One of the guys I’m following is Tony (@Schlanghole). He owns a successful business here in Boise (don’t bother heading over there if you’re on an iPhone… the whole site is Flash, except the footer. Boo, I know.). Tony recently started a blog to share some of his thoughts and musing on life and business. Last night he posted a great, uh…  post on his staunch “No Prick Rule“. I loved it! Basically Tony believes that the people you hire matter. Not just what they do (which is important) but who they are (which matters more). I think we should all adopt this rule.

But it got me thinking about how different people interact with one another in team environments. My personality type has been known to cause more than a little conflict on teams. And I’m no exception. Playing devil’s advocate comes very easily to me and I have to keep my desire for conflict in check at times.

Having said that though, I know that I do my best creative problem-solving when I have 2 or 3 or even 4 divergent views being advocated for vigorously by invested parties. I call those times of discussion–those times of conflict, creative conflict. I love creative conflict. Its a tight rope though. It can easily just become conflict with winners and losers, victors and… well, you know. Creative conflict isn’t about winners and losers. Its about solutions and win-win. Its about that 5th way (in this case) that brings everyones ideas to the table and finds the best way to move forward for everyone.

I know… it sounds ridiculous. There are always winners and losers. And I suppose that’s true. But when you work somewhere that has a “No Prick Rule” you’ll care less when you lose… and more importantly you’ll care less when you win. And that’s when “creative conflict” can happen. I wish there were more business owners who followed Tony’s philosophy.

Now, before I go any further, I could be totally wrong. This is a simple hypothesis I’m chewing on. In fact, there’s a pretty good chance by this time tomorrow I’ll think something completely different. But, until then, this is what I’m going with.

The entrepreneur believes in tomorrow. Tomorrow holds even greater possibilities and profits than today did. The worker believes in today. Today put food on the table and helped pay the bills.

The entrepreneur believes in rocking the status quo and risking his security. The worker believes in putting in a honest days work for a honest days wage.

The entrepreneur believes in himself. The worker believes in others.

Now, for the record, I don’t think the entrepreneur is better than the worker, or the worker better than the entrepreneur. In fact, one without the other is dangerous for the sanity of all those around him or her. And I think for any small business to succeed you need both the entrepreneur and the worker. The entrepreneur gets all the street cred, but its the worker who makes the world go round.

My 2 cents on this fine winter day.

I don’t know how I got to where I am today. I suppose a little reflection on my part would illuminate that… but that’s for another time. Somehow I signed up for “boot camp” through my gym and last night was the kick off. Sad story short 20 minutes in I wasn’t sure I was going to leave on my own two feet. I physically got worked. Hard.

I didn’t have any delusions of grandeur going in–check that. Of course I had delusions of grandeur going in, how else can you explain someone like me signing up for something like this?! I clearly thought I could do it before showing up, but a group of mostly women showed me up for the better part of 60 minutes waking me to the reality of how bad things are for Camp Neal right now.

I’m 33 years old and 273 lbs. About 1/3 of that is pure fat. Shit. That’s hard to say. But that’s the truth. The last time I was at a healthy weight I was just out of high school… over a decade ago. I don’t want to go to boot camp again today, but I will. And I’ll go again and again until it either kills me or until I reach my goal of getting to a healthy weight. I’ll keep you posted.

But there is something God given about fear.  Not the kind we usually practice, or the spiritual kind that you may think I’m referring too… but the primal kind.   I came across this picture this week and just can’t stop staring at it… its a picture of fear and trembling and somehow its making me a little more whole.

Penn says that, “…anyone with a love for truth outside of herself has to start with no belief in God and then look for evidence of God. She needs to search for some objective evidence of a supernatural power.”  Penn has come down on the side that there is no evidence for the existence of God, and thus, believes no such creature exists.

My religious impulses immediately want to shout something about faith and love and how everything can’t be proven, bla, bla, bal… but after a second or two and some warm tea I’m mellowing out a bit.  The question I keep asking myself is, would Penn believe if it was one of his friends who went to Jesus and was healed?

I know you’re probably expecting me to write up some creative little essay about what I believe, but I’m not going to. The truth is, I believe in God because what he’s done in my life and in others lives… would I believe if I hadn’t seen God do those things?

When I was in high school every year for a certain class we had to carry around a baby for a week. Not a real one, but a bag of sugar or whatever.  What if you had to not walk for a week, how would that change your life?  I wouldn't even be able to get into my apartment. I guess that's why I don't have any friends who can't walk, go figure.