It is September 21st. An important milestone for me. I have to say it felt like a long time since my last day at LeapFrog, which was exactly a month a ago. And I feel bad that I did not write to my dear friends, or have coffee, lunch… All the nice things I wished to do at my departure. Not sure how many of you know that I have started at Pivotal Resources, inc., an executive consulting and coaching firm in Walnut Creek, CA. I am the Vice President of China Operations. Yes, I took a portrait picture just like an executive. I actually took two (out of over 20 shots) back to the office. The one won the vote was my pick (vs. the photographer's). Talking about culture and fit. I felt great about it here! Thanks to Laura Garnier! She introduced me to Pete Pande, the President of Pivotal, a well-known author of books such as The Six Sigma Leader, The Six Sigma Way and What is Six Sigma, and a great mentor.
I got my first Apple PowerBook G4, but a hand-down repaired Laptop… It was a long story. There is no IT department or travel agent here. Now I know how spoiled I was. I am writing this note on the Mac on the way home from Las Vegas. To learn about the new arena, I attended the Lean Six Sigma Improvement Summit 2007, a conference at the Venetian. I proudly booked my Southwest Airline flights online. Used to long flights across the Pacific Ocean, I was excited about this 1-hour plus journey. Should be easy. Well, I missed the flight while sitting in front of the gate for almost 2 hours READING! Never figured out why the plane just left without me but my checked-in bag. It could never happen on United to Tokyo. I panicked while the smiling Southwest agent issued me a new boarding pass and assured me that my suitcase will be in Vegas waiting for me at their luggage office when I get there on the next flight. Yes, he was right although I couldn’t help questioning him twice. What a relief! Do they use Six Sigma process management?
Met a Japanese attendee at the conference during the first-day lunch. He’s from NEC in charge of “New Solution Development”. It’s his first time in Vegas. He exclaimed what a STRANGE city it is. “It is so artificial. It’s like a big Disneyland…” He couldn’t understand! He said it’s all amusement. It reminded me of Japanese amusement industries… Nintendo, Sega… I thought it was crazy at the Tokyo Toy Fair when there’s so much noise, so many action figures and characters and games after games. It’s all about perspectives. An attendee from US Army told me that it was fun just watching people in the casinos. You can learn so much just watching human behavior.
One thing I learned was life is not about take actions for the sake of taking actions. We were so busy with our action items back at LeapFrog. I saw so many changes there that life without crises and changes could make me uneasy nowadays. WOW. How bad is that? So forgive me if I drove you crazy in the old days. Now I am learning a lot everyday by reading, watching others, talking with very smart people… not taking much action yet honestly. I know it’ll happen. And I am planning to take some small steps first when the strategy is in place. It is such a diversified, talented and supportive team of people! I am very fortunate to be on a new learning journey so soon. It is a thrill working with Laura here. We have so much fun together. Please feel free to visit us at www.pivotalresources.com or better yet in Walnut Creek with so many great places to hang out.
Almost forgot to mention that David started kindergarten right after Labor day. He is the tallest in his class. Lily is now potty trained. She misses David terribly at the preschool and asks to go to David's school from time to time. Our aquarium has been prospering. So far 3 baby fishes were born and they are happily growing up. It is a good sign, right? But no more kids for us. Jeff agrees. We just had our 7th Anniversary while I was by myself at the conference in Vegas. I treated myself to the Phantom of Opera. No matter how many times I watch it, I am always fascinated by the music and performance. May God bless us with love through the rest of our lives. Happy anniversary!
P.S. This is my first blog as part of my first month learning. There may not be another one. What do you think?
