Mark's widow, his daughter, son-in-law, grandson and many friends were at church tonight. This was not announced publicly. In fact, I didn't know the mass was for Mark until I read the Prayer of the Faithful before mass. I was training two young people to be lectors at our mass so we went through the call to worship, the two readings, the Prayer of the Faithful and the announcements. Its fitting that I found out the mass tonight was offered for Mark while I was preparing young people for service in the church.
It also dovetails nicely with some other items from my recent efforts. Last week at CONSTRUCT, I gave a presentation on being a Buddy, Coach and Mentor at work or in our professional organizations. My major theme is that in our work and volunteer activities, we need buddies to make things fun, coaches to help us be better at our current jobs and mentors to help us across our careers.
I noticed that many of the presentations I attended at CONSTRUCT mentioned mentorship and service to others. In one on developing the next generation of specifiers, the notions of coaching and mentoring specifiers was particularly acute.
CONSTRUCT also featured the Young Professionals program with I hope grows into an annual event. Chaired by my good friend, Cherise Lakeside, a group of young professionals spent Wednesday learning about various topics and then toured the Hager facility in St Louis. I spent some time Wednesday morning with the group talking about how to network at CONSTRUCT and then in a speed mentoring session. It was a great event and I think the young professionals found it beneficial.
I've also doing some work thinking and writing about what I enjoy the most about my volunteer activities. In the past, I coached soccer, but now I focus on scouting and working in my church. I'm a member of my son's boy scout troop committee and assist the troop and my other son's cub scout pack in myriad ways. In our parish, I help with confirmation and organizing young people to lector at our 5:30P mass which also features a contemporary music group and progressive message.
In my work activities, I try to focus on creating the next generation of architects and firm leaders by spending time with our staff making them better at their jobs and helping mentor them for the future that is coming.
I do a lot of reading about leadership. I follow many people on Twitter who tweet about leadership. These themes of mentorship and service to others are reoccurring in my reading and in my life. I think this is what Mark wanted for me and for all of us: service others, work in your faith, but have a ball doing it! You do that every day and you'll have a rich and rewarding life.
I noticed that many of the presentations I attended at CONSTRUCT mentioned mentorship and service to others. In one on developing the next generation of specifiers, the notions of coaching and mentoring specifiers was particularly acute.
CONSTRUCT also featured the Young Professionals program with I hope grows into an annual event. Chaired by my good friend, Cherise Lakeside, a group of young professionals spent Wednesday learning about various topics and then toured the Hager facility in St Louis. I spent some time Wednesday morning with the group talking about how to network at CONSTRUCT and then in a speed mentoring session. It was a great event and I think the young professionals found it beneficial.
I've also doing some work thinking and writing about what I enjoy the most about my volunteer activities. In the past, I coached soccer, but now I focus on scouting and working in my church. I'm a member of my son's boy scout troop committee and assist the troop and my other son's cub scout pack in myriad ways. In our parish, I help with confirmation and organizing young people to lector at our 5:30P mass which also features a contemporary music group and progressive message.
In my work activities, I try to focus on creating the next generation of architects and firm leaders by spending time with our staff making them better at their jobs and helping mentor them for the future that is coming.
I do a lot of reading about leadership. I follow many people on Twitter who tweet about leadership. These themes of mentorship and service to others are reoccurring in my reading and in my life. I think this is what Mark wanted for me and for all of us: service others, work in your faith, but have a ball doing it! You do that every day and you'll have a rich and rewarding life.
