Breaking News: November 12, 2009 - KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) -
Two UT football players are now facing charges of armed robbery. A member of the UT Sports Information Department confirmed to us that Nu'Keese Richardson and Janzen Jackson were arrested about 2:00 o'clock Thursday morning. The incident happened at the Pilot convenience store on Cumberland Avenue. Police say the men were armed with a small semi automatic handgun and robbed a person in the parking lot. Police arrested them a few minutes later. Again, UT football players Nu'Keese Richardson and Janzen Jackson are under arrest in connection with an early morning armed robbery.
What has happened to our world? When two freshman football phenoms are given a full ride at an NCAA Division 1 premier football program and academic institution, how could they possibly ever come to the conclusion that going to prison for robbing someone at gunpoint is better?! Heck, the person they robbed was probably as broke as they were!
Sometimes it's enough to make me wonder if there's anything that can be done to salvage this youngest generation.
And then, I remember where I'm going today. I'm meeting with the Chief Programs Officer of Appalachia Service Project, a faith-based, non-profit housing ministry, which provides home repairs across five states in the most severely impoverished areas of Central Appalachia. Each year they hire 125 COLLEGE STUDENTS to run the Summer Program, which welcomes over 13,000 YOUTH VOLUNTEERS from across the country, who donate their summer vacation time to serve others less fortunate than themselves.
Who do you know that's seizing an opportunity to do good in the world today? Please share your stories! I think we all could use the encouragement of success stories today!!
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Monday, November 2, 2009
The Sum Total of a Successful Life
Let's face it. We live in a world today where, despite the recent economic recession, our mantra is "If a little is good, then more is better!" In our society, we're really good at performing the addition and multiplication involved in that equation, without a great deal of regard for naysayers who, these days, recommend a little subtraction. And all this "math talk" leaves me wondering, is it possible to calculate the sum total of a life?
This was a question that hit me squarely, when I recently attended my friend and former colleague, Mike's, funeral. At the corporation where I'd previously worked for just shy of 25 years, Mike was a successful advertising executive. His untimely death at the young age of 57 was a shock to everyone in his wide circle of influence. Yet, strangely, I believe I was possibly more stunned when I entered the chapel for his funeral. There in the front of the massive marble, stone and wood structure, on a tiny table, sat an even smaller urn. Juxtapositioned to Mike's very large life, it stopped me in my tracks. That's it? I wondered . . . a man who lived as full a life as Mike - NCAA championship swimmer, Division 1 university football cheerleader, graduate of the most prestigious journalism school in the country, creater of award-winning ad campaigns for an international Fortune 500 corporation, on a first-name basis with leaders of the largest advertising firms on Madison Avenue - and this is the sum total of all that . . . a little pile of ashes in an urn smaller than a half gallon of milk?!
I suppose, as a Leadership Coach, I'm naturally haunted by such questions anyway. When our time is over, no matter how short or long it may be, how can we calculate the sum total of our life? What are the factors in such an equation? Can it be as simple as A+B=C? If so, what are A and B? And, if we figure out a cipher for calculating success after the fact, could we then use that insight to predict success? Could we calculate the probability of success, based on current actions and circumstances? Could we even use this insight to change the course of a life to ensure the best possible outcome?
These are the topics and questions I'm going to be blogging about in the coming weeks. I sincerely hope you'll join in this discussion. I really need to know what you think and hear what you have to say on this subject, so that I can be the best coach I can be. Your insights will be multiplied into help for so many others!
Please comment, follow this discussion, and check back in a few days to read my new posts. Thanks!
This was a question that hit me squarely, when I recently attended my friend and former colleague, Mike's, funeral. At the corporation where I'd previously worked for just shy of 25 years, Mike was a successful advertising executive. His untimely death at the young age of 57 was a shock to everyone in his wide circle of influence. Yet, strangely, I believe I was possibly more stunned when I entered the chapel for his funeral. There in the front of the massive marble, stone and wood structure, on a tiny table, sat an even smaller urn. Juxtapositioned to Mike's very large life, it stopped me in my tracks. That's it? I wondered . . . a man who lived as full a life as Mike - NCAA championship swimmer, Division 1 university football cheerleader, graduate of the most prestigious journalism school in the country, creater of award-winning ad campaigns for an international Fortune 500 corporation, on a first-name basis with leaders of the largest advertising firms on Madison Avenue - and this is the sum total of all that . . . a little pile of ashes in an urn smaller than a half gallon of milk?!
I suppose, as a Leadership Coach, I'm naturally haunted by such questions anyway. When our time is over, no matter how short or long it may be, how can we calculate the sum total of our life? What are the factors in such an equation? Can it be as simple as A+B=C? If so, what are A and B? And, if we figure out a cipher for calculating success after the fact, could we then use that insight to predict success? Could we calculate the probability of success, based on current actions and circumstances? Could we even use this insight to change the course of a life to ensure the best possible outcome?
These are the topics and questions I'm going to be blogging about in the coming weeks. I sincerely hope you'll join in this discussion. I really need to know what you think and hear what you have to say on this subject, so that I can be the best coach I can be. Your insights will be multiplied into help for so many others!
Please comment, follow this discussion, and check back in a few days to read my new posts. Thanks!
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