Erik on Software

New Book Review: "The Service-Oriented Enterprise"

New book review for The Service-Oriented Enterprise: Enterprise Architecture and Viable Services, by Tom S. Graves, Tetradian Books, 2009, reposted here:

At the outset, Graves explains that "everything in the enterprise is a service. Everything the enterprise does is a service. Everything the enterprise delivers is a service - even products are services, in a sense. And the enterprise itself is a service. Everything is a service. That's the key idea behind the service-oriented enterprise: a view of the enterprise in which everything is seen in terms of services and their interactions and interdependencies, providing consistency and simplicity everywhere, and creating new space for agility and innovation in the enterprise." It is important for the potential reader to understand the definitions that the author explains along the way within this text, because like his earlier work, "Real Enterprise Architecture: Beyond IT to the Whole Enterprise" (see my review), he provides his own interpretation of industry terms, most of which add value to his discussions. And unlike some other enterprise architecture texts (within the space of which few are currently available in the marketplace), these interpretations are based on the author's personal experience in the field. In explaining his goal for this book, the author mentions that "although there's a fair amount of theory, the keyword here is practice: the aim is to give you something that you can use".

While still presenting a substantial amount of theory, this reviewer thinks that this goal was largely met. As a consultant architect, this reviewer realizes both that heavy use of examples is bound to greatly increase the size of the text, and that materials not generally available on the bookshelf (i.e. through training such as workshops and conferences) can be relatively expensive, and the general practice of Graves to write expanded white papers such as this fits a niche in this space that provides introductory enterprise architecture tooling. This text is divided into three core sections: (1) a review of key terms such as "enterprise architecture" and "service-oriented architecture", as well as some of the core metaphors underlying the service-oriented enterprise, (2) a description of core ideas concerning both the structure and relationships between services, as well as their relationship to the structure of the enterprise, and (3) an illustration of application of the principles outlined in the second section. The bulk of the book resides in the latter two sections, with more weight allotted to the second section on principles. Graves also provides an appendix on building a "function model" in Microsoft Visio, which the he presents in the third section on "practice" as "a layered list of business functions - a visual summary of what the enterprise does in functional or service terms".

As in his earlier work sited earlier in this review, the author provides the reader with straightforward terminology. During this initial section, Graves indicates what other recent authors have noted in this space, such as Jeanne W. Ross, Peter Weill, and David C. Robertson in their "Enterprise Architecture as Strategy: Creating a Foundation for Business Execution" (see my review): "It's still a new discipline: the term itself was coined barely a decade ago." Graves furthers his reputation for providing abundant sidebars throughout this book, a practice that this reviewer highly encourages him to continue in future efforts. Many of these sidebars consist of case study snippets. The first case study reminds this reviewer of one of his recent clients, for example. What is meant by "architecture" in the context of the "enterprise"? Graves explains that "an all-too-common answer to that last question - typified by the comments of the architecture manager at a recent client - would be 'IT functions and data'. When I explained that the business of her employer - a government department in the social-services sector - was a great deal wider than that, and hence her architecture needed to cover people-based processes, legislation and a great deal more, she replied, 'Yes, I agree with you: architecture is all about IT functions and data'. We went round that loop a couple more times before I gave up: there wasn't much point in trying to discuss real enterprise-architecture with someone who wouldn't allow herself to hear about any aspect of business beyond her own domain of IT. Oh well."

Another aspect that this reviewer particularly enjoyed was the author's discussions of "machine and organism" and "services in the living enterprise", in which Graves derails the common business metaphor of business as a machine that was implanted in the psyche of the business world by Taylor's scientific management outlined in texts such as Christopher D. McKenna's "The World's Newest Profession: Management Consulting in the Twentieth Century" (see my review). Whereas in the machine metaphor, where all of the components that comprise an enterprise must be carefully put into place after being carefully designed and constructed, and every task and resource (including people) have specific functions, the organism metaphor describes the enterprise as being "composed of a myriad of interdependent services, working together, as a community, towards a common purpose", much like cells within the human body, similar to how David A. Taylor described object-oriented technology in his "Object-Oriented Technology: A Manager's Guide" (see my review), although concentration on low-level objects can easily lose sight of the big picture. In his comparison of the entity model where there exists a hierarchy between purpose, brain, and brawn, and the factory model where there exists a hierarchy between owner, manager, and worker, Graves explains that it is "easy to become distracted by the fact that within each cell, there will be many subsidiary services, and often many instances of a particular type of subsidiary service, yet just one nucleus, one 'brain'". 

En route to the chapters on practice, the author provides discussions on services and service relationships, viable systems, delivery services, management services (that comprise policy, strategy, and direction), coordination services, pervasive services, and properties and patterns. While some of the content in these chapters exists in other texts, what this reviewer enjoyed was seeing commonly covered topics written with a refreshing perspective combined with new subject matter not seen elsewhere. For example, in his discussion on service completeness, Graves mentions that "given the natural recursion of services, we know that enterprise viability will depend on the presence of all the support-services, and on the effectiveness of the interfaces between them. But to re-use services - that key concept of loose-coupling - we also need to be able to split them apart, to make services temporarily 'incomplete'. Viability depends on completeness; re-use depends on incompleteness." As is the case throughout this book, the author provides abundant, relevant diagrams throughout, and this reviewer especially appreciated diagrams such as the one in the chapter on service purpose that visually depicts a modified Business Motivation Model (BMM) comprised of relationships between vision, role, mission, and goal.

After presenting the Functional Business Model that describes the enterprise in terms of business functions, and providing industry examples from manufacturing and government within the social services sector, Graves outlines application themes such as identifying business systems, identifying single source of truth, mapping valuations to the Functional Business Model, identifying viable relations, identifying viable communications, and determining process choreography. Well done text written in plain English that is recommended to anyone new to enterprise architecture or seeking to reexamine their approach to enterprise architecture engagements, especially when working with clients new to this space.

Past Book Review (September 14, 2008):"Real Enterprise Architecture"

Past book review (i.e. posted prior to starting this blog) for Real Enterprise Architecture: Beyond IT to the Whole Enterprise, by Tom S. Graves, Tetradian Books, 2008, reposted here:

As Graves mentions in his introduction, he wrote "Real Enterprise-Architecture" because as of early-2007 there were no books that "covered the full scope" of enterprise architecture - just plenty of books "about the minutiae of the field" in which he works. Graves explains that while "IT is significant, it's only one small part" of real enterprise architecture, the definition of which he provides as "the integration of everything the enterprise is and does".

While there are a number of frameworks that address this space, such as Zachman, FEAF, TOGAF, and ARIS, Grave argues that these address IT architecture, not enterprise architecture, and that a simpler framework is needed for the latter. The author presents the project life cycle framework composed of purpose (direction), people, preparation (knowledge), process (tasks), and performance (metrics), similar to the Architectural Design Method (ADM) provided by TOGAF save the special emphasis on IT. And within each of these points in the cycle, efficient, reliable, elegant, appropriate, and integrated views are presented.

Each of the remaining chapters of the book addresses a single cell of the resultant 5x5 matrix. The author presents the principles behind each cell well, but the discussions for each of the five cycle points as applied to each cell are a bit brief. Each chapter also contains a one or two paragraph look into specific consulting scenarios in which the author has worked, and it is recommended that such firsthand experience be elaborated upon in subsequent works.

Two chapters that especially caught my interest are "Architecture is a Feeling" and "The Politics of Purpose". In the former, the author stresses that "what we're doing here is not a marketing exercise...what we aim to identify are the real values of the organization-as-community, the principles and values that the enterprise, collectively, does use in its day-to-day decision making". Graves presents a past values analysis experience, and when asked from where "official" client values of "service excellence", "service innovation", and "professionalism" etc came, the reply was that the marketing department simply made them up, summarizing rather well why management was uncertain about corporate direction.

In the latter, Graves presents one of his experiences in change management, and he follows this presentation with a discussion of how stakeholder issues change with each phase of the change cycle. For example, in the initiating phase: "We don't have time for this stuff!" and "We don't know what we're doing!". In the sustaining phase: "This stuff is @#%#@!" and "This stuff isn't working!". And in the redesigning and rethinking phase: "They won't give up the power!".

The author presents this framework as a "just enough, just in time" approach to enterprise architecture, and while he shares his opinion that useful results will appear within a matter of days, filling in the detail will take significantly longer albeit it is best addressed in an iterative manner. While it does not seem like the author is in alignment with the industry definition of agile with a capital "A", he does argue that agile development works, and credit must be granted where it is due for his attempt at explaining this philosophy.

This book is really what I consider to be an expanded white paper due to its brevity (about 100 pages) and soft selling of Tetradian Consulting (as well as hard references throughout to resources available on the internet from other consulting firms), but in my opinion Graves does add value to the enterprise architecture space, and "Real Enterprise-Architecture" is currently freely downloadable on the Tetradian website.

Personal Reading List: 4Q2010

My personal reading list for October, November, and December 2010.

Color Key: Special Notes, Currently Queued, Completed Reading. Updated throughout the Quarter.

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Bridging the Silos: Enterprise Architecture for IT Architects, by Tom S. Graves, Tetradian Books, 2008.

Everyday Enterprise-Architecture: Sensemaking, Strategy, Structures and Solutions, by Tom Graves, Tetradian Books, 2010.

Information Systems Transformation: Architecture-Driven Modernization Case Studies, by William M. Ulrich and Philip Newcomb, Morgan Kaufmann, 2010. By invitation from Amazon.

Just Enough Software Architecture: A Risk-Driven Approach, by George H. Fairbanks, Marshall & Brainerd, 2010. By invitation from author George H. Fairbanks.

Making Enterprise Information Management (EIM) Work for Business: A Guide to Understanding Information as an Asset, by John Ladley, Morgan Kaufmann, 2010. By invitation from Amazon.

Patent, Copyright & Trademark: An Intellectual Property Desk Reference, by Attorney Richard Stim, NOLO, 2010. By invitation from Amazon.

Project Decisions: The Art and Science, by Lev Virine and Michael Trumper, Management Concepts, 2008.

Unthinking: The Surprising Forces Behind What We Buy, by Harry Beckwith, Business Plus, 2010. By invitation from author Harry Beckwith. Copy to be provided by publicist Melissa Bullock of Grand Central Publishing - Hachette Book Group, Inc.

vSphere 4.0 Quick Start Guide: Shortcuts down the Path of Virtualization, by Bernie Baker, Thomas Bryant, Duncan Epping, Dave Mishchenko, Stuart Radnidge, and Alan Renouf, BookSurge Publishing, 2009.

Global Leadership Summit 2010 Day 2:Jeff Manion

From the conference notes:

Known for his dynamic teaching skills and passion for communicating scripture in a clear and relevant way, Jeff Manion has served as teaching pastor of Ada Bible Church for over 25 years.

Under Jeff's leadership, the church has grown from 50 people to over 6,000 attenders. In 2009, Ada Bible was listed by Outreach Magazine as one of America's largest and fastest growing churches.

A vibrant and growing ministry in West Michigan, Ada Bible uses video venues and two offsite campuses to create a small church feeling within a large church setting.

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From my personal notes:

• The phrase "for now" is the language of the "the land between" - like a recent college graduate experiencing the temporary phase that exists between school life and a career where they are living at home "for now" - but this "land between" applies to more than just recent college graduates.
• Manion pointed to a map of the Holy Land where "you are here" was marked in the wilderness between Egypt and what was to become Israel - a barren place between two areas of green.
• The Israelites were promised delivery from Egypt to Canaan, but they ended up in "the land beween".
• "The land between is fertile soil" for complaint.
• It might be easier to empathize if we were amongst the Israelites.
• "The land between is fertile ground for complaint - and meltdown."
• We are naive to think that we are immune from correction.
• "The land between is fertile soil for transformational growth."
• "Time does not heal all wounds."
• "The wilderness is also the place we go to die - we have to choose."
• "Complaint arrives as an uninvited guest."
• "Complaints resist eviction."
• "Inviting another guest in the house - trust - evicts complaint."

Global Leadership Summit 2010 Day 1:Andy Stanley

From the conference notes:

Under the leadership of Andy Stanley, North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, Georgia, has become one of the largest and most influential churches in the United States.

Founded in 1995, the church has grown to three campuses and a weekly attendance of more than 28,000 people. North Point has also helped to plant more than 20 strategic partner churches across North America.

Stanley is a sought-after speaker and leadership mentor with a special passion for raising up the next generation of leaders. He has authored a number of best-selling books including The Principle of the Path, Visioneering, Next Generation Leader, Communicating for a Change, and the soon to be released, The Grace of God.

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From my personal notes:

• It's a myth that great leaders will solve all their problems, and that reoccurring problems means that they lack leadership.
• Problems and tensions in your organization help as a growth engine.
• Every organization has problems that shouldn't be solved.
• We need to start thinking about the differences between solving problems and resolving tensions, and managing tensions.
• Resolving tensions will bring other tensions
• Resolving tensions create barriers to progress.
• "Problems" that reoccur are actually tensions to manage.
• Our role as leaders is to leverage these tensions.
• We need to (1) identify tensions, and (2) create the terminology around this dynamic.
• Key players should understand this twofold need.
• Value needs to be granted to both sides.
• Don't weigh-in to heavily based on personal biases.
• Don't allow strong personalities to win the day.
• Don't think in terms of balance - think in terms of rhythm.
• Don't think in terms of "balance" or "fairness", which technically do not exist.
• Understand the upside of the opposite side.
• Understand the downside of your side.
• Being able to argue both sides is important.
• You need 2 types of people as a leader: (1) passionate people, and (2) mature people.
• Remember that different things are needed over time during the life cycle of the organization.

New Book Review: "Amplifying Your Effectiveness"

New book review for Amplifying Your Effectiveness: Collected Essays, edited by Gerald M. Weinberg, James Bach, and Naomi Karten, Dorset House Publishing, 2000, reposted here:

This book is a collection of "pre-cedings" written by 17 software consultants for a conference of the same name. In the introduction, Weinberg explains the frequent ineffectiveness of proceedings typically distributed at the end of conferences. These essays (the entire text is less than 150 pages) present a preview of the hosts participating in the first "Amplifying Your Effectiveness" conference by demonstrating the diverse styles and interests of the authors. Weinberg explains that within any organization, improvements in effectiveness can occur at three levels - the individual ("the Self"), the team ("the Other"), and the organization as a whole ("the Context") - and that this collection attempts to address all three levels. In addition, there are three fundamental abilities that contribute to the effectiveness of a manager or any other technical leader: "the ability to observe what's happening and to understand the significance of your observations", "the ability to act congruently in difficult interpersonal situations, even though you may be confused, or angry, or so afraid you want to run away and hide", and "the ability to understand complex situations so you can plan a project and then observe and act so as to keep the project going according to plan, or modify the plan". These three abilities are also addressed in this collection because the least developed among them prevents one from amplifying effectiveness the most.

The essays are presented in four parts: "empowering the individual", "improving interpersonal interactions", "mastering projects", and "changing the organization". Based on the number of dog ears following the reading of this book, this reviewer especially enjoyed parts one and four, and essays "Do I Want to Take this Crunch Project?" by Sharon Marsh Roberts and Ken Roberts, and "Modeling Organizational Change" by Esther Derby. In the first, Roberts and Roberts draw a distinction between "crunch projects" and "pseudo-crunch projects" and how to navigate the circumstances surrounding each type of project. While  Edward Yourdon's "Death March" (see my review) discusses crunch projects at length, the authors here simplify the definition of crunch project by explaining that these types of project exhibit two requirements or constraints: (1) "there are major negative consequences if the project's deadline is not met", and (2) "given the constraints of the project, the allocated resources (time, money, or people) are significantly smaller than those required to fulfill the needs of the sponsor and the customers". The ability to distinguish between the crunch project and pseudo-crunch project is important because commensurate recognition is awarded to those who complete crunch projects, but few will acknowledge efforts of the team toward a pseudo-crunch project. Not only do pseudo-crunch projects typically exhibit "pseudo-deadlines" where internal management picks a date, but there are no significant impacts on profits or external relationships if the date is missed, pseudo-crunch projects bring by their very nature personal loss and no balancing gain.

In "Modeling Organizational Change", Derby explains that when a problem exists in the way a work group functions, confronting that problem necessitates organizational change, and "by taking a critical look at your process and using some theories from organizational design, you can fix that problem - and improve your organization's ability to deliver high-quality results". Because even small systems are very complex, any action in this regard can affect more than one variable in the system, so understanding the interplay of these factors and identifying the manner in which one desires to guide the system in a particular direction are important when designing organizational change. The relatively simple examples that Derby provides to explain circular causation and corrective action are written well, and the example and accompanying diagrams that she walks through are effective in explaining her points. Other essays that this reviewer especially enjoyed were (3) "Solving Other People's Problems" by Don Gray, where the author explains "The Pause Principle", "The Pay Attention Principle", "The Partnership Principle", "The Passion Principle", and "The Person Principle", (4) "The Perils of Parallel Projects" by Johanna Rothman, where the author discusses context switching alongside a table from Weinberg's "Quality Software Management, Volume 1" that exhibits data on how much time is truly available to an individual splitting their time across multiple projects, and (6) "Life as a Software Architect" by Bob King, where the author offers a discussion of the software architect role that explains what helps him avoid what he calls the "technical trap" - three metrics called "The Visibility Ratio", "The Conflict Metric", and "The Anxiety Metric".

Google Analytics: 10 Months

Approximately ten months ago, Google Analytics was set up for this blog (see my earlier post). The number of countries of origin has recently reached 63 - an increase of 12 in the last three months. Visitors from the top 10 countries of origin came from the United States (55.2%), Canada (4.8%), the United Kingdom (3.9%), India (3.6%), Germany (3.0%), France (2.4%), the Netherlands (2.4%), Australia (1.8%), Brazil (1.7%), and Sweden (1.4%).

Venezuela now leads  for the number of pages per visit (8.00), although the data is again heavily skewed since only one visit originated from that country. The other countries of origin comprising the top 10 are as follows: Portugal (4.33), Switzerland (3.00), Denmark (2.75), Mexico (2.67), Hungary (2.67), Argentina (2.60), Greece (2.50), Norway (2.33), and Japan (2.33).

From a city perspective, Orthez, France continues to lead as a statistical outlier for the number of pages per visit (17.00), followed by Blue Bell, Pennsylvania (15.00), Southlake, Texas (10.00), Caracas, Venezuela (8.00), Shibuya, Japan (8.00), Bartlesville, Oklahoma (8.00), Frisco, Texas (7.00), Funchal, Portugal (7.00), Oakton, Virginia (7.00), and Arlington, Virginia (6.00) to round out the top 10.

Global Leadership Summit 2010 Day 2:Terri Kelly

From the conference notes:

President and CEO of W.L. Gore & Associates, a multi-billion dollar enterprise that is often profiled as an example of a unique leadership culture.

Employing 9,000 associates in 30 countries, Gore produces a diverse range of products, including GORE-TEX fabric, medical devices, filtration, and other advanced technology solutions.

A pioneer in adopting a non-hierarchical lattice-based management structure, Gore's "associates" become leaders based on their ability to gain the respect of their peers and to attract followers. Kelly earned the title of president and CEO in 2005 - one of the few titles within the company - following a peer-driven selection process.

W.L. Gore has appeared on all the U.S. "100 Best Companies to Work For" lists, and is included on many international lists of top workplaces.

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From my personal notes:

• "Innovation requires an environment of collaboration."
• Gore evolved special task forces from his experience at DuPont into small teams across the company.
• Gore is a peer based organization - it's about helping other people's success, not just their own. It's about relationships.
• The "On-demand hierarchy" forms based on where the knowledge resides.
• Hierarchies assume that those above have more knowledge and are in the best place to make decisions.
• Gore is a "lattice organization" - we're all connected by a series of nodes.
• We don't tell people what to do or what projects on which they should work.
• Focus on specific areas is encouraged, but the ownership is theirs.
• Common formulation of rules is important: belief in the individual, small teams, we're all in the same boat, take a longer term view
• Success is not financially-driven alone.
• There is a lot of internal selling at Gore to get funding for ideas - a natural selection process comprised of passion and the ability to sell others.
• Associates want to work on projects where they can provide the greatest impact.
• Compensation is based on contribution - not title or role.
• Everyone at Gore has a "personal sponsor" to help them grow who is not their supervisor.
• Plants worldwide limited to 200-250 people each. It's an investment that brings a different level of engagement and gets people to reach out to other facilities - large facilities tend to discourage this from happening.
• This way of doing things is scalable at the global level. Founder Gore was challenged when going from 100 to 200 people, and the size of the company is now 9,000.
• The "waterline principle" says that if you're going to consider an investment, holes cannot be drilled below the waterline.
• Leadership at Gore is defined by "followership".
• Understanding and communicating the rationale behind decisions is important.
• "Distributed leadership roles" are encouraged at Gore as opposed to centralized roles concentrated in one person or a few people.

Global Leadership Summit 2010 Day 2:Blake Mycoskie

From the conference notes:

Acknowledged as one of today's most dynamic serial entrepreneurs, Blake Mycoskie launched five successful companies before the age of 30.

Best known as the founder and "chief shoe giver" of TOMS Shoes, a for-profit company with a unique "One for One" business model that provides a new pair of shoes to a child in need for every pair sold. To date, TOMS has encouraged conscious consumers to purchase and give more than 400,000 pairs of shoes to children around the world.

In December 2009, TOMS Shoes was awarded the State Department's Award for Corporate Excellence by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Between business ventures, Mycoskie competed in the CBS primetime series The Amazing Race. With his sister, Paige, he came within minutes of winning the $1 million dollar grand prize.

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From my personal notes:

• Buy one pair of shoes, give one pair away - "One for One".
• A spontaneous response to the desire to give shoes to the needy.
• Giving feels good and is also a good business strategy.
• "All we have to do at TOMS is focus on giving."
• TOMS has given away 600,000 shoes since the business began 4 years ago.
• Employees are encouraged to give.
• All employees with the company 2 or more years are paid to travel to hand deliver shoes.
• TOMS began through the reinvestment of profit gained from selling Mycoskie's online education business.
• Mycoskie explained that if he had instead started a non-profit, resources would have been depleted quickly, and asking for donations would have been required in order to continue the business.
• The first "Day without Shoes" involved 250,000 people not wearing their shoes for one day. The word got out in part by the "tens of millions of dollars" that was donated by Microsoft.
• Strategic partnerships have enabled the giving away of more shoes than would have otherwise been possible.
• Asking people is a requirement for change - you can't be bashful when you want to see change.
• Proverbs says to give your first fruits - it's a Biblical principle that has blessed TOMS shoes - they really did give their first fruits by not giving away after first wasting financial resources.
• "It's never too early to start giving."
• The next "Day without Shoes" will take place in April 2011.

New Book Review: "Buy-In"

Recently posted book review for Buy-In: Saving Your Good Idea from Getting Shot Down, by John P. Kotter and Lorne A. Whitehead, Harvard Business Review Press, 2010, reposted here:

In their preface to this book, authors Kotter and Whitehead succinctly present the challenge of implementing good ideas. The amount of thought and education put into the creation of good ideas today often outweighs the knowledge and instruction on implementing those very ideas. For example, the field of strategy has made huge advances in the last twenty years, but the field of strategy implementation has made far less progress. It would be great if good ideas that one champions on and off the job could simply stand on their own, but unfortunately this is not the case far too often. The authors remind the reader that this book is not about persuasion, general communication skills, or all the methods one might use to create buy-in.

The single method presented here to build support for a good idea is rarely used (or at least used well) and does not necessitate extraordinary rhetorical skills or charisma. The ideas that the authors offer are partially based on observations of Lorne Whitehead over the years as an entrepreneur, executive, administrator, and professor at the University of British Columbia, as well as the continuous research being conducted by John Kotter at Harvard Business School and the body of knowledge on the topics of leadership and change that has been published in several of his past works. According to the authors, the method they present is counterintuitive because it shows respect for all and uses simple, clear responses that can turn attacks to one's advantage because it focuses on capturing attention and eventually building buy-in.

The first third of the book presents this method in the form of a story - a story that focuses on a small band of individuals comprising a citizen's advisory committee in defense of an idea before a crowd of seventy-five individuals over a span of a few hours time. The authors point out, however, that there are obviously many different settings in which this story could have taken place, and they believe that the method used to defend the idea is the best regardless of situation. The second part of the book provides an analysis of this story, and later provides twenty-four responses to twenty-four attacks that will not silence valid criticism but will stop the killing of good ideas by verbal bullets.

Kotter and Whitehead are careful to point out that many of these attacks might be innocently raised by individuals who are not explicitly trying to kill the objects of the attacks, but this does not mean that they are any easier to wrestle. In outlining their method following the case study story, this reviewer was especially influenced by the assertion that overcoming attacks with tons of data, or logic and more logic, should not be attempted, and that the opposite should be the goal. This reviewer could not help being reminded by the Seinfeld episode where character George Costanza is influenced by character Jerry Seinfeld when he said "If every instinct you have is wrong, then the opposite would have to be right". Of course, the authors are not proposing that this blind philosophy should be followed, but it is probably closer than one might think.

The authors categorize the four types of attacks as confusion, fear mongering, death by delay, or ridicule and character assassination, and they indicate that it helps the idea generator to realize that attacks boil down to this small number because individuals often get bogged down by weighty lists that try to be comprehensive but end up being unmanageable. The twenty-four attacks and responses are grouped according to the implicit attitude of the attacker, which are essentially (1) the problem the idea generator is attempting to solve does not exist, so the idea is not needed, (2) the problem that is being presented admittedly exists, but the solution being proposed by the idea generator is not very good, and (3) the problem does indeed exist, and the solution that the idea generator proposes might actually be a good one, but it will not work in the case at hand. Well recommended text. The book is laid out well, focused, and lacks the tangents that so many texts seem to possess.

Switching from ASICS to Brooks

After many years, I recently made the switch from the ASICS brand of running shoes to Brooks. Back in April of this year, I posted how loyal I have been to ASICS since my high school running coach recommended the brand to me, but unfortunately the Gel Nimbus model I have been purchasing has quickly evolved over the last couple years to a point where it no longer suits my needs.

One of the aspects of the Gel Nimbus 11 that ASICS touts as a benefit is the large toe box that has been incorporated into the shoe, but this is not something that agrees with my feet. I view the new offset lacing that the shoe provides as a benefit, but the traditional lacing never bothered me, and the large toe box outweighs this aspect of the shoe.

Of course, there is always the option of wearing thicker socks, but I moved away from Thorlos years ago after deciding that the Neutral Plus shoes I was purchasing had more than enough cushioning, and it makes no sense to purchase such expensive running shoes if one needs to rely on socks for a proper fit. Before I discuss my positive experience with Brooks over the last few weeks, let's take a look at some recent pairs of ASICS I've worn over the last few years: Gel Nimbus 6, Gel Nimbus 8, and Gel Nimbus 11.

ASICS Gel Nimbus 6

I still remember when the Gel Nimbus 6 was delivered to my place. The shoes seemed very flashy at the time. This aspect of the shoe is hard to tell now, because the shiny silver embellishments have long since worn out. I also did not much care for the large blue heel that boldly declared its possession of I.G.S. (Impact Guidance System) that ASICS describes as "linked componentry that enhances the foot’s natural gait from heel strike to toe-off".

However, the shoes grew on me rather quickly, and one of the reasons they are so worn out at this point is because I have been wearing them so frequently on weekends since I put them into retirement from running. I do not choose running shoes based on appearance, but it does not hurt if shoes are still viable for casual wear after their brief lifespan on the trail.

ASICS Gel Nimbus 8

The Gel Nimbus 6 and Gel Nimbus 8 are my all time favorite running shoes because of their fit and durability. I also like these two incarnations of the Gel Nimbus because they let me feel the trail when running. This aspect of these two shoes is comparable to a sports sedan that does not hide the feel of the road from the driver. Notice that the front portion of the side of the shoe shows quite a bit of wear. Enough wear that a hole is forming. And this shoe is obviously newer than the Gel Nimbus 6 depicted above.

While this is a form-fitting shoe, a benefit of the shoe that ASICS touted and I enjoyed, they wore much more quickly than the Gel Nimbus 6. Even though I tend to wear a pair of running shoes for the trail longer than is recommended, I was forced to stop running in these shoes much earlier than expected. And because of the color (this copper color happened to be the best choice in my opinion for the Gel Nimbus 8), they have no relevance off the trail.

ASICS Gel Nimbus 11

 

The Gel Nimbus 11 is a great looking shoe. And when these shoes were delivered, I remember being pleasantly surprised by the offset lacing, which was a bit awkward at first but ended up being one of the few benefits of the shoe beyond appearance, which I mentioned earlier is not a reason I ever purchase a particular running shoe.

The increased amount of Gel in the heel is obvious in comparison to the Gel Nimbus 6 and Gel Nimbus 8. However, the increased amount of Gel significantly raised the level of cushion awareness, and unlike the Gel Nimbus 8 the sports sedan is no longer present. The extremely large toe box is extremely annoying, to the point that I need to tie my laces extremely tight to avoid movement in the toe while running.

Earlier in this post, I mentioned that I purchase Neutral Plus shoes. In case you are not familiar with running shoe categories, take a look at this guide. The Neutral Plus category is designed for men who have high arches, and are 180+ lbs in weight or run over 25 miles per week. The problem with the Neutral Plus category is that it is one of the smallest categories in terms of available running shoes from all the available brands.

There are no brands in this category that I consider serious running brands outside of ASICS, Mizuno, Saucony, and New Balance. However, New Balance shoes have a reputation for being clodhoppers. And Saucony is, well, Saucony. So when it was time to purchase a new pair of running shoes a few weeks ago, I opted to try out Mizuno WAVE Creation 11.

Immediately on opening the box after delivery I was fairly certain that the WAVE Creation 11 would not be the right shoe for me because of the humongous toe box that is even larger than the toe box of the Gel Nimbus 11. Trying the shoes on and walking in them a few minutes quickly killed any probability that I might adopt them. What other shoes are left? It was time to consider the Neutral running shoe category.

Unfortunately, this shoe category has been overrun with shoes that do not suit my needs, beginning with the fact that this shoe category is technically intended for men who have high arches, but who also weigh less than 180 lbs and run less than 25 miles per week. But I happened to come across the newly redesigned Brooks Glycerin that seemed to straddle the Neutral Plus and Neutral categories, so I thought I would try it out.

Brooks Glycerin 8

On first checking out the Glycerin 8 online, it seemed to be a long-shot pick. Compared even to the Gel Nimbus 11, the shoe immediately looks bulkier. Dare I say clodhopper? And customer reviews of the shoe are all over the map, unlike the Gel Nimbus line of shoes which gets fairly consistent positive reviews. People seem to love or hate this shoe. The biggest complaints seem to be that the shoe does not have enough cushion, and that the shoe is too heavy.

On unpacking the shoe after delivery, it did seem that the shoe was slightly heavier than the Gel Nimbus 11, but the weight is just barely past the JND for that aspect of the shoe. The shoe also did not appear to be as clunky as that depicted online in all the reviews and shoe retailer websites. My amateur photograph above is arguably better than many of the other photos I have seen, which just do not do the shoe justice, although I do admit that, like the Gel Nimbus 6, I was not particularly fond of all its embellishments.

Of course, as I mentioned earlier in this post I do not purchase shoes solely because of their appearance. After a couple days of contemplation as to whether I should hit the trail with the Glycerin 8, it was time to try them out, so I set out on one of my shorter routes that combine time on both the Illinois Prairie Path and the Great Western Trail. I could already sense the difference between the Gel Nimbus 11 and the Glycerin 8 during the first mile of my first test run. The fit was much better, I could feel the trail again, and after running the first several miles I noticed that I was using less energy to run than with the Gel Nimbus 11.

The additional "bounce" that positive reviewers of the Gel Nimbus 11 often seem to rave about in my opinion is not a benefit at all. Since running is good for one's knees (I still recall the Runner's World article from a couple years ago that supports this conclusion), and the supposed additional bounce actually causes more energy to be consumed, perhaps the Glycerin 8 is the way to go. After several weeks running with the new Glycerin 8, my affair with the ASICS Gel Nimbus line of shoes has ended. For now.

It is important to realize that shoe categorizations such as Neutral and Neutral Plus can only serve as rough guidelines for fit. There are so many variations within each category across all of the brands and models. And weight categories that use an artificial threshold of 180 lbs can be misleading, especially since there is no upper limit in the 180+ lbs category, and there are many runners such as myself who are on the border line in weight.

As for the 25 miles per week threshold, I will have to wait and see, because I run significantly more than 25 miles per week. I will plan to provide an update later this year on my further experiences with the Brooks Glycerin 8, but I would love to hear from other runners in the meantime on their shoe choice experiences.

Global Leadership Summit 2010 Day 1:Jim Collins

From the conference notes:

A nationally acclaimed business thinker, Jim Collins serves as a teacher to leaders throughout the corporate and social sectors.

Author of the best-selling books Good to Great and Built to Last, he is a student of companies - how they grow, how they attain superior performance, and how good companies can become great companies.

His writings, based on groundbreaking research, have been featured in Fortune, Business Week, The Economist, USA Today, and Harvard Business Review.

His latest volume, How the Mighty Fall: And Why Some Companies Never Give In, looks at the common mistakes of organizations in a state of decline and what leaders can do to reverse negative patterns and flourish anew.

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From my personal notes:

• "Good is the enemy of great."
• "Greatness is not a matter of circumstance, but largely of conscious choice."
• Enterprises, people, organizations, and governments fall all the time - if it can happen to them, it can happen to us.
• Great becomes good, then mediocre, then bad, then irrelevant, and then gone.
• There are 5 stages of decline.
• The first stage of decline is "Hubris Born of Success".
• It shows outrageous arrogance if you think decisions have been good just because circumstances have been good. Bad decisions are still bad regardless of circumstance.
• Leaders "never give up".
• Humility is what distinguishes the best leaders.
• This humility is not soft, but has burning passion.
• The second stage of decline is "Undisciplined Pursuit of More".
• Companies become complacent - stuck in a rut.
• "Packard's Law" says that you will fail if you don't execute growth brilliantly.
• Resist growth until we have fantastic people - remember the 4 C's. (Bill Hybels presented the 4 C's in the keynote address: character, competence, culture, and chemistry.)
• Get the right people first, and then decide where to go.
• The third stage of decline is "Denial of Risk and Peril".
• From the outside, you look really great - this makes it difficult to admit otherwise.
• The "Stockdale Paradox" was named after Admiral Stockdale.
• Stockdale had been asked how he resisted depression not knowing the end (of imprisonment at the Hanoi Hilton), to which he responded "Never confuse faith and facts" - you need to confront brutal facts. Optimistic fellow prisoners who kept telling themselves they would be released soon died the quickest, while Stockdale's realization that he would probably be imprisoned a long time helped sustain him.
• The fourth stage of decline is "Grasping for Salvation".
• "The peril you deny throws you on the edge."
• Greatness is never a single event. It is a process - the "Flywheel".
• The fifth stage of decline is "Capitulation to Irrelevance or Death".
• There needs to be a reason to endure the struggle.
• If you always measure your success by financial gain, you will always lose.
• You need to be "driven by purpose beyond money and success".
• Purpose is rooted in core values - values that are not compromised.
• There is a paradox, however - values are not open to change.
• "If we lose our own soul we lose it all."
• The signature of mediocrity is chronic inconsistency.
• You have to be willing to change.
• You need to both "preserve the core" AND "stimulate progress".
• Do your diagnostics. Use the "Good to Great Diagnostic Tool".
• Count your blessings. When we begin to account for all the good, all the successes that we did not cause, it is humbling.
• What is your question to statement ratio? Can you double it by next year? Invest more time in being interested, not interesting.
• Have the discipline to stop doing.
• Preserve the core, stimulate progress.
• "Be willing to change tactics, but not give up on core values."

Global Leadership Summit 2010 Day 2:Daniel H. Pink

From the conference notes:

Best-selling author, business thinker, and former White House speechwriter, Daniel Pink has been credited with defining a new era in the workplace. His provocative business books describe the changing world of work.

In A Whole New Mind, Pink examined the rise of "right brain" skills that will be required in modern economies. His latest book, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, analyzes the scientific data behind high performance and vocational satisfaction.

Pink's articles on business and technology have appeared in The New York Times, Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, and Wired where he is a contributing editor.

A sought-after speaker, he addresses corporations, associations, and universities around the world on economic transformation and the new workplace.

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From my personal notes:

• People are so much more complex than their biology - their physical needs - their biological drive.
• Humans respond exquisitely to their "reward and punishment drive".
• We do things because they are interesting.
• For example, attending this conference does not satisfy either the biological drive or the reward and punishment drive.
• There exists about 50 years of research on human motivation.
• The 2-dimensional view of human beings that requires suppressing the biological drive to focus on the reward and punishment drive does not work so well.
• A study said that a greater reward increased performance except when the requested task was less complex or required less creativity, which caused decreased performance.
• Big rewards tend to create tunnel vision - this phenomena is shown again and again in the research, but this is routinely ignored.
• Red Gate Software did something radical. Salespeople were gaming the system, so the CEO eliminated commissions. Instead, salaries were raised and profit sharing was provided.
• Part of the problem with organizations is that we make assumptions about people: that human beings are "machines" and that human beings are "blobs".
• The assumption is that human beings are complicated machines, but "mechanical" - they respond the way you want them to respond given certain inputs.
• The assumption is that human beings are passive and inert blobs, but our essence is to be active and engaged.
• There are 3 elements for motivation: autonomy, mastery, and purpose.
• Management is a technology from the 1850s. What other technologies do we use from back then?
• Management was designed to "get compliance". Our organizations are too complicated.
• People want engagement. Autonomy in 4 things leads to engagement: time, task, team, and technique.
• Attlassian Software has "Fed-Ex Days" where people can work on anything on Thursday as long as they deliver overnight on Friday to the rest of the company. Fed-Ex Days worked out so well that they now have "20% Time" where people can work on anything they want for 20% of the time. According to the company, all the "good" ideas have come about from this time.
• Since it can be difficult for a company to adopt something like 20% Time in a short period of time, 20% Time with training wheels (or as the Brits would say, "stabilizers") or 10% Time are options.
• It can be difficult to initiate such measures quickly. Some "scaffolding" is helpful to gradually move in this direction.
• The "single, largest motivation at work is making progress".
• Mastery is partially met by contributing more.
• People are more likely to have "flow" at work than at leisure, so this is a great opportunity. Unfortunately, the workplace is one of the most feedback-deprived places in the world, and performance reviews are worthless.
• Workplace performance reviews are America's version of Kabuki theatre (great laughter from audience).
• Pink thinks that we are seeing the limits of the "profit motive", even though it might be good morally and financially.
• The bad and the mediocre result when the profit motive and the "purpose motive" are not working together.
• "Most businesses are not run very well."
• To be motivated by purposes larger than oneself is important.
• Pay attention to determine whether people refer to their organization as "we" or "they". Use of the pronoun "they" points to alienation. The pronouns being used say a lot.
• One person cannot change one's organization, but one can change as an individual what they do tomorrow.
• Anything good in life begins with a "great conversation" - this is what changes the world.

Global Leadership Summit 2010 Day 2:Jack Welch

From the conference notes:

Said to be the most studied CEO of the 20th Century, Jack Welch began his 41-year career with General Electric Company in 1960, and in 1981 became the company's eighth chairman and CEO.

Fortune named him "manager of the century", and the Financial Times named him one of the three most admired business leaders in the world.

He teaches at MIT's Sloan School of Management and recently launched the Jack Welch Management Institute at Chancellor University, offering advanced management degrees online.

A prolific business writer, he authored the internationally best-selling autobiography, Jack: Straight from the Gut and most recently outlined his management philosophy in the best-seller Winning.

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From my personal notes:

• Bill Hybels has been trying to get Jack Welch to speak for 15 years.
• According to Welch, leaders need to be comfortable in their own shoes - someone people can count on.
• People in business take on a persona that is not themselves - they think they have to behave a certain way.
• Leaders need to energize people - being energetic does not necessarily help.
• Energizing someone means to get them to "feel it" - "feel the vision" - leaders need to "feel the fire" themselves because it is hard to pass it off otherwise.
• Tell a story. Show people how their lives will change in some way. Get them excited because you like the journey.
• "Most meetings that are any good are not planned."
• Leaders get smarter by learning from those around them. Too many managers are afraid of hiring people smarter than themselves, so "they hire dopes" instead.
• Truth-telling leads to less meetings and bureaucracy.
• Welch came to believe that differentiating people based on performance will help the staff. People need to be actually treated differently depending on their performance.
• Welch differentiated people by categorizing them in groups: the "top 20%", the "vital 70%", and the "bottom 10%".
• "Don't sports teams treat players differently? Isn't winning good? Business is a game too."
• Candor needs to be the foundation before differentiation happens.
• People need to know where they stand - it is hard to work for someone when they do not know where they stand.
• Most organizations spend too much time improving the bottom 10%. If you have an appraisal system with candor, where they stand should not come as a surprise to them at the time of review.
• "I love to see people grow" is a gene that good people possess.
• "Generosity of spirit" is a distinguishing characteristic of high performers.
• Bad leaders hide their top performers.
• Envy is a terrible thing that top leaders to not exhibit.
• A leader might run the risk of losing the top portion of the middle 70%, but one needs to remember that ranking is always based on a snapshot in time.
• Do not make up a new game every time it comes time for a review. One should hand-write what they said during the review, and when it comes time for the next review, use the same sheet as the original hand-written review so the individual can physically see what was said last time compared to now.
• A cynic is not a loud-mouthed disruptor.
• "The hallway whisper is deadly."
• "You have to do everything you can to stop the meeting after the meeting."
• "I can't think of a better way to build a team then by using 20-70-10."
• "Not recognizing performance is silly."
• "Sometimes non-profit is said to mean non-performance - that's a bunch of nonsense."
• Welch set up a succession process. He initially divided successor candidates into three categories that included "the obvious" and "the long-shots". Unexpectedly, only the long-shots survived over the years. It is difficult to determine how people will work over the long term.
• "Low-level managers have trouble celebrating little victories."
• This past year, Welch was in the hospital for 104 days. He got a staph infection from the cortizone shot he routinely gets in the back to play golf.
• When asked whether his spiritual journey changed while he was in the hospital, he said "maybe".

Global Leadership Summit 2010 Day 2

Today was the second and last day of the annual Global Leadership Summit held in South Barrington, Illinois at Willow Creek Community Church. As I mentioned in my post for the first day, more than 120,000 individuals in 70 countries and 400 cities are taking part in this year's Global Leadership Summit. My goal over the next few days is to share some of the notes I jotted down between yesterday and today.

Conference Schedule - Day 2:

The Land Between.  Jeff Manion - Senior Pastor, Ada Bible Church, Ada, Michigan.

When Leaders Emerge: The Story of W.L. Gore & Associates.  Terri Kelly - President and CEO of W.L. Gore & Associates, Innovation Leaders and Makers of GORE-TEX Products.

What Motivates Us: Not What You Think.  Daniel H. Pink - Business Thinker and Bestselling Author; Former White House Speechwriter.

Making Conscious Capitalism Work: The TOMS Shoes Story.  Blake Mycoskie - Founder and "Chief Shoe Giver", TOMS Shoes, Inc.

Leader to Leader.  Jack Welch - Former Chairman and CEO, General Electric; Bestselling Author.

Combustible Passion.  T.D. Jakes - Chief Pastor, The Potter's House, Dallas, Texas. Did not attend.

Final Comments.  Bill Hybels - Founder and Senior Pastor, Willow Creek Community Church, South Barrington, Illinois. Did not attend.

Fortunately, I decided to stick with my Sigma 30mm F1.4 EX DC HSM lens today. The varied lighting conditions I experienced yesterday were still present, but were less pronounced because the shades covering the large windows in the auditorium were closed for the majority of the day. Attached below are some of the photos I took during the multimedia opening segment before the sessions with the above speakers began. While the backgrounds of the speakers are varied, and the topics of the sessions ranged from the secular to the spiritual, the content of this opening segment should be no surprise given that the conference is hosted by one of the largest church organizations in the world.

Global Leadership Summit 2010 Day 1:Dr. Peter Zhao Xiao

From the conference notes:

A prominent Chinese economist, Dr. Peter Zhao Xiao was commissioned by his government to study the success of the American economy. He concluded that a moral foundation allowed the economy to flourish, argued that China's economy would benefit from the spread of the Christian faith, and embraced Christianity himself.

Former Head of the Economic Research Center, where he provided strategic advice for the central committee of the Chinese government, he continues to be a respected scholar and government advisor, speaking openly about the influence of Christianity on economics.

In 2007, Dr. Zhao assumed the chairmanship of the Cypress Leadership Institute which seeks to help transform the business culture in China and to bring world-class leadership resources to Chinese leaders in key industries.

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From my personal notes:

• The communist party sent Zhao to the U.S. to learn about free market economics, and ended up concluding that the Chinese economy will benefit from the Christian faith.
• Zhao lives in Beijing and doesn't speak English (a translator was present).
• Wrote an economic paper for school entitled "Market Economies with Churches and Market Economies without Churches".
• Religion brings stability to economies.
• Agrees with Bill Hybels that leadership is about bringing someone from one place to another ("here" to "there"), but also stated that it's about bringing someone to the "right place" - in the "right direction".
• The most significant change in the last 2,000 years was Christ being born and the spreading of Christianity.
• The most significant change in the last 1,000 years was the change that Martin Luther brought about.
• In the past 500 years, the most significant change was the discovery of America by Columbus and the "blooming" of America.
• The twentieth century brought about the collapse of the Soviet Union and the rise of China.
• Zhao does not agree with the statement that China is "rising up", but that it is "coming back".
• China led for most of the last 5,000 years, and fell far behind, but no other country has seen the high rate of growth that China has seen in the last 30 years.
• China is about to surpass Japan economically, and by the year 2020 is expected to surpass the U.S.
• Margaret Thatcher once said that China will not become a superpower unless it can export values.
• No country in Asia will follow China. There is no "Chinese Dream" like the "American Dream".
• The Chinese people love Americans because of the values the people exhibit.
• China needs to go beyond economic growth.
• China needs more mature leadership, to learn from the whole world - not just economically, or technologically, but culturally - to learn from the world's best values.
• Most importantly, China "must" learn Christian values.
• Zhao expressed his thankfulness to all the missionaries who brought the Gospel to China, such as Matteo Ricci, Robert Morrison, and Eric Liddell. 
• In 1949, missionaries were asked to leave China.
• It might take 1,000 years to recover the church of 1949, but "God is powerful".
• Christians have grown 100-fold in the last 30 years - conservative estimates indicate there are now 18 million Christians, while "optimistic" estimates indicate upwards of 130 million.
• "Personal life" transformation has far surpassed China's economic growth. 
• Zhao prays that China will become the largest Christian nation in the world.
• Personal life transformation happens first, and the rest builds upon this foundation.
• There are only 2 forms of transformation: transformation with the cross and transformation without the cross.
• All great civilizations have either been Christian or have been influenced by Christians.
• "America has built a city on a hill."
• Europe came first, then America, and now Asia.
• One good thing about Chinese culture is that Chinese people are "not stubborn".
• "Chinese culture is not a static thing - it is dynamic."
• 202 B.C. - Han Dynasty
• The Han Dynasty combined Confucianism and Daoism.
• 618 A.D. - Tang Dynasty
• The Tang Dynasty combined Confucianism, Daoism, and Tao Buddhism.
• Zhao believes a "third great revival" is coming, one that combines Confucianism, Daoism, Tao Buddhism, and Christianity.
• China is forming a harmonious society.
• Taking Christianity away now will not enable a harmonious society.
• A Chinese "Mayflower" has set sail - Chinese coming to America to learn.
• The Chinese government has seen how honest Christian business people are - they are always the first to follow the law - to comply, for example, when the government first asked businesses to keep only one set of books.
• Zhao believes that having a lot of Christians in China alone does not guarantee a "smooth ride". China has "quantity" now, but not "quality".
• Zhao stated that he knows a lot of Westerners fear China. The Church can support China - to help the Chinese love God more, to help them live godly lives, to give generously, to love their neighbors.
• Zhao concluded by saying that he hopes the Global Leadership Summit will be held in China one day.

Global Leadership Summit 2010 Day 1

Today I had the opportunity to attend the first day of the annual Global Leadership Summit held in South Barrington, Illinois at Willow Creek Community Church. More than 120,000 individuals in 70 countries and 400 cities are taking part in this year's Global Leadership Summit. My goal over the next few days is to share some of the notes I jot down between today and tomorrow.

Conference Schedule - Day 1:

Keynote Address.  Bill Hybels - Founder and Senior Pastor, Willow Creek Community Church, South Barrington, Illinois.

Never, Ever, Give Up.  Jim Collins - Nationally Acclaimed Business Thinker and Bestselling Author.

Leading on the Edge of Hope.  Christine Caine - Founder of the A21 Campaign; Director of Equip and Empower Ministries; Pastor and Teacher, Hillsong Church, Sydney Australia.

The Mentor Leader.  Tony Dungy - Winning Coach of the 2007 Super Bowl; NBC Analyst.

When Leaders Fall.  Adam Hamilton - Founder and Senior Pastor, The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection, Leawood, Kansas.

Beyond Economy: China's Transformation with the Cross.  Dr. Peter Zhao Xiao - Leading Chinese Economist; Chairman of Cypress Leadership Institute; Professor, University of Science and Technology, Beijing.

The Upside of Tension.  Andy Stanley - Senior Pastor, North Point Church, Alpharetta, Georgia; Founder, North Point Ministries.

Attached below are some of the photos I took on the way into the conference. Unfortunately, I used a low-light, wide aperture, fixed focal lens to address the lighting issues I was expecting to encounter once inside the auditorium, but the lens wrestled with the constantly varied lighting conditions, so some of the photos from the first day of the conference did not turn out as well as hoped.