Carrying on the Legacy...

Good Morning!

How did you do this past week?

It is always hard to reconnect after an extended weekend...but I know that you are already back into the swing!

Good Job!

I recently reconnected with a high school teacher Dr Barbara Ferguson...what a fantastic experience!

Since I was a sophomore (in High School)...we have been in touch...that is almost a span of 40 years!

Over the years...the frequency of our contact has diminished, but the connection has not!

She was one of three pivotal and life changing people in my life...

Who are yours?

What did they do?

As I reflect on them...I found a common thread in each of them...

Here are my top 3...in chronological order...

#1 - Barb Ferguson (I was 15 years old)
#2 - My Mentor (name withheld by his request long ago) (I was 25 years old)
#3 - Lori...my wife (I was 40 years old)

What do they have in common?

All of them accepted me as I was and made me believe that I was capable of much more than that...

How did they do the second part of that common thread?

Each expected it...as if their presence was at the beginning of my journey and not at an apex!

What a gift each of them have been to me...and continue to be...their presence is constant in my life...whether real...like Lori...or in my memories...

Barb believed that I was a great philosopher!  She taught me that "the unexamined life was not worth living!"

She taught me Socratic questioning...and taught me to write!

She introduced me to a fellow named Plato...

She taught me to deconstruct and reconstruct...

During a teacher's strike she risked her position as head of the high school history department and met me at a dumpy restaurant to review a term paper that I was writing...she read it and said that it was excellent for a high schooler...and I was elated!  Then she said that it was not even close to what she knew I was capable of writing...and that I should go back and write it at my level of performance...and I did!

I have never lost that lesson and that passion! 

When we talked the other day...it was if no time at all had passed!  In 4 more years she'll be 80 years old!  She is still teaching!  Teaching is her passion and I have been blessed by her belief in me!  I know that many others have too...she planted a seed of inquisitiveness in every one of the students that she engaged with!

She believed in me!  I will not make her wrong!

My Mentor...what can I say!  He believed more in me and what I could do than I ever believed was possible.  I am still striving to live up to his expectations!  He believed that I was and could continue to be the best manager that people could ever have...he believed that my road would be tough...yet I would at some time in my life...be recognized for my efforts!  I believe him...and will do that because I do not want to see him wrong!

Lori...she picked me up at one of the worst times in my life!  I was shattered...and yet...she believed in me!  She continues to do so...and her belief drives me to ever higher performance and constant re-examination of my life...and my efforts...and my values...I will not let her down...why?

Because she believes in me!  I do not want her to be wrong!

All of these people have created a legacy...for themselves...but

They also are driving me to create one for myself!

It is easy to get disillusioned and depressed and frustrated and impatient...and just give up!

But I will not for them and for me!  They believed in me!  I will return that confidence by living up to what they believe I am capable of!  I will work as hard as I can to make it happen!  I will not wait for it...

Good things do not come to those who wait...it comes to those who work for it!

That is one of the ingredients of a legacy...a legacy does not come easily...it requires work...

Who are the three people in your life that have most influenced you?

Why?

Will you carry that legacy on?

Enough said on this topic!

Listen to the words of this song...it has something that we can learn from our youth!

  

Success has a lot to do with being what others see you can be.  I have learned that lesson.  I did a ton of research on the Pygmalion effect while working on my Masters degree.  An interesting thing that I learned from the study was the relationship between what others thought a person was capable of and the overall performance of that individual.  The bottom-line...others play as much of a role in your success as you yourself!  There is no longer such thing as independent successes...you can not go it alone!

That does not mean that your performance and success is entirely in the hands of others...I have a simple formula that can help get the control back into your hands...

That will be the topic of future updates!

I wouldn't want to give it all to you today and never have you come back! 

SHIFTING GEARS! (Kind of...iTalentCafe)

For those who follow on Linkedin, Facebook, or Twitter, you have probably noticed that I initiated "Groups" called iTalentCafe on each site.  It also has a corresponding website http://www.italentcafe.com/. 

I have a cool vision for this site.  It will be a place that is built for world-class professionals, by world-class professionals.

The purpose is to connect the best and the brightest with organizations with needs.  People are at the bay of job search sites like Ladders, Linkedin, Monster...and many more...They are relatively the same...

This is a place where people get discovered!

We need a world-class web designer to build this into something great!
We need a world-class web marketer to get the word out
We need world-class recruiters to post real needs out there
and so on...

It is purely voluntary....

But think about the kind of visability!

Who built that marvelous website?
They get the credit and the publicity!

Who marketed that?
They get the credit and the publicity!

Who was that guy running the open mike night?
They get the credit and the publicity!

If you know world-class people with talent...

Push them our way...while they are job hunting...they can be making a contribution to the website and show off what they can do...perhaps they get discovered and make it BIG TIME!

I am loving this...I need your help to make this great...please join in and pass that news and the links around...get them to join our groups...and step up to this great challenge!

Have a great day...

Make next week even more successful!

PURA VIDA!