One of my friends posted:

I just went to a Starbucks and all ten tables were taken up by single people with laptops. Wow. What happened to sitting and enjoying your coffee with a friend like we used to do?

I thought about it and was about to pass judgement on the people at the Starbucks, sitting around, not socializing.

And then I realized I was guilty of the exact same thing (just without the Frappuccino).

It’s not cool.

So my challenge–especially for those of you that are now down with finals and enjoy a period of time in your academic life known as “Winter Break”…

log out of your social media
turn off the computer
let Words with Friends take a breather
turn off the cell phone

and get social again.

Visit with someone. Make some eye contact with them and not with your personal media device.

I’m going to try this too (I’ll be sending a direct link of this article to my fiancée so she can call me on my hypocrisy if she witnesses it).

Enjoy the presence of others in the coming weeks : )

The reds.
The yellows.
The oranges.

The fall leaves. Simply incredible.

In a few short weeks, the trees will be bare, but before the leaves depart they give one more huge bold demonstration of their brilliance. It’s incredible.

In a few short weeks, many of us will be taking out “winter breaks.” Right now, many of you are resting and recovering from extravagant Homecomings or your big fall leadership conference, but what if we didn’t stop right now?

What if we took a page from the fall leaves’ playbook and produce our very best right now? Instead of simply shrinking away as we head towards December, what if we charged forward, boldly and beautifully?

Could we catch the eye of people in our campus and community?

Could we make them look at life again with a bit of awe?

I think we can.

I know we can.

So let’s do it.

It struck me as odd.

I get that doors break. I get that caution signs and warnings are necessary.

I don’t understand why the airport had a professionally made sign describe the broken door.

Wouldn’t it have just been easier to fix the door? If the door is such a problem that a simple fix doesn’t work, doesn’t that speak more about the design of that space?

I could go on and on, but basically, the whole sign struck me as something pretty ridiculous.

Popular blogger and author, Seth Godin, did a great speech a few years ago which I’ve previously mentioned called “This is Broken.”

It’s time that we look at the broken things in our world and FIX them.

I’ve noticed that we’ve become a lot more like “dead Henry” as we complain about problems and our lack of tools, but do little to fix them.

I’m guilty of this as well, but being helpless is no way to lead.

Solutions are there.

Solutions that are better than slapping a sign on a door.

It’s time for us to implement them.

Don’t just complain about the bucket.

Don’t just put on a sign on the door.

“Fix it.”

My girlfriend and I brought the bulk on the supplies: two big bunches of firewood, matches,  plates, utensils, cups, sausages, buns, condiments, lemonade, roasting forks, marshmallows, chocolate, graham crackers, trash bags, a frisbee, sweatshirts and blankets, sautéed onions, sautéed peppers, water, a flashlight, beach chairs, etc., etc., etc…

So it was a lot of stuff.

The walk from the car to the fire pit was tough. I had already loaded up a large backpack with many supplies, and still had a few other bags tangling on my sides. I lifted a bunch of firewood up to each shoulder and marched down the beach.

Needless to say, I was quite winded when we finally arrived, but the view was simply too gorgeous.

After taking a few minutes to set up our chairs and do a little organization, my girlfriend and I played frisbee for a few moments while we waited for others to arrive. They brought a few side dishes to share, adding to our food bounty. We laughed at each other’s poor frisbee attempts, pausing every few moments to look at the incredible sunset taking place before us.

Soon, I got busy starting the fire. It became evident, in comparing with those around us, that we didn’t exactly have a “bonfire” as much as we had a nice “campfire.” Our flames lacked the abundance and height of the surrounding pits, but still provided just enough warmth for the nice San Diego October breeze. The lower flames also allowed some better cooking and we quickly got to work with the sausages. Soon, we all just sat around the fire, eating some good food, and telling fun stories.

By the time we began making S’Mores, we had all already commented on how much fun  we were each having. It was my girlfriend’s first beach bonfire, and we actually learned that was true for a few more attendees. I ended up making the first S’More that one of her friends had ever tasted.

About 3 hours after we first arrived, the flames started to finally die down, and we began to pack up our things. We all agreed we needed to do this again–it was simply too much fun to make it a one time occurrence. Packing up was much easier. Even though we still had quite a bit of food left over, my backpack was significantly lighter. The firewood died down to simple ash left in the pit, and our full garbage bag found its way to the nearby beach garbage can.

We came in with many supplies, but we left with lighter bags.

Still, I think we each gained a great deal in the experience.

As we drove away from the beach, it occurred to me that for many of us–this is the purpose of this year in our leadership positions. We need to bring in our best, march to a destination, and provide a great experience for our community. When our term is done, we need to clean up after ourselves, laying the foundation for the next group of leaders to take it to the next level. If we’ve done our jobs right, we’ll positively impact those around us, and we may even gain a great experience for ourselves in the process.

Enjoy this leadership journey that your on. The memories can be pretty awesome : )

You see, I’m a loser.

Yes, I have the nice biography page on this website, but let’s share the other points of my biography.

In elementary school, I ran for student council president. I lost the election to the girl who was originally going to help me with my campaign.

In middle school, I helped a friend run for student council election. He lost.

The following year, I ran for student council election. It was the closest election in the school’s history triggering 3 runoff elections between the two finalists (the school required 51% of the vote rather than 50%+1). On the third and final recall, I lost the election by a total of 19 votes out of 800.

I ran for freshmen class president. I lost that election.

Then I had my mini-winning streak culminating with my election as the District Governor of the California-Nevada-Hawaii District of Key Club International.

After three and a half years of wins, I experienced my final win when I was elected VP of Publicity for my hall council in college. I then lost the remaining elections for every position in college.

I ran to be Secretary of one of my campus groups. I lost.

The following year, I ran to be president. I lost.

I ran to be Vice President of Activities for the Student Government at ASU. I lost that election.

Yes, I lost almost every election in college.

And yet at graduation, I received the award the Outstanding Male Leader of my graduating class of over 8,000 students.

I’m a loser, but I still had the chance to be a leader.

Leadership isn’t about title or position. It’s about actions and our ability to work with others.

There is nothing wrong with losing.

Just make sure you know the difference between losing and quitting.

At the same time, I really do agree with many of the blogs I read last night about this being more of a stunt than anything real. I don’t believe the bands instruments were stolen. I don’t think that part was necessary to put in the video.

But it’s undeniable Atomic Tom created something pretty cool. Last night, I checked out the video and it had about 300,000 hits on YouTube. Now, about 14 hours later, it has almost a million more hits. It’s now a viral video and this band is getting a lot of recognition.

This March, I wrote about OK Go’s great video for “This Too Shall Pass” and how OK Go adapted to the changing music video scene in the wake of MTV becoming just a reality show network. I think Atomic Tom is doing the same thing. They’ve successfully promoted themselves in a very inexpensive way (well besides the initial sticker shock of an iPhone).

Can we do this? Can we work to create viral campaigns for our own events?

It’s time for us to get creative and reTHINK the way we present.

Last night, my cousins asked if if I wouldn’t mind watching their 7 month old son, Jake, while they went to various even meetings. I was thrilled. Yes, he’s seven months old and yes, there was a heavy bout or two of crying, but when he’s happy, he’s one of the coolest kids ever.

Right before my cousins left, I sat in their backyard on a blanket with Jake. He’s now crawling, and is quite expressive as his little hands touch new textures (grass providing perhaps the funniest reaction).

After a few moments, I took my iPhone out of my pocket just so I could crawl easier. Jake saw it and crawled over to it.

It wasn’t the first iPhone he had ever seen (my cousins are Apple fans like me), but it was fascinating to watch Jake “discover” it. He’d pick it up in a variety of ways. He’d tape the screen or the back side of the case. He’d shake it or touch it against his face. For him, it was an object for him to discover. He’d later do the same thing with his toy drum and his stuffed animal. He was just as fascinated with the iPhone when it was off as when it was on. After a few moments of discovery, he crawled over to a corner of the blanket and played with it, discovery its differences.

I thought about Jake’s reaction to the iPhone in comparison to the people I saw at Disneyland this weekend. I spent two days at “the happiest place on Earth,” and I was blown away by how many people spent the day texting, checking sports scores, playing on facebook, or taking calls. I’m guilty too (I updated my status three times and sent a funny text or two to my siblings), but overall I tried to make a point to not use my phone (really, I recognize I have a bad habit).

And that’s the thing. Our phones have become distractions to our present. People were standing in lines next to friends or family and rather than have conversations, they focused elsewhere. This included eight or nine year olds with phones.

I was blown away by the difference in viewpoint. Young kids would be pushed in strollers captivated by the sites and sounds of Disneyland, a magical place in their eyes, while their parents were busy checking out whether or not their NFL team scored the last touchdown. When did we make this shift? When did we desire to be distracted rather than to discover?

If we make our lives about distraction, we will fail to ever make the discoveries that makes things like the iPhone even possible.

Let’s discover again.

Simple. I wanted substance.

Don’t get me wrong. The musical numbers were entertaining. Heather Morris proved herself to be an incredibly talented member of the cast. I still laughed several times.

But I don’t think it is GLEE at its best. As much as I love the show, it still hasn’t ever captured that magic of the very first episode. There is a reason the GLEE cover of “Don’t Stop Believing” shot to the top of the iTunes charts. There is a reason that so many people shared that first episode. It wasn’t just the singing. It wasn’t just Jane Lynch. It was the heart of the show.

GLEE excels when it lets plot and character dictate music or when music serves plot and character, rather than when the show picks an artist and crowbars the music into the show.

Yes, the Madonna episode was entertaining. Yes, the Lady Gaga episode had its moments (although I still think the duet between Rachel and her mom was one of the strangest mother/daughter song choices in the history of mankind). Yes, even the Britney episode was enjoyable.

But it wasn’t the best GLEE had to offer. The shot for shot video recreations of Spears’ videos were impressive, but they didn’t serve anything other than being a musical number. I didn’t feel like I learned about any character. I don’t feel that any plotline was really advanced. I just enjoyed an hour.

As I spoke to a group of student leaders today, I found myself asking this same question of us as leaders.

Are we just forcing things? Do our actions and activities dictate our values and our character, or do we let our values and character dictate what we do? Are we just copying others and trying to wrap it up in our own packaging, or are we taking an amazing entity and truly making it our own (the way GLEE did with that first Journey cover)?

The sad thing is that people may be entertained either way. Sure, we can continue to do the same thing. Many won’t be affected.

But then I think about friends of mine who started watching GLEE after the Madonna episode. In June, I showed them the pilot and they were blown away.

“I had no idea this show could be this good. This is incredible!”

Why? Because the show had heart, not just pop culture.

Find your heart and let it guide you.

But I must admit I was also a bit disappointed.

Quite simply, it was the lack of garbage can management.

It’s not just with this group. I’ve seen it at tons of leadership conferences all across North America.

The problem? A garbage can is full, there are other empty garbage cans nearby, but rather than walk the 10 feet, students stack up precarious piles of trash until they ultimately fall too the ground. There might be a bin for recycling, but students don’t use it, or they’ll toss garbage into the recycling can.

Several of the current students in my scholarship chapter fell into this trap. As they left for the next activity, I ended up helping out the coordinator of the program clean up some of their mess. Yes, we could have left it for them to do, but we didn’t want the weekend to be about trash cleanup.

I honestly don’t think the students noticed. I honestly don’t think most students who exhibit this behavior really think about what they are doing. I don’t believe they are bad people. I don’t believe this was done in spite. I don’t believe there was any ill intent.

I just don’t think they noticed.

And that’s where I have trouble with this…

I WANT leaders to notice. I NEED them to notice.

I think we need to live in this world and serve in this world as if we are stewards, caring for something entrusted in our care. I strongly believe we need to see how our actions or our lack of action impacts others.

Many would agree that the mess that BP caused in the gulf or the mess caused (at least in part) by Wall Street Executives are indeed “messes” linked in part to a lack of consideration for others or the impact of decisions on others.

We look at these big picture examples and we paint pictures of villains…

…but do we ever look at ourselves in the mirror to see how we’re doing?

Sure garbage cans aren’t life or death. In all honesty, I probably made the same mistakes when I was a student. I may even make the same mistakes today (after all this is a problem of people not noticing), but still, I think we can attempt to hold ourselves to a higher standard.

I think we can attempt to be more aware.

I think we can attempt to be more proactive.

I think we can attempt to hold our friends to a higher standard as well.

Every now and then, a student catches my eye as an incredible steward. They aren’t the loudest person during the cheer. They don’t always have the best spirit gear, but I see them, working quietly behind the scenes. They are the ones who take the initial and begin a recycling bin when one isn’t already present, or pull out recycling from garbage cans, or stay later in the gym to pick up after the mess made from a huge rally. They don’t get a lot of recognition, but there they are..

serving…

just like the Boy Scouts told us to…

leaving the world better than the way they found it.

Can you?