Updates from your favorite Leadership, CSR, Teambuilding company that offers Life Cycles (build-a-bike), Helping Hands, Playhouse Challenge and so much more.

Wow, it's been over 8 weeks since I posted a blog here. Did you miss me? I'm still unsure who reads these. Though as they say, "the gift is in the giving". The gift is also a bit selfish on my part as the task creates a reason for me to pause and reflect on things, which is always good.

Lots of things have been going on the past 2 months in the world of Odyssey Teams. We facilitated over 26 programs all over the USA, China, Netherlands, Greece, and Czech Republic. We also designed and delivered a Helping Hands program for 4,300 people! ...our largest audience at one time, so far.

Prague is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. I've had the good fortune to visit several times to bring Odyssey Teams' Helping Hands (building prosthetic hands) and Life Cycles (Build-a-Bike) teambuilding programs. This time, I wanted to see the city by foot. I started running down the Vltava river through the city and pushed the pace expecting to turn around at four miles to log a total of eight miles. True to my other running experiences while traveling, I 'stumbled' upon sights and scenes I never would have otherwise experienced. This was a tempo run - trying to keep a fast, consistent pace of seven minutes per mile. As I neared the four-mile mark I began looking for a bridge to cross to the other side of the Vltava for my return. At about 4.2 miles I found a bridge, crossed over and began running again. My pace was fast and consistent and I was enjoying the view but ready to be done with the 8 miles holding such a pace. At seven miles, I began to realize that I did not recognize any of the same sights I had seen running down the river. I should have. At 8 miles, it became obvious that I was definitely not back where I had started. I was confused. To make it more confusing, for the first time since I crossed over the river, I realized I was still running downstream. I was completely baffled and somewhat concerned with the possibility of being eight miles from where I had started with dinner plans in forty minutes. I pulled out my phone and looked at the GPS map and noticed that I was, in fact on the same side of the river as when I started - 8.2 miles DOWNSTREAM.

It's the first time the two business units have been together. Lots on the line and expectations are high says our main client contact...from one of USA's largest media (TV, Newspaper, Radio, Digital etc.) companies. Stakes were high for a Life Cycles program set for 480 people last week in Orlando. We delivered and then some. Client reported after the program that we had them (the group) in our hands from the get go and he breathed easy after the first 5 minutes and watched in amazement on what ensued.

During our leadership CSR/philanthropic teambuilding program, the participants were knee deep in engagement, conversation, and were aiming for value at every opportunity. The night prior they were knee deep with the Zac Brown Band. I was there, almost...

I'm a big fan of Zac Brown. He credits James Taylor (my all time favorite) for shaping who he is today. Our client invited our team to "blend" into the private Zac Brown Band concert for their 480 people. I passed on the opportunity and instead...

It's springtime! Time to grow. I always flash back to being a kid visiting my grandparents in the central Valley of California. My grandfather owned a Mobil gas station and would always have beautiful bulbs in bloom. He, like so many of the older generation worked so hard - up at 4am and back to fall asleep in his chair as the grandkids buzzed around him at about 7pm. But he always made time to get his hands muddy - tilling the soil, planting bulbs and seeds, pulling weeds and tending to these little islands in the sea of his "work" - at his "service station".

It's so important that we find and maintain these islands in our work to grow something beyond work. We need to carve time to get our hands dirty and make something a bit nicer. I'm sure it couldn't have been measured in terms of the beautiful flowerbeds adding to the bottom-line of his business. But he didn't do it for that reason anyway.

So much of Odyssey's work, I think, is with this same spirit. Building bikes for kids in our Life Cycles program, prosthetic hands in the Helping Hands project and others.

My gramps always made things special in places where you wouldn't expect them to be. He is still doing that at 97 years old, just now it's in the form of the surprising presence he gives people when in his company, like during my visit yesterday.

Thank you Grandpa. Honoring you in everyway that Odyssey is, and I aim to be.

Earlier this month I delivered Helping Hands (One of Odyssey Teams CSR Leadership programs, i.e. Life Cycles /Build-a-bike, Playhouse Challenge etc.), in Singapore for 65 people from APAC & Japan. In the mix, High Potential leaders from one of the worlds largest firms, representing over 14 countries.

The work went extremely well. Our style of delivery and content brought the group together and they left our session feeling more open, connected, and proud of their team and the huge difference their relatively short time spent will make in other people's lives.

It was quite fun for me to be back in Singapore. It had been over 15 years since my last trip. Further back in 1987, Singapore and Malaysia's Cameron Highlands is where I really began building my craft as a trainer and facilitator. I was immersed in these countries for 3 months, surrounded by masters in our arena and delivering content that was extraordinary. Our charge was to create miracles for AT&T's consumer products division via a rollout for hundreds of their leaders. In short, we did.