RSSThe Paralympics
Mar 11, 2010 Random Thoughts
My son George is a Paralympian. This will be his 4th Paralympics. He’s had an interesting life: can’t walk so well, but boy, can he ski.
In the Salt Lake Paralympics, my son won a Silver and a Bronze. I’m hoping that this Paralypmics – his last, as he’s 37 and really an old coot – he’ll get a gold. He’s been training for it for years. I don’t know if you are aware of what athletes do to prepare for the Paralympics, but they train for at least 8 hours a day for years and years. It’s their lives: total dedication to being the best – a passion, a drive that is single focused and immutable.
George has been my hero. He has never let anyone stop him. I have a visual memory of him when we were on a ski holiday in Austria when he was 13. On his way to the restroom, he was hanging on to his ski poles and dragging his body across the deck of a chalet restaurant where we went for lunch. I knew there was a restroom just inside the door where we were sitting, a few feet away. I went over to my son and asked him why he didn’t just go inside the door?
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Tags: george sansonetis, paralympics, skiing
Dave Eggers Loves Books
Mar 4, 2010 Random Thoughts
BookPeople is one of Austin’s gems: one of the largest, most beloved independent bookstores in America. Floors and floors of books, many lovingly and conscientiously reviewed by staff, bazillions of magazines, store sections sporting interesting categories of books, trinkets for creativity and children, T-shirts and bookmarks that say “Outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend. Inside of a dog it’s too dark to read,” and booksbooksbooks everywhere. They adore local authors (they carry Dirty Little Secrets and years ago I did a reading with Selling with Integrity), and are an important stop along the book tour circuit for any author seriously intent on selling books (the Clinton’s were both here doing readings for their autobiographies, for example).
Tonight, I was absolutely blessed to hear Dave Eggers (author of many novels, short stories, screenplays such as the movie Away we Go, magazines, and newspapers) doing a reading on his newest book Zeitoun, and his two writer buddies Annie Lagang and Bill Cotter. And were they great.
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Tags: Books, dave eggers, publisher
Conscious Capitalism is Not Conscious
Mar 2, 2010 Random Thoughts
I have a deep belief that each of us has a responsibility to do their part to help the world be a better place. Me? I bring consciousness to business through a values-based decision facilitation model, aiming to make the practice of sales be ethical and servant-leader based. Each of us has our own offering.
From 1990 – 1995 I keynoted at Wisdom at Work conferences, dedicated to bringing ethical values into the workplace. In those days, we were focused on how people could serve each other, make the workplace a respectful place for people to grow, and treat our employees as if they were our customers. We discussed ’spirit’ at work, responsible leadership, compensation issues, and how to create leaders.
Over the past 20 years, the workplace has become the hub of new thinking – where ideas germinate, where leadership and ideas create global initiatives, manage diversity, and change technology to make the world’s intelligence accessed by all. The environment has been a pressing issue as the workplace has been a polluter in many ways.
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Tags: conscious capitalism, groups, outrageous, vent
Visionary or crackpot, change agent or disruptor. What’s the difference?
Feb 23, 2010 Random Thoughts
I’m co-authoring an article for a prestigeous magazine with a colleague who has followed my work for years. Now that he’s retired, he’s happy to buck the system and introduce my material, which flies in the face of the commonly accepted precepts of his field of change management, systems, and OD.
This man has watched while his field has reviled me, ignored me, and found me crazy. He was even in a group that denied me acceptance because they didn’t like the way I dressed (too sophisticated). True story: that’s what they said. My friend was quite embarrassed at the time, but was unable to sway the ‘judges.’
As we start our new collaboration, the big question is: “What has stopped me from publishing in this magazine before now?” We both knew the answer: My work has not been acceptable because it goes against the field’s beliefs. Is it now time? We don’t know the answer. But if we’re going to try, we know we have to walk a line between making it palatable for the masses while not discarding my innovative precepts.
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Tags: colleagues, crazy, visionary
Aging, The Beatles, and Me
Feb 16, 2010 Random Thoughts
Today is my birthday. I am 64 years old. It sounds so very old, but frankly, doesn’t feel any differently than 30: I’m fit, I’m gorgeous, I’m fun, and I’m the same cranky pain-in-the-ass I’ve always been, maybe worse.
In 1967 when the Beatles released “When I’m 64″ I was in my last year of college. I remember sitting around with my friends listening to the whole Sgt. Pepper album, and when that song came up, we all looked at each other and giggled. Would we still be alive then? Would we be old and feeble like our parents? Would we even want to get that old – after all, certainly the pleasures of life would have been behind us by then, and we’d probably have nothing to look forward to.
Well, I’m here to tell you that getting ‘old’ is absolutely cool. I look better (a few elegant wrinkles and pounds aside), I understand life better, I am kinder AND crankier, more flexible AND clearer, more determined AND more easy going. I’ve never stopped dating the same age men (45ish) so as a single woman I just get luckier a bit less often, but just a bit.
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Big, Bold, and Brassy
Feb 11, 2010 Random Thoughts
This is one of those blog posts that’s really personal. There will be another one coming next Tuesday when it’s my birthday (I always philosophize on my birthday, so be warned). But today’s will be just plain obnoxious.
My friend Clayton Shold, who runs the best Sales site on the Webisphere, seems to be having a bit of fun. He either got wind that it was my birthday, or was just in a mood. But he’s got me plastered all over his site in a rather bold, brassy way. For the record, I purchased advertising from him. But what he did was nothing short of fun: Salesopedia home page As if I’m not large enough! Ha. I can just see Clayton giggling as he put up my photos.
But make no mistake: the articles on here – mine, and the ones he offers on the site – are important ones, and Clayton does an amazing job (even when not having some fun) at gathering some of the best thinkers, the best articles, and the best ideas in the business. I wish more people would follow his lead: take care of the people you respect, make them look good, and then find the people who want to take the knowledge and run with it. Clayton and Salesopedia have a way of making it all happen so elegantly (except for today, when it’s big, bold, and brassy).
My presence aside, put Salesopedia on your radar screen and favorite’s list. It deserves to be there. You’ll get a lot out of it. And maybe, if you’re very good, Clayton will make you larger than life one day also.
sd
Tags: birthday, Clayton Shold, Salesopedia
