I was recently at Grand Canyon University in a strategic planning meeting with several different organizations, as this university moves forward in their drive to be excellent both online and on their campus. One of the things I learned is that within the year, all the online students at GCU will not have any textbooks they have to hold in their hands—all of their books will be available online. They’re contacting all the textbook companies and doing this. There are so many interesting changes because of technology happening, and how you offer information and what you do with it and all. It’s so great to have a university working with a publishing company and publishing their own materials and having access to students in ways we never even thought about. I remember the first computer when I was growing up was the calculator, and that was a big deal. Then when I was a doctoral student, we finally got a mainline IBM computer that was two stories high with cards you had to punch to put your data in. And now, I can’t even pronounce all these things—you can Twitter, and you can doddle, and you can dabble—ha! And you can find out everything online. I mean, the kids going to school now, when they write their papers they don’t go to an encyclopedia, they go online and chat and talk with each other. So we need to get up to speed with all this technology. So if you’re an “old fogey” mentality like me, forget it! You have to get with it! Change is upon us—change is with us. Life is a very special occasion—it just never happens to stay the same. So have a great day and have fun learning in all kinds of new ways.
Education
My Interview with Richard Morris at Simple-Talk
Personal Branding Interview
I did a recent interview with Dan Schawbel for his blog, Personal Branding. Read the interview at http://personalbrandingblog.com/personal-branding-interview-ken-blanchard/ and let me know what you think.
Some Books I’ve Been Reading
I love Mac Anderson’s and BJ Gallagher’s new book, Learning to Dance in the Rain: The Power of Gratitude. They say, “Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass…..it’s about learning to dance in the rain.” In these tough economic times there is certainly a lot of rain, so I think we are going to have plenty of chances to dance before the storm passes. There is also a wonderful quote by Nancy J. Carmody: “I am thankful for lawns that need mowing, windows that need cleaning, and gutters that need fixing because it means I have a home……….I’m thankful for the piles of laundry and ironing because it means my loved ones are nearby.” My feeling is it is hard to get through tough times if you don’t appreciate the good times.
Another great book to read during these time is Spencer Johnson’s Peaks and Valleys. He makes a clear point that peaks are not forever and neither are valleys. When we are experiencing a peak we need to prepare for when that might end. When we are in a valley it is a great time to build up strength so we can prepare for the next peak. Life is a very special occasion with its peaks and valleys.
Norman Vincent Peale said, “We have a choice every morning when we get up. We can feel good about ourselves, or we can feel bad.” The choice seems obvious to me. Good on you all.
How We Lead 