HMS

I've known Josh Hausen for longer than I've not known Josh Hausen. His family moved to Birmingham from Florida when we were in the fourth grade and we've been hanging out ever since. We went to the same elementary school, high school, and college. I'm not really sure how it happened, but we always seemed to end up in the same places. After we graduated from Samford in 2005, we ended our streak and took jobs with different companies. But, lo and behold a few years later I found myself working with him at A Bryan Photo.

Josh is a pretty awesome guy and recently he decided that he would like to marry his lady friend, Laura, and I couldn't be more excited for them. Laura is one of the coolest girls you'll meet and it's so obvious that they make each other very happy. On Monday Josh took Laura to New York with our good friends, Caleb and Laura, to pop the question. She said yes.

So, of course we were forced to make a video...


Josh is Engaged!!! from A Bryan Photo on Vimeo.

More story and pictures here... Josh is engaged!!!

Books on the floor

I typically try to be a little more original that stealing someone else's blog and posting it on mine. But, Seth Godin's post today is too good to pass up...

The best and the brightest

Here's a piece of (quite) good news:

The smartest and most motivated young people are no longer itching to become investment bankers and lawyers. We're always hearing about a shortage of engineers or nurses--but there never seems to be a shortage of people eager to work 90 hours a week helping to move money from one pile to another.

Applications to work on the Obama team are over 300,000 (up from about 44,000 at this point in the Bush administration). Students are deciding to become fellows at Acumen or to set up innovative small businesses or volunteer their time or bootstrap a music career. Perhaps we're on the verge at getting much better at making useful things, spreading ideas that matter and helping people, and not quite so good at leveraging capital for financial institutions. Imagine what would happen if 5,000 investment bankers or 500 M & A lawyers put their talents to work doing something else...

As I look through all the notes and applications I received for the program I'm running next year, I'm not just optimistic. I'm thrilled. There must be hundreds of thousands of movers and shakers out there, people of all ages who are smart and get things done. And more and more, they're being motivated by the quest, or the outcome, or the people they work with, not just the cash payout. It's exciting beyond words. The ten people I've chosen are just astonishing, each and every one of them.

If you can't find people like these, you're not looking in the right places. And if you can't figure out how to work with them, you're missing out.

Da Bears................. Da Bulls

How to turn the annoying circumstances of daily life in Chicago into great fun...

Negative: The sidewalk is covered in a thick sheet of ice making it nearly impossible to walk without slipping in your nearly treadless dress shoes.

Positive: Find a dry patch of sidewalk to run on and gain speed before jumping on the ice and sliding for 20 or so feet down the street.


It was a lot of fun.

The Hat Book

Got to spend some time with my good friends, David and Jen Blumberg, yesterday and today in Nashville. David is an incredible designer and one of the most creative people I've ever met. Time with him is always good. He also introduced me to a new photographer, Rodney Smith. Not in person, but this guy is quickly becoming my favorite photographer of all time.

Aside from seeing David, I came to Nashville to meet with some event planners and tell the A Bryan Photo story. I met with Rachel Hawkins of Something Blue today and it was incredible. We talked for two hours and I am really impressed with what she's doing and her vision for her company. I wish I could meet a lot more like her.

Headed to Chicago tonight. Staying with Clay Willingham and meeting with more event planners til Friday. If you're in the Chicago area and want to hang out, let me know!

Ning

I am realizing more and more that leadership is not an accident.
It requires effort and practice. A lot of effort and practice.

A good friend of mine reminded me this week of the phrase, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink." For all intents and purposes, it's true. No matter what you do, you can't make decisions for people. But, in some ways it misses the point. The point is to get them to drink. The point is to develop enough trust and relationship that they're willing to follow through on what is best for them.

Challenging people to grow and leading them to change isn't necessarily complicated. At it's core, the biggest thing it requires is compassion. Compassion moves us to see others succeed and reach the potential that they don't even know they have. It's the common trait of the leaders I follow and, is hopefully, what I offer to those who I lead.

For me, the compassion I want to have is derived from Jesus Christ, as I've found no love that compares with his. His authentic zeal for people coupled with intentionality allows us to make a real impact. It allows us to be true agents of change, and we can't help but be drastically changed, ourselves, in the process.