than many. Still, I remember, growing up, my father took frequent breaks from working in the office or visiting parishioners to spend time with my brother and me.  

I remember once, when I was about sixteen, I asked my father why he spent so much time with us when he had so many other commitments. I'll never forget his reply - he told me it was a choice and he chose to focus on his priorities. In the people business, he placed the people in his family first. He believed that if he was the best pastor ever and lead all of his church to the Lord, but lost his own sons, he would consider himself a professional failure. This conversation left an indelible mark on my life in understanding how families should work and how leaders set priorities at work and at home.  

We'll never know, but I wonder how much more successful Jobs would have been if he had invested more with his family and his co-workers. What if he put people first and was an encourager instead of a screamer? Isaacson himself broached this subject with Jobs, who admitted he could have achieved the same results while being nicer, "but it's not who I am." The truth is, there is a difference between who we are and what we do. Being true to oneself doesn't require one to sacrifice people. 

Perhaps a more relationship-centric approach would have held him back, unable to make the great contributions to society he was able to deliver. But perhaps not, and his family and co-workers would have been better people for it. I think we all owe a lot to Jobs and how he improved our lives through the products we use, but I also owe so much to my father who taught me how to relate to people and set priorities. 

Thoughts on William Tapply and the Summer Mystery

One of my favorite summer traditions is reading what I refer to as "mindless" mysteries. Not that I don't appreciate the craft that goes into writing a mystery, but it's a genre that does not require a lot of brain power. At the end of a summer mystery, it's not like you wasted time watching television, but then again, it's not like you're reading Bonhoeffer or Isaacson. It's simply a great way to invest a few hours and get lost in the experience of another’s imagination. 

About ten years ago, I discovered William Tapply. I say I discovered, but that’s not exactly true. Lots of other readers were familiar with Tapply before I found his characters and I was familiar with Tapply’s non-fiction through Field & Stream magazine. I've been a subscriber to Field & Stream since the late 1980s, where Tapply was a contributing editor for years, and his father, William G (Tap) Tapply was the author of Tap's Tips column that ran in Field & Stream from 1950-1985. So to say I discovered Tapply is factually untrue. I added his books on flyfishing and hunting, Pocket Water and Upland Days, to my library in the early 2000s. When I "discovered" his line of mystery novels featuring the lawyer Brady Coyne, I was intrigued as I was always looking for new authors to add to my favorite lists. 

I was, and remain, a fan of Brady Coyne and Tapply. Coyne is featured in twenty-six books by Tapply, and I've read every one. He's an interesting character - a Boston-based lawyer who is more involved in solving problems for clients (who are also friends) than practicing law. His interests are similar to my own - fly fishing, fly tying, good friends, doing good, solving problems. Although I've always like Coyne, I also felt a bit sorry for him. He seems lonely, never able to figure out long-term relationships with women, struggling with distant relationships with his sons, simply a lonely kind of guy. 

I was pretty excited when Tapply introduced a new character with his own line of books in Bitch Creek in 2005. The new line of books feature Stonewall Jackson Calhoun, a victim of a lightning strike who has no memory. Stoney moves to rural Maine, builds a cabin near Bitch Creek in Maine and works in Kate Balaban's bait and tackle shop. Although I’ve always liked Coyne, I really enjoyed the Stoney Calhoun character. Although he has a crazy backstory, he seems more believable, a character you’d like as a neighbor.

Tapply has a well-earned reputation as a writer’s writer – he published 26 Brady Coyne novels, three Stoney Calhoun novels and other books on writing, hunting and fishing. Three of my favorite books are First Light, Second Sight and Third Strike, which were co-written with Philip Craig and feature Coyne and Philip Craig’s character JW Jackson. In real life, Tapply and Craig are writers with individually successful careers and share a kindred friendship. I suppose they thought they could continue their friendship through to their characters and it works incredibly well. Coyne is a bit more buttoned-up and Jackson is a little more casual, but their friendship seems natural and real – and even more entertaining.

One of the more challenging times in a reader’s life is learning of a favorite writer has passed away. Tapply passed away from leukemia in 2009 at his farm in New Hampshire. With most characters, the writer’s death also means the death of the character. I’d like to think Coyne and Calhoun still live out their lives in Boston and Maine. For that matter, I believe Tapply will live on in his stories and his characters. Our lives and our summers are better for having the legacy of men like Tapply.

Trail Running

Last year, I started running. Literally running, not figuratively. I scheduled a backcountry elk hunt in Colorado last fall and thought I needed to get myself in shape. Our hunt would begin with a five-mile hike at ten thousand feet or so with sixty-pound packs. We would be hunting for six days in the backcountry with only what we had on our backs to support us. I thought I needed to be in shape for this hunt based on my experience two years prior on another Colorado elk hunt.

I’ve been going to Colorado for years and had, in fact, lived in Colorado Springs when I was a youngster while my father attended seminary. Foolishly, I thought my history with the state made me mostly immune to the need for conditioning and the effects of altitude. I’ve never had altitude issues and I even went so far as to gently poke fun of my wife (I know…horrible husband) when she was suffering from altitude sickness on Pikes Peak several years ago. My perspective on altitude and conditioning changed two elk hunts ago.

On this backcountry hunt several years ago, we rode horses several miles into the backcountry where our outfitter had already set up camp for us. The outfitter left us at camp and each day we’d set out under leg power to hike the mountains in search of elk. Several days into the hunt, a couple of my fellow hunters found me sitting on a hillside describing the individual floats in the Mizzou Homecoming Parade stretched out below us. In the mountains. Clearly, I was not immune to the need for conditioning, especially at altitude.

Fast forward to last year, I knew I needed to get myself into shape for my next upcoming elk hunt. I began running on the MKT trail, which conveniently is located just north of my home in Columbia. A former right-of-way for the Missouri-Kansas-Texas railroad, the MKT trail leaves the Katy Trail at McBaine, MO and travels through Columbia to the downtown district. The trail is a solid bed of compressed gravel that makes a great travel route and is busy with runners and bikers practically every day.

Running the MKT helped with conditioning, but not with altitude and was about as boring as I could imagine. Weaving around other people on the trail and sometimes wildlife like deer and ducks was about as exciting as it got. I was in better shape last year for my elk hunt, but not the shape I wanted to be in.

This year, a running friend suggested we try trail running at a nearby state park. Rock Bridge State Park is located just south of Columbia and features eight different trails, from a half-mile to over eight miles each. Trails are literally cut through the woods, up cliff ridges and over and through creeks. Trails are clearly marked and, while it is easy to get turned around, it’s pretty much impossible to get lost in the park.

Trail running has changed the way I think about running. It requires a lot more concentration when you’re running full speed down a hillside trail dodging roots, rocks and tree stumps. The constant change keeps me on my toes and paying attention to what is coming next. A lot of wildlife call Rock Bridge home, but I try not to pay too much attention as I’ve literally run into trees watching deer in the park.

After significant rainfall, like we’ve had this spring, running becomes even more challenging. Creek crossings are deeper and mud can be a thick, gooey mess to run through. The last several weeks we’ve had to deal with 50-yard stretches of 8-inches of water across the trail and we’ve even found dead fish littering the trail from where the flood carried them.

However, these conditions make this a really enjoyable run for me. While I’m still not very fast (sub 10-minute miles) on the trail, my stamina and balance are improved and I notice my ankles are much stronger. And while trail running in Missouri doesn’t help with altitude acclimation, trail running has made running fun.

My running group usually runs the trails in the early mornings and the accountability for meeting them ensures I’m there at least three times a week. I still use the MKT, but usually just for biking on my days off from running or an evening walk with my wife. Tonight, I’ll even use the MKT to bike downtown to meet friends, but I’m saving my running time for real trails now.

Notes and thoughts from the Chick-Fil-A Leadercast – Friday, May 4, 2012

Last Friday, I attended the Chick-Fil-A Leadercast event, which was held in Atlanta, GA but simulcast to several hundred locations throughout the United States. Our church, The Crossing, was the chosen location for Columbia, MO. I was pretty impressed with the overall event and wanted to share my notes and thoughts on the overall event. You can find more information about the event, including some of the video highlights, here.

First, I thought the lineup of speakers were pretty impressive – John Maxwell, the dean of leadership thought today, at the head of the list. However, I was also impressed with Andy Stanley, Marcus Buckingham and Patrick Lencioni. I also thought some of the program integration needed some polish. For example, for a professional interviewer, I thought Soledad O’Brien could have rehearsed her interview with NFL player Tim Tebow and Ohio State Football Coach Urban Meyer and delivered a sharper interview.

And while thinking of O’Brien, I also thought it was pretty clear who was a professional speaker. Maxwell, Stanley, Buckingham and Lencioni each delivered their presentations with few, if any, notes and their personalities clearly came through with their material. However, O’Brien spent most of her speaking time reading her speech verbatim from her notes, rarely looking up. While she may have an engaging story, I thought her delivery made it difficult to focus on her message. Perhaps a teleprompter would have helped, but I thought it was clear she is a professional “reader” versus a professional speaker.

Andy Stanley’s Presentation

Stanley had three excellent questions for forcing perspective when making a decision:

1. What would my replacement do? If the Board of Directors replaced me tomorrow, what decision would my replacement make? Am I letting my current perspective get in the way of a great decision? 
2. What would a great leader do? If I aspire to make a great leader someday, what decision would a great leader make today in my position?
3. What story do I want to tell? The decisions I make today is only a story tomorrow-make sure it’s a story worth telling and not a story I’m embarrassed to share. In everything we do, make the decision as if everyone will see everything I see today and don't choose anything that will make you a liar for life or that you will be afraid of telling to your children.

Stanley also shared a story of Truett Cathy, founder of Chick-Fil-A, during an important decision in the history of Chick-Fil-A. While debating how to respond to a competitor’s decision on hyper-growth, CFA had an opportunity to revisit their growth strategy to determine if they should grow faster to meet this competitor head on. Cathy interrupted the debate to state, “If we get better, customers will demand we get bigger.”

Marcus Buckingham’s Presentation

Although I’ve seen Marcus Buckingham a couple of times, I was really impressed by his delivery today. He was engaging and had an extremely effective use of humor in his presentation. I thought his perspective that leadership is idiosyncratic in that the techniques of one leader aren't easily transferred to another was an interesting position. It seems like everyone wants leaders today to conform to leadership norms. He went on to provide his perspective on the seven different types of leadership he captures in his new situational profile tool called Standout. However, while this is an interesting perspective on profiling, he was wrapped by saying there is no perfect profile-only perfect practices that fit your profile. 

My main takeaway from Buckingham’s presentation was the importance of authenticity, which is a leader’s most precious commodity.

John Maxwell’s Presentation

I’ve been reading Maxwell since I was in college and I’m impressed with his level of passion for communicating leadership perspectives and actions. It is clear he is absolutely driven by raising up new leaders and engaging the audience with his leadership message. Maxwell reviewed three leadership laws but started with a story about the importance of establishing a personal growth life plan. Although I created my own life plan in 2001 (perhaps I got the idea from Maxwell?), here is a link to a much better process through Michael Hyatt. Personal growth is a critical component of a life plan.

Maxwell’s Three Leadership Laws for personal growth were:

1. Law of Intentionality - Life and growth require work, a choice and that requires an intention. The only thing certainty in life is death. An important quote was - The choice you make, makes you. The secret to growing is to grow every day. 

The secret of success is dictated by our daily agenda that requires us to be intentional, every day.

2. Law of Awareness – there is a difference between knowing myself and growing myself. I need to understand what is required, what is expected. Also, what gives me the greatest return?

This requires one to focus on our greatest strength, what we do well. We focus on imporing our strengths and not our weaknesses. Focusing on improving our weaknesses makes us average.

Maxwell even talked here about the importance of being a workafrolic, not a workaholic, injecting his humor into his passion.

3. Law of environment-Personal growth thrives in conducive surroundings. 

Conducive surroundings are a place where:

§       Others are ahead of me - I won't be at the head of the class

§       I'm continually challenged

§       My focus is forward (I can't change yesterday for good or bad)

§       The atmosphere is affirming, people want to grow 

§       I am often out of my comfort zone. I'm not wading, I'm swimming. You want to be out if your comfort zone but not out of your strength zone

§       Failure is not my enemy

§       Other people are growing

§       People desire change

§       Growth is modeled and I’m expected to grow

§       We visit places of greatness

Patrick Lencioni’s Presentation

Lencioni’s presentation focused on culture, beginning by saying the most important competitive advantage is free, accessible and virtually untapped in most organizations. This advantage is, of course, culture.

From Lencioni’s perspective, great cultures require both organizational health and organizational intelligence. Most companies focus on intelligence because it's easier to get our arms around. Most MBAs can develop a list of metrics to focus on and measure the organization by. However, Lencioni believes it is  more difficult today to build competitive advantage based on intelligence. Most leadership teams are smart but few are healthy enough to tap into amazing culture. 

In order to develop organizational health through culture, Lencioni believes an organization must embrace four disciplines:

1.    Build cohesive management teams

Great leaders are vulnerable and vulnerability is based in trust. This has to start with the senior leader, who has to be comfortable admitting he/she does not have all the answers. 

2.    Create clarity

Great organizations create the 2-3 things (absolutely NOT 10) that make the org what it is and are culturally intolerant of transgressions against those things. Lencioni gave an example of Herb Keller, the former CEO of Southwest Airlines, who “fired” a customer because they wanted Southwest to change their culture of humor. Since humor is a core value, Kelleher was unwilling to change and let the customer go.

3.    Over-communicate clarity

Once clarity is established, great organizations have leaders who do not get tired of repeating themselves. They don’t more on to the next agenda, they stay true to the organization and clarity of mission, vision, values and strategy.

4.    Reinforce clarity

Great organizations have leaders who reinforce clarity at every opportunity, institutionalizing the culture without bureaucratizing it. 

Great leaders are comfortable doing things that work w the culture 

Great leaders are humble and willing to do things that show their vulnerability

Key Takeaways

I thought this was a well-produced series of presentations overall. I found significant value in at least four of the ten presentations and thought most of the presentations were at least as valuable as the average conference lineup of speakers.

Not coincidentally considering the conference theme, the speakers each focused on leadership, but consistent themes of personal development, culture and personal responsibility weaved through the presentations. Although the afternoon was not quite as good as the morning session, I thought the overall pace of each speaker was good.

Every conference today engages the attendees through social media both before and during the conference and the CFA Leadercast did this as well. I thought perhaps an iPad app that was available for each participant that also included broadcast for later replay and an in-app notes section could improve the experience.