No "I" in Team

Jay Cutler Foundation
P.O. Box 631934
Highlands Ranch, CO 80163

March 17, 2009

Mr. Cutler,

I am sure my letter wont mean anything to you and it most likely may not even be read but I wanted to write to you to express to you that you have lost fans in my home. My two boys, Alec,8 and Beck,10 idolize you as a Denver Bronco and we sat down and discussed your current situation in your dispute with the Denver Broncos over dinner. Both my sons play sports, and play on football teams and we played out a little scenario, “what if the QB on your youth football team acted this way?”

After much discussion, both pros and cons, the boys reached a decision without my input, no player is above his entire team at any level. Our conclusion is that we can not cheer for and support any athlete who puts himself above the team. Football is a team sport and you play on a team and as my 10 year old son Beck put it, “nobody likes to play with a guy who thinks he is better than everyone else”.

Putting things in perspective, in a world where people are losing their jobs, losing their homes, and there lives are a struggle, how can we support athletes who don’t realize that football is a job and you are blessed to be paid to play a game we all love and support? My sons and I love your talent, love the way you play the game on the field but off the field matters just as much. It was their choice to take down your posters until you decide to be the leader of a team and stop acting so selfishly.

Rex, Beck & Alec Halbeisen

5678 West 109^th Circle

Westminster, CO 80020

Be Thankful You Have a Job Culter

Note to Jay Culter: Stop being a big baby and get back to work!

Hmmm, last time I checked and that was this morning, our nation and our world is in the midst of a recession. One of the worst in recent memory. I scan the latest news and sports sites and I see the feud between Jay Culter, strong armed quarterback of the Denver Broncos and new head coach Josh McDaniels. I hate to jump on anyone person but...

Hello Jay? Dose of reality man, you get paid to play football. Its a game. You are not living in the real world. 99.99% of the rest of us get up eveyday and face the reality of ZERO job security. Mr. Culter, you are making millions of dollars and you need to grow up and face the fact that you are not above the game and not irreplaceable.

I love to watch you play football Culter, you remind me of a young John Elway, but dude, come on... get over yourself and enjoy the ride. Do you realize there are about 3 Billion men on earth that would love to wake up and your only worry is if you were going to be traded?

Assisted Living, Assisted Dying?

All of us face the same eventual fate, we all die. Rich, poor, educated, simple or complex, fat, thin, what ever paths we take, we all will leave this earthly existence. How do we choose to leave the planet? What is our quality of life going to be?

In the LDS Church which I am a member, we are called to serve our fellow beings, its a fabric of our belief system and a function of our day to day lives. We earnestly believe that when we are serving others, we are serving the Lord. Yesterday I was asked to help move an elderly woman from our Ward ( our local church unit) from her apartment into an assisted living center.

The move was like many of the hundreds I have helped with, a group of men and boys assembled to move the earthly possessions of a person or family from one location to another. Boxes, bags, furniture, bird cages, and house hold items carted from one location to the next in the journey of life. Yet, the contrast of this move with all the others, this was mostly likely the final move for this wonderful sweet lady in the twilight of her life.

We moved her from a small apartment into even smaller dorm room size accommodations. It was a small room with an adjacent bathroom. My first college dorm was larger. It was sad to see 80 plus years worth of love, life and joy to be placed in a room to live our her final days upon the earth. While it's a dignified setting and the accommodations were nice, it really struck me that this "assisted living" home is really an "assisted dying" home. The people I carried boxes, chairs and a love seat past, were in various stages of death. Last year we had my father-in-law moved into a place very similar to this one in Utah and he only lasted four months before he passed away so this was a painful reminder of his journey off the planet.

Death is not a sad event, it's part of life but the image of the blank stare of the woman seated in the lobby are etched deep enough in my brain that it make my heart fill with compassion and my mind wonder. Assisted living, hardly, these are assisted dying centers. I know that would not be very good marketing and be seen as insensitive to call them what they really are. I doubt there would be a long line of people waiting to get into the Aspen Creek Assisted Dying Center" (fictional name).

So the bigger thought is, what quality of life do I want when those twilight days come my way? I am silently choosing my quality of in my final years of life right now by the way I live. The fuel I put in my body, the amount of sleep I am getting, the quality of life, amounts of stress, and the impact of the exercise I choose. I also select the quality of my existence by the relationships I have now. Will I die a lonely old man in a worn out body?

My moving assignment was more than a lesson in serving my fellow church member, it was a vivid reminder of the fate I face and how I am contributing to this today. May I learn to eat better, manage my health and body. May I choose each day with every nutrient I put in my body, every hour of sleep, every giggle or conversation I share with friends and loved ones.

To the woman I helped move, may your last days on earth be filled with joy of sharing time with loved ones. To the woman in the lobby of the center with the blank stare, we never met but thank you for reminding me of the quality of my future life. This was two hours well spent and lessons learned.

It's time to chose strength in all I do. Its time to go to the next level of living. Join the coalition for Strength and join those who are purposely selecting a better life.

Finding A Way Back

One cant pick up a paper, flip on the news or scan a news website these days without seeing horrible news about the state of the economy. There is now way to sugar coat it, things are tough right now in the world with the economic down turn, moral decay, and signs of the times that just might seem apocalyptic to many.

Its been proven hundreds of times throughout the generations of man that have walked the earth, mankind lives in cycles of prosperity and demise. Look at history, the rise of fall of many great societies; dynasties in China, the Inca Empire of South America, the Vikings, the Roman Empire, the British empire, etc.. There are indeed too many examples of these cycles to site them all. The one thing that is also true is out of the ashes of demise comes a new cycle of prosperity. New leaders arise, fear is replaced by hope and action prevails. Moments of despair and destruction are replaced by new. Its just part of the human spirit, the reason why we have survived so many cycles, the ability to rise from the ashes.

So our nation is in one of these down cycles. Heck, even our whole world for that matter as we live in a global economy. I wont go off on how we got here. That news is all around us and there are thousands of people more qualified to report “how did we get here?'. My question is, how do we find our way back? How do we start the "up cycle"?

It starts within by tapping the human spirit. The power to do anything and to overcome lies within all of us. Deep inside is the will to not only survive but to prosper. Quoting fitness author and friend, Shawn Phillips. “now is a time for strength”. Now is the time for all of us to make a stand and do our part. We can not wait for someone to save us. There is not going to be a white night who rides in and saves the day. We start the turn around we need so badly be being the best we can be. Our nation has become soft and weak under the sunshine of prosperity and it's time we toughen up. The only way back to prosperity is if we all do our part. In the grand scheme of the world, I am no one but I do matter because I have a family, a job, belong to a church, have many circles of influence am a member of the community, a citizen of a nation and a member of the human race that I owe my contribution to.

We start by returning to fundamentals, a strong body, a clear mind, and the desire to change are all the tools we need. Its about living to higher standards, expecting more, doing more, being more.

I have found a movement that embodies this much needed change, The Coalition for Strength. Founded by fitness expert and author Shawn Phillips. This movement is about living a lifestyle that creates constant improvement and change. At the core, is first improving your health and then adding strength to everything you do.

Come join this movement. Be part of the groundswell of positive energy and action. Bring your energy, your talents, your insights and become part of a movement to "find our way back" to greatness. Surround yourself with people who are part of the answer and are taking the steps to change.

The numbers dont add up

The numbers don't add up. Manny "Mr. Selfish" Ramirez $45 million for two years, Ray "I killed a man in a knife fight" Lewis $25 million for three years, and Kurt Warner, $23 million for two years. Contrast that with the 74 year old Chiropractor who lived down the street who lost his home five months ago, the man I attend Church with who has a wife and two kids and loses his retail job tomorrow, the friend with a family of 6 who lost his job after 9 years as one of the top producers in sales in his company.


Is it just me, or is there something out of sorts here? This does not add up...

Hello, does anyone remember we are in a recession? A recession that has roots in greed? The American public is outraged at the Wall Street barons who robbed us blind, extended the country credit beyond most people's ability to pay through junk mortgages and credit cards. As tax payers we are now going to be paying for this greed for decades, but the band just keeps playing in professional sports. Show me the money.

Earlier this week I wrote about the out of balance situation of youth sports and the culture of success at all costs. Hmmmm, wonder where these parents and coaches are getting these ideas? Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain spent over $1.22 million to renovate his office in early 2008, just as his firm was getting ready to slash thousands of jobs, cut back on spending and dump businesses. My eight year old son's soccer coach is insisting each family buy new uniforms because the T-shirts the city gave the kids to play in are not cool enough? I ask, which is worse, both are unnecessary expenses in a climate of economic distress?

I draw a correlation of the current economic crisis to a way of living too many people have grown accustomed to, show over substance. Glitz over character, style over strength. If the US wants to climb back out of the economic crisis we are in, its time to make fundamental changes in the way we think, act and spend.

Think about it, $45 million dollar contracts to play baseball, $1.22 million to decorate an office and $50 for unnecessary soccer uniforms so we can look better on a soccer field. Common sense is thrown out when it comes to a focus of style, greed and show over substance, character and strength. I choose the latter, how about you?

Life Choices at 8 years old?

This is a tough one to write but I am about to blow a gasket over youth sports.

I am must tell you where I sit before I take a stand. I am a sports junkie, that is right, I admit it. My favorite thing to read about is sports, watch on TV, well, sports. I would drive 100 miles in a driving snow storms to watch a Pop Warner football game. I HAVE driven more than a 100 miles for a eight year old son’s soccer game. But its time to put my foot down, youth sports has gone to far and it’s time to take my kids lives back.

I have five children who have all played or do play sports. You name the sport, we have probably played it. Soccer, T-ball, baseball, basketball, softball, football, etc, etc, etc.

Tonight I just got back from my eight year old son’s spring team meeting. My son was selected to play on a all star team and play up an age bracket to U9. At 8 years old, he was recruited to play on a team. On one hand, as a proud father, I should be proud, on the other hand, I realize my son and I are being sucked into the year round, 7 day a week, world of youth soccer.

At the team meeting the parents were given the expectations of for the team and the season. I could not believe my ears. Our coach went on to tell us that we need new uniforms because the ones the city gives us are not good enough. There goes another $50. The message got worse the more I listened.

Now that my 8 year old son has been identified as a good player, the soccer program wants him to make life choices. Alec is now expected to dedicate his whole life to soccer. He is expected to play the fall season, two indoor seasons during the winter, a spring season and tournaments during the summer. Are you kidding me, my son is 8, not 18! The soccer program goes on to pressure your son and tell him that if he takes a season off, he will fall behind and that he is not committed to the game.

“He has to make choices, pick a sport and dedicate to it” say the coach. Are you kidding me, my son is 8, he cant even pick what he really wants for lunch each day or what clothes he will wear, how on earth are we as parents to tell my son he has to pick one sport at the age of 8 and plan on playing it year round for the next decade?

Youth sports have also turned into a seven day a week venture. High School sports have no practices or events on Sundays, but youth and club sports cross that line. I know of some leagues where the only day of the week they have the games is on a Sunday. So much for balance in a youth of having a spiritual side and a day of worship and rest.

Youth sports has turned into a business and they suck you in for the money playing on your lost hopes and dreams that your son or daughter are going to go pro some day. I ask the coaches and league director as a game I play, “do you think he can play at high school or beyond” and I always get “he has potential if he dedicates himself to it. When I mentioned that I doubted my sons will play after high school, the coach fired back “ You never know, there is always that chance.” Give me a break. The odds are against it. My sons have a better chance of being hit by lightning than they have to play professional sports. But don’t tell that to the coaches and league directors. Their income is on the line.

We have decided since our children wont likely being playing pro sports, to let them try multiple sport and not dedicate themselves to any one of them until they get to high school. My thought is if my son or daughter plays soccer year round, they will be decent players, but they will only know one sport. How dull is that…

I love sports, but I refuse to make my 8 year old make a life choice… time to go jump on the tramp, play freeze tag and have a pillow fight.

Asleep at the wheel...Newspapers driving off the cliff

In Denver this past week we saw The Rocky Mountain New close it's doors after nearly 150 years in the newspaper business in Colorado (www.rockymountainnews.com). This was a sad day for many, myself included. I grew up with the newspaper and was a carrier for the paper as a young man. My mother was a circulation manager for a community newspaper so our family had a close relationship to papers. I will miss the paper.

The loss of the paper sparked a huge local debate, "what killed the Rocky Mountain News and has hundreds of other newspapers across the nation" struggling to keep their doors open during an age when the business model is changing for the way people get their news, companies advertise and how we communicate in the year 2009 and beyond?

Newspaper people weighed in. Dean Singleton, Publisher of the Denver Post (www.denverpost.com) claimed it was the combination of the Internet and the current recession we find ourselves in, a recession that started in December of 2007.

Local Liberal Boulder based Congressman Jared Polis (www.jaredpolis.com ) claimed it was the "new media" that did the paper in and that losing newspapers is a good thing.

Some media people claim it was www.craigslist.com, www.careers.com, www.cars.com, www.servicemagic.com which drew away the much needed advertising dollars that used to support the newspapers, still others claimed it was bloggers. Scripps Media (the profitable media giant, parent company to the Rocky), CEO Richard A. Boehne blamed all of the above but not surprisingly did he blame his executive team or their actions.

The real people to blame in this case is the executive management team at the Rocky and all the executives at the newspapers across the country. These executives were asleep at the wheel and the bus drove off the cliff. Let me explain.

Craigslist.com, monster.com, cars.com, careers.com, Google ads, Facebook.com and dozens of other online sites gobbled up the revenue that the Rocky (and soon will bulldoze the Post too) needed so bad. Companies started to also question the "pay, spray and pray", method of advertising. Database marketing, direct mail, email and effective Internet marketing now entered the scene.

No one can feel sorry for the newspapers because they had every advantage when the Internet rolled around. The newspapers owned the mind share of the consumers and had the capital to execute against all these upstarts. Reality is the newspaper industry could have created and owned these new sites and monetized them. Sorry to say, the Denver Post, our surviving newspaper, is on the same path as the Rocky unless they figure out a way to sell other services that replace the drain of ads going to other sites.

No one rides a horse to work, no one listens to 8 track tapes, no one milks their own cows and makes their own butter these days. In the modern world, you adapt, evolve and move forward or close your doors. The Rocky was closed because they chose to behave like they did 149 years ago, as a newspaper. The Rocky and other news media giants could sell multi- channel media like search engine optimization services, email marketing, build websites, provide direct mail services, social media and sponsor networks of blogs but that would require them to act like a leads development company, and not just selling ads around the news and not just be a newspaper.

So instead of acting on the loss of their ad revenue, the newspaper executives chose to ignore the new methods of helping their advertisers create new business, they fell asleep at the wheel and did not change their business model. So one can safely say, it was not the Internet, it was not bloggers, or the new media, it was complacency and ignorance of falling asleep at the wheel by not adapting.

No company buys any form of advertising for fun, it has one purpose, to make the cash register ring. There are many new ways to help advertisers make money than just placing an ad in the paper.

Want to know more... call me. Its easier than you think. The technology is here.

Rex@theanalytixgroup.com
303-619-6679

Lessons from a Basset Hound

Each day we can learn new lessons in this life and there are a few lessons in life we can learn from a dog.

My wife Paula and I resisted getting any pets for the longest time because of her allergies and we already had enough mouths to feed and care for with five children. After a couple years of relentless badgering on the part of our older children we finally broke down, succumbing to the pressure and got a dog for Christmas in 2007, a Bassett Hound, Tootsie.

I am happy to report we have survived the year of her growing from the cute little puppy to becoming a year old, fully grown dog. After 15 years without having pets of any kind, our home is now shared with Tootsie and she has grown to be a member of the family.

We picked out a Bassett Hound because of their gentle nature and have a reputation of being good with children. I had visions of a slow and gentle dog with droopy ears and sad eyes, you have seen the pictures, the cute lazy Bassett hounds.

I have learned that Bassett hounds are cute but are far from lazy and slow. Tootsie is not a hyper small dog but she sure is full of energy and personality. Hence, here are the lessons I have recently come to learn from this addtion to our family.

1. Take time to play. With 5 children in our home, Tootsie always has someone to play with when she wants fun. Even with seven people in the house, there are times when Tootsie can not someone willing to play so she will play all by herself. Tootsie has old stuffed animals she loves to chew on and we often see her in the back yard tossing a stuffed animal in the air and then going to retrieve it. She will do this for about a half hour. No one to play with, fine, Tootsie just plays on her own. Makes me stop and think about the need to better balance our lives with a bit of play and if no one is inviting us to play, then we ought to take Tootsie's lead and create our own fun. Work and busy schedules are part of our world, but we probably need to play just a little more.

2. Enless love. Everyone knows dogs are great companions because of their endless love. You can scold a dog for chewing up a new pair of shoes and five minutes later they are back to your side and loving you, forgetting about the verbal beating they took and your fury becuase they were bad just moments ago. What a great trait. I think the world would be a better place if we all had shorter memories, forgive people and love a lot more.

3. Scratch your belly. Tootsie is a sucker for anyone who will scatch her belly and ears. She folds like a cheap lawn chair the moment anyone even hints at scatching her belly or petting her. If you place your hands on her to pet her head, Tootsie will roll over on her back and ready herself for a full belly scratching. Now, I am not suggesting we all walk into the conference room today at the office and ask everyone to scratch our bellies as that might get an interesting wrtite up from the head of HR, but we ought to take some time out more frequently to show affection and love to our fellow members of the human race.

Sure there are many lessons in life and a loyal family dog is a great example of simple things in life; love companionship and playfulness. I also like the fact that my Bassett Hound tootsie is not over connected like the rest of us. She has no Facebook or myspace page, no twitter account, no cell phone, blackberry, iphone or handheld tracking devices. Tootsie's only electronic device is the small microship she has implanted in her incase she gets lost. The more I think about it, the more I like that concept... find me only when I am lost.

Got to love a Bassett Hound....

Networking - Now is the time to be connected

Over the past 25 years of being in the professional world, I have always believed and practiced the art of networking. The reason for my participation in networking has been driven through my chosen profession of business development, sales and marketing. Its very basic behavior for business development people to network and as an extrovert, I have always enjoyed meeting people.

Studies show that it's far easier to close new business when you are working through established relationships and referrals compared to the opposite end of the spectrum of cold calling and starting relationships from scratch. Makes sense and also applies to any type of professional field even if you are not involved in business development like I am.

In the current economic down turn, networking and managing those contacts is more important than ever. No job or company is secure anymore and the only true security we have is the one we make and building your own security through strong networking is important.

If you are not a rainmaker, a polished networker, or extrovert type of person, let me give you some advice on how to get started and how to work on your networking skills.

Tip 1 : Use the Internet to network through social websites. The Internet is a 24 hour a day tool to keep you connected and grow your network. There are more than 250,000 social sites on the Internet today. You can find general social networks to networks for every type of interest. Here are a few examples.

www.facebook.com
www.myspace.com
www.linkedin.com


Tip 2 : Make a goal to add one new networking connection each week. In a year's time you will have another 52 connections that will be able to help you in your life and connect you to thousands of other people. Do this by inviting others to your network. In a decade you will have more than 500 new connections of people in your personal network and if everyone you network with does the same, you will have connections to millions of people. Do the math...

Tip 3: Make connections with your network each day. Just like muscle, if you don't use your network, it begins a process of atrophy. Reach out and send a brief communication to someone in your network each day. There are so many ways of being connected these days that a text message, phone call, email, write on someones social page, or the best and most effective approach, share a meal or a coffee with someone each day. The important thing is the communications don't have to be about business and the best ones usually are not. We all have birthdays, anniversaries and other life events to discuss and say hello. It's important to to just be a friend, a fellow human being who is walking the planet.

Tip 4: Get a contact management system of some sort to help you manage your network. I use two tools, my handheld blackberry and Microsoft Outlook. With over 18,000 names in my contact data base, it's impossible to remember birthdays, anniversaries, spouse names, children's names and other important tid bits of information. If you are in a business where you are in a sales role, you will certainly want to use a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software to help you manage contacts that also have revenue tied to them. In this information based world we live in, we were all given the best computer in the world at birth, our brains, but must of us can not remember everything we want, so use tools.

Tip 5: Develop of love of people when you network. I know this may not come natural for many people but neither is lifting weights, reading, riding a bike or just about every other activity we partake in each day because they are learned behaviors. For example sake, I love to read bibliographies because the they are the stories of people's lives. By reading the pages of a bibliography, one gets to see the challenges a person has overcome, the events and people who have shaped their lives, etc. I realize 99% of the people I meet will never have a bibliography written about them, so I look at everyone as a walking bibliography. Each one of them is an interesting story in some fashion and it's a blast to learn about them. Each interaction with a person is a page or snippet from their virtual bibliography. By developing a love of people and sincere desire to learn more about them, you wont come off as a phony or insencear.

Like any other learned activity, networking is a learned skill. You don't have to be a super connector to make your life enriched by networking. In 2009, times are tough and you will want to make sure you are well connected and create your own personal security.

In the past week, I made 13 new network connections, did you get just one?

Expect more, do more, be more...

Rex

Time for change in action, plus 1

It's an interesting dynamic to watch masses jump for joy for the Barak Obama and pin hope on him changing everything that is currently wrong in our world today in the US and locations around the world where the US has vested interests. I am cheering the new administration on and hope they succeed, but hope is not a strategy.

I am sorry to say that the economic down turn, unemployment, the mortgage crisis, war in Iraq and potential war in the Gaza strip are far bigger than just one man and his appointed political cronies to fix. I don't care who was elected, what side the political fence you sit on, these challenges are going to take the collective whole to turn around.

So who is the collective whole? I am talking to you, everyone in our nation. The challenges we face are great but we cant sit back and expect congress and this new administration to fix every thing for us. Passing tax cuts and economic stimulus packages are nothing but band aids on a chasm large enough to swallow an oil tanker. What is needed now is for the collective whole of our nation to do think more, do more and be more. Quoting a friend of mine, fitness guru and best selling author Shawn Phllips, ( www.fullstrength.com ) "now is the time for strength. Strength is defined in having more, being more and doing more".

Wow, sounds real good and motivating but truth be told, if everyone gives just ten percent more effort in all we do, change the way we look at thing, get creative, together, as a nation and an integrated world, we can collectively pull through.

Ok, I know your saying, nice pollyanna speak but here is how we do it. Start small, do plus one in everything you do. I don't care if you are making phone calls, assembling goods, teaching school, studying exams, what ever you are doing that occupies your time daily, do just one more. Make one more call, read one more page, ask one more person how can I help? The collective effort will catch on and soon people will be doing plus one in everything they do.

I am no one, just an average joe business consultant banging out a living but everyone I meet, I tell them "now is the time for your best, the nation, the world, your community and your family need you to do plus one".

Not many read my writings but now is the time. I am doing my plus one, not waiting for capital hill to solve my problems. Can you do just one more too?

Are you over connected? Put down that blackberry

Over the past six months I have watched my 12 and 13 year old daughters start off with blackberry's as a communication devise so their mother and I can reach them when they are at their activities. I have watched in curiosity as a parent watches a child put a puzzle together together, watching them and hoping to see they reach the goal.

As a responsible parent, I would from time to time review the text messages going in and out of the blackberry. What I realized is 99% of the communications going in and out of were senseless and non essential.



here is a typical thread:

Hi, what is up?

nothing

how about you?

nothing

cool

are on the computer

no, how about you?

ugh, I read a couple hundred of these threads and realized that my teenagers really don't need texting. Once I had done this, I then went to start analyzing the communications that my wife and I text to each other plus the email and text messages sent to many professional colleags. My findings were not much different. We are living in a world of over communication. Most of it is noise and not needed.

I challenge you in 2009 to take a step back and look at your level of communications and how much of it is a distraction. How much of it is really needed?

Maybe it's time to put your handheld away and get back to work...