leadership

I always wanted to go into ministry of some sort. I remember telling people if I could find a job that combined kids, Jesus and the outdoors, then I would have found my perfect fit.

So camp ministry seemed like an easy choice. My favorite conversation is wondering 'how the faith is passed on.' Camp Ministry is this conversation lived out in real time between counselors and campers (and often visaversa!).

Lots of my gifts fit this job well. But there is one part of this job that I just haven't felt equipped for yet. Managment. Overseeing and managing 70 college students who have campers on five different site at Carol Joy Holling, not to mention the other two camps we run and the numerous day camp groups that all go out...is just a lot to take on. I like to have a good feel for what is going on at each site, with each counselor, with each camper. But with this big of an operation, we have to rely on systems of communication, empowering and entrusting our site coordinators who head up each site. And make sure that our ten days of staff training paint a picture of the summer ahead that excites, motivates and raises responsible, creative counselors.

To say this overwhelms me, is a serious understatement.

So I've done some reading lately, trying to build my own knowledge and abilities for the job I feel called to do. I want to do it well.

The first book I read is called, "Leadership and Self Deception" a book published by the Arbinger Institute. It was a quick read, written in story form. I took a lot from this book and felt convicted many times. Central to the main theme of this book is how we assign blame to others when we feel (and know) we, ourselves, have fallen short. And how this human habit of casting the blame often leads to feeling like the victim and feeling like others around you are incompetent and lazy. All actions and motivations will stem from this attitude overtime, and we can either sit in our misery and frustration, or see our coworkers as human beings and decide to jump on board and help the cause of the organization. This is a complete general overview of the book, and honestly just one tinsy point...it's more of a whole concept to take in.

The second book I read this week is called, "Tribes" by Seth Godin. I have followed Seth's blog for a year now, and this book was just as insightful and helpful as his daily blog posts. This book is a motivator, helping the reader see how they can be a leader no matter where they fall in the hierarchy of their workplace. And how creative change, new ideas and belief in a cause will always be more interesting to be a part of than the status quo. I got a collection of Seth's books from my coworker, Casey, and I have already cracked the next book in the stack. He's fun to read and gets lots of wheels turning in my head all at the same time

If you have any other helpful books on how to lead, how to organize a team of 70 college students, how to motivate and empower, please comment below. I'm wide open and ready to learn.

my thoughts on Warren Buffet (edited: Ha! I'll spell his name correctly: Buffett!)

Lunch, yesterday, was for real a blast. A few observations:

• The Omaha Chamber of Commerce is a really impressive, tightly knit group of people who take their networking seriously. I saw so many cards passed and sincere collaboration ideas shared. It was just entertaining to sit and watch these interactions unfold.
• Chamber people are classy people. There were 2500 people at this luncheon (I know!) and everyone was wearing dark suits with new haircuts, good makeup and nice watches (you can sort out which gender each of those comments pair up with.)
• Networking is everyone's top priority. Our table was super conversational and in the end of the meal we each had nine new contacts. At our table we had the head fundraiser for Omaha Salvation Army, the director of sales for KGBI (a local Christian radio station), a man who hosts a Saturday evening local Omaha television show on NBC, an attorney, and the woman who runs the young entrepreneurs arm of the Omaha Chamber.
• I'm pretty sure a memo was sent out before the event, warning people not to drink their water during the meal. I didn't get this memo. I drank my water and then another glass. And then I sat for the next 90 minutes, marveling at how no one else at the table touched their water, and wondering how they knew better than to drink it. And then I sat and marveled at how distracting a full bladder is.

Warren Buffet interviewed Hank Paulson, the Treasury Secretary for President Bush. It was very casual, two leather chairs up front with them basically having a conversation about what went wrong and why our economy is in its current state. It was interesting, but its so hard to know the truth when everyone has a different spin on the same story. And it's hard to concentrate when so much of your energy is plotting your path to the bathroom as soon as these two guys wrap it up.

But it was a great experience for sure. I love networking and this kind of event is every extroverts dream gathering.

our superbowl

Sunday came around, and it was time to stop going places. Do you ever just hit that wall? I have been in and out all month, and I just wanted time in my own livingroom. So we cancelled our superbowl plans, and decided to lay low.

We watched the game and commercials, after we tivo'd an hour or so, allowing us to skip through the many car and cbs commercials.

At some point during the game the multi-taskers in us took over, and I made sugar cookies and Rory built a battery-free radio. I was happily mixing my dough and Rory was happily coiling wire. By the time the Saints won, we feasted on cookies and milk and listened to the talk radio station Rory found on his little radio. He kept saying, "lick your fingers and then stick this wire between them and then you'll hear the station." No clue how that actually works, but it sure was cool.

lunch with mr. omaha

Mr. Warren Buffett is speaking at a luncheon that Rory got tickets for as a member of the Omaha chamber of commerce. I'm taking a half day vacation and am ready to learn the secrets of making millions. :)

I told this to my sister last night on the phone and her husband Jedd yelled from the other room,"I can tell you the secret of being a millionaire. First, you just have to find yourself a million dollars and then it's easy from there..."

We'll go see if we can learn something about "finding" that million dollars. I'll be back later today with what I learned...

ice fishing

I sat next to a woman on my flight to Minneapolis (layover to Arizona) who moved to Omaha in June from India. She and her husband met on the internet, and she talked of what a blessing it was to find him because he was from the same region in India and from the same caste and their parents were very pleased with the match. Now she is in Omaha and she talked about being homesick and lonesome. She is a cricket coach for an Indian team and was travelling on to London for three months where they would be in training. But she wouldn't be able to go home.

We flew to Minneapolis and I explained that I could see my parents house if we took a certain flight pattern and that I, too, feel homesick sometimes. We were looking out the window, a ways out from the cities when I pointed out all of the ice houses on the lakes.

I have never had the honor of explaining ice fishing to someone who has never heard of this sport before. I explained how you drill through the ice to make your hole, how people sit in their little ice houses for hours, how many are heated and some even have televisions. Her eyes were as big as saucers, and the whole concept did seem quite strange as I kept explaining this winter phenomenon.

Then, a few days ago, I got an email from my good college friend, Erik, who is the quintessential Minnesota outdoor enthusiast. He hunts, fishes, snowmobiles, and I think he even spear fishes... Anyway, he sent me a link to a ice fishing competition he and his family fished in this past weekend. Over 20,000 holes are drilled on a lake in Brainerd, Minnesota and the biggest fish wins $150,000! I read the articles about this tournament and suddenly felt my eyes as big as saucers like my new Indian friend. You can read more about the tournament here. The picture below is lots and lots of people standing on blue ice and white snow...