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VISION, MISSION, AND GOALS
My vision:
Humanity can have
a presence on earth
that harmonizes the past
with the present -
and life-extends
our future as a species.
My mission:
To think, speak, and write
authentically
based on my vision
so that people want me
to do more of each.
My short-range goals:
- To be sought as a speaker
- To be heard as a speaker-storyteller
- To be read as a first class writer
- To be understood as clear and relevant
- To be credible in this time and this place -
by solving the paradox of celebrity & wealth
My long-range goal:
- To be remembered as a
practical philosopher
who made a difference
I like the concepts that follow as
descriptors of core competencies.
Click on the idea to see some of the words
that spring to my mind:
Math and Logic
Language
Fine motor skills
Full body kinetics
Self knowledge
Knowledge of others
Spacial relationships
Music
Commitment
Energy
Enthusiasm
Creativity
Balance
Persuasion
I went to an engineering high school - the Baltimore
Polytechnic Institute. From 1950 to 1954 I was in
the "A" Course (accelerated). When I graduated
from Poly I skipped the freshman year of college
and went into the sophomore year at Georgia Tech.
After graduating in 1958 from Tech I went to
Purdue and received a Master of Science in 1959.
My grounding in math and logic - those
left brain traits - was firmly established by
then when I was 23 years old.
Even though Poly was an engineering school we did
words as well as numbers. We studied such things
as the Rhyme of the Ancient
Mariner, Dante's Inferno, and
Shakespeare - as well
as Edmund Burke's Speeches. And
I did my first prepared speech. It was on
"Propaganda" and came mostly from the
Encyclopedia Britannica. My one attempt at humor
escaped the audience - but I passed. I have
a flair for words both written and spoken - and
I love reading.
When I was working on my dissertation I was
"doing" a book a day. Sometimes I do that now -
usually in the early morning hours between
3 and 6 am: when the brain is most alert.
I love to "chip the flint" on the keyboard. It
is fun to let your fingers put your thoughts
into words in
a place were they can come out on paper.
Thinking through the finger tips.
I started skating at about 10 years old in
1946 and continued at least a few days a week
until I was 21 in 1957. It was a useful
place to put youthful
enthusiasm and energy. By the time I was
21 my skills included lots of free style moves -
spins and jumps. I could do a double Axle
most of the time and did a few triples: but
mostly fell on those attempts. When you do
that much rotation and repetition you go
beyond dizzy - the brain learns and changes.
I believe that I know myself. My attitudes,
feelings, likes, dislikes, and biases.
Life on the inside is different.
My tendency is to listen to the little voice
inside that helps articulate the self. I
believe in the Golden Rule. I evaluate my
own personal worth as infinite - and grant
that same value to all other humans.
We are all equal - of infinite value to the
self. And all of the same age. Each of
us represents a continuum of life from
individual to individual since the start
of life on Earth.
Knowledge of others . . . . . .
Up to Core List
I know how I come across to others - sometimes.
My body language reading skills are high.
I understand when I am with a surrogate
gathering hunting band who appreciates my
participation in exploring what community
means - even in a chance meeting.
And I foster that
gathering hunting band feeling wherever
I can.
Spacial relationships . . . . .
Up to Core List
I have taken courses that sample the left
brain spacial relationships skills. Those are
mechanical drawing and navigation. Both are
areas where I did well. That is the science
part of the spectrum: left brain. I also like the
right-brain, too - artistic outputs that
use space to make emotional statements. Some
of my ideas combine the left and right-brained
attributes of art.
Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Up to Core List
I remember lyrics from popular songs of the
days when the big bands were musical favorites.
I would listen to "remotes" from places like
the Hotel Roosevelt in New York City. In the
1940's and 1950's you could hear understandable
music every weekend - on the radio and in person.
And I like to sing. Not trained but still do
it. My musical education is slight - but my musical
instincts are honed.
I like jazz. It is alive and composed as it
is played by the performer - in real time closely
linked to emotion. Jazz matches my energy to
the community of innovation and creation: on
the spot, unself-conscious.
I tend to commit and stay with the situation.
With people, with life directions. My tour
with the Navy lasted for 37 years - from
Officers Candidate School at Newport, RI, in
1961 to 1998: when I retired as a 2-star Admiral
from the Fighting Top of the USS Constitution.
I retired with a speech at the Navy Museum
in the Washington Navy Yard. Part of that speech,
the 1976th I have given, was delivered from
the museum display off the mast of the old, original
USS Constitution. The
Fighting Top is where the Marine sharpshooters
would fire at the leaders of the
opposing sailing warships.
I've got plenty of personal energy. My suspicion
is that I was a hyper-active child who became
a self-guided, hyper-active adult.
ENTHUSIASM - it can save most projects,
most activity.
Do it!
Try it!
Be it!
All humans are creative - or our ancestors would
have died out before us. I suspect that my
creativity is high. Because I have used my
imagination to accomplish. And I like being
exposed to new things: ideas, places, people,
situations. Because creativity feeds off
the intersection between the old stuff -
nestled in your "wet computer" - in
your life and the new, the recently tried.
Probably the most important characteristic.
Balance is more critical than intelligence
in life - and in my life. With balance you can
take all that you know and can do - and put it
together into a package that may result, with
a little bit of luck, in
fulfillment.
Excellence is knowing when
not to
be perfect.
Persuasion - tricky. Can I move
you past the focused electrons hitting
your monitor?
Can I trigger a response in this strange WWW World? All
motivation to act should be in your interest.
Contact me! If you have something to tell me - what are you
thinking about right now? Is it important?
Send me an e-mail - it's easy to do.
Just click and write.
Do you have an opinion you would like to share?
A hint on web page design?
HAVE A GREAT LIFE!
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