Who I am

 

First and foremost, I am a Christian, a broken son of God. I am a husband, a proud father & grandfather, a brother, uncle, a pet lover, and a dedicated, loyal friend.  I aspire to be a good leader (a Servant Leader), a committed mentor, a patient teacher, and a motivated student. I am a steward of a business, a coach, and an influencer, always striving to add value to the lives of others with whom I associate. I am a giver. I am a life-long learner, an avid and passionate reader, and I am on what feels like an endless journey, fueled by an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. I enjoy the look and feel of a well-designed vehicle. I love sports and engaging in numerous outdoor activities, where the wonder and beauty of nature abound. The arts, music, photography, travel, and great movies inspire me. I really like things that are funny and I love to laugh! I am a dreamer. I enjoy technology and the prospect and promise of innovation, continuously optimistic of their one-two punch influence on humanity's betterment and advancement. The idea that we can all live our well-imagined futures inspires, encourages, and captivates me!

 

Why I do this

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I am currently a doctoral student pursuing a Ph.D. in Organizational Leadership from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology. I completed my coursework and am in the research phase of the program. Admittedly, I struggled with coming up with a specific topic area and feel as though I have floundered for a couple of years, unsure of where to go. In completing the coursework, things were relatively much easier to manage. The program structure and curriculum establishes a fairly non-negotiable schedule of reading, interaction with other students, and numerous writing assignments and projects, all bound by a specific timeframe. Unleashed to pursue things on my own, I found life events always dominated my attention, and they gave me ample reason to procrastinate on doing my work. As in everything else with life, procrastination kept its word and reputation of being a deceitful enemy and is never a friend, but I digress.

 

During my coursework, one of my professors gave me what he called 'great advice' when pursuing my Ph.D. He said he followed this same advice. He told me not to worry about 'solving' anything in the pursuit of my Ph.D. He said it was necessary to focus on getting the Ph.D., and once I did, I could worry about solving something. I've shared this with some people I know and they, too, agree, "Hey, that sounds like good advice." While that may be true, I don't know how to conceptualize this advice. Even as I am writing these words, I have to edit along the way. If I ever work on something I don't care about, it glares at me. It knows when my heart is absent and secretly summons my conscience to start screaming at me. When I invest in something emotionally, I want to give it all that I have, even if I lose interest after a while. When that happens, I usually move on to something else.

 

I suppose after giving what felt more like the obligatory rant introduction, I should get more to the point. Why I do this? I think the honest answer to that depends on what I believe I am actually doing. I believe I am passing on information, knowledge, and experiences to those interested in such things. I am telling stories. I am gathering and posting my thoughts and specific interests in specific topics related to technologies (specifically Artificial Intelligence (AI) since this is the basis of my Ph.D. research), and a myriad of other topics. For the most part, I believe I am practicing my writing along the way. Many things I read tell me the more I engage in writing, the better I can 'open the flow' to what it is I need to do. We'll see how this goes.

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What I can do for you

 

Over the years, I have found it meaningful to people to just listen to what they have to say, offer an opinion, share a related experience (gestalt sharing), or say nothing at all...to just hear them out. Every situation is different. I have also found that when I share thoughts about certain values or principles, especially as it pertains to my faith, it sometimes resonates with people who, unbeknownst to me, needed to hear that -- at that time. This should not imply that I have anything special to say or that my thoughts are of any more value than anyone else's. Not at all. Maybe it is just a timing thing. I don't know. Whatever the case, people sometimes share words of appreciation and gratitude for my openness and transparency, or even my display of boldness in my faith. Of all things, this definitely should not be a unique story for me to tell. We are called -- we are ALL called -- to be strong advocates of our faith. There are several examples where we find this in the Bible. One example reads, "Everyone who acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I will also deny before my Father who is in heaven" (Matt 10:32-33). 

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So, what can I do for you? Well, you tell me. I can answer questions about our business, including the various topics that go along with this. I can share what I am trying to do to strengthen a person's Leadership capacity and emotional intelligence with augmented algorithmic judgment—the science of Affective Computing endeavors to bring an emotional component to computing systems. I believe through this dialogue, the question starts to turn. It turns from "What can I do for you?" to one that becomes "What can we do to serve each other?" I can think of no better way to acknowledge the example Jesus left for us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.