Road Trip: U.S. Cities/States in Song Titles

I was on a little driving trip, listening to Sinatra, and having a lovely time when I heard him sing Stars Fell on Alabama. Interesting, thought I; I never knew that Alabama had a song written about it. Then I began to wonder how many other U.S. states and cities appeared in song titles. The answer is, a bunch. For example:

Stars Fell on Alabama

New York, New York

Autumn in New York

Moon Over Miami

Way Down Yonder in New Orleans

Going Back to Houston, Houston, Houston

I’m Just an Okie from Muskogee

Tennessee Waltz

Chattanooga Choo-Choo

Everything’s Up to Date in Kansas City

Kansas City (here I come)

Galveston

Big D (little A, double L A S)

Yellow Rose of Texas

California (here I come)

San Francisco (open your Golden Gate)

I Left My Heart in San Francisco

Chicago, Chicago

My Kind of Town Chicago Is

Shuffle Off to Buffalo

Do You Know the Way to San Jose?

Oklahoma

Georgia on my Mind

The Night the Lights went out in Georgia

North to Alaska

Battle of New Orleans

You know what’s coming, right? Right? Please add your own contributions to this list. Note: The city/state MUST appear in the title. Then the next time I go for a drive, I’ll add these songs to my IPOD  and sing along (and alone) with them.

Boston Red Sox Phone Home (with Tin Cans and String)

Recently, Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz was ejected from a game and demonstrated his displeasure by battering (pun intended) the clubhouse phone that connects to the bullpen. Bad David, bad!

The next day he and others returned to the park to discover that instead of the destroyed telephone there were 2 tin cans with strings in the dugout and 2 more in the bullpen. Sweet.

For me this was immediate nostalgia because as a child that was how we imagined making telephone calls, i.e., via tin can and long string.

And to this day my dad explains that he doesn't use a cell phone because he prefers tin can and string.

So this whole incident might not be funny and warm to anyone but me, but I loved it and it is such a cool way of defusing a tough situation through a little fun in the workplace!

Bring a Wading Pool to Work :)

I found this lovely comic in my local paper and decided to share it for the spirit if not for the practicality of the advice it offers.

http://www.gocomics.com/roseisrose/2013/07/30

The truth is, however, that a little break during the day refreshes the body and reinvigorates the mind. I was thinking of this recently when I reflected on elementary school. We had a morning recess; lunch; and an afternoon recess. And all of those represented breaks from the active learning process and left us to go off to other places - real or not - rechannel our energy, and then return with a clearer mind and better focus.

This already happens. People in our organizations and on our teams find these moments on their own or with friends and colleagues. So why not make it an intentional part of your culture?

As for me, I'm thinking about investing in wading pool!

National Hot Dog Day is July 23

Summer evokes many images for me but a Chicago hot dog, on a steamed sesame bun, with mustard, onions, sweet peppers, relish and a crunchy dill pickle is right near top. Happily there is a place not too far where I live that serves a pretty good dog and that's where I'll go tomorrow to celebrate National Hot Dog Day. So whether you prefer brats to hot dogs or polish to Andouille, put aside your culinary difference tomorrow and treat your to one or the other or as many as you can. For the non-meat eaters, veggie and tofu dogs can be obtained.

Thanks again to my cousin David for teaching me about this important date!

Cheers :)

Leadership: Fun is part of a leader's job!

I want to thank my friend Mark Hines for turning me on to this.

The Six Deadly Sins of Leadership (per Jack and Suzy Welch)

6. Skipping the Fun Part
What is it about celebrating that makes managers so nervous? Maybe throwing a party doesn’t seem professional, or it makes people worry that they won’t look serious to the powers that be, or that, if things get too happy in the office, people will stop working their tails off.

Whatever the reason, too many leaders don’t celebrate enough. To be clear here, we do not define celebrating as conducting one of those stilted little company-orchestrated events that everyone hates, in which the whole team is marched out to a local restaurant for an evening of forced merriment when they’d rather be home. We’re talking about sending a team to Disney World with their families, or giving each team member tickets to a show or a movie, or handing each member of the team a new iPod.

What a lost opportunity. Celebrating makes people feel like winners and creates an atmosphere of recognition and positive energy. Imagine a team winning the World Series without champagne spraying everywhere. You can’t! And yet companies win all the time and let it go without so much as a high-five.

Work is too much a part of life not to recognize the moments of achievement. Grab as many as you can. Make a big deal out of them.

That’s part of a leader’s job too – the fun part.

This content was originally presented as a lecture at the Jack Welch Management Institute

National D(oh!)nut Day

The first Friday in June is designated National Donut Day and for good reasons. See http://donutdayusa.com/ for more information. This year National Donut Day occurs on June 7

But why not make it a special day and celebrate Donuts and D'ohs! Yes, combine Homer Simpson's favorite expression with one of his favorite foods ((http://www.moviewavs.com/php/sounds/?id=bst&media=WAVS&type=TV_Shows&movie=Simpsons&quote=mdonuts.txt&file=mdonuts.wav
) . After each D'oh moment shared, have a bite of a donut; or have a bite of donut and then share a D'oh moment. It's easy, it's fun and it's good for you. There are no calories on National Donut Day; that's my story and I am sticking to it (as donuts stick to my waistline!). Got to go. There's a cruller with my name on it in the kitchen!

What did Delaware? Where has Oregon?

I drove to Oregon this week to see some plays at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Nothing unusual there, except that about half way up I memed myself with a 1950's novelty song called What did Delaware? which has in it the lyric, Where has Oregon? I couldn't get this out of my head and when I got back home had to search for the lyrics to confirm what I suspected.

What did Delaware? She wore a brand New Jersey.
Where has Oregon? She went to pay her Texas.

There are more of these that you can drive yourself crazy with at http://www.lyricsfreak.com/p/perry+como/delaware_20106950.html; in my case, this is a short drive.