Select Page

Leadership topic - wonder

about changes in the market and drives innovation. Comes up with a lot of new and unique ideas; easily makes connections among previously unrelated notions;  Is good at bringing creative ideas of others to market;  has good judgment about which creative ideas and suggestions will work; 

Roadblock – Shuts down discussions before they begin, focuses only on what has been done before, Closed judging language versus focusing on questions and learning

Knowledge that observing is not enough

Knowledge that observing is not enough

Jan 27, 2022 | , , ,

Working full time, and carrying a full load, I still had some energy left for other things. My interest in politics had burned out by the end of high school, but this evening, I was sitting in a meeting of the Leadership Council for the Engineering School observing the President. Being a lifelong student of great salespeople, this guy was amazing. And so full of himself at the same time. But for some reason, he came over after the meeting, and we started talking, and the next thing I know, I was the Parliamentarian for the group (given my Debate experience) … and next in line to be President…

partnerships in Knowledge

partnerships in Knowledge

Jan 26, 2022 | , ,

As I rolled into her apartment, I was trying to make some idle chatter as it was clear we were both nervous. It was our first official “date” although we had gone out with our Church group a number of times, and this was the next logical step. The Student Government Group for the Engineering School was hosting a banquet which I had asked her to. I mentioned, “… and we have a really great band for the dance after”. Frozen does not begin to capture the mood that instantly appeared…

managing Knowledge

managing Knowledge

Jan 25, 2022 | , ,

Charlie’s Angels was one of the top shows when I was a freshman, and everyone had “THE” poster of Farrah Fawcett in the mostly not swimsuit on their walls. And there was a girl in our sister dorm that was her spitting image. To get people to know each other, there were “mixers” between the floors, and this night it was the typical loud music and beer, and not really my scene, so I went downstairs… and there she was sitting on the steps. I didn’t really Know what to do, but I sat down and asked her if she was not enjoying the mixer? “Not really my scene – I would rather be out dancing.” I said I knew how to dance (those lessons came in handy…), and once she learned I had a car, we were off.

Knowledge to engage

Knowledge to engage

Jan 24, 2022 | , ,

As I was slowly awakening, I noticed that my feet were really hurting. And, that it was really cold. Both made sense when I realized I was halfway to my 8 am Statics class, running so I wouldn’t be late for the exam… with no shoes and barely a shirt on with early morning temps in the ’30s – cold for Texas. I am sure I made quite the sight running in at the last minute. I had studied, but now I realized why the 8 am MWF class was still open during registration 😉

wonderful Vision

wonderful Vision

Jan 21, 2022 | , ,

I was the last speaker in the last round of this debate tournament, at least for our team. It was the one tournament I had invited my parents to come and see me perform in my new VIsion: Debate. I had been tearing it up on the trail across Texas, winning many rounds and tournaments, with “hardware” (trophies) becoming a natural thing to bring back home to Tyler late almost every Saturday night.  This was not that wonderful experience.

wonder how to make perfEct Easy?

wonder how to make perfEct Easy?

Jan 14, 2022 | , ,

“Play the Simple Ball”. Standing on a field that cold March morning, it was my admonishment to the young men preparing to play the game they love and qualify for the Finals – if we could win this match. We had jelled well this season, but this last hurdle was to beat our archrival – the wonder of which were mostly our close friends, including the Coach of the other team…

Goal wonder

Goal wonder

Jan 7, 2022 | , ,

“DAD!!! I am keeping the time – NOT you!!!” Ok then – so much for the Goal of playing music together 😉 It was during practice with the Church band we had both joined as we attempted to support “Contemporary Worship”. The chance to actually play with him was wonderful… and being 17, frustrating to us both. But his kickdrum was in fact better… and allowed me to relax, and simply wonder what was happening – both on stage… and with me…

wonder… Cleaning Up

wonder… Cleaning Up

Dec 31, 2021 | , ,

You have today. While always true, particularly today is the day to Clean Up anything you need to put a “2021” on. For me, it is ordering supplies and other expenses that I can accelerate into the rearview mirror, and then downloading fiscal records (stop laughing – I do actually keep them – mostly). It is one of those business practices that I used as a game each year that I continued to play in this new path. The wonder is I still do that mentally – stuck thinking eventually someone will figure out that I need to get a “real job”…

wonder of Beliefs

wonder of Beliefs

Dec 24, 2021 | , ,

“You are really odd!”. That was the greeting from a fellow coach standing outside of the conference room at Darden Business School. You might think that was a bit harsh, but the wonder is that is a compliment to me. Literally raised to be “different” for as long as I can remember, it is ironic that now I am known as a great connector of people and friends. And the real wonder is that without the early Church’s most radical stance, you wouldn’t be reading this…

Together… wondering..

Together… wondering..

Dec 17, 2021 | , ,

Arriving on a late afternoon flight to Mountain View, we had to save our energy for the return flight… in only 5 hours.  The Red Eye home was required to keep a meeting with a key customer that could not be moved.  And we wondered and worried about this meeting, mysteriously called with only 24 hours’ notice, mandatory, and with an attendee list that was not clear.  Luckily the business leader I was scheduled to meet in that customer meeting was on the flight out and back… so we would be in whatever this was together.  And that made all the difference…

wonderful Courage

wonderful Courage

Dec 10, 2021 | , ,

“I know that we have the right team to pull this off!” said our VP from the front of the packed room. Giving us encouragement was one of the wonders of this particular leader’s talents, and what had got us all together. And, the wonder now was that this speech was exactly the same we had heard about a year before… and wasn’t working. Now it sounded more like pleading… and the feeling in the room was different – more desperation, and less belief we could actually do this…

Continuously wondering about Change?

Continuously wondering about Change?

Dec 3, 2021 | , ,

If you study people, you quickly recognize that putting them together into groups and teams is… complex 😉 And if you wonder why I love studying musical groups, you can see how simply adding one new person completely changes things. In the research around Teams, the highest performing have been together for more than 2 years… but less than 5. Balancing Change and Continuous is something that is worth wondering about…

wondering what is The Middle?

wondering what is The Middle?

Nov 26, 2021 | , ,

The Moody Blues create music you cannot approach casually. Yes, they have amazing – well everything – but it forces me to really think — hard — wonder about things. Even the title of the albums put you in a different place – like today’s – To Our Children’s Children’s, Children. Those don’t exist for me – yet..

Joy renewal

Joy renewal

Apr 11, 2021 | , ,

As I stepped into rediscovering Joy, it is not a surprise it is related to creating things.  Raised in a family of tinkerers, I was always in the process of either building something or helping someone build something.  The wonder of imagining something that hadn’t existed before was something that was second nature with my Dad, having built things even in his youth out of scraps around his house.