Stories from Kristina + Breanne

  Shared by Kristina Smedley I just got home from a few days in Charleston where three colleagues and myself represented our SoCal Incident and Injury Free (IIF) Persistence Team as one of the Boeing Company’s Chairman Safety Award winners! 1 of about 15 teams awarded throughout the entire company! It was a remarkable celebration, hosted by our CEO and Executive Council! It was truly amazing and was an honor to be recognized and get to mingle with our top company leadership. But the journey to getting there started many years ago… In 2014, Sennad and I moved to sunny southern California, with the beautiful beach just a mile from our townhouse. It was our first big adventure together! We bought our first home – and remodeled it (thanks, Dad!). We got engaged – in Seattle – but while we lived in Huntington Beach. We got married (in Mexico). And I started discovering my passions and potential. I had mentioned to my Director that I was passionate about the work environment and culture ...

  Shared by Kristina Smedley The following parable paints a beautiful picture. If we can master this then we are one step closer to “listening to bring out the other’s brilliance.” THE SOUND OF THE FOREST By W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne Back in the third century A.D., King Ts’ao sent his son, Prince T’ai, to the temple to study under the great master Pan Ku. Because Prince T’ai was to succeed his father as king, Pan Ku was to teach the boy the basics of being a good ruler. When the prince arrived at the temple, the master sent him alone to the Ming-Li Forest. After one year, the prince was to return to the temple to describe the sound of the forest. When Prince T’ai returned, Pan Ku asked the boy to describe all that he could hear. “Master,” replied the prince, “I could hear the cuckoos sing, the leaves rustle, the hummingbird's hum, the crickets chirp, the grass blow, the bees buzz, and the wind whisper and holler.” When the prince had finished, the master told him to go back t...

  Shared by Kristina Smedley Are you one of the flying passengers that the flight attendants probably love because you actually remove your headphones and pay attention to the safety briefing? Or, have you heard it a million times, and like most of us, and don’t even flinch unless they have something seriously entertaining intertwined with the regular, “The lighted walkways will lead you to the exits, etc etc etc.” I usually pay attention and smile at them… I mean, you never know, maybe I’ll get an extra cookie or something!.  But, it was also on a flight a couple of years ago that I had an ah-ha moment, obvious but still ah-ha… I was just starting my servant-leadership concentration classes for my Master’s degree in Organizational Leadership from Gonzaga University (side note… it's seriously THE BEST school and program… let me know if you ever want to chat about it!). In class, we're talking about how the servant leader has the initial inclination to serve first and then choo...

  Shared by Kristina Smedley “I know you HEARD me, but were you actually listening?” Does this sound at all familiar? I’m hoping it does and that I’m not just special to this situation.  But, think back through your life, your work experiences, your education… has anyone ever taught you how to listen? To listen well? Or, have they just checked to ensure your ears are working and that you can physically hear, assuming that means you can listen? Did you know… According to Burley-Allen, a listening researcher and teacher, we spend 40% of the communication process listening but are only 25% effective at listening. Only 25%! And we are formally trained in listening from 0 – .5 years throughout our lives. She also found that we spend about 12 years of formal training on writing but writing is only used 9% of the time as the mode of communication. And I don’t think… WTF, LMK, IDK, TY (I despise that one… can’t we all just say ‘thank you’!), and YW count! Although we likely don’t reme...

  Shared by Kristina Smedley Do you know good people who, in their effort to be caring, are actually enabling bad habits or hindering others? With good intentions, they say, “I was just trying to help.” I believe that “helping” oftentimes isn’t what’s needed. Helping pay an adult child’s bills isn’t going to teach responsibility and money management. Allowing lateness isn’t going to build the skills of accountability and time management that will be needed throughout life. I know you’re thinking… this is obvious. I thought so too. But I learned recently from one of my teammates that “helping to hinder” isn’t always so obvious. Before moving on to a new position, I asked him if there was anything I could do to be a better manager. He responded: “I have actually been wanting to share something. This is sort of uncomfortable, but remember in our team meeting last week when I needed to reach out to upper management to get more information, and you said you would take care of it? Doing ...

  Shared by Kristina Smedley “Force Multipliers…” Polly-Anna, Negative-Nelly, Realist-Rick. (yeah ok, I made that last one up.) There is an enormous benefit to being an optimist. Optimists enter into new territory with high expectations, whereas pessimists tend to keep expectations low to prepare for negative outcomes. Optimists see opportunities when pessimists see roadblocks. I know what you’re thinking… “I’m not an optimist or a pessimist. I’m just a realist. I use facts, data, and past experiences to guide my expectations.” I used to say this too. And my response is… “We get what we expect.” So, if your dream is to create a future just like your past or incrementally better, then embracing that realist demeanor is the way to go. Check in to those facts and data points and make steady improvements on how things used to be and are today. If the dream is to protect against all possible negative outcomes, look for things to go wrong and void them, and reassure the internal dialog o...

  Shared by Kristina Smedley Are you in the camp of “I’ll believe it when I see it” or “I’ll see it when I believe it”? JFK believed we could put a man on the moon. He was right. Henry Ford believed he could mass-produce automobiles. And he did it. Thomas Edison imagined the modern electrical grid. I can’t imagine where we would be without it. Now, Elon Musk believes we can colonize Mars. Musk and Jeff Bezos envision future space travel to be like today’s commercial airplane travel. They are true visionaries. They have moonshot ambition and ideas. They believe that they’ll “see it when they believe it”. Breanne and I feel very much the same way. Not about traveling to space and colonizing planets – yikes! But that if we can imagine it, believe in it and ourselves, and work hard, then one day we’ll be able to see it. So… what’s “it”? ************************ Our vision is to build a Mindfluent™ Leadership movement! To unite a community of impactful leaders who are empowered and able...

  Shared by Breanne Smedley “I will end school violence…” I know what you are thinking. Because I’m thinking it myself! How can you make such a claim? That’s a bold statement! That’s too complicated of an issue for you to take on. I recently read: “99% of people in the world are convinced they are incapable of achieving great things, so they aim for the mediocre. The competition is thus fiercest for realistic goals.” So, you (and I) are right. Claiming that I’m capable of ending school violence, bullying, and victimization of students at school is bold, complicated, and seems impossible. But I’m changing my mindset, and I don’t want to convince myself that the work I’m doing can’t achieve great things. Important things. Life-altering things. Ok, but how? Mindfluness. Emotional Intelligence. Service. Developing and empowering Mindfluent™ leaders in our schools, who will ultimately influence their families, our communities, and our world. Step One: It starts with me and my ...

  Shared by Kristina Smedley Just a few years ago, I was so excited to start a new job and go on my first international business trip. I could just imagine it… Business-class flights with lay down seats and tasty meals. Business suits and rolling suitcases. Important meetings in fancy conference rooms with tasty little treats. Exploring old, fantastic European cities. Fascinating people with cool accents and intriguing life stories and traditions. But, let’s be real. It’s more like… Overnight flights with barely any sleep. Suits and rolling suitcases because we’ll have to walk so far into the customer’s offices that we  need  a rolling suitcase. Important meetings about all the problems… in aircraft hangers with no windows and a musty smell. Flying into the airport. Staying at an airport hotel. Visiting our customers at the airport. Many, many airports. Still very cool, but certainly not exotic. One thing I did have right though was the amazing people I would meet! Over t...

  Shared by Kristina Smedley This Wednesday… I’m going to start my morning workout routine. I’ll go to bed earlier so I can wake up at 5am before the sun rises. I’ll have all my workout gear ready to go. Water bottle and towel on the dresser. Fitbit charged.   Then I’ll tiptoe down the hallway and jump on my Peloton bike for a quick morning HIIT ride.   It’s going to feel amazing. Favorite instructor – Ally Love. Great music. Heart pumping. Breathless. Proud of myself. 1% daily progress towards my fitness goals.   Actually, I’ll start on Saturday so I don’t have to get ready for work afterwards.   You know, October 1st might be the best start date so I have a full month to work with.   And on it goes.   I can’t tell you how often I have this conversation with myself when it comes to a workout routine. And yes, the Peloton is literally 25 feet from my bed!   Boring routines. Other fun things to do. Tiredness. One of these, all three of these, seem ...

  Share by Breanne Smedley This week, I had a student in first period tell me “Mrs. Smedley, I can’t do a pushup.” In second period, a different student exclaimed, “There’s no way I can do that” after I put the 5-minute workout on the board. Third period… “I can’t do more than 11 laps on the pacer. I’ve never been good at running.” My gut response to each of these students is to say “Yes you can, just TRY!” One push up? Five minutes of working out? Run 200 meters? Yes, you CAN do those things. In fact, I’ve seen you do more. It’s one of my greatest pet peeves. People saying they can’t do something when clearly they could if they only tried. It’s as if it’s a guard they put up, giving them a free pass at failure in case it happens. “See Mrs. Smedley, I told you I couldn’t do it…” I believe that we are far more capable than we think. We have the power to take ownership of our thoughts, and in turn, our results in life. It made me think, though. From some of my student’s perspectives,...