Summer Afternoon

Do you find yourself ever passing something, then on second thought stopping and exploring a bit further. I was driving, saw this place, something said "stop!" so I did. It didn't say anything else, but I felt I should "browse" a bit and have myself a familiar "self-walk about."

Being alone with my own thoughts for any period of focused time can be very dangerous, but on this occasion I took the risk. It was such a pleasant and relaxing environment . I found myself thinking about how places like this can cause some many emotions within. There have been numerous occasions where I find a ......."place"...... and there is something about these places in and of themselves that forms a solid memory of emotion inside. It first causes an emotion, then quickly leads to reflection of what the feelings might mean and almost always they lead the mind to wander aimlessly and although only for a few brief moments....it almost always seems like forever, as if time stops.... maybe you know what I mean.

I am not always sure when this will happen, but I always know when it does. It is often most unexpected as in this case. I love that these "postcard" moments can be so moving and convincing..... of deep down spiritual wonderment. To me these moments make up the ultimate slideshow of my life. I can hear the music as each slide transitions to the next.....a long sequence of lifelong moments that truly show the real me... My "Youtube" video that I take with me and keep adding to. No......World hunger wasn't solved, no war's ended and no shattering revelations revealed, but rather a moment to pause and remember who I am. I thrive in these moments!

Birthday Memories

Just had my birthday and got this card....from "Paco". It was hilarious and I loved it. Not only does one benefit from the visual image of Paco dancing, inviting others to join him in the dance of life, but one can also become mesmerized by the sparkles from the actual blue glitter found on the card when in the right light angles!! Wow what a bonus.

Is there a lesson here? Oh absolutely yes, my friend there is..... I have friend that so revers me that they would go out of their way to sift through thousands of useless, meaningless Hallmark cards and come up with this gem! Hah! Do you have such a friend? Makes one think doesn't it.....? I certainly hope you do.. I am lucky I do......

So, I will join Paco in his celebration of dance and life...........I just won't wear the frickin' tights

Leadership by "Me"

I was at my first Information Technology Conference recently and there was a great keynote speaker Dr. Jackie Freiberg who had some cool spin on Leadership.

I took a picture with my phone of one of the slides that was shown which provoked a lot of thought. Her burning platform is that we "choose" to be leaders, vs. waiting to be assigned that role.

The idea that we are essentiually "designed" to choose is so powerful. I love this notion and I think it goes beyond the work roles we lead within the 4 walls of a work cubicle (...ok mine only has 3...but who is counting?) but has implications and applications in all our roles of life: Husband, Mother, Brother, Teacher, Son, Father, Individual Contributor.....and yes...even those of Twitterer, Texter and Social Networker Extraordinaire.....

If my DNA is designed to be free to choose......then for sure I am completely and ultimately "Defined" by my choices. I am built to stand up and choose.....It is up to me. Although this isn't a new principle, I responded to the strength and emotionality of the "slogan". Sometimes in the work place we "wait" to be "acted upon" instead of "acting". We seem to always want someone to tell us what to do. We want all the expectations and rules to be explained to us....Often they are elusive and not clear...So what do we do in those situations...Blame our boss?, point at the lack of organizational maturity? Sit back and mire ourselves in non helpful rhetoric?? Yes..often we all do this.. We hide behind the excuse that the mission isn't clear, the objectives unknown and the vision blurry. Leaders set the vision, even if that means on our own without any supervision at all. We can choose to define our path, make sense where there is none and march forward. We just have to want to...

I admire people who do this..Not just "mavericks" that throw caution to the wind, but rather Innovative thinkers that decide to reach out beyond their "cubicle" thinking and build bridges between departments and people that wouldn't normally have anything to do with each other. They become "catalysts" or "enzymes" for change. They find ways to replace"Yeah, but!" with "Why Not?" They transform sideways like wildfire....they don't wait for the "top down" approach and the out of reach promise of "alignment".

Someone wise early in my career said "Aaron, rather than worrying about roles and positions, just "find a need and fill it".... I have integrated this as my slogan for my career. It has helped guide me immensely to create new opportunities vs. waiting for them to "magically " appear. I have found that by caring less about position, title and level, and more about needs, delivering value and building relationships that I have had so many doors open to me that have enriched my life, introduced me to new people and ironically enough.....money has never been an issue as a result....it always just followed nicely behind that mantra.

Dance, Love, Sing.....Live

Brice Royer from TCK posted something today about what one would do if they found out they only had 6 months to live. I like walking through these types of exercises because it helps me do something my Father always taught me.... to not only "see" ahead how things might be....but to "feel" ahead as well...

What quickly started out as a list of things "I" wanted to do.....turned quickly into a list of "People" I would want to see and spend time with. Sure, I would love to finally write enough songs and record that "one" CD, and see Italy and Spain, and go to Wimbledon or the US Open, watch Ronaldinho play "ao vivo", and dance! Nothing wrong with that right?

But, in the end, it would come down to people for me. I would spend 2 weeks making lists of names of everyone....everyone in my life that I could recall, and then spend all of my money, resources and time tracking them down and telling them I loved them and how special they are to me...... the more I think about it....it is the only thing I could do without leaving with regrets...

Yes...without question I would trade a peek at Michelangelo's David for a 1/2 hour walk with my daughter........ and......... along the way, I would ask forgiveness of a few as well....

........What would you do?..... I am curious