For all "Colors" on Red gift of "Vision"

In his book, The 7 Secrets of Successful Sales Management, author Jack D. Wilner defines vision as "innovating a purposeful, organized search for change."

Vision has elements of invention (WHITE), entrepreneurship and challenging adventure (RED), curiosity (YELLOW), and purpose (BLUE).

There is always an element of risk in vision.

Visionary REDS, and those who learn to take on this gift, are long term oriented. They don't think in terms of minutes or hours, they think in years and decades. Dr. Taylor Hartman writes in "The People Code", "Reds think and live 6 months out." REDS can see the future, because their core motive of "power", creates it!

Consider this: Reds can see the future as easily as whites clearly see what is right before them...and as naturally as blues see the potential pitfalls and the details needed to bring quality...and as instinctively as yellows, living outside the box, see ways to innovate existing realities. All the colors can, and should, work in harmony, each orchestrating their innate strengths and gifts to actualize the vision.

Ray Kroc had the vision to turn a west coast hamburger stand into billions of Big Mac Sales.

R.H. Macy had the vision that a square block of stores, all under one roof, could become the mightiest retail enterprise.

Henry Ford had the vision of building a 6 cylinder automobile engine.

The list goes on and on.

To paraphrase from Wilner, Companies... and people, who share in vision, do not stand in the way of the rainbow road that leads to the glorious pot of gold.

When people of vision, work for a visionary company, both know there is no limit to high acheivement.

Colors and Motive in Grandchildren

Color Code – Motive – and Children
Dr. Taylor Hartman teaches that our personality is innate…inborn…we came here with it, and…it is driven by a core motive. Your secondary color is the second most powerful influence in your personality.
Last week I had an experience that taught me about the power of motive in my 5 year old BLUE granddaughter, Ari, and my 6 year old BLUE grandson, Nate, and my 4 year old WHITE grandson, Eli. I will start with the boys.

Tammy and I had enjoyed a week with all 5 of our grandchildren, 3 boys, 2 girls. You see, the family took a vote and decided that I should fork over $400 to buy a Wii. (By the way…a Wii is pronounced Wee, and is an ingenious video arcade game that plays on your TV.) You can play all sorts of games with a Wii, like baseball, hockey, golf, tennis, bowling, and there is even an exercise program. ( I am staying away from that one!)
Bowling seems to be our family favorite game to play because everyone can participate, even the little ones.
I was having a great game while bowling with my grandson, Nate, a 6 yr. old BLUE. I had a spare and 2 strikes going. My best game ever! All of a sudden I noticed the TV screen. WHAT??? “Hey, where did the game go?” What happened, Nate?” (thinking yellow me had pushed a wrong button)
Nate’s response was... no response. I turned to my WHITE son-in-law, TJ and said, again, “What happened?” (T.J. is a typical WHITE TECHY kind of guy…brilliant…I knew he would have the answer)
"Nate reset the game." he replied, calmly.
“WHY????” “I was doing great!”
"Evidently he wasn’t." (T.J.'s response)
I turned to Nate and tried my best to reason with him, using logic, and disciplining him by making him sit out the next game. How do you think that worked with a BLUE?
There he sat, on the sofa…with a forlorn look on his face. Sad, very sad.
Trying to teach him a lesson, I started a new game of bowling, this time with his 4 year old little brother, Eli. Eli is a WHITE/RED so we thought!
Eli is also typical WHITE. Very good with high tech gadgetry. STRIKE…STRIKE…STRIKE! I became more engrossed in Eli’s rather amazing performance, than in my own. I was all excited and anticipating his fourth roll of the ball when I looked at the TV and guess what happened?
“What happened?”
“Reset again”, TJ said, calmly.
“WHY???!!!”, I exclaimed.
I turned to Nate who was still sitting on the sofa looking like he had just lost his best friend. “Did YOU reset that game too?” “Your little brother had 3 strikes in a row!”
“Guwwandad”, said Eli.
“What, Eli”, I replied, exasperated.
“I did it.”
“Why!!??” “You had a great game going.” “Why would you do that!?”
“Beecaauuse Nathan wanted to play with us”.

Ohhhhh….the strong influence of secondary color. Eli’s Mom had told me she thinks Eli’s secondary color is BLUE instead of RED. After seeing his willingness to sacrifice his own best interest for the good of his big brother, I am beginning to agree with her.
Amazing, simply amazing.

Coming up.....amazing insights into the BLUENESS of my grandaughter.

Kudos from Color Code International

Hey, guys.
This is Jeremy from the Color Code corporate offices.
I just wanted to let you know that I jumped on your blog today to take a look. I loved it!
Your dedication to Color Code and your students always impresses me. Anyone who attended a training course with you would be in very good hands.
If you ever need anything, please let us know.
As the Executive Director of Color Code International, I would enthusiastically endorse your team and your services to any company or individual thinking of hiring you.
You have earned my trust, respect, and admiration. I have known very few trainers who have achieved the level of effectiveness that you have.
Keep up the good work!

Very best of living,
Jeremy Daniel
Executive Director
Color Code International

A Hand in Glove (Blue married to Yellow) Conflict

One of our favorite times during Motive Training is taking time for participants to share Color Code Moments. Last week we enjoyed a story told by a couple we have grown to love and appreciate. (Names have been changed to protect the innocent...and not so innocent...ha ha.)

Carol is a wonderful BLUE woman with a long term marriage to her great YELLOW guy, Garrett.

Carol came home from work, her arms loaded with groceries that needed to be put away, before she fixed one of those delicious BLUE...quality, well thought out, and well prepared evening meals.

After enjoying dinner together, Garrett got up from the table and headed for his favorite Lazy Boy chair, while Carol cleared off the table and did the dishes. (in all likelihood :)

From his comfortable easy chair, Garrett hollered, "Where are those Cheez-its you bought?"

In "True Blue" fashion, Carol replied with a sense of moral correctness, "We just got up from the table. You don't need to eat those now. They are for a snack".

Yellow, fun loving, Garret replied, "I only ate one Sloppy Joe, so I could eat THEM! Where are they? I saw them when you unpacked them from the groceries."

"Garrett, those are for when I'm working and can't be here to cook for you. You can eat them...THEN!"

"I don't want to hear it"!!! (Garretts' response)

Silence ruled the remainder of the night...and all the next day...until Garrett shared this story with everyone at Motive Matters class that evening.

The rest of us in the room were laughing hysterically at an interpersonal conflict that didn't "feel" that funny at the time it was taking place in Carol and Garrett's home.

One of the great blessings of training Color Code and Motive is when couples begin to "get themselves", and are able to laugh at themselves. We are all rather funny when our "automatics" show themselves during everyday life.

As you know, I am a YELLOW married to a BLUE. I was laughing the most enthusiastically because I could SSOOOO identify with what had happened. BLUES often feel like they are called to teach the rest of us the "right"..."responsible"..."and most appropriate" manner in which life SHOULD be lived. Yellows just enjoy life in the moment. For a BLUE, it is just NOT appropriate...necessary...or healthy, to eat a snack after a good dinner. Blue Carol was probably feeling guilty that her homemade Sloppy Joes were, somehow, not good enough to satisfy her beloved's hunger. For a YELLOW, its just the thought of how gooood Cheez-its taste!!! As a matter of fact...now that I think about it....I'm gonna stop typing this blog, jump in my car and run down to Fastrip to get myself a pack of Cheez-its! Right now!!! :)

Do your work. Love well. Love you all. Thanks for sharing K & G! :)

Some REALLY good news from Motive Matters.com

Just about one year ago, my BLUE wife, Tammy, and I were discussing how we could afford to keep taking the relationship tool of The Color Code to hurting people who were struggling in their marriages. We had been through that struggle a few years ago, after 25 years together, and we considering calling it quits. We believe it was the grace of God that brought this tool that helped us understand ourselves and each other better. Having a basic love and respect for God, and knowing that He made us different, helped us to begin to love and respect those differences instead of having them drive us crazy.
We had sold our business 2 years ago with the a foggy understanding that there was something else for us to do. A change was on the way. We knew it, but we didn't know what is would look like. A friend called us one day, asking to help them in their troubled marriage. "What did you guys do?", was her question. When we hung up the phone, we looked at each other and said, "whew...if we are going to teach others what we did, we should get some more formal training in Color Code. Over the course of the next several months, we enrolled in a course taught by Dr. Taylor Hartman, author of The Color Code. We studied. Boy, did we study. We put almost everything else in our lives on hold. All our children knew Mom and Dad were on a project. They supported us, they understood, and helped us in ways that we deeply appreciate.
After completing our training and testing, we began to train others in free and open meetings. Our first was with a group of close friends from our home Bible Study group. These friends know who they are. They showed up faithfully each week for two hours over the course of an entire month. A special thank you to these friends. You taught us so much about training, and we will always be grateful.
We were living off our savings and learning a lot about serving and loving each other...and others. The reality was we were beginning to realize that a savings account is a finite thing. I was sorely tempted to go back to my car business to make ends meet.
Then we would get a phone call, or an email, about how this couple or that had been helped. One couple told us of how they had their court date set before they walked into the first session we were having at the Southwest Missouri Bank Community Center. We couldn't help but notice how cold, and locked up they acted toward each other that first night. During the second session, we noticed them occasionally laugh at each other. Then during the third session, they opened up and told the class about how their relationship was being helped, and how they understood each other for the first time in their marriage. After the final session, we watched as they walked hand in hand to their car. This was when we realized that we were training a tool that not only made a difference for us, but that was making a positive difference for others too! We knew we had to find a way to stay with it.
Tammy made a phone call to The Miami Nation of Oklahoma in December of 07. She talked to a wonderful BLUE named Tammy Lowery, a grant writer employed by the tribe. Tammy told her our story and Mrs. Lowery was inspired.
She called us about a month later and said, "I found a grant!!!"
Over the course of the next several months, the two Tammy's and others at the tribe worked tirelessly writing the application document for The Association of Native Americans who would fund selected projects under The President's Healthy Marriage Initiative.
The deadline date for project submission had come. March 29th, 3:30 P.M. At 2:30, the files began to be sent to Washington D.C. Then, at 3:00 those files began to return to Miami OK. They were NOT COMPATIBLE... having been sent on a "Vista" operating computer. Tami Lowery assembled a staff of 10 dedicated souls who scrambled to their feet and began to convert the files and re-send them. Miraculously, they arrived in D.C., but they were eight minutes late. Mrs. Lowery was devastated. She had gone without sleep for two days. She knew that government deadlines are government deadlines. She was sure the project arrived DOA.
To the best of our ability we encouraged her to trust God. We thanked her for her selflessness, and self sacrifice, her hard work and dedication. We placed the project in God's hands, as best we knew how.
Late in July Tami called and said she had received a phone call asking for some budgetary changes to be made in the grant proposal. We were perplexed, and cautiously hopeful that maybe Marriage Matters wasn't DOA. She received another email communication in August requesting further changes. And then a phone call in September requesting some more information.

Funding date was October 1, 2008. Tammy and I were in Brownsville TX with our daughter, son, and our grandsons, preparing for a Color Code Relationship Workshop at their church. It was Thursday morning about 9:30 AM, October 2. My Tammy said, "well, no news," "I'm guessing that means we didn't get it. Tami (Lowery) is probably miserable, not knowing how to tell us the news." I said, "I am going to send her an email and try to set her heart as ease."

Just then Tammy's cell phone rang. Tammy stared, frozen, looking at her phone....all she could say is, "It's Tami!" "Well, answer it!, I said.

"Is Van with you?"

"Get him on the phone."

"We GOT IT!!!"

Well, the celebration was on!

The bottom line is this. The Department of Health and Human services is investing $250,000 per year within a 50 mile radius of Miami OK to promote healthy marriages and responsible fatherhood. A large portion will be used to advertise healthy marriage through radio, tv, billboard and other means of advertising. Part of the grant is to fund 24 - eight hour Color Code Relationship Training Workshops per year, for the next three years. Motive Matters is partnering with The Miami Tribe of Oklahoma to help keep marriages and families together by training the principles of Motive and The Color Code.

We feel privileged and humbled to participate in this journey of helping people. Please pray that we will do an excellent job, and people will be helped along their journey.

Thank you, to all of you who have helped and supported this work. Blessings to you!

Resolving conflict by understanding needs and wants

Remember, the number ONE enemy of successful relationships is selfishness.
Is my life about getting or giving. (Getting my own emotional needs and wants met, or serving the needs and wants of others in my life)

Here is a real life example of a "Motive Moment" in our lives. I believe it is an example of relationship brilliance on the part of my wife, Tammy.

Here is the scenario:

Tammy's brother, Darren, works in Force Protection at The Pentagon in Washington D.C. We get to see him about twice a year. He and his family were at Tammy's other brother, Russ's house in Mount Vernon, MO. We were going to his house for a fare-well get together before Darren flew back to D.C. the following day.

Our 17 year old daughter, Stef is a WHITE. We had told her she could drive herself to Mt. Vernon after volleyball practice at 6:00 oclock.

Well....as sometimes happens in the life of a YELLOW, I was running late, and instead of Tammy and me leaving for Mt. Vernon at 4:00 oclock, we found ourselves leaving in the middle of a thunderstorm at 5:30. Tammy said, "I hate for Stef to have to drive on the interstate highway in this weather." I said, "with gas prices so high, it is ridiculous for us to take 2 cars when we are leaving 30 minutes apart." We decided to see if we could get Stef excused a little early from practice and have her ride with us.

Any of you who have teenage kids will appreciate how well that plan went over. As a white, she was looking forward to being by herself and independently driving to Mt. Vernon. I informed her that we needed her to get her stuff and drive home so we could leave ASAP.

She replied, sternly, "Well, I'm gonna tell you right now that I AM going to take a shower before we leave. I am sweaty and a mess! I am going to shower at home before we go!"

"See you at home", was my response.

Tammy obviously did not want to wait for Stef to shower. She said "how are we going to convince her to shower when we get to Russ's house. I want to go see my brother!"

Being YELLOW WITH secondary RED, and being a bit stressed by the whole thing, I replied in my determined, authoritative, husband, father, head of the house way...."Just TELL HER DAD SAID!"

Stef pulled up and got out of her car and started into the house. I watched as Tammy met her in the driveway and exchanged a few words with her. About 2 minutes later, Stef hurried to the car with a bag of clothes and off we went to Mt. Vernon. I expected my daughter to be angry and bitter. But NO! She was actually pleasant and conversed with us as we drove.

Only later, did I ask Tammy, "what did you say to her?"

"I said, Stef, if you would take a shower when we get to Russ's house, I could spend 30 minutes more with my little brother who is leaving for Washington D.C. in the morning."

Stef had thought about it for a couple of seconds and simply relied, "OK."

Tammy spoke the language of white to Stefany. LOGIC.

As a family,...the three of us...we had a great night together. If we had taken MY old approach, it would most likely turned out quite different.

I am so proud of Tammy's Color Code brilliance. She served Stef's needs and wants by being calm, soft spoken with some firmness, but very logical. She didn't try to force her way on Stef. She allowed Stef to be who she is and make a good decision logically, without mean harsh words having to be spoken.

This was a great lesson in the power of knowing what makes us tick, and using that knowledge and understanding to speak the language of the other person, thereby CREATING successful relationship.

Our needs and wants drive us too!

Continuing thoughts on conflict resolution:

So…back to needs and wants of the colors.
How can your needs and wants get in the way of creating and sustaining successful relationships?
First of all, do you know your needs and wants? In your comprehensive analysis you will find the needs and wants of your primary and secondary colors. You may find a mixture of these needs and wants that are most important to you. “Humble up”, and honestly “get” your own needs and wants. This is part of First Base in the game of life, “Get Yourself”.
Your driving core motive is just that. It is the innermost impulse to action. The most powerful influence in your personality. Needs and wants come from the core of the motive. They also drive you to a significant degree.
I’ll give you an innocent little example in my own life. Yesterday, I was standing beside a house we are selling that was in need of some repair on the duct work. My friend, and fellow Color Coder, Ken Anderson is a contractor and was doing some of the other work that needed to be done. When it came to the heating and air duct work, HE said to me, “I think you might be better off to call someone who is a professional on that kind of work.” While we stood there...Ken, Tammy, and me…I called my friend Steve, who is a Heat and Air Repairman. I said to him, “Ken and I are standing here trying to figure out what to do on this and I said, why don’t I just call a professional?”
Ken and Tammy looked at each other with puzzled looks and then began to snicker to each other. When I hung up my phone, I said, “What are you laughing about?” Tammy said, “YOU didn’t say, let’s call a professional, KEN did!” “You are so yellow, you just want to look good to Steve!” She was right. (As a side note…my first inclination was to defend myself and explain why I did it, again...to look good. But the truth was she was RIGHT! Someone once said, “as soon as you begin to defend yourself, you cease to seek the truth”.
So, we all had a good laugh, and thanked God that we know Color Code!

POINT: My yellow need to “look good” automatically drove my behavior to misstate the facts. Innocent as it was, that IS what happened. How are your needs and wants driving some of your behavior?

REDS: Do you find yourself arguing with people all the time because of your need to be right and look good intellectually?
BLUES: Do you find yourself lecturing people all the time about how life should be lived because you have a need to be good morally, or your need to be understood?
WHITES: Do you find yourself retreating from discussing your feelings with people because of your need to be independent and have your own space?
YELLOWS: Do you find yourself lacking commitment and follow-through because of your need for freedom?

POINT TO PONDER: How are MY needs and wants blocking me in creating relationships?

More to come…stay tuned.