It is nearly impossible to go a day without being reminded of the economic hardships being played out around the world these days. Spending the 4^th of July weekend up in Northern Michigan on a beautiful lake with friends, unplugged from the daily news and digital media was just what the doctor ordered. A respite from the gloom and doom and an opportunity to again, find some always needed time to reflect.

But after just 24 hours of lounging lakeside and making my first of several trips to the country store for homemade ice cream, two things became very clear.

First, times are really tough and people here a much as anywhere else in our country have felt the real pain of the economic meltdown with much of their livelihoods depending on the Detroit automakers and tourism. The number of homes, boats, cars and other belongings for sale along every roadside tells the story all too well.

Secondly, we will get through this tough time and bounce back stronger for it. The resilience, the optimism and genuine belief that good news is just around the corner made itself into every corner store conversation and BBQ debate.  These folks are resilient and I believe reflect the heart of what has made our country great. They are still making the most of what they have, taking time to enjoy the summer sun and beautiful blue lake water and will be damned if they are going to wallow in their personal misfortune.

There are some better and some worse years up here but from what I could tell this weekend, they are all shades of good.

Wherever you go to get off the grid, clear the mind and recharge, I suggest you get to it as soon as possible…it is so fulfilling to reset at this moment as the summer of 2009 arrives. I am just re-entering the grid after several days in my favorite getaway in the Eastern Sierras near the east entrance of Yosemite.

All that kept coming to me as I reflected on the last 9 months was how fortunate we are to still be here doing what we love. While these are and will be tough times for the foreseeable future, we imagined far worse just a few months back. I feel like we have turned that psychological corner from managing fear of the unknown and managing a baseline level of productivity to really being able to think long term, plan and be fired up about the potential for the future. What a refreshing change and one that could not be more exhilarating for all of us here at Nau.

That said, we should remember the many lessons learned to not let history repeat itself.

Here was my short list of things not to lose sight of:

1)  The things that really matter often are those that get neglected…QT with family and friends, pursuing your passions and maintaining balance.  Live fully everyday because it is what really matters.
2)   All the stuff in our social fabric that appeared unsustainable or too good to be true was exactly what our instincts told us…it just took longer than we expected to unravel.
3)  When the shit hits the fan, as it did last Fall and continues to do in some sectors of our economy, you learn who your true friends are and we really now know full well, the strength and loyalty of our community.  Thanks for the support of customers, vendors and partners alike.

We are back at our passion of building meaningful products, brands and a lasting company and will remain dedicated to enjoying the journey as much as the results.

Thanks for reading,

See the new Pixar movie ‘Up!’ as soon as you can.

Like Walle, the underlying life message is likely more meaningful to its adult audience yet it will be equally appreciated and inspirational for kids if only from a perspective. Prepare for some tears in the first 15 minutes and lots of self reflection and life appreciation to follow.

And as always, feel free to let us know what you thought…

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On a recent trip to connect my 80 year old father-in-law with the Grand Canyon for the first time, I came away with a unexpected realization…while our lives may be short in the bigger scheme of things, our impact can still be great.
 
Contrasting an 80 year lifetime to the 2 Billion year old layers of rock at the bottom of the canyon, you immediately get a sense of how short our time is on this wonderful planet.  Yet it was just 26 years ago in 1983 that the Glen Canyon Dam almost spilled over as Lake Powell had reached “full pole” and water needed to be released to allow the Colorado River to flow into the Sea of Cortez for the last time to-date.  Lake Powell is now estimated to be less than 50% full.  And while drought has contributed some to this trend, the vast majority of the depletion is a result of exponential growth in demand
 
Our friends at Teva teamed up with our hero Wade Davis (and frequent guest at our Telluride Mountainfilm event) to release the recent Imax film River at Risk documenting the challenges this beautiful river faces after spending its lifetime carving one of the planet’s most spectacular natural monuments.  
 
The optimist in me says we can reverse this trend by just paying more attention to the water we use everyday.  I recently learned that one of the largest impacts on energy and water in the clothing chain was customer care.  Reducing the number of washes, hang drying and applying efficient practices to care can reduce impact by upwards of 30-40%.  So we are on a mission to promote lower impact care requirements and practices. And we can also take shorter and fewer showers and reduce usage in many other obvious ways in our daily lives.
 
So let’s fill Lake Powell back up and spill the Glen Canyon dam by 2040!      

Last week we spent some time out of the office to establish our priorities for the coming year and refine our 5-year vision for the family of brands (Nau, Lizard Lounge, and Horny Toad). Being committed to creating value in the broader sense, balanced between social, environmental and financial impacts creates an energizing environment for innovation and inspiring possibilities.

But the reality is that we also have to be practical and somewhat prudent in the challenging economic climate of today so some of those great ideas might not have had a chance to surface or fully develop. So I thought it would be enlightening to broaden the dialogue to our community of enthusiastic product and brand fans.

So here is my first of many Questions of the Month…

What is your favorite aspect of our company and what should be our top priority for improvement?

I will respond and comment on submissions to provide a window into our efforts to address your suggestions. I look forward to your thoughts.

Being reminded what is important in life often comes at the most unexpected times.

That was my experience last Tuesday as I flew from my home in Santa Barbara (Horny Toad) to Portland, Oregon (Nau & Lizard Lounge) when a terrible fire broke out.  I found myself on the phone as I landed talking my wife and two daughters through the list of “important” things to grab as they evacuated our house as the fire was turning our community upside down.

Getting back into our home this weekend with a new found appreciation for what really matters, I came up with the following:

Of course family, friends and pets can never be replaced and it sure feels great to have them all safe and sound.

Memories in the form of pictures, videos and those amazing art projects for Birthdays and Father’s Day will come in handy when the brain slows with age.

Community…firefighters and civil servants are true heroes and we all stand a bit prouder at how our neighbors supported each other through a very trying week.

Our team of Toads, Nauians and Loungers…from sharing in our star customer service Manager’s wedding on Saturday with ashes falling to getting right to work on a benefit concert and product donation plan for victims and firefighters, it was nice to be reminded we really do have a Family of brands.

And in the interest of full disclosure, during a reflective afternoon of surf with my wife and two girls yesterday, I decided holding on to a few toys that make life a fulfilling adventure is probably a good idea as well.

Last week I was on the road to NYC for a media event and Freeport, Maine to visit our store. It was great to get out and see how Spring was shaping up and I have to say the warm weather seems to be injecting some enthusiasm and hope that the worst is behind us.

A couple of thoughts come to mind about where we are as May begins…

In the category of Resilience…It was nice to see our population not flinch as the 24/7 media (and our Vice President) tried to scare us with the swine flu story. I was in packed airports and airplanes all week and lived to tell about it.

Growing Confidence, we may not be completely out of the woods yet but it is noteworthy that the stock market has steadily increased in the last month. It appears the first 100 days of our new Administration have established the potential of our country’s economic future in green technology and alternative fuels.

Opportunity…how about a 50:1 Kentucky Derby winner that comes from last to first in the final turn. Score one for the “anything is possible if you dream big” category!

To be an entrepreneur is to be an optimist and I try to live by one of my favorite sayings, “Pessimists are usually right and optimists are usually wrong but all the great changes have been accomplished by optimists.” Thomas L. Friedman

This post is the maiden voyage of an idea that our team had for me to share weekly thoughts and observations with our family of friends and fans. Every Monday you can count on an observation from the prior week through a glass half full lens. My objective is to share experiences as we navigate this fast changing world and encourage your participation and commentary in those adventures.

My subject this week – Earth Day. I know, you’ve heard it all by now, but don’t you think it’s amazing how ubiquitous this previously little known celebration of environmental awareness has become in recent years.

Why is that? Is it that we have finally embraced the evidence of global warming and have entered survival mode. Has the recent financial turmoil reminded us to cherish green places and the simple things. Maybe it is that green has become synonymous with economic potential. Or, perhaps, Earth Day has simply accomplished its purpose over the last four decades and converted the masses. Like most things, it is most likely a combination of these and many other factors that have all contributed to a major shift in awareness, perspective and practices.

I sleep at night because although we’ve left an environmental mess for our children, our youth today has been born with awareness. It is almost like our DNA was altered sometime in the last two decades and kids are teaching adults how to be green. I am regularly impressed by how aware and engaged my 9- and 11-year old daughters are. My wife and I try pretty hard to be good stewards, but our girls often point out how we can do better.

Finally, kudos to Google for understanding this long before many of us – shocker. They understand that youth gets it and launched a program several years ago to solidify Earth Day in the schools. Grades K-12 are asked to have their students design an Earth Day inspired home page Google logo and contest winners in various age categories were awarded $10K for college tuition and $25K grants to the schools of those winners. What a great way to get teachers, students and parents talking about some of the most important and relevant issues of today in the name of Google. Nice thinking!

Thanks for reading.

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Once in a while you are lucky enough to come across something that fills your soul with that special feeling.  You know the one that looks like Grinch’s heart growing three sizes bigger.  Great music with inspiring lyrics has provided many of those moments for me so I always try to get my regular dose of our friends Michael Franti, Chris Pierce and Brett Dennen.  This video struck me in that same deep and meaningful way.

A director went around the world and looked for various street performers and recorded them singing different songs.  This is of Stand By Me.  He used rudimentary battery operated equipment to record them live.  Then, went on to the next performer and let them listen to the music and they added to the recording.  The song is mixed with various street artists who have never met and just sang or played along to other artists:

What a connected and inspiring world we live in and what great way to remind us how we can collectively make the world a better place.  I hope you enjoy It as I much as I did and share it with your families and friends.