A friend started a conversation over on Google+ about standardized testing in education. What prompted her to do so was a Washington Post Local blog post about when an adult took the standardized tests and failed miserably. Her point is that nobody should be surprised at this – on several fronts. To me, the most important of the four points she delineated was that “Teaching methods have changed dramatically in the last decades, and it’s entirely possible he [the adult who took the test] was NEVER previously exposed to questions such as those on this test.”

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I’ll show you a DEAD Neanderthal. Our brains are evolving quickly and not quickly enough. We no longer have to worry about deciding quickly between saber-toothed tiger and hunger or choose between the “four F’s” (Flight, Fight, Food and, uh . . . Mate). But our brains are still more comfortable deciding quickly and with having certainty rather than uncertainty. And therein lies a challenge for all of us.

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I’ve posted several times on the Fundamental Organizing Principles (FOPs), values and how we develop a personal and corporate culture around them. I also suggested that we need to try and discover where we are in relationship to the corporate culture and “mind the gap,” so to speak. Well, I got called out on this one!

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Regardless of how I try, I cannot avoid making those New Year “commitments” to myself; even if I don’t voice them out loud. I try to convince myself that I don’t really care about all this year end craziness and a New Year is no big deal. It seems like I’m not successful avoiding the whole thing after all.

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I’ve been in the Nashville, TN area since the 29th and leaving for home tomorrow the 9th. The trip is centered around visiting with my father and attempting to square away some “elder-care issues” to help my sister who normally handles that work. While I’m the oldest of the four children, Debbi is the oldest daughter and when Mom died Dad moved from Florida to Tennessee to be closer to Debbi. That was a very smart move on his part and my sister is delighted (most of the time) to be able to help him. This trip has put some things in perspective and while I’m sure many of you have already been through this process, I’ll share anyway and perhaps it will be useful for some who have not yet gone through the elder-care process. And, as is my want, I will stretch things to find a few analogies about leadership from my observations. So here’s some “lessons learned” from this trip.

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WARNING: Geek-speak is about to happen in this blog and it’s not really about leadership (at least not directly). I think this is more about catharsis than it is about anything else, yet some of you may be amused by the trials and tribulations of a died-in-the-wool technologist, suffering at the hands of technology.

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Depending on your point of view, we in the USA are either cruelly over taxed or don’t pay our fair share of Federal Taxes. The TEA (Taxed Enough Already) Party crew thinks we are over taxed. I like to make sure I take advantage of all the tax breaks I can find, but in the end, I’m grateful for the fact that we earn enough income to have to pay taxes. My spouse and I also expressed liking to actually sign the checks to pay our bills. No on-line checking for us. How crazy is that?

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The “habit” developed from my early years working at large corporations. They shut down the whole week between December 25th and January 2nd. One reason was that maintenance had to be performed on the manufacturing machines. Another reason was that customers were shut down for factory maintenance. It was a great week even if I had to go into work, because almost no one else was there. Peace. Quiet. Concentration. A wonderful chance to reflect on the year past and the year to come.

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