Japan....Training Ground for Champions

The Boston Red Sox chose Bobby Valentine as their new 2012 Manager.  It has been nine years since he managed the New York Mets or anything else in the US Major League Baseball world.  Well, let's say, during those years Bobby went to Japan and groomed one of the worst professional teams all the way to become the best in Japan.  He learned Japanese, and the people and players loved him.

Boston saw something in him.  Lots of knowledge and even a great command of the New York Yankee team, but there was a champion in there.

Lots of young people aspiring to be great managers....take a look at this story....there is much more to come from Mr. Valentine, Manager, World class style.

Ukraine...How are You?

Somehow, someone likes my blog in Ukraine.  Whoever you are, I appreciate the interest.  Let me know how you found my wrting and why you visit.

Just shows how absolutely global our world is.
I was in Kiev several times in the 1970's and 1980's....Odessa in 1986.....

Strosvoitzia!

Thanksgiving and Homecoming

Most of the things we all are actually thankful for are the basic things of life.  Our warm house and bed, our loved ones who wait for us every day.  The ones we depend on and depend on us.  Our dog, our cat.

Yet, sometimes Thanksgiving gives us something completely new.  Something worth living an extra mile for, an extra year or more for...maybe a whole life for.....it blows us away because it is such a gift that we could never have even imagined it, nor asked for it.  Usually, these extraordinary gifts are people and things brought to us through new people.

Every year's new gifts.  That's it.  The New Gifts of Thanksgiving.

These may not even be at home.  They may be out in the street.  They may originate far from home and in strange places,,,,they may seem to come as strange gifts.  Yet, after we look, we look twice and we just get turned around.

Thanksgiving is not neat and orderly and predictable.  It is the Season of the most serendipity,  If you believe in Whiteflash, it gives us the gift of life, through people who likely end up staying with us as major forces in our life.  True gifts. 

We can ask for the gifts like this.  No guarantee.  There seems to be some extra grace added by the Creator to deliverance of the gifts.  We need some modesty, some humor, and some patience.....But, if the elements are just right, get prepared for one of the most incredible Thanksgivings of your life. 

I know that for me, to thank is better than to ask .....and it is better to thank than want.   Genesis of love and new good things starts with honest thanking........

My year brought me some new souls I now love so much, and  some new friends.  They have the potential to change my life.  I guess I could say this Thanksgiving, it was the people, not the turkey that mattered.  Turkeys taste good, but people always are the ones we base our life on.    The rocks of life like Plymouth Rock was a long time ago.....It has never changed.  It is the Creator's statement that some things we can touch and come back next year and touch again.....

I am grateful to all our troops and the men and women who protect us at their life's risk.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

White Flash in the Most Inconspicuous Places

The great thing about Whiteflash is that it does appear at the most amazing moments...like when we least expect it...or when just maybe, our deep intuition does expect it....let me explain...

You are down and depressed and exhausted, and then, just then, there is a huge storm and a rainbow....it happened today on my way home on the freeway!

The nature of Whiteflash is that it has a curious almost mind of its own, yet one we can understand and even sense before things happen...collective conscious?  Preconscious state of mind?  Maybe, but there is something about the state of mind we are in....If you are not open-minded to the possibilities, you will not see what could happen and may miss the golden serendipity...

We can't guarantee Whiteflash moments in our lives....but we cannot ever be so bold to say that they will not show up....

New life grabs us and gives us deep purpose to live and thrive again....amazing people just become gifts....
Whiteflash comes in from far places...and yet, Whiteflash was there all along, just a breath away....

Airports

The places the faces we see when we are about to fall over...
...from tiredness, anticipation, perspiration and the unknown....
...from the lack of a friendly face to say "would you like to have a cup of warm tea?"

These places, faces are with us...they link our world.  We must pass through them...
They are like hotels.....warm tea, maybe?
They are like museums...like a stellar exhibit of people and art.....waiting for coffee...

Airports are places where we meet and say goodbye....
We can select a soft goodbye...two hours with coffee cake and kisses...
But the goodbye happens, at some stark point, when the clock dictates, it moves us....
But it moves us to the best and last human touches of hand to face, fingers to lips and lips to lips....
Airports move our hellos and goodbyes, always have, always will...
...so. I now look for the next time..airport...will bring her to my arms....
Warm tea, waiting....forever....then life happens in an instant when we can meet and hug and say hello...
after a long spell.....that seems forever until we smell the tea!
Together in each others arms....the tea smells sweeter....and it always will

9/11 is Here Again....and so is the Heart of the Artist!

The passion of the artist, whoever he and she is, wherever they are.....is palpable.  We can hear their heartbeat as they put their passion before us...

CIBU has the extreme honor of one of its honorary doctorates being Captain Jason Dahl, Captain of United 93.....and his best friend who carries his torch, our honorary doctor Captain Mark Hoog of United.  For many, many of us, this day is as close as family, sisters, brothers, loved ones.  And best friends.

So many of my countrymen and women have tried to say what this day is....this video is the best I have found to say what I feel today....

www.youtube.com/v/QZFkZiwMLZ4

9/11 is here again....welcome to our Ship of Friends...we stand with each other together....forever...

A Sign of the Times

On a flight to Korea last December, I sat in First Class on the short haul flight from San Diego up to San Francisco International, then boarded the long 11 hour flight to Seoul...so in the early morning short flight, a nice surprise happened.  The Captain sent me a nice personal note of gratitude for my loyalty to United, written on the back of his business card.  I thought it was a real nice gesture, had seen it once before, in fact.

I happened to have a copy of my Four Flashes book just published with me, and gave it to this Captain after the landing with my own comments penned inside the front cover.  I saw him and wished him well.  It felt good...another of my books out there....give forward....

Last weekend I received a surprise email from the United Captain.  He was working on some mundane paperwork, and there my book was for some short inspirational minutes....I guess it made it easier to get through the tough part he was dealing with.....he said it felt that he had an angel on his shoulder,  Reading the book lifted some of the stress.  I thought what a nice note eight months later. 

Today I was already boarded and in my seat on United 395, Chicago to San Diego, and the Captain emerged from the cockpit.  He looked at me with a sign of recognition and showed thumbs up.  For a split second, I thought it was this Captain.  Later I would ask just to see if that miracle would happen.

Two minutes later he came back to me and said, "Michael, you are the author of the Four Great Flashes book...I stood up, we shook hands and said "Another major serendipity!"  We both stood in awe.  He was very kind.  He said a heartfelt "welcome on board!"...

He flew it well, nice landing, eight minutes early...

As I said goodbye, I gave him my new book....  It felt good.  I wished I had grabbed a picture to capture that moment.

White flash gives us gifts of each other, mostly always good, mostly reminding us we have some rivers of lives that bring us amazing moments, against all odds, far beyond chance...., in this case  even a second or third time.

The landing was smooth this evening....it was a white flash landing all the way....

This is a true story....
I think I needed that or something to lift my spirits....

I hope to see him on a future flight...when my next book is ready to give over....

How can we ever imagine the chances of that happening.....
Like it has so far....

The Second Hurdle

You and I love each other....we know that in every human way....now we have cultures and OMG...languages....

OK, so Very much to do

... I mean very much can be sorted out from bed to kitchen on how the day will go, but the finer points of love and who does what next....that requires some friend or expert who can step in and really do the job of excellence.....translation.....helping out

They, the helpers, the translators, are there to help....

When Love prevails....everybody learns each others' language...

Passion is the great communicator!

The First Hurdle

We are so electronic in our relationships, even our life, love and living for life...

We spend hours in email...and may misfire in it....

We hug our phones....hours....

Where are the hours we hug whom we love....

Where are whom we love...so far away....

How many days and nights do we actually spend....

Minutes...are real....they are ....

....all we have....

Seoul...Asia

When I see passion in people of a country like Korea, even if it is passive-aggressive passion, it matters not to me.  It may not be the conflicting values at the surface, but the passion underneath...thus, I dedicate this, my August, 2011 voyage to Korea...

Passion...fashion...

The minite...the hour..

Can we shorten...the flour....

...baking...waking...

...Time, so fast....

Love...that lasts...

Rain, so long...

Sun, so strong...

Sun, you are me...

Your light set me free...

But your eyes...

Remind me...

and ...bring .....

...like tea...

....the life in we....

and,  always,

...you set me free...

Main Street Forgotten...

Whipsaw!  Wall Street cries that it is a victim of Standard & Poor's downgrading US to only AA+ from AAA+ status...markets tumble...it is a weekend...late summer...Congressmen and Congresswomen are on vacation....Main Street sleeps away...

Back street and back market people are enjoying the ride of their life with volatility.  It is a market for the most seasoned Vegas minded investors...they might be enjoying this....

Main Street people are sleeping...seeing the TV news...not sure how to do anything....how could they anyway?  401k's?  Pensions...forgotten...

Who is Standard & Poors anyway?  What man made this decision?  What committee?  Names, please?  Transparency?  No, they cry out for it, but are their home addresses in Connecticut listed?  I can't imagine why...

Main Street is ubiquitous.  No address.  No Connecticut suburb...no address, no name...

Huge losses.  Societal toll.  Global market chaos.

It will be a nice peaceful, sunny afternoon on the weekend in Connecticut... 

Emergency-Urgency Environments

What we know from much research is that the temperamental fit between an individual and an occupation is relevant.  Personality types are attracted to personality types of work environments.  Secure and serene and safe attracts type B personality.  High urgency, multi-tasking, life-death environments attract type A personality.  In business we say "life death" means customer buys or rejects you!

Type A requires brave, bold, risk embracing people.  They thrive on adrenalin, oxatocin, endorphins of high urgency.  They get high on this.  They hopefully function well.  They save lives and jump in high waters.  They are our action heroes and some unsung heroes.

Everyone needs balance, even type A people.  They need occasional weekends with nothing but pure peace and love.  Ordinarily, they thrive on chaos, but they need regeneration to nurture their spirit.  These warriors are among us.

Type B people do the main jobs of what we all need in every society...they are stable and take care of the most urgent and most safe situations.  They bring peace and calm and love.

How can we know who we are?  Which type? 

Let the urgency tell you.  Your true temperament will come forth....

The whole world needs all of us....

We are all the world!

Micro-Teambuilding

We all talk "teamwork".  But do we really know what we mean?  Are these expressions just feelings or are they skills that can be applied in seconds?  In critical, life-death environments?

Try this idea on...there are micro environments like operating emergency rooms, air traffic towers, international banking centers, military combat, police protection, life saving, rescue, air-sea, and on land.  Situations where hand to hand coordination among team members may mean life or death.  Environments of work or play where there is no room for error....nearly perfect situations.

In my teaching for many years I have struggled with this idea and how to bring the lessons dramatically to students beyond words...right to their knees...but without the real pain that actual errors may mean in real world work.  Thus, I have designed a simulation experiential learning module which simulates the approach to nearly perfect teamwork found in real work environments like emergency rooms, air-sea rescue, and piloting of aircraft.

It is an exercise with TinkerToys where students are given the chance to compete in teams to build a free standing tower (height only, not elegance) within thirty seconds.  We give them thirty minutes to plan and thirty seconds to execute.  They nearly all fail through the third or fourth try...then they get it and perform as an Olympic team, with deft skill and precision team play and handwork.  We have seen all kinds of groups from LAPD heavy duty males to surgical nurse teams to undergraduate students to executives.  All are the same.  All fail....until they learn finally to succeed.  Only one team ever was successful on the first try...a team of ER nurses who already worked together.

The exercise in micro teambuilding brings out the best and worst. 

Finally, teams learn their mistakes and dramatically and physically show success.  Most participants are blown away with how they learn this and how they see the connections with real world, real time workplace situations and in general life.

There are roles...people must get this clear.  There may be a perfect design...this must be learned...There is sub team assembly work...there is the critical role of timekeeper and process coordinator.  Leadership emerges.  True leaders come forward.  Frustration shows its face....ethics show...some people violate the rules...and in the end, teams celebrate and give each other high fives.....

Across cultures, old and young...this is the same.  Planes crash and pilots and crews must respond....ER teams must respond...surgeons and those who support them must save lives....and some are lost....this always has happened, always will and goes on....

We can learn in some micro-environments, what precision,Olympic quality teamwork looks like.  Engarde!  Celebrate!  Beware!  We are of one family.  We must learn how to be a team.  If only for sometimes seconds!

Beyond California

Three people were overheard in a rather intense conversation.  They were from different places on the planet, not all living here in California.  The conversation was about the difficulties in starting a business in an Asian city.

One person talked intensely about the imediate difficulties....upstart legal problems.  This perspective I would call "local"...

The second person said that if the passion was strong, these problems would soon fade away...a perspective I would call "the California perspective"....anything is possible.

The third person just listened.  He was thinking about something even larger than local success with a "can do California spirit"....he was into the thought of making the project go global....not local, not California, but truly global reach.  Thus it would be not the sport college of a city, not the sport college of California, but the sport college of the world.  World sport.  Not too much larger than that!  California thinking got the conversation to a higher level, but the third stage took it to the planetary level.

Most of us think that California thinking is as about as great as we can get in scope.  In fact, world thinking is the ultimate challenge.

All three perspectives in international business study are vital.  But passion comes into play when we get beyond the local.

Strangers Who Ask Amazing Questions

In Korea recently, when I was having a great day seeing the countryside with a friend, a complete stranger greeted me and asked where I was from.  San Diego, I replied.  She then introduced her daughter who had recently graduated from SDSU with a MS degree in Marketing!  Amazing coincidence!  We talked a bit, knew some professors in common.  I introduced my friend to them.  It was all like we had known each other.  Yet we did not.  It all happened so fast, I never even learned the names of this amazing mother and daughter.  I just have a picture of them that's all.  I snapped it like we were all old friends....

It happened in minutes.  The woman asked me a few amazing questions, like it would have been great to talk more.  My friend and I went on our way and the day was splendid.  No less splendid for having met two "old friends" so fast, so deep, like it was supposed to happen.  Can I find them out there?  Probably not a chance.  One of those accidents?  Right?

No accidents!

This Was a Game With Winners on Both Sides

Congratulations to Japan's Women's Soccer Team on their World Cup win today!  Same big time sentiments of pride for America's team.  Actually, in all of sport, I have rarely seen a game where the team came from behind twice and won in overtime, as the Japan women did so valiantly.  Our USA women were such amazing pursuers all game long, and it was a game of inches...

Or was it?  At the halftime, with my American pride, I noticed the faces of the Japan team....then their intricate footwork...it sort of gave me a feeling that they may have some destiny here....

As I thought about it, ....and it did not take long...., the Japan team looked like a potential champion and I started to think....well, this would be what Japan needs now......these girls are great, but are they playing with a mission in their hearts?

Alex Morgan was so unbelievably cool and athletic as she got the ball in....her spirit shone strong....all through the game....others too....

Japan kept their pieces solid and mechanical....beat the US on a goal, the shootout was all Japan.....

I had already begun preparing for the idea that Japan would win....its good for the island...its good for their spirit....its good for their economy....something we also appreciate......

However our girls looked beaten and discouraged, Solo looked cool....she congratulated the opponents....
This game was one for the ages.  This game was for the heart of Japan!  There was something bigger than the game going on....but, what a game!

Mid-Summer Views

Sitting here...
The water near....
Looking East....in the evening...

Where rain falls...now...
...where falls rain...pure golden mist...

You are ever on my mind....like the mist...
....I can taste...but not grasp...

The sweetness of summer is with us...
...however far...but as near as the mist....

This California just shines out as a gift of a place on our planet...

Summer in California is an ultimate gift.....

BOOM... BOOM... BOOM IN THE NIGHT

America's birthday!  Lots of good cheer...
American picnics and good beer... and more to share...
Everybody excited up to the minute the fireworks start....
Until for next year, we part....

Sound...light, noise from children laughing and screaming...Boom...Boom...Boom....
It resounds...the sounds...through the trees and all the grounds....
And in the few quiet seconds, there is the profound...the very big, big BOOOMM!

Last year, we saluted the nightwatchman at the Liberty Monument where it was a hot, humid evening.  This year, he still toils and watches more than last year....the night guard at the George Washington Bridge is tense that night....he is looking extra hard for any problems and does not want to find a single one...

Deep into the night these public places quiet down and are almost silent, in contrast to the fireworks that just preceded them...

It is a pause, not an accident, where all can take a breath and just stand still for a minute and focus on the thought of what this moment is and why Americans go "Boom, Boom, Boom in the Night"?

It is to give our children some awe.  It gives us some.  And some fun and laughter.  It reminds us who we are and our roots.

Boom, Boom, Boom.....we were just reminded.....

Yes, America's guardians and nightwatchmen see this too, but they have this special duty, you see, to protect us all from ourselves when we get so excited, not a bad motive, but one that gets stretched when the law enforcement guys speak of dangerous intimidation.

Its 3am in hot Philadelphia at the Liberty Bell....its even hotter in Washington at the Lincoln Memorial.  But there is no going home.  America's treasures must be protected, in whatever heat and humidity.  These men and these monuments are a team and they will be OK.

Thousands felt comfort and exhilaration in these days.  It helps national spirit

Boom, Boom,..........Boom, BOOM!!! 

Finale over, another year. 
A few more few minutes to feel our country's history and meaning, and great cheer.

More Than a One in Thirteen Tousand Chance of Being Noticed

Schumpeter writes recently in The Economist (citation) that the world of business schools is indeed huge.  Huge in size--13,000 programs worldwide and counting...big in power--graduates line up for "master of the universe" tittles, and very big in rich, fast, jet-set values.  He asks if the many cosmopolitan polyglots are spun into a hall of mirrors where it is a false reality in terms of the actual global world.  Wall Street can develop tunnel-vision...narrow streets, tall buildings, monetary vertigo, you know?

The globalization has been rather sudden.  I estimate the number of business schools has actually doubled in the last 12 years.  It cannot sustain that pace for long.  The world market is not big enough for that.  There would be a bubble or an overbuilt global supply and it would lead to a blemish on the shining star rising of the MBA credential.  Nobody can afford that!

Partner and sister school relations across borders is still exploding and is very exciting, but may be elite oriented and may be trying to tap a small segment of the total market....those who can actually afford to and want to leave ho,me and travel to another land for study abroad.  Europe and Asia are leading in this category, and the US is following far behind.  So very few US students still travel out there and study.
Schumpeter does not deal that much with another of the big rocket-propelled grenades of this higher education global business-ed picture.  That is the huge mass market distant learning schools and programs which actually cross borders electronically and sort of inhibit travel-oriented students from the temptation to get up and actually travel abroad for study.  It is so easy to be an armchair student.  But masses are doing it and getting "global exposure" from home, literally within their house.

Our school is one of 13,000 on the planet.  CIBU is defining its uniqueness daily.  But, for any of you who is wondering if we are bold enough, here is a snapshot of CIBU's brave stake in this game.

You are in a class in an MBA program at CIBU.  Your student team has:  One Canadian, one from Holland, one from France, one from China, one from Vietnam, and one from Korea.  They all have the necessary background degrees, test scores and minimum English to be qualified to be there.  BUT, English skill varies across the students and in the order of the above listed team members it goes from very fluent to just intermediate.

Now introduce the team's project:  it is a real live case.  The company under study is a Korean company in California.  The team must make a research project, and a presentation to the Korean executives.  A Powerpoint slide show is going to be key.

The team members are restless.  A few of the very fluent in English ones are very uncomfortable with the few who are not.  This leads to feelings of which ones are most important and which ones are not.

Now, enter how CIBU is different:  at CIBU under these conditions described above, the presentation and powerpoint to Korean executives live in person, must be in both English and Korean!  That is CIBU policy.  No exceptions.  No English-only superiority or forced linguistic-cultural superiority will be allowed.  The client wants it and deserves it in both languages.  That is real world.  The same is true at McCann-Erickson Worldwide, Citicorp, Siemens, Toyota or Hyundai in any professional global environment.  English is the platform and the universal gateway agent language, but the client culture and language is totally honored and respected and used.

Now, who is the very most important member of this student team?  Who may be less dominant, but deeply knows the cultural manner of communicating the message with ultimate best emphasis, tone, rhythm, and drama?  It is the Korean student, of course.

In many, many, many business schools, this is totally overlooked and not practised.  At CIBU, it is everyday policy.  CIBU is not only global, it is like an international airport.  English is the base, but we are multilingual.  Striving for multicultural homogeneity through an English-only classroom is a contrived and false reality and leads to students being overlooked and neglected by all.  CIBU breaks this mold with bravery and boldness.

I figure I sit at least 100 hours each year for 20 years or more in rooms and meetings where I hear other languages and I do not follow or understand.  We always come to English.  But I always show respect.  It is never time wasted.  It is time invested and respected.  That lesson starts at CIBU, not on the first job assignment.

We are defining our true uniqueness everyday and every minute, and every student is equally a miracle.

Ten Students...Fifteen Languages!

Last evening I taught a combined lecture class of doctoral and bachelor level students.  Ten in total.  Here are the languages they speak:

German
French
Dutch
Spanish
Portuguese
Russian
Kurdish
Farsi
Arabic
Mandarin
Canton
Taiwanese
Indonesian
Vietnamese
...and...English

Actually English unites us all.
A CIBU class is like an international airport.
All these students have different starting points and ending points, but we all spend this time...
....together....like brothers and sisters....of the same one family...right here for now....

Look to your left...look to your right....
Say "hi" to your family....
And, for now and forever,
Be as great as you might....

What We Believe....

We have come to believe...

1.  Our World   The world of the 21st Century is complex, and provides constant choices for us all.  It gets tougher and less certain all the time...

2.  Search for Meaning   Most of us seek meaning in our lives... which involves family, friends, and work.  The search is deep and for some very conscious...

3.  The Gift of Friends   Friendship of those around us, those far away, and those departed is precious and all we really have in the here and now to give us strength and faith for the future.

4.  What We Have Today   Most of us must live in the moment and hope for the best tomorrow, and yet learn as best we can from the past.  If we do not grab the moment, it will fly away with the wind...

5.  Our Human Best   Most of us do the best we can every day, in every way.

6.  Requiring Action   We can maintain friendship in our mind, and deep in our heart, but it requires real action and love to be real and enrich our lives. Action is sometimes instinct, sometimes no choice....

7.  The Strongest Bond   When we love and extend our heart in friendship, we are vulnerable, but also so strong that a bond is created.  When we express such love and friendship, the bond is made for all time.

8.  We Are Different   Friends can disagree and are separate hearts and souls.  True friends know this and accept it and appreciate the differences.  The differences give us depth and a chance for humility, and extending more friendship and love.

9.  Not Alone   We all agree that we are not alone, we came from somewhere and we are going somewhere.

10.  One Family   We share this time together in friendship to give each other the most real and true life and love we could ever wish to have as brothers and sisters of one family.

People with these beliefs meet from time to time in groups to share their stories and joy.  They are lifted, and gifted by this experience.  Most want to share, and once they do share, they want to help others to do so and to share even more.

We do all, in this way, build our "Ship of Friends".  It is one of the most important things we will ever do.  It is our life mission to complete and to make the world better.

One family, one unbroken promise.....that a life that love knows and that knows love is the only life to live. 

The Torch Is Passed....Graduation

This magical morning....frozen in time...
Families....generations....whole countries.....
The bridges are built by education....
....between nations....histories....clans....souls....

When time stands still for these moments...we have peace and...
....the best moments of our lives...

Coffee this morning?  Welcome to this day!!!

Quality of Light....Summer

Did you ever notice the quality of blue...
In the sky for me and you....

When you rise, when you surmise...
The early evening is alive....with something new...

I think the difference is there...
These days and in betweens...
With the what, who, when and where....
In our bones and in our genes....

See it now...
Take a second and notice that every day the shade of blue...
Gets deeper for me and you...

It is summer!

Creating Distance

Do you realize why we do this....create distance even with those whom we love deepest on this planet?
Because..
    ...we fear being close because maybe we cannot handle it...or maybe they cannot...
    ...we fear hurting the other if we gesture love but cannot fulfill their hopes and dreams...
    ...we fear being hurt ourselves....
    ...we are not sure of ourselves and our future...
    ...we fear being totally honest....because we might be wrong what we think...
    ...we fear total trust and surrender....it makes us look weak, when we think we should look strong.

When we truly say, "I love you"...it surrenders all.
There is no more fear....

In this cold, digitally pure and so politically correct world....
If it came to a moment of our death or life...on a given morning or evening...
....or an accident that brought the screeching halt to our life....
.....in those icy cold, super hot moments....we sometimes can be frigidly cold or dazzlingly hot....
.......and surrender to total honesty...ultimate honesty and say....

.....something from our soul that may be heard forever....
........for us and for those whom we care most deeply about....

We live in our memory for the golden moments with those we love...
Those are the times of our Ship of Friends....

Yet we have every day here and now...every moment and with each one that escapes to the clock...
.....and the calendar....we are lost...

So, tomorrow, I vow, to not create distance, but to create the opposite....
....how I can do that in this world....will be a gift I ask for each day.....

It must be my actions, not thoughts, my touch, not my wish for touch...
...It is in creating space and close, warm space that I must do and share with...
.....those who have been given to me and those who stand out and wish to join.....
......the Ship of Friends.....all we ever have and had here with us....

I create distance with my environment...with my hands and heart, I make distance...
...become nothing.

June...Welcome to Winter! Taste the Warm Wind...

It was almost two years ago.  I wrote about "psychological geography"...
It had been my first time in Australia...Sydney...five days, five nights, then back.
It was nice weather in Sydney in Winter...crystal clear, warm in winter...their "winter"..
Then the long, long flight home back to California and the summer sun...
I can taste that moment again...no jet lag...sitting at my home....
In Southern California, with the warm, sweet wind of the summer night, it seemed...
So far away the day before in Sydney "winter"....the Australian sun was so warm...

Flying back into California summer was like crawling into a warm bed....
After a long, wonderful day in the great outdoors....

We are never far away.
Yet sometimes the farther away we are, sometimes, yes, some times...
It is home so sweet, and home where we are....
Sometimes so far away....sometimes as near as the warm wind.
When I go there in my memory,  I can taste the wind.

Part of History

Unification is the theme.

I lived in Germany through that history...No one expected it would happen or how..

Yet it did...

Students sit side by side....from cultures.....from all over the world...

Global ties for sure,...

It is what we are doing everyday.......

Just a Personal Update...for Friends

I am taking a little time out from soulful writing, maybe you have noticed!

But, I want to say several things to my true friends out there and those whom I have yet to meet but may like what I write.

Thank you, friends, maybe my mates on "The Ship of Friends",  for tuning in to my writing these two years.  It will not stop, just I am taking a short pause.

The book is now out in print and we are working on the second edition, "The Ship of Friends"....

Maybe, it is more powerful than the last one, "The Four Great Flashes of Life"....

The same people and spirit of love powered me through this one as fiercely as the last...

The really cool thing about Amazon is that you can get the book really fast (just type in my name and the title) and cheaply for $9.99 per copy.  BUT, if you and I know each other, just let me know and I will send you a complimentary copy!

This past essay or two, I really got back into myself as a social commentator.  I guess I will always be able to bring up the spirit of JFK as if he were alive today, that real.  You see, I was just 14 through 17 for those years of our lives when he was what all of us wanted and needed as a hero, a President, a voice for our generation, whatever politics we ended up with.  It was a real time, a real feeling, a real American leader we nearly all believed in.  Then it was gone.  Robert tried to carry that same torch. I saw him in person at Penn, one month before he was taken away from us.

We are all touched by heroes, some time sooner or later.  On the political playing field, on the gridiron, the stadium field, the Olympic stand, or in other powerful places and times...with children, these heroes show their love....thanks to Jacques Lowe, Kennedy photographer, for this picture of JFK and his young daughter and Jackie....

I am taking my breath and happy to share this new book with friends....
At my time of life, passion is a true gift, and keeps me going....
Passion starts when we are young with inspiration....
JFK did that for me and for millions of people who still remember those days...
They are all around us....
Let me know what you think...your message is for me priceless....

Mike

The Largest Gift….The Greatest Theft

Last year, I wrote a book for the young company presidents of the future….our business students of today.  In this book, I discussed how business schools, particularly East Coast US big name schools became hatching grounds for the most elegant hybrid and nefarious financial models….ideas and values and techniques which led up to and fed the Wall Street crises of the last several years.  Yes, that is it, the last several years…it was not just one year, and it is not over by a long shot.

Just this evening, May 10, 2011, on CBS News, the lead financial story focused on Mr. Perlman, an infamous hedge fund trader who is reported to have personally made out in the billions, not millions or hundreds of millions but billions on the Wall Street crash of Main Street.  The game goes on.  The names unfurl.  The tales balloon, even as most of us thought and hoped it was over.  No, the gaming goes on, and where is the SEC?  Has “insider trading” become the acceptable norm?

I remember when JFK was President.  Executives were hauled in from famous companies for “price fixing”.  Maybe it was the last big bust of business that we will ever see. It was on black and white TV.  There they were in shame.  Executives…for price fixing.  We have come a long way into the elixir of high level education and sophisticated business….the only lines of executives we see on TV is at the NFL box or at the teller’s window of investment banking.

An Ivy League institution made history today in announcing the largest ever gift to medical schools in US history.  $225 Million.  Very nice.  Congratulations to that family and to that medical school.  Seems small to be the largest gift in US history.  Compared to billions.

Apples and oranges?  All from the same orchard.  It is the fruit of this nation.  It is what we permit to be eaten and shared.  Large gifts….large thefts….we permit and seem to celebrate it all.

Thefts and gifts.  Maybe everything is connected, or is it?  One thing is for sure.  The picking of fruit is long underway and not all of it is fresh or delivered to market.  When a gift of this size is announced as the largest gift in US history to medical schools, and CBS news announces the same day that an individual hedge fund manager made billions, is there something wrong with this picture?

Business schools.  What are we saying about this?  I am, for one, not praising or adoring that hedge fund manager.  I am happy about that medical school and its relatively small gift in the scheme of things.  US history?  I suppose we are all taking that course….ongoing.

JFK….what would you have to say about this all today?  Thanks for what you tried to say.  I heard it then.  I hear it now.  I am not alone.

The Sunny Place Where Shady People Live....Let's stop the Abuse! Check the Senate Hearing on Higher Education

Dear Friends,
This beautiful city San Diego has been the home to a disproportionate percentage of financial appearing felons and shady deal makers.  Ponzi appearing schemes in finance have been a local culture over the years and now higher education is following suit with its own version of the same....

There is a behemoth for profit _____University here headquartered in San Diego which is under deep scrutiny by the US Senate Education Committee, under Senator Tom Harkin's leadership.  The CEO of this organization calling itself a university took home $20 million, 20 times that of  Harvard's. President.   Mostly the source is federal money, i.e.. taxpayers' support.

To what extent is such borderline educational trickery invading the whole higher education industry?  Well, it may just be a national scam of proportions.  The US Senate Education Committee is moving forward and will bring it all out into the sunshine from the shade.

There are two other smaller institutions in San Diego, both for profit institutions, which enroll hundreds maybe thousands of foreign students, skirting the law.  It is possible to "buy an I-20," the document that is the on-ramp to the student visa, for about $300 per month.  These students sign up for classes which may or may not meet.  Many of the students work illegally and just do not study.  They make a mockery of the good schools where students abide by the rules and the regulations.

Maybe about 1000 international students are at the bottom of the educational hierarchy in this beautiful city, seeking their living in marginal jobs while they pay a few hundred dollars per month to be able to be "a student in good standing".  In Pleasanton, California last month, March, 2011, an entire bogus school was busted by the feds and many students were taken to the airports in shackles...many of the 1000 students scrambled to find other real schools...There was a nationwide federal alert about these students. 

But, in San Diego, folks and friends, we have two bogus schools operating here and now in downtown and old town ...does anyone care...the State, INS, SEVIS, ICE, Accreditation?  It is a sham.  When we as a real school conduct our affairs with good practices and tradition, we see these several schools continue to enroll the students who want cheap schedules and false programs, i.e., non existing real programs that look like the real thing.  We follow standards to a T, and watch these violators in broad daylight and sunshine!

Who allows shady places where abuse of students and this gray-market student system can flourish....?  Is this the San Diego we wish to show to the nation and to our families and children.  Why have we not seen the FBI, SEVIS, INS, ICE, the State of California jump in to close them down?  Is someone saying that this is not good for the city and sitting on this?  Is the system itself able to defend itself with executive bullies or bullied up business models?

Imagine if you witnessed a thief trying to steal your own or your neighbor's car.  You watch.... What will you do?  Will you just say, let him deal with it, its not my problem....OR, will you care to jump in to stop this?
So, there are foreign owned "schools" which are modified diploma mills and safe harbors for international students wanting to work, not study, in the US economy.  They operate in sunny daylight in San Diego......and another in North County selling degrees in Vietnam with no US approval to do so. 
We care.  I care very much about this and the abuse we see.  I care that our public enforcers are not doing the job.  By not doing so, the authorities are actually encouraging more abuse.

California was a place at one time where there was a chaos of higher education and nearly no regulation.  Distance education muddies the water.  We are back almost to where we started .

What is needed is a hard and tough conclusion to this Senate Investigation.  Harkin needs to push for serious reform and overhaul regional and national accreditation systems that have no current similarity or uniformity.  No one is talking about the ultimate elephant in the room, a single federal accreditation system.  It would be a tsunami of jobs and egos and turf that would be swept away in a true investigation....

Will the Harkin LEADERSHIP TEAM BE ABLE TO CARRY REFORM ALL THE WAY?  It may.  But, it may not because it may be buried by other news items.  Senator Harkin's work must not be lost in the Washington shuffle.....

Accreditation is the next behemoth in the room to fix.  There are such disparities across the various systems.

Why has not the system been cleaned of violators.  Banks would be so cleaned.....power plants would be so cleaned....Higher Education is untouchable....even with foreign owners with contempt, shady practices will flourish where shady people are.  Even in beautiful cities.

So, until the students and families just get wise and wake up, they will blindly pay and subject  themselves to a series of bogus places and shady faces who will look down and never be proud in the true sun....

Dr. Mike McManus, Ph.D.
President
California International Business University

When You Hit a Million Miles Flown....

The takeoff from Seoul Incheon Airport was a bit of a hint of the magnitute of the day to come.    The takeoff of this fully loaded 747-400 was up for this or not.  Visibility was a blinding blizzard snow, maybe less than 1/4 mile down the fast approaching runway.  No slipping and sliding but pure push...right back into your seat....at liftoff... we were flying at 200 plus mph, and the world was turning all white very fast.

Entering San Francisco airspace 10 hours later... similar marginal visibility in a heavy rain.  Landed safely...tired but was upside down after 3.5 weeks in Asia...Flight to San Diego cancelled.... but waitlisted!
I sat for 5 hours and watched this one great gate agent take care of every detail of getting those planes loaded, their people happy, and efficiency standards met.  I mean with grace, with tact toward every passenger like me, delayed, tired.  Families, people with stories, people who wanted upgrades, some kind, some not.  This agent was this company's best I have seen.  Tough job.  Everybody stressed, someone standing strong. He was pure tower of strength with grace.

I was one of the lucky this night... I was finally homeward bound.   I was so close to sleeping, I could not sleep.......

There were all kinds on that flight tonight, sizes, agendas,...I was just there to get through the longest journey home.  I believed I had done it when wheels hit the runway  in San Diego.  I remember some  faces on this flight.  The rainbows in Hawaii looked no more beautiful than the ones this evening with the families who saw them from San Francisco airport. I guess I was lucky to be there after all.  What's a few lost hours for a lifetime memory of a beautiful family who saw a double rainbow their first time, welcomed by me taking their picture...in my country...for their memory and for me too....

It is good to be home tonight, but this flight will go down as the one that almost wasn't.  The million mile flight should be one that is most memorable for the passenger and for all the special people, pilots, and more along the way including the passengers who sit beside you by chance....This one was a milestone for me, and will be ever with me because of that Korean family whose picture I took for them with the double rainbow behind them at SFO....on the ground while waiting for the next flight...

A million miles...at 650 miles per hour max..., maybe 400mph average with takeoffs, landings and delays....not so many hours after all spanning the world.  Just really a snapshot in the time of our life. 

You fly hard and long....
You see many along the way...
Nothing more beautiful than a rainbow....
On the face of a child...
Waiting for their way....

Your journey is clear...
It is not at the end...
Of this trip...
Or of this rainbow...
But along the way....

It's true after all...
It really is our friendly skies...
We fly on through...
And those fellow travellers we meet...
With grace...standing tall.


Chance.  Rainbows.  That is what life is all about, right?

A Project in Contemporatry Asian Arts....and Business for the Long Future

It would be in San Diego, not the city that enjoyed the lifestyle title of "America's Finest City"...but the new title of America's Global Gateway City....because of its location....because of its beauty...because it attracts investors and global citizens....because it is a major bio-valley center, because it is a major center for the convergence of the arts and because it is a major educational hub, where students from the world want to study and see what California and America are all about.....The new theme has been found.

Times have changed..  We have many college seats taken and waiting to be taken here.  We need to expand by doublefold our interational student population in the US...

The downtown of this city is quite special with an emerging cultural district...

CIBU has set a vision out there in minds and hearts.  One country or several could be the heroes....it does not matter.  San Diego's cultural District needs a Global Gateway Campus to bring several visions together.  The importance of an international business school with vital contacts to China, Korea, Taiwan, Japan...Asia...with Europe and our strong California traditions...together in one place for international commerce to thrive...for the arts of nations to stand together...for the daughters and sons to enjoy the wisdom of this global heritage...to have a place and time in their life for this experience...

We cannot choose where we are born or to whom....we may be able to choose where we make a place of study and see the world beyond...San Diego, a jewel of the Pacific is America's Global Gateway City and the home to students of the world.

Japon...Our Hearts Are with YOU!

My heart ia heavy with grief and sorrow for our dear friends in Japan.
We know you will be strong and have sorrow in our hearts for your losses...
Japon is always strong and will set a world example for us all.

May Mother Earth, Father Sky be kind, and save our human family...

From a Man on Womans Day

You are our mothers....our daughters...
Our wives...our lovers...our friends...our strangers....

We stand here and love your beauty...
Sometimes we adore your beauty...

You weaken us....you strenthen us...

For you...we fight and die...you make us live and cry...

Your art is for our souls...
You are energy for our hearts...
You are our body with one....a child....

Yet, you stand apart....because you hold the key to...

world peace...
families...
children...
our art...

What is there from our side?  We will give your our best...
You give us life...you hold the key...

Happy Womens Day 2011


You hold the secret...
But...we are all not alone....

True Art Teachers

They have passion...
They have a central theme...
They know how to use their networks and mentors...
They never quit...

Somehow, they are connected....
Somehow, they have the gift....the ultimate art....

We are born....we live, and produce...and we die...
Our art is the only true gift we receive and give back...
... and our children....like our art, they are the gifts we give back...

Our child....a baby at first,,,then a beautiful child, then an adult...
It is our gift to this world forever...
We are not alone...

Recently I saw a true friend look at the pictures of my grandchildren...two identical twin daughters..
There was a human cry....I heard that...like the first cry of a baby...like the ultimate...
.... as a true wish for love...a gift of love....it was immense.

Servant Leaders

To lead.  To serve.  Opposites?  Not at all.

The heart of the servant leader is the love he or she has for the organization.

It is like a mother or father love.  Protector.  Nurturer.  Inspiration.  Guidance.

We know him or her when we feel their leadership.

They are not perfect.  In fact, with some, they take a very strong stand.  With others, there is no need to take a stand.

The servant leader takes an ultimate stand for what is the future footprint of the organization...

He or she has everything at stake.  The moment of truth is every moment.

There are few peaceful moments for the mother tiger, or the father lion...

They sleep with one eye open....

They care for their own....

They lead....there is no one else...

They are not alone.  Not ever.

A Valentine....

What is a Valentine?

It is a love.  Each year, we say that we have a sweetheart.  Year to year, it may not change....or it may.

Sweethearts change, we change.  Life changes us.

When things stay the same, year after year, it may be good forces of life....or some may need change...
.....to re-stir the basic cauldron of their life forces...

For me, the Valentine spirit makes me want to give a special gift...like a pendant, like roses....

But, as I wrote a year ago....this day helps us see the beauty in each other....

Romeo and Juliet....we found a poem that they wrote that had never been published before....

Romeo told Juliet that her beauty was what he saw through her eyes...

She told him she saw the same in him...

Both said it was deep as the sea and wider than the skies....

That song plays ever true, over and over, every year....

Hearts so close, there is no fear, and its as close as right here....

This day....roses to you....my arms hold you and protect from any fear...

Valentine, this day is for you and me...

Coffee or tea in the morning, my love is deep as the sea....

Pass It On...

Check out Michael Oher.  NFL.  Family of love...

Guideposts are older, younger....it is..
...a gift!

Tiger...Again...I See You!

This is a Valentine's Day Wish to all loves....we are all like...
...tigers in the night....we see deep into the hearts of each other....

Tiger....
In the bush, I see you....
...wherever, true...

You see me...
Wherever could we be....

Or, have been, with you and me...

You see my eyes...
...shining in the night....
.....for you...
I see your eyes....shining...
.....ever true....

You dash away, and make me chase...
...with a rush to my heart....
In my mind, I chase you...love you...
....without any chance to ever to part...
....Tiger, you know, through the jungles of the night...
......you chase me...you see my heart...

Tiger, tiger, you are so true....
....without you....without you....

What is my chase?  What is my part?

Tiger....you are....dashing from tree to tree...
...from stone to stone....from ocean to ocean...
.....and in the skies of life....

Forever in my heart

Tiger, where are you.....forever shall be...
....Tiger, wherever you are...out there...
.......come to me....

Noah's Arc and the Ship of Friends

It's just like the Arc.  Instead of animals to save, its our deepest loved ones and friends.  Instead of rising waters, it is the long darkness of what lies ahead, the vast stretches of the here and now and the hereafter.  It is when we reach out for human touch and can't quite make it.  It is when we miss someone and just want to bring them near.  It is when we have the teddy bear in the back seat....the one we always hug when we are lonely....when we may wish it could be someone, but that someone is just not anymore in the back seat with us....

Living in this 21st Century, we must deal with the constant factor of what is politically correct.  Instead of hugging, we must shake hands.  Instead of hugging deeply and kissing, we peck each other's cheek, or maybe we bow.

Electronic love takes its place.  We spend one to three hours each day touching each other's heart and soul by sharing ourselves by email or visually by email and video.  It can be real.  So real.  Almost like actual, but still just electronic.  We virtually open our hearts to someone who knows us...virtual sharing....it is as real as life....we see the heart and even the face electronically...and our own heart may skip a beat....is it all electronic?  Is it all just temporary?  What is the chance we may accidentally stumble upon true love?  Electronically.  It is real.

So it is quite simple.  We need to share our love and it is always there...a constant.  Our fast and tech- enabled life makes for new channels, and maybe multiplies our media for stating our love.  But we can and always need to reach out and touch.  We bring many into our heart...we bring a few into our soul, and some just come roaring into our lives and are front and center without any invitation...it blows us away...it stays.  We try to forget.  We try to view it as dispensable, part of doing business.  But it is not.  It is bigger than life.

Each of us has this all happen.  We live, we love, then we die.
But our loving spirit wants to sail on...and on....

And each of us has the choice.  I believe we can create in our mind and heart and soul a circle in which we put the deepest ones we love, maybe many.  These may be actual loves we share and experience, and they may be loves we lost or never can find again.  Yet, we can bring them home within our circle of love by our choice.  It has always felt like we are assembling these dearly beloved  for a cruise on a ship to a beautiful place.  Heaven on earth.  In our arms, in our hearts, in our minds.  We take these loves on into the distant future.  When we feel most alone...when the walls cannot talk back...when we reach for human touch....our fingers reach, but cannot find.....we must not give up.  We cannot give up.  We allow our heart to join the Ship of Friends.  Then, we are welcomed....the weight is lifted, and we are at home.....

For many it may be a lost parent.  A father or a mother, not here anymore.  Yet, we can bring them to our senses, we can hear their voice.  If it is our mother, we can almost hear her very first words to us when she held us the first time...in the first minute of our life.  If our father, we can see his face right there, and hear his gentle voice.  We reach out with our hands...we try to hug them, we can almost bring them to our touch....we reach so very hard....so hard....and we seek their soul.  Then, we find it....it hears us and our cry.  Our souls do touch.  We bring them with us every moment we reach for them.

It is intimacy we reach for.  This reach for human touch in the 21st Century is so hard.  Our hearts and souls scream out for this human contact we call love.  And, there is something which is true love.  It may not be by choice....but its force we feel all through our life.  When we have it in our arms, we are at one with another and ourself....when we do not, we feel alone and empty.  We are not meant to be alone in life, either young or old.  We know this...

That is our Ship of Friends.  And each of has one, and each of us has the choice to declare this.  I believe it helps us to love more and deeper.  And, in the end, what is there more important than our love.  It is the ultimate gift to us, when it comes, and it is the ultimate gift we give.

Noah gathered the animals to save them for all time from the rising waters.  We live our lives in love, gathering those others for our own longer voyage into the future.  We are not alone...

We declare ourselves with the ones we love....we will not be alone....

The declaration of dependence frees our soul to love and to give life to others.  Declare at least, if only to yourself....there is such a thing as true love....it is worth everything to find....and to give.

We Are A Global Gateway.....

One answer is that a business school and ours most certainly is a global gateway.....

It is a place and time where things are created....
....like friendships...
....like companies....
....like dreams...
....like children!

A few have met here and they produced children in the world!
A few have come thru here and left a mark of influence....

We seek our highest form....maybe to become the most creative of our kind...
....but with actual results, products, manifestations of dreams....award winners....

Companies employ people....and keep us all going and dreaming....and creating...
Children are born....
Dreams are given form...
These are creations....they are physical products, art from business, assets, buildings, companies....
.....jobs....careers....more dreams....a big dream.....a big, huge successful thing....

We take what we have been given and we make it better...
....with the ones we have found and who have found us....
....with the ones we have found in a storm....or in a peaceful night....
....we seek what we can do and make for the ones to follow...
....and how to light up the night....

We do our best with what we can...
....and we are together....

We sail on the Ship of Friends....with those who love brings on board....
....for now on into forever....

We met here. 
Passion is the yeast.  The scope of creation is wide. 

The ingredient is now you, your decision, your action...it is your work of art....
It was born here in this Global Gateway City at this Global Gateway Place....
This Campus of Dreams....Campus of Destiny....
There is no other place.....

What Is the Lasting Heritage of a Business School?

This is a question I have been dealing with deeply in recent years.  Here is how I came to it...

I was accidentally exposed to the world of art all over again.  I had painted in my early years...as artistic expression and as a way to bond with family.  I am amazed now at what I actually did of artwork over the years.  I did not forget it ever, but the career got very busy with the world of building the university, its development, quality, recognition....the normal things in the life cycle of a young university.  But with all the training as a social scientist, research, and publishing, I never lost the passion....

McLuhan said "the medium is the message".  Sometimes the message is the messenger.  The two get so involved, and we get so involved, that it may not ever matter, or it may be revealed later, but we are delivered to certain understandings.  In my case, this happened.

Art spoke out.  It lit my fires for creativity like something of a combination of a bonfire and an eternal flame.  Then I looked at the arts profession, and the field, and schools which specialise in fine arts, music, and media.  I started to see it, and the picture was not that pretty.  I mean for us business schools, not that pretty.

Artists and art school communities live for one thing....exhibitions.  Music scholars and schools live for performances.  Media folks live for productions.  Just check out the websites.  These drive the professions and they all have one thing in common, which business schools do not have at all.

It is a physical, permanent contribution to this world, and civilization.  Visual in nature, maybe digital, but stuff that hangs on walls forever, fills stages ongoing with the sounds of music, and media which entertains as far as and as long as people want to be entertained.

Business schools teach people and leaders to be better at business which fuels the human workforce for our economies, but what do we have in the end to hang on the wall?  To put on a stage, to fill the screen?
PowerPoint presentations and business plans that are not at all like paintings, or songs or movies.  Most of our business products have a half-life....the shelf-life is as long as the business deal or as much as anyone is willing to pay.  Over the past two decades, business schools have been as much the place of self-centered deal creation and egotistical eliteness as they have been of service to the global village or the societies of our time.  Wall Street nearly imploded and nearly brought down the global economy because of exquisite creativity of the wrong kind.  Bernie Madoff is the king of this side of the empire.  Hundreds have faced federal indictments for insider trading this year alone and many have business degrees from top business schools.

Thus, what is to be the lasting heritage of a business school?  What is our equivalent of a painting, an exhibition, a symphony, a Broadway play, a major film? 

That's the challenge, plain and simple.  Not to diminish all of our collective efforts or even our own.  The purpose of my challenge is to stimulate us in possibly a direction which could claim someday to be so proud to be able to show itself under the lights.  Not the beams of law enforcement, but the lights in the eyes of children and mothers and fathers who embrace their daughter or son having just graduated with a business degree.  The light of anticipation of something great that we all can actually see....

Like maybe the creation of a company!
A school? A cause? A global project, A global........
What will be our heritage?

The Ship of Friends...Now...and Later

When we are seeking someone out there....
....and cannot somehow find them.....

When we are seeking the soul of someone lost....
.....and deeply need to know it will be there....

When we are with near and dear, loved ones...in talk and touch....
.....they are with us....

On the Ship of Friends....

Because it sails for love and closeness, for us now....
....and it will be there later on, waiting in the sun....to welcome us on board....

When we can't find it, or see it, or lose a sense of where our love is....
The Ship of Friends sails on through....it will be there for us....through the fog....

It is part of us now....and will be our carrier later on...........
....it sails safely, smoothly on any sea....in any time....and is ours.
......it is our heritage....and our legacy all in one....

It gives us peace....it asks only one thing from us, ever.......that is love.

Peak Moments for a College President

When I can sit with students who are happy, and relax, and laugh together.....
When I sign a new contract with a great world partner institution....
When I hear from that president by email within an hour of my email to her.....
When a business leader from my California community accompanies me across the Pacific to help me build bridges in Korea....


When we share a fresh seafood lunch at a seaside barbecue in cold wind, but warm sun...
When I discover a colleague is an artist and has an amazing collection...
When it's Friday night, at our house, and students are coming....with food and drink and we plan to have fun...

When there is a warm wind in the sky, blowing the stars around.....when fans and friends are all one....
When people are on the Ship of Friends like this....the moments could not be better...

Yet the best of all moments come when a student signals that he or she wants to go abroad to study...
It is the signal that unfolds a lifetime of new culture and learning and career and maybe lifetime partnership...
Signals....
Our job to spark...
....our job to read....
.......to encourage and enable...

After all...that was our own journey....remember!

The CIBU Family Worldwide

This year takes us to new countries and new markets worldwide.  Through it all, CIBU retains its spirit of family and friendship.  Every single time I meet parents, I just want to thank them for being the guideposts for their sons and daughters to join us here in San Diego, and California, and America.

San Diego has been known for many years as "America's Finest City".  That was then.  This is now: "America's Global Gateway City"!  CIBU is in the heart of the cultural district of this great city.  We aspire to be one of the world's most creative business education institutions, regardless of size and former fame.  We re-energize our spirit and programs daily!  We add value every minute!  We are the place where scientific inquiry meets the forces of creativity unleashed.  This creative collision takes place in a nurturing and supportive environment.  Individuals thrive and talents are put to form.

We are creating a unique institution in time and place.  We are unfolding a true global alliance of colleges and universities with a common core of commitments and values and covenants to creativity and global teamwork.  We envision a Global Gateway campus for CIBU and its partners in this magnificent place where the arms of family, friendship, and scholarship reach to the farthest corners of the planet.

Celebrate this new decade with us.  It is CIBU's second century, its third decade!  Almost eighty countries and several thousand students have made CIBU home and family for a part of their life.  We honor that time together and treasure the promise of the future.  If our modest history is any indication, and our present is even more, then, our future is beyond our dreams.  And yet, it is in our hands every day!

Found Touch...New Life....

Something about this time of year....

I resolved that when I see an act of specialness, if it hurts no one, I will tell that person...
....that I will feed forward....a kind thought....a passage of hope or something that brightens the darkness...

California people are not known for running away...or putting out fires....
....we take our pride in starting not stopping, in lighting fires in darkness....
......if there is openness, we will find it...if there is strength, we will share it...
.......if there is weakness, we will not hide it, and it will......make us stronger...
........because we are who we appear to be....we create, we communicate, we enjoy...
.........we love and live to love another day....

We are the carriers of the torch...
We are the firestarters....
We are the lovers....
We are guardians...and liberators...

California sun rises from the East...with the smell of fresh coffee...
.....and sets with the green flash...on any horizon it can be even imagined...

Lost Touch..Lost Life

OK, folks, how are your connections?
Mine are like this...human touch is there but going to safer places...
..like underground...like where anonymous is better than authentic.

I spend about 1 to 2 hours a day on email and electronic brain interactions..less on touch than ever before..less on deeply sharing moments with true friends

You are OK with this, or am I alone?

What I see happening is a trend toward closeted intimacy...the world is so tough, we cannot be able to express our trueness of friendships, from a kiss on the cheek to a high five.

No way here I will effect a change, just to spark some comment.

Here is one truth...song lyrics, paintings, play scripts express what the human pulse is trying so desperately to find..in each other

Say what you feel today...tell that person you find something in them...we must keep on trying..

Coffee in the morning...see you there...

Taste Fresh in Winter

Can you imagine...
Sitting where the ocean and hills are at your feet....
...the sky is deep blue....
.....the air is so cold...with wind about 10 degrees F
......now just taste this...

You are with dear friends of 50 years....laughing....
....you all are so hungry...

You are sitting inside a porch sheltered from the outside cold
...yet you have the warmth of the sun....

The smell of charcoal is everywhere...

Now...on your table comes these fresh jumbo scallops....
...and Kimche....and dried fish...and local rice wine....

The taste was so fresh, the memory lasts forever....
....the friendships are even stronger....they will last longer than forever....

Everybody Thought it Was Funny When I Said "Cute"

In fact, Sam's sister is downright cute.  Doesnt' matter if she has 70+ years.  She is high energy, attends to every detail.  Takes care greatly her husband and her brother Sam, my friend and me, his guest.  They made me feel very honored, yet they have other doctors in this family who are far more important than me.  They took us to a beautiful place for dinner, a true cultural landscape restaurant, south of Seoul.  The food was bountiful.  The warmth was amazing and the artictecture was fabulous.

Sam's sister was so much the organizer.  When we went home to their flat, she served tea and fruited persimmons, a natonal treasure.  She had fun being the cheerleader of this party.  I was so tired, I may have missed important flashes, but I got the whole picture....she is "cute" in any terms....she provided a motherly and fun spirit...this was one of the most beautiful dinners of my life.  Thanks, Sam and family!

Saw the Sun Today....Hint of New Life and Spring

The sun light on the water today at Taesan on Korea's west coast...
...hinted at spring....the air was cold....but the light dancing on the stage of water....

.....ah, the sun brings us warmth

Deep in the Heart of Soul...I Mean Seoul

It's cold here in Seoul in winter.
But how are to know warm unless we know what cold is...?

Birthdays, anniversaries come and go....
True friends last forever....

As I am building bridges with Korea....all the way across the Pacific...
....to California.....
It is great to have a true friend here with me.

We all need someone to help us understand and decipher and get around in a new culture...
The bridge to a nation starts with the bridge to a friend....

I am lucky to have this friend.  Everything starts with this...

Global Teamwork

When you are in a multicultural team or group...you might have a mission together...something that puts pressure on the team to come up with a great result...

You will look to the weakest member....you will scan who is strong and who knows something...
...the you may ask yourself, what will you do...?

If you strive to bring in what everyone has to contribute...
...without regard to verbosity, eloquence, or talking...
......if you can discern the shades of meaning in what the shy ones in the team are saying...
........even if you can bring them along, however you may because you all are one team...

You have begun to know what global teamwork is....
If you see that you can be a leader when otherwise you would lead knowledge...
....this time you just lead people to a goal..

If you can possibly believe that being a leader in these conditions is as strong as when you know little and someone else is the leader.....

Then you are ready for global teamwork...

Without that basic attitude of modesty, humility, realistic contribution....you are not worth the trip...

When you want to be a global team leader, you love the diversity itself...
You are attracted to it....it is natural.....
You shine in this diversity and you bring even more teamwork to this group than it had before you were there....

That is your challenge...
That is the global challenge...yesterday, today and tomorrow...

Flying into the Night...

Every time we leave home base...company, family, friends...city..

...we need to be thankful....and be so looking forward to the next day...

.....flying into the night...we trust our lives to the pilot and the very few in the cabin....

......we trust, every day, though the moments are not so dramatic as in takeoff...

........every day, we trust in our lives and the ones we are with.....

Flying into the night....always reminds me....

.....we are not alone....