Entries by Wayne Schmidt

Brighter Today, Better Tomorrow

This time of year—when color, light, and warmth have faded from the natural world—is the perfect time for us to create our own. And we do! We know the antidote to spirits grown worn and weary. If it momentarily escapes us, we soon rediscover it in the eyes of a child or someone in love. […]

A Way that Works

Originally we were an autocracy—just one man establishing an architectural business. That worked awhile. As the business idea became reality and the firm grew, additional human capital was necessary. Each unit of human potential joining our ranks came with hands, mind, and ideas of their own—a good thing since there was much to do and […]

In Search of Self

Services that trace genealogy or determine one’s ethnicity through DNA are just the latest version of mankind’s enduring quest to know self in larger-than-self context. These are exercises in identification—that transformative step beyond relationship. We each sense that we are more than the singularity who stares back from the mirror. So we look here, there, […]

About Turning 40

Turning forty for a business is different than it is for a person. For one thing, there are no teasing implications that “it’s downhill from here”. More the contrary—if a company weathers all the challenges it will encounter over that length of time, it is probably proving itself multi-generational. That takes us into the province […]

Trusting

These past few months while we were considering the five pillars of trust necessary to lead a team of jet pilots through tight aerobatic routines and how those criteria apply to leadership at large, the nation has been having a larger discussion about leadership. Many citizens do value character, commitment, competence, connection, and communication. They […]

Show Me

We are midway through George Dom’s illumination of the Blue Angels’ leadership model gleaned from his experience as C.O. and flight leader in the 1980s. The world’s best aerobatic team operates on a platform of trust built on five core competencies. These are the determinants for all effective leadership. Could asking questions that reveal these […]

Walking the Talk

George Dom, commanding officer and flight leader of the Blue Angels during the late 1980’s, has never seen levels of trust as low as they are now. The crisis of trust is vividly apparent to someone whose leadership/team experience meant those who inhabited his world personally came to work every day and literally put their […]

Out of the Blue

It’s 2016, so let’s have a happy new year. And in this space over the next several months, let’s chew over how we know and choose good leaders. We will explore from an angelic perspective—Blue Angel, that is. The members of our US Navy’s precision flying team are ‘youngish’. There is nothing abstract about the […]

Led by Grace

It frequently happens at this time of year—this stretch between Thanksgiving and year-end holidays. We are apt to be a few degrees out of our normal routine—auto pilot off—when suddenly, ZING! A moment of grace, instead of passing unnoticed, slips through and hits home. We are fully awake to life in that instant. And somehow, […]

Hey Sport!

All Indianapolis mayoral administrations of recent decades will testify that professional sports are essential to the city’s financial health. The same is true in cities across the nation—and benefits do not end on the bottom line. Sport enterprise pumps money through the community, draws desirable residents, commerce, and industry, and instills vitality in the culture. […]