Blog
Unconscious Bias
Recently, I had the opportunity to read several letters from high school coaches nominating student-athletes for a prestigious award. I didn’t know most of the young athletes, so I was going almost purely off the coaches words.
I found myself drawn to vote for the male and female nominees where the coach’s words resonated with me. The nomination letters in these cases were expressive, told stories, and were grammatically well-written. They provided a clear picture of the student-athlete. This was in stark comparison to a few nomination letters that were more pithy, less extensive in accolades, and without stories to expound the virtues of their nominee.
In recent weeks, I’ve interviewed guests on the Shrimp Tank Podcast where the topic of “unconscious bias” came up.
Memorial Day Special
All words that signify and define the word, “memorial.”
I can’t imaging what it would have felt like on June 6, 1944.
To be 21 years old, standing on a Navy ship, and set to be on a landing party to the beaches in Normandy. The odds said that you’d be a casualty and you knew it.
The chill of the wind and the rain in the Atlantic just off the shore of France, and far away from wherever you hailed from.
Packaging
My new Titanium Apple Card came in the mail. And it was different from all the rest.
First, it was delivered to my door by FedEx, not to my mailbox by USPS. It was contained inside a very firm cardboard packaging. Not one of those flimsy deals; this thing had heft.
Inside the cardboard folder was another layer of packaging. A clean, solid white package with the familiar Apple logo.
The instructions to activate required one small sentence that said “Hold your phone here to activate your card.”
That’s it.
The Keys to Success
My neighbors and I have a great relationship. Part of that relationship includes the keeping of each others house keys in the event of assistance.
There have been multiple times that one of us required our dogs being fed or plants watered, and we always have friends available to do so.
Recently, I needed to find the keys for my next door neighbor. Turns out…I have a lot of keys.
Back of the Card
There’s an old baseball saying that you are what the back of your baseball card says you are.
I started collecting baseball trading cards at about 9 years old. Baseball became my favorite sport at that time. I collected cards for about another 15 years before petering out, but still kept my collection.
While no longer my favorite sport, I still love baseball. The axiom about the back of the card still rings true.
Allow me to explain…
What Could Go Wrong?
This past Saturday was Outbound Orientation for a group of high school students preparing to go on a year-long foreign exchange experience through Rotary. I’ve been involved in Rotary Youth Exchange since 1994, and find that this process exhilarating for all parties.
My job was to give a 45-minute presentation on being resilient. My goal is to make the session interactive by proposing ideas and then asking questions of the students.
At the conclusion, I always ask for what most resonated with each of them. I never cease to be amazed by the answers because very often, it’s not what I expected.
Several of the students mentioned to a point I made about midway through the presentation. The point was summarized in a brief bullet point stating,
“Always ask, what could go wrong OR right?”
Mental Frailties
“What if I leave the ball in the damn sand?”
As most of you know, I picked up a part-time job this Spring as the Boys Golf Coach at my local high school.
I was feeling good about my game going into the season. Over last summer, I dropped nine strokes off my handicap. I was primed to do some coaching.
And then I get on the driving range.
All of a sudden, a new pressure emerged. The opportunity to demonstrate as a coach is constant. Standing in front of either one or a group of players to hit a ball without having warmed up or hitting a few practice shots conjures up a few demons in one’s head. At least mine! I’m supposed to be good. I’m supposed to teach them! It’s a completely different and more demanding pressure than playing a round with my pals on a random Monday morning.
Is Your Alignment Right?
I recently played 9 holes with my golf coach. While practicing in front of a simulator to work on my golf swing is good, it’s even better to get on the course and have a playing lesson.
Eric didn’t coach me at all during the round; rather he simply asked me questions and took a lot of notes. He’d ask me to talk about my strategy for each shot, where I was aiming, and why I was choosing certain clubs to use in different situations.
At the conclusion, we walked off the course and he gave me his feedback.
While overall he had some good things to day, he didn’t hold back in giving me a less than flattering grade, “I’m giving you a D in one area – alignment.”
Grappling With Guilt
Today marks my mother’s 98th birthday. Yes, she passed away just over seven years ago but that makes it no less her birthday. And this date still resonates with me even though she’s no longer with us in body, yet still in memory.
As much as my memory recalls the days of my youth when Mom was younger, I still will default back to the final five years of her life when she battled dementia. In retrospect, my guess is we battled it more than she did. At some point, she didn’t understand that she even had it, but we sure did.
Mom lived with Barb and me for two years after Dad died, and before we moved her to a memory care location when it became too much for our “skills” to take care of her. Too often, I harken back to times where my struggle with patience, empathy, and kindness were tested. And the number of times I flat out failed!
