Happy New Year From the Boss

I want to take a moment to wish my wonderful office staff at Dartmouth Medical a Happy New Year. Dallas Leonard, NP has been practicing at Dartmouth for over a year and I am so gratified to rely on her judgement and clinical acumen in the care of our patients. It is one of the joys of my life to be able to work with each of the staff members every day. I appreciate all of the staff for your insight, observations and opinions regarding the running of the practice and each of you brings a different perspective to your jobs. It is often revealing for me to sit at the nurses desk or to look out the reception window and imagine what it must be like to come to work each day. In this way, I am able to help solve the problems you may encounter, reaffirm and protect our valuable office culture and move the practice forward.

As always, our office will face new challenges and growth in this new year. I hope to be the best manager that I can be and to steward the practice wisely in the coming year.

Very Special Thanks:

The Saturday and support providers; Deb Bradford, NP, Leslie Stefanowicz, NP, Dr. Christiansen and Dr. Cummings have all done wonderful work this past year. Thank you! We welcome our new phlebotomist, Roberta from U Mass Lab. Thanks to the computer support team; Think Tech, our office consultants; Michelle Gerez, Kelly Walsh at Affusion Group, Corrigan Financial and Paradigm Consulting. Many thanks to Brian Chisholm, CPA from Kane and Kane who manages all of our finances, John Bentley, Esq. who looks after our legal questions. Thanks also to the area pharmacies who help our patients and to the medical specialists in our area who are so accomodating when we need them. Special thanks to the local ambulance companies, St. Anne's Pain Management Center and to the ER staff and physicians at St. Anne's, St. Lukes, and Charlton Memorial Hospitals. Our work every day with our patients requires a vast network of professionals and support staff in southern Massachusetts.

I wish all of you and your families a happy, healthy and safe New Year!

Healthier Longer Life.org

The New England Journal of Medicine published a review article this month on a new website called, Healthier Longer Life (http://healthierlongerlife.org/). The premise of the article is to bring public awareness to a comprehensive wellness and disease prevention information project which has been published by Drs. Carl Bartecchi and Robert Schrier. Their 224 page book can be downloaded free of charge from their website.

The book was distributed in bound form to 60,000 households in Colorado. One of the goals of the project was to try and engage the general population and to "have patients share in decision making about their health care which has been shown to improve patient adherence to prevention guidelines, increasing their satisfaction with the outcome of the clinical treatment or both."

The Journal article goes on to explain that the Internet has been a mixed blessing as "many patients are confused by the contradictory advice retrieved when they enter a search term on Google or Yahoo. Authoritative sources are critically important, and this book is an important addition to Web sites such as the one sponsored by the U.S Preventive Services Task Force."

I will be ordering a copy and reviewing it. At less than $5.00 per copy it might be just the thing to place in each examining room in my office instead of Field and Stream magazine.

Excerpt:
When discussing the risk of heart attacks, the authors note;
"For those who might wonder what a person with low risk factors would look like, here is an example. The ideal is a person between the ages of 35 and 74 who has:
1. Systolic blood pressure less than 120.
2. Diastolic blood pressure less than 80.
3. LDL cholesterol less than 100 mg/dl.
4. HDL cholesterol higher than 60 mg/dl.
5. Fasting glucose level less than 110 mg/dl.
6. Never smoked.
7. Reached the ideal weight.
8. Regularly exercises."

Thoughts for Fathers of Young Children

When you kiss your daughter good night and she looks up at you and asks you to tell her a story from your own childhood before she closes her eyes,
What do you remember?

When your little son looks up from his morning cereal and wants to know how fast you could run when you were his age,
What do you remember?

In the lifetime before house payments and bills, the nightly news and the morning alarm clock there was a time when the world was different. In the years before you 'grew up' it was easier to tell jokes, to laugh and to make friends. Being a kid was the best thing ever.

A squished bug was almost as good as a lightning bug.

The outcome of a baseball game was a matter of life or death.

You thought you would throw up when you sneaked a puff on your grandfather’s cigar.

Staying clean was the last thing on your mind.

Everything was funny. Everything.

Summer vacation really lasted a whole year.

Mosquito bites itched less.

Sissy bars weren’t for sissy’s.

Toads did give you warts…and you could prove it.

Gum wasn't just for chewing.

Nobody wore bike helmets or seat belts.

Heroes were everywhere and they always won.

Santa Clause really did leave footprints in the snow on the roof of your house on Christmas Eve and you did hear the jingling of sleigh bells deep in the snowy night one year.

So the next time your young son or daughter looks up and asks you to tell them a story about your childhood, remember how you felt when the world was larger, funnier, scarier and just plain better than it is now.

Make sure to tell them all about it.

Don’t leave anything out.

Being Mr. Edwards

One of the finest episodes in the history of television aired in December of 1974. That was the year that the Wilder family from 'Little House on the Prairie' recieved a visit on a stormy Christmas Eve from a gruff but lovable frontiersman named, Mr. Edwards. America was drawn to the story of this family struggling to survive as settlers moving west in search of land and opportunity.
As the story unfolds during that Christmas episode we learn that the Wilder family is facing every parent's bad dream; Christmas without the hope of providing toys for their children. The children sense their parents poverty and the family gets prepared to tell the children that Santa Clause must have missed them during the storm. Things will get better next year and besides, the kids will understand. They always do.
Meanwhile, in the howling wind and snow of the worst blizzard the West had ever experienced, a lonely figure trudges on foot from the nearest town through the forest. He is bundled up in a large coat and has a wide brimmed hat pulled low over his face to keep out the cold and ice whipping through the air. He comes to a freezing river and is almost foiled in his attempt to reach his destination but decides to take off his overcoat and clothes and wade through the icy water to reach the other side. Mr. Edwards stumbles into the Wilder cabin nearly unconcious, suffering from hypothermia and collapses in front of the fire.
The family rushes to revive him and he is saved by the heat of the fire and the glow of warmth from the Wilder children. Mr. Edwards explains that he met Santa Clause in town who asked him to deliver the Christmas gifts to the Wilder children this year because the storm was too severe. Ma and Pa Wilder have looks of joyful astonishment on their faces as they realize what a Christmas miracle this friendly, rough hewn neighbor has unselfishly performed for their children.
In that moment, on that night in 1974, Americans all over the country were reminded of what it was to be a true hero and to step up to engage a crisis, risking personal safety for the benefit of another. Soldiers, firemen, police officers, parents of sick children and millions of regular people are heroes every day to the poor, the desparate and the underpriviledged. This story was told to us in the simplest possible terms. Without any Hollywood glitz or glamor, with carefully scripted characters, a compelling score and a plain storyline, Mr. Edwards displayed the humanity and humility we all hope to achieve for others in our own lifetimes. On that winter's night in the little cabin on the prairie, a humble man without a family of his own earned his angel's wings by giving the gift of Christmas magic to children in need.

Jimmy Buffet's Christmas Gift

"If you are looking for perfect safety, you will do well to sit on a fence and watch the birds."

Wilbur Wright, 1901

Someday I'm going to get me an ultralight airplane. I really wanted at least a Citation jet like Lance Armstrong and Sheryl Crow rented to go on vacation to France once but that seems a little out of range at this stage in my life. Besides, I'm getting a little older and have to think about my future. This is why an ultralight plane would be perfect. It's cheap, almost anyone can fly one (so I hear) and even if you crash, you are usually on a grassy field going only about 23 miles an hour.

I've got my retirement all planned out. When I'm about 78 years old I'll sell our Toyota Prius for about a million dollars, my wife and I will move to Arizona (where it's warm) and we will both get ultralight planes and raise sheep. Then we can wake up every morning and strap into our planes and buzz the sheep (you know...to give 'em some exercise). Then after a few hours of sheep buzzing we will land somewhere and have a picnic lunch on the high desert and meet up with all of our friends who have their own ultralight planes and play a pick up game of basketball. Then the whole lot of us will get into our planes and fly to a nearby lake and go swimming. After this we will find a place to camp out and start a really big bonfire and have loads of laughs just like all those people do in the Michelob commercials (except we will be 78 years old). There will be just me and my wife with about 200 of our close personal friends. Our kids will be busy with their kids and taking care of their multi million dollar mansions and flying their own ultralights. They keep wanting to borrow our sheep but we think they should get their own. Besides our sheep are tired out!

The next morning we will fly over the football stadium of the Arizona Cardinals in our ultralights and yell down to the team as they practice. Now that we live in Arizona, we don't expect them to win much but they need encouragement. Then some of our friends will have to go home and take their medication and have a nap but not me and my wife! We will be leaving our ultralights at the airport and hopping onto a private jet that belongs to our close personal friend, Jimmy Buffet and going off to a private island in the Caribbean for a huge tequila party with all the NFL cheerleaders and a few retired Academy Award Winners and Nobel Prize recipients. Then once the jet takes off, Jimmy will lean over across the aisle and ask me if I would do him a big favor and accept his Citation jet as a gift because he has three other planes. I would say, "Well..." then I would give my wife in the next seat a high five and accept his gift with the condition that we could come to his private island any time we wanted. Of course Jimmy would say "yes" and then invite me to play onstage with him at his next concert in Jamaica. My wife could be my roadie and back up singer and would wear a grass skirt with a fruity hat (so she would fit in with the locals).

By that time I'm 78 in our world, there will be peace on earth and there will be no poor people, prisons, pets being put to sleep or children in hospitals or pollution. And, best of all medical science will have come up with a pill that allows you to live forever at whatever age you choose.

I just love Christmas time.

I think I'll have my new Citation jet painted fire engine red.

When Wagons Collide

"Well I know what I've been told,

you gotta know just when to fold.

But I can’t do this all on my own.

No, I know, I’m no Superman"

Laslo Bane

We each have our own 'wagon' which is full of our own individual 'stuff''. The word 'wagon' reminds us that we tote around a sort of 'pile' that really consists of who we are and how we want to represent ourselves to the world at large. Just like a little kid walking down the street with his toys in his Radio Flyer, a wagon contains the items we would like to showcase and to have others admire about us. Children cart around dolls, toys, tools and other objects of interest that they intend to share and with which they have some sort of connection or relationship. Adults have a different sort of display but we also need a wagon to cart our display items around in and to help us to relate to other people and their wagon loads of their stuff.

What happens when two people meet up with each other is that each agrees to share, discuss, defend and even swap some of the 'stuff' in each others lives. If each person finds enough common ground and joy in the exchange, they may decide to make a commitment. Marriage is one such vehicle and sometimes marriage can be referred to as 'hitching' one person's wagon to another person's wagon.

"A study done by a pair of Canadian psychologists uncovered something fascinating about people at the racetrack. Just after placing a bet, they are much more confident of their horse's chances of winning than they are immediately before laying down that bet. The reason is that we have a nearly obsessive desire to be (and to appear) consistent with what we have already done. Once we have made a choice or taken a stand, we will encounter personal and interpersonal pressures to behave consistently with that commitment. Those pressures will cause us to respond in ways that justify our earlier decision."

'The Psychology of Influence', by Dr. Robert Cialdini

This analogy can easily explain some of the seemingly strange choices we make in life. Why would your daughter choose a drug addicted boyfriend with no prospects in life to marry and raise a family with? Why pay good money to own a car that you can't afford? Why choose a job that pays poorly and offers no opportunity for advancement? What is it about that particular girl's wagon that made my son want to hitch his wagon up to hers? According to this social psychologist, as human beings we are all hard wired to pursue consistency even in the face of a choice which seems to make no sense. Once we have made that commitment we have to fight against everything, (often including ourselves) to unhitch our emotional wagon and move on.

When my daughters choose their boyfriends in the years to come I am going to try and help them realize that they, too are wired for consistency and that they have choices that do not require commitment. Then I'm going to pray.....

"Feel Good" Medicine

As a doctor, I have discussions every day with my patients who are interested in getting off of their prescribed medications and taking something holistic instead. I consider it my job to listen to my patient's frustrations and arguments and to try to accomodate their needs as much as possible without compromising my training, mandate and role as a licensed physician. Evidence based medicine is the cornerstone and the foundation of our science and art. Our professional articles and citations script for us the standard of care that we try to convey to our patients as we prescribe our medications to heal their illnesses. Chronic health conditions are often asymptomatic and convincing patients to embark on a daily therapy is challenging. After one heated exchange last week in which one of my patients tried to convince me of the validity of his holistic treatment over the therapy I was advocating to control his hypertension, I suddenly realized why we were not communicating. While this patient and I were repeating the same phrases and examples to each other, we both were expressing very different meanings for those same words.

My patient would repeatedly demand, "I feel good on my supplements so why should I take your medications?" It occurred to me that the phrase, 'I feel good' is a catch all or umbrella term which is synonymous with 'I feel well'. The patient was trying to communicate to me that their internal monitoring system was not detecting a health problem. The patient was, in fact saying, 'I feel well so I must be healthy so why are you prescribing me this medication?' This particular patient was well versed in the alternative medical literature and understood that since his supplements and vitamins left him feeling good, he must, therefore be free of danger from disease or medical disaster.

This is a fine point because doctors, especially family practitioners are trained to look for potential medical land mines that might loom up and strike a patient in the future.

"I feel good." is a construct which implies total wellness since the signals the body gives are looked upon as a good indicator of health and we all expect that our personal energy and sense of well being should act as a diagnostic screening tool or health barometer for each of us. To a medical practitioner it is, of course important to feel good but it is more important to be good.

Three of the deadliest health conditions we Americans face are all but impossible for our own internal diagnostics to detect; adult onset diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. Even many forms of cancer cannot be detected except by certain tests and are often discovered late. If a person comes to me for advice but are in the mindset that "feeling well" equals "being well" then the alternative health world of supplements and extracts makes perfect sense. If you are a trained health care practitioner then the patient in front of you whom you have been entrusted to safeguard is not truly well until that patients relative risk for long term disasterous health consequences have been checked and corrected even at the expense and risk of taking a prescribed medication. We, health care practitioners know we have done a good job for our patients when they die of old age and with the minimum of therapeutic interventions.

The next time one of my patients wants to know why they should take a risk and sacrifice their interpretation of wellness (feeling good) with my interpretation (lowering the relative risk of future catastrophic illness) I will simply tell that patient that while we both want the same things, as a physician, I am trained to help them attain goals for their health that go beyond just 'feeling good'. A good physician wants each patient to be able to go kayaking and mountain bike riding with their great grand children.....and feel well at the same time.

Meet Toby

Toby Storie-Pugh is co-founder of Flying Kites Kenya and Flying Kites Global. When he is not in Kenya with his long time friend and colleague, Leila de Brunye and their volunteer caregivers, he focuses his rescue efforts on the dying, abandoned and abused children in the slums of New Delhi, India. We recieved word that for the past month Toby has been living with the children who sleep on the railway platform in New Delhi. When the trains come in they dispense some of their left over food to the abandoned children. Toby is currently living in the train station comforting, feeding and protecting the children he has met there while using his cell phone to organize local volunteers and rescue efforts to support still more children.

When my wife and I think of young adults we would like our daughters to emulate we will often talk of Leila, Toby, Justine, Kaitlyn, James, Ryan and all of the dozens of volunteers of Flying Kites. These young people live and work with orphans and abandoned children often at great personal risk in India and Kenya.

Visit these extraordinary volunteers on their website at:
http://www.flyingkitesglobal.org

Work, Legacy and Cairo Stand

Artists, musicians, performers, authors, film makers and craftspeople are all known to create some thing which is loosely referred to as 'a body of work'. These artists create work which can be viewed or listened to over and over and will last through generations. The rich and colorful expressions we see and hear could not have existed without these people. The world is clearly a much more vibrant and interesting place with the art, music and beautiful crafts they have created for all of us to enjoy. Here you see a promotional photo of a creative band called, Cairo Stand. Their music is the result of their energy, skill and ambition. The band's musical recordings are their legacy; their 'body of work'.

Doctors, teachers, lawyers, priests, social workers and others who work in the human service professions also contribute to the human experience just as the artists do. In their own way, they too create a 'body of work' but just not in quite the same way. Doctors, for example are presumed to create a landscape of healthy people wherever they go so their 'body of work' can be found everywhere. Teachers, too generate a tremendous legacy in how they teach and guide children and adults through the educational process. Parents who raise their children with care and respect have certainly created a 'body of work' that will be their legacy.

To paraphrase a famous sociologist, meaningful work is work that is 'complex, interesting and offers a clear correlation between effort and reward. Meaningful work is more than just showing up at a job until you get fired or you die'. Finding our true life's work may actually take much of our lifetime.

Those of us who do not paint, sing, have recording contracts or belong to the Screen Actors Guild can still produce our own 'body of work'. We can all create a memorable and lasting legacy among our family, co workers and friends by committing to good physical and emotional health, making good choices in our friendships and relationships and choosing meaningful work.

Cairo Stand has been producing rock music in New England and Los Angeles since 1982 and have produced three albums. The band's discography contains no less than 44 songs, tours and interviews.

http://CairoStand.com

The Rule of Reciprocity

"There is an obligation to give, an obligation to recieve, and an obligation to repay." Quote from the French anthropologist, Marcel Mauss.

The Rule of Reciprocity is well described in the book, 'Influence, the Psychology of Persuasion' by Dr. Robert Cialdini. In his book, Dr. Cialdini describes, "the reality of internal discomfort and the possibility of external shame" which is brought about when a favor or kindness is extended by one person or group toward another and this act then, creates a feeling of obligation in the recieving person or group. This feeling of obligation offers sales people a great opportunity to sow the seeds of guilt within a potential client or customer causing them to sometimes buy an item or service that they might have otherwise passed by. Dr. Cialdini describes the fund raising techniques of the Hare Krishna cult members as being a textbook example of an application of the rule of reciprocity. A cult member insists on giving a passer by a flower as a "gift" and then asks for a small "donation". The unwilling flower recipient feels such guilt at accepting the flower that they take out their wallet and give to help themselves to feel better about the "gift".

My wife and daughters lived in the Caribbean in 2003 for seven months on a tiny island while my wife was completing her Ph.D fieldwork in anthropology. She told me how reciprocity is so ingrained in the culture of the islanders that it seems to actually contribute to poverty and limit an individuals ability to improve his or her economic situation. I learned that if one of the island inhabitants were to experience an economic windfall and were to come into some money or to recieve a gift, their neighbors and friends would come by and demand their share of this money. The recipient of the money, gift or property would be made to feel so guilty that they would end up giving their gift away and remain just as poor as they were before. Meanwhile, the prize that had been divided up had been reduced to such small amounts of capital and spread so far among the local population that no one person could ever recieve any real benefit. The community benefitted a little for the short term but the individual lost all to the rule of reciprocity and never had anything to show for it. Everyone remained poor on the island. The selfish and the independent islanders who ignored the cries for reciprocity and used the money they made to develop businesses and industry ultimately helped their neighbors in a more meaningful way.

In his book, Dr. Cialdini instructs his readers how to say "no" to a sales pitch or to a guilt laden request. He asks the readers to look past the obvious guilt and blame and to see the request for what it really is. "Perhaps we can avoid a confrontation with the rule by refusing to allow the requester to commission its force against us in the first place. Accept the desirable first offers of others but accept those offers only for what they fundamentally are, not for what they are represented to be. We should look to participate fairly in the 'honored network of obligation'. As long as we percieve and define the rule of reciprocation being enacted as a compliance tactic instead of a favor, we no longer are obligated".

Incidentally, the Salvation Army volunteer outside the supermarket is not invoking the rule of reciprocity. That person ringing the bell in the snow is asking for a donation for a poor family so get out your wallet and be generous this Christmas.

Flying Kites in the Holiday Season

This Christmas season, there is one website we should all visit and two online documentary films we should all see to make each of us thankful for the gifts we have. My wife and I have two close friends who live and work on the very edge of safety and sanity. Toby Storie-Pugh and Leila deBrunye have started a unique non profit organization to help orphans who live in extreme poverty and are faced with life threatening danger. They have named their revolutionary approach to the orphan crisis; Flying Kites Global.

Leila deBrunye is the Executive Director of Flying Kites Kenya and Flying Kites Global. She sent us an email last night from her small orphanage in rural Kenya which I have reproduced below. One of her young new arrivals had been diagnosed with HIV that he contracted from his mother at birth. Below is a transcript copy of her conversation with this 12 year old boy who was left an orphan when his mother died of AIDS.

Joseph finally lifted his head, "I have it?" he asked. And I said, "Yes and thank God we are able to look at your blood so we can get you really good medicine to make sure you stay just as strong as you are now. You wouldn't believe it if I told you how many people have HIV in their blood, - friends in America, family members, people on TV, sports people, doctors." Joseph was incredulous, "Doctors?" , he asked. He asked why we came for him and we talked about how he came to Flying Kites. I told him the story of how I had worked at By Grace for a while, and that I wanted to set up my own home with Benson- then I explained that I had always promised the kids at By Grace that when I could, I would come back and help them too, but this year we only had room for one child, so I said to Salome, "I can't chose between all my little friends, I don't want to separate them and I don't want others to feel badly that I didn't chose them." So I asked Salome to send me a child that I had never met before. And when she asked me if I had any hopes, if I wanted a boy or a girl, I just said, "Give me the smartest child in the centre, so I can send them to a real school." That made Joseph smile from ear to ear, as if he hadn't just learned that he was sick. "So that's how she sent me you." (We found out earlier today that Joseph came in 9th out 120 in the national school exam, despite having not been in class for over a year and without any review. I am so proud of him!). We hugged and he said that he was glad that God hadn't forgotten him.

Toby Storie-Pugh is co-founder of Flying Kites. When he is not in Kenya with Leila and their volunteer caregivers, he focuses his rescue efforts on the dying, abandoned and abused children in the slums of New Delhi, India. We recieved word that for the past month Toby has been living with the children who sleep on the railway platform in New Delhi. When the trains come in they dispense some of their left over food to the abandoned children. Toby is currently living in the train station comforting, feeding and protecting the children he has met there while using his cell phone to organize local volunteers and rescue efforts to support still more children.

Toby is less than thirty and Leila is in her mid twenties. On fund raising tours in Europe and the US, they sleep in the homes of their friends and speak in churches and colleges to raise money to support their non profit organization. During these trips, they attract and organize volunteers from all over the world to work in their orphanage to help care for the children. They believe in a hands on, grass roots approach to their work and Flying Kites with it's sponsors and consultants has developed plans and infrastructure that will ultimately change the way governments view their millions of orphaned children.

On their website, you can view compelling film footage documenting their relief work in India and in Kenya. Toby and Leila do not have apartments of their own and they do not own cars or have regular jobs, health insurance or retirement plans. Both are college educated and have supportive families and friends but choose to live and work abroad with their orphaned children, to be close to them every day. Individuals, groups and corporate sponsors interested in conributing toward their extrordinary efforts with the most neglected and abused children in the world may contact them through their website:

http://www.flyingkitesglobal.org/

Flying Kites Kenya Mission Statement:
Flying Kites is a non-profit organization that helps vulnerable children in developing countries. We are currently building a home for orphaned, homeless and abused children in Kenya. The children we take in have often endured tragic or traumatic experiences and often have no close relatives to provide the care they need.
As an organization providing for children from such desperate circumstances, we must define ourselves by the high quality of care we deliver. We do this by providing first class care and first-class education, by hiring the best staff in the country; by being innovative in everything we do, by questioning long-held assumptions and by always, always, always searching for the better solution.

This holiday season, be sure to visit this website and learn about an incredible non profit organization of inspired volunteers....

Then find a way you can help.

http://www.flyingkitesglobal.org

The Age of Leverage

"Manners should never be taught. If a child of seven wants to eat with his fingers, he should be free to do so. No child should ever be asked to behave in a certain way, so that Aunt Mary will approve. Sacrifice all the relations and neighbors in the world rather than stunt a child for life by making him behave insincerely. Manners come of themselves. No child should be forced to say "Thank you". Quote from 'Summerhill-A Radical Approach to Child Rearing' by A.S. Neill

I am fascinated by the concept of 'leverage'. Entrepreneurs and investors speak of it as a way of describing the traction and forward progression of one idea or project into another, more meaningful idea or project.

Websters dictionary describes leverage as follows:

le·ver·age: def.
1 : the action of a lever or the mechanical advantage gained by it

2 : power, effectiveness (i.e.,trying to gain more political leverage)

3 : the use of credit to enhance one's speculative capacity

When communicating with one of my patients, it is important that I try to appeal to reason and to engage that person so as to promote my ideas for their treatment or to explain the answer to their questions. I am not only not making my bid for leverage but also attempting a conversion in the mind of the patient to affect a certain end. To use a football metaphor, the football team will never create leverage for their team to advance to the Playoffs if they cannot convert enough first downs on the field to score touchdowns and win games. It does not matter how great the team or an individual player is if they cannot convert and then leverage these conversions into success. Doctors should always attempt even the smallest conversions and keep on moving forward until they have helped the patient to leverage their own health and wellness.

This is a picture of my Dad who has just used a fishing pole to leverage a really big fish from the ocean. He is hanging on with his hand so that the waves do not tip the boat to leverage him out of the boat and into the water. In this example, the fish is not going to be going to the Playoffs. My Dad has managed to convert his fishing efforts into twelve tasty fish dinners so he has, in effect won the tournament and will advance to...the kitchen. Now you understand the concepts of leverage and conversion. Or at least you will if you have ever gone fishing...

In the quote in the beginning of this blog entry, A.S. Neill has expressed his opinions about the harm which can come to children forced to learn and practice basic manners. In Neill's opinion, imposing the guidelines of acceptable social behavior actually stifles the child's normal capacity to create his or her own ability to apply leverage. Children who are forced to conform are less capable of learning the skills needed to express themselves to others as adults. Fearlessness, self actualization and intuition are skills that cannot be taught but must be developed through life experience. Parents who generate real life situations for their children in which the child is able to face their fears and experience courage and in which a child will be allowed to interact with an authority figure and communicate their own wants and needs will be doing their children a great service. This is a philosophy of practical parenting called 'concerted cultivation'. Prodding a child into rote recital of a series of culturally acceptable responses and actions is not an effective way of helping them to develop intuition, courage and fearlessness. Prompting and scripting also does not teach a child to look an authority figure in the eye and tell that person what they think. In order to develop the skills to get what we want from life we need to be self assured, self reliant and not intimidated by authority.

Introduction to the Summerhill School:

This remarkable school in Leiston, England runs under a true children's government where the "bosses" are the children themselves. Summerhill opened in 1921 and is described as "the world's greatest experiment in bestowing unstinted love and approvel on children. Children are taught that freedom is not the same as license and that healthy human development makes it necessary that a child eventually cut the primary ties which connect him with his father and mother and learn to face the world as an individual."

Puppet Show Second

"If I told them once, I told them a hundred times; Spinal Tap first, Puppet Show second."

This is Spinal Tap, 1984

We all need priorities even if some of our priorities are simple and misguided. In one famous pseudo rock-umentary, the metal band Spinal Tap finds itself performing before a "festival crowd" and the band, noting the promotional marquis are dismayed to find that they are billed second to a local puppet show. Rather than absorb this obvious slight, the band takes the stage and tries to perform a jazz metal set written (on the spur of the moment) by the bass player, Derek Smalls. The band has fared poorly and the puppet show crowd has thinned measurably.

We can all learn from the antics of the anti heros of the Spinal Tap saga as they drift without purpose like tiny steel balls in the great pachinco game of the American landscape trying to keep their integrity in the face of endless and dismal failure and disappointment. We realize that we will never sacrifice our self esteem as they have! Each morning as we get up to go to work we can look in the mirror with the assurance and know that in our own lives we will always recieve top billing.

Moral: Always put yourself first and the puppet show second.

Cartoon Credit: Lawrence Gilson

The Yellow Russian Tank

The picture on the left is one of the photos from my portfolio. Many of my writings and stories in this blog reflect back to the two years I lived in northern Israel as a volunteer on a border kibbutz called, Gonen. A 'kibbutz' is a community of Israelis who have decided to live in a collective settlement. They share the responsibilities of working, raising the children, running the business of the community and looking out for the interests of the members. What you are looking at is something that belongs to the members of Gonen. You have never seen this 'thing' before and never will again.

This is a working Russian T-34 tank.

In this picture, the tank has undergone some clever modifications so that it could be useful to the workers in the settlement. The first thing you will notice is that the tank is painted yellow. This paint job is to prevent the pilot of a passing Kfir or F15 fighter jet from thinking it was a real Russian T-34 tank. The tank also had its turret gun removed and was fitted with a 60 foot boom with a 'cherry picker' cage at the end so that someone could stand in the small cage and trim the tops of trees.

The kibbutz workers would drive the tank to their fields of trees to be trimmed and then cut down for use in the factories. The worker in the cherry picker would navigate up and down the tops of the trees trimming and pruning while another person drove the tank slowly up and down the rows of trees all day. As someone who drove the tank for several months, I can tell you that it is fun for about 10 minutes then it gets monotonous. The drivers seat is in the very front of the tank under where the turret gun would be and the giant diesel motor spits smoke and oil all over the inside of the tank (and up your back) while you drive it. There are basically three gears and a clutch and brake inside and the treads are maneuvered with levers that stop one tread so the other can keep rotating to turn the tank. It is very loud in the tank so I used to wear headphones all day. The operator in the cherry picker would communicate his signals by a series of air horn blasts. Those times when I got to work in the cherry picker were much more fun than driving the tank itself and riding atop the 60 foot boom while the tank was moving was pretty cool. The hydraulics in the basket were not that great so when I would press my foot onto the 'down' pedal, the boom would shoot down really fast until it got near the ground then stop suddenly.

Here is an archive photo of a World War II Russian T-34 tank on the battlefield. At that time, the T-34 was a feared weapon and was considered to be one of the best tanks in the world.

The members of kibbutz Gonen found their old tank after the Six Day War and had it brought back to the settlement so they could 'fix it up'. Gonen was built as a frontier settlement on the old Syrian border many years before the annexation of the Golan Heights in 1981 by Israel. The tank was supposedly used by the Syrians in their war with the Israelis although it was, by that time already very old. This particular tank is maintained and used as a piece of farm equipment. Talk about 'turning your swords into plowshares'.

Anyway, now you can say that you have seen a photograph of a yellow Russian tank (it even has a sun bonnet on the top to keep out the rain). You have learned a bit about an Israeli kibbutz. And you have seen a photo of the tank when it was in use by the Russians during World War II.

After you read this entry, be sure to read the one entitled 'Flying Kites in the Holiday Season' which will be posted soon. The Flying Kites blog entry is about two young people who are out to save orphaned children in the Third World and is much more important than this short, pointless one about a worthless yellow tank! Yellow Russian tanks never got anyone in the holiday spirit but I assure you that the one about our friends working in Kenya and India and their remarkable story will get your holiday season started off on the right foot.

The Wisdom of Oz

"Dear me!" remarked the Scarecrow, "what unhappy thoughts you have to be sure. This is proof that born brains cannot equal manufactured brains, for my brains dwell only on facts and never borrow trouble. When there is occasion for my brains to think, they think, but I would be ashamed of my brains if they kept shooting out thoughts that were merely fears and imaginings, such as do no good, but are likely to do harm"

The Magic of Oz by L. Frank Baum

The Scarecrow of Oz is one of the most recognizable literary characters in the last one hundred years. Simple minded and pragmatic, he bumbles through each story and adventure, a warm and cheery companion to his friends as they experience strange adventures in the Land of Oz. We who live in the real world could all learn something valuable from the Scarecrow, a character who has every reason to pass through life feeling humiliated and self concious. The Scarecrow is frail and fragile, he is made of straw and cannot walk for any length of time without stumbling and falling down. He is timid and fearful but is the first one to offer to sacrifice himself for the good of his friends if danger awaits them. He even looks comical and in his early adventures found it difficult to gain the respect of his peers because of his ridiculous appearance.

I had a friend many years ago when I lived in the Middle East. This fellow, Richard was from South Africa. Richard had fallen into some type of machinery when he was a very small child almost losing his life in this tragic accident but was somehow saved and stitched back together. When I met him he was about twenty years old and had arrived to live and work on the settlement I lived on at the time with many other travelers from all over the world in northern Israel. When the doctors had put Richard back together again after his accident they had done the best they could but his appearance could only be described as alarmingly peculiar. Richard was about five foot six inches tall but one shoulder was hunched higher than the other. His hands and legs and body on his right side were all normal and strong but the machine he had fallen into had caused his head to be severely injured and his left arm and leg were weak as though he had suffered a stroke. One eye was false and was sewn in place lower on his face than the other eye and he had a wry grin because of severe muscular nerve damage which left him with a sort of unilateral sneer and he spoke out of the right side of his mouth like Humphrey Bogart. The right eye was undamaged and peered with a directness that made you forget that the other eye had been lost. He had hair that was not exactly lusterous but did, for the most part cover the majority of his scalp. One other thing that was very obvious about Richard from the moment he arrived on our settlement in northern Israel, women loved him.

This strange looking fellow had spent his entire life being stared at, pointed at, laughed at and judged. He looked like the character of Quasimodo in the famous book, 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame'. He set out from South Africa and planned to travel the world on his own. Richard was not part of a tour or a University junket, he was a regular vagabond traveler and accepted the risks and hazards of life without any safety net just like anyone else. He made his way from South Africa and traveled up the coast of Africa to Egypt and finally to Israel all the while enduring the strange looks and passing comments of his fellow travelers. Suffice it to say that if Richard was standing right next to Mick Jagger, Bono or the Queen of England, Richard would be the person you would notice first and would be more memorable than any international celebrity.

Women loved Richard because he had an infectious sense of humor, the quickest wit and the most winnning smile of any of us in that small community. He would tell the rudest jokes and laugh through the one side of his face while tears of laughter would come out of his good eye. Richard clearly loved women but more surprising than that, he expected that women he met would love him back. And they did. Looks clearly were'nt everything where Richard was concerned and, in his case, looks were a potentially severe impairment to his social life. It did not matter to anyone and it was surprising how quickly we forgot his poor facial reconstruction once he became our friend. Within several months, the Lebanon War started and we volunteers scattered back to Europe and elsewhere. It is rare in life to meet someone who so completely overcomes adversity and hardship so as to leave a lasting impression of only courage and laughter with the people he meets.

The Scarecrow of Oz is famous for making self effacing remarks about his construction and appearance as he trips, stumbles, catches fire and gets torn apart and his straw scattered through his many adventures. If he makes a passing reference to his ridiculous appearance this self effacing comment is always followed by a hopeful nod and an appeal to the reader not to forget his personal strengths and the story moves on. Since all of the Oz characters are flawed or misshapen in some way, we accept that it is a land full of misfits (just as in real life) so children who read the Oz stories learn to see past these visual descriptions and focus on the hearts and strengths of the characters. Most people we see every day are not as disfigured as Richard but we all have our flaws and many struggle with paralysis, amputations, illness and the curses of old age. As familiar as we all are with the characters in the Oz stories it is so easy to overlook their anomalies and to see the good in them. As we go through our daily lives we should all remember the poorly made Scarecrow who, like many real people, possesses great strengths and courage while suffering the misfortune of having the appearance of consisting solely of cloth and straw.

The Zen of Wile E. Coyote

"Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Wile E. Coyote...Genius. I am not selling anything, nor am I working my way through college, so let's get down to cases. You are a rabbit, and I am going to eat you for supper. Now, don't try to get away! I am more muscular, more cunning, faster, and larger than you are and...I'm a genius. Why, you could hardly pass the entrance examinations to kindergarten. So, I'll give you the customary two minutes to say your prayers."

What Wile E. Coyote is saying is that since he believes himself to be both intellectually and physically superior to the Road Runner, he sees the issue of 'supper' as pre ordained. It only remains for the prey to surrender and he can then move on to other, more meaningful aspects of his day. Life does not often deliver results in this way. Life must be taken on lifes terms. But that is not to say that we should not approach life with self confidence and self assurance.

In his most recent book, 'Outliers', Malcolm Gladwell details some of the circumstances that lead some individuals to great success and personal wealth. Throughout history only a few people have risen to the top of their chosen professions. These few people have been the recipients of a unique set of life events and opportunities but they have also had tremendous drive, ambition and passion for what they do.

So...who do you picture to be the exact opposite of the upwardly mobile, confident junior executive? I've been reading to my daughters every night for the past several years and it strikes me that the one character in all of the books we have read together that would serve to represent the opposite of Wile E. Coyote is the dull, nearly-silent and depressed character of Mr. Bucket in 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'. This ghostly, chronically fatigued and almost invisible character element to the story toils away alone each day in the worst conceivable dead end job; doing physical labor working as the cap screwer in a toothpaste factory. Mr. Bucket cannot come up with a plan to better himself or to support his family except in the direst poverty because, while he is a character with feelings he has no vision, no energy and no passion in life. Mr. Bucket does not consider himself to be a genius and he probably never has.

Closer to the Warner Brothers theme, another character to consider is Elmer Fudd. Always confused and slow-of-wit, ever the stalwart hunter of "wabbits", Elmer lacks creativity, common sense and cannot conceive of a plan to hunt Bugs Bunny that does not begin and end the same way every time. Elmer Fudd does not consider himself to be a genius. He probably does not even know what a genius is.

Bill Gates, George Lucas, Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg, Bill Clinton, the Beatles, Richard Branson and many others in our modern era have achieved tremendous wealth, fame and power. Was it all etherial timing, a particular juxtaposition of the stars or a slight nod from God that created these outliers in our society? Or was it supreme belief in themselves and their personal gifts and abilities along with their relentless attention to the possibility of opportunity that brought riches and fame to them.

For Elmer Fudd to have become rich and famous it would have to be because he accidently ended up in the same cartoon as Bugs Bunny who was a true genius.

And that goes double for Daffy Duck!

Ref: The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie (1979)

The Happiness Scale

"Take care of your people. Create and sustain a business where they can live, not just make a living."
Gary Erickson, Clif Bar founder and author of, 'Raising the Bar'.

Is it possible to create a way to benchmark contentment in the workplace among employees? Can a manager use this tool translate into a healthier and more sustainable business model? I propose a new way of assessing the emotional health of the company; The Cooperative Engagement Scale. The CES will utilize previously untapped descriptive terms and adjectives such as; remarkable, insightful, dedicated, profound, historically motivated and resentful. Since working within the tight bubble of an office or plant is often very similar to working and living in a commune, a boarding school or Israeli kibbutz, we mangers should be able to create a model to assess workplace satisfaction as it relates to a productive group interaction and individual inner calm.

There are established methods of assessing an employees aptitude for certain types of jobs and tolerance to close working relationships with different personality types. The Big 5 Inventory Test is one example of this type of testing and is described as follows:

"This 44-item test, developed by Oliver P. John, Ph.D. and V. Benet-Martinez in 1998, is in the public domain and has been normed on tens of thousands of adults. It provides a score for each of the Big Five personality traits (Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, Emotional Stability, Extroversion and Intellect or Openness). Scores on these traits can often explain important issues for adults and thus simplify counseling efforts. For example, an extrovert working as a night janitor was depressed. Finding a day job, where he could relate to other people, went a long way toward relieving his depression."

The thesaurus generates a list of vague terms which may have meaning when placed in a structured context.
Contentment: satisfaction, ease, happiness and gratification

Happiness: approval, fulfillment, contentment

Cooperation: collaboration, teamwork, mutual aid

In Guy Kawasaki's excellent book, 'The Art of the Start' he details his own intuitive way of evaluating his own reaction towards his employees and business partners. Guy has named this The Stanford Shopping Center Test. He writes,"Suppose you are at a shopping center. You see a candidate (or employee or partner or service provider) before he notices you. At that point, you can do one of three things:

1: Scoot over and say hello.

2: Figure that if you bump into him, fine. If not, that's OK too.

3: Get in your can and go to another shopping center.

**If you picked number 2 or 3 don't hire that person. Life's too short to work with people you don't naturally like especially in a small, young organization"

Our new management tool, The Cooperative Engagement Scale should generate a clear picture of a prospective employee's inner calm and sense of purpose and well being. A few test questions might read like this;

1: If you had a Ferrari, what color would you choose?

2: How frequently do you say the word, 'scintillating' in the course of a normal day?

3: Do you let your four year old daughter watch Ultimate Cage Fighting competitions on cable TV?

4: How would you respond if your adult co worker expresses that he or she still believes in Santa Clause and the Easter Bunny?

We all need to work together and to accept each other for our individual strengths and weaknesses. The Cooperative Engagement Scale will be the new way to benchmark our aptitude for cohesion and collaboration. I am working on it every day but would'nt it be great if we could use the internet to allow everybody to submit questions? Now that I think about it I wonder just who in my office actually watches Ultimate Cage Fighting?

References:
Kawasaki, Guy. The Art of the Start. Portfolio Books, 2004.

Erickson, Gary. Raising the Bar. Jossey-Bass, 2004.

The Official American Dog

"To his dog, every man is Napoleon; hence the constant popularity of dogs." Aldous Huxley

Queen Elizabeth of England has a couple of short, brown furry dogs. George Bush has two short, black Scottish Terrier dogs. The Reagans had a big dog once but they traded it in for a short dog because the Secret Service was afraid that the big dog would pull Nancy Reagan off the Presidential helicopter steps. For the remainder of the Reagan presidency, we Americans were forced to be represented to the rest of the world by yet another small dog. Outrageous! Appalling!

President-elect Barak Obama will be moving into the presidential residence this winter with his family. What type of pet should the Obama family get that we can all be proud of as Americans? I have a few suggestions which I have listed below;
1: Big dog
2: Bigger dog
3: Cat - (only if dogs are not available)

Here are the pets the Obama family should avoid at all costs;
1: Hampsters
2: Ferrets
3: Reptiles of all kinds
4: Birds

I say the selection of a 'First Pet' for the First Family should be left up to the American people! We should be allowed to vote on the pet and have a nation wide bake off to choose the name of the pet. This is an important decision and one the rest of the world will be observing closely as an indicator of our ability to lead the world in other important matters. Mr. Obama cannot be the leader of the free world and own a tiny, furry, yapping pomeranean. The White House Press Corp should be free to walk around the South Lawn without being afraid of having their socks snapped off or their shoelaces shredded by the tiny teeth of an itty bitty dog with a chip on it's little shoulder (or whatever a dog's shoulder is called).

We need an Official American Dog. I cast my vote for the best dog in the whole darned dog world; the Black and Tan Coonhound. You've seen these dogs around the neighborhood but probably not in the movies or on TV. These are the medium sized dogs that have the black and brown patterned coloring with those wise looking, expressive "eyebrows", the friendly dog smile and that calm demeanor. The black and tan coonhound is a dog for all the people. You will not see the black and tan dog in Madison Square Garden parading around for the annual dog show. The humble black and tan coonhound will have been eliminated in the early rounds of the competition before the final dozen compete on television. At the time of the dog show broadcast, the sublime and composed coonhound will be resting in the Green Room in Madison Square Garden having some kibble and telling the other loser dogs that he "did not really want to be there anyway."

The Presidents Dog should be the type of dog that our Secretary of State could take for a walk around the park on a stroll with the Secretary of State from another country as he (or she) negotiate the next free trade agreement without being embarrassed or interrupted by stupid barking or multiple attempts by the dog to pee every three feet. The black and tan coonhound would sit quietly during presidential photo ops without seeming to steal the spotlight. A painting of this stately dog would really look cool on a postage stamp, adding pizzaz and style to almost any postal envelope and kicking the boring Canada goose (and those stamps of old baseball players that I have never heard of) right out of the US Postal Service stamp lineup. How many goose stamps do we need anyway?

So I encourage everybody reading this blog to vote for the Official American Dog! We need a solid canine presence in the White House so that all those other countries that have leaders with dogs will know we Americans mean business and that we are serious Presidential pet pickers!

To view the New American Presidential Dog (that you will be voting for), link onto:
http://www.coonhoundrescue.com/

Ozymandias was a Teenage Camel Tipper

Today's middle managers and plant supervisors work hard for their companies and have had to prove their worth and toughness many times to get where they are. The vision of the grizzled, crew-cut crew boss is someone who, you can imagine ruled the neighborhood as a kid and kept all the other kids in line. If you look around at the CEO's and leaders of business and industry, these seem to be the studious types who applied themselves to the task of learning how to best get along with others and to take advantage of opportunities to advance up the corporate ladder. Each type of leader plays to their strength and each would be ineffective without the other. The leaders of the companies need the leaders of the staff or crew to make the companies work and vice versa. I wonder about these supervisors and team leaders and how they differ from the rulers and conquerers in the ancient world. Leaders are very different today than just a few short centuries ago....

In the famous poem by Shelley, Ozymandias is the fictitious monomaniacal ruler who built his famous city and statues glorifying himself before devastation and tragedy erased all of his achievements from human memory.
I met a traveller from an antique land, Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand, Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read, Which yet survive stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed; .And on the pedestal these words appear: 'My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings; Look on my works. Ye Mighty, and despair!' Ozymandias

What must this powerful ruler have been like as a boy growing up on the high plateaus of Asia? I imagine that young Ozymandias (his friends probably called him 'Ozzy') had a 'discipline problem' and probably did not do so well in school. He was probably a frustrated student in class although he could make small weapons in 'Shop'. Ozymandias probably grew up in a vast metropolis like the ancient city of Balkh, which has all but vanished from the deserts of what we now know as Afghanistan. Lets say he did grow up in Balkh, he must certainly have witnessed violence and death and gained an appreciation for the spoils that come from weilding great power. Like the statue in the poem, little was left of this ruined civilization after it was conquered by Ghengis Khan and others. A typical Saturday night in Balkh would have offered many opportunities for mischief for a young lad out looking for trouble and a chance to prove himself to the other kids in his neighborhood.

In farming towns all over the US the sport of 'cow tipping' is considered a trial of strength and a rite of passage with just a bit of danger thrown in (after all it is a cow). Going up to a drowsy, unsuspecting Jersey at night and pushing the top heavy animal on it's side in the mud is probably lots of fun to a small town teen with little else to do. An ancient desert kid might have practiced 'camel tipping' (goat tipping is for babies) and then had aspirations of world conquest and glory from there as he grew older. The self confidence one gains from trials of strength can open many doors to a young fellow who is trying to better himself. The camel tippers in the ancient world probably grew to become the best conquerers even though they may have lacked such things as; good judgement, social responsibility and global vision. These old guys sure could show how strong they were!

The CEO's of business and the leaders of our multi national corporations are no longer the aspiring, sword weilding pillagers and looters that they once were centuries ago. While 'pillaging and looting' are relative terms (and are often accomplished electronically) my point is that the neighborhood bully who ruled the other kids through fear and intimidation probably will not make it to the top of the excecutive food chain by using the same tactics. As in the example of Ozymandias, the face of leadership is changing and the new wave of commanders have to be skilled communicators and negotiators and not just good 'cow tippers' who can bully their peers. Without competent, forward thinking innovators who can work and be productive in a democratic environment we too will go the way of Balkh and Ozymandias and our life's work will be reduced to a footnote on a scrap of rock.

Ancient History Lesson
"Balkh was old long before Alexander’s raid, and its history of 2500 years records more than a score of conquerors. The Arabs, impressed by Balkh’s wealth and antiquity, called it Umm-al-belad, the mother of cities. When the Silk Road was the chief artery of commerce between East and West, Balkh was second to none. But then came Ghengis Khan, and wreaked upon it the utter devastation that has made the Mongols’ name a byword for barbarism. Balkh never fully recovered, and eventually faded into a village; the seat of government shifted to scruffy but vigorous Mazar-e-Sharif. Catastrophe struck in 1220, when Ghengis Khan chose to make an example of Balkh, perhaps as punishment for an uprising. One hundred thousand Mongol horsemen embarked on an orgy of slaughter and destruction that left nothing standing; a few weeks later they returned to pick off the survivors of the carnage." Quoted from Frank Harold

The Upanishads, the Extreme Skier and a Lucky Stroll in a Mine Field

In the book, 'The Razors Edge' by W. Somerset Maugham, a ruthless and crass Polish coal miner surprises the lead character, Larry Darrell during a game of cards by admonishing him about his lack of familiarity with the mystical teachings found in the Hindu Upanishads.

"The Upanishads speak of a universal spirit (Brahman) and an individual soul, and at times assert the identity of both. Brahman is the ultimate, both transcendent and immanent, the absolute infinite existence, the sum total of all that ever is, was, or shall be. The mystical nature and intense philosophical bent of the Upanishads has led to their explication in numerous manners, giving birth to three main schools of Vedanta."

The Polish coal miner cheats at cards and then taunts Larry for all of his searching and reading by saying, "You mean you've never read the Upanishads? You really don't know anything do you."

When Kit Delauriers becomes the first person in history (man or woman) to climb and then ski down the seven highest mountain peaks in the world we marvel at her passion, vision and courage. In her lectures, Kit describes coping with her fear and doubt and her remarkable ability to overcome panic and to reach down and focus on her inner strength to complete her dangerous descent down the Lhotse Face of Everest. Entrepreneurs will tell you that their success in business is the result of vision, insight, endless hours of hard work and, for the very few, an unbroken stream of luck. Reiki practitioners, Therapeutic Touch healers, Craniosacral therapists and mystic visionaries, will relate stories of energy fields and a current of Chi that guides and heals us.

On New Years Day in 1981, I went on a walking excursion with a couple of friends into the hills of the Golan Heights in northern Israel. We were three friends with a picnic lunch, enjoying a sunny morning after the revelry of the New Years Eve party the night before. Going up a familiar road we found a low fence and crossed onto a field and took a shortcut to an abandoned Syrian outpost where we were able to look over the wide expanse of the Hula valley and see the border of Lebanon on the other side. A few hours later after wandering about some more we crossed over another part of the fence and found to our surprise that we had just left a rocky meadow that had not been cleared of land mines since the Six Day War. The Golan Heights are full of mines and unexploded ordinance and these areas are usually well marked since the roads are well traveled and the area is populated. Somehow we had missed the sign and had spent almost the whole day wandering about on a mine field. Oops...

Blogs are supposed to be a platform for journaling our thoughts, ideas and observations. When I think back to that New Year's Day in Israel of aimless sightseeing in the mine field and spin forward to the rich and complex life I experience now as a husband, father, brother, son and doctor, these circumstances and series of life events seem connected. I am the person I am now because of these experiences and have been fortunate enough to be able to advance in life's tournament through hard work, dedication and a quick splash now and then in the slipstream of good fortune that runs through the human experience.

So, what is the thread that runs between ancient mystical teachings, a lucky walkabout through a field of unexploded mines and the achievements of a world class extreme skier who does the impossible? Who knows and, in the final analysis, who really cares. The miracle of my life lies in the daily joy of staying healthy, raising a family, laughing as much as possible and doing meaningful work. Today, these are the simple things I look forward to. Tomorrow, who knows?

Luck? Skill? Mystic conjecture?

Life is a mix of all three.

Reference:

Kit Delauriers Website: http://www.kitdski.com/ and http://pursuebalance.org/
Kit is the first person in the world to have skied off the top of the 7 Summits which are the highest points on each of the 7 continents. This lofty goal was made complete with her October 18, 2006 ski descent from Mount Everest. Kit’s first international climbing expedition was to Peak Siniolchu (6,887 m) in Sikkim, India during April/May of 1998. In addition to being an accomplished skier and ski mountaineer, Kit is an experienced rock climber having led many traditional alpine routes of the Tetons with grades to 5.10. Kit volunteered extensively with the San Miguel County Search and Rescue Team often as team leader for entire rescue operations. She also worked for the Telluride Ski Resort as a professional Ski Patroller for two winter seasons. During this time Kit became a certified EMT as well as highly trained in technical and helicopter rescue.

Upanishads definition: Quoted from Wickepedia.

"Here's to Swimmin' with Bow Legged Women!"

"I start with the premise that the function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers."

Some people aspire to be leaders and managers but they lack the skills and committment to be successful in this role. They react poorly to a changing business and financial landscape and failure often results.

Take the movie, 'Jaws' as a metaphore for a failed business venture and let's examine the circumstances surrounding one of the lead characters. Quint, played by Robert Shaw is a very good example of someone who is forced by circumstances beyond his control to lead others and ultimately meets a bloody death in the jaws of the great shark. We could see Quint's demise unfold from the beginning. The audience knows that his fate will not be a pleasant one because he is inherently such an unsavory character and if someone is going to get their just desserts from the great shark we know it will be the reviled Quint. If you remember the film, we meet the hunter in his harborside shack full of shark trophies. Great steaming pots are boiling the shark flesh from their dead jaws and the walls are festooned with proof of his fishing and shark killing prowess. Quint lives to kill sharks and he accepts the other two men on his boat as useless cargo only because they are paying for the charter. Chief Brody and Hooper learn along with us who this extraordinary character is and how far he will go to destroy the great white shark he has been hired to kill. In the end, the boat is sinking, the shark is winning the fight and still Quint does not give in. He cares nothing for the passengers and it is not in his nature to recruit others to help him to kill the shark the way he has killed thousands of other sharks. To Quint, the other passengers on the boat have nothing to offer, no recognizable skills that he can draw on so in the end he dies alone, with the other two helplessly looking on.

Quint becomes more human to us when the ordering and shouting die down during the first calm evening at sea as the three men sit down in the galley for a shared drink. "Here's to swimmin' with bow legged women!" Quint cackles to his charter mates as his way of lightening the mood and attempting to bond at some level with the two partners he is forced to endure. As the scene unfolds and he and Hooper find common ground in comparing their various shark induced wounds, while Brody is left to contemplate his minor surgical scar and to question his own self worth. Ultimately, the shark scores the final coup de grace and Brody, with the boat sinking beneath him, manages to redeem himself with his weapon and blow the shark and his ingested oxygen tank to smithereens. In an earlier scene you recall that Quint expressed his scorn that Brody's little police handgun was next to useless to defeat this shark.

Leaders great and small with various skill sets and levels of committment dot the historical landscape of every country, town and business. Compassionate, altruistic, genuine world renown figures such as Ghandi, Mother Theresa and Nelson Mandela change the world for the better one unselfish act at a time. Monomaniacal potentates such as Sadaam Hussein inflict their malignant narcicissm on humanity and only manage to litter the world with grief and dispair.

Our leaders, bosses and supervisors need to want to lead and inspire, to want to share and experience the advancement and to expect ultimate success from the people in their charge. Inspiring others and stewarding them to become all they can become is an innate skill. Some are better leaders than others. Some companies thrive and succeed while others are devoured by 'sharks' as a result of their poor stewardship.

Quint knew everything there was to know about killing sharks and he had been successful for years. There was no one better and he could prove it. In the end, his lack of ability to develop and implement a creative plan of action for achieving his goal when the landscape of his venture changed led to his undoing and the failure of his mission. Worse yet, in failing to enable and inspire his subordinates, Quint was unable to rely on them when his boat was sinking. Hooper and Brody clearly had skills they could lend but Quint ignored them and passed them off as worthless idiots instead of members of a team that could help him to salvage his downward spiraling shark hunt. Quint ultimately chose the only course he had ever known and followed his own gut feelings, (which ultimately led to his personal contribution to the sharks gut feelings...).

'Leaders' quote by Ralph Nader