In jobs that I had previously to being an entrepreneur, I could never understand the emotion of jealousy that went on in staff meetings with other companies. If a competing organization would have a success, I clearly remember on several occasions my bosses and co-workers getting bitter about their success, seeing it as a hurt to their business. But I don’t see it that way at all, and never have. The principle of working together is why I started the North Carolina Triad Theatre League. Almost three years ago now, I invited all of the theatre producers the Piedmont Triad to Spring Theatre, (my non profit company), so we could all sit in one room together to see if there was an interest in creating deeper relationships between each other. What has developed since has been a beautiful thing. Rosina Whitfield of The Drama Center of City Arts came to that meeting, and expressed that she had a genuine interest in something like this for years. And so… the NC Triad Theatre League was born! The league is an alliance of theatrical organizations who have come together to unify and sustain our collective missions, to be inclusive of the entire Triad community of all ages and backgrounds, and to provide collaboration and resources for a stronger arts community. Our members have come together to share resources such as costumes, prop pieces or storage, and we have become a resource to each other for hiring actors, designers or directors. Every other month, the theatre producers all sit down and discuss upcoming theatre news and needs and ways to strengthen our theatrical community. This year was the first year that we had an official organizational and individual membership, and the league received much press. Some of the events this year included producing unified auditions at Triad Stage, where actors could come and do one audition for over a dozen theatres at one time, and the Triad Theatre Festival at GTCC, an entire day of celebrating theatre on two stages to create performance opportunities and gain new audiences. The league also produces also an e-newsletter, a facebook page, a forum, workshops, and networking events for members such as potlucks. You can also see what’s going on anytime in the Triad by visiting www.TriadTheatre.com for dates and upcoming shows from all our members. This Sunday, October 29th at 6pm, we’ll be hosting a season kick off at Wolfgang Puck Restaurant at Friendly Center in Greensboro. This free event is open to the public, and dinner is included! If you’d like to get involved with the NC Triad Theatre league, this is a perfect opportunity. We welcome all ideas, and will also be signing up committee members for our various 2018 endeavors! It’s also just a great way to network with fellow producers and performers in the area and show your support of the arts. Hellen Keller once said “alone we can do so little; together we can do so much”. If you’re struggling to achieve your goals in life, you might want to look for like minded individuals who have the same goals, and see what you can do together. After all, individually we are one drop, but together, we are an OCEAN.
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If you take into account all of the millions of people that reside there, Hong Kong is overall an extremely clean city. The public areas are kept wide open to make room for the massive waves of business associates, residents and tourists that pass through on foot every single day. The first Sunday we spent in Hong Kong was quite a shock! Nelson’s son Max told us we would be surprised but didn’t tell us why. When we left the apartment that morning, we went towards the IFC as we regularly did, and as soon as we got to the public areas where there was usually just open space, we could see thousands of people living on the street in makeshift cardboard rooms! Block after block we walked, and block after block saw more and more people in these temporary homes. They were eating, doing their hair and nails, singing, playing cards, sleeping…. There were even church services and dance parties happening in some of the more crowded areas and some streets were completely closed off to make room for all of the mini homes. We found out that most of the upper-class business people of Hong Kong that have children have live in nannies. Monday through Saturday, these nannies take care of the kids and the house for their boss, and Sunday is their only day off. With nowhere else to go, every Sunday a community is born from cardboard, and their day is spent off together. It was surreal to see, like Hong Kong had turned into an alternate universe. The best part was witnessing the attitudes. Everyone was smiling, being productive or just enjoying fellowship with their co-workers, friends and family. Thinking back on the experience, I don’t think I saw one unhappy face in the entire bunch. These individuals who were spending their day in a piece of cardboard in the blistering heat were happier than many folks I have seen relaxing on vacation at 5-star luxury resorts. I believe it’s because the only handicap anyone truly has in life is bad attitude. It doesn’t matter what cards you’ve been dealt, what physical limitations you might have or how challenging your work might be. It doesn’t matter if you live in a mansion or in a piece of cardboard once a week. It’s all about your attitude, and the most wonderful thing is, attitude is also the only thing in life you’ll always have 100% control of.
No matter how much good one does in this world, you should never think for an instant that you are “owed” anything for your actions. I was raised to believe that rewards should be something you are grateful for, not something you expect. My husband often recalls a story of when he was on safari in Africa. While the group had stopped for water, a small animal came close to the vehicle, and a woman on the tour got excited at how sweet the animal was. “Do you have anything I can feed him?” she asked. “No, mum!” the tour guide replied curtly. “Oh, but he’s so cute. Why?” the woman retorted, disappointed. “Animals are just like people” said the guide. “If you feed them, they will keep coming back for more and will never learn how to get their own food”.
I love how this simple story is such a great example of how easy it is to have an entitled mindset in our modern society. You’ll often hear, “you deserve a break” or “you’re entitled to a discount”. This mindset that is drilled into us every day can give us a sense of entitlement, and for some makes it so they want or expect something for nothing. While it’s very positive to EXPECT great things like reaping what you sow and finding the good in others, there’s a fine line between entitlement and expectation. Personally, I found this mindset to be a huge challenge in my business when I first started hiring ten years ago. I had trouble when employees would come to me asking for additional paid days off, or telling me they were entitled to a bonus. I handled it poorly at first, as I would give them everything they wanted and sometimes more, thinking it would boost morale and productivity in the business! But alas, sooner than later the employee would just come back, this time with a more demanding attitude asking for more and never being satisfied. In business and in life, I believe now that no matter how much you might want to “give away the farm”, you simply can’t. Not because you can’t be generous, but because when you give something not earned, you are depriving the recipient of the challenge of earning it and the satisfying feeling of reward from accomplishment. I love to travel. And it’s a good thing, too, since I spend so much of my time doing it. I just finished calculating, and by the end of 2017, I will have spent a total of 66 days in my own bed (give or take 2-3 days that are still in the air)! Experiencing different cultures first hand every day and adapting to different climates and living situations on the fly is a life experience that I wouldn’t trade for anything. Around every corner a traveler can see things from a different perspective, and most of the time will automatically begin sharing those experiences with everyone they encounter. I believe that when you enrich yourself through globe-trotting, you inadvertently begin enriching those around you through storytelling. While chatting with a dear friend yesterday, he made me realize why I enjoy peregrination so much. It’s not the rush you get going to a new place for the first time, the excitement from trying a new food or the reflection of looking back on your photographs (though those are wonderful side effects)! The reason I love travel above all is that through it, one can enlist enlightenment. You never know how much a story or an experience that you pass along can change someone’s world, attitude or entire outlook on life. So share your stories with the world! I hope to share several in the coming days on this very blog. I hope you’ll be reading… and hope that some of you may be enlightened as well!
Lately, it seems like anytime we turn on the news, check our facebook page, tune into the radio or pick up the phone, there is so much negativity and “bad news” out there that instantly floods into our homes and our hearts. Everywhere you look, you can find politics and negativity that the media reports each and every day. I have witnessed many friends feel sad and hopeless after “tuning in” for any length of time. While I am not blind to the terrible things that are happening in the world, I would like to share with you my perspective on life that I hope sheds some light on what would appear to be the darkness of the world. For the past several years, I have had such a unique opportunity to travel all over this planet, waking up in a different city almost every day. Throughout my travels, absolutely everywhere I go, I see thousands of amazing moments that you will never find on the news. Even at this very moment, somewhere in the world there are thousands of smiles, fundraisers, celebrations, charitable events, friends helping friends, hugs, works of art being created, stories being told and other random acts of kindness that the news just doesn’t report. Why? Because the good of the world is the RULE. The EXCEPTION is what they put on the news…. after all, that is what makes it “news”. If you truly look around, you’ll see that love and kindness is everywhere. One of my favorite places is the airport. While waiting for my checked luggage, it is pure magic to look around and witness different kinds of love from friends and family being reunited at baggage claim. You can literally see smiles, hugs, tears of laughter and happiness all around you through different kinds of relationships and human interaction. So, when you come across negativity and “bad news”, whether it be on facebook, the news, or if it just comes up in conversation, I encourage you not to feel discouraged. Because even with the faults of human kind, I promise you, there is much more good than evil in today’s world. There is much more positive than negative. I have seen this first hand everywhere I go. There is a wonderful website out there I discovered a few years back called “The Good News Network”. On there you will find a lot of the good stories that the other media stations will not be covering. Check out their good work at: www.GoodNewsNetwork.com. Everyone who knows me well knows that Mary Tyler Moore was my idol. Today I hope you’ll leave this blog humming lyrics to the theme song from her show, and remember that “love is all around”.
Who can turn the world on with her smile? Who can take a nothing day and suddenly make it all seem worthwhile? Well, it’s you girl and you should know it. With each glance, and every little movement you show it. Love is all around, no need to waste it! You can have your time, why don’t you take it? You’re gonna make it after all. This week, Letters From Home had the privilege of sailing and performing once again on the beautiful S.S. Legacy down the majestic Columbia and Snake Rivers on the west coast of the United States. If you haven’t been on an Un-Cruise Adventure, it’s something to put on your bucket list. The different adventures they provide are truly one of the most unique experiences you can encounter on earth. The mission of Un-Cruise Adventures is to provide guests an enriching adventure travel experience and inspire an appreciation of local cultures and the natural world... and they do just that! This particular trip on the river is a truly beautiful one and the views are incredible. Around every corner is a different terrain, and as you open your window to greet each new day you never know what you’ll see outside! I have traveled on this itinerary 4 times with Un-Cruise, and have gotten to experience vineyard tours, Nez Perce storytellers, wine tastings, fish ladders, dams, locks, high speed jet boats, museums, waterfalls and wildlife. While each of these experiences are lovely, what TRULY makes the trip isn’t those things at all….. it’s the company culture that an amazing leader, the owner of Un-Cruise Adventures, sets into place. I first met Dan Blanchard in 2013 when the S.S. Legacy first sailed from Seattle, Washington to Ketchikan, Alaska. Since Dan was a kid, he has always been around boats, and truly lives his passion for adventure. Dan has set a company culture of kindness and teamwork that is so strong that you can feel the love from each and every crew member from the moment you meet them to the time you disembark. The Un-Cruise culture features the values of the company and maintains the direction of all of the team in the office and onboard. Due to the fact that there is such a strong culture, the company will always attract better talent and more importantly retain their crew. The love for this company from all their employees is genuine. Since we are performing onboard, we get to hang out with the crew when they aren’t “on” in front of the passengers, and it is so nice to see that the kindness isn’t just a façade… all of them love the people they work with, and their job. These trips also have open bridge policy and I would spend many nights on the bridge looking at the stars and watching the crew navigate while engaging in conversation. After that first trip on Un-Cruise adventures, we returned home and re-wrote the culture statement for First in Flight Entertainment. Every time we have a new hire, we go over this statement in detail, and we all abide by these cultures in our daily work. Un-Cruise has inspired what we do in First in Flight Entertainment, and as our company continues to grow, it will help us never lose sight of the importance of culture in everything we do. I would like to share our culture statement for First in Flight Entertainment with you. If you are a business owner of any size, I encourage you to find a company culture if you don't already have one. It has really changed so much about the way we do business, and our staff is more excellent every day because of it! First in Flight Entertainment 14 Points of Culture: 1. Fun I view my life as a journey to be enjoyed and appreciated and I create an atmosphere of fun and happiness so all around me enjoy it as well. 2. Commitment I give myself and everything I commit to 100 percent until I succeed. I am committed to the Vision, Mission, Culture, and success of First in Flight Entertainment, its current and future team, and its clients at all times. You will always recommend the product and services of First in Flight Entertainment prior to going outside the company. 3. Ownership I am truly responsible for my action and outcomes and own everything that takes place in my work and my life. I am accountable for my results and I know that for things to change, first I must change. 4. Integrity I always speak the truth. What I promise is what I deliver. I only ever make agreements with myself and others that I am willing and intend to keep. I communicate any potential broken agreements at the first opportunity and I clear up all broken agreements immediately. 5. Excellence Good enough isn’t. I always deliver our product and services of exceptional quality that add value to all involved for the long term. I look for ways to do more with less and stay on a path of constant and never-ending improvement and innovation. 6. Communication I speak positively of my fellow team members, my clients and First in Flight Entertainment in both public and private. I speak with good purpose using empowering and positive conversation. I never use or listen to sarcasm or gossip. I acknowledge what is being said as true for the speaker at that moment and I take responsibility for responses to my communication. I greet and say goodbye to people using their names. I always apologize for any upsets first and then look for a solution. I only ever discuss in private with the person involved. 7. Success I totally focus my thoughts, energy and attention on the successful outcome of whatever I am doing. I am willing to win and allow others to win: Win/Win. At all times, I display my inner pride, prosperity, competence and personal confidence. I am a successful person. 8. Education I learn from my mistakes. I consistently learn, grow and master so that I can help my fellow team members and clients learn, grow and master too. I am an educator and allow my clients to make their own intelligent decisions about their future, remembering that it is their future. I impart practical and useable knowledge rather than just theory. 9. Teamwork I am a team player and team leader. I do whatever it takes to stay together and achieve team goals. I focus on cooperation and always come to a resolution, not a compromise. I am flexible in my work and able to change if what I’m doing is not working. I ask for help when I need it and am compassionate to others who ask me. 10. Balance I have a balanced approach to life, remembering that my spiritual, social, physical and family aspects are just as important as my financial and intellectual. I complete my work and my most important tasks first, so I can have quality time to myself, with my family and also to renew. 11. Systems I always look to the system for a solution. If a challenge arises I use a system correction before I look for a people correction. I use a system solution in my innovation rather than a people solution. I follow the system exactly until a new system is introduced. I suggest system improvements at my first opportunity. 12. Consistency I am consistent in my action so my client and teammate can feel comfortable in dealing with me at all times. I am disciplined in my work so my results, growth and success are consistent. 13. Gratitude I am a truly grateful person. I say thank you and show appreciation often and in many ways, so that all around me know how much I appreciate everything and everyone I have in my life. I celebrate my wins and the wins of my clients and team. I consistently catch myself and other people doing things right. 14. Abundance I am an abundant person. I deserve my abundance and I am easily able to both give and receive it. I allow abundance in all areas of my life by respecting my own self- worth and that of all others. I am rewarded to the level that I create abundance for others and I accept that abundance only shows up in my life to the level at which I show up. If there was a particular culture point that resonated with you, please let me know why in the comments below!
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