A Pretty Wild Week

I have been a mess all week. We finished finals last week, and I have been anxiously waiting for grades to post. It's funny how things change. When my grades were mediocre I did not care about the Dean's list. But last Spring I made the Dean's list, and repeated over the summer. Suddenly making the Dean's list was a big deal. This was to be the last semester where I would be able to accomplish this, because you need to enroll in 12 or more credit hours, and next Spring I will only carry 8. I was worried that my Communication class was going to sink me, but when grades were posted I found that on 14 credit hours this Fall I posted a 3.85. Not too shabby. Imagine what would happen if I actually studied! Of course Kate is not impressed. She wouldn't be. She was a 4.0 student when she was in school. But for me it's a big deal. 114 credit hours down, 8 to go. There are 133 days until graduation ceremonies. But who's counting?

I am also in the process of training my replacement as I transition out of the admitting job and into my new position. While there are (many) things that I will not miss, there are still quite a few that I will. I was in a leadership development meeting this week with all of the supervisors and managers from the department, and looking around the room I realized that most of them at one time or another worked for me. I either hired them or stole them from other units in the department.

During my five years as a supervisor in this department I hired 11 people who were promoted within the department, and several who were promoted in other areas of the hospital. Of the 12 supervisors currently in our department, seven worked for me, plus one of the managers (don't ask why she was promoted over me, it still stings a little). The newest of my hires to get promoted, Jenni, is my replacement, and will do a fine job.

I realize that the promotions of these individuals has nothing to do with me. All of them are high performers, and reached their stations of their own making. But as I look at the impact I've made, I think that I've done a pretty good job at selecting the right people when hiring. There are still some staff-level employees that I've hired that I would like to see get promoted, and I am sure that it is just a matter of time. Many of those who have worked for me and are now my peers, (Ryan and Coby) I feel are friends above just work relations.

As I take a break from leadership, I reflect on something that I read in Jim Collins' book Good to Great. He talked a lot about good leaders and poor leaders. A good leader will leave a corporation with the hope that the policies and procedures he or she put in place will endure, and that the company will continue to prosper. A poor leader will hope for the failure of the company, so that he or she can point back and ask, "See how much they needed me? See how important I am?" I agree with this. Hopefully I have been a decent leader, and hopefully I have left the Admitting department a little better than I found it. Time will tell, I guess...



I found this on another blog and decided to try it. At first I thought that it was cool that so many things fit so well. But then I thought: Of course they would. The subject of this is a movie about me. It’s fitting that the kinds of songs I choose to listen to would match. But it was still fun. Give it a try and let me know how it goes.
If your life was a movie, what would the soundtrack be?

Here's how it works:
1. open your library (iTunes)
2. put it on shuffle
3. press play
4. for every question, type the song that's playing
5. when you go to a new question, press the next button
6. don't lie
Opening Credits: Pardon Me-Incubus
Waking Up: It’s the end of the World as we know it (and I feel fine)-REM
First Day of High School : Comin’ Down-Meat Puppets
Falling in Love: I Will Buy You a New Life- Everclear
Fight Song: Name is Jonas- Weezer
Breaking Up: 3 Libras- A Perfect Circle
Prom: Nutshell-Alice in Chains
Life: Policy of Truth-Depeche Mode
Mental Breakdown: Fall to Pieces-Velvet Revolver
Driving: Whiskey in the Jar- Metallica
Flashback: Weird Science-Oingo Boingo
Getting Back Together: Runaway Train-Soul Asylum
Wedding: Make a Little Birdhouse in Your Soul- They Might be Giants
Birth of a Child: All the Small Things- Blink 182
Final Battle: Harvester of Sorrow- Metallica
Death Scene: Ghostrider-Rollins Band
Funeral: I Stay Away-Alice in Chains
End Credits: Hell’s Bells-AC/DC