Image via Wikipedia
I opened the box today and found a steering wheel. My attention involuntarily went to the whole “direction of your team/business” kind of attention hole. After climbing out of that one and spending a little more time looking at this particular steering wheel, I realized there is a higher meaning here. It has to do with responsibility. This responsibility is both visionary and of the moment.
Image via Wikipedia
I opened the box today and found a steering wheel. My attention involuntarily went to the whole “direction of your team/business” kind of attention hole. After climbing out of that one and spending a little more time looking at this particular steering wheel, I realized there is a higher meaning here. It has to do with responsibility. This responsibility is both visionary and of the moment.
Image via Wikipedia
I’ve been reading a lot online and in various articles and books lately about the balance of online and offline relationships, as well as the greater understanding of the actual concerns and lives of people. I know it sounds broad and perhaps a bit vague, but let me provide some clarification and get to what I’m thinking.
Earlier, Tac Anderson wrote a post about the value of actually getting out from behind the desk and connecting with people. I see a couple of energies at work here.
Image by timber_floors via Flickr
I opened the box today and found hard wood floors..in boxes…with guys and their tools ready to start installing it all.
This has been my life this week. My family and 4 cats have voluntarily relegated ourselves to a couple of large connected rooms (mostly to keep the cats out of the flooring stuff) in the evenings, and the cats are there during the work day (plenty of food, water, toys, and, heaven help us all, litter…). It’s not comfortable and we’re all dearly looking forward to when (hopefully late this afternoon) they will be done, do the final sweep up, and we can reassemble our normal lives.
So, beyond the obvious, I started to think about what this evolution has entailed and what else I can learn from it. Here’s what I have so far…
Image by timber_floors via Flickr
I opened the box today and found hard wood floors..in boxes…with guys and their tools ready to start installing it all.
This has been my life this week. My family and 4 cats have voluntarily relegated ourselves to a couple of large connected rooms (mostly to keep the cats out of the flooring stuff) in the evenings, and the cats are there during the work day (plenty of food, water, toys, and, heaven help us all, litter…). It’s not comfortable and we’re all dearly looking forward to when (hopefully late this afternoon) they will be done, do the final sweep up, and we can reassemble our normal lives.
So, beyond the obvious, I started to think about what this evolution has entailed and what else I can learn from it. Here’s what I have so far…
Image by The Smurf. via Flickr
Being an authentic leader means being true to who you are in dynamic situations and with different audiences and scenarios. In this excerpt of an interview with Dr. David Darnell, Department Chair and Associate Professor of Education Leadership at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa he talks about how his experiences as a leader differ when working with his graduate students, his colleagues at Drake and his work in his local church, as well as touching on his lifelong experiences in education. The subject of this excerpt is how being a leader may change given different contexts and in working with different constituents. His comment about remaining true to yourself while helping others get where they are going is particularly keen.
Image by The Smurf. via Flickr
Being an authentic leader means being true to who you are in dynamic situations and with different audiences and scenarios. In this excerpt of an interview with Dr. David Darnell, Department Chair and Associate Professor of Education Leadership at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa he talks about how his experiences as a leader differ when working with his graduate students, his colleagues at Drake and his work in his local church, as well as touching on his lifelong experiences in education. The subject of this excerpt is how being a leader may change given different contexts and in working with different constituents. His comment about remaining true to yourself while helping others get where they are going is particularly keen.
Yesterday I officially graduated from the University of Washington with a Master of Communication in Digital Media (MCDM) degree.
I have a huge number of people to thank for “holding me up” when I was ready to fall and joining me on the journey. The two primary people I want to thank are my spouse and partner, Carol, and Hanson Hosein, director of the MCDM program (pictured here handing me my diploma). This would have been impossible without them.
Of course, while a signature event, the degree was never really the point. It has always been about the journey, and this has been a doozey. A few years ago I realized that I had reached the limit of what I could do with my existing set of skills and framework of understanding. I considered going for an MBA, but thought better of it for a few reasons.
Image by Goins via Flickr
So I Opened the Box today and found a pressure washer.
I began meditating on what this might represent, other than the forcible removal of gunk from my patio, driveway, sidewalk, etc. What has come up for me is the process I go through to figure out whether I should have something done by someone else or whether I should do it myself. This has broad implications for personal endeavors and business.
First some backstory…
Image by Goins via Flickr
So I Opened the Box today and found a pressure washer.
I began meditating on what this might represent, other than the forcible removal of gunk from my patio, driveway, sidewalk, etc. What has come up for me is the process I go through to figure out whether I should have something done by someone else or whether I should do it myself. This has broad implications for personal endeavors and business.
First some backstory…
Authentic Voice 