Last week in New York on business I decided to take a quick stroll through Central Park between meetings. There is something magical about Central Park that makes me feel a little bit clearer whenever I am there. As I strolled through the park I kept thinking about how one moment, good or bad, can change the world forever. I had just finished a meeting at 888 7th Avenue and for 15 minutes my partner and I were detained by building security to have our pictures taken, visitor badges issued and then after a long call upstairs, we were cleared to enter the elevators. I remember being in NYC pre-9-11 and none of this security delay would have occurred. I was not the least bit upset but I realize how one tragedy changed the world. Airport security, building security, homeland security, you name it, they were all changed after 9-11 and this remains true 11 years later. However, I do believe that in many ways 9-11 brought our country closer together and to this day some of that still resonates even if we may lose sight of it in the heat of politics from time to time.

On Friday, December 14, 2012 in Connecticut, an unthinkable tragedy occurred. This cowardly act by a lower-than-pond scum forever nobody whose identity I have no reason to process or acknowledge shot up that school with those perfect, innocent children. When I think of my beautiful three sons, my amazing three nieces, or the perfect children of my friends and other families I love, I am truly flooded with tears. Yet I feel an overwhelming outpouring of love and a resolute attitude to not let this break me. Make no mistake about it this one tragic event–it has changed things forever. The question which remains is how it will change us as people.

Companies are reacting with panic in the shooting sports space, private equity groups are liquidating out of the firearms business. Anti-gun activists are up in arms, and unfortunately it feels all too familiar. Much like 9-11, this is a vicious test on us as people, a vicious test beyond words for the victims’ families and classmates. There will be a long nasty political war waged over this. Let us know this and accept this but most importantly as a universe of people we cannot be broken, and instead we should come together.

The fighting and the noise will always be there as long as politics exist. There will no doubt be changes which occur in schools, and around certain regulations, and I am going to surrender to this and simply spread the love. The people who do their jobs in Washington will have their fight, yet I am going with love as there is already too much FEAR out there. As we move through this holiday season and into the New Year, let us fully embrace that while one tragic moment can change the world, so can one positive moment in which we decide to band together and not be broken as people.

I wish you a happy healthy holiday season and a blessed new year. May 2013 mark the year of comeback for our country and a year of love in honor of those beautiful children, God bless their souls, God bless America!

It’s a bitter cold morning and even though I’m layered up, I think to myself, “if I don’t start seeing action soon I’m going to be shivering my ass off.” Just as these thoughts come out a young 8 pointer chasing a doe stops directly under my tree. I smile knowing it’s going to be a good day and things are about to heat up–in just about every way!

The coolest thing about this hunt is that I made a tweak and it appears to have made all the difference. Having hunted this area for years, I started thinking that perhaps I was missing deer movement in the dense cedar curtain behind me to the west. I snuck in yesterday and moved the stand a few trees over, really just a tweak, but it appears that the tweak worked as I look up and see two more bucks and five does making their way towards me. I realize that all those years, even with these deer being within 40 yards of my old stand location, I never would have seen nor heard them. Wow, that one got me thinking…

A few months back my good friend and our former Chicago Territory Sales Director at Outdoor Hub, Steve Petersen, reminded me of the “innovation” that we introduced with Outdoor Hub.

“Farbz, think about what we did man,” he said. “We revolutionized the way companies reach consumers and made the outdoors a relevant vertical online, before anyone even measured it. We created a market.”

“Yeah, but look at what we are doing with daily content and our widget technology today,” was my first response. “I mean those were just the beginning tweak moves we made back in 2007.” As the words came out of my mouth I started reflecting on what he had just said and what I said in return minimizing his statement and I thought to myself, “Farbz you need to go and think on this one when you get the chance.”

The other night I thought about Steve’s words and I also remembered the previously mentioned hunt where by moving a few trees over and just inside the cedar swamp, I completely changed the game. Both of these events seem to point to a common theme about innovation and how often in life it is only a tweak away. I say out loud to myself, “perhaps we over-think what innovation really is, perhaps it is only a tweak away.”

I started thinking about the simple tweaks that have represented many modern day innovations. Take Twitter for example, which simply limited the characters in a message and was made for stream of consciousness thoughts to be tweeted. This innovative tweak on the way social messages are conveyed has been a game changer to the social media landscape. Or consider Facebook, which stepped in and squashed Myspace as the social network hot spot by simplifying the interface and cleaning it up, making it more user-friendly. Want to drop back further? How about when Pepsi used a little more sugar and different marketing and creative spins than Coca-Cola, or when Pepsi simply under-priced Coke in a down economy and in turn became the affordable brand? The list goes on and on and on.

The take away value, the breakthrough thought for you to consider is that sometimes in life innovation is only a tweak away. I think perhaps the most common confusion people have with innovation is over-estimating what it is. Too many times we assume you need to re-invent the wheel, when all that may be needed is a really smart tweak, an innovative tweak.

I come to full draw and aim my sight on the vitals of a mature 9-point that is quartering away from me and I release my arrow and it is a fatal hit. I watch the old brute fall and the adrenaline rush is insane! In all the excitement I still cannot believe how small of an adjustment, how simple of a tweak it was that gave me the breakthrough moment and my trophy! Is your trophy or your innovation only a tweak away?

It is early in the morning, the sky is clear, and it is still dark as I lay on the couch at Pon Valley staring out the window into the treeline above the pond. When I do my deeper thinking, or any visualization work in sync with nature, I find that more comes to me and there is greater meaning and clarity as there is an undeniable metaphysical connection between nature and all aspects of thought, of life.

I think of how even Albert Einstein made note of a deep tie between nature and the evolution of our beliefs and energy and how they tie to the unknown. I’m thinking about another angle on E=mc², and how so many years later this breakthrough discovery is proven time and time again in positive ways by amazing people that actualize their massive visions, despite the critics, above the noise, and against the odds. When you have a clear vision regardless of its size, if you are willing to have the conviction to hold a relentless commitment and belief that you will become that vision with all of your committed energy, it shall be created. It is within this realm that you are truly living out the best side of E=mc²! Energy truly is matter after all, and this should inspire us all to know that anything is possible, yet challenge us to think on this.

How do you feel about the energy you put out into the world?

As the sky begins to lighten I think of inspiring people that have proven this way of looking at E=mc² and have left the world a better place because of their commitment to this.

Abraham Lincoln and his vision and relentless pursuit of abolishing slavery in the United States, which made the world such a better place and brought peace to our country. He had a vision and he made that vision a reality despite the odds. Whether through his dreams or in the moment of big conversations, Lincoln was always affected by nature.

Rudolph Steiner and his studies in Theosophy and breakthrough discoveries with Anthroposophy, which still live on today and teach a more connected universal way of life throughout the Steiner schools and designated study groups around the globe. Paramount to Steiner’s success is nature, as it serves as core to his principles.

I think of how right here in Detroit we have many people that prove this interpretation of E=mc² and today I think of Detroit’s very own Dan Gilbert. He has created and actualized massive visions time and time again, he seems to operate at another level by demonstrating an uncanny ability to contain the noise, contain the mind, and then move with force, precision, gut, and a limitless thought process. Whether it’s building the world’s largest and most successful mortgage company in Quicken Loans, revitalizing whole areas or districts in Cleveland, creating Gaming and Entertainment, or sparking the Detroit economy with his Detroit Venture Partners fund that he, Josh Linkner, and Brian Hermelin created, he continues to generate visions and then puts forth incredible levels of energy into realizing them with an unwavering belief in his vision! It seems that Gilbert almost becomes that vision.

Gilbert had a vision for Downtown Detroit that is beyond what most anyone fully grasps. Against all odds and despite the noisy media his vision is being created and his energy is connecting with many 20-somethings moving downtown, start-up companies, established businesses, and even retail is now being realized. When we become our ideas and if we have clear enough vision and deep enough belief, it shall be created! Energy is matter and this Detroit vision is happening. It excites me to know that my kids will enjoy a downtown that they can be proud of on a national level, as this Gilbert energy, this Gilbert vision, and Gilbert belief is coming true!

The sun is up now and the day is breathtaking, and its clarity makes me think that those who become the absolute best at turning their vision into reality know how to move their minds out of the way and allow a fearless state of creation to take place. It is within nature that I seek the strength, the clarity, and the will to someday operate at these extreme altitudes. That is a tree stand far higher than I have climbed into yet, but at a young 41 years of age I still have plenty of time I suppose!

This past hunting season, my friend Harry and I fought our way through the nastiest tangle I have damn near ever been in. We were cutting our way into the thick overgrown section of property that sits at the corner of the Saline, Michigan farm which I hunt from time to time in the later parts of season. As Harry did not know how difficult this adventure would be, I was able to sucker him into helping me hang a stand in the middle of this black hole of a property section where an aerial view told me that I needed to be.

A few years back in the same area, I had seen a couple nice out-of-range shooter bucks and several other deer but had also received a nasty case of poison ivy as the area is overgrown with it in every direction, from the ground up to the tops of the trees. I ended up with a case of poison ivy so bad that I bled from several areas of my body after scratching so deeply at it. The other problem with that stand was that it was about one-third of the way into where I knew in my soul that a stand really needed to be. Today, I was determined to get to the right spot to hang the tree stand, but I knew it wasn’t going to be easy.

Compounding the problem was the fact that over the past few years, the undergrowth had gone from thick to jungle-like. We call this piece the “Dirty 40” and the name is fitting as this 40-acre chunk beats you up trying to move your body through it, let along while carrying in climbing sticks and a tree stand that snags up every other step. Finally we arrive at the perfect tree that I had envisioned in the epicenter of this jungle, and it made me start thinking that sometimes in the woods, in life, and in business you got to get dirty and you got to get deep!

We all love to hunt from a nice, easy-to-access field-side cushy tree stand and kick back, but life chasing big bucks just ain’t that way most of the time. Rather when it comes to chasing the big bucks in business or in the field, it isn’t easy most of the time–it takes hard damn work! Having been a CEO of several companies over the last 15 years, I have seen a lot of deals come and go. I have closed my fair share of trophy deals in several business sectors and while we all wish it were easy to make it happen, most of the time that isn’t the case.

Nearly every business leader wishes that they could spend all of their time “on the business” and never be “in the business”. Let me tell you one thing about running companies that is factual and it’s a dirty little secret that many business leaders try and deny: in order to scale a business, in order to work through challenging problems, or in order to solve a crisis sometimes you have to roll up your sleeves and get “in the business” and it won’t happen by staying “on the business”. That said, any good hunter or businessman is adamant about taking the path of least resistance, however this strategy often will not produce the trophy results you seek and instead you may need a machete to cut your way through the jungle. Sometimes you have to get dirty and you have to get deep!

Some of the longest, darkest, and most trying hunts have come deep in swamps where nobody else hunts. It is through staying the course, sitting through the elements, schlepping into the shit that eventually the persistence pays off, and as my boy Michael Waddell says, “Old Sad Daddy the Monarch of the Woods” comes walking to you. You can often feel when the moment is about to happen, but more often than not it comes after long, frustrating, anguishing hunts without seeing a single deer. Sure the guy on the field’s edge in the comfy stand sees a deer show and he may even catch a glimpse of a shooter buck, but almost always they will be out of range. This holds true in life and in business, so the sooner that we stop trying to constantly look for shortcuts and just start executing with a plan, the sooner your break through moment will come. Best of all this is a sustainable and realistic way to approach life!

My mom often says, “luck is at the side of the able navigator.” The able navigator knows that sometimes in life you got to get dirty and you got to get deep! So the next time you feel frustrated with your progress in business, life, or in the field my advice is to change up the strategy, put in the hard work and get a little dirty and get a little deep! You may find that by executing in this capacity luck starts coming your way.

I wish you all an amazing week and go get a little dirty!

Keeping our emotions in check is hard to do sometimes, but it’s in these challenging moments where keeping a cool head can allow you to fly past the competition. The best businessmen, the best gamblers, the best hunters know how to keep a cool head under pressure. Someone or something will always exist to test you, and the question is can you keep a cool head and not succumb to the fear? Frequently the difference between true Alpha Warriors and those who cannot hang long term is their ability to keep their cool under pressure.

The recently concluded presidential election fired up many of us regardless of which candidate you stood behind. After all, there were nearly $2 billion dollars dumped into the economy through marketing, PR, and advertising to try and propagandize us into trusting their campaign messages. The frustrating part is that when all the dust settles, after the votes are counted and the game is over (and it is a game, a competitive, drag down, all-out fighting game), 90% of all the data we received turns out to have been exaggerations aimed at our heads, and $2 billion is a ton of money to get inside of them. I am not implying that we have no conviction about our social, political, or economic views, but perhaps some of us have become a bit carried away. This past Thursday November 15^th marked the opening day of firearm season in Michigan and this year more than ever I needed to retreat to the woods for solitude to get my head cooled down from all the noise out there lately.

Unless you have been living under a rock this election cycle, you have likely noticed that many people were, and are still hotter than cayenne pepper about the election. If I had a dollar for every time I heard someone say the sky was falling, I’d be a rich son of a gun. Candidly, I am sick of people regurgitating the same “oh, the economy is a mess” messages that they heard on an ad or listening to some radical media opinion, or a dinner conversation where the false propaganda became a guest at their table. My point is that perhaps we should all chill out and, as country singer Justin Moore says, “grow a set”. What have we become in this country? Have we lost our fortitude so much that we buckle on a sensationalist headline or about some fiscal cliff that is likely never going to happen?  Try this on for size because it came to me straight from my deer blind. The sky is not falling; we are not going into a double dip recession and we should all chill out! Just as these thoughts came to me, a group of deer ran into the sunny clearing and I felt more relaxed.

The election is over and – to put it lightly – we chose our president in a rather unanimous fashion. The popular vote corresponded with the electoral college which means the system worked. Do you want to know what I loved so much about this past opening day of hunting season weekend? I loved being alone in my deer blind by myself with no noise. No BS politics, no cry-babies saying the sky is falling down, and instead I sat and built brain muscle, I built restraint and I got above the noise and decided I want to keep my cool under pressure. Believe it or not, the deer were not affected by the $2 billion in marketing. Nope, nature held her own as she always does. I didn’t kill a buck as I never saw what I was looking for, but I was ready to tag out had the right moment presented itself. In reflection, I don’t really care because this opening day was about checking out from the noise. After all the recent spin jobs carried out by too many political figures, pundits, reporters, and economists to name I just wanted to be alone with wildlife and nature surrounding me away from the weakness and the fear.

The breakthrough takeaway of my opening day weekend of gun season was that as a citizen I am not so concerned about entitlement, health care reform, or even a double dip recession. No, I am concerned that too many of the “good ones” in America have become WEAK. My question, as a mostly republican voter by the way, is where did the optimism go? Where did the self-restraint and the belief in something great go? This is the greatest damn country in the world, a country of independence. How, when and where did so many of us lose sight of this and become followers? Please don’t blame Obama, don’t blame people who are less financially fortunate than you, and let’s all stop with the excuses and panic. Take a good look in the mirror and ask yourself this question. What am I so scared of, and can I keep a cool head through all of this noise and believe in something greater?

I decided in my deer blind located in a clover field in Ellsworth, Michigan that am not selling out of the market and if I lose some paper money for a few months or even a year than so be it. I refuse to lose my head under pressure, and to succumb to this fear that is too prevalent. Thanks Rush, thanks Chris, thanks reporters from both sides, thanks scare-tactic, self-focused bloggers out there with your spins, but I choose strength under pressure and I am keeping my head cool and my thoughts independent! Thank God for the woods this past weekend and the time to cool my head down so I can become part of the solution and not the problem! I love this country and I love our freedom, and all that we represent. God bless America the greatest country of them all!

Happy Thanksgiving!