I work with quite a few young people – young enough to easily be my daughters. I am conditioned by my own generation to see them as stereotypes  – generation Z or Y. I’m not sure who’s currently up to bat, but I don’t see an enabled generation tethered to helicopter parents that lack work ethic or real introspection about their lives. I see everything but that and I’m proud, if not envious of the people they are at 22, compared to my own generation at the same place in life. Despite what I am told to believe about them, I see people who are close to their parents, concerned about their own moral compasses and the values that guide their direction. I see people eager for experience and knowledge without concern about getting-paid. I see honesty and compassion every day and I’m thankful that this generation will be the bosses and big brothers and sisters and mentors for my own daughters.

What do you see?

What I’ve most enjoyed this summer is Justin Cronin’s, The Passage. It’s such a popular book that there is little I can say that hasn’t been all ready said. Forget that it’s easy to package the 800 page novel as a vampire book, which might turn many off, but to do so completely misses the nuances and brilliance of the story. It’s a wonderful journey about the love between fathers and daughters, an allegory about the survival of the humanity and retelling of the story of Noah. It’s not The Stand and it’s not, and I’m quoting another reviewer, about “your teenager’s vampires.” The creatures in the book are the results of secret government experiments gone-real-bad in a very believable political climate that mirrors our current culture of distrust and suspicion. Every character’s story is told with a level of empathy and honesty that’s hard to dismiss or forget.

Yes, parts of the book are terrifying, but not in that, “I’ll never sleep again” kind of terrifying. Cronin has an amazing gift for language and he makes you want to read the most horrifying parts of the book, over and over again.

One of my favorite passages

“That was when he heard the sound, coming from beneath the overpass. A soft, wet ripping, like sheets of damp paper being torn in half, or the skin being pried off an orange fat with juice.”

Close your eyes and picture me holding two thumbs up.

Having kids when you’re 39 means that you’re mostly grown-up by the time that they show up. I have this imaginary conversation with my daughter Lily about how I wish I had her earlier so we’d have more years together, but I know that there are no guarantees, and I tell her, still in my imaginary voice, that “this is the only path that led me to you” and I wouldn’t ever risk having it any other way. So, even if I could afford it with my zillions of lottery winnings, I’d never invest it in a secret army of scientists to build me a time machine to right any wrong turn or try to make up for lost time.

So, since the last time that I wrote anything personal, I’ve had the privilege of being a much better-together birth dad for my daughter, Natalie Violet, born March 25, 2010. Without the distractions of the anxiety of being a new parent, especially a first-time-parent, I could slow things down and take beautiful photographs in my mind of the first moment I saw her. I know that this will go fast.

The school provides a nurturing and supportive environment to build academic and social skills, not to mention self-confidence and HOPE, for children that would otherwise spend their days in a shelter, fall through the cracks in the public school system, and potentially repeat the cycle of poverty that they are unfortunately a part of.

I’m reaching out to friends in Oklahoma, back home in Texas, and all over the U.S. to ask for your support. We have a major fundraising event this month called Cork and Canvas, and every dollar from every ticket we sell goes directly to the school. If you’re in Oklahoma, please consider attending this event. I’ve attached a link with details below. If you’re not in Oklahoma, or you can’t attend, please consider making a donation to the school anyway. And if you have friends who might be interested in attending or donating, please forward the links to them, too. We’re a small school with a very modest budget and ANY amount makes a difference. It’s amazing, the kind of strides that the school’s teachers and staff can make with the kids on such a tiny operating budget. With more money, we could do so much more.

The links below provide plenty of details, but don’t hesitate to get in touch with me if you have other questions. I hope to see you at Cork and Canvas. Let’s make a difference together.

Please sign up or donate online

I’m in agreement with the author that there’s nothing better than working in the trenches to earn your stripes and scars and to give you practical, useful insight about running and owning a business; however, that is true for lots of professions that require advanced education or licensure: lawyers, architects, doctors, etc… There is no perfect training for being an entrepreneur and for that matter, being a leader.

What’s driving the anti-MBA backlash?

1. MBA programs are money-makers for many universities. Rent an executive suite and presto, you’ve got an MBA program. An MBA program lacks some of the academic rigors that accompany other advanced degrees. Nope, that doesn’t mean that it’s easy – but there are comparatively different standards between getting a typical masters or PhD – proposing research, thesis, etc… and being subject to a committee of advisers and evaluators to whom you must demonstrate your individual excellence before advancing.
2. Like lawyers, there are just too many. And when you have too much of anything, even a really good thing – you’re going to start finding some bad apples in the mix.
3. This is a problem with the university system in general, but there is such a thing as being too convenient. The rigor of the experience can become watered down by versions of MBA programs that are expedited or expanded at such a pace that the product suffers.
4. There are people that just aren’t a good fit for the degree and they finish. See 2 and 3.
5. Enron – If you’ve seen the wonderful documentary, The Smartest Guys in the Room, you can’t help but think that there’s a little bit of Jeff Skilling in every MBA.

What’s an MBA all about, anyway?

1. An MBA is a generalist degree with a broad introduction to understanding the underlying dynamics between finance, marketing, and operations. Every part of your business falls into one of those broad categories — and an MBA prepares you with the knowledge to manage those different elements, but not be an expert in any one.
2. Most MBA programs are practical, rather than theoretical. They build on not only your previous education, but your experience. There are more seasoned, professional business leaders on the faculty, rather than academics. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not knocking academics – I’m married to one.  But an MBA program is meant to be a practical program, geared around understanding and creating solutions for real-world business problems.
3. An MBA is best suited for someone that has 3-5 years of working experience at a management level.
4. One of my professors said it best: “When you leave here, you need to understand how to read a financial statement, effectively present your ideas, and manage a project.” If you can do that, and work on developing your skills as a leader – you’ve got a pretty good chance of being successful in whatever you do.

So, what’s the “profile” of successful entrepreneurs?

1. They are great risk-takers.
2. They excel at creating and working through their organization.
3. They make decisions without complete information, without looking back and sometimes…even without an algorithm.
4. They treat their businesses as assets that enable other comforts in their lives — without letting the businesses become a job. They have a vision for someday exiting the business and enjoying the financial rewards, rather than the psychological rewards and status of a particular job.
5. They are great at creating a currency of relationships. I got that one from Tim Ferris.

What entrepreneurs could learn from an MBA program:

1. The ability to uncover and understand the most important trends that drive cash-flow
2. Developing a systematic approach and the ability to prioritize and mange projects through completion
3. The ability to know when to bring in an expert – to recognize when the task at hand is beyond your personal capabilities
4. Executive writing skills – if you can sum up a problem or course of action in a succinct way that 80% of your audience will understand – you’ll get more people on board
5. The ability to write a business plan and use it as a living document… a roadmap to guide your professional aspirations and those around you.

For full disclosure, these are the first names that I really love, but we just couldn’t find enough common ground to move forward with:

Samantha: I always wanted to call my daughter, “Sam” like the character in Sixteen Candles
Ripley: Like Sigourney Weaver’s character in Alien
Juliet

First Names

Natalie
Penny
Violet:
Finley
Riley
Dylan
Kara: Like Kara Thrace from BSG
Shelby
Julia
Ellie: Jodie Foster’s character in contact

Middle Names

Harper: Like Harper Lee
Dylan: Like Bob and Thomas
Parker: Like Posey or Peter

You won’t change our mind, but we love the discussion so opinions are welcome.

WC represented the trusted voice of America – a voice that I’m sad seems to be absent in our everyday experience. There are still great journalists, but is there a market for them? You have to take all of this in context. The reason that Walter Cronkite was so successful was in-part, a result of his convictions; however, CBS gave him the stage to be as objective as possible.

In summary, we’re experiencing a period of such significant change, that I can’t imagine what information will be available to my daughter when she wants it. I don’t know where she will find a Walter Cronkite in this world and I don’t know how any of us find the perspective to trust anyone, anymore.

What I love about Youmail

1. Different outgoing voice mail for different contact groups or even individuals
2. Example: My wife gets Darth Vader, clients hear something less Darth.
3. Visual voicemail application for Blackberry
4. Listen to voicemail online
5. Voicemail transcription – haven’t tested it yet (not automated)
6. Block unwanted callers

What I might love about Google Voice

1. Automated transcription
2. 1-Phone number for all phones
3. It’s free and it’s google technology
4. You can conference people into your conversation (up to 4)
5. You can listen in to voice mail as it’s being recorded)
6. Set your calls to do-not-disturb
7. Listen to voicemail online – email inbox

Do you have a review?

1. Never raise your voice in front of your child
2. Never let your child cry more than 30 s econds without comforting her.
3. Ask questions and listen, even if you don’t understand what she’s saying.
4. Go to the library together and read every day
5. Write her letters for her to open up when she’s older.
6. Remember, she will measure all other men against you.
7. Sing and dance no matter how atonal or uncoordinated
8. Make tents and conjure all of your imaginary forces
9. Teach her about animals, how to respect them.
10. Practice with stuffed animals
11. Be the bath time parent
12. Take pictures together and talk about themwith her
13. Listen to good music with her, not just kid music.
14. Remember, she will repeat the things that you say.
15. Be affectionate to others in front of her.
16. Let her create her play, her own way
17. Help her see how her actions impact other people.
18. Remember, Santa is scary at 12 months old
19. Don’t worry what other parents think about you.
20. Measure your success by your child’s trust and happiness.
21. Surround yourself with parents that share your values.
22. Model compassion, create structure – don’t worry about discipline
23. Let her be messy – just about everything can be sprayed off in the bath
24. Be playful, learn about who she is through laughter
25. Take her outside, teach her about the moon, let her pick the flowers