The Falls

Waterfall!

This was the "beach."

Cheese curds!

It's been years since I have been to "The Falls" but we had a great time! It was a flooded because we've had significant amounts of rainfall this summer but it was so cool. That water is really moving! There is this beach area and as soon as I dipped my feet into the water they were pulled to the side. If you looked down at the water you felt like you were spinning in circles. It was crazy how fast and strong that current was. What amazed me even more was that I saw a mom pull her 2ish old son out farther into the water. He didn't want to go and I don't blame him. Personally, I thought that was very dangerous but who am I to judge!

And yes, we got Cheese Curds!! There was a Polish Festival or something at one of the nearby parks. We walked through and ended up with Cheese Curds and Mini Donuts!

WCAGLS and Dr. Brene Brown

This lady was great! My favorite speakers probably went Bob Goff, Patrick Lencioni, and Dr. Brene Brown. She is a groundbreaking researcher into the topics of shame, worthiness and courage. She wrote a book called Daring Greatly and she shared some of that information with us. 

Love and belonging are irreducible needs. 

People need to be seen and loved.

Love is not something we do by ourselves, it grows through connection.

It's very difficult to love people more than we love ourselves.

People need to be seen and loved, need to belong , and need to be brave.  

Love is messy and hard. It's a struggle.

Connection gives purpose and meaning to our lives.

Love and belonging are two irreducible needs of men, women and children. In their absence is suffering.

We can't give what we don't have.

We cannot give help if we ourselves cannot ask for it. 

When you judge yourself for asking for help, you are always judging when you give help.

A leader models the courage to ask the questions, not to have all of the answers.

We cultivate love when we allow our most vulnerable and most powerful selves to be deeply seen and known.

Love is a practice, not just a profession.

What kills love (shame, blame, and withholding), kills organizations.

Without failure there can be no innovation.

If you want to be innovating you better be praying for lots of mistakes.

Shame can only rise for a certain amount of time before people disengage to self protect. 

People aren't looking for perfection, they are looking for people who practice love.

The space between how we behave and what we practice everyday is where we lose people.

Blame is the simple discharging in pain and discomfort.  

Blame is toxic in organizations as much as it is in relationships.

Feedback is a function of respect.

Lack of feedback is the number 1 reason for leaving a company.

Feedback by definition should be vulnerable. We don't like it because it's uncomfortable.

You can't be good at giving feedback if you aren't willing to be vulnerable. 

You can choose courage or comfort but you can't choose both. 

You have to make a space for people to show up and be seen for who they are.

Belonging can't have checkboxes attached to it.

People are desperate for belonging.

People want to be a part of something that's bigger than themselves.

We were born to be brave.

Shame is universal.

It's not the critic who counts... the credit belongs to the man who is in the arena. - Theodore Roosevelt

I want to be in the arena and I don't think I have much of a choice. My faith calls me to be courageous every day.

Have clarity about your values and someone who loves you because of your imperfections.

If you are not in the arena, I'm not interested or open to your feedback.

Contribute more than you criticize.