Ate at awesome American Chef Ming Tsais ming/about-ming/biography.htm Blue Ginger restaurant along the Boston Marathon route with Kieran after he competed in a [Rubiks] cubing competition in Norwalk, CT. Kieran solved the 3x3 cube blindfolded ! in 3 min 1 sec, including time to memorize! He has made friends with other like-minded teens and had a fun time. I had a fun time chatting extensively with a father of one of Kierans friends who supervises over 200 people as a business consultant working for Accenture, the largest biz consulting firm in the world, employing over 360,000 people and working with 91 of the biggest 100 companies in the world. I found that a lot of the reading I have done over the years would probably dovetail nicely with working in the business consulting world. As I heard stories of working with exuberant Silicon Valley startups where enthusiasm for creativity, optimism & drive was contagious during the dot com boom and raised the levels of innovation in this country, I drew parallels to Rowing Coach Susan Saint Sings story of the US Navy rowing team snapping a British rowing streak and starting a 40 year winning streak, the longest in Olympic history, from 1920-1960 that elevated levels of performance in rowing in this country much as Roger Bannisters breaking of the 4 minute mile barrier led to rapid drops in the world record in that event and many more running faster than 4. The principle at work here is that breakthrough performances around people influence their motivations and their perceptions of what they feel is possible and lead them to do things they never thought possible. Another interesting story from the business consultant was of him initially trying to convince an executive that a $125 million tall building would be more efficiently and economically built broader with fewer floors, yet the exec remained firm in his stubborn insistence that the project be built as he wanted, and was paying the business consultant to figure out the best way to do it. Reluctantly, he proceeded to make plans for the tall building. I reminded him that all technical problems, whether they be in computer programming, or engineering, are people problems, in that they have their origin in peoples approaches, ways of communicating, and acting on their thoughts. As people adjust these ways of being, they interact with others differently and transform their world around them. Numerous fascinating conversations! If I were younger, I would probably have been working in this profession with this guy, as he was fascinated by our conversation as well and could tell that I had insights that would be advantageous in his profession. He routinely hires people with the raw potential and sends them for training. I definitely have the knowledge and the skills to be able to progress as a business consultant. Beyond that, who knows? What many people dont know about me is that I had applied for jobs as a health and fitness business consultant for several high profile firms such as IBM back in 1983 before I started working at Eldred & Fallsburg Central Schools. While I saw that as the best expression of my knowledge and talents, I did not get any bites from the lines I cast out. Undaunted, I was able to apply many of these same skills and to learn many more during my years of teaching at Fallsburg. The experiences have been invaluable. While any one of us can look back and say, I could have done this or that, or made more money at this, the fact of the matter is that we all make our own choices and create a path in life that is our own. If it enriches our life and the lives of others, it has been a worthwhile path to create.
Posted on: Sun, 29 Jun 2014 13:06:49 +0000
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