Since I announced my entry into the Gonzaga online Organizational Leadership MA program, I’ve heard this question a number of times.  My flippant response is that it’s a MA in Catholic Socialism, largely based on my first class that included Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed.

To date, I’ve completed two classes and am moving through my third, Leadership and Imagination, which included a residency requirement in Spokane.  I hope to keep this section of the site updated as I discover more about myself, my leadership philosophy, and discover interesting bits to pass along.  One of the requirements for this degree is a capstone class called ORGL 680 and I intend to use some of these posts, in addition to my BlackBoard postings, to chronicle my progression as a leader.

Organizational Leadership ORGL 500:

Not only was this my course my first foray into Organizational Leadership, but also into online education.  During the course of this class, my classmates and I explored what we wanted and didn’t want in a leader, how we plan to lead, and what is required of leaders.  We explored leadership from numerous angles and viewpoints.  Our course started with Pedagogy of the Oppressed, a challenging and detailed exploration of oppression and exploitation.  We also explored Parker Palmer’s The Courage to Teach, Kouzes and Posner’s The Leadership Challenge, and Wheatley’s Leadership and the New Science.  Moving away from traditional resources, we also used T.S. Eliot’s Murder in the Cathedral, A Man for All Seasons, Strictly Ballroom, and finally and most importantly, Romero.

One of the important results of this course was the creation of our personal leadership statements.  These statements will resurface in our capstone  course as we evaluate our leadership development through our program.

Organizational Theory ORGL 505:

My second class explored the study of organizations.  We looked at traditional views of organizations, including the four frames theory and the organization as metaphor.  Most importantly, we learned to interpret the events inside an organization through multiple frames and metaphors, providing insight into how different people view the same organization.

We used a few important texts, including: Bolman and Deal’s Reframing Organizations; Sally Helgesen’s The Web of Inclusion; Morgan’s Images of Organization; and the popular book from Jim Collins, Good to Great.

As with the ORGL 500 course, the most attractive feature of this course is the real-world application of the lessons learned.  In all projects, we were challenged to explore actual situations and problems facing our organization and to explore solutions based on our understanding of the course texts.

So, in the past year or so, I’ve developed a number of sites that focus on my unique interests and have been blogging and writing on these sites.  This includes our newest project, Our Debt Year, a blog following our journey to being debt free by the end of the year.  If you’re interested in personal finance, you might want to check it out.

Most importantly, I recently started a new chapter by returning to grad school. I made the decision after taking inventory of all the benefits available to me at at ProQuest.  You may remember that I worked for LexisNexis for five years until our division was acquired by ProQuest in late 2010.  With LN, my tuition reimbursement generally only covered a JD degree or a MLS.  Other options were available, but they were the exception, not the rule.  When PQ acquired our company, I reviewed their benefits and found that any program could be reimbursed if approved by my manager and the company.  The bottom line, for me, was this amounted to a $5250/year raise and I left this money on the table for 5 years, totaling $26,250.  That’s a lot of money.

So, I started searching for a graduate level program that appealed to me and met the requirements of the reimbursement.  An MBA was a simple option, but I think that degree is a bit oversold and I have no interest in accounting and finance.  After a bit of Googling and comparing programs, I decided to pursue a Master’s in Organizational Leadership from Gonzaga University.

This program is mostly online, but I had the privilege of visiting Spokane and the Gonzaga campus last week for the class “Leadership and Imagination.”  I’m going to post separately about this, but if you are looking for a Master’s program alternative to an MBA, I highly recommend this program.  The class was a great experience and truly challenged my views on imagination, art, architecture, drama, film, and music.  Most of all, I found that Gonzaga admits truly amazing and well-rounded individuals to the program.  The connections we made in our class were amazing and I look forward to spending time with these students as I move through this program over the next few years.

The UPS guy brought Christmas to the Doss home a bit early yesterday.  A few weeks ago, I applied to test a new computer from Google.  The actual computer is reasonably impressive, more on that later, but the most interesting thing is that the computer has a brand new type of operating system, Google Chrome OS.

CR-48

CR-48 2

CR-48 3

Google Chrome OS is a cloud based OS.  Instead of depending on a large hard drive to store programs and documents, Chrome OS doesn’t store documents, files, or pictures on the computer.  Chrome OS is designed to get you connected to the internet as soon as possible and allow you to use cloud services.

So, I’ve been using this for a full day now and I have some initial impressions.

First, from a hardware standpoint, this is a very nice computer.  Think all black Macbook, with a slightly rubberized finish.  The screen is a 12.1″ widescreen.  The computer has 2GB of RAM and a 16GB hard drive.  The processor is an Intel Atom 1.66 mHz mobile processor.  The computer is very quiet and doesn’t get hot.  The battery life seems to be good, roughly 8 hours when using basic internet tools.  I’m yet to run the computer with a laptop cooler or wear the battery all the way down, but it appears to last for at least 7-8 hours.  The battery doesn’t always make it to 100%, but that could be a battery management issue too.

The only hardware problem so far is the touchpad.  I just don’t like it.  Either you can set it to be very sensitive and then you end up moving the cursor with the slightest accidental touch, or you can turn down the sensitivity and struggle with using the touchpad. Apple’s touchpad is much better.

I do like that Google had done away with Function keys, effectively, and tossed the Caps Lock key too.  The keys are rubberized and very responsive.  They are also quiet.

Hardware problems aren’t really a problem though, since this is a pre-production model.  No one will ever buy this computer because it’ll never be on the market.

What’s really important here is the connection to the internet.  When you first turn on the computer, you will see the login screen within 15 seconds.  That’s from a cold boot.  Pretty damn quick.  You need a Google Account to start the computer the first time, but you can allow guest access after you register the computer.  The whole process takes less than 2 minutes.

Once you’re logged in, you’ve only got a few options.  Well, you only have one option, really.  Chrome.  Your desktop is basically a modified version of the Chrome browser.  Not that modified though.  The CR-48 picked up my saved bookmarks from my other Chrome browser.

The computer is always connected to the internet.  WiFi is preferred, but the computer also has a built-in 3G modem that picks up Verizon.  You get 100MB for free each month for 2 years but have to pay for anything over that limit.

The computer is much faster restarting from standby.  If you open the computer, it’s generally up and running in just a few seconds.  My experience has been that it takes a few more seconds to reconnect to the WiFi signal, but that has varied based on the connection and the duration of the standby.

First impressions are that this is a reasonable proof of concept.  From a hardware standpoint, this computer is a solid B+.  The battery and the trackpad make it a bit off, but it’s got a clear screen, good text and image display, keyboard is comfortable and responsive.  I’m yet to install many apps or really play with the Chrome App Store.

I’ll update this every few days as I get more time in on the Chrome Notebook.

A few months ago I donated a bit of money to a startup called Diaspora.  Diaspora is an open-source, distributed social network.  They’ve just released their Alpha Build and I have a few shots from inside.

Nothing too amazing, largely since I don’t have any friends there yet.  Anyone else on Diaspora?

Diaspora Settings Page with Export

Diaspora Setting Page 2

Diaspora Profile Page

Diaspora Family Tab

Diaspora Home Page

A few days ago, the NYT ran an article about a very bad company.  I’m not going to provide a link to the site, but needless to say, this guy was one of the worst examples of what’s wrong with online businesses.

Google announced today that they implemented an algorithm that penalizes bad reviews.  The crux of the issue was that all the bad reviews and bad press this company was receiving was providing links to their site.  A link is a link, no matter what the anchor text says.  Some of these links were from the NYT and other well known and respected sites.

This begs the question: do people bother to check out a site anymore?  Do people simply believe that because Google ranks the site, it’s legit and sound?  Do people not check the BBBOnline or search online for reviews of retailers?

I read Outside Magazine.  Great publication.  Highly recommended.

This month, they featured an interesting tidbit about something called Bicycle City, SC.

Interesting stuff.  Check out their website.  I don’t know if Cayce, SC is ready for 160 acres of bike riding environmentalists.

Not the best site, mostly speculation and planning, but pretty interesting idea here.

The future of suburbia?

It’s not what you think, though.

Today, my business unit was acquired by a competitor, ProQuest.  Interestingly enough, ProQuest is also located in Betheda, MD.

If you want all the public details, you can check out the press release from ProQuest.

The summary is this: ProQuest will acquire most of the products based in Bethesda, including, LN Congressional, LN Stat, GPI, and a few others.  Add to that Environment Abstracts, the  product I managed during our divestment last year.

Overall, this seems to be a good move and, though I’m still cautious.  The story is that ProQuest was excellent to work with during the acquisition negotiations.  ProQuest seems to be more aligned with our specific business.  With LN, we were the odd man out, the stepkids, so to speak.  We really didn’t fit into the overarching business model and that meant it was hard for us to obtain funding and resources for our projects.  ProQuest has a large microfilm/fiche operation and they have a nice international business.

The best news is that every employee of the acquired products are moving to ProQuest.  The only exception is our VP, who is one of the most capable individuals I’ve ever met.  That’s a real loss, but understandable.

31 December will be our last day with LN.  On 1 January, we will all become ProQuest employees.  Going to be interesting…

As I mentioned a few posts ago, I also run a review site for triathlon gear.  Today, we published an initial review of a nice pair of running and workout tights for women.  Not to worry, I didn’t test these myself, the review was done by one of our female reviewers, but I’m the writer.

If you’re interested, check out our review of LUNASport’s Terra’s Knicker.

So here’s the first day of my new clip of writing.

Yesterday, I pulled out one of my new ‘classic in the making” recipes.  This one is so simple that there’s no reason, other than your cholesterol level, not to make this tonight.

This recipe will serve three to four people. All you need is about a pound of Brussel Sprouts, a quarter to a third of a pound of real bacon, two shallots or a small onion and one clove of garlic.

Grab a large skillet, big enough to fit the Brussel Sprouts, and heat it over a medium high flame.  Add the bacon and cook until very crisp.  When done, remove, cool and chop into lardon sized pieces.

While the bacon’s cooking, get started on the sprouts.  Rinse them off, cut the bases off, and half or quarter them, depending on the size. You’re looking for a bite-sized piece of sprout.

Next, dice the shallots.  We’re looking for very fine shallots.

Bacon should be done by now.  Pour off about half of the bacon fat, maybe more if the bacon was fatty.  You need enough bacon fat to sauté the shallots.

Heat the bacon fat and add the shallots.

Cook until soft. Add the sprouts. Cover the pan and let them cook for about five minutes. Remove the top, stir, deglaze the pan if necessary.  I generally use a splash of chicken stock, but water is just fine.

Recover the pan and cook another five minutes.

Continue this process until the sprouts are tender, but not soggy.  They should have a very bright green color.  Add the chopped bacon.  Serve very hot.

That’s it, very simple stuff, but a great take on sprouts with a little bacon love.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

I’ve been a bit melancholy about this blog lately.   I have a serious sense of accomplishment when I actually sit down and write a post here or on one of my other sites.  But recently, I’ve not felt inspired or had enough time, or whatever.  I like writing everyday.  I like seeing my post numbers increase.  I like seeing more visitors.

Recently, I’ve spent most of my non-work waking hours training for my Ironman.  Behind that, I’ve been trying to put out at least two reviews on FitEgg.com per week.  Sometimes I have to write the review, sometimes it’s just editing and formatting.  Either way, IM training has taken much of my time and I haven’t put as much into FitEgg and this site as I normally do.

Between now and the end of the year, I’m going to try to write here everyday that I’m not writing at FitEgg.com.  That might be a small note or a long post.  Wish me luck.