To Pin or Not to Pin

How many of you have heard of Pinterest?  I must admit that I must be the last person on the earth to have set up a Pinterest account.  Mostly, I believe that I have so many usernames and passwords to social media mayhem that I do not think I need yet another account.  I have Twitter, Facebook, Hootsuite, Google +, Foursquare, Skype, Messenger, and now I have been invited to join Pinterest.  

Amazingly, I have been introduced to a whole new way to use Pinterest with my work.  I can set up a board to link to different resources that I like to use in my professional life.  I do not have to put my "fun" hat on and reveal every hour of every day what I am doing and where I am and who I am doing it with.  Although I know my LARGE fan base absolutely hangs on every word! Ha!


I have found a useful link for Pinterest (http://www.positivelysplendid.com/2012/02/guide-to-proper-pintiquette-pinterest.html).  It talks about the ettiquette.  I think there should be one of these for every social media tool out there.  So if you are with me as one of the last Pinteresters, read the attached article and then decide.  If all else fails, hold on because there may be yet another social media site coming soon to your Google Chrome! :)

Last Week in the Office

Packing and moving out of the office.  It is bitter sweet!  Seeing how many things are going in the trash makes me wonder just why I keep certain things.  The financials and reports need to be kept, but there seem to be so many items that I don't need.  It is good to purge.  

 I look at some of the pictures I have in the office.  Pictures of my sons before they turned into adult men.  Pictures of my nieces and nephew before they grew up.  There are a lot of memories not only in the pictures, but in the original placement of those pictures in my office.  I was so proud to set up my "new" office and now it is time to move to another office.  I am sure I will put the details into the placement of those pictures again.  Better yet...maybe it is time for more current pictures of the boys and my granddaughter.  Thus, symbolizing another new memory and many more to come.

By the way...see the books?  Maybe I should think about reading more than the table of contents and the covers. I resolve to scan each book more diligently.  Packing and moving can be cleansing.  Bitter sweet, but rejuvenating.

Transitions

It has been a few days since I have posted.  I am experiencing transition as a leader...once again.  I have found myself working for two companies as I leave one and begin a career with another.  As I spoke to one of my board members from the organization I am leaving, I was finding myself asking the critical question of what I want for this organization.  I have been a short-timer (3 years), but so many accomplishments have happened because of the people who have and do work here.  I hope that I am leaving with people knowing that they can accomplish so much with or without me.  More importantly, without me.  We have experienced leaving the nest and our parents hoping that they raised us right.  I think this is no different.  I have seen the people I work with grow personally and professionally.  I want them to continue on that path.  


There is an Irish proverb that I hope they all remember as I leave:

May the road rise up to meet you.

May the wind always be at your back.

May the sun shine warm upon your face,

and rains fall soft upon your fields.

And until we meet again,

May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

Declaration of Independence

Today we celebrate America's birthday, the signing of the Declaration of Independence.  What a precedence for leadership.  Those men went beyond the boundaries that had been set forth and developed a statement of independence.  There are plenty of books about the authors and their styles of leadership, but one can still wonder what made them take that step.  Not all of them were admired, and some considered them renegades.  But they did it any way.  This is an example of stepping out of the euphoric box.  When have I gone outside of the box and challenged the system?  How will my leadership be remembered?