Tropical Storm Fay — Looking For the Rainbow

Tropical Storm Fay from our back window

If you’re watching the news this week, you’ve probably been pummeled with political pundits seeking to persuade you to elect their candidate.  You may have seen enough Olympic sports to steal your much needed sleep.  Or you might have even watched a little bit of a storm – one of the named variety — as it overstayed its welcome to the Treasure Coast of Florida.

So Long, Skip

  I just heard the news.  In fact, I haven’t even had a chance to read anything about the unfortunate tragedy.  Those of us who are Braves fans are saddened today to learn of the passing of a Braves icon of more than 25 years.  Skip Caray passed away this evening.  Although he has been in relatively poor health for a while, I must say this took me quite by surprise. 

Because of the Braves television deals, Caray came into literally millions of homes every night on cable giant TBS, giving Braves fans everywhere an insight into our favorite team.  Caray spanned the terrible years of the 80s, the incredible years of the 90s, and was still going as the Braves tried to re-build in the 21st Century.  His father, Harry Caray, was a legendary broadcaster in St. Louis and Chicago.  Yep, he was a broadcaster for the Cardinals before going to the arch-rival Cubbies and gaining fame on WGN.  Caray’s son, Chip, is a Braves broadcaster and very good in his own right.  Truly, he is a Chip off the old block.

There are some interesting tidbits to think about when you think of Skip Caray and his relationship with the Braves.  Even though he never donned a Braves uniform to play ball for the team, he has been around for more years than the likes of Hank Aaron, Dale Murphy, and Phil Niekro.  In the broadcast booth, he has seen many quality announcers come and go, but he stayed around, doing his job with a professional quality surpassed by none.

Because of the Braves television deals, sadly, the Braves are not on television nearly as much where I can watch them due to geographic location.  His humor, yet no-holds-barred truthfulness of broadcasting the events of the game and / or season will serve as an example to any ambitious broadcaster.  The voice of Skip Caray will be missed, but his legacy lives on in the broadcast booth of the Atlanta Braves for years to come.

Would You Look at that Dawg Gone Target

  The news rang throughout Bulldog Nation this past weekend that college football coaches around the country believe that the University of Georgia Bulldog football team is the team to beat this season.  While that is great news for Dawg fans everywhere, it does come with a bit of cautious reservations.  I’m tickled red that UGA is ranked that way in the pre-season.  But at the same time, that also means that every football team in the country will be hoping that a few of twelve select teams will knock the Dawgs from their porch. 

Oh, To Be Sixteen Again!

She was only Sixteen

I remember being 16 years old.  I know I had to be that age once because I’m, well, quite a bit older than that now.  Sixteen seems so long ago.  I also remember the day my eldest daughter was born.  It was quite warm that July day in Nashville, and Baptist Hospital was barely large enough to hold my swolen head.  That was then . . . this is now.

Fresh Squeezed Leadership LemonAID

A fresh new book on leadership?  You’re kidding, right?  Toybox Leadership is a book birthed from growing pains of a company CEO (Ron E. Hunter) and his Chairman of the Board (Michael Waddell) taking a look at leadership traits from the toys of childhood.  While giving a less than desireable report to the company’s consituents, the author (Hunter) needed to share a stalemate in profits but a shift that would cause an attractive upstart.  Waddell gave Hunter the analogy of a slinky dog.  The head of a slinky dog moves forward and has to wait for the tail to catch up.  That’s exactly where the company was.  As Hunter gave his report to the constituents illustrated by the slinky dog, the book, Toybox Leadership was born.  Hunter and Waddell had just squeezed fresh lemonAID using the lemons of a less than positive progress report.

With the slinky dog serving as a springboard, Hunter and Waddell found nine other toys from their childhood toyboxes and began to weave other leadership characteristics that will challenge the businessman and student alike.  Using personal anecdotes from past experiences, Hunter and Waddell share business and family stories that have taught them valuable lessons in leadership techniques.  This would be an excellent addition to any leader’s bookshelf.

Where else would you learn how Play Dough and Weebils, Mr. Potato Head and Lite Brite could help you with your business decisions?  What other book could use a Rocking Horse or a Rubik’s Cube to share with you solid business principles?  John Maxwell and Dick Vitale are but two of many powerful leaders and businesspersons who have read Toybox Leadership and given high reviews.

And incidentally, in doing some research, the company is doing quite well, the constituents are generally well-pleased, and it is largely due to the principles taught in Toybox Leadership.  If the principles work and results are shown, be a leader and invest $20 in your copy of this 180 page book from major booksellers.  Find it online at CBD, Randall House Publications, or Amazon, as well as on shelves at Barnes and Noble, Books A Million, or at the publisher of the book, Thomas Nelson.