Category Archives: Passionate People

Rotary@105: Our 1st Rotary Dropout

26 Friday Mar 2010

Posted by in Lessons of Life, Passionate People, Public Relations, Rotary, Rotary@105

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Few Rotarians know that we marked a 105th anniversary milestone last week.  On March 23, one month after the historic first meeting, Rotary marked the 105th anniversary of its name.  It was not until the third meeting in 1905 that the original club members decided that the name would be ‘Rotary’ because the meetings were going to be ‘rotated’ among the member’s offices.  There were 15 people at that meeting including the original four.

The Original Four of Rotary

Those original four were Silvester Schiele (age 34), Paul Harris (age 36), Gustavus Loehr (age 40), and Hiram Shorey (age 42). Of the four, the oldest, Hiram Shorey would attend only two more meetings .  He did come back for a few meetings in 1906, but after the fifth meeting Hiram became the first Rotary Dropout.

Hiram Shorey: Rotary's first dropout

Why did Hiram dropout?  To me it is an interesting question.  According to an account of the first meeting all of the men were enthusiastic about the new club and he continued to attend for the next four meetings, so what changed between the first meeting and the fifth?

I don’t buy the reasons given when a Rotarian drops out.  According to Paul Harris, Hiram left Rotary, “due to circumstances beyond his control.”  Almost always the reason given is a ‘politically correct’ reason that ignores the fact that people do not normally make changes in their life based on one or two factors, but rather have multiple experiences or dissatisfiers that lead up to the change of mind.

(See my blog on Dissatisfiers: Why John Quit)

There could have been many issues that dissatisfied Hiram. The first meeting was held at Gus Loehr’s office. The second at Paul Harris’s office, and the third at Silvester Schiele’s office. According to the idea of ‘rotating’ the meetings it would have seemed likely that the fourth meeting would have been held at Hiram’s shop. Rotary history seems to skip over the fourth meeting. What we do know is that the fifth meeting (Hiram’s last) was held at a hotel and dinner was served.   Is it possible that the issue of the location of the meeting caused Hiram to rethink his enthusiasm about the club?   Did something happen at the fourth meeting that caused him to become disillusioned with Rotary? By the third meeting the club had grown to 15 members.   Did that cause Hiram to feel like Rotary wasn’t going to be small group of friends?

We will never know what dissatisfiers led to Hiram becoming Rotary’s first dropout, but there is a lesson we can take from 105 years ago.   Even people who have a strong vested interest in the club and it’s success can become disillusioned in a matter of a few meetings.   It takes extraordinary sensitivity and awareness to address dissatisfiers that may cause a member to leave the club, but it is the only way to help close the back door that members use to slip away from the club.

Ironically, Hiram’s short involvement with the club would follow him through the rest of his life.  His hometown of Litchfield, Maine has a plaque that notes he was “a Founder of Rotary.”  That is the way we all will remember him.

Rotary related blogs by Paul Kiser

Rotary Public Relations and Membership: Eight Steps to a Team Win


Rotary: All Public Relations is Local

Best Practices:  Become a Target!

Fear of Public Relations



Reno’s Secret Extreme Disc Golf Course

26 Friday Mar 2010

Posted by in About Reno, Passionate People, Public Relations, Recreation

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by Paul Kiser

“The Pebble Beach of Disc Golf” (Player comment)

Thomas Hill Frost at Hole 10 on the Green Course

This week I spent a morning with a magnificent view of the Reno and in the background was the snow-covered Sierra Nevada mountain range. It was a location that few know about and fewer know how to get to; however, my guide, landowner Thomas Hill Frost, knows this area well.

I didn’t visit the site for the view, but because Tom has built two 18-hole Disc Golf courses on 40 acres of land that are at best, challenging and for most, extreme. I haven’t played Disc Golf for years but after running into Tom at a Reno Starbucks he peaked my interest enough to see what he has been working on for ten years.

Tom points out the work on the hole structure

Located above the Virginia Foothills area, southwest of Reno, Reno Adventure Park overlooks the southern suburbs.

Green Course hole with next tee pad in background

Tom and I walked the Green Course which is 18 holes on ‘kinder and gentler’ terrain, but that shouldn’t be mistaken for the flat grass-covered courses in a city park or on a college campus.  This is a hill course with an occasional juniper or pinion pine tree that obscures the hole from the tee pad. The course can be played in tennis shoes; however, boots that protect the shins are recommended. I walked the course in street shoes and in the end had to dump dirt and sand out of my shoes and socks.

View from the Tee Pad of the 1st Hole of the Red Course

The Red Course is for the adventurous player. There is 600 feet of elevation change between the top of the course and the bottom with many holes dropping or rising 10 stories or more between the tee pad and the hole. There may be a more challenging permanent disc golf course in the world, but I can’t imagine where or why. Anyone who logs time on the Red Course will have earned her or his beer once they return to civilization.

One of the most challenging holes on the Green course is the 13th (of course, it had to be ‘13′.) The course is downhill with a few trees blocking the view of a hole that is set a few feet from a granite cliff. Overshoot the hole and you’re going to go for a hike. When we were there a red fox was at the bottom of the cliff. To my knowledge she won’t retrieve a lost disc for players, so don’t plan for help if you screw up.

The Cliff behind Lucky 13

Lucky 13 on the Green Course

Green Course Hole 17 Tee Pad

It is important to note that this is a private course on private land.  People must contact Tom (775.750.0776) to reserve a tee time, gain permission to access the course, and get directions.  Tom will typically be willing to meet parties and guide them to the property, but please don’t cancel as Tom arranges his schedule to accommodate guests.  Because of wildlife, no dogs are allowed.


Tom is a landscape artist and he is the great-great-grandson of the famous Yosemite landscape painter Thomas Hill (1829-1908).  Tom is aware of the artistic value of his land and he wants to preserve the beauty for all.  He has spent ten years working with Washoe County for easement access and use permits, and then he began installing the course piece by piece.  His current project is to complete concrete tee pads on all 36 holes.  Eventually he would like to have the property serve as a place for people to come and play, paint, relax, and enjoy.

Up to now the course has been a secret to Reno and the Disc Golf world; however, that is changing as more people become aware of this Reno treasure.  Now that I’ve been there I could tell you how to find it…but then I have to…sorry, I’ve been watching ‘Chuck‘ too much.  Call Tom at 775.750. 0776 or go to www.RenoAdventurePark.com for more information.

Best Practices: Become a Target!

24 Wednesday Mar 2010

Posted by in Human Resources, Lessons of Life, Management Practices, Passionate People, Public Relations, Rotary, Social Interactive Media (SIM), Tom Peters

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by Paul Kiser

Paul Kiser - CEO 2020 Enterprise Technologies

I just read Dr. Bret Simmons blog post, Give Yourself Permission to Be Excellent.  Excellence is a topic I fell in love with back in the 1980’s when Tom Peters and Robert Waterman wrote the iconic book, In Search of Excellence.   In that book I finally found someone who confirmed that business as usual is not good enough.

In Search of Excellence by Tom Peters and Robert Waterman

Fortunately, the President of the hospital I worked at then had also read the same book and for two years I experienced what business could be when unleashed from the confines of the unimaginative and uncaring.   All the ‘can’t-be-done’ stupidity had to face the light of day and it didn’t fare well when the control was removed from those who saw themselves as the ‘protectors’ of traditions.   The hospital (run by a strict religious-based organization) grew and flourished under the new leadership.  The facility kept it’s core values while eliminating most of the dysfunctional ideas that held it back.

But there was a price for those who pioneered the concept of excellence over authority.   Those people came under scrutiny.   Any mistake or failure was seized as proof positive that the people involved in effort of change were flawed….not that their ideas were flawed, but that the people were.

In Dr. Bret Simmons’s Blog he talks about the risk in striving for excellence and helps us understand why ‘risk’ happens.

(Click here to read Dr. Simmons Blog)

Dr. Bret states that mediocrity abides by the current rules and to strive for excellence means defining new rules.  Most people wait for someone in authority to define the new rules and in most cases those in authority fear risking his or her position by breaking new ground.   Thus it takes a ‘champion’, as Tom Peters liked to call them, to step forward and make the new rules for everyone else.

However, once a person steps forward to lead the way they make themselves a target. Their peers ask, “Who are you to do this!!!” and they wait for the person to be struck down by someone in authority.  The person in authority is embarrassed that they weren’t the one who took the bold action and so is predisposed to ‘put the person in their place.’   The result is that the person who leads the way is disliked…personally…by others in the organization.

The organization that lacks great leadership destroys champions, and make no mistake it takes GREAT leadership to love a champion. Good leadership toys with champions like a cat toying with a mouse. Good leaders are entertained by champions, but once they make an error the champion is lunch.

So why take the risk?  Why not play it safe and color within the lines?   George Carlin said, “Life is what we do while we are waiting to die.” It’s a matter of choice, but one can find purpose by being a champion and that can be a great feeling!   So go ahead…put those red circles on your back and move out in front of everyone else.  They can see the target easier when you’re in front…but then they have to live with the fact that they are always behind you.

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Management by Coup 2: Eliminate Job Standards and Job Descriptions

24 Wednesday Mar 2010

Posted by in Human Resources, Management Practices, Passionate People, Public Relations, Random, Re-Imagine!, Rotary, Tom Peters

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Being the Boss is more than wearing a suit and looking important

by Paul Kiser

It seems like a very rational idea. Create job (or performance) standards for every employee that dictate their responsibilities and define the expectations (or for performance standards, defines  ‘does not meet’, ‘meets’, or ‘exceeds’) for all aspects of every job.   That is the only way an employee knows what is expected of them and the only way a manager can “objectively” measure performance.

Very rational…very, very rational….

News Flash: We don’t live in a rational, sterile world where we can put down on a piece of paper an adequate description of intangible concepts like:

  • Taking care of the customer.
  • Thinking outside of the box.
  • Anticipating unforseen problems

Paul Kiser - CEO - 2020 Enterprise Technologies, inc.

I used to think that I could write objective performance standards that covered the intangibles of the business world, but it is really like the Schrödinger’s Cat paradox.  The more objective a set of performance standards, the more impossible it is to accurately and appropriately measure.  Likewise, the more subjective the performance standards, the less accurate the measurement tools and the more a manager’s personality, mood, bias, etc. will influence an employee’s score.

In my first Management by Coup blog I proposed that employee evaluations could and should be eliminated.  Now I want to go further and propose that performance standards are also unnecessary….But wait there’s more.

I propose that companies can also eliminate job descriptions as well.

Someone is saying “You CAN’T do that!!  Job Descriptions are required by LAW, you idiot!!!”  To that I say, BS.  There is no Federal mandate for an employer to have a job description.

There are some caveats to this statement:

  • In certain situations (government contracts, state government positions, etc.)  job descriptions are required.
  • Job descriptions are also often subpoenaed as evidence in an employee relations case.
  • If you have job skills, educational requirements, licensing, etc., then that needs to be listed in some type of job description.

However, all the other things in a job description (job duties, reporting to, etc.) are all optional. So maybe you can’t realistically eliminate a job description, but you can slice it down to the bare bones, and I recommend doing so.  Why?

First, anything a company puts in a job description can and will be held against them.  Like employee evaluations, the job description is often more useful to the employee’s lawyer than it is to the employee or the employer.

Second, like performance standards, job descriptions can’t possibly describe everything an employee does 2080 hours a year.  For this reason almost every job descriptions has the phrase, “Other duties as assigned,” in it.  So why not have a one line job description: “Other duties as assigned” and skip the hours wasted on writing and re-writing job duties?

Third, management is about talking to your staff.  When a piece of paper is more critical to your company than talking to the employee on a regular and frequent basis, then that is the moment to close up the business and let your competitors take over the market.

Here’s a test.  Write a job description for the expectations you have of your child (if you don’t have a child, try a pet, or your significant other).  Then at the end of a week measure how well the job description improved your relationship and if the job description had any value over just not writing it up in the first place.

I rest my case.

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Rotary Public Relations and Membership: Eight Steps to a Team Win

22 Monday Mar 2010

Posted by in Management Practices, Passionate People, Public Relations, Rotary

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by Paul Kiser
Public Relations Chair
Rotary District 5190

Any organization must continue to grow and evolve over time and Rotary is no different.   Rotary is a vital organization that has an impact throughout the world with Polio vaccinations; Health, Hunger, and Humanity grants; Rotary Youth programs; and community service projects.   It is an organization that has a legacy of Service Above Self and as Rotarians we must do our part to fulfill the work done by those before us.   Here are eight suggestions to use Club Public Relations and Membership as a team effort to maintain and promote the local Rotary Club.

Over 32,000 Rotary Clubs Worldwide

STEP 1. SELF EXAMINATION
Examine your Club’s public image.  What do non-Rotarians think/know about Rotary and your Club?  Ask every member find three people who are business professionals (of every age, gender, and race) and ask them five or six questions about Rotary.  Questions for a non-Rotarian like:

  1. What qualifications DO YOU THINK are required to join Rotary?
  2. What do you think is the purpose of Rotary?
  3. Describe your image of the typical Rotarian?
  4. Why would you be interested/not interested in joining Rotary?
  5. Do you have to belong to a political party to be a Rotarian?

Note:   THIS IS NOT A RECRUITMENT EFFORT, ONLY FACT FINDING. Document the answers and discuss them at a Club Assembly.   Determine what kind of public image your Club has among non-Rotarians.  What issues keep potential Rotarians from being interested?   Does the public image of your Club vary based upon the age/gender/race of the person asked?   If so, what are the members doing that might cause that?

Paul Kiser - Public Relations Chair - Rotary District 5190 (Northeast CA/Northern NV

STEP 2. BRANDING
Armed with a better understanding of the public image determine:

  1. How you can respond to incorrect perceptions using various internal and external Public Relations tools.
  2. What, if any, negative perceptions are being generated by the acts of club members and how they can be made aware of their negative influence on Club PR (e.g.; telling political or religious jokes in club meetings)
  3. Discuss how members can raise awareness of themselves as Rotarians (e.g.; wearing Rotary pin, Rotary license plate holders, posting membership certificate on the wall at work, etc.)
  4. Review the methods that a person can find out more about the club (e.g.; Can the club website be found by a Google search?)

STEP 3. IMPROVE THE INTERNAL MESSAGE
Determine if club members are passionate about their Rotary club. If not, what internal communication tools can be used to boost excitement about the club (e.g.; speakers/programs, newsletter, website, Facebook, LinkedIn).

STEP 4. GET OUT OF THE BOX
Seriously review your Club’s ability to adapt and incorporate new and different ideas.  The acid test: If a new member started suggesting new ideas would they be seriously considered, or would the current leadership tend to be offended by the brashness of the new member?   Try anything and celebrate failure as the next step to success!

STEP 5. LET THE POTENTIAL MEMBER KNOW YOU CARE
Use three to five members to recruit one member. Make the recruit feel wanted by the club.

STEP 6. NEW MEMBERS AS A CLASS
Every month (or every quarter) inductee’s are a new class.   All the members inducted in May of 2010 are the Class of May 2010 and they all work together to complete the New Member orientation and requirements to achieve their blue badge.  Each class has a ‘Den Mother’: A Rotarian that is their advisor of all things Rotary.

STEP 7. FAMILY, FAMILY, FAMILY
Every member’s family to be involved in the club.   The line between member and spouse to be almost invisible.   Look for ways to communicate to spouse, children, and members.   (Why shouldn’t a member’s children know as much or more about YES/RYE and RYLA than the member?)

STEP 8. ELEVATE THE CLUB PRESIDENT
Use a three-year succession plan to ensure the Club President plans for her/his year in advance.   Create an atmosphere where the Club President is a respected leader, not the butt of member jokes during the meetings.

Rotary related blogs by Paul Kiser

Rotary@105:  Our 1st Rotary Dropout

Rotary: All Public Relations is Local

Best Practices:  Become a Target!

Fear of Public Relations

Fear of Public Relations

21 Sunday Mar 2010

Posted by in Crisis Management, Human Resources, Information Technology, Lessons of Life, Management Practices, Passionate People, Public Relations, Re-Imagine!, Rotary, Social Interactive Media (SIM), Tom Peters

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The fog of Social Interactive Media is burning off

There are two approaches to Public Relations. The first is to live in fear of it and tremble at the prospect of screwing up. Take only measured steps that are carefully calculated and planned.

The other approach is to dive in. Risk mistakes and live and breathe being real and human.

The old school of Public Relations is the former. It is controlled by the Chain of Command. No one is authorized to speak unless cleared by multiple levels of authority and even then, to say or do anything that is nothing less than perfect is to fail. It is that Public Relations of which the world has become accustomed. Anyone who mars the perfect image risks banishment from the corporate world. Nightmare situations such as the current Toyota recalls reinforce the fear that Public Relations is a beast that must be closely guarded and heavily controlled.

This is why the new world of social media terrifies the old school. The unprecedented access to expressing our individuality on Facebook, Twitter, or even our own blog is the worst possible situation for those who believe that control of the message is the alpha and omega of Public Relations. Many companies are establishing strict policies for their employees on using Facebook, blogging, and all other avenues of professional or personal expression. Most of this comes from the management attitude that employees are a necessary evil and potentially a major embarrassment to the company.

What the old school of Public Relations doesn’t understand is that social interactive media (SIM) is creating a new model of business that is being driven by a desire of the consumer to do business with real people, not corporations. In today’s interactive world the branding of the individual is now becoming a driving force to he branding of the corporation. This is 180 degrees from the mission of most Public Relation professionals in major companies and it gives indigestion to old school managers that live in fear of employee self-expression.

Re-Imagine! Business Excellence in a Disruptive Age

In 2003, Tom Peters came out with a book called Re-Imagine!: Business Excellence in a Disruptive Age. If you understand that the book was published before Twitter and Facebook were available to the public, you have to wonder if Tom Peters can travel into the future and back again. Today everyone throws around the term ‘Branding’ but few know that today’s usage of the term originated from Peter’s 2003 book. On page 232 of Re-Imagine! Peters explains a new world of people who develop her or his individual brand separate from the corporate world. Now, in 2010, social interactive media has provided the vehicle for individuals to show off who they are and what they know and Peters has become the Moses of the new business world.

Like all business, the winner will always be the one who can embrace change before others. Companies that can adapt and use social interactive media to promote and showcase the quality and expertise of the individual within their ranks will have the advantage over the competition. In those companies the new role for the Public Relations professional is to help employees brand themselves instead of trying to muzzle them.

Still, the old school will loudly point out every slight misstep or mistake made by an employee that may reflect poorly on a company’s reputation. What they don’t understand is that errors make us human and that can deepen the bond between the company and the customer. An error is the opportunity to make things right and that is the key to all long-term relationships.

Passionate People Can Save a City

16 Tuesday Mar 2010

Posted by in Lessons of Life, Management Practices, Passionate People, Public Relations, Re-Imagine!, Rotary, Tom Peters

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Rick Parr: A Force of Nature

Last night I sat in a back room of a restaurant in downtown Reno (that shall remain nameless) at the Rotary Club of Reno New Generations meeting.  The restaurant had decided to pack the back room with patrons who were not part of the meeting and who seemed to be oblivious that someone was trying to speak to the group. Despite all of this distraction the club members were focused on the man standing up.  To everyone it was apparent that this man was passionate about his job and all the noise around him didn’t keep him from making it clear that he loves what he does.

The man is Rick Parr and he is Passionate about his ball club. Rick is the General Manager of the Reno Aces and last year the new Triple A team came to Reno and erased all doubt of whether this town could support the Arizona Diamondbacks ‘farm’ team.

Rick Parr - General Manager of the Reno Aces

The Reno Aces exceeded all expectations for a first year club with a season attendance approaching 500,000 fans.  But that achievement was nothing compared to what happened during the first four months of 2009.

On February 1st of last year the ballpark looked more like the first phase of a major construction project rather than a state-of-the-art baseball stadium only 10 weeks away from the first pitch of the first home game.  But on April 17th all, and I mean all, were amazed.  For anyone who was paying attention it was a miracle.

Rick doesn’t look like he has 30 years in baseball management.  When you talk to him about the Reno Aces he sounds like the person who was just hired to take a job that he has dreamed of all his life.  He loves baseball and he loves his team.  You get the sense that the miracle of last year’s opening day was due in large part to the force a nature known as Rick Parr.

But Rick’s passion doesn’t stop with baseball.  He is passionate about redeveloping downtown.  Like Denver’s Coors Field, the new Reno Aces Stadium is located in an area that has had little economic benefit to the city in recent history and like the Colorado Rockies, the Reno Aces are bringing in people and new development to revitalize the downtown area.

Rick has only been in Reno for 18 months, but as the designated hitter for the Front Office he taking the vision of the team owners, Jerry and Stuart Katzoff, and bringing home a Re-Imagined* downtown that offers more attractions than just a baseball team.  This year the Aces will open up the next phase of new dining and shopping with the Freight House District’s first retail offerings.  There is no doubt that this area will become a ‘Mecca’ for tourists and local citizens, bringing new jobs and revenue for local businesses and to the City of Reno.

Even before the completion of the full Freight House District retail project it is obvious that the Reno Aces have changed Reno for good.  Rick would probably be the first to credit the work of many others for the success, but there is one common factor in all that is happening in the downtown area and that is the passion of Rick Parr.

Rick is a great example of how one person can change a city by having passion and vision.  Peter Drucker wrote, “Wherever you find something getting done, you find a monomaniac with a mission.”  Rick Parr is Reno’s newest monomaniac.  Just in time!

(*Re-Imagine! is a 2003 book by Tom Peters about rethinking business in a new world.)

Reno Aces website is at http://www.renoaces.com.