Tuesday, March 18, 2008
UCM Visit
We took the afternoon off yesterday to visit the University of Central Missouri (formerlly known as CMSU.) This is the only public university in Missouri with an advanced Actuarial Science degree program, and it meets the primary parental criteria... its affordable! UCM met 1 of Tyler's "must have" criteria (big dorm rooms) but it is not a division 1 school, and we didn't get the same sense of that awesome of campus unity feeling around athletics. Its also only about 40 minutes from home...which I liked a lot, but Tyler isn't so sure. We will keep weighing options. Stay tuned...
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Superior Ratings!
The Moreland Ridge Middle School Honor Choir, under the direction of Aaron Money, received a 1 (superior) rating at the district choral contest at Central Methodist University in Fayette, Missouri last Friday. This was their second Superior rating in a row! David and I took the morning off and drove to Fayette for the occasion. The choir was outstanding.
In addition, we got to hear Abbey perform her first solo contest pieces and earned a 1 (Highest Honor) rating. This was also her first time to sing an Italian piece. At Abbey's request, I did not record the performance (so you can take that up with her, if you want to :-) But I felt so proud of her!
In addition, we got to hear Abbey perform her first solo contest pieces and earned a 1 (Highest Honor) rating. This was also her first time to sing an Italian piece. At Abbey's request, I did not record the performance (so you can take that up with her, if you want to :-) But I felt so proud of her!
More Birthday Pics
My mom captured many more photos that what I had on my camera from Emery's birthday party at Chuck E Cheese. Here's just a few...
Daddy loves Emery!
Daddy loves Emery!
Emery loves Uncle Ryan!
Emery loves Aunt Brea too!
Yes, we really did Pop Rocks and Chocolate Pudding in those treat bags :-)
Aunt Mandy and Cousin Isaac (comming soon in July!)
Barbie cake I made at Emery's request.
Abbey loves her Grandma Susie!
Cousin Evan all decked out in his usual "Spiderman" garb!
Mommy loves Emery!
Isaac hiding behind Grandpa Bob & Grandma Ramona. Aunt Mandy being cheezy!
Monday, March 3, 2008
Emery's Giraffe from Grandma & Grandpa Stock
Sadly, my dad does not have a groovy new Sprint device, such as the Palm Centro. He was not able to see the cute picture mail I sent of Emery holding the new Build-a-Giraffe that he and Susie made for Emery's birthday. He is stuck with mere phone that makes a phone call. It does not receive cute photos of Grandbaby clutching well-groomed Giraffe. (Note the Sassy Chick shirt, Susie....totally coincidence that Emery picked that out to wear this morning!)Sunday, March 2, 2008
Emery's New Bicycle
Emery got a new bike from Grandma & Grandpa Downs for her birthday. Today we rode all the way to Franklin Smith Elementary School to play on the playground. We came home and found Dad & Tyler working on Bruce.
Dave's Cancer Blog
At one time, I worked for an incredible person named Dave McCalley. Dave is the single most influential person in my journey to grow my leadership skills. It is Dave who got me hooked on reading every bit of leadership related books, articles, journals, etc. Through his example, I learned how to balance compassion in the workplace with focus on winning. I learned how to define what winning is.
A few years ago, as I learned to manage a team through severe illness of a valued employee, Dave was there to listen and support my efforts. He seemed to intuitively understand and appreciate the work I did to help our teams rally behind Tom & Mindy Hanaway and Helen & Mark Stevermer. While I focused on making sure they had the things they needed and my team had what it needed to be successful through those trials, Dave stopped by my office to see how I was doing. That meant a lot to me.
When news came that I would not be continuing my journey with American Century, Dave was the only officer in the company who reached out to help me in any way. He was the only executive who said good bye to me. He was the only one who expressed regret at my departure.
Dave is not perfect. There are a few things I've learned to avoid by watching Dave go first. But that's part of what I loved about working for Dave. He always had an open door. He always at least looked like he was listening. I always felt that my opinion was valued--even when his decisions took us in another direction. Dave, through his example, taught me to allow myself to be honest and vulnerable with my staff, to accept resulting criticisms with grace, and to win their hearts in the process.
Around the time that I was interviewing for positions at Sprint and Park University, Dave learned that he had cancer. In December, he began aggressive treatments that are very hard on the body and taxing on the mind and spirit.
Dave has shared his journey over the past few months through his blog. Just as he has openly shared his personal lessons in leadership over the years, he is now sharing his lessons in how to get through this trial with illness and come out a winner. As evidenced by the outpouring of comments in his blog, Dave's writings have touched and inspired many people. More than once during the past few months, I have thought that if I am ever faced with such a challenge as the one he is facing right now, I hope I have the courage to manage it just like Dave.
A few years ago, as I learned to manage a team through severe illness of a valued employee, Dave was there to listen and support my efforts. He seemed to intuitively understand and appreciate the work I did to help our teams rally behind Tom & Mindy Hanaway and Helen & Mark Stevermer. While I focused on making sure they had the things they needed and my team had what it needed to be successful through those trials, Dave stopped by my office to see how I was doing. That meant a lot to me.
When news came that I would not be continuing my journey with American Century, Dave was the only officer in the company who reached out to help me in any way. He was the only executive who said good bye to me. He was the only one who expressed regret at my departure.
Dave is not perfect. There are a few things I've learned to avoid by watching Dave go first. But that's part of what I loved about working for Dave. He always had an open door. He always at least looked like he was listening. I always felt that my opinion was valued--even when his decisions took us in another direction. Dave, through his example, taught me to allow myself to be honest and vulnerable with my staff, to accept resulting criticisms with grace, and to win their hearts in the process.
Around the time that I was interviewing for positions at Sprint and Park University, Dave learned that he had cancer. In December, he began aggressive treatments that are very hard on the body and taxing on the mind and spirit.
Dave has shared his journey over the past few months through his blog. Just as he has openly shared his personal lessons in leadership over the years, he is now sharing his lessons in how to get through this trial with illness and come out a winner. As evidenced by the outpouring of comments in his blog, Dave's writings have touched and inspired many people. More than once during the past few months, I have thought that if I am ever faced with such a challenge as the one he is facing right now, I hope I have the courage to manage it just like Dave.
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Regarding Sprint
Before Christmas, I wrote a bit about why I chose to work at Sprint. Two things happened this week that are compelling me to broach this topic a second time. First, the quarterly earnings report came out, along with the formal announcement that Sprint wrote off billions of dollars in goodwill. That triggered several media events, including a local radio talk show that hosted listeners calling in to rant about how much they dislike Sprint. The second thing that happened is I got a chance to talk to my Dad this week. Our discussion that day served as a sharp reminder of just how bad Sprint's reputation is.
Internally, lots of folks feel that the media is being overly harsh--that things aren't really as bad as "they" make it sound. As one who has only just recently joined the Sprint workforce, I can say I don't hold that view. I personally remember some very bad customer service experiences, and because of that, I think that the bad reputation is deserved. Compound that reputation with the low stock price (dipped way below $8/share this week) and news about yet another quarter of poor earnings reporting, and you get...depressed.
It is from within this context that I am now feeling the urge to defend my optimism about Sprint's future. Here are some things I'm seeing...
First, I've not had, nor have I been aware of anyone who has had a bad customer service experience in recent months. The steps that have been taken to resolve the bad customer service issues are working. The organization truly seems to be rallying behind its customer experience improvement efforts.
Second, I'm impressed with Sprint's new leadership changes, and it seems to be making a positive impression with many folks. During my first few weeks at Sprint, whenever I'd notice problems with processes or systems, fellow employees would often physically recoil, duck their heads and pleadingly say, "I know. Its...its bad, I know." This statement was followed by an apparent resolve to shrink the circle of influence just a bit and get back to work on the things they could directly affect. In more recent weeks, that has been changing. I'm seeing greater and greater examples of change. More folks are stepping into roles of accountability. Fewer end-to-end processes are "un-owned." We've still got a long way to go in this arena, but I'm definitely seeing positive momentum in this area.
Third, I'm excited about Sprint's new pricing model available to customers and prospective customers alike. Customers can get a flat rate with unlimited calling and data services (i.e. web, chat, email, etc.) for under $100/month. If you want to restrict the number of minutes of talk time, you can get a less expensive plan that also has unlimited data services. That's significantly cheaper than similar plans from any other competitor, and its on a significantly faster network. I love the data service I get on my Sprint phone. I have access to all of my personal and work email on my device all of the time, and its fast and easy to use. No waiting for things to download or upload. I like it. And I use the Internet and I especially like the Google Maps application on my phone...highly cool for finding where I'm going.
It takes time to turn around this many years of bad customer experiences, bad employee experiences, and lack of accountability for internal systems and processes. It takes time to fix the culture. But I buy-in to the whole "Good to Great" concept of the fly-wheel, and I'm seeing the right pieces coming together to help a large workforce move in one direction. The only question in my mind is, "Do we have time to course correct?" And for now, my answer is simply, "I sure hope so."
I'm having such a great time influencing positive change. This is work I love to do.
Internally, lots of folks feel that the media is being overly harsh--that things aren't really as bad as "they" make it sound. As one who has only just recently joined the Sprint workforce, I can say I don't hold that view. I personally remember some very bad customer service experiences, and because of that, I think that the bad reputation is deserved. Compound that reputation with the low stock price (dipped way below $8/share this week) and news about yet another quarter of poor earnings reporting, and you get...depressed.
It is from within this context that I am now feeling the urge to defend my optimism about Sprint's future. Here are some things I'm seeing...
First, I've not had, nor have I been aware of anyone who has had a bad customer service experience in recent months. The steps that have been taken to resolve the bad customer service issues are working. The organization truly seems to be rallying behind its customer experience improvement efforts.
Second, I'm impressed with Sprint's new leadership changes, and it seems to be making a positive impression with many folks. During my first few weeks at Sprint, whenever I'd notice problems with processes or systems, fellow employees would often physically recoil, duck their heads and pleadingly say, "I know. Its...its bad, I know." This statement was followed by an apparent resolve to shrink the circle of influence just a bit and get back to work on the things they could directly affect. In more recent weeks, that has been changing. I'm seeing greater and greater examples of change. More folks are stepping into roles of accountability. Fewer end-to-end processes are "un-owned." We've still got a long way to go in this arena, but I'm definitely seeing positive momentum in this area.
Third, I'm excited about Sprint's new pricing model available to customers and prospective customers alike. Customers can get a flat rate with unlimited calling and data services (i.e. web, chat, email, etc.) for under $100/month. If you want to restrict the number of minutes of talk time, you can get a less expensive plan that also has unlimited data services. That's significantly cheaper than similar plans from any other competitor, and its on a significantly faster network. I love the data service I get on my Sprint phone. I have access to all of my personal and work email on my device all of the time, and its fast and easy to use. No waiting for things to download or upload. I like it. And I use the Internet and I especially like the Google Maps application on my phone...highly cool for finding where I'm going.
It takes time to turn around this many years of bad customer experiences, bad employee experiences, and lack of accountability for internal systems and processes. It takes time to fix the culture. But I buy-in to the whole "Good to Great" concept of the fly-wheel, and I'm seeing the right pieces coming together to help a large workforce move in one direction. The only question in my mind is, "Do we have time to course correct?" And for now, my answer is simply, "I sure hope so."
I'm having such a great time influencing positive change. This is work I love to do.
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