Monday, October 26, 2009

First Fruits

Several of my more recent posts might have seemed a bit critical, cynical, or pessimistic. In reality, that is not the intention.

Have you ever had a sore throat?

A bad sore throat.

So bad that you can't seem to be able to get out what you are trying to say...

and people don't understand even if you try.

I guess that you might say that I've kind of had a sore throat when it comes to work-related issues. Now, though, I'm starting to get a voice back. This hasn't happened over night.

However, some keys to this transition:
  • Reading the Bible - I think the ethical mishaps of so many companies are evidence enough of needing a strong foundation for work in business. The Bible has started to become more of a foundation for me in my work. Yes, I still get angry, still swear, still handle a lot of situations poorly. Yet, as Maxwell says in in the Maxwell Leadership Bible, the Word of God is a "guide, guard, and gauge."
  • Returning to Creativity - I am lucky to have a few close friends who are extremely creative. They see things differently. They spin things differently. They look at things from different angles. Jenn and Trent are prime examples. Check out Trent's blog to see some of his photography. Jenn is a music teacher. She is always coming up with new ways to teach music. I think the fact that some 70 elementary kids come to school early for choir practice is evidence enough of the impact of her creativity on the students. In college, I was all about creativity. I played in the bands, acted in a couple plays, designed innovative lesson plans, and wrote award-winning papers. This creativity never went away, but perhaps the expression of this creativity was a bit stifled.
So back to previous posts: Why Not? and What Does Pizza...? After just being totally open with our lubricant supplier and providing data and research, the walls started to crumble on Friday in the form of an email.

They want to explore new technologies with us.

They are interested in field studies.

They believe alternate chemistries are indeed available that could help us with some of our quality concerns.

To use the phrase of a former teacher, "I'm tingling."

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