Alignment

Today was a great day for DePelchin Children's Center. A Board Strategic Planning Retreat produced marvelous alignment in board and staff priorities.

Multiple constituents, much research and many internal and external experts were included in the process leading to today.  Passion, commitment and balancing resources drove the consensus for our strategic initiatives.

Alignment is a beautiful thing!

No Limits!

This month has been a blur of positive energy, successes, possibilities, encouragement, advancements, challenges overcome, teamwork, creativity, initiative, compassion and innovation.  Though there are countless things over which we have no control, this reminds me that there are no limits to the way we react, respond or take charge of the situations we encounter.

I've previously shared insights from several of these events, but feel inspired to share some thoughts from some of the exceptional women I've been privileged to hear in the past two days:

• Kathrine Switzer - 1st female Boston marathon runner
• Kay Bailey Hutchison - 1st female to represent Texas in the U.S. Senate
• Sheryl WuDunn - 1st Asian-American Pulitzer Prize Winner
• Dr. Bonnie Dunbar - Astronaut who flew the first docking flight between the Russian Space Station and the Space Shuttle
• Bonnie St. John - 1st African-American ski racing Olympic medalist

Each of these remarkable women has chosen to use her accomplishments and wide public acknowledgement to become positive, outspoken role models and change agents.  

My loving parents encouraged me from birth hat I could do and be anything.  So many of our young women and men need external encouragers.

When we positively pursue our passions with hard work, commitment and obsession for excelling, there are no limits!

Uniquely Me!

We are all inundated with messages about things we could, should and must do.  After adhering to our core beliefs, we need to give ourselves permission to be uniquely us.  Only by being our authentic selves do we provide our best personal and unique perspectives, talents and skills to any project we embrace.

Great Lifers

When I mentioned to a friend that my son was a lifer at Kinkaid, he, not being a Kinkaidian, laughed.  Lifers, at Kinkaid, are those special, fortunate students who enter in pre-K and exit at high school graduation after 14 delightful, challenging and memorable years. 

Though I don't have the exact statistics, my educated guess is that 20% of Gar's graduating class has been together since pre-K.  Unsung benefits of a loyal core are the ability to accept, recognize, overlook, forgive, applaud and recognize many class members as they really are, not as they might appear in any given circumstance, stage or year.   Additional benefits are the many keepers of the culture and traditions.

Kinkaid would benefit from recognizing the "almost lifers". Julia entered in Kindergarten, so her 13 excellent years didn't warrant special designation.  And how about recognizing "mid-lifers", all who have been Kinkaidians since the beginning of middle school? 

Productive longevity at any cherished institution makes a great lifer (my definition definitively excludes all who are justice system lifers).

Commitment is key. When we commit to a life of excellence, we excel regardless of our entry point.

Close only Counts in Horseshoes

Whether we're selling, traveling, fishing or sewing, close isn't good enough. Close only counts in horseshoes.  The fish that we don't land never make it to a photo or dinner plate.  Regardless of how hard we try to make it to the airport on time, the plane will leave as scheduled whether we're on it or not.  And when we're selling, negotiations that fall apart won't benefit our paycheck.  Regardless of the thousands of stitches completed in a needlework project, if we're missing the final 12" of thread needed to complete the project, it remains a work in progress. When something matters to us, we must commit to do what it takes to get what we want.

Fully Present or Barely There

As we try to pack more and more into each day, we often find ourselves racing from meeting to meeting.  For most important meetings the agenda is shared ahead of time to allow us to be prepared to contribute when the meeting begins.  However, showing up is all that some attendees do.  Barely there, is better than absent.  But being fully present is the way to make meetings effective.  Allotting the scheduled meeting time is only part of the total commitment.  When we accept an appointment, we also have the responsibility to come prepared to actively engage.

Connected and Committed Leader

At a recent Girls Inc. luncheon I had the good fortune to visit with a gracious speaker, author, consultant and former corporate executive, Laura Lopez.  I've just finished her book, The Connected and Committed Leader - Lessons from Home. Results at Work.  Adopting a child changed her leadership focus and effectiveness.   She reminds us that respect leads to trust; effective leadership permeates our lives; and leadership is relationship based - individual to individual, horizontal, vertical and 360 degrees.

Laura's seven essential leadership insights are:

1. Believe and Let Go
2. Be Curious and See Everyone
3. Be Receptive and Yield
4. Be Real and Serve
5. Be Humble and Keep Your Ego in Check
6. Be Consistent and Clear
7. Be Vulnerable and Give of Yourself

One of Laura's great admonitions is, "When we impose our reality or our will onto others, there isn't enough room for their own. So we rob them of their potential and they can't ever perform to their fullest capability."

I appreciate Laura's insights and believe that when we bring our whole best selves to any endeavor, results improve exponentially.

Exhilaration

It's amazing that a few seconds can change terror to exhilaration.

Professionals always make tasks look simple. Watching the instructors rappel from the cliff was no exception.

At the top of the cliff we were asked who would be #1. An experienced team member volunteered. After a second experienced colleague said that she'd be #2, we'd reached a position I felt okay claiming, #3. The self assignment of order continued. I was feeling a bit less nervous as I thought "after I see Bill and Nancy do this it won't be so intimidating." Surprise! Numbers 1 and 2 were holding the lines. Number 3 was the first to rappel. Either of my brave, experienced friends would have traded positions with me, but I kept my commitment to be the first off the cliff.

I still remember the fear I felt as I stood facing my colleagues and took that big step backward into the unknown. Seconds later, everyone in our entire group stopped what they were doing as my exhuberant yelp of glee pierced the air. Though I recall the fear, I much more clearly remember the exhilaration. Had I not overcome my fear, I wouldn't have the more meaningful, motivating experience and memory.

Doing different things and simply doing things differently may bring temporary discomfort. But you may be one step closer to exhilarating success.

Zipping to Success

"Meet you at the other end of the zip line!" I spoke these words in the group to motivate myself to successfully tackle the high ropes course. And it worked! I'd made a public commitment to complete the task ahead. It's important to me to do what I say I will do. Though I didn't know precisely what was ahead, the goal was clear: complete the ropes course and zip to success across the stream.

The confidence in my words masked the nervousness that I felt, and many others voiced. It changed the group dynamics. The comments of other first-timers prior to my turn to share my thoughts before we began had mostly expressed fear, uncertainty and tentative commitments to try.

Not only did I conquer the ropes course. Another benefit of my declaration of expected success was the impact on a macho colleague. It motivated him to overcome
his fear of heights and also zip to success.

There's more at risk when we publicly declare our intentions, but there's also increased probability of success. We're suddenly accountable to others. When we silently commit to try to achieve a goal and obstacles arise, we can make excuses and quietly accept failure. The stakes rise when we've shared the goal with others. We want to succeed for ourselves and to honor the commitment we've made to them. And, if it spurs a little healthy competition more winners will emerge.

Meet you at the other end of the zip line!