Invest in Yourself…With Lynda

At the end of every year I look for opportunities to invest in myself to enhance my professional skills and increase my potential. It is said that the best investment that you can make is in yourself and I have lived by that mantra for most of my professional life. Over the years I have taken courses, studied for and earned technical and non-technical certifications, and joined a public speaking and leadership organization to become more valuable to my employer. I believe that it is important to constantly learn, regardless of whether or not your employer fully assists, partially supports, or doesn’t contribute at all to your professional improvement. Although it certainly helps if your employer provides financial support, time off, or some other form of return on investment, it shouldn’t be the single motivating factor for improving yourself with updated or new skills.

As 2015 winds down, I was evaluating educational opportunities for 2016, including a return to a traditional college setting, on-line college courses, and possibly attending a technical school to enhance my technical chops. I have recently been very interested in accounting and marketing topics (which I really haven’t seen since my traditional college days many years ago), so I was considering taking local accounting and marketing workshops and classes as they became available. With the high expense of college and not being settled on pursuing a PhD (I have played with this idea for many, many years), another Master’s Degree, and not necessarily set on which technical skills I wanted to chase, I came across Lynda.com in my research.

Lynda.com is an award-winning provider of educational materials, including the Lynda.com library with over 4,050 online courses (more than 301,000 video tutorials): An online education company offering thousands of video courses in software, creative, and business skills.

During my research I found that Lynda.com could help me pursue most of my educational goals, until I decide to pursue that PhD or second M.S. degree, for a price that was affordable and a resource I could take advantage of in my schedule. After hemming and hawing over this decision for a couple of weeks and trying, but unable, to find someone that utilized Lynda.com to help me make a decision, I received a promotional E-Mail to subscribe for a year to Lynda.com for $287.00 (regularly $359.88). This price certainly helped in my decision making process. I signed up. Within a few days I had taken a couple of courses, including accounting and marketing related courses. Additionally, I took a course on utilizing Garage Band (I am a wanna-be songwriter, rock star, musician). All of the courses I took, so far, were high quality, very useful, and I could apply something I learned in every course to my day-to-day professional life. If I would have purchased books or took a course/series of classes on these topics I would have certainly exceeded the $287.00 I spent on the annual Lynda.com membership…and I am only 8 classes and 2 weeks into my membership. In my case, Lynda.com is less than a dollar a day and as long as I regularly attend courses, Lynda.com will certainly pay for itself with my enhanced and new skills. If you are considering enhancing your current skills or learning new ones, I would encourage you to look at Lynda.com…it’s affordable, available online and offline, and can be utilized on your schedule and on your device. Additionally, at least half of the sessions included downloadable “hand-outs” and one included testing during the course sections to reinforce the topics covered. One cool feature that I really like, but is outside of the educational courses, is that it can be linked to your LinkedIn account and will display your course completions on your profile in the Certifications area…a great way to keep track of and show your accomplishments.

If nothing else, be sure to constantly invest in yourself to help you and your employer. You now know someone that has taken advantage of Lynda.com, so don’t feel as skeptical as I was initially by not knowing the quality of sessions available or not knowing anyone that utilized Lynda.com.

Again…invest in yourself.

In Your Skin

In Your Skin

When we were born, some of us were told “You can be whatever you want to be” or even better “Just be yourself”. On the other hand we’re told about tradition…what to believe, how to believe, what is “right” and what is “wrong”. When we start to walk and talk…it’s cute, but soon enough we are told to sit down and shut up.

When a boy says he wants to be a race car driver or a girl says she wants to be a cheerleader at age 6…it’s really cute. Then these same children are indoctrinated into the tradition of “normalcy”. The independence that a child shows early on, the artistry that is shown, the thought process and logic that the child shows independently, and the child that plays differently than other kids typically gets beaten into submission.

Then…here we are. We do the same things we have always done, generally the same way our family has done…generation after generation. Perhaps there is some comfort in that, perhaps we are afraid to rock the boat, maybe we know no other way.   Some of us, if we are reflective, begin to question why we do these things and repeat history. It is nearly impossible to feel at home in our own skin when we are constantly barraged by ways we should act, think, and feel by the media, the masses, friends and family…we are put down or worse, shunned, by family members and so-called friends for unorthodox ways. I have been there…the black sheep, the one that makes people frustrated when I didn’t agree with following the road, but creating my own path…or at least trying to. Yes, I buck the system…because who says the system is right.

Whether or not this way is good or bad, at a young age I began to question what we do as the majority…we vote republican or democrat, we worship similar (if not the same) gods, we celebrate birthdays, holidays, the “Hallmark Day” holidays and have special months for a cause…primarily due to tradition…we don’t dare to move outside of the box…we don’t dare open our trap. The box is where the majority sits.  How can the majority be wrong?  How can what I have done since I was born be questioned?

Have you ever seen a crazy popular movie where the hype was far greater than the movie itself? Ever eat somewhere that everyone raves over to go away feeling unsatisfied with a meal that didn’t even come close to hitting the spot? Have you ever listened to a crazy popular band, The Beatles, N’ Sync, One Direction and wondered what all the hype was about? That feeling…that’s what I am talking about here…the place where you are marching to a different drummer

I have a feeling that I am not alone here.

But, what I can tell you…it can be a lonely road at times…to not be in “The-in-Crowd”, to have an event, individual, or object that everyone gets so happy over or celebrates be so anticlimactic. One that fills people up with overwhelming joy but yet leaves you empty.  I am not talking about depression or some other mental health issue, which is a different beast altogether, but a feeling that disagrees with what everyone else seems to carry with great happiness, joy, and excitement.

If you feel like a stranger in a strange land, I am here to tell you today…YOU ARE NOT ALONE.  But, you are not your parents, your friends, or your spouse. You are unique…you are your own mind, body, and soul.  You have to become comfortable in your own skin and in your own head with how you live your life.

 

I was speaking with a neighbor one day and we ended up talking about the recent Supreme Court’s ruling on marriage…though not quite sure how in the world we got on this topic.  This neighbor was telling me that the show Modern Family was on TV and his grandson noticed that 2 men were kissing on the show and asked him why? The neighbor seemed somewhat offended by the show and wondered what he was to tell his grandson. My response to him was, my approach to my son is and would continue to be that my job in raising my son is to give him enough comfort in himself to be his own man…to make sure that whatever conclusions my son comes to about anything…that he is comfortable in his own skin, regardless if that decision is counter to me, his mother, society, or whoever might hold a differing opinion. I am not going to be able, nor do I want to, to mold him in such a way that he believes what I believe just because I believe it.

The reason I told you that story is that how we become who we are, for better or worse, is due in large part to what society, family, friends deem to be “normal” and what people think about the skin we are in. Believe this, not that; Do this, not that; Work here, not there; Love this, not that, Buy this, not that; All of this is really a contradiction to Being Whatever You Want To Be and Just Being Yourself.

Unfortunately, I have witnessed people that have to be around other people constantly…and are seemingly never comfortable alone.  I see people that would rather follow the crowd because it is less painful and makes them feel like they are a part of something rather than become a bigger part of themselves.  I have known people that are so mean to themselves and just miserable because they don’t see in themselves the beauty that others see.

In these cases, loneliness or being uncomfortable with one’s self contributes to discomfort and discord in their own skin.

How can we become comfortable in our own skin when a major conflict exists when we compare ourselves to others? Therein lies a problem…a HUGE problem.

Conclusion

If you feel trapped, confused, or just plain out-of-place…I am pleading with you to reflect and come to terms with who you are and get to understand and like the skin you are in. If you feel that you are Out-of-Place…who is it with…those externally or is it something internally? Like the skin you are in by understanding what makes YOU tick, gets YOU excited, what YOUR likes and dislikes are. There is no magical solution and I can’t give you a Top 10 list of how to like yourself or to be comfortable in your own skin…everyone is different. What has worked for me probably won’t work for you. I have been able to break free from the expectations of liking sports, following a religion, disliking certain types of music, having certain types of friends, succumbing to peer pressure, and following a more traditional life path. It took many years of getting to know and respect the skin I am in. What I can tell you is, first and foremost, that this investment to get comfortable with yourself is probably the most important thing that you can do while you are here.  This isn’t going to be something you can figure out after you are gone. It takes a lot of hard work towards self-realization (to have freedom from external influence, from cultural expectations, political and economic opinions, and the freedom from worldly attachments and desires, etc.), and the acceptance that you and you alone are what makes you…quite simply…YOU. Your “skin” is what makes you perfect…perfectly imperfect, perhaps, beautifully broken.

You must know and be comfortable with no one else better than you.

Text of a Toastmasters Speech presented in September 2015

What is Toastmasters and Why You May Care

As I am closing in on accomplishing the Toastmasters International Competent Communicator award towards the final quarter of 2015, I thought now was a good time to reflect on what a great organization I have found Toastmasters to be in the past year that I have been a member. The Competent Communicator award is earned after giving and being evaluated on 10 speeches that requires the speaker to apply different speaking techniques to pretty much the topic of their choice.

If you are unaware, Toastmasters International is an organization that provides a supportive, safe, and positive environment to help hone public speaking and leadership skills. Simply put, if you would like to become comfortable speaking in front of people and leading and coordinating people, meetings, and discussions, Toastmasters is the perfect organization to start with. Members of Toastmasters arrive from various backgrounds, professions, and skill level and have various reasons for joining and contributing to their growth as communicators and leaders. Some Toastmasters arrive very shy and nervous to speak in front people; Others arrive not being overly comfortable with the primary language of their local Toastmasters club or workplace (ie. English is a second language); others have tried to learn public speaking and leadership skills by trial-and-error; others realize that it is required to be comfortable speaking to and leading groups of people to enhance their career potential. If you fall into any of these categories, I would highly recommend that you consider visiting local Toastmasters clubs in your area. There is no obligation to join Toastmasters or give a speech or talk spontaneously in front of the group as soon as you walk in the door. You can, if you prefer, just sit in the last row of the room and be a fly-on-the-wall to observe those improving their communication and leadership skills until you are ready to commit to improving yourself. It takes some time to begin feeling comfortable at a Toastmasters meeting, but once you find that this is where you can grow with a safety net you will be well on your way to improving your communication and leadership skills.

I came to Toastmasters because I knew there had to be an easier way to become a better public speaker rather than learning the hard(er) way. Although I have given many presentations in my professional career, in 2012 I forced myself to begin taking roles outside of my comfort zone that required me to perform in public, such as giving presentations to a local legal technology group, teaching, being a guest speaker on various podcasts and webcasts, and actually accepting a guest speaker role at health information summit. I knew that in order to take the next step in my career, be regarded as a subject matter expert or thought leader, and just to become a great communicator I had to “get out there”, engage, and contribute. This was the hard way to learn and not very conducive to improvement. After my multitude of public speaking engagements I never got any constructive feedback or criticism to help me improve and I really have a hard time believing that I was perfect each and every time I spoke. I had heard of Toastmasters in passing, but never really paid attention to them until one day I did, for whatever reason. I went to the Toastmasters International website, found a local club, and E-mailed the club representative to find out more. Shortly after that I attended my first couple of meetings as a guest to observe and eventually began contributing and finally became a member…a Toastmaster. I gave speeches, participated in Table Topics, introduced a Word of the Day, and told humorous stories to help me improve. I received wonderful feedback from those in the Toastmasters club I belong, which has helped me greatly in my communication and leadership skills.  I feel like I have improved as a communicator and have learned various techniques to make future speaking engagements and presentations I give less stressful and much more appealing to an audience compared to what I was doing before joining Toastmasters.

Toastmasters is probably one of the most accessible ways to improve yourself, whether you are required to be a speaker and leader at work, at social gatherings, at community gatherings, or want to pursue a profession as a public speaker.

Take some time to explore Toastmasters. Take a couple of hours out of your schedule over the next couple of weeks and visit a local Toastmasters club or two in your area. Here’s how to get started…

1. You can find a list of clubs that are local to you on the Toastmasters website at: http://www.toastmasters.org/Find-a-Club and inquire and/or show-up at the designated time at the meeting venue.
2. Find a co-worker or friend that is involved in Toastmasters and be their guest at the next meeting they attend.

Each club culture may be a little different depending on the member make-up of the club or time of day when the club meetings are held, so give a few different clubs a try and find one that is the best fit for you. Some clubs are located in downtown areas whereas others are located in the suburbs. Some club meetings are held before the workday, some during the lunch hour, and others in the evenings. For example, the Federal Building Club in Pittsburgh conducts its meetings on Odd-Numbered Thursdays at noon. Since I work in the city and the meeting time is during the lunch hour this club is very convenient for me to attend during the workday. (If you work in downtown Pittsburgh and are interested in learning more, please feel free to reach out to me (david.kearney@comcast.net) or any other Federal Building Club members to show you the club and how Toastmasters works.)

If you are looking for a way to drastically improve your communication skills in a supportive, safe, and positive environment, Toastmasters is where to get started. Take a peek into Toastmasters and see if there is something there that can help you become a better you.

For more information on Toastmasters International, please visit: http://www.toastmasters.org/

How to Think, Not What to Think

This text is from a Toastmasters speech that I gave on April 9, 2015.

How to Think, Not What to Think

Recently, a light bulb went on and I have been able to connect some dots that weren’t overly obvious to me before.

I am going to start this story by going back to my childhood. Growing up I was a normal kid…got dirty, climbed trees…fell out of trees, played with matchbox cars and legos, struggled through the change of life and those awkward years coming into adulthood. However, throughout my entire childhood through adolescence I was never made to feel like I had to do things to make my parents happy, extended family happy, to follow tradition, to fit in, to make straight A’s, to keep up with the Jones’…to be “normal”. My parents gave me advice, but never told me what to do (within reason of course), who to hang out with, what music to listen to, what college to go to…or that I even had to go to college, my beliefs on religion, my political views, that I had to like football (being born and raised in Pittsburgh, it’s almost a have-to), my thoughts on various lifestyles, the people I dated, the woman I married, to the house I bought, to the jobs I have had. Was this a hands-off approach? Did my parents really not care what I did? Since I have turned out fairly well-adjusted and fiercely independent, I have to believe that my parents did not think that everything they did or all of the beliefs or disbeliefs they had would be a natural fit for me…they saw me as a human…individual…a little person…not just a childlike creature. Did they have some influence? Sure. Did they tell me what to do? No. I always felt loved and cared for, but never smothered and always treated as a human. I do recall hearing the comment, “I can’t make that decision for you”, on many occasions.

I saw a quote a month or so ago that stated “Teach Your Children How to Think, Not What to Think”. It was one of these pictures…meme things, that had a nice picture of an adult and child with a sunset in the background. That resonated with me deeply… It resonated with me more so than it would have than if I didn’t have a child.

This is how I am approaching the way I am raising my son, which I never really thought much about…I was just doing what I did…what I knew how to do…more or less by instinct. I didn’t necessarily do this on purpose. My son gives me his opinion and I don’t immediately react or judge. Caleb tells me what he thinks about school, people, things we do together, his friends, and world events. I do not pre-judge, but only to give him different angles to look at what we are talking about, not the What to Think. This is the How to Think…I don’t push my way or my baggage on my son, because I may not be right…about anything. I can only give him different perspectives and allow him to think, stand, and be his own man.

Having reflected on the quote, how my son and I relate…I now fully see that my parents gave me enough information to know how to make decisions…Real. Life. Decisions. Not to worry about what other people thought…the strength to carry my head high and make the decision that is right For Me, especially during ridicule and uncertainty. 40+ years later, I am the man I am because I am self-reliant due to the ways that I was taught how to think…how to look at things from multiple perspectives, how to be open to anything that is outside of the way I live. I may not always be right…but I am always ME.

Putting this into the bigger picture, we can be creatures of habit and rely on the ways that have contributed to where we are now…so we just keep doing what we’ve always done, acting the way we have always acted, feeling the way we have always felt, and responding the way we have always responded…to situations, circumstances, events. From expectations that have been put upon us as a child to where we find ourselves today. But, chances are that the way you have always thought of the world probably won’t be the Game-Changer that gets you to your next self.

The realization that it is up to you and you alone to use what is in you…not based on what someone else wants you to do, thinks you should do, has told you to do, or wants to persuade you to do. Unfortunately, there is much of that…too much of that. Ways that we become influenced.

As a starting point, allow yourself to just be, to just be you, to just do nothing when your habits tell you to do something. To do the opposite of what you always do. Feel how that feels and that more often than not, there is a better way to think compared to what you have always thought. Do this a couple of times…at first it will be very uncomfortable. When someone says something that gets you emotionally charged, let it go. When someone says “I need you now” (maybe a child, a spouse, a co-worker)…don’t be so quick to jump into gear, jump through hoops, fly off the handle, or be Johnny/Jane-On-The-Spot. We all have these things that we automatically do sometimes that we really need to reflect on and weigh in on whether it is necessary to do. The how to think about this situation…not what to think. For example, my son will talk-back to my wife and I on occasion. I pull back and try to understand why Caleb may have said what he said the way he said it. If the topic warrants, I talk him through what he said so I can understand his perspective. Just because he spoke back…this doesn’t automatically make him wrong. And I have to remember that he is 7 and that he doesn’t mean what he says translated into adult language. This also teaches me how to think…how to think as Caleb. This puts a much different texture on how we are relating to each other.

You know you better than anyone else…not your mom, you dad, your spouse, your doctor, your spiritual advisor, your mentor, your coach, you name them. It is you that you need to learn to be a home with, at peace with, in love with, sometimes at war with, to rely on…to be patient with.

Popular thought does not equal truth…search for how to think…not what to think…what’s right for you.

Don’t Live in the Town of Indifference

This was a Toastmasters speech that I gave on February 19, 2015.

Don’t Live in the Town of Indifference

“The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference.” Indifference signifies a lack of emotion, caring, and interest. You can examine to Love, Hate and the opposite emotion of indifference and realize that to live in Indifference, you have no way to change, no road to get you moving to the next town, to the next state, to a higher place.

Let’s talk about living elsewhere, the place of hate or the place of love.

If we are to speak of love, we must also consider hate. Love is easy, digestible, and something everyone romanticizes about. Hate is dark, disturbing, and misunderstood…and something that folks generally steer away from.

Some things have happened over the past few months…I have traveled by running, cycling, with a little bit of walking over 600 miles. I have lost some weight, and brought my blood pressure and cholesterol down a bit. I still have a way to go, but I will get there. My typical time to wake in the morning is 4:30 AM. Don’t get me wrong, I love to feel rested, but going to bed at 10 and getting up at 4:30 doesn’t give me that rested feeling. Most folks feel awful getting up more or less in the middle of the night. It just isn’t natural.

I was on the treadmill one morning around 5:30 and on an intense run. I thought what got me here…every day for the past couple of months…to run like there was no tomorrow. Was I insane? What was I running from? To? Was I motivated by my health issues? The BMI chart has my categorized as obese. Was I inspired by an upheaval to my home life? What inspired me, motivated me, and made me intensely run on a treadmill for up-to 95 minutes? Running on a treadmill, although physical, is a mental game too, especially for that duration. I gotta say…it really boiled down to hate. I want to discuss the passion and emotion I believe I felt…and it certainly wasn’t love. The hate for how I felt physically, mentally, and emotionally. I hated certain situations, circumstances. I will circle back to love momentarily…so bear with me.

I have been examining, specifically hate, for the last 6 months or so and I have come to find that it has been one of the visceral fires that has burned to keep me moving forward…not only recently, but for a good part of my life when I was jumping very high hurdles or attempting to. Is it that I have a Type-A personality? Is it that I am a workaholic? Is it that I am an obsessive compulsive? I have analyzed it and I know that when moving forward is something that I need to do I can do it with this emotion.

Hate in this context isn’t about a feeling toward other human beings; it is about having such strong feelings about moving yourself to get beyond where you are right now. Hate as found in the dictionary or even generally on the Internet is really a strong dislike of something…with more intense definitions here and there, but the definition I like the most is the one by Aristotle. Aristotle viewed hate as a desire for the annihilation of an object that is incurable by time. Time in and of itself was not going to get me in shape. Time in and of itself will not give anyone an education, professional accolades, and better home life, more money, a better job, etc. It would be nice if positive thinking, personal coaching, and self-improvement programs would fix everyone’s feeling of insecurity, desperation, and a deep desire to change, but sometimes for some people there needs to be a complete disgust for where they are at in order to change.

I was actually so intrigued by my feelings that I did a little bit of studying on the Neuroscience of Hatred. Yes…I actually did read some papers on the Neuroscience of Hatred and they, in fact, do exist and it is a thing. Love, passionate love, is so closely related to hate that there is a very small difference between how our brain reacts to either passion. One difference that was discovered by Neurobiologist Semir Zeki, of University College London’s Laboratory of Neurobiology…he states that judgment and reasoning are de-activated in large areas of the brain during love…so we become less than intelligent and rational, whereas only small areas are de-activated in hate. This tells me that there might be a more reasoned approach to moving forward if a situation is hated.

This information about hate is not to push aside love, but meant to convey that there is a place and time for both love and hate. Love for your friends, family, and significant other, love for your audience…the love of life, the green grass, the blue sky. And, although love can decrease our judgment and reasoning, love is patient and kind…even for the lack of and maybe due to this lack of judgment and reasoning.

With love or hate we can accomplish many things; we can begin to love the idea of changing our current state or hate the idea of staying where we are, but having either strong emotion focused on the same end result can move anyone to a better place. The line between Love and Hate is a fine one.

I was talking about this concept to some other folks. One couple, I believe, was a little shocked or offended that I would even utter the word hate as a positive tool. “Oh My…He Said the Word Hate” and mentioned to my wife that I have a hate problem. My wife wasn’t a big fan of the discussion either…to say the least. I was recently accused of coming across to others as too passionate. I think I am passionate at both…love and hate. Is that wrong? Co-workers mentioned I just might be on to something. My doctor, after seeing my exercise log and me talking with him said that I was able to constructively use my frustration, which not many people are able to do, and that I was more in-touch with my feelings than most people. Perhaps to the wrong people I might be taken out of context, but taking advantage of strong emotion to propel yourself forward and out of what you are in is the solution that can sustain you.

Living in the town of indifference is where no man should spend his day… that is unless you are indifferent to what’s for dinner; spaghetti or angel hair, soda or seltzer, bread or rolls.

What’s in you, can move you.

Stress Steals

Some things in our lives have limits…there a speed limit that keeps us safe and if we over do it we place lives at risk, an income that limits our spending ability (regardless of how much you make) that could impact a quality of life if the spend exceeds the income, and limits on how much stuff we can accumulate within our walls.
One of the things that people, me, you, out there tend to ignore is the amount of stress we endure without putting a limit on the amount of stress we will absorb and manage.

Stress Strips us of Serenity
All of us handle stress on a daily basis, whether it is the grueling commute where we are competing with the other spinning wheels on the road, jammed packed into a bus like sardines, or if we are so fortunate to live within walking distance to our job, there is still stress of people and traffic to engage. Walk/Don’t Walk, the weave through others frantically trying to get away from work…to anywhere better. Stress like this is the everyday stress…pressure that we have learned to tolerate and accept and even become numb to. Like the prick of a needle when getting a shot…we hear “just a little pinch” and it’s over. I get monthly allergy shots and although I should be able to deal with it better, I still cringe like I’m going to be hit with a bat. We’ll imagine getting 100 shots in a day. Just thinking about the sound of getting your teeth cleaned and hear the scraping, and for some us…the stress of public speaking or death…whichever you prefer over the other.

Stress Steals our Serenity
As stress levels increase, we are sometimes unaware that we are banging against our own stress ceiling…but our minds and actions compensate for the increase in stress levels. If short-term stress is of impact, we tend to manage the spike in stress just fine and before we know it, we’re back to normal. Things like work deadlines, the holiday season, exams, and other similar stressors can actually help us accomplish goals…it keeps our focus on the prize. A good night sleep, some downtime/relaxation, and doing enjoyable things can usually remedy stress symptoms.

Stress Swipes our Serenity
Stress that is constant can wreak havoc on our lives without us noticing it at first. Some of us become martyrs when dealing with issues and become stoic…that is until it all catches up. Some of us fall apart sooner than others, but stress catches up. Then all of a sudden we don’t recognize ourselves anymore. People cannot endure constant stress without an impact. Some people try to de-stress by self-medicating, drinking, using sleep aids, over eating, smoking, and/or turn into constantly cranky. Our health is eventually impacted over the long term by the self-medication and being constantly cranky…due to the loss of self-control that stress brings.

Some alarming statistics about stress… Stress…
Increases the risk of heart disease by 40%
Increases the risk of heart attack by 25%
Increases the risk of stroke by 50%
Each person typically knows what can heal the symptoms of their stress beyond the “bad stuff”, I previously mentioned, but this bad stuff is usually more convenient, more accessible, and easier to incorporate into your life. We need to adopt a more positive and less harmful approach. Each person is unique, so our stress solutions are unique. The goal is to become you again.

Simple Solutions for Stress:
1. Stop. Find time to stop or step away from the craziness. Even if you have to hard stop the stress.
2. Schedule. If you see stressors coming, prepare by scheduling time outs during the craziness. Don’t be hero. Take care of yourself along the way.
3. Self Control. No control equals no control. If you do not have control over your stressors, your stressors will control you. You will have no control over self-medicating, over eating, being mean if you are not in control. Stress is partially about not being in control.

Not all stress is bad, if it is in moderation.

Stress affects everyone a little differently and at different times. Keep this in the back of your head as you leave here today. Don’t let anyone guilt you in to feeling bad or making your stress sound trivial compared to theirs. De-stress and be the person you are…not the stress that is trying to control you.
Wouldn’t you agree?   …Stress Needs to be Significantly Slashed

The text of a Toastmaster speech I gave on January 15, 2015.

Law Firm Outsourcing of eDiscovery

Listen to Karl Schieneman, Founder and President of Review Less, a predictive coding consultancy and document review company talk with Dave Kearney from Cohen and Grigsby and Nick Reizen from Xact Data Discovery about how law firms view outsourcing eDiscovery tasks like collection, processing, hosting and reviewing data to technology oriented vendors. It is definitely a growth trend and there are lots of views on this topic depending on which lawyer you talk to. Some firms want to own the EDRM model. Others want to outsource. And others consider eDiscovery a distraction to the practice of law so they ignore it.

Recorded 04/16/2014

This podcast was first published at ESIBytes and is available here with permission.  For more information about ESIBytes, visit their website at http://www.esibytes.com and visit ESIBytes’ Podcasts  at http://esibytes.com/category/blog/category-4/

Podcast Audio:  https://app.box.com/s/wo1rmrheo4065vnsv53u

Effective Service Delivery, Providing Client Value, and Applying Sound Decision Making to Matter Management

Today’s Legal Market Landscape

As lawyers and law firms continue to recognize the need to more effectively engage, manage, and retain clients, it is becoming obvious that the adoption of tools and models to gain new work and keep existing clients is a necessity.   Models that address the overall flat growth for legal services, the “new normal” economy since The Great Recession, the growing sophistication of clients, and new and non-traditional legal service providers in the legal market must be utilized to justify the traditional billable hour and also to be able to offer various alternative fee and service arrangements.

Regardless of the terms or concepts used, whether it is called legal project management or variants of client value initiatives, practice innovation, etc., it is becoming essential that when responding to an RFP or bidding for new work, lawyers must have at least a small arsenal of tools at their disposal to effectively price a matter, efficiently manage a matter to completion, while also producing value to the client.  Part of the arsenal of tools must include training in the new economies of legal services; the ability to track billable time at the task and activity level; providing, communicating, and analyzing metrics of the business and engagement; the ability to budget a matter based on a combination of internal metrics, the value of the service being provided, historical data, and intuition; and being able to provide alternative fee arrangements not based solely on hourly rates.

A lawyer or firm may not know what exact steps to take and each step may vary across firms, practice groups, or individual attorneys, but the following are some essentials to have an understanding of to remain competitive to upstream and downstream providers, and utilize resources that can provide guidance in helping to move your practice towards meeting client expectations in today’s legal services environment.

Training

An acknowledgement of how the terrain has changed over the past few years needs to be addressed at the organizational level, regardless of the size or client-base.  The elephant-in-the-room should not go unacknowledged.  An overall discussion of how the business of law has changed and how this may impact a practice group or firm is the first step in ensuring that there is at least anrecognition that change is on the horizon.  Looking a year or two down the road to peering five-to-10 years out and how the trends of today will impact the ability to gain new clients and retain them may make things clear that a strategic plan should be designed now; One that takes into account what is here & now and what other changes may be looming.  Examine project management practices, innovations in the delivery of legal services, and what clients expect beyond the initial services they need and how best to service these needs is a good place to begin.  Educate clients and practice groups and let them educate you in return.

Standardized Time and Activities

Consider keeping time utilizing the standardized categorization of legal work and expenses.  The Uniform Task-Based Management System (UTBMS) was developed by the American Bar Association, the Association of Corporate Counsel, along with corporations and law firms.  This standard will assists with electronic billing; the process of better understanding where time is spent on a matter, across matters, and within a practice; can be used to better prepare RFP responses; and enhance communications within your team and with your client…not to mention you will be prepared when a client requests that that these standards be instituted in their billings.  Implementing a standard time-keeping and task structure will certainly require change to how entries are logged and billed, but will enhance the data captured that wouldn’t be able to be accurately measured otherwise.  Some clients are already expecting this from their outside counsel and it is only a matter of time before other clients begin to expect this standard way of time and task accounting.

Workflow Improvement

Identifying workflows, identifying inefficient workflows, and automating efficient workflows where possible are ways of streamlining the work involved on a matter.  By analyzing what works and what doesn’t will help remove inefficient practices that can then be made more efficient to help drive down costs and meet client expectations.  Before any automation can be put into place, it is probably a good idea to make sure that workflows are efficient; otherwise an inefficient workflow will be automated.  Study workflows of matters and find efficiencies and implement practices that can take advantage of similar processes across matters to manage them more effectively, perhaps even as a portfolio.

Metrics

Examining the all-around costs of people, places, and things and how those costs impact the degree of flexibility that can be applied to pricing work is essential to knowing if a certain piece of work will be done at a profit or loss and by how much.  How much of a billing rate covers overhead, such as office space, benefits, staff, technology, supplies, etc.?  These costs have to be covered and accounted for.  When a matter is closed is an analysis done to compare the budgeted costs versus the actual costs?  Is there a communication model around a matter and/or client?  How is the status of matters communication to  the internal legal team and to the client?  Metrics analysis is vital to budgeting, managing, and improving the delivery of services…within scope and on-budget.

The Outcome

Once the systems are in place that keep the lawyers and legal team up-to-speed of legal market changes and client expectations, that standardize billing entries, that define efficient workflows, that account for costs and expenses related to a matter, the ability to utilize internal information, take advantage of the knowledge that is now available, the analysis of industry benchmarks against your practice, the examination of alternative service delivery mechanisms, and the application of project management tools and practices to the management of matters will allow for hourly rates to be based on the work needing accomplished and alternative fees arrangements that fit to the tasks required for the matter.

Hourly fee and alternative fee arrangements can be proposed more effectively when designed based on the analytics of an efficient process, based on historical data in-line with new work requirements, is consistent within a practice group and matter type, and in a way that is in-line with the goals of the organization or individual seeking a solution to their matter.

Change is never easy and the changes required to work in an environment that has changed significantly over a short period of time will require a long-term commitment, strategy, and team to ensure that client requirements are met head-on with transparent and predictable results.

David J. Kearney

www.linkedin.com/in/davidjkearney/

Podcast: E-Discovery in Healthcare: What Legal and Healthcare Professionals Need to Know

Consider This – David Kearney – 11.06.13
“E-Discovery in Healthcare: What Legal and Healthcare Professionals Need to Know”
Host: Bridget Novak
Guests: David Kearney, Director of Technology Services, Cohen & Grigsby, P.C.
Topic: e-Discovery in Healthcare
Discussion: Requirements for managing health related documents and records; the need for healthcare workers need to become much more familiar with the litigation process and the role the legal industry plays within the process.

“Healthcare organizations should identify the components of their legal health records and how they will ensure the legal integrity of the health record and its various components are assembled and maintained.

It’s the organization providing the care that says for every patient we are capturing this information that makes up the legal health record for our organization, so there is a consistent record captured for that organization.

It serves as a method of communication among healthcare providers caring for a patient and it also provides supporting documentation for reimbursement of services provided to that patient.”
– David Kearney

Podcast:  https://app.box.com/s/pvsxu58myx2s3fem7btr

Consider This – David Kearney

This podcast was first published at The Organization of Legal Professionals and is available here with permission.  For more information about The Organization of Legal Professionals, visit their website at http://www.theolp.org and visit OLP’s “Consider This” Podcasts hosted by Bridgett Novak at http://www.theolp.org/Default.aspx?pageId=1701543

Cohen & Grigsby P.C. selects Kroll Ontrack as its ediscovery portfolio partner

Cohen & Grigsby P.C. selects Kroll Ontrack as its ediscovery portfolio partner  

Firm adopts repeatable ediscovery approach to give clients process consistency, cost predictability and better overall case outcomes

MINNEAPOLIS – Feb. 4, 2014 – Cohen & Grigsby, a law firm with headquarters in Pittsburgh, PA, and an office in Naples, FL, and Kroll Ontrack today announced Cohen & Grigsby selected Kroll Ontrack as its preferred ediscovery technology and services provider. Leveraging Kroll Ontrack for its portfolio of ediscovery matters provides Cohen & Grigsby’s litigation and labor and employment departments with the benefit of a repeatable approach to ediscovery, cost predictability and Kroll Ontrack’s latest ediscovery.com technology platform to both review and project manage its matters.

“With increasingly complex legal requirements and growing volumes of ESI, ediscovery stakes are high. A smart approach is required,” said Partner, Anthony Cillo, Chair of Cohen & Grigsby’s Litigation Department. “That smart approach includes Cohen & Grigsby focusing on advocacy and managing the merits of the case, while partnering with an industry leader such as Kroll Ontrack to minimize the ediscovery risks and costs for the corporations we represent. We are not only minimizing ediscovery risks, but providing our clients with world-class ediscovery solutions at predictable costs.”

In addition, Cohen & Grigsby Director of Technology Services David Kearney added, “Kroll Ontrack and its ediscovery.com platform rose to the top of our partner selection process because they offered a standardized approach to ediscovery coupled with industry-leading predictive coding technology at a predictable price.”

“Kroll Ontrack is excited to partner with progressive firms like Cohen & Grigsby that recognize the value of a repeatable approach to ediscovery,” said Dean Hager, president and CEO, Kroll Ontrack. “By selecting our portfolio solution, Cohen & Grigsby now has access to the industry’s most powerful processing and review technology, the industry’s first tool to manage ediscovery as a portfolio, a dedicated portfolio case management team, and a pricing approach that encompasses a breakthrough concept of reusable capacity such that as additional projects arise, ediscovery costs remain the same.”

As part of the portfolio solution, Cohen & Grigsby will be taking advantage of Kroll Ontrack’s ediscovery.com platform, which was announced in October 2013. Ediscovery.com encompasses several products, including ediscovery.com Manage, which is the industry’s first solution for collaboratively managing ediscovery as a portfolio from any device, and ediscovery.com Review, which is a single tool that delivers unprecedented control of data volume and costs across early data assessment, analysis, review and production.

For more information on these products, visit: www.ediscovery.com.

About Kroll Ontrack Inc.
Kroll Ontrack provides technology-driven services and software to help legal, corporate and government entities as well as consumers manage, recover, search, analyze, and produce data efficiently and cost-effectively. In addition to its award-winning suite of software, Kroll Ontrack provides data recovery, data destruction, electronic discovery and document review. For more information about Kroll Ontrack and its offerings please visit: www.ediscovery.com or follow @KrollOntrack on Twitter.

About Cohen & Grigsby P.C.
Cohen & Grigsby represents clients across the spectrum of commercial and business disputes, including: business breakups, insurance coverage disputes, antitrust claims, theft of trade secret and non-compete agreements, securities law violations, accounting firm defense and shareholder issues.  Cohen & Grigsby results-oriented litigators have years of hands-on experience trying cases in the courtroom and before administrative bodies and arbitration panels. Our labor & employment attorneys defend employers in all types of cases, including discrimination, retaliation, harassment, wrongful discharge, wage and hour violations, defamation and breach of contract. Please visit www.cohenlaw.com.

##

Media Contact: Kaitlin Shinkle, 952-516-3581, kshinkle@krollontrack.com

https://app.box.com/s/k05iqwsg6q3lshhp6dfs