I am an avid reader, so much so that I even jump into my wife’s reading material if it happens to be laying around. She’s reading “Failure Is Not An Option” for work and I’d like to share some excerpts from chapter two with you guys.
This is one of those reads that has a famous quote at the beginning of each chapter. Author, Alan M. Blankstein, included five of them at the beginning of chapter two’s Courageous Leadership for School Success. Reflect on these and see what they do for you.
The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. Courage faces fear and thereby masters it; cowardice represses fear and is thereby mastered by it. We must constantly build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear.
– Martin Luther King, Jr.
Courage is the mother of all virtues because without it, you cannot consistently perform the others.
– Aristotle
Without courage, all other virtues lose their meaning. Courage is, rightly esteemed, the first of human qualities, because…it is the quality that guarantees all others.
– Sir Winston Churchill
Courage may be the most important of all virtues, because without it one cannot practice any other virtue with consistency.
– Maya Angelou
Courage, the footstool of the virtues, upon which they stand.
– Robert Louis Stevenson
I love a great quote that teaches you how to live and the character of person you should always strive to be. Medidate on these thoughts and make that next great leap in your life.
Pack 373 broke camp last weekend and I now have at least two solid outdoorsmen under my tutelage. They had a great time and learned a lot. The Webelos earned all or part of four or five belt loops and pins. We did BB Shooting, Archery, Citizenship and Smimming as advancements. We did rappelling off of a tower too. My boys got a chance to go twice and yes you know I was getting into the high adventure aspect myself. I had as much fun on the tower as they did. There was even a little 6 year old visiting his big brother who scaled the wall and came back down like a pint sized Spiderman.
I’m making sure that we begin to do more cool outdoorsy stuff in upcoming years. Next year the guys will be able to go canoeing. You have to pass the BoyScout swimming test in order to go out on lakes and other bodies of water though so we’re going to work on any new Scouts becoming qualified for the swimming test from this point forward. I don’t want anybody missing out. I have to work on a couple of extra strokes myself so I can pass it and do all the water activities on Boy Scout facilities. Officially, I’m still a beginner. Gotta work on that stamina (LOL).
They made it easy on us leaders too. My Assistant Cubmaster and I didn’t have to do a thing. We just kicked back, relaxed and networked with other leaders. The organizers had Boy Scouts running the show as patrol leaders for the Webelos. Since Webelos is the Cub Scout preparatory rank for Boy Scouting they decided to give the boys a feel for what it would be like to move from Cub Scout den units to Boy Scout patrol units. This also gave the Boy Scouts some good leadership experience to take back to their troops.
I can tell it’s been years since I’ve been camping. Those cots were uncomfortable but it was nice seeing the transition from day to night from my tent. As dusk began to settle in, all the animals made the appropriate transitions to their roles in the scheme of nature. Maybe an hour or an hour-and-a-half before sunset the birds would stop flying and the bats would come out and start chowing on insects flying through the tree tops. The crickets and perhaps other types of musical insects would start tuning up at this point too. When night time settled in the frogs joined in the chorus and it was amphibians and insects all night long. Took me forever to get to sleep with all that natural music (ha ha ha) but I definitely got a close up appreciation for the cycle of things that I never noticed when I was a Scout myself.
My guys start meeting with the Webelos den officially this week and it’s on to building up the lower ranks of the Pack with new boys again. This summer should prove to be good advertising for the effort as my two adventurers tell all their pals what they missed. And they will definitely be the stars of the show at the next Scouting awards night in the next few weeks.
Not involved in Scouting? I recommend it. If you don’t have kids become a leader. You will fill a need and create lasting memories for you and a bunch of kids. Remember the people who created fun opportunities for you when you were younger? Imagine yourself being the subject of stories ten or twenty years from now when little boys turned men reminisce…”Remember when Mr. So-And-So or Mrs. This-And-Such took us to Camp Over-There out on those hiking trails…with the bugs…playing with our flashlights after Taps…with those crickets and frogs singing us to sleep…”
We’re hitting the road to summer camp!!! Yeah! Time for some high adventure for my little city slickers. As Cub Scouts they’re not going to rough it like Boy Scouts just yet. We will be in tents with sleeping bags but they’re not on the ground. They will be on concrete platforms with cots. At least it’s not cabins so they will still get the adventurous feeling.
They have been looking forward to this for more than a year. We missed out last year but we’re doing it now. We’re only taking two, my son and another Cub which works well for me and my Assistant Cubmaster. We have found what I’ve always believed to be true. Not having large numbers of boys in our Pack isn’t a big deal because the ones who show up are getting effective training and are making progress towards ranks. And that’s the point in the end.
Where’s the Scouting unit closest to you? C’mon Mom and Dad. Sign your son up now and give him the opportunity to learn things you can’t teach him and give him some great experiences that you may not be able to provide. It’s a big world out there and we Scouters help them to see it by providing plenty of outdoor adventures ready for them to explore. We always need other adult volunteers to help us help your kids as well so sign yourself up today too and find a roll to play. Until then, we’ll tell you all the cool stuff you missed when we get back.
Readers do you remember Derrick Ashong who became blog famous for his interview outside an Obama campaign stop earlier this year? Refer back to my February 28th post on the young guy who gave answers to an impromptu street interview. Guess what? Homeboy is a singer and he’s pretty good too. Actually he’s the leader of the trio Soulfege.
Soulfège (‘sOl-fezh) is an Afropolitan Fusion band. The best way I can think to describe their sound is a combination of American styles and Afropop sounds. You can definitely here some African and Carribean contemporary influences throughout their tracks.
Well the band is releasing their newest beats today. According to band member, fam, “On July 15th our band is releasing the digital version of our new record “Take Back the Mic,” which is our statement on the power of music with meaning.” fam afforded me the opportunity of a sneak peak of the new release with a MP3 download link. I like the sound.
I had the privilege of previewing the tracks and I’ll give you a personal review of the eleven selections.
1. Damoshi – It contrasts the popular imagery of entertainers with no content versus those with a conscious message in their music or a positive vibe in their life. It’s a Diasporic view, “…the time is now.”
2. Do Right – Has a driving rock beat that will remind you of Lenny Kravitz style-wise. “…we’re not the ones to be trifled with…you know we’re gonna get ‘em, so you better do right, do right.”
3. Jonny’s Song – It’s a melancholy sounding song. The message is about how influences can affect the future of a child. Kinda reminds me of the TLC’s Waterfalls from years ago. Johnny is getting closer to going over the edge the older he gets with the bad habits he picks up every few years.
4. To Be Free – Good reggae beat. The trio even sings it with the syncopated Caribbean style. “What would you give to be free?…” The song addresses finding your way in the world.
5. Just Me – Has a 60′s R & B guitar running through out. Kelley will remind you of India Arie when you hear her in this selection. It’s about finding your own identity, “let me be me”.
6. Funkadocious – DNA leads with a rap on this one. As the refrain will tell you they “bring the funkadocious”, the group’s international flair. A respectful reference to Chuck Browne of Jamaica Funk fame is even thrown in there. Kelley joins in to take the second rap verse. Nice song.
7. Once – A forlorn love song of a relationship hoped for but perhaps lost for good. A nice mix of singing and rap riffing with a brass section carrying the song nicely.
8. Beans ‘n Rice – A nice up tempo jam using red beans and rice to flavor the theme. It gives the song a perfect background cultural reference. There are conga sounding drums or some sort of traditional percussion running through this piece. It encourages you to get into the Afropolitan sound.
9. Sweet Mother – This one is simply about PanAfrican pride. The mother of the world, Afrika. If you’re familiar with South Africa’s national anthem, Kosi Sikeleli Africa, then you’ll appreciate this song on that level.
10. From the Soul – Another heritage song. Refers to the souls of the past calling to us to get it right in the modern day. If you’re familiar with the legend of the Sankofa bird you’ll appreciate this song on that level as well.
11. Fight On – The final track tells us to take a look in the mirror to look at what we’ve become. It’s a song of strength encouraging you to fight on through life’s challenges and discouraging moments.
This is a great collection. You guys should definitely buy Take Back the Mic right away. You’ll enjoy it thoroughly so go ahead and jam up those web servers with your downloads and let’s all jam some Soulfège!
We made it! Yeah baby, it became official on Tuesday, June 24th, 2008. The Talk of the Town Toastmasters Club attained Presidents Distinguished Club status when we got one more Competent Communicator qualified with her 10th speech. I am extremely proud of all the hard work the club put in to reach the finish line once they saw that it really was in sight. No mediocrity hounds, this crew. This is the pinnacle of club achievement in Toastmasters International and we reached it with a strong kick at the end. Yep, I am proud of my club and more importantly they are proud of themselves.
I’m really proud of myself too. I can’t think of anything I’ve done as satisfying when it comes to leadership. If someone had introduced me to Toastmasters early in my first career I probably would have been more effective much sooner as a young professional. Those are what we call lessons learned though. But, I am so glad that I got this opportunity later in life because I definitely know how to apply my newfound leardership skills once I re-enter the workforce in a couple of years.
As far as the club is concerned we have made massive progress over the last three years. We have moved steadily up the chain from Distinguished in 2005-06, to Select Distinguished in 2006-07 and on to Presidents Distinguished for 2007-08. We’ll add that top notch banner to our club flag and fly it with pride. I have our two previous presidents to thank for setting the precedent and giving the inspiration for success. Brenda Curtis drove us to earn our first banner. That was when I was a new member and had no interest in being an officer. Last year Jeanette Peters pushed us to improve and not remain static. That’s when I started to get excited. So to continue the trend, once I saw that the next level was possible I pushed my fellow Toastmasters even further just as my predecessors had done. So thank you ladies for being great examples for us.
Last week we had an officer transition meeting and we handed over the reigns to the new leadership team. I’d recommend this to all Toastmasters International clubs as well as to any other organizations. Over the last year I documented a club success plan, outlining in particular, what got us to the next level. The purpose was to create a repeatable system that would keep us at the highest level of club recognition annualy. Among other things we started doing every business function online. This made us much more effective in every way. We could do everything in a much more timely fashion than in previous years purely by eliminating paper and the snail mail process. I handed that “how to do it” document over to the new president and there’s no stopping now.
For the benefit of those of you in other clubs and organizations, here’s how we did the handover. We took our normal meeting time and gave the new officers a full orientation of their duties. We handed over files, binders, and notes. I reviewed some basic business functions on a couple of key web sites for the new officers. We huddled up in three subgroups and then swapped chairs to include and talk to other officers with related duties. It was a great way for the new folks to get on the same wavelength. At the end of the meeting our new president and her officers gave us the plan for the new club year.
There was even a usefull activity for regular non officer club members. Our area governor came by and gave a speech writing tips meeting in another room down the hall from us. And now that they know the 2008-09 master plan they can hit the ground running in full stride helping us to hit those new goals.
The transition meeting was a good change of pace all in all and last night the new officers took on their first meeting by themselves. Here’s to another great year for the Talk of the Town Club. Hey have you found a club near you yet? Sign up now and elevate your communication and leadership skills today.
T-Boone Pickens is the first oil man putting his smoney where his mouth is, ready to seriously put alternative energy sources into play. In this CNN interview he talks about implementing a national wind power strategy to reduce American oil dependency by 1/3 according to his early projections.
Good thing the business community is finally tired of the pain because the government was never going to get off it’s collective hump in a timely manner. It takes a big personality like Pickens and his connections to nullify the political inertia that’s been killing us on this subject. So let’s see how the private and public investment communities go about kicking this thing off in earnest.
On another slant, comedian J. Anthony Brown, a regular personality on the Tom Joyner Morning Show, is tired of these prices too. On Friday’s, he has his own segment – J. Anthony Brown Murders the Hits. If you like contemporary gospel music then you know the song, “Never Would Have Made It” by Marvin Sapp. Well give your funny bone a tickle as J. belts out that up and rising hit “Never Would Have Paid It”.
This particular link doesn’t want to insert itself into the post properly so copy and paste it into your browser bar for a good chuckle.
