W.I.N. Wednesday: Dinner guests?
I was recently interviewed for the soon to be launched podcast on leadership called The Police Leader Podcast. Roy Bethge, the host, sent me a list of potential questions in advance so I would be able to provide more concise answers and ramble less. One of the questions, which we did not get to during the interview, was, "If you could have dinner with three people (living or dead), who would they be? Great question.
My first thought was my wife Lynda and our two sons Jesse and Cody. I love hanging out with Jesse and Cody and picking their brains on leadership, business, marketing and life. They are very good about making time for dad, but due to their very busy schedules we do not get to hang out as much as I would like.
Then my mind drifted, as it often does. If I was going to have dinner with three people to learn about teaching and coaching who would they be? This list ended up with Lou Holtz, John Wooden and Pete Carroll as the dinner guests. I would sneak John Maxwell in as the moderator as I know he would come prepared with a list of deep questions that would draw out the knowledge, wisdom and insights from all three coaches.
I then began to think that where this was a leadership podcast I should contemplate who would be on the list if I wanted the focus to be leadership. That list ended up with Bill Westfall, Paul Callan and Joseph Campbell. Bill Westfall is a friend, mentor and an amazing leadership trainer. Paul Callan is a retired Marine Corps Colonel who teaches Heroic Leadership and Joseph Campbell is an author who wrote extensively about the hero's journey and is often quoted by Westfall and Callan. I would have Roy Bethge there as the moderator and get him to start the conversation by asking them all their thoughts on heroic leadership and then I just sit back and listen to what would surely be an amazingly insightful conversation.
If the dinner focus was "How to be a better man.", I would have Joe Ehrmann, Tony Dungy and Ron Scheidt. Joe Ehrmann is the author of InsideOut Coaching and I talk about his program 'To Be Better Man' in many of my presentation. Tony Dungy is a former NFL coach, the author of a number of books and an amazing individual and Ron Scheidt is my partner in the am I that man? project.
Every time I make a list I think about two or three more people I should add.
By this point my mind is racing and thinking about a monthly dinner roundtable so I will stop here.
For the dinners focused on coaching, leadership, and being a better man I would have have my son Jesse there as the Sommelier and my son Cody there as the Executive Chef. That way I would get to hang out with them, we would be sure to have great wine and food to accompany the stimulating conversation and they would be able to benefit from the dinner conversation.
What about you? Who would you invite to that dinner? What if you could have a series of dinners each with a different theme what would your themes be and who would you invite?
Share your thoughts in the comments section or send me an e-mail and let me know.
Take care.
Brian Willis
www.lifesmostpowerfulquestion.com
Maximizing human potential through Life's Most Powerful Question - What's Important Now?
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