“Love begins at home, and it is not how much we do…
But how much love we put in that action”
–Mother Teresa
Happy Soul Food Friday!
As I reflect back on the year and look forward to new beginnings on this unique day 12/12/12, three emerging topics continue to rise to the surface; Leadership, Happiness and Resilience.
I am not sure where you stand on these, but for me growth in all three seem to call me and might actually shape the next leg of my life ad venture.
Why these three?
- Leadership because without it most groups, organizations, communities and cultures cannot actualize their true potential
- Happiness because without it why are we working and growing and yearning and earning so hard?
- Resilience because this competency rightly understood and well-practiced can help us survive and even thrive when life throws us a curveball
In the last week, I had the privilege to engage with the Vista Unified School District and all its entire Leadership team engaging in the important work of building a framework for the future as they shape their vision, mission and values.
Their Superintendent Devin defined them as:
Vision: Where do we want to go? Vision is Aspirational
Mission: What is our purpose? Mission is Inspirational
Values: What are our commitments? Values are “Perspirational”
Our work together was about the perspirational aspect of identifying what operationalizing our values looks like so we can behave into them and make them part of our organizational DNA.
Coincidentally, we are working on the same essential topics at Mission Fed as well, and it is always interesting to separate core or noble values from competencies…
At a recent high level belt test in our karate group, one of our Sensei Charles shared this example which I thought was exemplary:
“Integrity First, Service before Self, Excellence in all we do”- United States Air Force Core Values
This classic First Follower: Leadership Lessons from Dancing Guy, that Devin shared with the Vista team, and that I was first introduced to by Jack Abbott and Sonia Rhodes of TEDx San Diego and TEDx Youth, might change your perspective on Leadership and who is the most important person…
What are Your Noble Values?
How do you operationalize them for yourself and build a culture where you and those around you can behave into them?
If Happiness is a key outcome you might want to check out:
Happier at Home by Grethen Ruben, http://www.amazon.com/dp/0307886786
Or The TRUE Happiness Recipe coming out soon by Will Marre http://www.thoughtrocket.com/the-true-happiness-recipe/
More on resilience in a subsequent post…
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Lighter Fare:
The Unusual Pairing touched my heart. Enjoy Tara and Bella
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Went Fishing, Caught 4 Deer:
Interspecies Kindness continues…
A once in the history of mankind kind of thing.
The Best Day Of Fishing Ever!
Some fishing stories are a little hard to believe, but this guy has pictures to prove his story…
I’ve heard of salmon jumping into boats, but never anything quite like this… Tom Satre told the Sitka Gazette that he was out with a charter group on his 62-foot fishing vessel when four juvenile black-tailed deer swam directly toward his boat.
“Once the deer reached the boat, the four began to circle the boat, looking directly at us. We could tell right away that the young bucks were distressed. I opened up my back gate and we helped the typically skittish and absolutely wild animals onto the boat. In all my years fishing, I’ve never seen anything quite like it! Once onboard, they collapsed with exhaustion, shivering.”
“This is a picture I took of the rescued bucks on the back of my boat, the Alaska Quest. We headed for Taku Harbour . Once we reached the dock, the first buck that we had been pulled from the water hopped onto the dock, looked back as if to say ‘thank you’ and disappeared into the forest. After a bit of prodding and assistance, two more followed, but the smallest deer needed a little more help.”
This is me carrying the little guy.
My daughter, Anna, and son, Tim, helped the last buck to its feet. We didn’t know how long they had been in the icy waters or if there had been others who did not survive. My daughter later told me that the experience was something that she would never forget, and I suspect the deer felt the same way as well!” I told you! Awesome… huh?
Thanks this week go to Vista USD, Charles, Jack, Sonia, Will and Larry.
Pay it forward… You can’t take it with you!
LOVE is all you need, while my sitar gently weeps…
We will miss you Ravi Shankar!
Neville
“Kindness is the language
the blind can see
and the deaf can hear.”
– Mark Twain
Happy Soul Food Friday! 