The Book Report
by Rolf Crocker

Rolf Crocker is a VP of Associa and contributing author on this web site and the HOA Manager NewsLine

Greetings - I trust all is well with you and yours this summer.  As it was with the last Report, so it is here - a timely, topical and (if you allow it to be), transformational subject.

Dr. Randy Pausch, Professor of Computer Sciences at Carnegie Mellon University, passed away on Friday, July 25th 2008.  On face, based on the thousands of others who die from various forms of cancer each year, this might sound more like a statistic.  However, the manner in which Dr. Pausch faced the news of his impending death and the platform wherein he shared his outlook is what sets this story apart.  Dr. Pausch's "Last Lecture", given in September of 2007 at CMU, was a YouTube sensation.  He was interviewed by Diane Sawyer and appeared on Oprah.  While I had seen a couple of his television interviews and watched segments of the video, it wasn't until hearing of his passing today that I downloaded the transcript of his 'Last Lecture', actually entitled "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams".  Reading the transcript today, after his passing, takes on significantly greater weight and meaning.  The transcript is available for free on the Carnegie Mellon University website at http://www.cmu.edu/randyslecture/.

So - what does any of this have to do with our world of Community Management?  Plenty, because, like so much of life and management, it comes down to one core issue - Perspective.  There is so much we can be pro-active about.  Then there are those people, events and/or issues that we can't do a thing about.  To that end, several quotes jumped out at me from Dr. Pauch's lecture:

1) About brick walls - "The brick walls are not there to keep us out.  The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something.  Because brick walls are there to stop the people who don't want it badly enough.  They're there to stop the other people.

2) About poker - "We cannot change the hand we are dealt, just the way we play the hand."

3) About being realistic - "My Dad always taught me that when an elephant is in the room, introduce him."

4) About being earnest - "So.  How do you get people to help you?  You can't get there alone.  People have to help you and I do believe in karma.  I believe in paybacks.  You get people to help you by telling the truth.  Being earnest.  I'll take an earnest person over a hip person every day, because hip is short-term.  Earnest is long-term

5) About having fun - "President Cohen, when I told him I was going to do this talk, he said please tell them about having fun, because that's what I remember you for.  And I said I can do that but it's kind of like a fish talking about the importance of water. I mean, I don't know how not to have fun.  I'm dying and I'm having fun.  And I'm going to keep having fun every day I have left.  Because there's no other way to play it."

There is so much more in the lecture - I strongly encourage you to download the transcript or watch the video.  There is also a book that elaborates on these principles entitled "The Last Lecture."  I just ordered it from Amazon, so look for a review in an upcoming issue.

In the meantime, my goal here is not to be preachy, but to offer up the perspective of one who lived a life based on solid principles and made an impact on untold millions.  Leadership expert John Maxwell says that even the most introverted person will influence over 10,000 people in their lifetime.  The fact that you have an impact is non-arguable.  The question of how that impact will affect those in your sphere of influence is your life story yet to be written.  Chew on this lecture and let it have the impact that Dr. Pauch intended.

Rolf Crocker

Rolf Crocker is a Vice President of Associa and he can be reached at .