Philippe Petit
Philippe Petit was a hot commodity when I was growing up. My memory of the intensity of his place in our culture in the 70's is probably greater than it really was, and for some reason he really sticks out for me. The image in my head of him tightrope walking between the Twin Towers in NYC is breathtaking.
This week, I had the pleasure and honor of being a part of the most recent graduate ceremony for Penn State participants in our local Information Technology Leadership Program, ably produced by MOR Associates. I've been to quite a few graduations at this point and I can say that each one has its own personality, this one being no different. Brian MacDonald is a master at putting everyone on the spot in just that way that they are most uncomfortable, so I was furiously taking notes during the various presentations to make sure I was prepared for the Brian moment. In less than 40 minutes of presentation I had a full page of notes and could have truly riffed for *hours* on what I was listening to - there was so much journey packed into each presentation that I wanted to talk about it all.
The core of what I heard was about balance. Or at least, the core of what I digested was about balance.
Balance in perspective.
Balance in problem solving.
Balance in leading, following, fighting, facilitating.
Balance in periodicity (be a specialist, be a generalist at varying frequencies over time).
It was a room full of people who were reflecting on what it was going to take for them all to maintain balance and supporting each other to have the strength to maintain balance. It was breathtaking.
This week, I had the pleasure and honor of being a part of the most recent graduate ceremony for Penn State participants in our local Information Technology Leadership Program, ably produced by MOR Associates. I've been to quite a few graduations at this point and I can say that each one has its own personality, this one being no different. Brian MacDonald is a master at putting everyone on the spot in just that way that they are most uncomfortable, so I was furiously taking notes during the various presentations to make sure I was prepared for the Brian moment. In less than 40 minutes of presentation I had a full page of notes and could have truly riffed for *hours* on what I was listening to - there was so much journey packed into each presentation that I wanted to talk about it all.
The core of what I heard was about balance. Or at least, the core of what I digested was about balance.
Balance in perspective.
Balance in problem solving.
Balance in leading, following, fighting, facilitating.
Balance in periodicity (be a specialist, be a generalist at varying frequencies over time).
It was a room full of people who were reflecting on what it was going to take for them all to maintain balance and supporting each other to have the strength to maintain balance. It was breathtaking.
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The balance points seem reasonably obvious to me. People need to understand their local "universe" to understand their place and what needs to be done.
I don't understand the comment about "balance in problem solving." That seems fairly binary to me.
It's admittedly not perfectly worded, for the most part I was cutting and pasting raw notes. To expand a little -
While there are tried and true methodologies for problem solving, there are different styles. "Ready, fire, aim" is preached by some, "Measure twice, cut once" by others. Perhaps there is balance to be struck by approach - picking the right style for the right challenge.