All posts by Jim

Another Base Stolen from Yesteryear, Introduction

Steel Decks and Glass Ceilings

When i went on my journey last October, i titled my travel posts “Four Bases., Home Run Replay.”

Silly title. Really silly now that i have touched another base. The reference, then and now, is a reference to baseball. It may have not been my most accomplished sport, but it was certainly the longest, even after bad golf came along. i played sandlot ball from the beginning of memory to the beginning of Little League in Lebanon, then Babe Ruth Ball, then Castle Heights (where the “Pygmy” infield contributed to the Mid-South Conference Championship, to American Legion where we went to the state (and got trounced by Memphis), then to fast pitch softball simultaneously with the Legion and county league ball, then to teams at various Navy commands, and finally in my last tour, becoming a member of the “Royals” in the San Diego Adult Baseball League when i was way over the minimum age of 33.

This is the introduction of another base. And the way, MLB keeps changing the rules to keep fans and get more and make the players and baseball television land happy, AND making more more money, money, money, it just might adopt a rule for a fifth base. After all, they have changed the game so much, it no longer looks like the real baseball i played.

But enough of that lame explanation of the titles.

This trip to promote my book, Steel Decks and Glass Ceilings, was going to two more homes. They would be Austin and College Station, Texas.

i plan to write more in depth about this trip later, but for now, here’s a brief preview:

Yesterday, i spoke to the NROTC midshipmen in the Corps of Cadets at Texas A&M. i was the senior Naval Officer there, 1976-1979. While there, one of my numerous assignments was as the military advisor to Company S-2. Many of the current members of S-2 attended my briefing. i showed them a couple of slides from yesteryear, and then got one from yesterday.

There are good feelings and there are bad feelings. This was one of the best.

More later:

Notes from the Southwest Corner-4

Notes from the Southwest Corner

This post is a day late. This old man forgot Dirty Harry’s admonition, “A man’s gotta know his limits.” i spent the weekend lugging boxes down from the garage attic and then moving them about several more times, followed by a day of golf and and a major stretching session. Such going-ons are not recommended for folks my age. By Wednesday night, i could barely walk. But the doc did wonders. i am now almost back to old man good health.

The Demodrat column below is timely. Next Tuesday, i will lunch with Dave Carey in Georgetown, Texas before i present my book, Steel Decks and Glass Ceilings to the Texas A&M NROTC unit the following day. Dave remains an incredible friend, mentor, and inspiration. Did i mention hero? It also follows my post about Dave earlier this week.

SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA – This past Monday, I left the cleanup from the San Diego fires and flew to Lake Tahoe, Nevada. It was not an escape. It was work. I was co-facilitating a team building workshop for a California police department with my friend, Dave Carey.

Dave is not your ordinary business associate. On August 31, 1967, Dave Carey’s A-4 was shot out from under him over North Vietnam. He spent five and a half years as a Prisoner of War (POW), most of the time in the infamous “Hanoi Hilton.”

Dave and I met in 1985 at the Naval Amphibious School in Coronado. We worked together for just shy of a year as I transitioned into Dave’s position as the head of leadership training for the West Coast and Pacific Rim. Together, we help create a two-day workshop on leadership excellence for senior Navy officers.

Dave retired. Four years later in 1989, I followed suit. After my initial dive into my new job as Mister Mom, I soon started to look for ways to generate income in the quiet hours.

After some discussion, Dave and I agreed I would write a book about his POW experience, or more accurately, about his motivational speeches concerning his experience. After completing the draft, we decided it really should be written in first person. The original draft is on my office bookshelf.

Eight years later, Dave holed up for three weeks and completed The Ways We Choose: Lessons For Life From a POW’s Experience.

Part of my approach to writing was generated from conversations with Dave. He and I were driving to another workshop about fifteen years ago when I asked him about what outcome did he expect the audience to have when he gave a speech.

Dave said he had expectations initially, but discovered his listeners made their own connections. Early on, Dave had completed a luncheon speech when a huge Texan came up to him, put his big arm around Dave’s shoulder and drawled, “Can I talk with you? Dave? I understood every word you said today. The fact of the matter is, in this life, we are all going to get shot down, and some of us more than once.”

I don’t know about you, but I’ve managed to get shot down several times. Dave’s book and his ideas have been significant guides to me as I have wandered through living. The book not only applies to San Diego, Lake Tahoe, and Middle Tennessee; it worked in the Hanoi over 40 years ago.

Dave’s book revolves around a question he is most frequently asked, which is, “How did you do that? How did you and the other POW’s get through that?” He maintains they did that in a similar way to how we get through our daily process of life and work.

Dave’s assessment of how he and his fellow POW’s made it through boils down to five factors:

  • We did what we had to do
  • We did our best
  • We chose to grow
  • We kept our sense of humor
  • We kept the faith
    • In ourselves
    • In each other
    • In our country
    • In God.

His anecdotes relating to those factors are humorous, inspiring, and thought provoking. I have had the wonderful opportunity to discuss these things in depth with Dave.

So I check myself against his factors almost daily. They have even become part of the value statements for my consulting group.

I will not ruin the book by parroting it here. However, I am particularly fond of Dave’s pointing out how the POW’s trusted each one of them would do the best they could, would resist the severe interrogations to their limit; recognizing each of them had their own limit levels.

I now try to consider folks I work with are doing the best they can do. This puts a whole different shape to the way I work with these people. Fewer rocks are thrown; fewer lines are drawn in the sand; fewer chips are put on shoulders.

I would encourage everyone to read’s Dave’s book. Your connections should be yours, not mine, not Dave’s. I know folks in Middle Tennessee also get shot down every once in a while.

Note: Dave’s book can be obtained on-line through the Amazon.com, Borders, and Barnes and Noble; web sites, and Dave’s website, www.davecarey.com. You may also be able to order it from a Borders or Barnes and Noble bookstore.