Matt Corker » Leadership

Goals, Goals, Goals!

Matt Corker — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 01:51:11 +0000

This past week was GOAL WEEK online on the lululemon athletica blog. Besides having an awesome goal setting tool online, they also wrote posts with tips on how to set goals and posted videos on the importance of having goals.

I was so stoked to participate in this. I wrote a post about loving your failures and had two awesome goal coaching sessions with some colleagues that have set some inspiring BHAGs (big, hairy, audacious goals).

Today, to cap it off, we did an online goal coaching session on the lululemon Facebook wall. It was amazing! Such awesome questions about how to set goals! I recommend taking a read through the conversations on the wall if you missed it.

However, after telling so many people to write down their goals, share them with great people, and ask for help in achieving them – I need to do the same. My best friends and I had a goal setting session by Lost Lake in Whistler a couple weekends ago where we set our 10 year vision and set goals that would help us get there. But in my notebook they have stayed. Until today.

My goals have been posted. I am sharing them with you, great people. And asking for your help in accomplishing them! I created a new page on my site where you can find the latest edit of them as well.

*sigh. There. That feels better.

From our Whistler goal setting session. Talk about a BHAG!

Pick of the post: Travie McCoy ft Bruno Mars – Billionaire (official music video) – SO appropriate!

We Lose It When We Cling To It

Matt Corker — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 15:49:47 +0000

When we pin our happiness to people, things, and circumstances, we begin to hold onto them for dear life and stress about the possibility of losing it.

This week for me was lesson in just that. I held on to to-do lists, bus departures, new colleagues, and ego as if my happiness depended on them being crossed off, on time, amazing, and flawless. Each day, I held on a little bit tighter. And each day, finding happiness was a little bit harder. Come Thursday, when my grip was the tightest it has ever been, life popped – and I had to let go.

Not an hour went by after I loosened my grip before the good juices, conversations, and laughs were flowin again!

Lesson of my week: when we tell the world what we want, it listens – and then gives us what we need instead. Happiness is found when we stop holding on to what we want and start appreciating what it is we need.

Pick of the Post: Black Eyed Peas – Let’s Get Re-Started

Power Hours

From Victory to Defeat: Get SHIFTED

Matt Corker — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 14:24:36 +0000

Failing is not the problem. Learning nothing from that failure is.

“Learning from other people’s mistakes” is one of the strongest ways to grow. It gives us the opportunity to bypass a potential detour in our own path. This, however, has been traditionally been limited to watching your Dad burn himself on a hot stove or your best friend get stung by a bee after hitting the hive with a rock. (Both, I should note, are good things to avoid!)

But when do we get the opportunity to learn from the mistakes of our role models and community rockstars?
Answer: Now.

Introducing SHIFTED | stories of challenge & choice

5 incredible speakers, including the lovely Danielle LaPorte and influential business leader David Bentall, will share their stories about challenges they’ve faced and the choices they made to achieve success.

Details:
When: Thursday September 9, 2010 – 6 pm
Where: District 319 (319 Main St)
Why: To help people learn. You will learn from the speakers (and other attendees) about different pathways to possibility. Children in Ethiopia will learn through the primary education your FULL ticket price goes to support. Read more about imagine1day and their dream to provide quality primary education to Ethiopian children by 2020.

When you invest in yourself, you are then able to invest in others. This is a perfect example of how that works.

To buy your tickets, check out the SHIFTED website. You can also stay updated on Twitter and Facebook. Can’t wait to see you there!

(PS. Reason #43 for why you should come: I’m the emcee for this event – rocking the mic between the inspirational truth bombs! WOOT!)

Pick of the post: Chromeo – Fancy Footwork (official music video)

Being “Fair” – A Farmer’s Story

Matt Corker — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 14:32:28 +0000

One autumn, an old farmer looked outside at his flourishing crop. With both excitement and despair in his voice he said to his wife “how am I ever going to harvest this all by myself?”

“Why don’t you hire some of those young contractors in town? I’m sure they’d be available and would love to help,” she replied.

So the farmer did just that. He found two young gents who were willing to come work for him for 6 pounds each. Bright and early that coming Saturday morning, the two gents came to his farm before the sun was up and began working away. The farmer’s neighbours saw the contractors working in the field once they awoke and went over to see what was going on. The farmer explained how he had lots to harvest and needed all the help he could get. At noon, three of the neighbours came out to help him too. Later that afternoon, around 3 pm, two more of the farmer’s friends from town stopped in and put on some gloves – helping the crew load the last of the crop onto the farmer’s truck.

The farmer was delighted by everyone’s help! To thank everyone, he asked them to line up to receive their payment for the day. To his friends, who arrived at 3, he handed over 6 pounds. They had expected nothing and were ecstatic to have earned something. To his neighbours, who arrived at noon, he also handed over 6 pounds. They too, were ecstatic.

By this time, the two young contractors were pretty ticked off. They had worked for at least 6 hours longer than the others! When the farmer came to them, and handed them 6 pounds, they were sour and upset.

The farmer looked at them and said: “This is the amount we agreed upon. I am not cheating you out of any money, nor less thankful for the work you have done. I can see you are upset though. However, what I do with my generosity should not affect your gratitude for it.”

When we go the extra mile, we want special recognition. But “sometimes in life, when you’ve given, and given, and given, and given – the reward is knowing that you did.” (John Furlong)

Pick of the post: Fefe Dobson – Ghost (official music video)

No related posts.

Introducing my 100 before 100

Matt Corker — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 14:41:56 +0000

In January, I created a list of 100 things I want to do before I turn 100. They were not goals (as they didn’t provide direction or a deadline), but experiences I thought would be totally rad to have. Experiences that would create ear-to-ear smiles, belly laughs, tears of joy, nostalgic excitement, or all of the above combined. If my goals created the road I was walking on, my 100 before 100 were designed to remind me to have TONS of fun along the way.

After my sister created her bucket list, she gave me a hard time for keeping my 100 before 100 so close to me (or just away from her … I couldn’t tell). But I felt as though this list o’ good times couldn’t just be released to the world at any old time. It has such excitement in it (for me and others!) that it needed a day that could withstand its presence.

So today, on my birthday, I introduce you to my 100 before 100. [Note: I've also created a 100 BEFORE 100 page on my site so you don't have try to find this blog post again as the years go on.]

Hope today makes you smile.

Eat an avocado smoothie after a morning of surfing with Jason Mraz
Host a talk show
Show up at the airport and buy a ticket for the next flight that day
Attend a 10 day silent meditation retreat
Complete an adventure race
Row a single in False Creek
Be the creative director for a music video
Design a house
Invite my entire family to an all-inclusive vacation/reunion (on me!)
Get married – and throw one heck of a celebration to go with it
Drink tea in Nepal
Bungee jump
Experience the Northern Lights
Learn a dance taught by Mia Michaels (or any SYTYCD choreographer)
Help run an overnight camp for the summer
Eat only raw food for 40 days
Host a Mr. Vanier 10 year reunion
Design a line of vests for men
Ride a camel in Egypt
Complete a Masters degree in change management
Teach my kids to fish
Give a keynote presentation at a leadership conference
Take my nephews on their dream vacation
Release a CD – co-starring my friends and family
Party on a houseboat
Create an inspiring leadership development program for my company’s staff team
Sunbathe naked
Watch the sunrise from the top of a mountain
Eat Dim Sum in Hong Kong completed April, 2010
Author a book
Emcee a friend’s wedding
Take up a sport my kid really loves – just so I can help my kid practice
Bike the Vancouver Ferry loop (North Van – Richmond – Victoria – Nanaimo and back)
Learn to play the ukulele
Sing on a worship team
Dance with Ellen
Be in a “4 generations of Corkers” picture
Take my dog camping
Hike the West Coast Trail
Create a piece of art with Christine Paige
Open my leadership facility – the perfect place for offsite retreats and inspiring foresight
Surf in Hawaii
Make a homemade ice cream cake for a friend’s birthday
Fly in a float plane with my Dad
Raise $3 million for a charity making a difference
Walk the red carpet at a movie premiere with my Mom
Ride an elephant
Name a star for someone
Go white water rafting
Have an art gallery in my house – featuring my friends’ masterpieces
Kiss the Blarney Stone in Cork, Ireland
Drive across Canada in a VW Jetta
Make smores with my sister (and our families) at CampFire Point at Fair Glen
Become a Big Brother
Host a dinner for all my mentors (whoa – talk about a power meal!)
Travel to an Olympic Games as part of the Canadian Olympic Team
Ride in a hot air balloon
Crash a wedding with Andrew Haas
Eat Chinese Food on Christmas Eve with Adam in Calgary
Walk on fire / hot coals
After all these years, have a beer with Mike Bonici
Donate blood
Read my kids my favourite childhood stories (e.g. Robert Munch, Eric Carle)
Milk a cow
Experience St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland
Try my hand (/feet?) at grape-stomping
Sleep outside in a hammock
Go on a bro vacation – just Doug and I
Tour with a band
Create a “Corker Cookbook” filled with family recipes
Write for a collaborative online publication
Scuba-dive in the Great Barrier Reef
Help my sister cross of 10 items on her bucket list
Teach a spin class completed June, 2010
Have a romantic dinner on a rooftop patio – reserved for two
Dine with Seth Godin over breakfast
Find a kangaroo-rat
Be part of a nude photoshoot
Own an entire outfit that was put together by “one for one” businesses. (i.e. Shoes by TOMS, tie by FIGS, etc)
Go on a roadtrip with Wesley George, Ryan Ferguson, and Andrew Haas. (It won’t matter to where)
Get colourful at a Holi festival celebration in India
Cold beer + Sarah Topa + Ontario cottage country. Need I say more? Pull me up some lakeside patio please.
Jump around doing Parkour
Do yoga for 80 consecutive days
Make chocolate by hand
Party in the Greek Islands
Take a tap dance class
Play a full round of golf with my Dad and James
Bike across Confederation Bridge
Experience a zero-gravity flight (on purpose)
Pay for a random couple’s meal. It would make for a great (first) date!
Walk under/shower in a waterfall
Attend at least one high school reunion
Find the Corker totem pole on Vancouver Island
Read the Bible cover to cover
Create a time capsule with my kids and open it 20 years later
Go on a wine tour by scooter
Visit a huge amusement park with my friends
Give out free hugs overseas
Leave the world better than when I found it

Pick of the Post: Asher Roth – G.R.I.N.D. (Get Ready, It’s a New Day) (unofficial music video)

Using Words That Change Minds

Matt Corker — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 15:03:47 +0000

How you frame your idea is key. By selecting the right words to use, you can either enroll your audience in what you’re saying, or leave them disengaged and unmotivated to take action. In Shelle Rose Charvet’s book “Words That Change Minds: Mastering the language of influence,” she suggests each other of us has motivation traits (how our interest is triggered) and working traits (how we handle information, people, decisions, etc).

One motivation trait that stood out for me was direction. Carvet defines direction as a person’s motivational energy centered on goals or problems to be dealt with or avoided.

Carvet groups people into three categories for this trait: Toward people (40%), Away From people (40%), Equally Toward and Away From people (20%). Towards people are motivated and inspired to achieve or attain goals. They have trouble recognizing problems, but are very good at managing priorities. Away From people, on the other hand, focus on what may be and is going wrong. They are motivated to solve problems and may have difficulty managing priorities because whatever is wrong will attract most of their attention. Note: At the extreme, Away From people are often perceived as jaded or cynical – especially by Toward people, who are perceived as naive by Away From people.

How do you identify a Toward/Away From person? Listen to what they say after the word because. It will either be a Toward or Away From statement.
Example: “I want a promotion because I would get more money and more influential work” (Toward) vs. “I want a promotion because I would not have all this routine work and debt” (Away From).

How do you change their mind? Use specific words that will trigger their Toward or Away From mindset in that context.
Towards people are motivated by words like: gain, attain, have, obtain, include, get, achieve
Away From people are motivated by words like: avoid, steer clear of, not have, get rid of, exclude, away from, unwanted
Example: “This new technology will help us to achieve our goal of being more efficient” (Toward) vs. “This new technology will help us get rid of the inefficiencies we currently have” (Away From).

Same goal. Same problem. Two different directions. Inspiring someone to take action on starts with how you frame it.

Pick of the Post: Brandon Flowers – Crossfire (official music video)

Corporate Culture Too Soft?

Matt Corker — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 14:58:53 +0000

Soft corporate cultures allow you to be mediocre. They coddle and focus on the weakest team members. They put policies before people. Their leaders want people to get the work done the way it’s always been done. They protect inefficiencies. Their visions and strategies are riddled with buzz words that their own employees don’t understand (if they have a vision or strategy at all). People blame others for why they themselves aren’t great. Everyone is welcome.

Hard cultures push you towards greatness. They challenge, challenge, challenge, and then support their people. There is no room for excuses. They encourage the relentless pursuit towards goals (especially BHAGs). Leaders continually look for new creations and re-inventions of processes and products. They are quick, tech-savy, and smart. Their visions are bold and easily understood by all stakeholders. People take responsibility for their own lives and decisions – without any ego. Only those striving to be great are welcome.

Pros and cons exist for both types of cultures, so what is “better” is really what resonates with you more on a personal level. Are you looking to be protected or pushed? Do you want to make a difference or make money, or both? Are you content being in the mundane, or do you feel drawn to people striving for something more?

Pick of the Post: Shawn Desman – Shiver (official music video)

Your Family’s Influence on Your Leadership Style

Life in Luon – week one at lululemon

Matt Corker — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 22:21:02 +0000

…. ack, there is so much goodness to share!

As mentioned before, I have recently jumped on board the People Resources team at lululemon athletica as a Leadership Trainer. To refrain from exploding with all the incoherent excitement I have after my first week, I’ll limit myself to a few key learnings about the way they have already made a fantastic first impression on this new hire.

Play big – or so says our new luon tee. Every other week, a group of new hires go through orientation/training (on-boarding) together and we all get a shirt we write our names on in big letters. It becomes our giant nametag for the day and helps make us easy to identify as we are being introduced to people around the office. Below our name it reads: “Playing big means letting everyone know your name and what you do. It is not enough to hope others know your name and what you do. It is time to scream it from the rooftops.” Even better … on the back it reads “if i don’t say your name i don’t know it.” Needless to say, I learned names REAL fast that day.
Set BIG expectations. I am moving into a role held by Ben Jackson, a total rockstar who has been with lululemon for over 3 years. He is the definition of personable, can enthrall you with his presentations, and he remembers the names (and fun facts) about both office and store employees. It is no surprise one of his strengths is Woo – as you feel immediately comfortable and at ease with him. If I’ve learned one thing this week, it’s that he has provided HUGE shoes for me to fill. To that I say, bring it freakin ON!
“Do one thing a day that scares you.” lululemon is big on goal-setting. I like annual goals, but they like 10 year goals. ‘If you know your 10 year goal, you can create a 5 year goal that will help you get there, and a 1 year goal to kick start you on that journey.’ These goals are then posted for the entire company to see and are incorporated into your conversations with your manager. Regardless of what those goals may be! Trying to pin down what my life looks like in 2020, however, is like trying to search for stars in the day time. I know they are there … but it’s just a little more difficult. I gotta dig deep for this one. …eek.
Create a common language. They are guests, not customers. They are store educators, not sales people – we educate on our product so guests can make the best decision for them … no selling required. There are no challenges, just opportunities. We don’t recruit great talent, we attract it. lulu definitely has a language indicative of its culture and I am encouraged by how many people, across business functions, use it. It’s not an after-thought or “what we’re supposed to say.” It’s the way it is. As one of my best bosses used to say “It’s just what we do here.” I think back to other strong cultured organizations I’ve worked with and this common language was the most imperative aspect to their success. Lookin good on this front!
Get into the gear. It’s one thing to be told about the design and features of different products and fabrics, but another to actually try things on and compare fits across styles and sizes. Even better is to test out the product! It only makes sense to test out my first purchases of some of our “anti-stink, moisture wicking” garments in one of my spin classes because saying I sweat in my class is a bold understatement. But, after one of the most comfortable classes yesterday, things are looking good already. {insert reference to creating great brand-ividuals here}

… editing down this past week (and the wide-eyed joy that went along with it) in to 5 bullets just seems unfair. Unfair to both you the reader and unfair to the effort lulu puts into their on-boarding program. Frig, I still have weeks left of this stuff!

THIS is what life is supposed to feel like.

Nama-freakin-ste!

Pick of the post: The Rescues – Break Me Out (music video – and official theme song of my weekend in Ontario!)

Underwear Affair 2010 – Your Great Assets

Matt Corker — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 20:24:12 +0000

Running is not enjoyable for me. I like going fast (hence the love of rowing and cycling/spinning) and my two feet hitting the pavement are not what I would call “fast.”

But running is definitely enjoyable when you get to do it in your underwear! The BC Cancer Foundation’s Underwear Affair was, like last year, a total riot. New costumes, a new addition to the Great Assets team, and more of that summer fun in the sun! And, between the three of us, our team raised almost $1,200 for taboo cancers below the belt in a week. Un-freakin-believeable!

Huge thanks goes out to our friends and family that supported us through monetary donations and by raising awareness of the cause both on and offline. It was so good to run with you behind us. You also have great assets.

Best part of this year’s race? A personal best for my 10 km time AND pictures like this (and more)….

The Great Assets

9 km in - one last hill climb over the bridge

Super runners!

... ugh

Avatars

No Cancer Here

Pick of the Post: Pink – Glitter in the Air (stellar live performance)

Dealing With Change – and lots of it…

Matt Corker — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 19:37:19 +0000

I love change.

Just saying that excites me. “Change it!” It just screams fresh starts, intentional innovation, and big dreams. When things aren’t changing they become stagnant – and I become bored.

That being said, over the past few weeks, my love for change has been put to the test.

Not only did I move from a two-bedroom apartment in Kits with a stellar roommate to a one-bedroom pad in South Granville by myself, but I also, concurrently, left my job at UBC and took on a new opportunity as a Leadership Trainer at luluemon athletica. Handing in my resignation before having a new job secured was probably the most liberating and scary decision I’ve made in a long time. But when you burn the boat, you get to focus on moving forward with everything you’ve got, right?

Dealing with these changes was an interesting process. I had to make myself physically uncomfortable to face the fact that the changes were real. I took things off my office walls, emptied kitchen cupboards onto counters, and made my well-organized life a little bit more chaotic. Surrounding myself in boxes and blank walls made me want to rediscover that happy home and functional workplace I had just demolished. It was as if each box I tripped over was saying “it’s happening – deal with it.”

We rarely change when things are comfortable. Sometimes, we just need to push them to the point of irritation – where we can’t stand to do anything else but change them for the better.

And – man – are things better!

Pick of the post: Vampire Weekend – Giving Up The Gun (official music video) [thanks for the reco Harmer and Lydia]