Bryan Strawser

One of my greatest fears as a leader has been how to maintain the edge – how do I keep pushing the envelope with my team?  How I do keep my team engaged and improving our results?  How do I keep from getting complacent.

I used to read Fast Company as a great source for “edgy” material – Tom Peters’s books did the same for me – so did talking with other great leaders at my company (and elsewhere). 

I picked up a copy of Fast Company at Logan Airport today and found basically the same fluff that I found in Business Week, Fortune, and elsewhere.  It simply wasn’t interesting.

What are you doing to keep the edge?  I’d love to hear your story.

Heading to Minneapolis on Northwest out of Boston for two days, then off to Baltimore for another two days of meetings.. and then home to Boston via Detroit.  Taking most of Friday off for a three day weekend since I’m flying out (and working on Sunday).

The flight has already had some drama, a medical emergency in the back of the plane.  Still not sure what happened, but the middle seat holder in the row directly behind me responded to a call for a physician and then came back to his seat 10-15 minutes later without any word as to what has happened.

Whatever it was – whomever it is – I hope they’re alright…

Yeah, but is anybody really listening to him?  Sure Salon is, but it’s a liberal rag anyways.

Give ’em hell, Al. With a series of fiery speeches, the former vice president recovers his voice, his backbone and his place as the 2004 Democratic front-runner. [Salon.com]

Sometimes I feel like driving up to Beacon Hill and doing the same thing…

Don Park: “He eventually became a Korean Congressman and, during one particular Congress session, he poured a barrel full of pig urine all over the Korean Congress because he was pissed off about all the dirty politics going on.” [Scripting News]

As Security Cameras Sprout, Someone’s Always Watching. The recent arrest of a woman in Indiana who was videotaped beating her daughter has drawn new attention to the presence of electronic eyes across America. By Dean E. Murphy. [New York Times: NYT HomePage]

Elvis Presley – Suspicious Minds

We’re caught in a trap, I can’t walk out
because I love you too much baby

Why can’t you see, what you’re doing to me
When you don’t believe a word I say.

We can’t go on together, with suspicious minds
And we can’t build our dreams, on suspicious minds

So, if an old friend I know, drops by to say hello
Would I still see suspicion in your eyes?

Here we go again, asking where I’ve been
You can’t see these tears are real, I’m crying

We can’t go on together, with suspicious minds
And be can’t build our dreams, on suspicious minds

Oh let our love survive – or dry the tears from your eyes
Let’s don’t let a good thing die
When honey, you know
I’ve never lied to you
Mmm yeah, yeah

I type on a Dell Latitude CP at the “real job”, a Sony Vaio PCG-R505JL at home, and a Microsoft Natural Keyboard at home on the desktop (programming).  I prefer the Microsoft Natural Keyboard to all of them – feels quite natural, I can type very quickly, and never with any pain.

I do love my Sony though…

Keyboards. Ask talks about keyboards and key remapping. This is really a topic dear to my heart. I’m a unix programmer…. [kasia in a nutshell]