Book: Taking People With You by David Novak

People want to be part of something larger than themselves. They want to be part of something they’re really proud of, that they’ll fight for, sacrifice for, that they trust. ~Howard Schultz



This is a solid book on leadership. It's both information and practical. If I had to summarize the book in one word, I would say that word is Vision.

One of the main teachings I want to share in my upcoming Leadership Training Program is vision setting. I had planned an entire session to be  framed by the concept of casting a vision then leading a team to implement the vision. The ability to articulate a vision and lead a team in the direction of the vision is, in my opinion, one of the key components in moving to a level 3 leader, a leader that takes people on the journey to achievement. Achieving vision is the hallmark of a leader that produces through people.

I would love to share this with my team but, there is one problem. This is a Kindle book and the people I would share this with, the ones at my office that would get benefit from it's content are not Kindle owners. That is the one drawback of ebooks.

I highly recommend this book to anyone in leadership.

In Honor of Edward Abbey

If my decomposing carcass helps nourish the roots of a juniper tree or the wings of a vulture - that is immortality enough for me. And as much as anyone deserves. ~Edward Abbey


Edward Abbey would have been 85 today had death not taken him 19889 at the young age of 62. When the United States lost Edward Abbey, we lost one of the great voices of our time, one of the greatest writers of the 20th century, my absolute favorite author of all time.

I first discovered Ed by accident. It was near the end of my college career when I was tired of reading only technical books for my studies. I didn't want to read anything else about thermodynamics, linear algebra, electrical engineering, the sciences so I hit the local book store and discovered the book "Desert Solitaire: A Season in the Wilderness". . It was a raucous ride, one that I never wanted to end, still don't want to end. (I have since read that book 3 additional times.) I sought out all of his books, read them cover to cover savoring every word espoused in his "Earth First!" view in which he glorified all things wild and wonderful, untamed and free, called upon his fellow man to destroy anything that would, like the Glen Canyon dam, chain the natural world or, like the bulldozer, gouge deep wounds into the fragile land.

Reading his works introduced me to a world of red rock and red canyons and red spires and rivers running red with sediment, introduced me into the world of Southeastern Utah for which I am forever grateful for it has become my favorite place on this earth, the most beautiful creation of God's artistic hand. Ed gave me a love for the written word, a love for crafting words into metaphor, into ideas too radical for the mainstream to ingest and pass thru without a profound change in their psyche.

Ed inspired me to put pen to paper, to capture word, to construct metaphor, to create images, to link together sentences into prose and poetry. The elegance of Ed's writing, stirred my creative juices, kicked off in me the most prolific writing years of my life, years which found me crafting daily, crafting essays, crafting poems, crafting images in word.

One words is worth a thousand pictures. If it's the right word. ~Edward Abbey

Readers have a love or hate relationship with Ed's writing. There are no in-betweeners, none can read one of his books remain unmoved, remain unchanged. A reader of Ed's writing was either appalled at his view of man being a cancerous growth needing to be excised for the good of this lovely planet or, like me and his legions of fans, a kindred spirit that sees the earth as our mother deserving all of our love.

To Edward Paul Abbey: Thank you for your inspiration. Thank you for expressing those challenging thoughts that cause some to cringe and others to resonate with joy. Thanks for opening up to me the beauty hidden in the stark, red, desert landscapes in which few have the courage to set foot or an eye that understands it's beauty. Thank you for being you. May the vultures that disposed of your body soar forever over the land that you loved, the land that will forever cradle you bones.

Conflicted

The greatest conflicts are not between two people but between one person and himself. ~Garth Brooks

I am conflicted. There are not enough hours in the day to accomplish all that I want to accomplish. To engage in all the activities that help me grow in the way my soul wants to grow, in the way my soul needs to grow, in the way my soul desperately yearns to grow. There are not enough moments in the day to address the voices that attempt to pull me, simultaneously, in all directions.

I need to read every day. There are so many books I want to read, so many books vying for my attention, books that will seed in me grand ideas, take me to the lands blossoming with inspiration, blooming with discovery, books that will forever change the course of my thinking, of my life, that I fear passing on just one. I fear I will miss that one book, that I will miss a rose, that the rose in the bouquet of opportunity will wither and die before I can partake of its beauty, and will be, forever, a lost child, a child that will grow in beauty as it is espoused in the written word..

I need to write every day, not to complete my self-imposed challenge of a blog a day for 365 days. No. I need to write because the words not moved from head to paper will be lost as new words snuff them out, the thoughts I want to grow into companions, if not recorded, will be forever lost before they have time to seed, to flower and one of those flowers may just contain in its petal the answer I need to help me show another person the bud inside attempting to grow into an exquisite flower.

I need to work most days. For me, work not only pays the bills but is the place where I can help my teams achieve their goals, where I can unleash my creativity to help people grow, where I can use my leadership to help people do work that most uses the individual gifts bestowed upon them when they were conceived, when the seed and egg combined and exploded into life creating one of the infinitely unique flowers in the world, where I can help people feel valued not only for their contribution to the bottom line but, more importantly, for the unique individual God put in them when they were formed out of his love, where I can fulfill God's mandate to love my fellow man.

I must sleep. Though I wish I could never sleep. Sleep replenishes my body. Sleep puts me into a dream state where the seeds of creativity are formed, where the seeds of inspiration shape to be planted in writing, in work, in living, in loving.

I must love for life without love is a thorny stem without a rose to give it meaning. Life without love is a vase without a bouquet, an empty vessel missing that which gives the vase its very purpose for existing.

Every day, I must die. I must die to my ego that views the world as something to exploit to satisfy my needs, must die to my ego that would always put me before others, must die to my ego so that I can truly love, truly live.

Someday, I must die. I don't want to waste another day, don't want to let another sun set or moon rise that I don't put to effective use this one life God has granted me. Someday I must die and, it is only then when I am safely in his arms that I will no longer be conflicted.

Large Corporations

Corporations are social organizations, the theater in which men and women realize or fail to realize purposeful and productive lives. ~Lester Bangs

I work for a very large corporation, one of the largest in the entire world. It's an international, multinational corporation that has a presence in just about every country in the world. It's a diverse multinational corporation that makes a wide array of products for an array of diverse industries.

Some people simply don't want to work for large companies. Among the reasons they don't are;  people can get lost in the masses of employees, workers are not individual people but a number in a sea of numbers, people are cogs in a massive machine and can't make a big contribution,  advancement is difficult because there is so much competition, red tape and bureaucracy eliminate any possible of  nimbleness and creative thinking.

Some of these have a grain of truth and some have more grains than others. I will admit that it is difficult being nimble when one must turn the rudder of a large ship with significant momentum. Of all the arguments against working for a large company, that is the one that holds the most water. 

The opportunities, for me, far outweigh any drawbacks. I enjoy working in a large, global organization because they have significant resources and a myriad of opportunities available to the ambitious. The financial resources can be used to investigate in technologies not in the mainstream, get top of the line equipment to perform one's job, travel to locations the world over.

As for being an insignificant, small, itty bitty cog in a big machine, keep in mind that the disruption of the one cog throws the large machine out of whack. The little cog's ability to have an impact is limited only by the little cog's imagination. The little cog can have a big impact by overachieving, by over delivering on projects, by adding creativity to solutions, by being a team player that helps the team achieve more than expected, by seeding new ideas. In fact, the best way to ensure you are employable in a large or small company is to not be an average employee.

In my current position, I interact with people from all over the world on a daily basis. I get to work with Indians in India, Italians in Italy, Swiss and German in Switzerland. I have had the opportunity to travel to all three of those countries on business something that would be impossible in a small company with limited resources. Though I have not availed myself of the opportunity to move to a new State in the US or to another country for work, those opportunities do exist. They exist because large, international corporations have roots that draw sustenance from the most fertile lands in the North and South and East and West whereas, small companies root systems are limited by lack of resources.

Widening my exposure to the world by interacting with other cultures is important to me because I grow as a person. So, for me, the ideal company as my employer is a large, international, multinational corporation.

It's A Discipline

In reading the lives of great men, I found that the first victory they won was over themselves? self-discipline with all of them came first. ~Harry S. Truman


Growth does not happen by accident. Sitting in a chair won't magically make my better at a my favorite sport. There is no miracle potion I can take to become a better writer, no pill I can take that will allow me to create a bestselling novel. I can't sit and watch TV and expect to become a better at a craft be it woodworking, guitar playing, portrait painting, leading or any other endeavor worth pursuing.

To grow, one must fight entropy, the tendency of a entity to decay, by putting in sufficient effort to overturn entropy. Without effort, our skills will decay, with some effort, our skills will maintain their current level, with sustained effort our skills will continually grow, however, those skills will only keep growing as long as we continue to put in effort over an sustained period of time. Stop the effort and the skill level immediately begins to decay. Sit on the couch long enough and the skill may even drop to the original level, the level at which it started before the effort was put forth to grow.

All Growth requires training, requires practice, requires intentionality on the part of the person that wants to grow. Continual growth requires intentionality with the discipline to put in the effort when one would rather sit and watch TV. Quite simply, if you want to improve a skill you must engage the brain and body in activities that will systematically grow skills.

The skill I am most intentional at growing is my ability to lead people. One of the activities I engage in to improve my leadership skills is reading. With the rate of societal change in this world, if I maintain my current skill level, I will lose ground as a leader because the people's needs of a leader will quickly move beyond my ability to lead. To offset the rate of change, I must grow at a faster rate of change than the needs I am trying to meet. To help me to grow at this faster rate, I read in a disciplined manner, which means, I set aside time each and every day to immerse myself in reading leadership materials such as books or blogs or articles in magazines. Because I have made this a discipline, I read even when I don't feel like reading. I read if I am sick. I read if I am tired. I read if my day is so busy I barely have time for myself. There is nothing that I let get in my way of reading leadership materials each and every day.

Making sure I carve out at least 30 minutes every day to read about leadership is a discipline in my life because I believe it is a privilege to lead people, believe it is my duty to those that follow me either because they were assigned to my team or because they volunteered to be on my team to be the best leader I can possibly be. Out of respect for the people I lead, for me, reading has become a discipline.

Book: Sh*t My Dad Says

Bullshit. War ain’t over till people stop shooting. You can’t say you’re done taking a crap if shit’s still coming out of your ass. ~Sam Halpern

This is a very funny book, much funnier than the TV series of the same name. The father's comments are sometimes bizarre but, more often than not, right on the mark. Some would find the book offensive because of the father's language and general crass attitude. Personally, I found it humorous. The father talks in real terms that anyone can understand, his language is the language of the work place before the PC people decided they would determine what can and cannot be said by civilized people.

What struck me most about the father was not his crass language, his complete bluntness but his love for his son. Hie showed love in both the spoken terms of affection and in his willingness to speak difficult truths. He doesn't shield his son from truth, no matter how difficult. In that respect his is very unlike today's parents that coddle their kids and do everything possible to protect them from any adversity.

I have seen this coddling go to bizarre extreme's when a parent called my child's elementary school to complain about the best athlete contest held annually to identify the best male and female athlete for the school year. It was a voluntary contest that most of the kids participated in for some good, clean fun. The parent complained that the contest was unfair because her child, not being a good athlete, could never win the contest and that truth would negatively affect her child's self-esteem. Even more stupid than the parent who called to complain was the gutless leadership at the school that decided the contest was to be cancelled. So, to 'protect' one individual who may figure out that he/she is not a good athlete, the school cancelled an event that was loved by many of the students. If the parent's think they helped the kid not know he/she lacked athletic abilities then they were sadly mistaken. Kids compete in athletic events all the time on the playground. They all know, each and every one of the kids know, who the best athletes are and who will be picked last. It's the same in the classroom. Everyone knows who the genius' are and who struggles.

The parent tried to level the playing field not by helping her child work hard to improve in athletic capability but by tearing down an institution that helped a good many kids grow in their own self esteem, a self esteem born of hard work and completing a variety of competitive events. There is much more to be learned, more esteem to be grown by someone working hard to improve the capabilities. Life is competitive. We must work hard for good grades, for a suitable mate, for the great job that, in part, is determined by our ability to work for grades. Once in that great job, we must work hard to keep the job, to excel at the job, to move up the corporate ladder. In today's climate especially, if one can not work hard at the job, the job will be lost to someone hungrier, someone willing to bust their butts to succeed. What are they going to do if their child doesn't get a promotion at work, call the boss to complain? As idiotic as that sounds, I have heard tales of HR hell where parent's actually do these crazy things for their 'adult' children.

Today's parent's are a big part of what is wrong with today's youth, a big part of why our education system is turning out kids with less smarts than many other schools in 1st world countries. The parent's would rather everyone get an 'A' for mediocre work than for their kids to buckle down and work hard for a 'B' or 'C' but have real knowledge. They are more concerned about the grade than they are concerned about whether or not knowledge has been gained. It's no wonder the US Engineering schools are populated overwhelmingly with non US citizens and so many of the white collar US jobs are heading overseas. I blame the coddling Parent's. They are doing a grave disservice to their children and to our country. It's high time the leadership of our country spouted some of the hard truths contained in this book to the current generation of parents. Perhaps then the parent's will start being parents instead of trying to be their child's best friend.

Joga Bonito (Beautiful Game)

Soccer is the ballet of the masses.~Unknown



For most of my life I have been obsessed with Joga Bonita, the beautiful game which is known around the world as football or, in the US, as soccer. My obsession started in HS. On a whim, I decided to play soccer. I wanted to play an organized sport, a sport other than pointy football with which I had a very bad experience as a 5/6th grade boy so, during HS orientation, I decided to join the soccer team. Because I hated long distance running, I went out for the position of goalkeeper. After about a year of getting pummeled with the ball and losing a game because I let a ball slip through my fingers and into the goal, I began playing on the field where I quickly found that my strength was in playing defense.

I think I was attracted to defense because success comes when you don't make mistakes and I really dislike making mistakes. I'm not a perfectionist more an excellentist. I was quick, could read the game, and was ruthless in the tackle. One can measure excellence on defense by not allowing goals, by destroying the creations of, the will of the attacking team, by being practically perfect, by being very excellent. Offense, on the other hand, requires a mentality that can endure despite the infrequent success, a success that when it does occur, when the ball crosses the goal line and ripples the back of the net, erupts in an almost orgasmic release of joy, an ecstasy that is instantly experienced by the scorer, the team, and all the fans of the team that worked the dance resulting in the goal being scored

I played the beautiful game until my knees begged for mercy. I played until they revolted, until the pain was so bad that I had a difficult time walking the day following a game. However, I was not forever banished from the pitch. Early in my career, I became a referee, became the person to arbitrate the game such that it could be played for without a referee the game would quickly descend into chaos. It was a way to be close to the action, to hear the players huffing and puffing, to feel the raw emotion of gladiators fighting unto the final whistle and, sometimes, after the game was over. At times, I see myself amongst the players, a teammate making the important tackle, threading the perfect pass into the path of an attacker just pass the foot of a opponent lunging to intercept the ball. I see these in my mind's eye and, at times, believe I can play again, believe my body has the stamina, the pliant nature required to again grace the pitch. I have that belief until I actually try and find that those skills I had honed over many hours of training are a shadow of their peak and the speed that once allowed me to catch the quickest of defenders is but a cherished memory.

I have a favorite team but watch for so much more than my team winning another trophy. I watch for the elegance of the athletes, for the ballet played out on the green stage, for the tackled time so well the opponent does not even know he lost the ball, for the perfectly weighted pass that releases a player making a diagonal run from the wing on the blind side of the defender that puts him on goal without opponent to beat, for the goalkeeper defying gravity as his long body flies effortlessly through the air and his outstretched arm reaches the ball for a fingertip touch that guide the ball just over the white goal post. I live for the deft moves of a striker that weaves his way through a throng of defenders as he goads them into a tackle only to pull the ball just out of their reach and they flail as he dances his way toward the goal then slots the ball into the agonizingly wide of the goalkeeper's hand. I live for those moments of sheer brilliance that make soccer more a ballet than sporting event. Eu vivo para o jogo bonito! I live for the beautiful game!

My Dreams

A man is not old until regrets take the place of dreams. ~John Barrymore

Like everyone, I have dreams that I plan to realize before I lay my head to rest for the final time on the satin encased pillow in the satin lined box. Some of my dreams are for myself, some for others, some even conflict with each other but that's ok because they are dreams and dreams do not have to reside in the world were thinking is bound by the tenets of logic or rationality. One dream, in particular, is a very selfish dream, a dream that is my final dream on earth.

I have the normal dreams any parent would have for his beloved children. I want to see my kids be successful in the fields of their choosing, for them to enjoy life, for them to see each and every day as a gift to be celebrated. If they choose to have their own families, to help them raise their offspring with all the love that was given to me by my parents. I want to watch my grandchildren grow, to know my great grandchildren. At times, when my children are driving me crazy, I briefly hope to live long enough to be a burden in each of their lives.

I want to travel. I want to hop in a Winnebago and explore the Americas, live on the open road sleeping in a new location every few nights, take in all that the New World has to offer, travel the rural and country roads and happen upon everything from the bizarre to the majestic, from the off the beaten path oddities to the sleepless streets running up and down the grand cities teeming with more people than ought to be crammed into one place. I want to drive for days in the Canadian wilderness starting on the Eastern Coast of Nova Scotia all the way to Mount McKinley in Alaska before heading south along the Western Coast of the US and into Mexico and as far South as the roads will take me. From there I want to take a ship to Africa and start traversing all over the old world going with the flow of the seasons, travels as the wind travels rushing through some places, eddying in others, changing directions as opportunities enter my path.

I want to live for at least a year in another country, in one city, on one block, in one blue house encircled with a large white porch with a different view at each of the cardinal directions, my perch to watch the many faces going about their business, my launching pad to experience the many facets of a radically different life. I want to experience the rhythm of another's culture for twelve cycles of the moon, watch as the seasons melt into each other, experience the exuberance and ceremony that comes with the holidays and festivals and the subtle contentedness of the between days. I want to immerse myself in the depths of the culture and, rising from the depths, assimilate the best of the culture within me, breaking the surface fluent in the language and customs that make each people unique in the kaleidoscope of peoples on the planet.

I want to find my one and only, the woman that knows me completely as I completely know her, knows my inner secrets, my dark side, my strengths, my weakness yet still loves me, still wants to share every waking moment for the rest of her life nestled safely in my heart. I long for the type of a woman that inspired the poetry of Pablo Neruda when he penned:

I crave your mouth, your voice, your hair.
Silent and starving, I prowl through the streets.
Bread does not nourish me, dawn disrupts me, all day
I hunt for the liquid measure of your steps.

I hunger for your sleek laugh,
your hands the color of a savage harvest,
hunger for the pale stones of your fingernails,
I want to eat your skin like a whole almond.

I want to eat the sunbeam flaring in your lovely body,
the sovereign nose of your arrogant face,
I want to eat the fleeting shade of your lashes,

and I pace around hungry, sniffing the twilight,
hunting for you, for your hot heart,
Like a puma in the barrens of Quitratue.

My selfish dream, the last dream I ever want to move from fantasy into reality is this. I want to live a long life, a life so long my hair is stark white, my body weathered by experience, my face creased with deep lines from much laughter, a life that sees me healthy and coherent and loving to my final day. I want my family to live the same prosperous life. And, when I breathe my final breath, I want them to all still be alive. I want to be the first in my family to die for my heart could not bear to see any of my kin suffer, would suffocate under the burden of seeing any of them pass before me, would shatter at having to live with the hole created when they went to the other side.

I'm The Doctor

You could augment an earwig to the point where it understood nuclear physics, but it would still be a very stupid thing to do! ~The Doctor

Tom Baker the 4th Doctor

Doctor Who, the story of a time traveler from the planet Gallifrey who travels via is Tardis that is stuck in the shape of a police box because the chameleon circuit is broken, has been a staple of my television viewing since I first discovered the show on public television in the early 1980s. I cut my teeth on the 4th Doctor, Tom Baker, who, for me, is the best Dr of all time.

Tardis

I used to watch the show every Sunday evening, frequently with my dad who was also a casual fan of the show. It was fun to watch the evil beings The Dr encountered and the techno speak he used to explain the goings on of the universe and the beings he encountered. He always came out victorious by some use of his intellect when he exploited some flaw of the enemies he encountered. Along the way he had many companions and I found myself wishing I was one of them, one of his sidekicks exploring many locations in the space time continuum.

Dalek

The love of the Dr is a trait I have handed down to my kids and to my grandson. My grandson loves to watch Dr Who. We sit in my chair together and enjoy Papa-Luke time as the doctor and his companions undertake their adventures. A couple of years ago, Luke wore a Halloween costume based on the series. His mom asked him what if he wanted to be Dr. Who for his costume but he chose a different character form the series. He chose to be the most evil of the Dr's enemies when he chose to be a Dalek. Dr Who is popular in a cult sense with a very dedicated legion of followers that make up in enthusiasm what the lack in number of participants so it's no surprise that only one person recognized the costume Luke was wearing. Luke played the part right down to the signature saying of the Daleks, "Exterminate! Exterminate".  I think it would have been fun to have him in the costume of the Dr but I don't think anyone would have recognized him and the catch phrase, "I'm the Doctor" would have left even more of the mortals confused as to who Luke was playing.

Living The Dream

The act of living the dream is to concentrate and draw the power of the present. ~Scottie Somers

We all have dreams. Little dreams that can be achieved in moments up to life sized dreams, dreams that take an entire life time or more to achieve such as the construction of Il Duomo in Milan which was birthed as the dream of Archbishop Antonio da Saluzzo who started construction in 1386 and was long dead when it was finally completed in 1805 by Napoleon Bonaparte.

Many dreams never come to fruition, never move from the confines of our brain into the openness of life or, if they do, seeing our dream taking form frightens us so we never take it to realization. Some dreams, for whatever reason, we never speak of as if the mere utterance of our dream will shatter it into a million scattered pieces never to be assembled again. Some take so long to manifest that we give up on them, let them fade, allow them to lose the luster that keeps us focused on them when times are dark with our soul.

I don't know why some people are able to sustain their dreams during the storms whipping through their lives while others let them fade at the merest breath of challenge. I don't know why some work hard to make their dreams come true and others sit on the couch just wishing things would be as the hoped.  If it's something I could figure out, could share with people what a wild ride we all would experience.

I have a friend that has an opportuniy to live her dream, an opportunity to take a job near her family, a job in another state in a warmer part of the United States with a side benefit that it is a bike friendly state, a benefit that will allow also her to live her bike riding passion. I am happy for her.

Whenever I see someone achieving their dream, it gives me renewed hope in my dreams, helps me to believe that those dreams I have been clutching tightly for so many years will, one day, be manifest. They help me to believe that, in the not too distant future, I, too, will be living the dream.

Mi Familia

The only thing that matters is mi familia! ~Dominic Toretto

Money comes and goes. Health comes and goes. Jobs come and go. Friends come and go. Everything comes and goes except the one thing that really matters, the one thing that makes life worth living, the one thing that adds spice to the mundane, the one thing that is with you from the day you are born to the day you pass away and is there for you every day in between. Everything comes and goes except family. I am lucky to have a family that I want with me, that I enjoy being with, that accepts me just as I am. I love mi familia!

History Repeats

Those who can't remember the past are condemned to repeat it. ~George Santayana




For my grandson's birthday, I gave him a pocketknife, a small, red and white, Swiss Army knife replete with knife blade, scissors, and file. It's really small, I think it's the smallest they make. The blade is not sharp so the danger factor is miniscule at best. I gave him the knife to help him build self confidence (not that he is lacking in that area), to show him I believe he is old enough, smart enough, responsible enough to have something the less informed feel is dangerous.

I had a cub scout pocket knife when I was just a year older than he is now. It was much bigger that the knife I gave him. I remember being very proud to have that knife, proud that my parents had the confidence in me to allow me to own the knife. I have always liked knives. An affinity for knives is generational hand me down from my dad who also liked knives and who always had a pocket knife handy for the myriad of little chores which a knife is most handy. His was an electricians knife, two blades, always razor sharp. When he died, part of the inheritance to the kids and grandkids was the many knives he had stored in a box in his room.

When my daughter's were Luke's age, I also gave them a small pocket knife. The knives I gave them were identical to the knife I gave my grandson. Their mom was not keen on the idea of them having knives. For me, helping them build their confidence was more important than her fear of the utilitarian device. I could say they were responsible with them all the time but that was not the case. Sammy brought her knife to school one day. Took it on the bus, took it into school without it ever being discovered. School's have a very irrational fear of knives so it's good they did not find out for, in this world that has gone way to the extreme of being politically correct, she may have been suspended or even arrested.

I wish the story ended there that she brought the knife home without incident but that is not the case. On the school bus heading for home, a short ride of less than a mile, she took it out of her backpack, opened it and offered to cut a girl's hair which the girl refused so the knife was put away. The girl's mother called and complained to Sammy's mother who then complained to me. I was amused not so her mother. To this day, we fondly remember Sammy's school bus knife incident.

Today, Luke's school called Stephanie, his mom. It turns out that Luke brought his knife to school and proudly showed it off to his friends during a break. I understand his pride because I am proud of the knives I own, especially proud of the knives I made. It's human nature to want to show off those things of which we are proud. He didn't open it or do anything that was dangerous. However, the teacher did use the knife as a teaching moment telling the kids that it's not good to bring such things to school. He didn't get any trouble and his mom was laughing when she relayed the teacher's message to me, laughing quite heartily because we had reminisced a few days earlier during his birthday when I gave him the knife about the Sammy school bus incident and here we just experienced a humorous bit of history repeating.

Comfortable Unconfortable

Be willing to be uncomfortable. Be comfortable being uncomfortable. It may get tough, but it's a small price to pay for living a dream. ~Peter McWilliams


Part and parcel with leadership is being uncomfortable, is being comfortable being uncomfortable. Much of leadership is untidy, living and existing in a world where predictability is uncommon, where the messiness of human emotions is the norm and the inevitability of things is a relative unknown.

The world of the non-leader is comfortable. There are solutions to problems. Some obvious, some obscure but the solutions are there, are as predictable as one plus one equals two. In the world of the Engineer, problems have answers. There may be one answer, two answers, or many answers to the question at hand. Whatever the story, there is an nice, clean answer that closes the book with a happy ending.

For the leader, being uncomfortable is the norm. Problems rarely come with one correct solution, typically come with many possible answers each which is, at best, imperfect and, at worst, a disaster. An answer that can't be stared in the eye. It' a sideways glance, a fleeting shadow, a speck seen on the periphery of a vision that's gone with the next blink.

For the leaders playing ground is the human mind, the human emotions, the mixed up realm of human impulse, of human inspiration, of human drive, of human passion. What works for one, the answer which addresses the motivation of one has no effect on may even demotivate the other. The leader lives in a world of disequilibrium, lives in a world where there are no perfect answers, where attempts to solve a problem may not play out for weeks or months or years.

For the leader, ambiguity is the linchpin connecting him with those being led. Sometimes, one plus one will equal two. But typically that is not the case. Frequently, one plus one does not equal two. There are times, one plus one will equal ten because the proposed solution will energize others who energize others in a cascading effect. At other times, one plus one will equal zero because the solution that worked on the last problem made the current problem more problematic.

If a person can't live with uncertainty, can't live in a state where it is not always possible to pull a tried and true answer out of the hat then the person should think twice, think thrice before choosing a position of leadership.  Because, for a leader to survive, maybe thrive, he must be comfortable being uncomfortable.

Living Connected

I have an almost religious zeal - not for technology per se, but for the Internet which is for me, the nervous system of mother Earth, which I see as a living creature, linking up. ~Dan Millman

I have become a connected individual. Being connected is quite a change from the world of my youth when most homes had one rotary phone and viewed having a second as a luxury, viewed having a touch tone phone as the be all to end all. If we were out playing, there was little chance my mom could find us for we roamed on our bicycles over the neighborhoods both near and far, spent many hours in the local prairie where we were insulated from the prying eyes of adults in the event we wanted to get into any mischief, and mischief we did a plenty. The only way mom could signal us was to ring the gold colored bell attached to the soffit of our home, a sound the whole neighborhood new as our signal to get home, a sound that had us running for lunch or dinner or to get ready for church.

Being connected is quite a change from my 30s when, for a long time, I refused to purchase a cell phone, refused to succumb to the fad running rampant in society. I finally broke down and bought a phone so my kids, who were home from school getting into their own brand of mischief while I was at work, could get a hold of me in the event of an emergency. That first phone was ugly, uglier than the brick phones available a few years later. A phone that was way too big to easily stuff into a pocket so it was carried in a phone holder attached to my belt. It had one function and that was to make phone calls. No texting. No browsing. Just plain old making a phone call. I was connected but, the calls were expensive, so it was only used in emergencies.

That was just under two decades ago but, in terms of technology, it may well have been the stone age. With modern phones and the internet, I am always connected, always have information at my fingertips, always able to contact to my family and friends. There have been times when I am simultaneously connected on three fronts with my laptop and my iPad and my iPhone all active for different uses such as browsing the web, playing an online game with my friends, and texting other friends. I have become so used to being able to access the internet at my every whim that, when I don't have access for some reason, I get antsy. I can no longer image life without being connected, can't imagine going through a day without having the world at my fingertips, can't imagine anything other than living connected.

MLK

I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. ~Martin Luther King


I had planned today to write some pithy blog about Martin Luther King, write some words about the beauty of his "I Have a Dream" speech, add my thoughts on the qualities that made him an iconic leader in the history of America. As I was preparing this I realized that his speeches have been picked apart and analyzed countless times. I realized that his leadership has been ruminated upon by many minds greater than I ever hope to be. I realized that anything I wrote could not and would not do justice to a man that sought justice for all people in America even unto his murder. In that light, I will not write about MLK. Instead, I will simply post the words from the 2nd half of one of the most impactful and most beautiful speeches ever calling this nation to mobilize.

I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustration of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama's whose governor's lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day ever valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the south with.

With this faith we will be able to hew out to of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brother hood. With this faith we will be able to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my father's died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."

And if America s to be a great nation, this must become true.

And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hill tops of New Hampshire.

Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.

Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.

Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.

But not only that:

Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi

From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro Spiritual:

Free at last! Free at last!

Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!

The Nino

Why do I fart at the dinner table a lot? ~Luke David Olson, written on a 1st grade work assignment.


The Nino turns seven today. It seems like just a few years ago that he made the arduous trip from in utero to my daughter's arms. I feels like yesterday when I quit coaching soccer to help raise him, to help guide him as he began to crawl then took those first tenuous steps, steps on the floor, steps into toddlerhood. Wasn't it just this morning that the three amigos dwelt in our bachelor pad and he was still in diapers? It was Luke, Brian, and me living together in my house for an entire school year, a two year old, a teen aged boy, and a middle aged man. That was a very good and very challenging year of our lives. It was during that time that Luke and I became 'best friends'. It was also during that time that Luke grew very close to his Uncle Brian. They are very close to this day with Luke copying his Uncle's mannerisms and turns of speech many which are not typical of the phrases one wants to hear coming from a little kids mouth.

All parents/grandparents will tell you how 'smart' their offspring are, how brilliant they are so I won't delve into that musing because we have all heard it before and all roll our eyes, at least on the inside, when we hear that phrase uttered. Rather, I can tell you about his personality, reference two of many examples that will hint at the character he is. At Thanksgiving time, he had a school assignment to write about things for which he is thankful. He wrote, "I am thankful for my parrot." When we saw this, we were dumbfounded. He does not have a parrot nor has he ever owned a parrot and we really don't know why he would be thankful for a parrot. For an another assignment, he had to draw a picture of where certain animals lived. For the rabbit he drew a casserole dish. The nearest we can figure why he drew the dish is because the family had a rabbit casserole a few weeks earlier. One can only imagine the look on his teacher's face when she saw that on his paper.

For his birthday, I bought him a couple of gifts. One is a mini Swiss army pocket knife similar to the one I bought his mother when she was near his age. My dad enjoyed passed down his love of knives to me, I passed it down knives to my kids, and I am continuing the tradition with my Grandson. When he goes fishing next summer, he will have a knife to cut the worms instead of ripping them apart with his fingers.

The other gift is a Brazil soccer jersey with the name Neymar printed on the back. Most Americans are clueless as to who Neymar is but not so Luke. He can tell you what teams Neymar plays for and the number he wears for his teams because Luke loves soccer. He knows many of the professional players by name and can tell you the team name for most of the teams in the English Premier League just by looking at the Jersey.

One morning when he was about four years old, he popped up in bed and said, "Are they Wolves playing Manchester United today?". When I told him yes, he asked if he could get up and watch the game. I nodded. He ran to the living room, turned on the TV and watched the entire, ninety minute game.

We were watching an English game together one day, sitting together in my comfy recliner chair, he always squeezes in on my left, when he asked why the referee was calling some fouls but not all the fouls. I was shocked that he even noticed this nuance of the game. I explained to him the concept of the advantage clause as written in the laws of the game. A few months later, we were watching a game when someone observed that the referee did not make a call for an obvious foul. Luke went on to explain the advantage clause down to the up to 5 seconds the referee uses after a foul has occurred to determine if the advantage clause should be invoked. The people in the room were quite amazed.

The Nino has lived with me for almost his entire life. The only time we did not live together is when his mom was on her own for about a year. His parents are now looking for a home of their own, a home where they can be family with their own home and their own backyard in which the Nino can play soccer. He told his mom that either doesn't want to move. On another occasion he told her that or he wants to live close so he can walk over to my house every day to see me. This won't be able to walk over ever day because they will be living a good distance to the North of my home.

Having a little kid in the home is entertaining. You never know what they are going to say or do. They bring with them a measure of uncertainty that keeps everyone on their toes, bring with them a magic that imbues the household with life and somehow makes everyone around them feel younger and energized. I can't imagine my household when he and his parent's finally get their own place. I don't want to think about void that will be in my heart when I don't get to see his smile every day that I walk through the front door, don't get to hear his little voice say, "Hi Papa", don't get a hug before he crawls into bed for the night. For if I did dwell upon that thought for but a few moments, tears would surely spill from my broken heart..

Greatest Singer of All Time

I hate straight singing. I have to change a tune to my own way of doing it. That's all I know. ~Billie Holiday

If I'm going to sing like someone else, then I don't need to sing at all. ~Billie Holiday

Billie Holiday

Billie Holiday was the greatest singer of all time bar none! That is a statement I make with unabashed certainty. If you are so foolish as to disagree with me, we are going to dance, not dance as in bodies swaying in rhythm to the sultry tunes rolling off Billie's tongue in a dimly lit, smoky night club where we are dressed to the nines in our finest silks and skins with saxophone and piano filling in the spaces between the vocals while the body of a loved ones press tightly so you can feel the smooth curves at her hips as they sway to the beat and taste the salty sweat crystallizing on skin, dance as in rumble, as in boxing, as in I'm going to slap you upside the head until you finally lose that which is blinding you to the obviousness of my statement. There has been and is no one that can carry a tune with her verve, that can make a song her own the way Billie did time and again. Have you heard her sing "Willow Weep For Me", a song written specifically for her to sing? Have you heard others attempt to own the song the way she did? If so, then my opening statement should be self evident.

If I could go back in time and hear any one singer live, I would go back to hear Billie Holiday. I would love to go back to see her at the mic, gardenia in her hair, wearing one of her long, fitted dresses, body swaying slightly as pearls flow from the depths of her soul and find their way into our hearts. There is no one else that can or could have come close to her. Not Ella Fitzgerald, not Nina Simone, not Frank Sinatra, not Bono, not Pavarotti, not no one can hold a candle to the magic in her voice.

I was strolling through the city last week when I saw an advertisement on the placard outside the Symphony Center Chicago music hall calling out an upcoming concert titled, "To Billie with Love: A Celebration of Lady Day featuring Dee Dee Bridgewater on vocals." Dee Dee played Billie in the theatrical production Lady Day so, I figured, she has to be really good. No Billie mind you because there will never be another Billie but a passable replica that will help transport me back to yesteryear and allow me to imagine sitting in the audience as Billie unleashed silky smooth honey from her lips.

Orchestra Hall Cheap Seats

As soon as I got home, I hoped on line and ordered tickets. The concert was only a week out so most of the good seats were already taken leaving me in the upper balcony, the Uecker seats, seats so high that it's possible my nose will bleed in the thin air before the night is over. But I didn't care because I was going to be in at a concert honoring Billie, I was going to be with like minded Billie fans closing their eyes and dreaming of being serenaded by the greatest vocalist to ever have graced this planet.

Orchestra Hall Stage

The concert was great. Dee Dee didn't sing in the vein I expected, she didn't croon slow and sultry, she didn't roll lyrics off her tongue that wafted slowly to the rafters on the light currents of her exhaled breath. Dee Dee belted out vocals in her rich voice that shot to the upper balcony as though discharged from a cannon, she sang jazzed up vocals accompanied by her four piece band complete with a piano, bass, drums, and a tenor sax that was out of this world. She sang Billie's songs in the style of Ella Fitzgerald. That combination alone is ironic because, from what I have read in one of her many biographies, Billie did not like Ella so, to arrange her songs in the style of someone she did not like, in some ways, is a disservice to the memory of Billie.

Dee Dee Bridgewater

But, Dee Dee pulled it off. Dee Dee made those songs hers just as Billie used to stylize songs to suit her personality, her way of singing. In that respect, Dee Dee sang with the confident attitude of a modern day Billie Holiday.

Seven Parallel Minds

The ability to read awoke inside me some long dormant craving to be mentally alive. ~ Malcolm X, 1964

 No matter how busy you may think you are, you must find time for reading, or surrender yourself to self-chosen ignorance. ~Confucius

At any given time, I have multiple books actively being read. Some people prefer to read serially, focus on one book, immerse themselves in the story or text, masticate on it, digest it thoroughly before moving on to another. That's not me. I enjoy having many storylines vying for my attention, information sources competing for the free moments I have available to devote to ingesting thoughts made tangible.

It's amazing how often I find while reading multiple disparate works that the books complement each other, that the ideas being shared in two polar opposite genres have information that dovetails to create brilliance, that allows me obtain a more solid understanding of each and giving me a depth of knowledge that I simply would miss if I had read them in sequential fashion.

Currently, I have seven active books. One is an audio book, After the Earthquake by Haruki Murakami - a collection of short stories originally penned in Japanese, that accompanies me on my car rides and is my entertainment while working out at the gym. Two are paperbacks, The Captain's Verses by Pablo Neruda - Love Poems originally written in Spanish, Through The Language Glass by Guy Deutscher - nonfiction about the way the world sees and interprets color, purchased before I received my iPad and added a Kindle application. The remaining four are Kindle books, Men of the Bible by DW Moody - Nonfiction about how Biblical men answered God's call for their lives, The Sayings of Confucius - Ancient Chinese wisdom, Taking People With You by David Novak - leadership by the CEO of YUM! brands, and Shakespeare's Sonnets by William Shakespeare - poetry, of those four, three were free offerings. The Sonnets is the only book that doesn't fit well with the others. Actually, it may fit well if only I could understand what Shakespeare is saying.

The thought of reading from an eBook reader did not sit well with me. I like the feel of holding a book, the sensory stimulation of turning pages, the smell of the paper, the heft of the book in my hands, the underlining and dog earring and broken bindings, seeing a well worn friend sitting on my bookshelf with pages yellowed by time. But now, in my iPad, I have an eBook reader. At any given time, I have a library of books at my fingertips, a host of sources accessible by a few clicks, passages searchable more quickly than I could ever have imagined. What was the poem by Robinson Jeffers that talked of the rock and hawk? Click, click, type, search. Bingo. It's before my eyes for rereading, for enjoying all over again.

Two of the books I already finished this year, 5 Levels of Leadership by John Maxwell and The Ambition by Lee Strobel, were Kindle books. The other three I have completed were audio books; As A Man Thinketh by James Allen, Candide by Voltaire, and The Practice of the Presence of God by by Brother Lawrence.

For many years, I prided myself on only reading nonfiction reasoning it was food for the brain whereas fiction was cotton candy, unnecessary fluff with no intellectual value and, I am embarrassed to say, I did not think too highly of people who succumbed to fiction on a regular basis. (Yes, I do at times find my self battling arrogance.) At times I would go off my diet and indulge in fiction but generally felt guilty, felt I had wasted valuable time that would have been put too much better use if I had spent the time more wisely and read a book of substance. Recently, read a blog entry that resolved my guilt. The revelationary paragraph is:

"Over the past decade, academic researchers such as Oatley and Raymond Mar from York University have gathered data indicating that fiction-reading activates neuronal pathways in the brain that measurably help the reader better understand real human emotion — improving his or her overall social skillfulness. For instance, in fMRI studies of people reading fiction, neuroscientists detect activity in the pre-frontal cortex — a part of the brain involved with setting goals — when the participants read about characters setting a new goal. It turns out that when Henry James, more than a century ago, defended the value of fiction by saying that "a novel is a direct impression of life," he was more right than he knew."

Now, I read fiction with abandon. Truthfully, good fiction it is the only genre I read that completely absorbs my attention for hours on end. I recall times when I laid on a couch for hours reading a story moving only to refresh my drink or empty the contents of my last drink after if filtered through my bladder. Time to finish this blog. The books are calling me and I need to see which of the seven parallel minds draws me in first.

Book: 5 Levels of Leadership by John Maxwell

Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others. ~Jack Welch

I picked the book '5 Levels of Leadership' by John Maxwell as the text for my upcoming training class. I chose the book based on the description in the overleaf without having actually read the book. Some would think this is a bit reckless but I have been following John Maxwell since my early 30s and knew he was quality when it comes to the topic of leadership. When it comes to leadership knowledge and training, he is brilliant.

I have since devoured the book, highlighted so many of his pearls of wisdom in the process that the book, rather the eBook, looks yelllowed by time. (I must say I am completely smitten with having an eBook reader because I always have a variety of books at my fingertip.) This book aligns perfectly with the six sessions I had planned for my leadership training sessions, gives a very solid structure to my vision for my students.

My plan is for the first session to be an introduction to leadership, a general overview of what it means to be a leader, an assessment as to where they are on the leadership path, why they want to lead. This is key because if they want to lead for power they are in the wrong class. If their desire is to lead for the good of the led, then they are, in my opinion, fit to begin their journey through the 5 levels. The sessions are one month apart so they will have time to view the world through lenses tinted by their growing understanding of what it means to be a leader, what it means to answer the call of leadership.

The second session will dovetail nicely with their current place in the company. Everyone that has applied, so far, is in a Level One leadership role or their next step will be to a Level One leadership role. Level One  is the entry level and is characterized by leadership based on having a position of authority. I have added material to supplement the reading they will undertake before they come to the second session, materials designed to cement the ideas into their heads. Leaving this class, they will have an understanding that the next level, the one the want to get to relatively quickly, is based on relationship with their team.

Level two relationships requires empathy, is a level which is make or break for these aspiring leaders. Engineers are not known for their ability to empathize so, this level, will require them to stretch. It will require them to go deep with the people they lead. If they care about people, this will be relatively easy. If they don't then they will be miserable and will be forever consigned to be a level one leader.

It will be interesting to see how many of them have what it takes to excel at levels one and two and how many have what the character to move on to levels 3, 4, and 5. My execution of this training class will be one of my few forays into level four leadership. This will let me know if I have what it takes to operate as a level four leader or if I am living in a world of self delusion.

Book: As A Man Thinketh by James Allen

Man's mind may be likened to a garden, which may be intelligently cultivated or neglected, it must, and will, bring forth. If no useful seeds are put into it, then an abundance of useless weed-seeds will fall therein, and will continue to produce their kind. ~James Allen


I just finished the book "As A Man Thinketh" by James Allen written in 1902. It's another of my sojourns into the minds of great thinkers who's works have lived on long after they have passed. It's a short book of about 68 pages so can be read pretty much in one sitting. The book is one of the original texts that would be classified as Inspirational Thought.

The gist of this book is that as a man's mind goes so goes his character and other aspects of his being.  Overall, the book is a treatise on the internal dialog that we run in our mind and on the external thoughts we feed ourselves. His thought on thought follows what is known in the software world as GIGO, Garbage In Garbage Out, meaning you can't get good data from a computer by feeding it with bad data. On the flip side, if we seed our minds with good thoughts, with purity then our character growth and subsequently the actions that sprout from our being will be good and just.

The book goes a bit over the edge when James claims that a man can indirectly shape his circumstances by his thoughts. Circumstances are what happens to us. Our thoughts come into play in how we deal with the circumstances. We can let the circumstances, such as getting fired, drag us down with negative thinking or we can grow from what we learn in any situation, In the case of getting fired, it may be time to start that new adventure that's been put off for so long.  James also claims that sickly thoughts will express themselves in a sickly body, conversely, one can stay healthy by avoiding sickly thoughts. In the modern day, we know that sickness is the result of microbes and not on the thoughts we dwell upon.

One of my favorite lines is:

Until thought is linked with purpose there is no intelligent accomplishment.

I have long believed that for a person to accomplish something of value, he cannot sit back and let magic happen. Man must be disciplined in his thoughts for value to come from his actions. In fact, man must be disciplined to accomplish just about anything worthwhile in life.

I want to improve my leadership abilities, so I have a discipline of reading something about leadership every day. I don't read if I feel like it or there is nothing on TV. I make it a point, and act of discipline, to read about it every day. Every morning before I get out of bed, I navigate through the news aggregators on my phone which are setup to collect leadership articles, and spend a good ten to fifteen minutes. Before I go to bed, I make sure to get another fifteen minutes to half an hour, of leadership reading. The reading may be in a book dedicated to leadership, or it my be a biography, or other genres in which I can glean leadership knowledge. As A Man Thinketh fell right into that category and also help satisfy my desire to learn from classic works.

Internal Dialog

Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think. ~Martin Luther King, Jr.

Training Class

I spent today and will be spending the next three days at an offsite training class. The class covers C# and .NET development. I am not a developer and I don't play one on TV but I am a manager of software developers so it is in my best interest to have a better understanding of the work they do on a daily basis, the work which can be handled as a journeyman or as a craftsman. The people I work with are craftsmen, engineers that take their work seriously and strive to be the best they can be. The group I attended with are from my company but do  not report to me. They, too, are craftsman of the highest order.

Fish Out Of Water

I was the only member in the class that does not work directly with code. I have written software but not in the .NET environment. I was able to follow the lecture and learned some of the development concepts. However, It's an advanced class so, when it came time to do the exercises, I was the proverbial fish out of water flopping around on the keyboard, gasping for understanding, choking on my lack of knowledge. I was able to muddle my way through the first couple of exercises but became quickly lost in the use of the tool to develop the software. Rather than bog the class down, I simply stopped trying to write the code. During the exercises, I took out my iPad and continued reading the book on leadership that will be the foundation for the leadership training training class I will begin conducting in Feb or Mar 2012.

Going to a training class could be a nice diversion from the regular work day but.....but I am on a very big project for my company, a project with a product deliverable that is a key component of my companies strategy for the near and long term future. So, when I get home, I fire up the PC to answer my emails and keep abreast of the project happenings. On top of that, the leadership training class I am developing seems to be forever at the forefront of my mind, niggling thoughts that won't leave until they have been processed. 

I have immersed myself in leadership reading and find myself viewing life through lenses that detect shades of leadership in everything I see, hear, and do. I watch soccer and I wonder how the captain leads his team. Is he a vocal leader that riles up his mates or a quiet leader that sets the example for the others to follow? I read a biography and wonder how leadership has molded the characters lives. I read fiction and imagine how leadership would help them through conflict or if better leadership would have enabled them to avoid conflict....unfortunately the avoidance of conflict does not make for interesting reading just as it does not make for good annual reviews in the real world. I watch a movie and try to understand which of the actors characters is displaying leadership characteristics as I did in my Maximus vs Commodus blog. I listen to classical music and wonder what goes through the directors mind as the orchestra bends to the whim of his baton. I see a pack of animals on TV and wonder how they view the alpha male and female, what the alphas contemplate as they lead their pack, what goes through the pack members minds as they vie for the top spot in the pecking order.

I record these ideas in the note section of my iPhone for further contemplation, record them so I don't lose the fleeting thoughts peppering my consciousness hour by hour, minute by minute throughout the day. I wonder how every aspect of leadership that enters my mind will or will not fit into my training class. Is the idea something that will enhance the student's understanding of leadership or will it detract from the concepts I will be trying to instill in them? This is a constant, internal dialog I have from the moment my eyes open until I finally fall asleep at night.  I don't think I will be able to turn it off until I finally finish all six sessions of the class I am developing and that is at least seven months on the horizon. I take my responsibility in this role as a trainer of leaders as a sacred trust so, it's not necessarily a bad thing having this constant internal dialog.