Randy Pausch, the Carnegie Mellon computer science professor made famous by his "last lecture," died on Friday. Jim mentioned Randy's lecture and book on LeaderTalk back on May 13, 2008. Over the weekend and again the morning, NPR (time-delayed podcast on my iPod) keeps reminding me of the now popular quote from Randy's presentation: "The brick walls are there for a reason. Right? The brick walls are not there to keep us out, the brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don't want it badly enough."
That's all. As you tackle your own leadership challenges today, just wanted to remind you of Randy's inspiring words.
Posted by Lisa Shannon
I just read an interesting article in Fast Company by Gloria Mark about interruptions and how they impact us. http://www.fastcompany.com/articles/2008/07/interview-gloria-mark.html?partner=fasttake
Jim has referred to Mark's research and has given us some good insights into how leaders deal with the reality of interruptions. I find this a fascinating topic and am looking for the upside to this research. As a leader interruptions are frankly a pain (DUH)but what I did find particularly hopeful (and helpful) in this article is the premise that interruptions can be beneficial. One of the benefits she mentions is that we do work faster if we are in an interruption environment (although there is additional stress associated with that). I did find her suggestions of scheduling time to work at home some and limiting our access to the internet most helpful and will try them on. Jeni
Posted by: Jeni Nichols | July 30, 2008 at 11:39 AM