Finding the Inner Gruff - Blog Off

As a toddler one of the first stories I read to my nephew was the Three Billy Goats Gruff. It was a fun read because I could animate my voice with all kinds of sounds and he was young enough to take great delight in it. The moral of the story is eat-me-when-I am-fatter. Which to tell you the truth I do not understand the message but will think about it.

My great-grandparents lived in Souris and a block away from Canada’s longest Swinging Suspension Bridge. As a way for us to entertain ourselves in the summer my cousins and I would always end up at the bridge. Inevitability the boys would get a head start and half way across they would start bouncing and swaying the bridge back and forth. And, we would in turn scream “Stop, stop, stop that right now!” It should be noted we were not very effective with that approach as their eyes would dance with great delight and go at it even harder. That hour was always pure torture but for whatever reason we would repeat the experience at every family gathering.

My take on the story of the Three Billy Goats Gruff is we all want to get to greener pastures. It is part of our life experience, evolution, and progression. Getting to the other side generally means there will be some kind of bridge we have to cross. Sometimes we do not make it because we just are not ready yet. Other times our fear is so great or the situation is so out of sync with our current understanding we burn it down. Secretly hoping that the desire to get to greener pastures will subside. But, it does not. Eventually you will have to build it and cross over. The lesson in my mind is the Three Billy Goats, did not think too much about the troll lurking underneath ready to eat them, they just came up with ways to cross. When the troll got too aggressive the bigger goat just gave him one big kick and poof he was gone.

In my life time I may have scorched the earth a time or two, three or four. Hmmm. The truth is that is okay. It was what it was and it happened for a reason. I still had some things to learn. And one of those things I learned as I was writing this piece is knowing that even though I am terrified of heights and falling I still managed to cross the Swinging Bridge despite the joyful efforts of my cousins – I just found my inner gruff to do it.

Aaron Pritchette has a catchy tune about a million wrong turns and undoing burned bridges. As you are listening to it, why not post a comment. Love to hear from you.

Why not take some time and head over to Busty's Blog at Bust-a-Blog and see what she wrote about the picture I sent her.

Leadership

Leaders are made not born. Leaders are born not made.

According to Susan Ward at About.com a simple definition of leadership is that leadership is the art of motivating a group of people to act towards achieving a common goal. Put even more simply, the leader is the inspiration and director of the action. He or she is the person in the group that possesses the combination of personality and skills that makes others want to follow his or her direction.

The Catch: the above quote by Susan Ward is a terrific and quick look at leadership, but in my mind there are three additional key elements of leadership: experience, the ability to share that experience, and taking responsibility for yourself.

Recently I had the misfortune or fortune, depending upon how you look at it, to observe three wise people screaming repeatedly at their team for not performing the way they had envisioned. The reality was these individuals have been great motivators and they have inspired. However, they – the leaders - did not have the required experience for the market they were trying to enter resulting in the failure to share information and to teach their team and handed out blame in the most ridiculous and inconsistent manner when they should have stepped up and taken responsibility. And, at the end of the day their leadership was neither motivating nor inspiring.

The Contemplation: Leaders come in all shapes and sizes bringing with them a perspective and understanding that is uniquely their own. They maybe introverted or extroverted, activist or pacifists, a CEO or a cashier at the local grocery store. Leadership is neither born nor made. It is a personal quality that is the direct result of experience, sharing that experience to teach others to achieve something greater than themselves is the responsibility. And, that my friends is motivating and inspiring.

ThInQ About It

I would be interested in hearing what you have to say. Please post your comment.

Rock On Mama - Blog Off

One of the first rock concerts I ever went to was The Police.

It was in Winnipeg and I was oh about twelve or thirteen. I went with a friend of mine Lori. I loved Lori. She had fiery red hair, green eyes, and freckles and was older than me. She was street smart, funny, and she had a wild streak. That was the fun part of being around her. She was anything, but boring. The whole town constantly gossiped about her. But, it did not matter to me.

We made big plans. We were going to go parent free. Lori had connections and she lined up one of her buddies to fly us into Winnipeg. Cool.

However, the idea of going without supervision was soon squashed. My mom announced she was taking us and we were driving. Ugg.  

There we were for three solid plus hours my sister, my mom, in the front seat of the Jeep and Lori and I in the back seat. I believe mom let us listen to a rock station instead of Christy Lane but I really cannot recall. Lori smoked ciagrettes pretty much all the way into Winnipeg. I was too busy watching my mother. She kept looking at us with only that look a mother can give you in the rear view mirror. Happiness would not be a word that I would used to describe that look. (I just kept thinking one more false move besides Lori smoking her head off and the whole gig would be up.)

We stayed at the Viscount Gort Hotel right across from the Stadium. Mom gave us permission to walk across Portage Avenue by ourselves. That I could not believe, but what the heck when opportunity knocks, run with it.

It was not until we had crossed Portage Avenue when I turned around only too see my mother leaning over the balcony rail of our hotel room, with my sister standing dutifully by her side, that I had the feeling something was wrong. She had the look of terror on her face. I paused, waved, grinned, and kept going. Skipping across the parking lot I was on my way to my first real live rock concert and, Sting was going to be there. Yes!

Several years later I got tickets to Meat Loaf. For those of you know me I love Meat Loaf, Bat out of Hell is one of my favourites. I phoned my mom excited to share the news with her. Not having a clue about what I was talking about, she asked me, “Is that anything like that RCMP thing you went to that time?” I stopped dead in my tracks. In an instant. I flashed back twenty years, to the look of terror on her face while she clinged to the edge of the balcony. Oh Lord. “Yes, mom and that was The Police, not the RCMP.”

I got off the phone and burst out laughing. Poor mom, she thought we were going to a Royal Canadian Mounted Police event, probably the Musical Ride, and it was not until her first born was on her way that she realized that perhaps this was a little more than a celebration of civil duty. Too funny.

Regardless, mom had no choice but to find some trust. We did not get arrested and came back to the hotel in one piece. And, as solid as a rock, she never really let on just how worried she probably really was.

So, mama, this one is for you.

Be sure to head over to Busty's Blog Bust-a-Blog and see what she wrote about the picture I sent to her.