Let there be light

The sad thing about Tahoe houses, is that they are not made for study. Although the dim side lamps might be great for sipping whiskey and shooting the breeze in the light of the (faux) log fire, they don't quite cut the mustard for reading or trying to use my laptop without straining my eyes.

Retreating...

View from the house. The Aisha-retreat continues. Sadly no longer in solitude, but it continues.

Aisha-retreat

I'm heading up to Tahoe - my debut this year. But I'm not planning on hitting the slopes. Sneakily I'm hoping I will have the house to myself, and be able to take a day to think and reflect and generally catch up. Maybe I'll even take a bubble bath and sit on the sofa and read a book. I could do all that stuff here, but generally don't. Instead getting caught up in chores, or preferring to hang out with people - I'm already a little sad to be missing a hike that's going on tomorrow. I'm hoping to be back in time for Superbowl though. Me and my sports agnostic self has managed to miss it each of the last two years.

Viewing from the top

Alan Mulally, the CEO of Ford, viewed from the top for us today. Key notings:

• Talking with your hands - he was very effective at emphasizing points, drawing graphs, and generally being expressive with his hands. I almost think you'd get a lot of his points watching a video with no audio.
• Mantras - a lot of execs seem to use them. His was 'the data sets you free'.
• Being leader still requires you to know the details and be on top of them. Being the leader doesn't mean you can escape also having the ants eye view. I think I tend to be a little bit too hands off when I'm leading, I prefer the birds eye, but that can't be all I have.
• Style - he came across as very warm, humble and unprepossessing. I don't know if that is how he is in the board room, but it was very effective for getting us in Bishop to like him.

Intention: To be more mindful

I'm in a life-tracking mode. Question is, can I keep a new blog going? Maybe I won't aim for the meandering posts of my undergrad days, but something pithier and to the point. Little vignettes, photos, the like. The little things that are on my mind. I'm hoping this will encourage me again to stop and stare. Let's see.