View of the Week: On Being #Grateful

We are on the eve of a new week throughout the #outsider network as we begin.   It has been an interesting week as we have been reflecting upon the US Election Scene, the Middle East Inferno, The Migrant tragedy in Europe and the evolving future before us.    It is also a week that the Holy Father comes to the United States which we look forward to commenting on throughout the week.

Our team took a moment of pause to reflect to simply say thank you.     The journey has been a labor of love so far as and the thoughts by one of our must reads, +Jonathan Huie , epitomized it ever more:

We can only be said to be truly alive in those moments

when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.

- Thornton Wilder 

Gratitude bestows reverence,

allowing us to encounter everyday epiphanies,

those transcendent moments of awe that change forever

how we experience life and the world.

- John Milton

We are grateful ever more and look forward to the opportunity to serve and hopefully continually live up to St. Junipero Sera's admonition:   Siempre Adelante (always forward).   

 

Notations For the Week-End: On the United States

Image Source: http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/09/18/opinion/crazy-talk-at-the-republican-debate.html?_r=0, retrieved 09/18/2015 

The US elections season is in full force and all have been quite busy.    Our team had decided to withhold daily commentary on it and to provide a monthly "Notation" on it especially as we are witnessing a very busy October with a new Republican Debate before is and the First Democratic Debate as well.    It will be interesting who will be left standing as the Republicans continue their debate.

Our team saw this interesting  asssessment done by the Fortune's Geoff Colvin as he reflected upon the "day after" of the GOP Debate--with a focus on "Performance": 

Daily insights on leaders and leadership By Geoff Colvin

September 17, 2015

If you had just landed from Mars last night at 8 pm EDT, having never heard of the Republican candidates or seen a polling number – if all you had to go on was what you saw in the debate on TV – whom would you have picked as the leaders? You probably would have picked Donald Trump simply because of the attention all the others paid to him, plus the amount of talking he did, which was more than anyone else. And then you likely would have picked Carly Fiorina for her polished, presidential demeanor and command of policy issues, and Jeb Bush, who also talked a lot, spoke well about policy, and pushed back effectively against Trump’s bluster. But I suspect you never would have guessed Ben Carson, who was hesitant, uncertain, and practically invisible in the early going. He got warmed up and asserted himself better as the interminable evening wore on, but he alone refused to attack Trump even when presented with obvious opportunities. And yet in all the polls – in Iowa, New Hampshire, and nationwide – Carson is the only candidate ranking anywhere near Trump in popularity. A conundrum of this race, and a lesson for leaders everywhere, is that the two most successful candidates so far are the loudest one and the quietest one. That fact tells us a few things: -There is no superior leadership style or any definable leadership personality. Style and personality are not what make a leader. -Authenticity always comes through. As different as Trump and Carson are, they’re both real, and voters can sense it. They can also tell instantly, and generally dismiss, who’s delivering rehearsed, focus-group-tested talking points. -Differentiation is key. Marketers will tell you that the most important factors in brand power are differentiation and relevance. Trump and Carson are in many ways at opposite ends of a spectrum, and much of their strength comes from being at the ends, not in the middle. Other observations: Most of the commentary this morning focuses on Fiorina, and rightly so – she performed excellently and will certainly rise in the polls. It remains to be seen whether her record as CEO of Hewlett-Packard will become an issue. She and Trump sniped at each other over this until Chris Christie shut them down by calling their spat “childish” and irrelevant to the voters. He did Fiorina a favor by changing the subject because she was indeed a disastrous CEO. As she now gets more attention, we’ll see if anyone really cares. Christie was hugely improved over the previous debate. But he still isn’t sufficiently differentiated. Bush’s performance was once again a snooze until he went after Trump for bringing Bush’s wife into the debate. Then he became authentic and energized. A continuing problem is that he keeps talking about the importance of optimism, and it falls flat. He might heed some advice often given to writers: Don’t tell me, show me. That is, don’t talk about optimism. Be optimistic. Jeb Bush sent out a fundraising appeal afterwards to "thrwart" conservative attacks.    What was quite an editorial was the one in the New York Times as it provided a factual analysis of the reality check that must occur over the course of the campaign as well.  The Image above depicts the view at hand.       In the meantime, though, the business of governing continues.    The United States Justice Department just settled with GM over the ignition switch debacle.    It also went after VW forcing VW to recall 500,000 cars.    This is just some of the key headlines as the daily affairs of the people continue onward which we look forward to noting and reflecting upon.   This is as  we went to press for this edition of "notations", we were seeing reports of Iran having released some key Al Qaeda figures in exchange for a kidnaped diplomat.     It was also of note how The US-Russia dialogue seems to be gathering pace anew as Russia has made a major commitment to support Bashar Al Assad.     There is also another very interesting event before us:  The arrival of Pope Francis.   It has meant the launch of the biggest domestic security operation in the US.   He is arriving on September 22 and it will be quite an event to be witness to.   It will include declaring the founder of the California Missions, Junipero Serra, A Saint. We wanted to end this edition of "notations" with this from the Clinton Campaign.   It was just funny--we hope all agree:

Notations On Our World (Week-End Edition): On #Canada

There is a major election going on in Canada.   Stephen Harper, the Prime Minister, called for an election and so far is struggling in the polls.    The latest debate was held and the Official Opposition, the NDP,  sent out this update below.  What is also interesting was how they were also relentless in how they have been after the Liberal Leader, Justin Trudeau, who has been leading a resurrection of the former Governing Party in Canada.

This is one interesting election to observe:

If Justin Trudeau is at risk of losing his own seat, how can he possibly defeat Stephen Harper on October 19th? // Eleven points.  According to the polls, that’s how much Justin Trudeau is down by – in his own riding. Papineau, Quebec used to be a safe Liberal seat, but the tides are turning. Despite his high profile as the Liberal Leader, our NDP candidate, Anne Lagacé Dowson, is polling eleven points up on Justin Trudeau. That’s not a coincidence. Anne is an accomplished journalist, working for over 20 years at CBC/Radio-Canada. She is well respected in her community and formerly the head of a non-profit organization dedicated to ending bullying and discrimination. And she knows Tom Mulcair is the only leader with the plan and the experience to bring change to Ottawa. Because if Justin Trudeau is at risk of losing his own seat, how can he possibly defeat Stephen Harper on October 19th? Tom Mulcair is ready to get Canada on track. He proved it last night in the debate, and now it’s up to us to keep this campaign going strong into the final stretch. This is a snapshot of the coverage the NDP Leader received as the election draws near in Canada: