when great minds collide

This past Tuesday I had the opportunity to invite Dr. AndyNellie to teach for me in The Concordia MBA Personal Leadership course.  Andy and I met briefly about 3-4 years ago through an introduction by my President Tom Cedel.  We reconnected this past January, met again in February, and  immediately become good friends and colleagues.  As I sat watching him teach Tuesday evening, it became even clearer that we thought alike and were passionate about the same things.  The thought occurred to me that we had a “mind-meld” and that perhaps “great minds had collided.”  He had a great time teaching, I had a great time participating, and the students had a great time learning.

So what can happen when “great minds collide?”  Here are a few ideas:

-        You become more inspired to pursue your ideas even deeper

-        You come up with new ideas that you had never imagined

-        You sharpen your own thinking around ideas and concepts

-        You begin to share your own thinking with more people

-        You develop more questions to ask and pursue

-        Your come up with new solutions to old problems

-        You discard your bad thinking and replace it with better thinking

-        You become even more passionate around your causes

-        You acquire a new and improved reading list

-        You spend more time watching TED videos

-        You write better blogs (at least I hope so)

I often tell people that I have the best job in the world because I get to meet and hang out with some of the coolest people in Austin.  You have already met Andy Nellie…here are a few more: 

-        Scott Robinson

-        Rob Hutton

-        Joel Trammell

-        Deborah Leverett

-        Patti DeNucci

-        Doug Bain

-        Zay Collier

-        Ken Gladish

-        and the list could go on and on…

I don’t believe it is just enough to meet people for coffee to make great things happen.  In order for “great minds to collide” you as an individual need to do your part.  How can you help to make that happen?

-        Pick up the phone and call someone today

-        When someone says, “you should meet so and so,” go ahead and meet them

-        Learn to ask good questions

-        Listen deeply and build on what others say

-        Be more interested than interesting

-        Be willing to share your own thoughts and ideas

-        Be vulnerable – let others know who you really are

-        Be willing to help – ask what you can do for them

-        When someone recommends a book to read or video to watch, DO IT (whether or not you think you are interested in it)

-        Set up a second time to meet…the first time rarely does the trick

-        Connect them to someone else you think might be a good fit

So those are my ideas for today.  Not sure who I will get to meet today who will  inspire me and make me better.  But I bet there is someone out there…