Dorrier Underwood

Phil and I… mostly the “I” along with an acquiescing and a little uncomfortable Phil… are planning a trip to Tuscany in September.  This is a big deal for us… Last year’s Paris writing workshop in the French countryside, and then Barcelona was the first time I have been outside of North America.  And it was a damn big deal for me, one I loved and will never forget. Along with having a fabulous adventure with Nancy and Doug, I figured out that I could survive even without knowing the language… and I definitely know less Italian than I do French and Spanish.  We will figure it out together, a fun idea for me. Phil doesn’t have the survival experience and hasn’t been outside of NA.  When I asked him if he would like to go to Italy, Tuscany, he said “No, I don’t want to got to Tuscany,” with an observable edge to the answer, so much so that I originally tabled the idea.  A few days later he came back and said “If you want to go to Tuscany, we will go, and ...

So petty, so juvenile. We are talking about the wonderful compass in the rosewood box, how the advanced mastery people are so excited to have the lovely gift, and Carol says, wonder how that great gift came around. Guess we have some special woman who has a gift for finding just the right thing , and everyone agrees. Except it was not her idea, it was my idea. MINE MINE MINE. I thought of that. I feel like the D golfer in a captain's choice much of the time around here. The D golfer is the worst one, and when the other three hit their ball in the foursome, the D guy's ball is never the best, no matter how good it is. Mostly he spends his day not having a good enough shot to count, maybe one putt or one chip rolls close and then the rest of the team makes a big deal for him. Well this was my one thing I came up with. And now it is Nancy's. SO here is the moment. Everyone is praising her and I can either say something or smile and praise Nancy too. After all sh...

I wondered how this program would go, and was excited to be co-leading with Doug. When I discovered that I would not be co-leading but would be more backup and support, I have to admit I was sad. I really wanted to lead. You know me, center of the room, all eyes on me. But I took it on. I decided that I would be the leader even if I did not say anything. I was anything but subordinate to Doug, challenging him on what to do next and sending in ideas on scraps of paper to share, which he did share almost 100% of the time. We had one moment when I tried to help overtly, and though the content was needed, the context was not there for them to hear me, or for me to speak loudly enough for them to hear me. It was like they did not give me a voice, me, the loudest guy you know. So I just supported and made sure Doug was the man. I did not back off one iota but I did not speak again until Doug asked me to share something I had written to him. And in a loud strong voice I told them ...

We are talking to presidents and CEOs all the time. And doctors and health care administrators and museum directors, to not continue to think of themselves and to not continue to be the worker/entrepreneur.  There is such a pull to do the work and miss the bigger picture.  We are also talking to them about not only being the CEO, but also being a remarkable leader and a visionary leader who sees the bigger picture, who sees the people and resources he or she has.  Really sees. We are talking about not just dealing with what is immediately at hand, although important. And important to deal with what is immediate, including the failures and breakdowns and lessons learned.  And important to deal with, and have him or her deal with, failures as if they are 100% responsible for them. That is our work, day in and day out, to have conversations with business leaders to think beyond, to create beyond, to go beyond. Not just the challenge of the day, but t...

You don’t know squat. So I’m at the event to do my Elvis show. It’s on a stage and they’re going to open me up with these Vegas showgirls with feathers in their hair and bikini outfits and it seems like the perfect opportunity to showcase the King. But then, I walk in and realize the people aren’t really there for the show. They’re there to be with each other. There could be 100, 150 people there but there is nobody within 30 or 40 feet of the stage and as I begin to walk around through the crowd to touch people’s hands, nobody will really touch my hand. I get up on the stage and do my show. I do my dance. I do my songs. Nobody is really listening, nobody is clapping. Then I finish my first two songs and it’s time to do the special song that they requested that I do. They requested it. I didn’t even want to do it but I’m willing to do anything. As I was sitting in the back considering changing my show, I’m thinking, “I’m a good performer. I’m the kind of performer that tries to d...

The rule of Alexander the Great, at his death, extended over more than two million square miles. Not all of those lands had been conquered. Apparently, when some little countries saw him coming, they just gave up and asked him to dinner. Setting aside his military prowess, one can see Alexander as a master of Mergers and Acquisitions. It’s the part that comes after each “takeover” that points to his genius at holding on to what he had won, whether in battle or by concession. He didn’t need to leave more than a small administrative contingent in one conquered land before moving on to the next. Once conquered, they stayed conquered, until his death at 32. Dave Logan, one of the authors of Tribal Leadership, credits much of Alexander’s success to his tutelage in rhetoric under Aristotle. This is not the corrupted view of rhetoric as some flowery manipulation. Rhetoric for Aristotle encompassed ethos in language (wisdom, virtue and good will) as well as pathos. Alexander went into cou...

My first thought was “Wha--?” My second was “terrorists?” My third thought was “Someone who resents high performers?” None of these thoughts required any work on my part. I did not cogitate, analyze, weigh or seek additional information. The thoughts arrived unbidden. I need to remember that. I need to remember that because my brain, like all human brains, attend to the drama—the outrageous, the loud, the flashy, the emotionally compelling—and, in so doing, either miss some critical, quiet clue or put undue weight on the Big Events. For instance, many more people die of poor diet (too much salt, fat, sugar) than terrorist attacks, but I pay much more attention to screaming headlines than to what I put in my body. Actually, I do pay attention to Cheese Crunchies—a lot of attention—so it would be more accurate to say that I let drama convince me that there are Bigger Things at Stake than the effects on my body of Crunchies and too few vegetables, statistics and the relatively q...