My Other Sides

Obviously, if you're reading my blog you have a pretty sound idea of what I do in my time at work, and at home when I'm thinking about work. I'd like to take a few minutes to share what else I do..... my "other sides."

I find inspiration in the hard work and dedication of the young men and women that march every summer in Drum Corps across the country. I have too many favorites to list, but the place I find the most inspiring is a group called the Cavaliers. "The Green Machine." These guys (they are an all male Corps) are absolute machines, they work harder and longer than anyone I've ever met. Here's a clip from one of my favorite shows of theirs, The Cavaliers, 2006-The Machine (Part 2)

I used to march snare drum at the University of Akron, and you can still find me at InfoCision Stadium on any given Saturday during the fall cheering on my Zips and proudly sporting my "Akron Zips Drum line" hat. That's something I'm proud of!

I find peace and relaxation in fishing. I spend as much time as possible Bass fishing. If I can catch a bass in a body of water, no matter what the conditions or time of day, you can bet I'll be out there with a rod & reel chasing little green fish around the lake! Yes, I'm obsessed.....

spend most of my time with my lovely fiance, Beth. Planning our wedding and watching movies, just doing whatever we can together. I've had her at my side since we were both 12 years old and I don't know anyone else I can trust to help keep my happy than her.

I found my moral code and a lot of the rules I live by from my time in Tau Beta Sigma. I am a proud alumni member of the Epsilon Iota chapter at the University of Akron. The code we live by is something I take a great deal of pride in. And I love to spend time with these people any chance I get.

If possible, I find time to just slow my life down and go back home to Canton, Ohio to see my family. But the real reason I'm there is to see my mutt, Otis. He's my West Highland White Terrier who I miss everyday. Great pup!

And besides that, I just spend time working on becoming a better person by surrounding myself with the great team of people at work. Incept! It's gotten to the point where I don't really consider it "work" anymore. It's someplace I want to spend my time constructively accomplishing great things....

So there you have it. A long post, with very little content, but more insight into how I work..... my brain is a strange thing, but it's worth looking into it once and a while. Thanks again for always reading.

Learning To Follow To Lead Series - Leaders Are Empowered By Their Followers

This will be the first post in a series of topics in of which I'd like to discuss a concept that has been growing in my mind for years. The idea of learning to follow, in order to lead.

-Leaders Are Empowered By Their Followers-
I'm an alumni member of Tau Beta Sigma, a national honorary band service organization that teaches its members that one of the greatest values you should hold is that service is an honor, and your responsibility as a leader. So lets define a leader quickly, a leader could be anyone. (looking at it from a college marching band members point of view) A leader could be a senior member of the band, a section or squad leader, a staff member, or in my case a young freshmen member of the drum line at the University of Akron. I took it upon myself that I wanted to help lead this passionate group of young musicians to the next level of our playing ability. I also determined that serving others was something that made me happy. I wasn't a senior, a staff member, or did I have a title, I was a grunt. But through my time in Tau Beta Sigma I became someone people looked up to and someone people followed.

During the years I spent in the band and "TBS" I served under our chapter president at the time, John McArthur. John wasn't a super-leader but he was respected and with good reason. John was the president of TBS and the bands drum major (He led the band everywhere and he was the final decision maker second only to the band director) and I often served as Johns right hand man. It was my job to follow Johns example and orders in order to lead my peers. It was basically leading by example on the next level. Lieutenants lead their men into battle, the Generals job is to call the shots, I was Johns Lieutenant.

Fast forward 5 years, and I've worked for multiple companies that have had many different kinds of leadership. But many of them seem to hold the idea that it was the responsibility of their employees to serve them. I disagree, it's the job of the employee to drive the business machine and show their supervisor what they need to accomplish the goals set forth by management.

Without a strong core team to drive them, a leader is useless. So at the same time, the failure of a team can be credited to the team members failings, not the leaders. I know this isn't always a fair way to look at things, but what I'm focusing on here is the idea that leaders exist to provide the people who follow them with leadership. If you focus on it the other way around, that as a leader or manager, you're team is there to provide you with results and to help you achieve your goals, then your team is bound to revolt, or worse fail.

I think it's the job of a true leader to empower his followers and to do what the group decides is the right course of action. Call it democracy if you'd like, but from my experiences, it isn't present in a lot of work environments.