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What my 4-year old has taught me about leadership

My wife and I have a very active 4-year old son. Anyone who has spent a lot of time with children knows they often don’t have a filter. At times this can be bad, but sometimes it is very thought-provoking. I’ve read many great articles over the years on leadership from high-profile CEO’s, High-ranking Military officers, and inspirational leaders. I have learned a lot from these various sources however, I am finding some of the core foundations of leadership can come right from our children.

Below are few candid comments that have been shared by my son over the last several months that have made me stop and reflect on leadership.

“It’s dark upstairs, will you hold my hand?”

As a leader, we sometimes lead our teams into the “unknown”. It can be a change within the organization, a big meeting we are preparing for, a customer-facing event that could go in many different directions, you name it. We need to instill the confidence and trust within our team to let them know it will be alright and we will be with them every step of the way. It’s important they know we are there for them and will we go at it together. Prior to being in leadership myself, I had the misconception that good leaders had all the answers. I now know from personal experience that isn’t always the case. Although, I often don’t have all the immediate answers I have found that people always appreciate the presence and support of knowing they aren’t facing a situation alone.

“Sometimes you win and sometimes you don’t, but it’s okay.”

Everyone in some capacity whether in sports, work, or your occasional Monopoly game is competitive (in my son’s case, any game involving hockey). We won’t win all the time, but it’s how we react to our losses that tell us a story about ourselves. I have found that in leadership it takes emotional intelligence to not have a bad attitude after a loss. It is important to quickly assess and analyze where we went wrong and learn from it.

“Sharing is Caring”

If there is one word that we say the most when we are with our son and other kids, it’s “share”. I love to learn. I want to read books and articles about leadership successes and how to replicate them, but I also enjoying reading about challenges and failures. In leadership (and personally), I feel it’s equally important that we share where we have had success and where we have struggled. I have found that I have learned more from conversations with others sharing experiences than any other avenue of learning.

In our four years with our son, we have had some humbling conversations. Sometimes it’s a laughable moment, sometimes not. I believe that leadership principles happen around us daily, however, it all depends on how we look at them. I am still learning every day on how to be a better leader. I look forward to all the additional things he will teach me as he grows.

-Michael Jobe (Bad Boy)

In preparing for 2019, this was the punch in the (too soft) gut I needed:  https://f3nation.com/2018/02/07/queen-q1-4/

And especially, this:

“The Queen is an integral Guardrail in the Q’s pursuit of proper personal alignment. As with chess, if the Queen is taken off the board, it is not long before the King finds himself checkmated. No matter how hard and consistently a man may exercise, if his diet is haphazard his Fitness kingdom will not long stand. The Queen cannot be ignored, even by the strongest of Kings.”

One of my goals for 2019 is to improve my health. And for me, that means making strides to improve my diet. Bottom line: Food is fuel. And I cannot expect better performance on a sub-par diet.

Choosing to do the right thing in this area is a struggle I’ve seen myself battle with decreasing success in the past few years. I need accountability, encouragement, and to know I’m not alone in working to improve this part of my life.

With PA’s blessing, I’m going to launch a Fuel channel on Slack and would invite anyone who also wants to improve in this area of their life to join. It’d be great to talk about diet, strategies, successes, failures, and work hold one another accountable.

To kick things off, here are some changes I’m making to my diet, in an effort to improve.

In 2019, for the first 10 days of each month, I will avoid the following:

• Fried Food/Fast Food
• Red Meat
• Breads/White-Flour-Based Products
• Cream-Based Sauces/Dressings
• Chips/Pretzels/Etc.
• Desserts
• Soda
• Sweet Tea
• Alcohol

I’m expecting there will be a carryover effect through the rest of the month and will extend these guidelines if not.

I will also post my weight weekly in the designated Fuel channel on Slack.

A few understandings:

1. Life happens. If I make a mistake, I’ll tell you about it in the Fuel channel and get back to it. 
2. A weekly ‘cheat meal’ is okay. A ‘cheat day’ however, is not.
3. What I’m trying may not work for you. That’s cool. Do your own thing. And tell us about it. 

Here’s to getting better in 2019. See you in the gloom, where hopefully you’ll eventually see less of me.

Viz

PAX: 5 took a Christmas Red Pill and joined St. Nick on the beaches of Titan to work off the milk and cookies. @porcelain @3rd Degree @TK @crawlspace @thejeweler #GoodGroupOfSledDogs

We started off with a 1 mile trot around the park with 3×10 merkins along the way. 5 extra were performed because @3rd Degree didn’t recover correctly. Me thinks the penalty should be upped!

The warmup:
10 x Good Mornings
10 x Baby Arm Circles
10 x Reverse BACs
10 x Air Press
10 x SSH
10 x Willie Mays
10 x forward lunges

To get the blood going we did 100 x overhead press with the picnic table as a group.

Moseyed over to the field for a little Tabatta. The flow was as follows: 20 sec sprint 10 sec rest 20 sec exercise 10 sec rest (do a little math, carry the one then subtract the one and that equals one minute). We did 10 rounds: merkins, SSH, side lunges, LBCs, flutter kicks, kicking the moon, mtn. Climbers, one foot burpees (im missing 2 exercises).

We took a little trot over to the volleyball court to get sandy with Santa while doing partner drags. Your partner lays flat on the ground and locks his hands around your neck and you drag your partner bear crawl style to the opposite end of the court. Everyone went twice… minor speed bump to search for @porcelain’s key in the sand, which was found.

Now back to the action… 10 group burpees in the sand in cadence on a 4 count.

With key in hand and sand in hair, we moseyed back to where we started through the forest of twirly swirly gumdrops to close out with a few SSHs – 100 in cadence to be exact. That’s 200 if you’re counting by ones.

Prayers/Praise @3rd Degree has his 4th little one on the way, a boy I’m thinking we call him AbsoluteZero based in his current age. Keep praying for my parents & grandfather.

And just when you though it was over, @3rd Degree invited the PAX to stick around for the first Titan Post-Q. Of course the boys obliged, and we were introduced to the Yurpiee! A burpee variation with a clap pushup at the bottom and two hand knee tap jumps at end. We did 7 to be exact which was more than enough. This has officially been added to the Lexicon and is in the process of spreading from sea to shining sea! Thanks F3 Nolensville!

3 for coffeeteria. Had to call an audible and divert to Starbucks b/c they don’t respect the 3 days of Christmas as much as the brothers do.

3 braved the early morning chill for a run heavy tabatta

PAX:. Brother-at-law, DeepDish, TheJeweler

Conditions: Cool at 35 deg. No wind, partly cloudy.

Warm-up: We kicked things off with a 1.25 mile run through the hood to the field at Christ the King to stretch things out:
10 x Good Mornings
10 x SSH
10 x Air Press
10 x BACs
10 x Reverse BACs
10 x Willie Mays
10 x Alternating Tasmanian Toe Touches (Note: DeepDish seems to think that “Russian” Toe Touches is over used so I recommend we look south of the Equator for inspiration)

Main Event Part 1: We stick around at the field and get going with the following: Sprint across the field, 25 Merkins, Sprint back and 25 leg raises while holding the fence (we’re going to count down by 5s). When you’re finished with round 1, keep going and sprint back to the other side for 20 Dips – 20 Leg Raises (we switched to dips because more Merkins await the PAX), 15 Dips – 15 Leg Raises, 10 Dips – 10 Leg Raises, 5 Dips – 5 Leg Raises.

Half-Mile-ish run back to the Stonewall parking lot entrance (we stopped at the beginning of the wall on the road) for a little music themed tabatta.

Main Event Part 2 TABATTA: On the playlist: Rocky, Uptown Funk, Kanye, AC/DC, MGMT, and Dr. Dre. Each round is one song, which is exactly 4 minutes, and looks like this:
20 sec Sprint, 10 sec rest (each sprint is as far as you can go or ~100m +/- 10m)
20 sec SSH, 10 sec rest (each exercise is as many as you can do in the allotted time ~20 on average)
20 sec Sprint, 10 sec rest
20 sec Merkins, 10 sec rest
20 sec Sprint, 10 sec rest
20 sec LBCs, 10 sec rest
20 sec Sprint, 10 sec rest
20 sec lunges, 10 sec rest
We did a total of 6 rounds for 24 minutes ~2400m of sprints or 1.5 miles! For future reference, there are 6 more songs on the playlist!

Mary: With everyone a bit gassed, we cooled off with a 3min jog around the park back to the parking lot just in time for 2 mins of Mary abs:
25 Flutter Kicks
10 American hammers
5 WW1s (Slow 4 count up – Slow 4 count down)
Time! On the day 4.4 Miles!

No new prayer request but a few praises on the year: Deep Dish is still going strong and had a great year and is excited for 2019. Brother-At-Law was blessed with a baby girl this past year – definitely plenty to look forward to in 2019!
Announcements: Don’t forget New Year’s convergence at the Hill (FRA). I believe the kick-off time is 0700.

Pleasure to lead men and be lead. Let’s continue to sharpen each other in the coming year.

December 22, 2018

The Twelve days of Christmas inspired these awesome 12 PAX to join together this lovely morning to  celebrate together the first Noel of NOLENSVILLE F3!
Conditions: They came together under a setting full moon, at a balmy 29 degrees, and more importantly NO wind and NOT WET.

PAX who made it:  Cheezwhiz (co-Q), Mr. Opus, Creeper, 3^rd Degree, Stats, Typo +, Soccer Mom, Altidore, Sterno, Barney Feivel, Staples, and Little Miss Piggy (co-Q)

PreParty: 3^rd Deg, Soccer Mom, Creeper, Mr.Opus–LMP, and Cheezwhiz  joined in for last 4 rounds and Typo + might have slid in for a couple?      10 burpees on the minute x 10 min.

Warm up: Disclaimer
Circle up: IC baby arm circles x10 each, SSH x 20, Toy soldiers on own each leg

OK – Let’s get some small coupons from the truck – one each
Travel to soccer field:  “John Cusaks” – that right, put that coupon “radio” over your head and let’s jog

As we come close to the soccer field, the first few PAX scream in glee like a five year old girl on her first pony ride,  “WHAT IS THAT!” as they point toward the Christmas tree lit up by the glow of the parking lot light pole.     “SANTA CAME!!!”  Three presents sat sparkling in magical wonder underneath the tree. The game may be played differently, but this time it was definitely “Dirty Santa” that dropped these gifts off. (3 numbers were randomly selected and that number PAX would get the chance to open a present)

Barney Feivel got first crack at opening a gift, only to reveal —Thang 1 was inside:

“The Twelve Days of Christmas!”

Sooo, someone must have been at odds with their girl, cause that true love sure had some wacked out ideas for gifts. We did the exercises just like you would have sang the song – yep with all the repeats.   Great job on this one everyone:

1. A 40 yd dash in the cold!, 2.knee tucks, 3. Clurpees, 4. Iron Mikes, 5. Peter Parkers, 6. Flutter Kicks, 7. Hello Dollies, 8. American Hammers, 9. Alabama Prom Dates, 10. Merkins, 11. Lunges, 12. Squat Jumps

Creeper selected box number two, finding Thang 2 inside:

“Tabat – YEAH!”

You know it, and you love it!  But this time to some crazy Christmas tunes – 2 rounds (Mosey over to playground )
Round 1 – Coppenhagens and Plyo “box” jumps
Round 2 – Pull ups/under dogs and merkins

Sterno got the pleasure of opening the last present and found Thang 3:

“Killer Christmas Coupon Shopper”

Partner up and grab 2 coupons per pair. Partner one goes shopping (Run to other end of soccer field and back) while Partner 2 cuts coupons (does exercises with one coupon in each hand).  Then switch.
Together they have to achieve: 50 reps each of shoulder lateral raises, front raises, bent over Ts, and shoulder presses.    Dang those shoulders are burning now.

Mosey back to the vehicles – a little ice skating along the way on the frozen parking lot ponds!

Mary:  Circle up:  the infamous Tebow Stretch, cherry pickers IC, hip flexor stretches

CoT:  numbers/names/prayer to close
2^ndF- being considered for after New Years – The Casual Pint of Smyrna
Jan12 – Warpath !
SoccerMom may make his last F3 on 1/5/19

9 HIM posted at Titan for an epic Remember the Titans themed workout. Whistles, motivational speeches, and movie references abounded.

QIC: Pumpkin Spice

PAX: BNB, Crablegs,  Crawlspace, Porcelain, Renegade (FNG), Right Said, Studio 42, Trapper Keeper

THE THANG:

Quick disclaimer, motivational speech from Coach Boone, then a Mosey to the back of the Parthenon, pausing there for some COP, in cadence of course:

• SSH x 15
• WMH x 15
• LBAC x 15
• rLBAC x 15
• Overhead Claps x 15
• High Knees x 15

Petey Pattycake Merkin Mile

Petey fumbled the football, so Coach Boone made him run all 5,280 feet to learn his lesson. The one-mile path was utilized for this part of the workout. The mile, ran as a group, was broken up in to 4 segments. Each quarter mile was preceded by 25 Pattycake Merkins, done with a partner of course.

Blue Up Downs

We paused for a brief lesson from Blue and Coach Boone, learning that water is for sissies and for washing blood off of one’s uniform, and one does not get blood on one’s uniform. The PAX gathered up for up downs until Porcelain was no longer tired or thirsty. YHC led the PAX with foot chops until Coach Boone (YHC) blew his whistle, prompting us to drop our chest to the ground, get back up, and continue chopping. This lasted for a solid 4 minutes.

Modified-Dora

Next up was some Modified-Dora at the base of TC Williams High School (The Parthenon) . With their partner, the PAX accomplished 25 Yoast Yurpees (Clap Burpee with two Tuck Jumps), 50 Julius Jump Squats, and 75 Bertier Little Baby Flutter Crunches. The other half of the Dora was running up the stairs to the top of the Parthenon and back.

Ain’t No Mountain Climbers

Whilst listening to the Marvin Gaye classic, the PAX were continuously doing Mountain Climbers for the duration of the song. Whenever the word “Baby” was said, the PAX flipped their feet forward and did 5 LBCs, then resume doing Mountain Climbers. This continued until the sweet sound of Marvin’s voice came to an end.

Once we finished learning that there was in fact no mountain high enough, we finished things off with some Louie Lastik Lieutenant Dangers (Lt. Dans with a Merkin) for about 100 meters.

We concluded the workout with a solid 60-seconds of Bertier’s Momma (Freddie) Mercuries.

MOLESKIN:

• Studio 42’s pastor’s wife just had a late miscarriage. If you are a praying person, please keep their family in your prayers as they wade through this very difficult time.

BULLHORN:

12/18: Bicentennial will be leading the next round of F3 Libeery – this coming Tuesday, December 18th at Fat Bottom Brewery.  Freed to Lead is the book of choice, but feel free to join even if you haven’t read it.

PAX: PSL, Black Lung, Boy Band, Big Stick, Foxtrot Talks-a-Lot, Red Skull, Prevac, Bagger Vance, Kegger (Willy Loman), D’Mishonuts, Pope, Offshore, Floppy Disk

QIC: Floppy Disk

13, but more accurately 8-9, were ready to roll at 5:30 in the 20-degree weather that greeted us at Sir E. I say more accurately because we picked up 3-4 stragglers during CoP. I guess those alarm clocks may have been a little frozen. Anyhoo, we rolled up to the big house and commenced with some warmup.

Warm-O-Rama (all IC)

SSH x20
High Knees x10
Butt Kickers x10
Windmills x10
BaC F x10
BaC R x10
Good Mornings x10
Willie Mays x10
Plank Jax x15
SnL Merks x10

THANG

Mosey to the Auditorium and spread out in the parking spaces for a little Aunt Bea style parking space work. 5 Merkins in each space, then run to the building, backpedal to the adjoining space, 5 more Merkins, etc. etc.,until you have returned to your original parking space. By my rough calculations there are approximately 35 spaces so it was a chunk of merks.

Mosey down to the bottom of the hill nearest Edmonson for some 7s. Tuck Jumps and Jump Squats. Backpedal up the hill ~50 yards, regular mosey down the hill.

Mosey up the monster hill to the big lot for some island-to-island work. Burpee Broad Jump to island 1 and perform 10x WW1s.Lunge to island 2 and perform 10x WW1s. Broad Jump to island 3 and perform 10xWW1s.

Mosey back to the start for a few minutes of Mary.

Mary

AST x20 IC
Mtn Climbers x15 IC
Flutter Kix x30 IC
Hola Dolly x20 IC
Low Plank 30s
J-Lo’s x15 IC
Good Mornings x2 IC

Done! Good work done by all today. It was cold, but we overcame adversity like all those football players. Great to have Kegger from Alpharetta out there.

SYITG,
Floppy Disk

Cold and gloomy on the morning of 5 December.  2nd anniversary Q for YHC Porcelain.  Pax: Hambone, Badboy, Pumpkin Spice, Preacher Man, Crawl Space, Right Said, Hi Viz, Reveille, Bicentennial Man, Trapper Keeper.

Kicked it off with a little Shovel flag run alike a drive by EH by Badboy.  After encouragement by the the. Fiancé now M, Ashley, ultimately got me to join the Pax over two years ago at Titan.  Knew I had to warmup the pax quick.

COP- 20 SSH, 15 squats, 15 merkins, 12 willie Mayes hayes

The thang: DID sprintsx2.  Introduced these a few weeks ago off a T-cell DID fest.  Sprint the Parthenon ellipse then 20 dip-15 incline merkins-10 decline merkins. May not have been clear on instructions as some got 3 sprints in.  Indian run headfake to collect tables.

The thang: Table Chariots of Fire.  We all know it’s not one of my workouts without some form of coupon.  Indian run taller than man in front of you move forward to form two groups tall and short.  1 modify kept teams even at 5.  Mosey with tables back to Parthenon.  Moleskin: stations established at base of Parthenon (the house of Athena) and the suffragettes statue in honor of the M for encouraging me and continuing to do so.

Carries across ellipse between sets.

20 ground to overhead table team

30 overhead press table team

50 bent row table team stayed at Parthenon station

100 derkins total team (20 each)

125 leg raises total team (25 each)

150 step ups total team (30 each)

175 dips total team (35 each)

200 crunchy table frogs total team (40 each)

Had some additional Bulgarian split squats in mind but for time moved to return the table.  Mosey to front of Parthenon for Mary.

Mary-circles up with pax for a pick you exercise.  Made it about half way through before time.

Honored to lead the pax.  Happy to see the lights with helicopter Santa up.  He helped my wife and I get engaged. Glad to have all the pax in my life helping me grow in my relationship with my wife.  Chariots of Fire scene was my teaser because both the M and I enjoy running.  If you don’t run, you can’t win.