another front yard!
Campsite #D187 - Chatfield State Park
Deb explores the South Platte River by kayak. Ken explores it by bike!
It's hard to beat a 74 degree weekend in November!
It's hard to beat a 74 degree weekend in November!
"con-sult-ant": Somebody who has skills but who is unemployed.
[Ken 11/06/2015] Last week, somebody asked what my favorite memory of Lewan Technology would be. As I quickly reflected on the question, I realized that there are a lot of great memories (CONCLUSION: GREAT COMPANY = GREAT MEMORIES). Yesterday, I was asked a similar question in my finale staff meeting with my leadership team colleagues. Though on this occasion I gave my answer considerable more time to form, it was still the same answer.
I had always liked a motto the company adopted in the early 1980's: "People, Products, and Pride" is the way it went. In a general sense, this simple, three-word motto frames my "favorite" memories.
[Ken 11/06/2015] Last week, somebody asked what my favorite memory of Lewan Technology would be. As I quickly reflected on the question, I realized that there are a lot of great memories (CONCLUSION: GREAT COMPANY = GREAT MEMORIES). Yesterday, I was asked a similar question in my finale staff meeting with my leadership team colleagues. Though on this occasion I gave my answer considerable more time to form, it was still the same answer.
I had always liked a motto the company adopted in the early 1980's: "People, Products, and Pride" is the way it went. In a general sense, this simple, three-word motto frames my "favorite" memories.
People: I have always been a learner. In a popular strength-indicator assessment, "Learner" was identified as my greatest strength. The extensive list of memories with colleagues center around the times where co-workers had taken the time to invest in me, or the times where I was most privileged to have invested in them. Lewan is a Company that is very careful to hire only the best people, and there are far too many of them to name. Great people learn from one another; we learned a lot from one another at Lewan.
The strongest individual memories are rooted in relationships that were developed on a much deeper basis than at purely a "business level." People are designed to be much more than corporate colleagues with fancy titles and name plates; we are intended to have interdependent relationships and be deeply needy people who seek and covet time in like-minded friendships. We are intended to readily desire to take time to listen in order to help and encourage one another. This is by design. There is a lot of this at Lewan.
Products: Lewan was founded on electro-mechanical adding machine sales. Soon after, I joined the team and was selling hammer-type typewriters and large desktop paper-tape calculators. They were the "Cat's Meow," back then! The fantasy that there could ever be a cordless, handheld calculator, or a device that did not use a hammer to hit an ink ribbon in order to place an image on a piece of paper was reserved for Jules Verne. But then along came the Texas Instruments SR10 digital calculator and the IBM Selectric typewriter. Lewan navigated the migration from typewriter to Word Processor to PC and was quite successful in selling all of them. There were personal dictation devices that used small open-reel recording tape, and then cassette tapes ... then Code-A-Phone answering machines, and eventually technology that was branded "VoIP" and various cellular solutions. I remember selling the Osborne "portable" computer -- it was too large and heavy to be considered carry-on luggage by today's standard. Today, Lewan is recognized as the regional monster for all things "Office Technology" from all forms of imaging solutions to VoIP telephones to data storage and network infrastructure. What an exciting time it had been for me to witness so many exciting technological advancements in my time with Lewan!
The strongest individual memories are rooted in relationships that were developed on a much deeper basis than at purely a "business level." People are designed to be much more than corporate colleagues with fancy titles and name plates; we are intended to have interdependent relationships and be deeply needy people who seek and covet time in like-minded friendships. We are intended to readily desire to take time to listen in order to help and encourage one another. This is by design. There is a lot of this at Lewan.
Products: Lewan was founded on electro-mechanical adding machine sales. Soon after, I joined the team and was selling hammer-type typewriters and large desktop paper-tape calculators. They were the "Cat's Meow," back then! The fantasy that there could ever be a cordless, handheld calculator, or a device that did not use a hammer to hit an ink ribbon in order to place an image on a piece of paper was reserved for Jules Verne. But then along came the Texas Instruments SR10 digital calculator and the IBM Selectric typewriter. Lewan navigated the migration from typewriter to Word Processor to PC and was quite successful in selling all of them. There were personal dictation devices that used small open-reel recording tape, and then cassette tapes ... then Code-A-Phone answering machines, and eventually technology that was branded "VoIP" and various cellular solutions. I remember selling the Osborne "portable" computer -- it was too large and heavy to be considered carry-on luggage by today's standard. Today, Lewan is recognized as the regional monster for all things "Office Technology" from all forms of imaging solutions to VoIP telephones to data storage and network infrastructure. What an exciting time it had been for me to witness so many exciting technological advancements in my time with Lewan!
Pride: Lewan is a Company of high ethics. A hallmark of its employees is their collective integrity. I cannot count the times when "Lewan" chose to do the right thing to help a customer or an employee, even if it came at great expense. Doing the right thing is central to their Value System, and the Company is tacitly proud of that. There is nothing more important than treating others with respect, inside and outside the Company, whether there was a business deal in the cross-hairs, or not. "Others" always came first at Lewan; to that end you were encouraged to guide and encourage, speak the truth, and to focus on mindful navigation of conflict and tension. When your personal value system aligns perfectly with the Company's value system, it creates a comfortable, harmonious, and personally rewarding experience.
My heart will forever be with Lewan -- I have learned much, many thanks to this team. As I have been considerably fulfilled by Lewan, I believe there are ways that I have similarly fulfilled Lewan. Being a business leader is not easy. Colleagues and Customers look to you for substantive solutions, trust, and decisive confidence on a daily basis. While the company and its employees are energized by the day's many challenges, even if the challenge is a reversal of yesterday's challenge, the business is as stressful and exhausting as it is rewarding.
So why am I leaving such a personally rewarding experience? For more than thirty-five years I have run with the best in the technology business; the industry moves quickly and leadership must respond. The cadence is invigorating and fun. Stress is inherent in almost any career culture these days; the challenge we each must accept is how to manage it. Perhaps you have been asked about your own particular "Work-Life Balance?" Perhaps, like me, you are not proud of how well you are managing your stress or maintaining your "balance...."
There is a Greater Opportunity -- a greater place to apply my unspent youthfulness that remains inside. The Book of James illustrates beautifully that we work because we have Faith, not because we are seeking faith. It's time to tweak my Work-Life Balance. My wife, Deb, feels similarly. An imbalance on our Work-Life "scale" has been gnawing at us -- even to the point that it had affected our relationship and begun to affect our health. We have been looking for a way to heal and to give back -- and to spend more time together in the process. No matter whether you call it "retirement" or a "career adjustment," it is the next step for us in getting our Work-Life Balance ... in balance!
Winston Churchill admonishes that, "We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give." We are still driven, capable, and young at heart (if you don't believe us, just ask us, and we will tell you!). There are still meaningful ways in which we can make contributions to help and serve the Kingdom. It is a giant commitment to leave established careers to start new ones as full-time volunteers, but it "...dots all of the i's and crosses all of the t's..." in resolving our work-life imbalance. Don't be judgmental -- we are doing exactly what you are going to do later -- volunteering is at the core of being human.
While I leave Lewan with a bit of guilt and at such a critical time, Jim Arnold, my CEO for a wonderful period of personal growth, taught me that when you do the right thing, the Right Things will happen. <Thanks, Jim!>
So why am I leaving such a personally rewarding experience? For more than thirty-five years I have run with the best in the technology business; the industry moves quickly and leadership must respond. The cadence is invigorating and fun. Stress is inherent in almost any career culture these days; the challenge we each must accept is how to manage it. Perhaps you have been asked about your own particular "Work-Life Balance?" Perhaps, like me, you are not proud of how well you are managing your stress or maintaining your "balance...."
There is a Greater Opportunity -- a greater place to apply my unspent youthfulness that remains inside. The Book of James illustrates beautifully that we work because we have Faith, not because we are seeking faith. It's time to tweak my Work-Life Balance. My wife, Deb, feels similarly. An imbalance on our Work-Life "scale" has been gnawing at us -- even to the point that it had affected our relationship and begun to affect our health. We have been looking for a way to heal and to give back -- and to spend more time together in the process. No matter whether you call it "retirement" or a "career adjustment," it is the next step for us in getting our Work-Life Balance ... in balance!
Winston Churchill admonishes that, "We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give." We are still driven, capable, and young at heart (if you don't believe us, just ask us, and we will tell you!). There are still meaningful ways in which we can make contributions to help and serve the Kingdom. It is a giant commitment to leave established careers to start new ones as full-time volunteers, but it "...dots all of the i's and crosses all of the t's..." in resolving our work-life imbalance. Don't be judgmental -- we are doing exactly what you are going to do later -- volunteering is at the core of being human.
While I leave Lewan with a bit of guilt and at such a critical time, Jim Arnold, my CEO for a wonderful period of personal growth, taught me that when you do the right thing, the Right Things will happen. <Thanks, Jim!>
another front yard!
[Ken 11/14/2015] This is a very nice little park. It is about half mobile homes, and about half RV pads. It is very clean and even still has running water this late in the year. Deb found this gem right in the heart of Denver. It is about as close as we could get to our soon-to-be-born granddaughter and still stay in Faith.
This is the first time that we have had a site with a mail box and a lit walkway to our front door. And the mailbox even has mail! WooHoo!
We are in Site "P" at the South Park Mobile Home and RV Community in Sheridan, Colorado. This will be our home base until we head off for Texas the first week of December.
This is the first time that we have had a site with a mail box and a lit walkway to our front door. And the mailbox even has mail! WooHoo!
We are in Site "P" at the South Park Mobile Home and RV Community in Sheridan, Colorado. This will be our home base until we head off for Texas the first week of December.
changing seasons
[Ken and Deb 11/17/2015] While waiting [patiently] for our first grand baby, we have managed to fill our last few weeks in Colorado by taking care of last-minute medical issues and getting caught up on dental (Ken finally had his wisdom teeth taken out) and optometrist visits, doctors, immunizations, RX updates, and on and on.... Deb has been laid up with her foot [still] healing from her surgery, but has been able to do some baking (she wants to figure out how to bake bread), sewing, and paper crafting. She had some long overdue one-on-one time with Chris at the Cheesecake Factory -- way too many calories for someone just sitting around! Ken admits that he is [patiently] bored, but has kept active by running, walking, biking, and kayaking. We had our first measurable snowfall of the season last night, so today will be a day to [patiently] hunker-down INside the warm and cozy motorhome as we work a puzzle and sit by the phone [patiently] awaiting THE call from Mallory and Devin.
