I must admit that the idea of cruise has never sounded appealing to me.  My overly sensitive stomach has never comported with the sea, which could very well be the real reason I’ve steered clear from such a trip in the past.  Also, I always assumed that such a trip would get boring very quickly.  I mean, I don’t care how big the boat is…You’re still confined to a boat.  Am I right?

Anyway, the idea for the trip was sparked by my desire to have a trip with my immediate family.  It’s been ages since I’ve gone on a vacation with my parents and my sister.  We batted a few ideas around for a while, but nothing seemed to click.  The question we were all struggling with was as follows:  What trip could we take that would require minimal planning and ensure it catered to everyone’s needs?  6 people = 6 different personalities with 6 different expectations.  Ugh, just thinking about it made me cringe.

A cruise excursion was then suggested to which I reluctantly said yes.  However, the more I thought about it, the more it seemed to be the perfect solution.  I mean, the itinerary was already mapped out and the activities were diverse and already built into the trip.  Jackpot!  My parents loved their cruise experiences from the past so they were instantly excited by the prospect of another.  My sister would take the lead (along with her husband) on doing the research.  We ultimately settled upon a 7 day cruise via the Holland America Line, on the MS Westerdam. continue reading »

Last week I was fortunate enough to attend Ernst & Young’s annual new manager training in Orlando Florida. Typically when I hear of such events I can only muster up so much enthusiasm as large events typically fall flat when it comes to quality. I mean when I heard over 1400 people were going to be there, for this three day event, I just had this awful feeling that it was going to be a waste of time and no fun at all. I can honestly say that I was not only pleasantly surprised by how much fun I had but I was amazed at the quality put into the festivities. From the keynote speakers to the evening activities…Everything was top notch all around.

There were several highlights for me personally. First, I was extremely impressed by the firms Global Vice Chair of Strategy, Communications and Regulatory Affairs, Beth Brooke. What a firecracker she was! Her insight and candor had me captivated for her entire speech. She has been recognized by Forbes as one of “The Worlds Top 100 Most Powerful Women” and it was pretty easy to see why. Just to put things into perspective for you…Queen Elizabeth is also on that very same Forbes list…Oh and by the way…Beth is ranked higher.

Secondly, my most favorite presenter of the seminar was that of Curt Coffman. Curt is an expert on Business Strategy and former practice leader of the Gallup Organization. He’s consulted for 22 years to a large number of the Fortune 500 companies and is the author of the best seller “First, Break all the rules: What the worlds greatest manager do differently”. The core of his content revolved around everyone’s inner strengths and how they should be cultivated into order to produce desired results in business. In other words, you should focus and enhance what your good at and only spend a minimal time on your weaknesses. It may sound a bit counterintuitive but there is sound logic in such an argument.

Prior to the event, everyone was sent a book called: “Now, Discover your strengths” which complimented Curt’s lecture. The book itself was highlighted by an online web survey that everyone was to complete. The output of the survey was a trend analysis of your top five strengths (out of a possible thirty four) based on how you answered the survey. In case you’re wondering…My top 5 strengths are as follows: Restorative, Harmony, Individualization, Input and Arranger. Click here to see my personal report. At first blush I was not impressed with the findings at all. But after reading the book and diving a bit deeper into the actual meaning of each strength; I now find myself agreeing with the assessment after a little personal scrutiny.

The content itself was logical but nothing groundbreaking for me. What really captivated me was the manner in which the content itself was delivered. It was almost poetic. His presentation skills were nearly flawless. I was especially impressed with his timing and dynamic storytelling capabilities. At one point during his presentation, there was a technical malfunction on the stage where the lights and teleprompter (he was referencing it as a guideline) shut down completely. He just calmly walked into the crowd of 1400 people and continued the lecture un-phased. It was brilliant.

Outside of the daily general lectures and classroom workshops, the evenings were chalked full of excitement. The first night was casino night where I received a first class education in how to lose at poker gracefully. The second night was capped off by an evening out at Universal Studios where E&Y rented out half of the theme park just for us. Believe me when I tell you that it was just as impressive as it sounds. World class lecturers, interactive classroom sessions, networking opportunities, food and alcohol all created a very memorable and worthwhile three days for me. Just like I’m sure it did for many others in attendance. My hat goes off to the many organizers who helped make the event possible. Job well done…

Back in our senior year of college (2002), we formed a start-up company by the name of Paradox Solutions, LLC.  We managed to keep ourselves afloat by taking on small to mid-sized clients.  Services such as network design, web design and development were our strong suits.  As the company evolved, we came up with an innovative system geared towards the golf industry.  It was dubbed X-Golf.  You can learned all about the venture by clicking here.  There were only a handful of players in the market at the time which inspired us to stay the course.  Quite frankly, we also felt our product idea was just plain better. 

During the R&D portion of X-Golf, we decided to scope out our future competition first hand.  So we hit the biggest golf trade show in the world, held in Orlando Florida.  At the time we had hired a golf consultant by the name of Ted Pisk.  He more or less kept us grounded as we came up with our pie in the sky ideas.  Anyway, Ted accompanied myself and one of Paradox Solution’s business partners, Joe Rasamny, for the excursion.  He lended us guidance and support as none of us were golf experts, nor did we even play golf. 

The trade show was great.  We learned alot about the competition and made some terrific contacts.  Looking back all these years, it’s quite amazing how seriously people took us, even though I personally looked like I was 12 and we didn’t even have a complete prototype.  Those were some great memories.  Here are some photos from that weekend in Orlando.

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