Teenage grandson: leadership guru, by Nancy Dorrier

By -
My grandson, Phillip, 16, and I just returned from a vacation in California.   
He was the last of the grandchildren to go on “a Nana trip,” and we planned the trip with the redwoods in mind. I was happy he hadn't aged out of spending time with his grandmother.  
Around Christmas last year, I wondered to Phillip and his brother Alexander if I would ever become a boring grandmother, if at some point their friends and girls would be more interesting so they wouldn’t want to visit.  “No way,” they said. “We will bring our friends and girls, and oh Nana, you will never be boring.”  
So okay, not boring.  Sometimes hard of hearing and not getting the joke, but not boring. And they are happy to repeat themselves and explain the jokes.
On the trip to California, Phillip and I saw the redwoods, lots of them. Phillip had his daddy’s drone with him, which he had stayed up late to fix before our early morning flight.  He filmed from the bottom to the top of the thousand-year-old trees.  Spellbinding.  
From there we found our way to the ocean bluffs called the Headlands, with water crashing on rocks below, and Goat Rock Beach. Phillip flew the drone and took photographs and videos.
We read in a guidebook a list of 100 things to do, and and that's when ocean kayaking showed up as a possible adventure, complete with “cave exploring.”  
I am a good swimmer.  I have never been in a kayak but they looked stable enough.  My thing was getting down and in a kayak with two very bad knees that hurt when I flex into even a moderate squat.
Phillip and I discussed alternatives. What if Phillip went kayaking and I didn't?
I asked if he thought I was a sissy.  “No,” he said.  “I don't think that, but I do think you can do this.”
He looked at me, and he looked at the kayak. “If it does hurt,  it will only be twice, when you are going down to get in and when you are coming up to get out. Besides Stuart (our guide) and I will be there to give you a hand.”
Okay.  No problem.  Same thing later with the roller coaster.
Lesson learned:  Be available. Be coachable. Listen. Pay attention.  Quiet your objections. Breathe.  Smile.
Say thank you.

Comments

Post a Comment

We appreciate your input and look forward to your comments. We review messages prior to posting.

Popular posts from this blog

What Is Left When We Leave the Room, by Nancy Dorrier

By -
Image
What is left of us when we leave the room, leave the call, leave the house, leave the party, and, of course, leave ultimately?  Perhaps our conversations--what we talked about and what we listened to. Plain and simple. What were we building on those empty lots of time? The weather was too hot and the traffic too much and parking places too hard to find. Were those worth the real estate they occupied? We have this moment, this precious moment, so tell me what you love about your life, what you love about your work, and what matters to you. Tell me about Billy Collins or Bruce Springsteen or Maya Angelou, who said, People don’t remember what you said; they remember who they were in your presence . Do people get bigger and brighter or smaller and duller around you? Make a list: Whom do you talk to and what you talk about? That’s the baseline. Make a second list: What could you talk about with them that you aren’t now? And what could you ask t
Read more

Guns, by Jane Smith

By -
My father killed himself with a perfectly legal handgun left over from his law enforcement days.  He kept it long after he retired, in the top drawer of a mahogany chest of drawers in our big hall, unloaded but right beside the ammunition. My brother and I knew not to touch it…not ever. Dad was troubled about his health, and the gun was handy and available that December morning. I don’t know if he would have used another method. I just know he didn’t.
Read more

Creative Alignment - What is it? by Nancy Dorrier

By -
One of Dorrier Underwood’s tools for building relationships is to use creative writing as a path to discovery and authentic communication. We’ve long used the practice internally, and are happy to expand it to include blogging, as a way for us to share our exploration – and process of exploration - with you.  Nancy Dorrier, thought leader, co-founder, and president of Dorrier Underwood, starts us off with a reflection on creative alignment. What is it?  I listen to ourselves. Our intern used to say we interrupt a lot. She isn’t saying or not saying, Wow you guys listen a lot . She isn’t even being critical. “I am just saying.” Then I listen to a friend and his wife talk on top of each other and I don’t know which one to respond to. Trucking along in the conversation and here comes another voice. What is the value of 2 brains or 3 brains? Someone is thinking beyond, or at least other than the way I think, and the way you think. You and I can only think what we are think
Read more