Author: Anthony Carlson

AIM IT Leadership Academy: Leadership & Teams

Friday November 2nd was my first session in the AIM IT Leadership Academy at CSG International.  

When I arrived to the conference room, I had an assigned seat. The Agenda for the day was laid out at my table.  

The class started with Introductions. I told everyone my name Anthony Carlson. I work at Farm Credit Services of America. I shared that I am the person who responds to messages at strange hours.  

The first exercise we did at our table was designing a leader. The hard part of this activity was determining if the traits we talked about should apply to everyone or just a person we wanted to exist.  

After this activity we dived into Emergentics. Emergenetics is a response profile tool that helps you and your team to understand yourself and each other. A folder was handed out that had our group information and personal information.  

There are 4 ways of thinking in my profile. If you think like this you will always be like this is a wrong approach to thinking. Learn to separate different ways of thinking out.  

In looking at the behaviors the questions were asked. How much energy do you put into things? The words your using to talk to others, are they close to your heart? The willingness to accommodate the thoughts and actions of others.  

People will observe behavior before the see the way you are thinking. The social response is to ask what you are thinking and not see your behaviors.  When you read a audience you are in conceptual and analytical mindset which happens more in IT related functions.   

Intent Impact Model:

Is the intention getting the impact. The common theme is the message you send is interrupted in different ways.  

How do you want to be treated over How I treat everyone. If you think only one way you might miss something.  

What motivates you to learn? It is not that you cannot do different aspects of your profile. It is exhausting to do things that do not come naturally.  

Capstone Project

In the middle of the day we were put in groups of 2 to 3 individuals. I was partnered with a employee of Team Software and Werner Enterprises. Our group is to deliver a 10-minute presentation related to Emotional Intelligence on Agile Teams. A one-page document was given with guidelines to follow. The date of the project delivery will be in April.  

Project goals : 

  • Research and data 
  • Proven metrics 
  • Pace and flow of what we think is considered Agile 
  • Try to be visionary: How we think the future of Agile will look.  
  • Include everyone 

Ending Thoughts

The first session was well done. We had a great facilitator and the pace was just right. I look forward to sharing all the information from the session with my accountability buddy and my leader at work.

These were my three actions I took from this course.

  1. Find empathetic ways when working with others I don’t understand.
  2. Practical thinkers are predictable that is ok, make connections.
  3. Try to appreciate how different everyone is.

YMCA Soccer Kindergarten Fall 2018

Toward the end of T-ball season I started to wonder how to get Xavier into Soccer for the fall. He has played before in a fundamentals class at Prairie Life Center. My first choice was the YMCA. First the location is less then a few miles from my house. Second the cost of the YMCA.

When you sign up at YMCA there is competitive and fundamental. I choose competitive which i think would be good for him.  There is a checkbox on do you want to volunteer to be a head coach or assistant. I checked the box and became a head coach of a soccer team.

What this really meant was I had to take the time to learn about soccer. I did what all people do and started watching YouTube videos. I watched as many videos as I can. I read theory and articles on coaching kids soccer.

We played for 8 weeks. Every game was on a Saturday. A game meant for 30 minutes we would do practice. Then play two 12 minute halves. The most important question to ask before each game is “Who has to go potty?” This was a awesome experience. I had some great kids. The parents seemed to be happy.

AIM IT Leadership Academy: Orientation session

On Thursday, October 4th, from 4pm-6pm, at DJ’s Dugout,  located at 777 No. 114th Street. I met up with 27 other IT professionals from the metropolitan Omaha community that were selected for the 2018-19 AIM IT Leadership Academy

 

The purpose of the meeting was to review the AIM IT Leadership program. There were past program graduates there to explain the expectations for each participate.  Each participant has a accountability partner to help the candidate through the program.

 

2012 IBJJF World Championships

On June 2, 2012 I competed at the 2012 IBJJF World Championships. My reporting time was sometime between 9:00 a.m. & 10:00 a.m. Pacific time. I was there because I dream of being a champion. When you commit to living the champion’s life and dream. To dream big dreams requires going outside of the normal comfort zone. The challenge & tribulation of my daily life allows me go into this competition with the support from my beautiful wife Melani Carlson my wonderful family and the best martial arts gym in Omaha, Nebraska Mid-America Martial Arts. When you realize all this winning or losing doesn’t really matter.

My Good Samaritan deed was done on that day. Outside of the Pyramid in Long Beach California where the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation worlds are. I went up today to do my weight check. While walking back to my car there were these two men wondering up the sidewalk. The one in the white shirt asked for help. The spoke very little English and were in distress. So using a form of broken English, Charades, pointing and translate.google.com. I even called my good friend Matt Meyer who has not been working on his Japanese. I was able to figure out the one in the white shirt left his Kimino (GI) in the Yellow Cab from the Super 8 where they were staying. I was able to find a phone number. I then Called Yellow Cab which transferred me around until I made contact with the driver. He came back to the Pyramid with the lost GI. This took about an hour. These guys were so thankful they took pictures with me, invited me to train in Japan and bowed as I left.

The open and closed guard

Based upon some past advice I once gave. I figured this Sunday would be as good as time bring up the open and closed guard. No, I am not talking about our beloved Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, but the relationships we have with significant others, family and friends. The Open and Closed guard is based on risk, trust and outcomes. I would not have learned the most important person in risk is me. So what works best for me. Trust is based on the expectation that something positive will happen. Trust is actually obtain from other people by outcomes. So anytime you take a risk you are looking for a positive outcome. Determining your own values and actions of trust, not others, leads to positive outcomes, I firmly believe this is the difference between looking back and reflecting on what two people accomplished and looking back with regret at what we wished we would have done. Which is why we open and close are guards with people.

Conviction

For some reason I have been processing the term Conviction today. I am relating it to myself. Depending on the definition of conviction. The word can be reference as a fixed or strong belief. I have a strong belief that all people I associate truly care about me. I am fixed on the idea that I don’t make all the right decision. My conviction for today is to make sure I am a better man moving forward. That the caring of others and decisions I make lead me to a better tomorrow. I don’t say much, but when I do it means something. If you don’t know that then you may not really know me. So in becoming a better man at this moment. My conviction is I love my family and friends. Urban Legend

Recommending a Martial Arts Gym

Martial Arts are supposed to make the community you live in better. In the Omaha area there are many dojo. Doing a google search is the fastest way to find a  dojo. Remember no matter what dojo you go. The most important thing is you. How are you treated? How does the instructor help you become a better person? How do you fit in the culture? How are you valued as a person. Not everyone wants to compete. Sometimes influence or reputation puts a perspective before we ever step foot in a place. There is not one place that I will mention to anyone that I don’t believe can help someone out.

The right direction

As I was driving upon the street from my house. I was thinking about good & direction. When you hit that “T” in the road. Which direction do you go? You go left, you go right, or maybe just stay in place.  In all actuality either direction might not be good. I realize as a person my direction does not have to be good. Good is something we all agree upon. I don’t want to go and do something everyone has agreed upon. I have learned the more you vary your own direction from others. Then there never needs to be sufficient rationalization to have a good decision. The truth is the direction was the best decision at the time. So as long as you stick to good you’ll never have real direction.