Thought for the day with Dr K

 I am weird. Not the scary, Halloween screams kind of weird, but a more "not wanting to brag" about the all of the skills, talents, accomplishments, knowledge, wisdom, and lessons kind of scary. Weirdly smart in a remarkable range of domains kind of scary; and given my insatiable curiosity and my newly acquired interest in AI, and it's power to multiply my weirdness, I am only going to get weirder. My self awareness of my weirdness has always lingered just below the surface, emerging into my consciousness on the rare occasions when I have trusted someone enough to show them some of the big picture that is me. Recently, two relationships, both of which began online, have combined to crystallize the true extent and unique value of my weirdness.  One relationship, Ashley, began with her question "what are you looking for?". That stopped me in my tracks and forced me to think of the real answer to that question, which I had never been asked before.  That relationshi...

For the last year or more,  I have been preoccupied with the concept and power of paradox. It prompted me to rebrand my consulting business with the name, and  to consider the concept's place in the universe as well as in leadership. Today my understaning of paradox moved to a new level. If you cannot fully appreciate paradox, you cannot fully appreciate God.  I don't mean that you can't believe in God, or salvation, or faith in general, I mean you cannot fully appreciate the complexity of a Supreme Being that is at His core, a Divine Paradox of incomprehensible dimensions. Thanks to Pastor Daniel Floyd today for delivering this as a part of his message (my take):  God is the ultimate paradox-God and man; Divine and human; ominpotent and loving; omnisicient and compassionate; King and servant; gracious and intolerant of hypocrisy, Creator of the universe and born as a baby in Bethlehem, and who, in the form of Jesus the man, said, "If you have seen me, you have seen ...

A group of theoretical quantum physicists using models that are standard to them but completely above my pay grade, led by an MIT physicist, are trying to understand the beginning of the universe how it sprang from seemingly nothing to this massive and expanding miracle we live in (my words not theirs). The model, using quantum physics math but new formulas to test a new theory not including any standard/classical physics assumptions, meaning, no observer, just quantum stuff. Several different teams ran the same simulation and came up with the same result for a quantum universe--it was completely empty! No stars, no matter, no nothing.  They were, and are, stumped. Once they added one piece of classical physics to the simulation, an outside observer,  voila! A universe with recognizable stuff! As a beliver in the Creator of the universe, these results make perfect sense. Without the Creator, there is NO universe, and now these theoretical quantum physicists have proven it, mul...

I was just 26 months old when my younger brother Kerry was born. He was a premie, and apparently had some serious problems  post partum, so he was in NICU for a period of time. (The lack of detail about this crisis is a family dynamic worth discussing but at another time.) In any case, I was put in the care of a lovely and caring worman, Joyce Hilden, who was a friend of my mom's and a close neighbor just two houses away. I have only a couple of fuzzy memories of that time: I insisted on picking out my own clothes to wear; and I became known for my oft repeated "me do myself". I also developed an imaginary companion; a large, friendly bunny named George who went everywhere with me. I talked to him, offered him food, and I think I remember saving a chair next to me at the dinner table for him to sit by me.   George would have disappeared into the mist of history except for another interesting, kind person who crossed my path. I was a student at South Dakota State U taking ...

“For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong.”   – H. L. Mencken  I have been working on a mental health project for a large non-profit organization that owns the space for one major health problem. Leadership recognizes the importance of stress and mental ill health as a contributor to the onset and course of their illness and wants to tackle the various mental health contributors. They have been engaged with major corporations throught a wellness scorecard examining corporate wellness initiatives which could impact the incidence of their disease.  I was engaged as a subject matter expert to provide context, update research knowledge with a critical eye toward the quality of that research, and contribute to a plan for this major NPO to affect MH policy, training, and service delivery of educational, marketing, preventive and treatment services. A colleague and friend who is a marketing guru helped me take a broader, even global, view of ...

I am a teacher. My first teaching job was in college when my mentors and friends Tom and Joyce Farrell hired me to teach tennis in a Madison (SD) summer recreation program after my freshman year in college.  I wasn't a great tennis player nor a great teacher but it was a job, I liked Tom and Joyce, so it was a win, but didn't convince me to become a teacher. My next teaching job was during college at SDSU. I was taking both psychology and child development classes and my next class option in CD was "Introduction to Nursery School Teaching". For 2 afternoons a week for a semester, I was the only male with 4 other women teachers in a class of 20  three year olds. It was the most fun teaching experience I have ever had, before or since! Three year olds are a hoot! They are curious about everything, very concrete thinkers, and open to new experiences. Awesome teaching time for me. My next teaching job was during my first year in grad school at UT Southwestern. Contact Dal...

I am a sailor. During an earlier single period, I decided to get certified in sailing and booked a trip to Bellingham, Washington, the home of one of the country's best immersive sailing schools. For a week, the six of us and an instructor lived together on a 36 foot Pearson sailing yacht and we sailed the San Juan Islands in Puget Sound. (see stock photo at right). I experienced the joy of sailing, the serenity of being on the water, day and night, for a week, and I did get certified.  It was during that week on the water that I realized that I was more relaxed and at peace than I had been in a long time. I knew being on the water had something to do with that feeling but it got me thinking. How did that work? I had to figure that out... Years later, I was doing my sabbatical from jury research and selection and litigation consulting as a leadership consultant at Texas Instruments. TI was a member of MIT's Organizational Learning Center led by Dr Peter Senge and our team spent...