They told me "No"
The voice mail on my phone was his personal assistant...
She said, "You are not invited.do not come. We have NO seats for you."
But she was too late...I could not turn back now.
The day was December 7th, 1995. It was my 25th birthday, and the pressure was on.
You see, I had made a promise to my two brothers and a few other people in my life...
"I will meet Dr. Goldratt in person and show him my vision by my 25th birthday."
For those who don't know Dr. G., he is a revolutionary thinker and visionary who had developed breakthrough methods of thinking.
I won't "bore" you with the fascinating thinking tools I learned from him and how I applied them to understand human consciousness (and how those insights led to the powerful Vision Force Boot Camp methods)...
Bottom line is this guy was my hero. (In fact, I remember wishing, at the time that Ayn Rand, another hero of mine, had met him in her lifetime. Here were 2 radical thinkers and visionary geniuses who used the power of logic to "go where no man had gone before." They both had unstoppable egos, and incredible charisma... they would have been PERFECT together! ... lol, ok, onto the story!)
So, Dr. Goldratt didn't know me at all. I was simply a fan of his work... a kid with a bigvision and some big ideas...
I had written two letters telling him of my intentions to meet him in Dallas. He was holding a 1-day $800 seminar for manufacturing executives, and I had asked if he had any "excess capacity (one of his terms)."
I asked if I could attend for free.
The answer had come back... "NO." Again, "NO." And, a third time, "NO!"
But when I received his personal assistant's final voice mail, "No" that morning, it was already waaaay too late. I was going. I would make them turn me away to my face.
I was young. I was idealistic. I saw a vision!
YET I "SAW" MYSELF MEETING HIM, SPEAKING TO HIM AND SHOWING HIM MY VISION
That was all I needed. Vision was enough. Forget that I was a shy kid who couldn't speak up wortha darn... I had the force of my own vision to carry me over my fears, doubts and weaknesses.
I'll never forget the look on her face...
I walked up to the reception table and told her who I was... Her jaw just dropped. She paused, not knowing what to say. First she tried to be stern... "I told you we don't have any free seats. I told you not to come."
I smiled, and just explained how Dr. Goldratt had influenced my life and my thinking, how he was my hero.
I told her how I had made a commitment to myself to come and meet him.
After a while, she softened. "OK, well, if you promise not to participate, not to interrupt and not to talk to him, then I'll let you in... but you've GOT to promise."
(Apparently this guy had a big fan club and had reached a kind of Rock Star status. " I thought about it...
A chance to see this hero who had changed my life... to see him in action, presenting his ideas and teaching them live... "OK," I finally said.
I knew it was a sort of compromise, and that bothered me. My commitment had been to talk to him and show him my vision, not to just see him and listen to him.
But when she led me into the room, I was all smiles.
I'll tell you... I had expected to see this skinny, little, old Jewish professor type with maybe the squeeky, nasaly voice that you'd expect from someone who read too many books, and didn'tinteract with people in the real world much.
I WAS STUNNED
Here was a huge man, standing tall, and proud. His deep voice booming across the room, ashe paced with his pipe, carefully selecting his words. You could tell his brain was in high gear.
But then I saw something I'd never seen before.
Dr. Goldratt proceeded to confront these executives. When they gave dumb answers or lame excuses, he'd grill them on it. Not in a humiliating way, but in a way that seemed to say...
THIS IS EVERYTHING! THIS IS YOUR LIFE! TAKE IT SERIOUSLY!
He never said those words, but he just gave you this sense that business, and thinking and making good choices was very very important.
The effect was intriguing... people didn't approach this seminar as if itwas just some interesting theories. They were on the edge of their seats, as if their lives were at stake.
But perhaps more striking than his delivery style was the way he taught. He has methods of teaching that were not really teaching... rather his methods resulted in the students arriving at their own insights and understandings.
I learned a lot about the way he taught, and from then on began creating ways to teach people such that they created their own insights. I didn't want to be the guru smoking the pipe, but I did want to be the kind of teacher who provokes people to think.
(btw, if you're wondering if I march around my boot camps confronting people like an Israeli General, I don't. My boot camps are confronting because of the way they are structured so that people naturally come face to face with what they've not been facing in their lives.)
I could go on and on about what I learned that day, or the exciting things that happened, but what I want to leave you with is this:
If you come across someone who has cutting edge ideas and tools that you can benefit from, look and see if you are putting them on a pedastal.
Look and see what is holding you back from taking bold action, and going to meet these people. Sometimes we want to wait until we have achieved more status or made a name for ourselves, before we go and introduce yourself.
Yet these same people could help you to get from here to there faster than you could do on your own. Those people who seem larger than life are real people. You might be surprised at how easily you can become friends with and join forces with them.
Life is too short to play small, too short to try to figure everything out yourself or do it all yourself. Seek out those who are the best at what the do, and learn from them.
Oh... one more thing. If they tell you "no," remember they are not god. You have a say in the matter. A little vision and some bold action goes a long way.
Well, those are my thoughts for today. Until tomorrow, tomorrow's tomorrow, and as long as I live, I remain...
Your ally in life,
Michael Ivan Skye
VISION FORCE ACADEMY
She said, "You are not invited.do not come. We have NO seats for you."
But she was too late...I could not turn back now.
The day was December 7th, 1995. It was my 25th birthday, and the pressure was on.
You see, I had made a promise to my two brothers and a few other people in my life...
"I will meet Dr. Goldratt in person and show him my vision by my 25th birthday."
For those who don't know Dr. G., he is a revolutionary thinker and visionary who had developed breakthrough methods of thinking.
I won't "bore" you with the fascinating thinking tools I learned from him and how I applied them to understand human consciousness (and how those insights led to the powerful Vision Force Boot Camp methods)...
Bottom line is this guy was my hero. (In fact, I remember wishing, at the time that Ayn Rand, another hero of mine, had met him in her lifetime. Here were 2 radical thinkers and visionary geniuses who used the power of logic to "go where no man had gone before." They both had unstoppable egos, and incredible charisma... they would have been PERFECT together! ... lol, ok, onto the story!)
So, Dr. Goldratt didn't know me at all. I was simply a fan of his work... a kid with a bigvision and some big ideas...
I had written two letters telling him of my intentions to meet him in Dallas. He was holding a 1-day $800 seminar for manufacturing executives, and I had asked if he had any "excess capacity (one of his terms)."
I asked if I could attend for free.
The answer had come back... "NO." Again, "NO." And, a third time, "NO!"
But when I received his personal assistant's final voice mail, "No" that morning, it was already waaaay too late. I was going. I would make them turn me away to my face.
I was young. I was idealistic. I saw a vision!
YET I "SAW" MYSELF MEETING HIM, SPEAKING TO HIM AND SHOWING HIM MY VISION
That was all I needed. Vision was enough. Forget that I was a shy kid who couldn't speak up wortha darn... I had the force of my own vision to carry me over my fears, doubts and weaknesses.
I'll never forget the look on her face...
I walked up to the reception table and told her who I was... Her jaw just dropped. She paused, not knowing what to say. First she tried to be stern... "I told you we don't have any free seats. I told you not to come."
I smiled, and just explained how Dr. Goldratt had influenced my life and my thinking, how he was my hero.
I told her how I had made a commitment to myself to come and meet him.
After a while, she softened. "OK, well, if you promise not to participate, not to interrupt and not to talk to him, then I'll let you in... but you've GOT to promise."
(Apparently this guy had a big fan club and had reached a kind of Rock Star status. " I thought about it...
A chance to see this hero who had changed my life... to see him in action, presenting his ideas and teaching them live... "OK," I finally said.
I knew it was a sort of compromise, and that bothered me. My commitment had been to talk to him and show him my vision, not to just see him and listen to him.
But when she led me into the room, I was all smiles.
I'll tell you... I had expected to see this skinny, little, old Jewish professor type with maybe the squeeky, nasaly voice that you'd expect from someone who read too many books, and didn'tinteract with people in the real world much.
I WAS STUNNED
Here was a huge man, standing tall, and proud. His deep voice booming across the room, ashe paced with his pipe, carefully selecting his words. You could tell his brain was in high gear.
But then I saw something I'd never seen before.
Dr. Goldratt proceeded to confront these executives. When they gave dumb answers or lame excuses, he'd grill them on it. Not in a humiliating way, but in a way that seemed to say...
THIS IS EVERYTHING! THIS IS YOUR LIFE! TAKE IT SERIOUSLY!
He never said those words, but he just gave you this sense that business, and thinking and making good choices was very very important.
The effect was intriguing... people didn't approach this seminar as if itwas just some interesting theories. They were on the edge of their seats, as if their lives were at stake.
But perhaps more striking than his delivery style was the way he taught. He has methods of teaching that were not really teaching... rather his methods resulted in the students arriving at their own insights and understandings.
I learned a lot about the way he taught, and from then on began creating ways to teach people such that they created their own insights. I didn't want to be the guru smoking the pipe, but I did want to be the kind of teacher who provokes people to think.
(btw, if you're wondering if I march around my boot camps confronting people like an Israeli General, I don't. My boot camps are confronting because of the way they are structured so that people naturally come face to face with what they've not been facing in their lives.)
I could go on and on about what I learned that day, or the exciting things that happened, but what I want to leave you with is this:
If you come across someone who has cutting edge ideas and tools that you can benefit from, look and see if you are putting them on a pedastal.
Look and see what is holding you back from taking bold action, and going to meet these people. Sometimes we want to wait until we have achieved more status or made a name for ourselves, before we go and introduce yourself.
Yet these same people could help you to get from here to there faster than you could do on your own. Those people who seem larger than life are real people. You might be surprised at how easily you can become friends with and join forces with them.
Life is too short to play small, too short to try to figure everything out yourself or do it all yourself. Seek out those who are the best at what the do, and learn from them.
Oh... one more thing. If they tell you "no," remember they are not god. You have a say in the matter. A little vision and some bold action goes a long way.
Well, those are my thoughts for today. Until tomorrow, tomorrow's tomorrow, and as long as I live, I remain...
Your ally in life,
Michael Ivan Skye
VISION FORCE ACADEMY
posted by Michael Skye at 9:34 AM
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