S.U.M.M.I.T. Leadership

Friends, here is a good thought for the tough times. We must endure. Remember this story of the carrots, eggs and coffee beans. It may give you a different way to look at each cup of coffee you have in the morning.   A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved, a new one arose.   Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to boil. In the first she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and in the last she placed coffee beans. She let them sit and boil without saying a word.   In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a different bowl. Then she ladled the coffee out and pla...

Who Packs Your Parachute?   Charles Plumb was a US Navy jet pilot in Vietnam. After 75 combat missions, his plane was destroyed by a surface-to-air missile. Plumb ejected and parachuted into enemy hands. He was captured and spent 6 years in prison. He survived the ordeal and now lectures on lessons learned from that experience!   One day, when Plumb and his wife were sitting in a restaurant, a man at another table came up and said, "You're Plumb! You flew jet fighters in Vietnam from the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk. You were shot down!"   "How in the world did you know that?" asked Plumb.   "I packed your parachute," the man replied. Plumb gasped in surprise and gratitude. The man pumped his hand and said, "I guess it worked!" Plumb assured him, "It sure did. If your chute hadn't worked, I wouldn't be here today."   Plumb couldn't sleep that night, thinking about that man. Plumb says, "I kept won...

"Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple." - Dr Seuss   As humans we tend to over-complicate things. Life itself is a very complex system, but I truly believe that we often make things harder than they need to be.     As we approached a new decade, my New Year's resolution was to simplify things in my life. I told my friends, family and co-workers that my focus for 2020 would be to "Simplify".   Get back to the basics. Find joy in the little things. Make teeny-tiny changes, improvements and shifts. Focus in on what matters most. If something works do more of it, if it doesn't stop doing it. Take things one step at a time, one day at a time.   Little did I know at the time what we would be up against as this year unfolded.   Life as we know it would be turned upside down with the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic.   Work stoppages, furlough's, layoffs and changes in how we go forward in doing business for the foreseeable...

Take Hold of Every Moment by Author Unknown   A friend of mine opened his wife's underwear drawer and picked up a silk paper wrapped package:   "This, - he said - isn't any ordinary package." He unwrapped the box and stared at both the silk paper and the box.   "She got this the first time we went to New York, 8 or 9 years ago. She has never put it on. Was saving it for a special occasion.   Well, I guess this is it. He got near the bed and placed the gift box next to the other clothing he was taking to the funeral house, his wife had just died. He turned to me and said:   "Never save something for a special occasion. Every day in your life is a special occasion".   I still think those words changed my life. Now I read more and clean less. I sit on the porch without worrying about anything. I spend more time with my family, and less at work. I understood that life should be a source of experience to be lived up to, not survived...

Junior high school students in Chicago were studying the Seven Wonders of the World. At the end of the lesson, the students were asked to list what they considered to be the Seven Wonders of the World.   Though there was some disagreement, the following received the most votes: Egypt's Great Pyramids The Taj Mahal in Indi The Grand Canyon in Arizona The Panama Canal The Empire State Building St. Peter's Basilica China's Great Wall   While gathering the votes, the teacher noted that one student, a quiet girl, hadn't turned in her paper yet. So she asked the girl if she was having trouble with her list. The quiet girl replied, "Yes, a little. I couldn't quite make up my mind because there were so many." The teacher said, "Well, tell us what you have, and maybe we can help."   The girl hesitated, then read, "I think the Seven Wonders of the World are:   To touch... To taste... To see... To hear... (She hesitated a litt...

T his is from a widely circulated email where the source is unknown:   A group of professional people posed this question to a group of 4 to 8 year-olds, "What does love mean?" The answers they got were broader and deeper than anyone could have imagined. See what you think:   "When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all even when his hands got arthritis, too. That's Love." Rebecca - age 8   When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth." Billy - age 4   "Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other." Karl - age 5   "Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French Fries without making them give you any of theirs." Chrissy - age 6   "Love is what makes you smile whe...

John Wooden is considered to be one of the greatest NCAA basketball head coaches of all time.   Not only was he one of the most successful college basketball coaches in history (winning 10 out of 12 NCAA National Championships, at one point winning 88 games in a row!) but he was also a great human being and a great leader. Coach gave us all great inspirational wisdom. Here are a few more of my favorite Wooden quotes:   "Don't measure yourself by what you have accomplished, but by what you should have accomplished with your ability."   "It isn't what you do, but how you do it."   "Never mistake activity for achievement."   "Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do."   "Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be."   "If you're not making mistakes, then you're not doing anything. I'm positive that a doer makes mistakes."   "It's the little deta...