Chapter one is now finished......

image from behavioradvisor.com

Chapter one of the MBA journey is now complete. Five chapters to go!

Last night, we had our final class in the first leadership series and we took our economics final exam.  Amazing that 15 weeks have flown by so quickly!

Our time in leadership concluded with another world cafe.  As people shared their ideas, I was enjoying listening to those that normally do not speak up in class.  I was amazed at the vulnerability, transparency and authenticity from which people spoke - sharing part of their journey or just sharing what they're wrestling with right now.  Last night's class time began with four learning teams, but I felt that by the end of our class time, we were finally one big cohort team.

image from winterpark.gov

This journey we're all on together has challenged me to intentionally pause during the day and attempt to consider different approaches to my day, challenges, encounters, relationships, etc.  We all find ourselves in the weeds of our work, the tyranny of the urgent, or just in the moment all too often.  But during the intentional pauses of my day, I'm visualizing getting on a hot air balloon to rise above the madness into the peaceful and quiet solitude of the heights.  From there, I am finding clarity of thought, reminders of purpose, renewal of energy, and new perspectives.

We also concluded our economics class with our final exam.  Afterwards, some had gathered just down the hall from the class to talk.  Matt and Ramon convinced us to go to undergraduates' end of year "Midnight Madness" where they served free breakfast to all the students.  It was great just hanging out with others from our cohort as we end this first semester.

So, chapter one is closed.  I know the elements of chapter two, but what will ultimately be written in this next chapter is yet to be seen.  The thought of that is both scary and exciting, but I'm ready to turn the page and keep reading!

Week 14: The Umbrella of Trust....

Just when one thinks it doesn't get any better than this - it does.  Our team has crested, yet another summit.  We've climbed the mountain of "Journey" this week and found TRUST at the top.

This week, we were individually assigned the task of comparing our journey to a movie of our choosing.  We were then asked to meet within our teams and openly share those journeys with one another while taking the time to really pause and reflect on each one's journey.  Our team met on Saturday for dinner and spent 6.5 hours on this exercise.  Each one's journey was truly unique.  There was intentional vulnerability in the discussion - from the sharing of the journey, the ensuing discussion, and insight from the team.  I continue to learn more about each person - and I am amazed and blessed by their journey.

Humor me for a moment and imagine that our team has just climbed Mount Journey and reached Trust Summit.  We're experiencing a new beginning of a new day together as the fog of self (ego, fear, control) is burnt off by the morning sunrise (vulnerability).  There's this brisk air of excitement of the new day....clarity, hope, inspiration, openness, respect.

Last night in our leadership class, each team was asked to summarize what we've learned so far in this leadership series with respect to living out our values, faith and ethics in leadership.  Our team came up with "The Umbrella of Trust" - see picture to the left.

We all have the umbrella, but we also have to be intentional in its use.  When the rain comes, we can either do nothing and get drenched and soggy with the elements of the storm or we can make the choice to open the umbrella and experience covering.  The elements we depicted in the picture were elements of self and of others - ego, fear, "in the box", conflict, etc....  We viewed the umbrella of trust as enabling each of us to navigate the storm - not necessarily get out of the storm.  When the umbrella of trust is open, the catalyst or enabler of the benefits of trust is intentional vulnerability.  Trust and vulnerability enable openness to feedback, respect, reconciliation, inspiration....all of the list in the picture above.  This whole concept is still forming in our minds....who knows, there may be more to come on this.

In our Economics class, it was a night of critique and rebuttal presentations.  Each team's SWOT analysis was given to another team to be critiqued.  That critique was provided back to the original team so that they could put together a rebuttal.  Last night, each team was responsible for two presentations - 1) Critique of another team's paper and 2) Rebuttal of the critique on their own paper.  Similar to the night we had marketing presentations, I enjoyed watching each team present as it gave people who normally do not speak up in class a chance to talk.

All of the presentations were good.  The exercise provided the opportunities to give constructive criticism and feedback to another team while receiving similar criticism and feedback on your own paper.  Some winced, squirmed and showed forced smiles as they fought back the temptation to defend themselves, while others graciously nodded their heads with understanding.  It is always hard to hear criticism, but I believe, as a whole (not just our team), our cohort is developing a trust for one another that we ultimately understand that we're all trying to help each other.  We're not here to try to make someone else look bad, but rather, we are encouraging each other to finish strong in this MBA marathon.

Thank you team #2 for graciously receiving our critique and thank you team #3 for taking the time to read and critique our paper.  I had to open my umbrella of trust many times during the evening, but I'm so glad I understood my choice to do so.

Week 13: Passionography and Critique

I left very early last Tuesday morning to drive to MS to visit with my mother.  About an hour into the journey I discovered that I had left my computer at home, so I was not able to get a jump start on my leadership assignment.  This week we had to list our strengths, values, skills, and enlist others to provide us with a list of what our top 5 things they most important to us.  Before I left for MS, I sent out my requests to friends, family, and employees for their feedback on those top 5 things and also requested a short paragraph on how they view my leadership. More on that shortly.

Normal vision

Same view with macular degeneration

Forgetting my computer was at first irritating, but in some ways liberating, as it helped me to spend much more time with Mom on this trip.  This was a tough trip for me as I could tell that my mother has declined since my last visit.  She has dementia and macular degeneration.  The short-term memory loss, declination of her eyesight, and recent changes in her medications have made her more anxious - which is understandable.  It's hard to understand what a person sees with macular degeneration, but I found a good example that helps me understand it better as shown in these pictures from Wikipedia.  In the past, Mom relied heavily on my father to keep her medications straight, to help her navigate when in public, and even cover up her memory issues.  With Dad's passing, my brother keeps her medications straight, but she is not wanting to leave her home much because of her sight and her memory issues.  Thankfully, I was able to convince her to go out to dinner one evening and on another day to visit with her sisters (one of whom has advanced Alzheimer's).  All in all, I'm glad I was able to make the trip and have some quality time with her.  Time went by so fast that I missed visiting her sweet sweet neighbors that are the same as family to us, so I'll have to be more intentional on my next visit.

While in MS, Thursday evening, I had a conference call with my learning team where we discussed our Economics assignment.  We had to critique another learning team's paper and be prepared to turn in that critique this Monday night.  We struggled collectively with the balance of not wanting to be too critical of the other team's paper, while making sure that we were objectively holding them accountable to the criteria that we all had to write our papers.  It was a very productive call and I felt compelled to share with the team just how much I genuinely appreciated them.  For the next few minutes, the rest of the team was sharing with each other their same sentiments.  It was a very nice ending to our phone call that evening.

From: kamyabology.com

Upon my return to Austin, I had to catch up on the work that I couldn't do without my computer.  As I began to read through all of the feedback that others had provided for the passionography assignment, I was humbled and appreciative by what I read.  I found this assignment to be one of the more difficult papers that I've had to write so far.  My main struggle was making sure that I would be true to myself and write exactly how I felt and thought in the paper rather than what I would think is expected.  After mulling this over for almost 5 hours (yes, seriously), I came to realization that there were no expectations on this assignment (except to complete it).  I, then committed to write straight from my heart and see where the paper goes.  After all, this class isn't intended to mold us into any one particular shape, but rather, to allow us to discover who we really are individually and then free us to live it out loud.  An hour and half later, the paper was finished.

This evening's leadership class was quite introspective.  We were put into groups of three with other team members and that allowed us to get to know a couple other people that we don't normally interact with regularly.  We took the time to write out specific milestones in our life that were pivotal moments for us on our leadership journey.  I was astounded and inspired by the transparency the two people in my group.  We each ran out of time while telling our pivotal moment, so I hope to hear the rest of their story soon.  As exhausted as I was physically going into this evening, I find that I really come to life in this class.  I absolutely love this class!

Week 12: Friction....the good kind



Image from school-for-champions.com

 What's the bear's problem in the picture? 
He didn't read or heed the warning sign.
This is the pivotal moment that I feel that I'm at right now.  All of the reading that we're doing for the leadership series class is really causing several paradigm shifts and basically creating a lot of friction inside.  I've got two choices: 1) Ignore the warning signs that appear on the billboard of my mind - warning me of the dangers of status quo; or 2) Listen, embrace, explore, evaluate, and adjust what my current realities are regarding my strengths, leadership, and general approach to dealing with people.

I choose #2.

Because of that choice, two words that keep challenging me this week.  The first word is "intentional".  It has been a theme in conversations with friends this week and was the theme within the bible study group that I participate.  I can choose #2 from the choices above all day long, but I have to be intentional about it.  I can't just take an intellectual journey, but need to be intentional about digging deeper and looking for opportunities to change and/or apply what I've learned into my daily walk.

The second word is "friction".  As I try to embrace the things that I'm learning, it is causing growing pains.  Lots of friction inside, as I begin to remodel this metaphorical house.  It's a good friction though, not the typical friction that would connotate conflict with others, but rather it is conflict within myself as I confront the reality of who I am versus who I REALLY am.  This has lit a fire inside, that is a purging fire - transformational.  Deep, yes, I know.  But, that's the best I can do for this week to explain it, so chew on that a while.

This week's reading assignments have been about "calling", "vocation", and "self-deception".  During the week, we read Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation by Parker Palmer.  The writer is very poetic, deep, and transparent.  I didn't love the book, but was definitely challenged by some of the content.  We complemented that reading with chapter 38 from the book, Business Leadership: A Josey-Bass Reader, Joan Gallos (editor).  But, the book that has really captured my attention and is causing the most friction inside and resulting in noticeable change outside, is the book, Leadership and Self-Deception: Getting Out of the Box, Arbinger Institute.  I can't seem to put that book down.  It is well written in the same type of style of The Goal by Dr. Eliyahu M. Goldratt.  I have typically considered myself diplomatic, easy to work with, open to criticism, and having a genuine concern for people.  This book has made me reexamine myself and challenge me to completely embrace the concept of living "out of the box".  Read the book!!

I hope that I am not conveying, in any way, that this is an easy process.  Because, it is not.  However, I am absolutely loving this journey and would not trade it for the world!

Leadership.....

What a week!  It seems that most people that I've talked to this week were having especially busy weeks with their work and home lives.....OH, and we also had to study for our second economics test (joke intended as if it were an after thought HA).  As it turned out to be a busy week for us all, our learning team had another person from the class to join with us in our study session this weekend for the test.  Then, two of us decided to join his group the next day to continue the study.  That time studying together proved to be priceless and I think we all did well on the test.

Leadership Study:

Image from theadblog.com

Last night I took the Strengths Finder survey online and got my report.  This survey is like the typical personality type survey where you answer questions by choosing one option over another.  There were 177 questions and I made myself answer the questions immediately without trying to over-think them. I asked my wife to read the report first to give me her first impression of it before I read it.  I always find the type of personality/strengths tests both annoying and intriguing.  Annoying because I don't like to be "categorized" or put "in a box", but yet it is intriguing, because I found that it was right on the money with 95% of how it attributed me.

Additionally, I enjoyed the reading assignment for the class far more than I thought I would.  Because of the busy week, I didn't read the books until today.  I took a long lunch and read.  When I got to the book, Leadership and Self-Deception: Getting out of the Box by Arbinger Institute, I read the first five chapters as assigned and found that I didn't want to stop.  The story is engaging and you naturally want to keep reading to find out what happens next.

Photo by Cammie Wilkerson

Tonight, we spent time learning what others' strength attributes were and roamed the room interviewing one another about those strengths.  I found that completely fascinating.  I really appreciated the transparency of the discussion, not just from Dr. Ford's facilitation, but from my cohort.  A portion of our time dealt with the subject of vulnerability including a great video of Dr. Brene Brown discussing the value of vulnerability.  I shared with the cohort that I have always felt transparent and have not been resistant to being vulnerable, but still, the video challenges me to ask myself if I really am vulnerable or can I be more vulnerable.  I highly encourage you to check out that video...http://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_on_vulnerability.html. 

As I reflect on the week and this evening's classes, I find myself, as usual, appreciating my learning team, but the experiences of this week and the discussions in class tonight make me appreciate the total cohort that we're  on this journey together.  I think that appreciation started a couple of weeks ago when the individual presentations started, then last week with group presentations.  During those two weeks, I heard people speaking in class for the very first time.  Now tonight, we just went a little deeper together in class.  From someone that gets energy from learning about others and knowing their stories, this evening has supplied me with lots of energy.  So to my fellow cohort members, thank YOU.

Week 10: Time Flies....

Image from blavish.com

Preparation:
Spring break....what spring break?  Actually, spring break couldn't have come at a better time.  While most undergrads were probably speeding off to home or vacation, our learning team was using the time to finish our marketing class project paper, presentation, Facebook project paper, and economics paper.  All were due on our return from spring break.
I don't want to sound like we worked the whole time on the project, but we all did spend a lot of time on our projects.  We each found some time to "detox" for a few days during the "break".  Some went to SXSW, one went away to Houston, and my wife and I went to Dallas for a few days.  But, the break was needed for the rest and to catch up.

Reflections and Expectations:

Image from xvmercy.wordpress.com

It's hard to imagine that our first class is coming to an end.  Preparation for tonight brought our team closer than we've been yet.  We're now working with much more understanding of each other's strengths (and weaknesses) as well as digging deeper on getting to know each other.  One evening we all met at Maudie's on 360 to have dinner together before we went to work on our projects.  Had a great time having each person share with the group one thing that no one would know about them.
In our last meeting together on Sunday, we met for 6 hours to finish our projects.  We experienced the whole roller coaster ride downward, feeling the pressure to finish the projects, and peaking with multiple times of laughing at one another.  I'm really enjoying our team.....each and every one of them.  I believe this time together has helped put our team puzzle together.  (Ramon, that picture is for you....since you love puzzle pics so much)  :-)


Class Time:

Tonight was the last night for our Managerial Marketing class.  Since the class time ran out last week, four people had to do their individual presentations this week.  Once they finished, we went right into each group's presentations.  The four group projects involved: San Disk, Best Buy, NFL, and the State of Texas.  It was obvious that each team had put a lot of work into their presentations and I enjoyed seeing their team dynamics, style, and creativity.  All the teams did well with their presentations and I was equally proud of the performance of our team's presentation.  We then reviewed our Facebook projects and I'm happy to say our team won the "Likes" contest this go round.  We created a page for people to share their top 3 things they'd like to do before kicking the bucket.  Even today, another person joined the page and shared their bucket list.  We are going to leave the page up so visitors can continue to enjoy reading and even be inspired by others' bucket lists.   And with that....Managerial Marketing has come to a close.

Economics:  Similar to the marketing class, we had our economics project paper due tonight.  Each team's paper will then be critiqued by a different learning team and then we will be given an opportunity to address that critique.  So, this should be an interesting few weeks ahead.  Tonight, we continued to cover the structure/characteristics of monopolies, monopolistic competitive, and oligopolies.  The highlight of the evening for me was when we got Dr. Estrada laughing so hard he couldn't continue explaining the concept of the Sweezy Oligopoly for  a couple of minutes.  It's always good to see your instructor laugh heartily!  The laughing was good, because the tension in the room was high as most seemed anxious about the test next week.  This test will primarily be on theory, so there's no problem sets to work through like we had for the last test.


Personal Thoughts:
During our two weeks between classes, I decided to invite a guy from one of the other learning teams to lunch.  I figure, if I'm going to be spending the next two years with these folks, I'd like to eventually know everyone's stories.  And wow, what a story he has.  We spent about 3 hours talking and I appreciate his transparency.
After our economics class, three of us stayed behind to ask Dr. Estrada a few questions about the test.  On our way out, I had a good conversation with another member of the class and I've asked him if he'd share his story in a couple of weeks over lunch.

My wife, Antoinette, and our dog, Dudley, for his 15th b'day.

 

While I am proudly biased towards our learning team, I am still reminded that our cohort has a lot of bright and talented people that I look forward to getting to know in our remaining time together.  Each person not only has a story, but a different perspective they bring to the cohort - perspectives that are valuable.
Most importantly, I am so thankful for my wife being so supportive in this journey.  I've spent a lot of time in books, researching on the internet, and writing - even during our time in Dallas - and she has been nothing but understanding.  I can't convey how important that has been.
Lastly, for the benefit of my learning team.  Here's the reason I was a little late for our last prep meeting together.  This is our dog, Dudley, and it was his 15th birthday and YES, we did give him cake (specially made for dogs) and ice cream.

Week 9: Stetch.....

Image from americanathlete.blogspot.com

Preparation:
This section is easy.....read Sunday's post!  Lots of prep in the midst of work and life, but the initial waves of this Tsunami are just hitting shore.  Spent most of Saturday finishing my paper for marketing and Monday completing powerpoint for the individual presentation.

Reflections and Expectations:
Because I had just posted on Sunday, the preparation & reflections are basically all wrapped up in that post, so I will not add anymore to it, except to say that blogging this journey has been more therapeutic than I ever would have imagined.  Early in my Christian walk, I used to journal daily and over the years had gotten out of that habit.  This particular exercise has rekindled that desire again to journal aka blog.


My expectations for tonight's class are simply wrapped up in a question:  How in the world are 20 people going to present their individual presentations in one night in 4-5 minutes each?


Class Time:

Image from: pilates.about.com

About half of the class had shown up outside the doors to our room at 5:30pm so that we could load our marketing presentations on Professor Warren's computer.  However, the class before ours was running late, so we didn't get the room until about 5:50pm.  By the time everyone got their presentations loaded on the notebook, the first presentation didn't start until 6:20pm.  My first thought....."Who's getting punted to next class meeting?"
I enjoyed the presentations that my colleagues shared and it was obvious that everyone had put a lot of time in their research.  I especially loved the passion that people brought to their presentations, whether it was a burrito passion with Chipotle as David Pfahler let us know what is included in his perfect burrito or Travis Roberts' passionate presentation about TOMS Shoes.  As I had thought, it proved to be very tough for each person to finish within the allotted time, but all in all I enjoyed watching our class do their presentations.  Especially hearing from those that almost never speak up in class.  My thought at the beginning proved to be true, as well.  Four people did not get to do their presentations due to time constraints, so they will start our next class time.  Thankfully, I was able to squeeze my presentation at the very end of class, so at least that's off my plate!


Economics:  For the past couple of weeks, we have been learning the concepts in chapters 5,6 and 8.  Learning about org structures....perfect competition, monopolistic competition, oligopolies and monopolies.  But, the shark just beneath the waters is the project papers that are due when we return from spring break.  Our learning team is planning to meet at least a couple of times over the break to finish our econ paper as well as our group presentation for marketing.  Both are due the night we return from spring break....not much of a break :-)


Personal Thoughts:
This journey has been incredible!  Who could imagine how much we'd learn, experience, and get stretched.  And this journey is only the beginning!  Nine weeks into this 2 year journey.  I hope as you read this (especially if you've read my previous posts) that if you are considering this same journey for yourself, my advice is jump in, the water's fine!  But, jump in with eyes wide open and ready to work.  I know my posts have centered around my struggles with time, group dynamics, business, and family balance.  But, I want to make sure you understand that I am so glad I'm on this journey.  Here are just a few of the things about this journey that I am thankful for:
- Forging new friendships that I'm sure will be long-lasting
- Learning things that I am already incorporating into our business model
- Understanding my limits
- Appreciating and respecting the knowledge, talent, passion, life stories, unique perspectives, and authenticity of my cohort and instructors.
- and many more.....I will pause toward the end of each semester to give this same list and we'll see if or how it changes as the journey continues.

Image from learner.org

I'll close this week's blog with the concept of stretch.  I've posted about the juggling and struggling with time due to the nature of my business schedule, family time, and school.  Struggling through this has definitely stretched me and is already making me a better man.  It's made me appreciate my quiet time's reading.  It's made me prioritize exercise and healthy eating.  What do these have to do with business?  Everything!  If I am not growing, I'm dying.  If I want to be an effective leader, I need to be stretched to my limits especially to the point of humility.   Stretch is good.  Stretch is often preparation for a journey (before jogging) or often required if not properly prepared for the journey (cramping).  So the question is:  when is a rubberband the most useful.  When it is stretched!