Monthly Archives: August 2014

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Birth of My Sunflower, Marlee Rose

On 9:15a.m the nurse practitioner exclaimed, “Your water broke! You need to go to the hospital RIGHT NOW.”

My water broke? What? How did I not notice that? And OH MY GOD Josh was hundreds of miles away in Pennsylvania. My mind started to calculate. How long would it take him to get to me? Was there a chance Marlee would arrive without him? Would I deliver ALONE?

(Despite popular belief, water breaking is not always a dramatic gush of liquid that cannot be mistaken for something else.)

I called Josh and burst into tears. “Marlee is coming. I am going to the hospital.” I sensed his smile. He was excited. I was terrified.

He calmly talked to me then hung up. All eyes were on him as he shared, “my wife is having our baby.” His customer quickly jumped up to end the meeting. Josh assured him that he had time to finish the meeting and get to the airport for the next flight. A bold move – his team closed the deal on the spot.

Meanwhile I called my dad. “Dad, go to my house. Pick up my bag. Meet me at the hospital.”

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4 actions of a memorable manager

Everyone has that manager.

The one you’d follow from company to company.

The one that challenges you in ways you didn’t expect.

The one that teaches you things you didn’t know you needed to learn.

The manager that inspires you to become a manager.

Early in my career the manager that inspired me to become a manager – the person that made me think, “when I become a manager I want to be like him” – was Brian Grundei.

Maybe the things he imparted to me are taught in text books and management courses. Or maybe they were uniquely Brian. All I know is they made an impact on me and I pay it forward to my team today.

Brian taught me 4 things that are forever imprinted in my mind. (Note: these are not the ONLY things that make a great manager. These are the things that made Brian a particularly fantastic manager.)

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