Ed on Vibe

I told Brad how much I liked this topic and how I related the "vibe" to something other than cities.  The exact same thing is true of organizations as well.  In my HR role I am tasked with improving the "vibe" of the company I work for, to make it a great place for all who are employed. 

When you have the "vibe" you know it, and when you don't you know that too.  Getting the vibe is hard, keeping it is harder, and losing it is way easier than you think.  And try as you may to describe it and clearly understand the ingredients, that's really hard too. 

Brad's company has the vibe in almost every way.  Brad has played a big part in getting it, keeping it, care and feeding it.  For that, he should be proud. 

I'm attempting to transform my team, help them get it.  And once they do it can be very contagious.  Anyone who gets a taste of vibe that aligns to their personal desires and interests is hooked, it is one of the most compelling loyalty creators.  People will continue to persevere and work with your company because it has it ... the vibe.  Retention, engagement, morale, culture.  These are all words we use when we attempt to describe a work environment in a positive way. 

But the vibe isn't universal.  Some people want certain vibe and others want something else entirely.  But there are common elements of all VIBE. 

How would each of us describe the vibe that appeals most to us, professionally?  A comparison and contrast of those qualities would be interesting. 

Here's my initial list:

• Meaningful impact 
• Respectful candor, authentic
• High performing
• Empowering
• Collaborative
• Positive
• Global

What are yours?

Ed on Grandma, and the Circle of Life

You both were very eloquent about Grandma Strempke and since I can't say it any better than either of you I won't even try.  But she was a great woman, incredible in so many ways.  We are all so blessed to have had Grandmas for as long as we have, and to be so close to them and them to us. 

The circle of life is more visible to me than ever.  Everyone (including myself) is getting older.  As the saying goes "getting old is better than the alternative" but aging is best served gracefully and with sound mind, body and soul.  I hope that I can live almost all of my life with all my faculties, good mind and good health.  And then I want it to all go caput at the same time - after a long and fruitful life leaving the world better than it was.  The way Grandma Strempke did. 

I suspect everyone else wants the same.  God Bless You Grandma.  I have so much to thank you for in my life. 

Ed

Vibe

I’ve been fortunate as each of us have to be able to travel extensively both professionally and personally. We’ve attempted to tally the total number of countries to which we have all been and due to Marc’s Navy career and Ed’s professional global reach the number and diversity is pretty impressive.

Travel is great for many reasons but two experiences recently have clarified for me one of the appealing aspects of going to other cities. The vibe. I realize that sounds really surfer-dudesque so allow me the opportunity to explain.

In talking with Ed last week, he had just made his first visit to Cleveland. He was excited to report that it was an unexpectedly nice city. When I asked why he liked it he was able to point out some items like nice people, cool restaurants but was fuzzy on other details. It is the other details, which you can feel when you are in a place but are hard to describe, that is the city’s vibe.

The second example was going for a run late last Sunday night in Iowa City. The students are filtering back into our community and there is this big pulse of energy in our city. It is nervousness, excitement and confusion all rolled into one big power plant of energy. This is Iowa City’s vibe. As much as many community members like to complain about the students I think it is pretty awesome to have the energy and vibe that comes along with classes starting this fall.

The problem with vibe, or perhaps better stated the problem with many of us, is that we don’t pay attention. We scurry through a new place with headphones on, PDAs blinking and buzzing, and don’t soak in the energy and vibe of the new place. We only go from the airport to the hotel to the meeting place and don’t wander with no destination to feel what the new place is trying to tell us. It truly is a missed opportunity and a great lesson for all of us seasoned travelers.

The best vibe: San Francisco and New York City. San Fran has this really intimate neighborhood feel. Decidedly California but not the entrapments of SoCal. I love San Francisco. New York City, the energy is crazy in that place. It is like a 24-hour a day can of Redbull.

What do you do to feel the vibe of a city? Do you take advantage of your travels? I’ve got a busy Fall that will take me to many familiar and new places, I’m looking forward to paying attention.

Grandma

Brad, excellent post.  No doubt she was a great woman.  The world that she left was so different from the one that she came into.  She saw an awful lot in her lifetime!

It's amazing to me that she lived in her own home until she was 99 years old.  Yes, Dad checked on her a couple of times a day and she had lots of help.  But she still worked around the house, pulled weeds in the flower bed, cooked, baked...  I hope that I still have that kind of life at 79, let alone 99.

I mentioned to someone on her funeral weekend that I don't recall her ever speaking a cross word to me.  I'm sure when we were young kids she probably did, because little kids need some parenting, even from the grandparents.  But I honestly cannot remember her or Grandpa John ever speaking crossly to us.  They were always nice to us.  They loved to make us smile, and they were good at it.

I will always remember Grandma's speeches about saving things.  As you mentioned, she was a child of the depression, and to the very end she was convinced that we'll all have to live through another depression.  Maybe she was right.  It's just one of the things I'll remember about her.

I'll also remember sitting in the window on the North side of the house watching for their van on Christmas morning.  We weren't allowed downstairs until they arrived, so we anxiously awaited their arrival.  We were lucky to have them as a part of every Christmas that we ever experienced at home.

In the end, I was amazed by her faith.  She prayed every day to the very end, listened to her pastor preach every single week, and read her bible faithfully.  It's comforting to know that she is now enjoying the fruits of her great faith.

As yet another indication that perhaps I am an adopted child and not a Baldwin by blood, I am perhaps the only person that never really enjoyed her signature item: the apple pie.  It was always too mushy for me, and I prefer my apple pie chunky and crisp.  That's sacrilege I know.  But for me, one of the best things about Grandma is how she always was happy to accommodate everyone's wishes... there were always cookies available for me!  :-)

Rest in peace Grandma... we will always love you and remember you fondly.  The dozens and dozens of family at your funeral is a testament to the impact that you had on all of us.

Grandma Strempke

We recently lost our Grandma Strempke after 99 incredible years with us. She had been on the decline so her passing wasn't completely unexpected. Unsure of how to manage my feelings about her passing, I sat down 2 days after she died and wrote this. I think it is accurate on the whole, although some details may be amiss.

I've been thinking about what to do with it, the purpose of me writing it, should I share it at all. I still don't have the best answer other than hopefully posting it on the blog can be a way of sharing how much Grandma meant to me and encouraging others to think about her life.

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My Grandma was a pretty amazing woman. She has seen a lot in her 99 plus years. She lived through the Great Depression which shaped the rest of her life. She raised a family with little and created generations of so much. So many things changed. Society grew up and evolved. Grandma didn't. She was who she was, and that was a pretty special lady.

It take a good bit of stubbornness to live through the age of cars in the US and never get her drivers license. That stubbornness served her well as it has her children, grandchildren, and beyond.

She made amazing apple pie. Everybody thinks their Grandma's apple pie is the best, but my Grandma DID without a doubt make the best. I grew up on my Grandma's apple pie and I've been trying to find one that matched it for 2 decades without success.

She was married 25 years...twice. Most people can't say that one time! I never knew my biological Grandpa, but Grandpa John was Grandpa to me. They loved each other dearly, and they raised me in many ways when I was a young child.

But father time catches us all, and as amazing as Grandma Strempke was, she was no exception. It seems like yesterday Dad caught her painting her house on a sweltering July afternoon. Normally that wouldn't be a problem except she was on a ladder and well past her 80th birthday. Dad worried that she would outlive her ramshackle house, and she darn near proved his fear was right. When her vision and hearing began to abandon her, she once again proved that she was wise beyond her age, asking to go to a nursing home. She feared burdening her family, but as her faculties abandoned her, she still had her family, her children. She had all she needed.

My Grandma was an absolutely amazing woman. I am so happy that she has joined her Father in heaven. As she lived faithfully in God's image on earth, so she shall rest in peace in Heaven. I love you Grandma.