A500.2.3.RB_RutbellGreg - Blog - Tell Your Story

In this journal entry, I will discuss some standards that are most important in my life. I will focus on non-critical-thinking standards including:

·         fun

·         exciting

·         feels good

·         attention-getting

·         popular

·         chic

·         spontaneous

·         advantageous

·         beneficial to me

·         in fashion

Continuous Lifelong Learning and Education

I enjoy learning new things and keeping my knowledge and skills updated with the latest tools and processes. For example, this year 2013 I have completed several courses including: Stephen Covey - 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Becoming a Leader - Jack Welch Management Institute at Strayer University and John Maxwell - Leadership and Teamwork. In the past, I completed MBA at American InterContinental University and Lean Six Sigma Black Belt at Lockheed Martin and the University of Texas at Austin. And a month ago, I started the MS Leadership at ERAU. Why do I do this? It is beneficial to me because it builds a better me and is beneficial to my Industrial Engineering position at Boeing because it makes me a more productive employee. The Boeing Learning Together Program also covers tuition, books and software costs and graduate level course programs are income and tax free.           

Traveling

Hawaii, Alaska and Canada are several of the most beautiful places I have ever visited. Beaches, crystal clear waters, mountains, greenery, snow, ice, icebergs and clean air. The Grand Canyon, Yellowstone and Yosemite are absolutely fascinating. Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver are several of the most fascinating cities in North America. The Pacific Northwest is also an area of great natural beauty. I have several National Parks by me including Mount Rainier and Olympic. Washington State Parks are beautiful too. Add to this bald eagles flying overhead and salmon, halibut and trout fishing in lakes, rivers, streams and oceans. Traveling is fun, exciting, a good stress reliever and a great time for reflection experience. And it is a great opportunity to connect with family and friends.   

Salmon Fishing   

What an incredible opportunity to go salmon fishing. I am spoiled to live in one of the best salmon fishing regions in the world: Washington State, British Columbia and Alaska. Catching a king, sockeye or pink salmon is an experience. Salmon are very strong and fighters and it takes strength and patience to land them. Salmon are also a very beautiful fish and I have several displays that were professionally mounted by taxidermists. Seeing the displays is a good reflection of great times.    

Mentoring

 I have always loved mentoring along with it being a great learning and networking tool. I have played the part of being both a mentor and mentee. When I worked for Lockheed Martin on my Lean Six Sigma Black Belt Certification I was a mentor to several Black and Green Belts who were working on certification. I would coach them on projects, training and interpersonal skills including teaming. I had several Master Black Belt mentors who coached me on similar things. Mentoring is also a good tool for relationship building and friendships both professional and personal. I spent several years as a Senior District Committee Member mentor to The Boy Scouts of America supporting the STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) initiative with the aerospace industry.                        

Servant Leadership

 

My philosophy of life is that we are here to serve others. Servant leadership is both a leadership philosophy and set of leadership practices. According to Robert Greenleaf in "The Servant Leader" "The servant-leader is servant first. It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead". Robert Greenleaf recognized that organizations as well as individuals could be servant-leaders. Indeed, he had great faith that servant-leader organizations could change the world. This is my thesis: caring for persons, the more able and the less able serving each other, is the rock upon which a good society is built. Nothing is stronger than the heart of a volunteer. Volunteers make things happen and are people of impact. How do I help build a better society? I am a volunteer, mentor and coach at Northwest Harvest which is Washington's own statewide hunger relief agency headquartered in Seattle with the mission to provide nutritious food to hungry people statewide in a manner that respects their dignity, while fighting to eliminate hunger. Our vision is that ample nutritious food is available to everyone in Washington State. Today we continue to fight hunger across Washington State through our network of partner food banks, meal programs and high-need elementary schools, providing millions of nutritious meals each year to those in need. I am also a sponsor for World Vision - Books and Backpacks. For more than 10 years, Boeing has supported local teachers and school children through the Boeing Books & Backpack drive. Boeing employees donate school supplies to help support World Vision. Boeing employees also give of their time and energy by volunteering at World Vision to stuff  backpacks with school supplies for distribution to local area kids. Through World Vision, teachers from schools in which 70 percent or more of the students qualify for free and reduced-price lunch can "shop" twice a year to receive much-needed school supplies for the children in their classrooms.

Character

Character (and integrity) is who you are and what you stand for in principles, values, and beliefs. It is important to talk the talk and walk the talk. People will watch your actions. Am I a role model at home, work and in society? The former basketball coach John Wooden from Indiana State and UCLA is one of the greatest person I have ever met and known with "The Pyramid of Success." "Success is a peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming."

Perseverance  

It is important to be persistent and maintain a continued effort to do or achieve something despite difficulties, failure or opposition. Never give in, give up or quit. Winston Churchill one of the greatest leaders ever who lead Great Britain and the Free World against Germany and Nazi's stated "Never, never, never, never give up." " Never give in, never give in, never; never; never; never - in nothing, great or small, large or petty - never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense." "Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen." Winston Churchill’s speech ‘we shall fight them on the beaches’ is one of the defining speeches during the second world war. It uses the technique of repetition to very good effect.

"We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France,
we shall fight on the seas and oceans,
we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be,
we shall fight on the beaches,
we shall fight on the landing grounds,
we shall fight in the fields and in the streets,
we shall fight in the hills;
we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God’s good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old.”

Sports

I have participated in several sports including football, weightlifting and powerlifting. Sports teaches lifelong skills including teaming, fitness and communications. Organizations such as Boeing promote eating, diet, health and fitness programs such as Boeing on the Move!

 

References

Greenleaf, Robert K. (2002). Servant Leadership - A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power &

Greatness. Mahwah, New Jersey: Paulist Press.

Littman, Jonathan & Sandys, Celia (2003). We Shall Not Fail - The Inspiring Leadership of Winston

Churchill. New York, New York: The Penguin Group.      

Nosich, Gerald M. (2012). Learning To Think Things Through - A Guide To Critical

Thinking Across The Curriculum. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.