It's Not Goodbye, It's See You Later

Never easy to say good bye. Our final day of the trip started with a visit to a startup incubator in Galway. We received a tour before listening to a panel on leadership in innovation which included Jan on it. Jan was reluctant to be included on the panel but ended up being the centerpiece of it. The attendees included business leaders within Galway. Many of the questions from the audience were answered with lessons I had already learned from Jan and in other classes in my MBA which served as a validation of the value of my studies. After the panel and a quick lunch, the group departed on a bus for Dublin. The class spent most of the two-and-a-half-hour ride going person by person and identifying what everyone had learned from that individual. Given my new uncle status (shout out to Kaia Gabriella Olsson), I was nominated to go first. The feedback from my peers was heartfelt and incredibly rewarding to receive. The activity made me reflect on the lack of positive feedback I provide both professionally and personally. This will be will be one item I plan to work on upon my return.

Once we arrived in Dublin, we set our bags down quickly at the Trinity College Dorms and headed to a final farewell dinner. The last night was spent enjoying the friendships we had all developed throughout the program.

Reflecting on the program, I gained valuable insight from business leaders, learned about another international business culture, studied an impressive leader who seems primed for success, and most of all gained incredible relationships with my peers.

I learned the value of transparency and trust, the power behind passion, the importance of investing in relationships and people, and the impact of being intentional and deliberate in establishing a culture. Working with Dan Crawford, CEO for axial3D, I saw a leader who inspired his group to share his passion, a leader who was willing to get in the trenches and take on grunt work and one who established trust through communication and transparency. Dan was someone who genuinely cared for the people he worked with and for the people his company intends to serve. I look forward to seeing how far Dan takes axial3D in the years to come.

Consulting with axial3D was challenging, time intensive and incredibly rewarding. Working with Kai, Eric, and Divya, I saw how beneficial team alignment can be. We were deliberate in stating our assumptions, resolving differences of opinions, and moving forward, together once we were aligned. Sometimes you need to go slow to go fast. We spent the first two hours of our time at axial3D working towards alignment and those were the most important two hours of our time in Belfast. All of us were proud of what we delivered for axial3D and we look forward to tracking its success in their upcoming sales pitch to Stanford medical.

Ultimately the trip was about people. Our group consisted of 12 individuals with diverse backgrounds who all came together as a cohesive units. Alan, Steven, Ben, Jesus, Christa, Jordan, Ranjit, Divya, Roop, Kai, and Eric, thank you all for making this an incredible experience. I learned something from each one of you which I will use to continue to grow myself. I look forward to building on the relationships that began throughout the last two weeks.

Thank you Jan for leading an incredible trip, for creating an environment that fostered the development of our group dynamics, and for exposing the class to meaningful learning opportunities throughout the program.

Finally, and certainly not least, thank you Jacquie! The program operated like a choreographed dance thanks to your efforts. Every step of the program had your touch on it and we all knew that we were in good hands throughout the trip. Thank you for all the work you put into to make this program run as smoothly as it did.

I’ve learned a lot about myself, about leadership, about entrepreneurship, about the promising economic environment of Ireland and about the power of investing in people. This program wasn’t just experiential, it was transformational.

Thanks for following along.

Cheers,

We Are Not Low

The team left for the Cliffs of Moher at 7 this morning. The cliffs were surreal. Similar to the Grand Canyon in their stature and ability to remind me of my fear of heights. The picture below was the closest I would get to the edge. 

Today and the last few days have been about getting to know my classmates on a more personal level. Our trip to the cliffs brought with it the realization that we are nearing the end of our trip but I like to think it is only the start of a continued journey. My peers have made this trip really special. This trip, and today in particular, reinforces the need to move beyond transactional relationships. It’s easy to get comfortable in social circles and look at any new relationship through a transactional lens. Life is about people and every single person has so much more to offer than what we all present on a surface level. After this trip, I challenge myself to move beyond transactional relationships in both personal and professional life.

Hitting the Road

Rolling hills, sheep, and the occasional lake serve as the setting for this blog post as I write from the bus heading from Derry to Galway. Our experience in Belfast broke the group down into small teams where high intensity and focus drove success for each project. The last day and a half has been about the full group coming back together and forming again, this time much closer than before. We’ve managed to come together and form close relationships thanks in large part to the environment cultivated by Jan. There has been enough structure to guide the group, enough freedom to challenge us to come together on our own, and an element of stress to force us out of comfort zones. These elements have made the trip a constant source of learning experiences on leadership and group dynamics.

It’s been fun to come together as a group in a stronger way and as a more complete unit. The team enjoyed a great dinner out together last night and the experience stands out as one of the more memorable ones of the trip. We went to an Indian Restaurant where three students on our trip who are from India, Ranjit, Divya, and Roop, ordered for all twelve of us. We laughed about how Americans all eat Tikka Masala and their ordering for us probably saved us all from ordering just that. We had some Tikka Masala but thanks to Ranjit, Divya, and Roop we all tried a bunch of new things that were delicious. My favorite, Chicken Mahni, a dish from Southern India where Divya and Ranjit are from. The food was great but perhaps the most enjoyable part of dinner was seeing Ranjit, Divya, and Roop take charge. Roop made sure we never had a shortage of Naan, Divya ensured South Indian good was well represented, and Ranjit made sure we had a variety of meat besides chicken. Food aside, it was enjoyable watching them each rise up and lead thanks to an environment of comfort and expertise. 

During our bus trip, we all went around to talk about our takeaways this far. A point brought up by Eric resonated with me and seemed applicable to our dinner last night. Eric talked about how there are many different types of leaders with different skill levels in different areas and that these skillsets are on a pendulum rather than fixed. Looking back at our dinner and throughout the experiences on this trip, I can see how different leaders have emerged based on different circumstances, how different leaders have their own strengths and weaknesses and how we can all continue to grow as leaders.

The last few days have been about people. Our 4-hour bus ride brought back great memories of past road trips and served as another bonding experience with a great group of people. The picture for our upcoming album is below. Now just to learn how to play the music.

 

Northern Perspective

We've all spent the last few days working hard in what is now the modern European style city of Belfast. But walking through the Europa Hotel last night, the most bombed hotel in the world thanks to 36 bombings during the Troubles, puts into perspective what it means to call a city in Northern Ireland and the UK "European."

One of our our assigned readings before coming to Ireland was "Peace Meets the Streets" by James Lyons which detail the author's role in the peace process leading up to the Good Friday Agreement. Before reading that book, hearing Jim Lyons speak in Denver, and coming to Ireland, I really did not know much about the history, albeit recent history, of conflict in this area.

I once had the pleasure of attending a panel with Thomas Friedman and I remember a quote of his, "If you don't go, you don't know." We started the morning with a black cab tour through the still segregated neighborhoods of West Belfast. We saw images painting murderers as heroes on both sides (of the walls and learned more about why the walls exist and have yet to come down. The protestant area is already well into preparation for the marches planned in July to celebrate a British Victory won several hundred years ago. These marches include "bon fires" that are at a scale (picture below) that deserve a better name. The final size of these are shown below although we saw the makings of these structures at only a fraction of what they will eventually be. It was particularly interesting to hear of the conflict and violence that occurred even after the Good Friday Agreement was signed (in 1998) as the last murder of a Catholic in these neighborhoods occurred in 2004. I came to understand much more about the underlying influences of the Catholic and Protestant conflict in Northern Ireland. It was a fascinating experience and even more insightful receiving the tour from individuals affected from the conflict of both sides.

Following our tour to Belfast, the team boarded a bus to Giant's Causeway. It was a nice relief to come together again as a group to take in the breathtaking scenery that the area had to offered. We arrived in (London)Derry this afternoon for a much appreciated time to take a step back and have some fun with the group.

Full Steam(in) Ahead

Mission Accomplished. Our team set out to develop a quantitative cost comparison calculator that could be utilized as a sales tool as well as learn about leadership in an entrepreneurship environment. We were lucky enough to learn from an impressive leader and consult with an exciting and promising startup. Our deliverable was well received and is intended to be used as a centerpiece for an upcoming sales pitch with Stanford Medical. We'll be keeping a close eye on that sales conversion as a metric for our success.

It was a terrific few days learning from the CEO of the company. A young engineering student turned CEO who has managed to create a company where communication, trust, and employee empowered improvement have transformed a master's thesis into a company vision that every one of their employees feels like they have a stake in.


The benefits of consulting with a 3D Printing company is getting to choose your own avatar to be made. The obvious choice: a monkey butler.

A job well done deserves a pint or two with the team so a celebration drink at the historic crown bar was welcomed.

It was a tremendous few days as we grew close to the axial 3D team and really enjoyed working with them and building relationships that will last beyond the duration of our travels.

The Grind

Today has been a long, busy and productive day. I am writing this from the axial 3D office where my team members and I are the last ones left working. The day started with a nice walk from our hotel across a river, past city hall and to a nice breakfast before arriving at our office for a full day of work.

We've completed most of our project so tomorrow we will be refining our deliverable and preparing to present. I look forward to detailing more about our experiences in Belfast but again today the day is long and time is short. Quickly, takeaways from today are that its faster to go slower sometimes and stating the obvious is vital to ensuring team alignment.

We spent the first two hours of the day planning out our attack and gaining alignment which allowed us to really hit the ground running once we turned our team loose.

More work to do tonight before presenting tomorrow and wrapping up our time in Belfast.

On to Belfast

An early day turned into a long one as the team boarded the bus for Belfast at 6:45 and never slowed down. We arrived at the Catalyst innovation center around 9 where we were greeted and hurried onto an abbreviated tour of the Titanic build site. We were shown the pump house, pointed to the large hole where the Titanic was constructed, asked for a quick round of questions before being ushered onto our guest speakers. It was a point, shoot and move-on experience. I suppose even the Titanic lasted longer than our tour.  The team heard from two successful entrepreneurs and business leaders before making our way into one of the tech startups on campus. The company we visited on-campus is pursuing a technology that can identify individuals based on their ECG heart rhythm readings using machine learning. Two takeways from this morning is how prevalent machine learning applications are in upcoming technical innovations and the impressive entrepreneurial ecosystem that Northern Ireland provides.

After our morning at the innovation center, we broke off into groups and began work with the companies we will be working with over the next 3 days. It was a short taxi ride through Belfast where I was able to get a glimpse at the beauty of the city. We met with our company, axial3D, and its CEO Dan Crawford. Dan is a 27 year old Biomedical Engineer who has successfully transformed his masters thesis into a small business that has raised a few million and is trending up. Kai, Eric, and I will be working with Dan and his team. We spent most of the afternoon getting a demo of their technology, meeting the staff, and outlining the scope of what we plan to deliver. The short duration of our time has really highlighted the importance of managing expectations and defining a clear scope in a consulting role. Tomorrow will be a long day where we hope to complete most of our project. After our first day, we went out with the majority of the company in the Cathedral Quarter which contains great architecture and some cool bars.The team at axial3D were warm and inviting and I'm really looking forward to working with them in the days to come. A long day has brought on condensed thoughts but I plan to detail more about the entrepreneurial ecosystem, our consulting work, and Belfast in the coming days. 

Trinity College, Iveagh House, & Irish Parliament

It was an emotional morning. Not in the Oprah sense but rather in learning the value of creating an emotional vision to motivate and inspire others to go well beyond their traditional capacities. The morning began at Trinity College with a leadership lecture from Jan and a 3 hour panel from local business leaders who were each very impressive. The panel exceeded my expectations in the amount of insight and wisdom I will be able to take back with me and included no shortage of brilliant quotes and taglines.

Among the notable learnings:

Leaders should experiment and look for ways to chip away for small improvements. The topic was brought up as an expansion on Jim Collin’s Good to Great research and focused on how organizations and teams that focus on continuous improvement and small wins differentiate themselves. This discussion made me think of the obstacles I face professionally when confronted with the mentality of “how we did it before was good enough, so we don’t have to change anything now.” This is a common struggle for me in my role of Quality Engineering and reinforces the need to seek continuous improvement.

As mentioned above, emotional motivation was a common theme in the morning’s discussion along with how vital making connections on a human level is for effective leaders (and coaches). My favorite point in the morning’s discussion was to move beyond transactional relationships. I wrote in my first post how my personal emphasis in observing different leaders during this trip is focused on coaching. Effective coaches need to pull along willing participants rather than push along compliant participants. When I return home, I will start work in my first roles as a manager and as a coach as I transition to implementing quality improvement initiatives with an external company and managing a summer intern. I hope to bring what I learned about relationship development and emotional influence into each of those new roles because the way to success is taking care of your people.

Finally, Jan gave a leadership presentation which included description of the expeditions he leads with special forces groups and business executives. These expeditions are focused on endurance and taking leaders out of their comfort zone. One of the lessons from these expeditions is to demonstrate how teams come together when things get tough. I’ve experienced this unification during athletics but often see adversity drive teams further apart professionally. Ultimately, its on the leaders to bring teams together during times of adversity and align the team to persevere.

The panel consisted of Andrew Parish, Manmeet Abrol, and David Collings. Each offered unique perspective and valued insight.

Highlights from each panelist included the following insights on effective leadership:

Andrew Parish

“Leadership is like a piece of string. Strong when you pull people with you but ineffective when pushed.”

Transparency builds loyalty. Share the problem with the group to create a sense of responsibility and accountability.

Build trust, share the problem and leave your ego at the door.

Manmeet Abrol

Your strength will be what you are passionate about and willing to go the extra mile on

Always ask the question don’t hesitate

David Collings

Build trust through transparency

Move beyond transactional relationships

Create a culture through integrity consistency and authenticity

What gets rewarded gets reinforced.

Drive change through small wins

Leaders should experiment

After the panel, we walked down Grafton Street through St. Stephen’ Green to Iveagh House where we spoke with diplomats on the advancement of Irish Economic Initiatives. Each diplomat was extremely intelligent and articulate and the building itself was breathtaking. We learned Irish history, current economic strategy and that the formal stance of the Irish is that they “Regret Brexit.”

Following Iveagh house we toured the Irish Parliament which was interesting to see after just being in Washington DC and touring the US capitol two weeks ago.

Today was fulfilling and insightful and I look forward to our first day of consulting with axial3D as we head to Belfast first thing in the morning.  

Day 1 - Leadership Plan and Kilmainham Gaol

It was wheels up from Denver four days ago. Nine hours to London Heathrow from Denver, a three hour layover and an hour a half back track across the Irish Sea and alas an arrival into Dublin. Aspirations of school work and reading turned into movies and attempted red eye sleep. Dublin greeted me with blue skies and sunny days for the three days I had in the city before starting our course. The locals say it’s the best the weather gets here. Today, the first day of the course, overcast draped itself over the island as if to signal its time to get down to business. Our first team event was a quick introduction in the courtyard of our Victorian style hotel. We assembled as a group, did a quick run through the planned schedule of the next few days, and went around the table for a quick introduction. Most of the class had already met up in Dublin prior to our formal introduction meeting so going through everyone’s background was mostly a formality. But one question we were asked to address, what we are trying to get out of this experience was less so. So as a precursor to the upcoming days, I write the following to my future 9-day self:

The development plan is an assignment that will be completed following this trip as a leadership model to address future development. Included in the plan are challenges I expect to face, organizations I expect to lead, and core leadership principles I plan to adopt. These aspects of my leadership model can best answer what I plan to get out of this experience. My company entered into a joint venture with an Israeli medical device company about two years ago and since then I have become an increasingly more prominent player in leading activities between the two companies in support of a co-development project. Based on past success and relationships I have fostered, I’ve been asked to move into a new role with our partner to manage quality improvement initiatives. The new role promises the challenge of walking into a successful, innovative and established company and influencing them to change past behaviors and to invest in new tools and processes that are necessary for the success of both firms. To be effective in this type of position, I will need to implement the core leadership principles that I have been studying over the past two years in my MBA. Although I did not accomplish the reading I intended to during my flight, I was able to read Jan’s book on Self Reliant Leadership and found the chapter on coaching particularly applicable. Specifically, to gain followers who are committed and not compliant a coach must get agreement that a problem exists with the group, discuss solutions with the group being coached so that they feel the idea was theirs to act on, and agree on action with the group so they are motivated and empowered. My focus and what I hope to get out of this trip is how to lead and influence change as an effective coach.

In the coming days we will have the opportunity to meet with and work with business leaders. During which, I hope to learn more on the following topics:

1. How can a leader gain trust with a new group?
2. How can they motivate a group and empower bottom up improvement?
3. How do young entrepreneurs and leaders motivate a more experienced group?
4. How can a leader adapt to different situations to lead in the most effective way?

More to come on these…

The day’s post could not be complete without diving into the team’s first activity, a visit to Kilmainham Gaol (Jail). The team assembled outside the main gate of the jail around the memorial for those executed for signing the proclamation of the Irish Republic. In typical grey and dreary Irish weather, a fitting setting for the somber history of the jail, we were directed first to the two markings above the main gate where the dual gallows used to hang. From these gallows, political prisoners would be hung to the death in front of crowds that could number as high as 60,000. The tour went through the tragic history of the Irish that found themselves imprisoned at Kilmainham, through the courageous leaders that paid the ultimate price for their mission, and took us through the cold, dark, and tiny cells that housed political prisoners. Towards the end of the tour, looking out through the steel grated window of an old cell, I caught a view of the Irish Museum of Modern Art which is positioned directly across the street of the jail. It didn’t hit me at the moment (reason why included picture doesn’t fit the description that follows) but as I walked away I realized it was the perfect juxtaposition. The Museum shares the same street with the dual gallows used to hang the poets, artists, and idealists that lead Ireland’s independence movement. Now across the street from the historic jail, only the free expressions of modern art are left hanging. The jail and the art museum capture the duality of Irish history and offer insight into effective leadership when the stakes are highest. Irish independence was not popular until leaders of the independence movement were executed by the British. In order to gain life for their country, the signers of the Proclamation of the Republic had to die. An effective leader is courageous and places the needs of those being lead above self-interest. Courageous leadership requires sacrifice. Of note was a letter written by an 18-year old sentenced to death during the Irish Civil War. In the letter, the man sentenced to death wrote about his pride for dying for Ireland and his happiness in being at peace with God yet at the same time his empathy for his family that would miss him and his sorrow for not being able to see those that he loved. Pride is quickly humbled by empathy.

The day wasn’t all tragedy as the group moved on to tour Guinness and enjoy a group dinner. It’s the end to the first official day but the group has already grown close. Time to conclude and join the team for a night cap where I fully expect to catch a hard time for my long-winded post. Tomorrow to Trinity College.