A teenager’s college essay on the value and difficulty of alternative ways of seeing the world from the Free Press:
“In another scene from The History Boys, one English schoolboy preparing for Oxbridge entrance exams, Timms, asks Hector why they are reading the poetry of A. E. Housman instead of doing something “practical.”
Timms: I don’t always understand poetry!
Hector: You don’t always understand it? Timms, I never understand it. But learn it now, know it now, and you will understand it. . . whenever.
Timms: I don’t see how we can understand it. Most of the stuff poetry’s about hasn’t happened to us yet.
Hector: But it will, Timms. It will. And then you will have the antidote ready!
Like Timms, I sometimes don’t understand what I’m learning or memorizing when I study poetry, but I believe Hector when he says it prepares us for the very real events of the world—going to war, falling in love, falling out of love, making a friend, losing a friend, having a child, losing a child.
Understanding ancient authors as they understood themselves is the surest means of finding alternatives to our current way of seeing the world.”
“Contemporary America simply isn’t set up to promote mutuality, care, or common life. Rather, it is designed to maximize individual accomplishment as defined by professional and financial success.
Such a system leaves precious little time or energy for forms of community that don’t contribute to one’s own professional life or, as one ages, the professional prospects of one’s children. Workism reigns in America, and because of it, community in America, religious community included, is a math problem that doesn’t add up.”
“The truth is that, to mean something, values always cost you something. Otherwise they’re just platitudes. . .
“Values are essential to how an enterprise honors its mission. They represent choices of what an organization will and will not do, what it rewards and what it punishes and how it defines success and failure. Perhaps most importantly, values will determine an enterprise’s relationships with other stakeholders, how it collaborates and what it can achieve.
“The problem is that values are often confused with beliefs. When you’re sitting around a conference table, it’s easy to build a consensus about broad virtues such as excellence, integrity and customer service. True values, on the other hand, are idiosyncratic. They represent choices that are directly related to a particular mission.
“Make no mistake. Real values always cost you something. They are what guides you when you need to make hard calls instead of taking the easy path. They are what makes the difference between looking back with pride or regret. Perhaps most importantly, they are what allows others to trust you.
“Without genuine commitment values, there can be no trust. Without trust, there can be no shared purpose.”
The center of America’s sunflower growth is North Dakota. This year, the state’s farmers grew 625,000 acres of the cheery yellow plants, which can be used to make products like nut butter, cooking oil, confectionery seeds and bird food.
Below is my contribution to the annual celebration. The seed packet said the Autumn Beauty should grow to 6-7 feet in height. Hard to imagine from a little seed.
But one of the seeds decided to outdo itself. It is now 12 feet tall with two stakes providing reinforcement. Here is the crown with more flowers forming.
The current height and still growing.
A proud gardener with nature’s surprise. Two smaller cousins on the way beside it.
“Be like a sunflower so that even on the darkest days you can stand tall and find the sunlight.”
What does a leader do when something goes awry in an organization?
Some will keep the event quiet, trying to handle the problem privately. Others will revise an organization’s manual about how to handle such situations. Some will go public saying the incident has been addressed and will not happen again.
These and other responses are reasonable, but are they sufficient? Is the organization’s leadership more trusted or effective?
One of the most difficult challenges is when members violate the values of an organization.
Five years ago this was a leader’s response at the United States Air Force Military Academy when confronted with an incident.
No viewer of this five minute address will question the ideas presented: replace a bad idea with a better one; if you do not agree with this, then you do not belong;practicecivil discourse; or thepower of diversity.
The Power of a Public Commitment
But what makes this situation different from many is that the “CEO” goes public, placing his leadership on the line.
Transparency is the most critical component for an organization’s leadership especially if they aspire to be democratic, serve the public or just be respected.
Watch and learn. The next time you want to make a lasting point, tell the audience to Reach for your Phones!
From the news story: “We believe that a structured hybrid approach — meaning employees that live near an office need to be onsite two days a week to interact with their teams — is most effective for Zoom,” Colleen Rodriguez, Zoom’s head of global PR, said in a statement. “As a company, we are in a better position to use our own technologies, continue to innovate, and support our global customers.” The company’s new hybrid work approach will roll out over August and September.
Recently I was contacted through this blog for information about Ed Callahan’s career as a high school coach, educator and administrator.
The writer was Kevin Patrowsky who is a Wisconsin high school football historian living in Milwaukee. He wanted to add information about Ed Callahan’s tenure as a teacher and coach at Don Bosco High School. His blog is Wi Hi Football | History of Wisconsin High School Football.
This week he posted his account of Don Bosco’s success as the Milwaukee Catholic Conference mid-1960’s powerhouse. The following is his excerpt describing Ed’s tenure at Don Bosco and move to a new program at Boylan Catholic High School in Rockford, Illinois.
Callahan’s Career as a Coach, Teacher and School Administrator
“Coach DanFleming’s replacement at Don Bosco was Edgar “Ed” Callahan who spent five seasons as the head coach, 1955-59 going 28-12-1. Don Bosco had a 7-1-1 season in his initial season of 1955 and then a 7-1-0 year in 1957. They finished second in the Catholic those two years and in the middle of the pack the other three going 4-4-0 in 1956 and 5-3-0 in each of the 1958 and 1959 seasons.
“For coach Ed Callahan, his story is much more widely known than his predecessor. Born in 1929 in Youngstown, Ohio he attended Ursuline High School where he was a very good tackle. Standing 6’1, weighing 225, Callahan graduated in 1946. He was offered many scholarships, but he chose Marquette because he wanted to go to a Catholic Jesuit University.
“Graduating in 1951 with a B.A. in mathematics, Ed stayed on to get a Master’s Degree in Educational Administration in 1952. He then went to Don Bosco as a math teacher and an assistant coach for football and basketball, before replacing Dan Fleming as the top football man. A very principled man with high integrity he was, to say the least, a man that others thought highly of.
“In 1960 he was recruited by a new school in Rockford Illinois to start the football and basketball program at Boylan Catholic High School which opened that year. In 1966 Don Bosco played Rockford Boylan and the Don’s beat the Titan’s 26-25. Ed stayed as the football and basketball coach plus the head of the math department until 1970 when he became the school’s principal.
“In 1971 he took the job as superintendent of the Rockford Area Catholic Schools and stayed until 1975. Because Ed had a reputation as a very trustful and effective administrator, he was asked by the State of Illinois to become the Assistant Secretary of State. Shortly thereafter in 1987, the Governor appointed him Director of Financial Institutions for the state of Illinois.
“Ed and several of his assistants inherited a floundering department and set the ship right to serve the state’s financial institutions including credit unions. A life-long Democrat, Ed caught the attention of Republican President Ronald Reagan who, in 1981, asked him to serve as Chairman of the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA).
“This Washington DC-based federal government organization had been recently reorganized as an independent regulatory agency during the Carter administration. In 1981 when Ed assumed this position, the the country was in the midst great economic uncertainty and deregulation was affecting all financial institutions. The new agency was transitioning from its prior function as a bureau within HEW.
“Ed left in 1985 and started his own company, Callahan and Associates, Inc. which became the leading provider of financial data to credit unions in the United States. He served in several other positions before retiring in 2002 and then passing in 2009.”
The Rest of the Story
A blog devoted to high school football would not spend many words on Ed’s next career and multiple contributions to the credit union system.
In February 2003 when receiving the National Credit Union Foundation’s Herb Wegner Lifetime Achievement Award, an introductory film summarized this period of Ed’s professional accomplishments.
To understand Ed’s leadership, I believe one must be aware of his initial career as an educator and coach. In these multiple roles in high school education, Ed formed his multiple skills of vision, innovation, communication and effective management.
Here is how the Foundation described his legacy for the credit union system in this Lifetime Achievement award.
Washington’s National Cathedral is the site of a free 4th of July concert. There is always a full house. This year’s program featured an organ duet. Two players on one organ console.
Four hands for three manual keyboards, four feet for one pedalboard, and a single music sheet. The Cathedral has video screens on the pillars throughout the sanctuary to provide up close views of the action.
This 1:35 minute video shows the pair playing in the concert finale, Sousa’s Stars and Stripes Forever. Note the four feet working the pedals and which player turns the pages.
Cooperation and collaboration in a musical celebration. The audience rises to participate at the end.
