work/life

Thanks to Guy Kawasaki who led me to this Lewis Howes entry.

Being useful has become a recent obsession of mine. I am grateful for my elite education but this has been a week where I have yearned for more skills, more training. Part of my obsession is an allergic reaction to the useless men who surrounded my recent professional life. What follows are ten things that I think every American male needs to pay attention to if they are to be of value to their communities. I’m still working on a number of these areas myself.

I’m going to go into specifics in upcoming posts but here is the list:

1. Get physically fit.
2. Read at least ten of the Great Books of the Western Canon.
3. Become certified in First Aid/CPR, First Responder, EMT.
4. Learn a trade like carpentry, plumbing, electricity.
5. Become proficient in the use of firearms and join the NRA.
6. Learn to teach (and then teach!) English as a Foreign Language or basic literacy skills.
7. Volunteer as a mentor/tutor/coach.
8. Learn public speaking.
9. Learn how to use a map and compass and tie five basic knots (I know, I’m cheating here).
10. Learn to cook three breakfast dishes and three dinner entrees.
BONUS!
11. Become a better listener.

Let me know if you have anything to add and stay tuned for specifics. Have a great week.

How to survive when you quit your six-figure job

This new chapter is exciting for me. I will need to learn a lot in a short period of time. This isn’t about pressure but about challenge. I am going to be putting up a video diary (click on the link above) every now and then as an experiment. I hope that people who read this will take the opportunity to share their own approaches to living in this new age.

My drama with the Harbor will continue and I will provide updates. Legal and PR paths may dictate some of this content.

“The rich are not like you and me.” F. Scott Fitzgerald had it right! For my fellow servant leaders (without the benefit of a trust fund) make sure you develop your own network, stay in touch with them and print out your contact info every six months! Don’t ever think that the Masters of the Universe will let you into the club and fear for your soul if you desire entry!

When I became the subject of the story instead of the object of some people’s philanthropic fantasies – no longer a prop – I became a problem. “Huh? Who are you? Where did you come from and how dare you disturb my reverie?!” As I said, to be continued.

I once again get to discover those people who believed in my title (attorney, chief counsel, Executive Director, Head of School) rather than me. I get to begin the ironic journey of seeking my freedom through interdependence and eagerly await my new work with another harvest.

Thanks to those of you who have already shown your support and provided your advice. I promise this won’t be boring.

What do you want to be new for you in 2010?

Tomorrow will be my last day as the Executive Director of Boys & Girls Harbor and as the Head of School for the Emily N. Carey High School(which I founded). I will be joined by the Director of Development, the Assistant Director of Development, and the Deputy Director/CFO, who have also submitted their resignations in protest. With responsibility for children in college and private school, and a school that I started and support for poor girls in India, I will definitely miss my six-figure salary. I will not miss the false bonhomie, the air kisses, or the careful commitment to mediocrity from so many members of the Harbor’s board of directors.

I will be able to breathe easier now that I will no longer be surrounded by the collective wisdom of Masters of the Universe who packaged mortgages for Bear Stearns, counseled Lehman Brothers and the Boys Choir of Harlem into failure, invested with Bernie Madoff and Marc Dreier,and who had the leadership insight to promote people like E. Stanley O’Neil to positions where they could work their “magic.” These were people who were confident in providing me with their opinions on human capital and business efficiency.

These are the people who expected me to remain silent while they planned their “investments” in the youth of my community-the community where I have spent over half a century. We were supposed to be happy with the crumbs that fell from their table and to compliment them on their generosity. They talked up the value of Midnight Basketball and dance programs and rejected a school that was positively effecting dozens of teens who had dropped out of their public high schools. The lives of all those young people from the high school who are now in college or serving their country, give lie to the value that others placed on their lives.

Well, I have turned my back on the “bread and circus” initiatives. It will be a tough financial go but I know whatever happens, my children will not be embarrassed by my path. I have learned a lot about friendship and people of action and the quicksand of “process.” I will continue to speak out about entitlement from wealth and the conveyor belt of education that poor children are relegated to by people in positions of power and wealth. My anger comes from a familial place of faith and history.

I thank all those individuals and foundations who really “got it.” I hope to work with you in the future.

“Cowardice asks the question, ‘Is it safe?’ Expediency asks the question, ‘Is it politic?’ But conscience asks the question, ‘Is it right?’ And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular but because conscience tells one it is right.” – Dr. Martin Luther King

In the end, I am left with pity for those who will never feel the pull of that conscience.

The forum will be different but the discussion will continue.