Well, not sure if anyone has been wondering why I have not blogged since May 3rd. I have a few excuses, but those never go very far. Truth be told, I have been Blog searching, trying to think through a couple of blog themes and working to decide what it is I want to Blog about. I believe I have it, and am in the process of changing the visuals of my blog and doing a little research, in the little free time I have, to make the necessary changes. Today I lucked out as the Triathlon I was to do this morning got rained out so I have a little more time on my hands and the mental capacity to make a few changes. So, all this being said, I appreciate your patience...I am confident you will enjoy the finished Blog once I am able to get it done.

Thanks. Pete

  

There is really no way for me to accurately describe what we are doing here at SOBcon08, so I thought a picture would do us all a little justice. Thanks to Terry Starbucker for the photo.  This is just a good illustration of our setup. Right now we are working on a 5 minute blog, one of the exercises we have been asked to complete. What do you think? Has this been worth my 5 minutes?

  

Well, I am at my first business bloggers conference, SOBcon08. Tim and Erik and I left yesterday at 6 am for the 6 hour drive to Chicago. We arrived around noon yesterday and, after a trip around the city on a boat, made my way to bed after a very long day. I met some very interesting people and I am very excited to learn all that the conference has to offer during the day today. I had the pleasure to meet the Director of PR and Director of Marketing for Buzzlogic last night, they were in town from San Fransisco.

The experience has already been very rewarding, I can only hope that I can take in everything today.

  

I had an epiphany today at work, but before I get to that I need to take a quick step back to set the stage. I am in a sales position with a Fortune 500 company; I have been there for 7 years and have never really felt like I was truly given the opportunity to succeed. That all came to a very appreciative screeching halt yesterday morning when I was given a tremendous opportunity by my current boss. Long story short, I have the opportunity to work hard and get rewarded for it, which is any salesman can ask for.

Now, an entire day has passed and I realized I have nothing to complain about at work anymore. Funny thing is, I have nothing to TALK about at work anymore, because I have realized most of my "talk" at work has been complaining about work. What a slap in the face? I didn't realize I was such a complainer, and I had such a bad attitude. It is funny that the opportunities we have in life really shape our vision and reaction about our jobs. I knew I complained some, but I had no idea that most of my conversations with my co-workers contained some sort of complaint about management or our lack of true opportunity, etc. What's even worse, I realized that my attitude has not been isolated to just me, I realized that the majority of the sales staff has the same disposition I have had and their "talk" is very much in the same tone as I had up until yesterday. I have to wonder if I became this way because of 7 years of hearing others complain or if I was the ring leader and others have been beaten down by my complaining. I know I don't have a bad attitude in other aspects of my life so I have to hope it is not engrained in my personality. Either way, I have realized I really need to turn over a new leaf and seize this opportunity.   I really feel like I can pull my head out of the water and start to look forward to the opportunities ahead of me. Success and opportunity will lead to a much happier version of me!

Have you seen the same things at your office? Has managements decisions worked to stir the staff into a similar frenzy?

  

Ever have one of those days where screaming is the only reasonable solution to the madness that is your life?

That is how my day is going today. I have so many balls up in the air, things I am working on, that today of all days they are all bouncing off each other and rattling around in my brain. I really enjoy challenges, especially ones that are physical, cerebral, or professional . Challenges and opportunities are what really get my engine going, mostly because I enjoy finding the solution so I can move on to the next challenge or opportunity. As a result, I have way too much going on right now, and today I just hit the wall. I know each of the activities  will better me and improve my life for the long run, so I have positive motivation. But, there is nothing I would rather do right now that just head home to find my couch and pop in a good movie or go meet some friends for a drink to just unwind. Trouble is, taking a night off means I have more to do tomorrow or the next day since things are not going to go away. Such is life, sometimes you just have to take a step back and realize that accomplishing that task right now might just put you over the edge.

Ever had one of those days?

  

 

Today, I had a truly inspiriting moment, a moment that I really didn’t want to let go.  I had the last class period of our Leadership and Human Capital Development class Drake University, that was facilitated by Visiting Assistant Professor Tim Johnson.  During the class, which really started last night and carried over to this morning, all 38 of my class mates were tasked with determining how they would Change the World.  Most of us went into the class and the assignment, which was given to us on the very first night of the class, with the blind abandon that it would just be another assignment or another class. To my complete surprise, I don’t think any of us walked out of the classroom today with that same initial thought process.

I spoke how I defined what my world is and how I think I can impact that world by facilitating a Alumni Group on Linkedin.com.  Others spoke about their goals in life or how they want to lead their lives moving forward. One of our classmates spoke about how this class, and more importantly her younger classmates, made her realize her 15 year professional career was not as fulfilling as she had perceived it to be just a few months ago. That classmate has decided to make a life changing decision to follow her heart through a move to another state, and climate, as well as a new career, all from sitting through 4 weekend classes where we discussed Leadership.  Truth be told, I have no idea where I am going with this or how I am going to end this…what ever this is, blog, journal, thought process. But, I know that it was the inspiration from today’s class that led me to the computer on this 65 degree wonderful April afternoon in Des Moines, IA. I was going to send Tim, Professor Johnson, a thank you email, but I knew in my heart sending that email would be the last time I truly thought about the class and the inspiration I found from it. Sending out that email would be closing the book on what I just found and I don’t feel that action would be anyway to truly thank the man that facilitated this class. I think the only way to truly thank Tim would be to continue on with what I found during the class that he so aptly brought to my world.  To continue to move the mission of leadership and my capital development forward to another day, maybe another month or year. 

During class today I really started thinking about my classmates from my undergraduate program. I attended the William Penn University College for Working Adults program some years back and I was lucky enough to have a great group of classmates that I worked through the entire two year program with, as our class just changed instructors and rooms, not the classmates. I worked with these people for two years towards something we all dreamed about and what brought us together, our college degree. Sadly, I have lost touch with that group some time ago and I now have no idea what any of them are doing. I started to think about that as I was sitting and listening to my current classmates discuss how they intended to change the world and I really realized that I don’t want to make that mistake again. I don’t want to lose touch with these classmates that I really don’t know. But, the fact that I really don’t know them that well doesn’t matter because we have a bond that started with opening our lives up to each other and discussing our lives vision and goals. These thoughts were running through my head today during class, and I started to just pass them off as something from the moment that is really too corny to put to words. Then class started to wrap up, or last classmate gave her last presentation, and it was time to go. During our last moments in class, I looked around and saw a bunch of friends with whom I have yet to really get to know and I found myself asking if I wanted to let it all go so soon. Then Tim started to cry as he said his goodbyes to us and I realized that this class was much more than Graduate school credit, it was a life changing moment that I am pretty sure we all felt a the same time. It was something that Tim asked me to put into words just a day earlier when he asked if I could help him describe the class to future students. I did give him an attempt yesterday, but I didn’t really put that much thought to it. Now, now that I have had a few measly hours since the end of the class I know that there is no way to put words to the experience that I just had with 38 people I just met a few short weeks previous. The only way I know how to put words to the experience is to continue to put words to my thoughts for the inevitable future as I work to understand what this class has meant to my life. So, with that being said, I have just written my first blog that I intend to publicize for the entire world to see, which I do with complete apprehension and fear. But, something tells me it will not really be that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things because I am pretty sure I will have 38 readers to my blog and I will continue to have the opportunity to learn from them as we continue our journey. Tim said, in so many words, that he was honored to have learned from all of us during our 4 weekends together. I want to reiterate that message and ask that we don’t stop learning from each other and not lose touch as I believe our learning process has just begun.  It is with that thought that I think I am going to conclude this initial blog, yes I have determined it to be a blog as I put it together. I can’t promise when I will blog again or what sort of frequency I will blog going forward. I will, however, promise to continue to learn and work towards providing Tim with the appropriate thank you and description for his class, when I am able to find the words.

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