When David and I went scuba diving last weekend (jealous?) we talked about missing having class but not missing the homework.
Work and family life can definitely keep the schedule over filled, but there are some relatively low impact things that I’ve been thinking about starting.
ADRhub.com that John Barkai recommended to us hosts monthly webinars. Some of the subjects are interesting others not as much. This months was Non-Defensive Communication. There are two weird cuts. I had to stop and start the screen recorder. It’s a fairly breezy 57 minutes filled with solid advice and common mistakes people make either answering or asking for information in ways that create feelings of defensiveness. The video is unlisted so be kind about protecting the link. 🙂 I really liked it and I’ll be watching it again. Here’s what I put in the YouTube doobly doo:
“ADRhub’s Monthly Webinar. Sharon Strand Ellison defines Defensive Responses, three formats of communication, non-defensive questioning, and holds a short Q&A.”
Something else I’ve been looking at is Coursera.com. It’s similar to other MOOC or free online college-level course sites. There’s everything from Western Music to Exploring Quantum Physics. With institutions like MIT and Carnegie-Mellon offering similar free courses the options are amazingly varied.
Maybe you’ve started working out again or picked up a third job instead. What are you all doing to keep your brain cells churning?
Finally, if you aren’t getting email notifications for new posts on the blog your primary email address probably isn’t on your profile. There’s a “subscribe to blog via email” box on the right side of the screen. Go ahead and enter your primary email address there. It makes it really easy to keep up when you get an email every time there’s an update.
I hope the Holiday Season is shaping up nicely for everyone. Annnnd, how about some updates after all the family gatherings over the next two months. 😉
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
-Tony
For the record, I did suffer from the re-integration blues. Yes, I’ll admit it, and thanks, Curly, for the post. Of course, I entered the DLEMBA to make a change, and after graduation I felt that I needed to start-a-changing-things … immediately. But reorganization of the learning center is still ongoing and the new record label with a bunch of older musicians and industry guys, had me feeling like I was moving away from the cutting edge rather than towards it.
So, at the perfect moment, I was asked to interview for a new venture starting up in my community. It was fresh, exciting, and just what I was looking for. Long story short – I didn’t get the job. (Really, what were they thinking, right?!?!)
At first my ego was pretty bruised up. I followed the my own advice (courtesy of my personal leadership plan) and put myself out there, flaws and all. I’ve been the boss for almost 10 years, so I was feeling kind of vulnerable. Two days later, I realized that I was not such a big loser, and, in fact, some of the ideas that I’d had in preparation for and during the job interview were applicable and translatable to my current businesses and their needs. (Good thing I didn’t give away all of my good ideas in the interview!)
So, after all that, I guess the short answer to Tony’s question about how we keep the edge … is, for me, more philosophical than technical; it is stepping out of the box professionally and personally and trying to look at a challenge from a new role or position. Cliche? Maybe. But in this story, helping another business owner think about how to approach their next phase helped me find innovation in the next phase of mine.
Happy Thanksgiving indeed.
Thanks for the post and comment, Tony and Malama.
As for keeping busy… I’ve been trying to review my notes from all my classes to take note and action on anyhting highlighted that I wanted to followup later, or things that I think I would like to make sure I remember. Progress has been slower on this than I had hoped, but it’s been useful to review some of the material. And I’ve read several books of fiction(!!!) lately – something I haven’t done in YEARS.
Also – a lot of traveling for work lately- making up for all the travel I didn’t do during the DLEMBA years. I just completed 6 weeks in aluminum birds visiting 8 US universities and our telescope in Chile. The meeting and greeting part of the university visits went really well; the benefits of face to face conversations were readily apparent.
Malama- your story is interesting. I was talking to the chair of our management oversight committee about how things were improving at our facility, but how we were still stuck in Management 101 (OK, maybe 102) when there was a whole lot more innovation out there waiting for us. He commented that I’m fighting decades of entrenched behavior and just sort of smiled. Nonetheless, I’m trying a few new things in my Division, have been able to affect some change in the overall observatory, but am also finding it takes a LOT of time to make these kinds of changes – so my ability to progress rapidly is severly limited by the time I can make to spend on these kinds of changes – plus that I can get others to adopt and run with.
So, I’d be interested in what kinds of changes the rest of us (you all) have made in your workplaces as a result of the DLEMBA experience. What have you learned in the process?
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