American on Purpose by Craig Ferguson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I liked on Craig Ferguson’s Late Late Show and Drew Carey, so hearing his story was a real treat. He is just as funny as an author as he is in person. He has that ability to be authentic while being light hearted. I love his take on “Choosing Adventure” and the analogy he uses about being born Scottish, but choosing to become an American. I think this is probably true for most immigrants.
What’s the next destination Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport should serve?
I would welcome cheap flights to Los Angeles and San Diego. Las Vegas is now available starting in February thanks to Spirit Airlines! The announcement that Spirit Airlines has arrived opened a whole new set of destinations including South America.
Recently, I was asked to sit in on a visioning session for the Chandler Center for the Arts (CCA). The report from those meetings has been published. You can find it here.
CCA should be applauded for not resting on it’s laurels and understanding that it must adapt for the future. Taking the time to get community feedback is something so many organizations/facilities fail to do.
The recognition that the audience is changing and that educational components have to be address in order succeed is a great first step. Understanding that the facility, current partners and programming all need to be challenged to fight the status quo is key.
The report covers in detail the dynamics of Chandler’s community, demographics, business/lifestyle trents, the role of arts/culture, building on a strong foundation, preparing for the future and managing dynamic tensions.
If you care about Arts/Culture in your city, run a an arts organization or want to understand the dyanmics at play, this report is a must read.
Why are external agile coaches so popular?
I think that they are appealing to management because they have an external view of the organization. Organizations have a hard time understanding their dysfunction, if they are able to recognize it all. Outsiders bring experience from other organizations and don’t have fear in challenging organizational norms.
However, the use of external coaches long term is not very sustainable. How do we develop internal coaches (and programs) that allow, promote and encourage internal coaches to see their organizations through the eyes of an outsider while leveraging their institutional knowledge?
Lyssa Adkins lead a team at the Scrum Coaching Retreat that put together some thoughts about running an internal coaching consultancy (coaching services). It’s a great start, but I still challenge how do you get that outsider’s view? How do you not fall trap to the “Stockholm Syndrome“?
What if coaches had an exchange program, where they could spend time at other organizations or you could invite an exchange coach into your organization for a fresh perspective? Maybe this is just done by using external coaches and mentors?
What if coaching groups were shared among multiple organizations so that the best of each organization could be preserved, but the negative aspects could be seen with a critical eye?
Insert your what if.. in the comments below…
I have been thinking a lot about the crappy leadership in the state of Arizona (and around the globe). One thing that is painfully obvious to me is that most leaders have lost the ability to believe. They no longer are filled with dreams, purpose and passion. Instead they cling to eeking out status quo on a daily basis. Humanity deserves better than that. It is time we are reminded that we don’t need to wait on their sorry asses, that we have the ability to influence the world right now regardless of their actions.
When we will understand that treating students like prisoners, makes them act like prisoners? While Chandler Unified School District has noble intentions in considering installing camera’s on school buses. What they fail to understand is the destruction it will impose onto the culture of the district.
I am not a privacy nut, but I do believe in treating people as humans. This is not human. In fact, it’s similar to how we treat prisoners. When I hear things like “It helps us with student ‘management’” I want to cry a little inside.
If we want results in education we have to stop treating our children in this fashion.
I say it every day. I give this same story of our history. I am a nobody. Maybe you will believe it if you hear it from a famous author? It’s nice to have others saying a similar thing. The world economy is getting reset and so are it’s norms. We are moving to a place where expressing your humanity matters.
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Betty is hilarious. I was never a fan of her in the Golden Girls. In fact, I found the show and her to be utterly irritating. She seems to be appearing a lot in pop culture lately and I haven’t found her too interesting. However, Craig Ferguson speaks highly of her so I thought I would check this out. Betty has a great sense of humor and outlook on life. I can only hope to have such a good attitude and jovial spirit should I be lucky enough to reach her age. My views on Betty significantly changed reading this.
What are your predictions for the upcoming legislative session? What will the mood be like? Any bills you expect to see passed?
The upcoming legislative session will be filled with more slashing and short term thinking. Pushing of expenses to counties and cities will be at the top of the agenda. The mood will be erratic and non sensical as usual. Expect more infighting and lawsuits. We will see the McLegislature turn up the redonkulous to 11 this session. The people will come out the losers and corporations the winners. In other words, same crap different session.
Kiss and Tell by Shannon Tweed
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
The Simmons family is appealing because they are exceedingly human. I never much paid attention to Shannon or Gene (KISS), but caught a season of Family Jewels and liked how the family interacted. Getting a look into Shannon’s life made it all make sense. Farm girl from Canada longing for more. Lots of good little nuggets about success for life included and some great stories about the playboy mansion and Hugh Hefner.
