Tag Archives: Vacation

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Uncomfortable Questions and Leadership…

Do you encourage them, consider them and ask them?

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I was leading a small team in a culturally diverse city in the U.S. when two of my employees asked why all the titled leaders on our leadership team were white.

I was raised in a part of the country that was not culturally diverse, today – nearly a decade after their question 89% of the population in my home state is white and 95% of the county that surrounded the town I grew up in was white.  As a result, it was a question I didn’t see coming and one I did not have a good answer for.

[Tweet “If you seek to lead well… You will consider uncomfortable questions.”]

My reactions:

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Would you say yes, If…

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I published an article a month ago, about how our international move altered the path I thought I was on to my big dream. In that post I shared how much I trust in this altered path, even though it doesn’t make complete sense yet.

About the time I published that article I heard this quote, [Tweet ““Your perspective will become your prison or your passport.”~ Steven Furtick”]

Two weeks ago my husband and I took a vacation to Africa. On the plane I read Nelson Mandela’s book The Long Walk to Freedom, deeply considering how a wide variety of good and bad experiences changed his perspective, caused him to seek truth, ponder deeply, and shaped the man he would become. At several places in his story I thought of different struggles that others have faced that have taken them to their knees and challenged their perspectives and then changed their futures. In the midst of those reflections I wrote these words…

Would you say yes, if you knew:

  • That great risk would lead to a greater reward?
  • That a job loss would lead to a new career in a new industry?
  • That a heartbreaking betrayal would make you softer and stronger and wiser?
  • That learning to forgive would help you experience uncommon peace? 
  • That years of unwanted change and confusion would lead to growth? 
  • That an uncommon sacrifice would create the change you’ve dreamed of?
  • That an ending would create a better beginning?
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How to Refocus & Recharge – With or Without a Vacation

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Several years ago I was in a role that was getting busier and busier. As the demands and distractions poured in I began to feel less energized and lose my focus.
 
And as my focus shifted, so did the focus of the entire team that I supported.  With no corporate retreats in our future we needed to figure out how to refocus and recharge. 

Create an Experience1.  Create an EXPERIENCE:  

  •  I brought some tiny matchbox cars to a meeting and asked everyone to take a car and personalize it.
  • Then I gave them a bunch of foot-long crepe paper streamers and asked them to use a streamer to list one thing that was causing them to lose focus.  (And they could use as many streamers as they needed to.)
  • There were so many that the streamers quickly covered the cars and we talked about how hard it is to drive forward when you feel so covered up that can’t see the people you are working with, let alone where you are going.
  • Then I brought out a rocket.  (The kind you buy in a toystore that you can actually launch.)  The rocket was “beautifully decorated” with each of our objectives, and we talked about how looking up and focusing on where we were going could help us prioritize the demands and distractions, decrease our confusion and stress and increase our focus and results.  

And yes – when we achieved all of our objectives we drove to a field and shot off that rocket!

[Tweet “If you don’t have time to go away – How do you refocus?”]
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Let this be your resolution in 2015… “I SEE People”

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I spend several hours each week helping my young neighbors improve their English. Last week one of the girls brought a library book that she had chosen for a book report.

She chose the book because it was short – not because of the content. It was a book about an all black baseball team  in the 1940’s in America. (A land and a time she can’t relate to.)  …So as she read the book I had a lot of explaining to do.

And that opened the door to talk about how racism and perceptions impact individuals and our world.

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A New Perspective at the Pyramids

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My husband and I just returned from his biggest bucket list vacation, EGYPT!  ..And the last remaining wonder of the ancient world!

In spite of wonders like the Pyramids, the Temples, and the Nile ~ Egypt has experienced significant declines in tourism because of the continued reports about the conflicts in their country…

  • Our first day of the vacation we visited places that were surrounded by armored vehicles, armed guard stations, and lots of men with rifles.
  • On our second day, an armed guard accompanied us as we drove and walked. (It was quite an adventure to have a guard follow 5 of us through the city!)
  • On the fourth day we met an fully armed group at 3:30 in the morning and caravanned to our destination.

Although we experienced no threats, it was hard to miss that safety was not something to take for granted! 

Later that day we began to see things from another perspective…