Summer 2010

Off to the beach in spite of BIG turn-over in Afghanistan this week, business challenges overseas and continued fragility in the housing market here in the US.

I'm excited about prospects for improving US corporate, nonprofit and government infrastructure given many US organizations are sitting on cash and more executives realize the cyber threat is real. Stay tuned for details: we'd like to help!

Circle of Life

Grandma Grace, my daughters' Great Grandmother, passed away earlier this week. Simple and fitting tributes included Wake in Falls Church, Mass at her long-time Church, delivery to final resting place, then gathering at her home with close friends and family.

Mary and I sat in our backyard reveling on the grass that has grown in, the playground that has become a hit with the girls and their friends and watched Cocoa frolic with a wooden disk. Robins were darting about, perching on branches or prancing for insects.

We will miss you, Grandma. Thanks for everything...

Open

Andre Agassi, major tennis personality, one of the winningest players of my generation, delivered a great work. His autobiography, "OPEN" documents a roller coaster career that looks a bit like the US economy. Any body care for a challenge match?

Wow in MA

Scott Brown drove his pick-up around Massachusetts and into the United States Senate, culminating with his election last week. Beyond his rustic personality and Western Massachusetts Republicanism (see Jane Swift), his statements regarding terrorism resonated with a broad public...

Happy New Year!

After several back-to-back holidays and some wonderful family time, my sense of purpose around defending this way of life-- and living it-- is reinvigorated. We still certainly do hold these truths to be self evident, whether adding value to the search for bombers (before they bomb) or sparking small and large businesses to next level revenues.

Here's to more warmly received excitement this year for you and your's!

Goals

Do you know people, as I do, who have detailed goals that they set about acheiving, every year? Life for them, seems compartmentalized, controlled and forward moving.

I'm reminded of my own younger days... and (believe it or not) large communist governments (the Soviet Union, for example). Everything was planned. Every detail was a component of an orchestrated mosaic. Neat. Clean. Wrote a good resume.

Of course, "neat" and "clean" don't seem to describe many successful lives, seems to me. Soviet Russia was incredibly inefficient because goals set sometimes weren't acheived, sometimes didn't make sense when the environment changed and didn't capitalize on smart people solving evolving problems every day.

I think there is no substitution for the energizing value of a good plan -- but somehow we need to be flexible (as individuals and organizations) to modify the plan to capitalize on exciting opportunities that evolve in front of us... and to drop a goal that no longer makes sense.

What's your New Year's Resolution?)

Credentials II

About a week ago, the 2010 winners of the Rhodes Scholarship were announced. A very impressive lot. Presumptuous to say I'd have won, but my undergrad advisor encouraged me to apply for a Rhodes after my thesis took a prize. At the time, I was anxious to get on with life and certain I would win a prestigious MBA or JD either during my tenure in the Army or after I fulfilled my scholarship commitment. I went on to win admission to, and graduate from, the best business school in the world, but still wonder, "what if," when the list of Rhodes Scholars is published every year.

These days I'm considering other credentials. The CISSP. The PMP. The CFA Charter. Like the CPA, CISSP, PMP and CFA credentials add experience requirements to a challenging test (or several tests). People typically study rather extensively for the test component of the credential and find the designation positions them clearly in the job or advisory market. The CISSP is a Cyber Security credential, while PMP is focused around project management. The CFA Charter, on the other hand, is intended to provide a standard experience base around financial instruments and investment decisions.

CPA's didn't prevent Arthur Andersen from stumbling into a disastrous engagement with Enron that resulted in a wide scale sale of its practices to competitors and financial ruin for many employees who invested many years in audit or tax work with integrity. I'm sure you or I could dig up plenty examples to similarly tarnish the CFA and PMP, though the CISSP may be too recent an arrival for much negative press.

Key to building knowledge is finding synergy with past experience and existing talents. Standard tests and programs validate we actually learn something from the pages we read and the work we do. I'd be interested in hearing comments on these credentials....