Serendipity

ser·en·dip·i·ty 

1. an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident.
2. good fortune; luck

I just finished giving (yet another) talk. This is one of my favorite talks to give, it’s entitled “How to create Effective Team (without having to herd cats)”. I’ve given it a number of times, inside and outside IBM and to audiences around the world (that’s sounds more impressive that it probably is, but I was invited by several teams in places outside of the US to deliver it). Anyway…..I got to thinking: “How did I come up with this idea ?”

Well, one night after a Library Board meeting, I was talking to our library director about teams and how they can work better. Her eyes lit up and she asked me if I’d speak to the NY Library Association on the topic. So I created the presentation. It went over really well, so I offered to do it at IBM. They loved it, and I gave it twice (once in the US and Once to the Asia Pacific teams). Someone in India heard and asked me to do it (three different times) to teams in India. Just today, I did it again - this time to an audience of about 300 (again worldwide). Serendipity. I just so happened to be talking to Pat one night, and next thing I know, I have a lecture that is getting a lot of mileage ! I love it (wish I could say I planned it)

I think about this a lot. What if I didn’t go to school at Pace University in NY. I wouldn’t have gotten a part-time job at IBM, I wouldn’t have met my wife, I wouldn’t be teaching astronomy, wouldn’t have the dogs, wouldn’t live in this house, who knows about kids….etc etc. I wonder where I’d be and what I’d be doing. Interesting how one decision or one path in life can have such a ripple effect.

I wonder where I would be if had I gone to RIT or Georgia Tech ??