Love the song from Creedence Clearwater Revival….
I attended a leadership conference this week and one of the sessions centered on the importance of storytelling. The speaker asked us to turn to the person next to us and tell them our life story in sixty seconds. As you can imagine, it was nearly impossible to do. Next she asked us to think of a word that would serve as a focal point for that life story and I immediately gravitated to the word Fortunate. It was immediately clear to me that it would have been much easier to tell my story quickly if I had centered on the word fortunate to begin with. Stories are easier to tell and consume when centered on a theme.
I was fortunate to be born into the family I received with selfless parents who lived to see me prosper. I was fortunate to live in a great era, to have strong friendships, a great school system and a nurturing neighborhood. I have been fortunate to have good health and a reasonable intellect (so people tell me 🙂 ). I was fortunate to meet my wonderful wife Deb and together we are both fortunate to have raised three unique and outstanding children.
My professional career was ignited by a set of circumstances that one could only look back on and say, “fortunate”. In 1983, straight out of college with no experience, I interviewed for a tech support job at a T-1 mux company. Since the industry was brand new, nobody had experience, so my good fortune soon transitioned to my career. In the ensuing thirty years, I have had the good fortune to work in great companies in the whirlwind of an exploding market, with great people, many of whom I consider friends now instead of colleagues.
3 years ago, I was most fortunate to have received the prospectus for the opening of the CEO position of OSHEAN and fortunate enough to be selected. My ongoing fortune allows me to lead some of the best people I know in an organization with a meaningful purpose in an industry that continues to excite. Tomorrow is my 3rd anniversary here at OSHEAN so I can now add that I am fortunate that the crew hasn’t got sick of me yet!!