Wednesday, February 28, 2018

Wacky Wednesday - Miracurl on Ice - USA Curling Gold





In a story that belongs with Cool Runnings or the Mighty Ducks, the USA Men's Curling team won Gold last week in Korea. This was the first US gold in curling and it happened in the most improbable way, with one "former" superstar player (John Shuster) who was basically ostrasized from the USA Curling High-performance program in 2014 and whose name was a joke for Olympians making clutch mistakes, built a team of nobodies to make it to the Olympics and win everything! The team comprises a liquor salesman, a sporting good store salesman, a technicion for consumer products and an engineer, all from Minnesota or Wisconsin. They even go by the name Team Reject and were supported by curling fan Mr. T!

CreditDoug Mills/The New York Times

Here are the highlights from the Gold Medal round:

Monday, February 26, 2018

Leadership Quote - William Arthur Ward

Created by Erin Morey

The Mediocre Teacher Tells. 
The Good Teacher Explains.
The Superior Teacher Demonstrates.
The Great Teacher Inspires.
- William Arthur Ward

Like many professions there are great teachers, good teachers, and of course bad teachers. Teachers do not have an easy job, with more and more weight put on their sholders even as their resources are limited and their tools become more restricted. Add in what the media portrays as a dangerous work environment (and some may very well be), especially in the last 2 weeks, and it is amazing that there are people who are willing to become teachers, but many will do it because of the students they teach.

But you don't find teachers only in schools. A great leader is also a great teacher, because a great leader will grow other leaders and make sure the team is growing to meet the needs of the mission, task, job etc. The funny thing is that great teachers, who inspire, also become leaders because they lead the student to becoming better, whether that education happens within the walls of a school or not.

Look at the team that surrounds you and ask yourself "How am I inspiring them?" If you don't know the answer, then perhaps it is time to put some real thought into it.

When you're done with that, take a moment and think of a teacher who inspired you. If you can, reach out to her or him and thank her/him. It is through the efforts of those people, who are so often taken for granted, that you are where you are.
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William Arthur Ward is an American writer and perhaps one of the most quoted writiers in American history. He's published 100+ articles in Reader's Digest, The Upper Room, Science of Mind, Ideals, and many others.

Wednesday, February 21, 2018

Wacky Wednesday - Beautiful Pictures, No Photoshop

I have to thank my wife for improving my appreciation of photography. I've become more amazed at what people can capture, especially when they don't use a program like Photoshop.

Please enjoy some of my favorites and you can see so many more at Brightside.me (here).

A Dragon
© imgur   ©    

An Autumn Forest. 50% Downloaded
© ©Dan Tivada  

My Neighbor Totoro
© Tanja Brandt 

Monday, February 19, 2018

Leadership Quote - Gruenert & Whitaker

Created by Erin Morey
Part of the Downtown Houston skyline, we see office buildings that possibly house a wide variety of companies (perhaps 1, perhaps 100s), and in each company (or for that matter within each company) there is a culture formed by the leaders and people within the organization. Perhaps each floor could have its own culture. But what is one of the driving characteristics that forms culture:

The Culture of Any Organization Is Shaped By the Worst Behaviors The Leader Is Willing To Tolerate.
- Gruenert & Whitaker

Wednesday, February 14, 2018

Wacky Wednesday - People Are Awesome! January 2018

Happy Valentine's day! I originally thought about sharing something Valentine's related, but that would be too predictable. Instead I found a compilation video for the first month of 2018. I've shared some of these videos before and will probably continue to share them as people do amazing feats of strength, agility, and sometimes stupidity. I prefer watching the People Are Awesome videos as compared to the Fail Army videos (mostly because the latter makes me cringe way too often).

With that in mind, here is a compilation video of January 2018 from People Are Awesome:


Monday, February 12, 2018

Leadership Quote - Amelia Earhart



Les Brown would say in his speeches "The graveyard is the richest place on earth because it is here that you will find all the hopes and dreams that were never fulfilled..." Why were they unfulfilled? I think the answer is Amelia's quote:

The Most Difficult Thing Is The Decision To Act, The Rest Is Merely Tenacity. 
- Amelia Earhart

Lots of people, myself included, have great ideas that never see the light of day. Because people don't want to risk action. So long as it stays an idea and not a reality there is no risk. Unfortunately, there is also no reward.

Wednesday, February 7, 2018

Waky Wednesday - Super Bowl Moments

NFL Is over and the Eagles are the Super Bowl Champions (again ouch for this boy with family in New England).  To salve the wound below are two videos with the best and worst plays in Super Bowl History. Enjoy (or not depending on your team; for some reason, a lot of these plays seem to be against the Patriots). One of the plays is in the Best and Worst. Can you find it?

Best

Worst


Monday, February 5, 2018

Leadership Quote - Unknown

My Responsibility Is Getting All My Players Playing For The Name On The Front Of The Jersey, Not The One On The Back. 
- Athor Unknown

With the Super Bowl yesterday I thought this old throw-back was pertinent. Championships are won by the team, not by individual players. It is when the entire team plays to the same plan, without playing for their own stardom that amazing things happen, including an underdog fighting their way past the defending Champions with the GOAT (Greatest Of All Time) Quarterbacks at the helm.

Congratulations to the Philidelphia Eagles (Ouch that hurt)!

Created by Erin Morey

What are you doing to make sure your team is pulling for the name on the front of the jersey? Do you have a team or a group of superstars who all play for themselves? What activities do you do to build a team? What do you do to ensure that the superstars aren't the only stars? I would love to hear from you! Share below in the comments, and happy Super Sick Day!

Thursday, February 1, 2018

Which Type of PM are you? Project Manager or Project Monitor?

In the early part of 2017, Lifelock released a set of commercials I found amusing but didn't give much thought. Perhaps you've seen them:





A couple of weeks ago I was discussing different projects and roles with a friend and we made an amusing discovery. Many companies don't want a Project Manager... they want a Project Monitor! Here's what I mean: