The American writer and philosopher, Ayn Rand, once remarked that there is no difference between a writer and a philosopher. I agree with her for that is what I am. A writer and a philosopher. My thinking dances in between creativity and analysis, emotion and logic. Inside that mix, there is a balanced person. Or so I like to think.
The spiritual discipline that I practice instructs me on salvation through individuation. Put simply, it is "know thyself" and "to thine own self be true." In this way, I am able to meld my mind, body and spirit into one being, one entity. It is an exciting road to travel, difficult in the beginning, but calming once the journey has begun.
Writer, speaker, producer, teacher, philosopher, all those titles equal me.
My background is in live theater, including event and video production. I work as a producer, director, lecturer, writer and sometimes performer. My specialty is history. I have a passion about teaching, and lecture in a most innovative way. I admit to practicing the concept of "edutainment." I am active in politics and historical preservation. The questions and challenges of leadership, what it is and how to develop it, sprang from both those sources. For it is in the political and nonprofit arenas that individuals fervently wish for change so that they can change the part of the world they inhabit. So many of these individuals have taken on leadership role before they were prepared to do so. Many times, these “leaders” bring on disasters or worse still, mediocrity.
I detest mediocrity. I do not like playing it safe. Indeed, my slogan is taken from a phrase attributed to General George S. Patton: “...speed, simplicity, boldness.” It fits me because I have a tendency to cut to the chase, to keep things simple and to just go out there and do it. I do not know the meaning of the word quit, or be quiet nor do I automatically give respect. All respect is earned. All of it. And it is earned by deeds, not words coming out of your mouth.
Finally, you must know that I don’t teach because I have to. I teach because passing on knowledge is my passion.
Davy Crockett is the first of my heroric leaders that I will tell you about. He is an ancestor of mine, through his father, as my line decended from David's brother, William. “Uncle Davy” was a frontiersman, a congressman and a hero of the Alamo. He wrote as well as spoke in public. Very much like me! I admire him for his plain talk and his refusal to walk away from what he thought was a righteous fight at the Alamo. The odds at the Alamo were not to his liking, but he put the action to his words and stayed his course. This is the concept to take away from Colonel Crockett’s life; stay the course. Do not let life’s circumstances push you around. Stay flexible, but keep your eye on the prize you are aiming for even when you are not quite certain what that prize will turn out to be. The unexpected always happens. It's how you handle it that will illustrate to the world your true mettle.
The American writer and philosopher, Ayn Rand, once remarked that there is no difference between a writer and a philosopher. I agree with her for that is what I am. A writer and a philosopher. My thinking dances in between creativity and analysis, emotion and logic. Inside that mix, there is a balanced person. Or so I like to think.
Davy Crockett is the first of my heroric leaders that I will tell you about. He is an ancestor of mine, through his father, as my line decended from David's brother, William. “Uncle Davy” was a frontiersman, a congressman and a hero of the Alamo. He wrote as well as spoke in public. Very much like me! I admire him for his plain talk and his refusal to walk away from what he thought was a righteous fight at the Alamo. The odds at the Alamo were not to his liking, but he put the action to his words and stayed his course. This is the concept to take away from Colonel Crockett’s life; stay the course. Do not let life’s circumstances push you around. Stay flexible, but keep your eye on the prize you are aiming for even when you are not quite certain what that prize will turn out to be. The unexpected always happens. It's how you handle it that will illustrate to the world your true mettle.