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Quest Quote

“I trust all joy.”

- Theodore Roethke

Quix Pix

Every month we will share some of our currently favorite books, music, movies and TV shows.

Movies

Sunshine – I never heard of this 2007 SF thriller either, until I looked into what else Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire, 28 Days Later, Trainspotting) has done. Although the grueling production aspects of creating a science fiction film made him swear he’d never do another one, this was a real treat. It is a true gem, albeit flawed. Cillian Murphy is wonderful as always among a great ensemble cast sailing through space towards the sun. With an intelligent, flawed, fun story that is at times moving and contains no silly space-romance subplots, it’s an antidote to Armageddon bravura and a nice homage to Ridley Scott’s Alien and Kubrick’s 2001.

Pocket Poem

Small enough to fit in your pocket, big enough to be of use.

The Snow Man
by Wallace Stevens

One must have a mind of winter
To regard the frost and the boughs
Of the pine-trees crusted with snow;

And have been cold a long time
To behold the junipers shagged with ice,
The spruces rough in the distant glitter

Of the January sun; and not to think
Of any misery in the sound of the wind,
In the sound of a few leaves,

Which is the sound of the land
Full of the same wind
That is blowing in the same bare place

For the listener, who listens in the snow,
And, nothing himself, beholds
Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is.

From the Founder

Happy 2010 everyone! It’s been a fun year for us already. I was excited and privileged to spend the morning with Bill Cosby recently! He interviewed me about Quixote Consulting, told stories about one of my heroes, Sammy Davis Jr., and I even got to play harmonica for him. I’ll have the full story, including photos next issue. It’s a great feeling to have Bill Cosby on your side, saying, “You need Quixote!”

On the writing front, I’ve been selected to be a contributing author to the prestigious 2011 Pfeiffer Annual: Consulting (Wiley).

The Winter Olympics are coming up, and if your team is catching Olympic fever like we are why not go for the gold on your own with our featured program, Record Breakers. This high-energy event combines the excitement of the Olympics with fun tabletop events that everyone can compete in.

On with the quest,
Rob Fletcher

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to capture the energy, passion and fervor of the Olympics in your work team? Imagine a high-energy teambuilding event unlike anything you’ve ever seen before - 12 brazenly hilarious competitive events, 12 records to break – all at the same time! Regardless of physical ability, everyone is able to participate.

Your group is divided into sub-teams. Each team is given an extensive list of records to set and beat. Teams strategize, plan and choose which records to go for. But this is unlike any record setting event you have ever seen, because each team is trying to beat the same records. And no record is safe for long, because the team next to you is working to break the record you just set! As the game ends, teams huddle around the official Record Board to see who really scored the fastest, longest, funniest...

For a complete program description, please click here.

Here’s an activity that we sometimes do in our featured program, Record Breakers.

Tell us your best (publicly appropriate) punch line to a joke. Not the whole joke, just the punch line. Ask your teammates – what’s the funniest/strangest/winningest punch line? Don’t send us the whole joke, just the punch line.

The winning entry gets a free autographed copy of Quixote Consultants Rob Fletcher and Lou Manzi’s hit CD Horsin’ Around Live! and eternal fame (or at least a month’s worth) by being mentioned in an upcoming newsletter. Good luck!

Note: Last month John Sorenson talked about his experience with micro loans. Click here to hear that quest story.

After you’ve retired, what do you do next? John Sorenson chose to connect more deeply with purpose, uniting his vocation and service. His story continues here.

“The exploration is exciting. My wife and I are continuing to do stuff in Southeast Asia. We’re going to monitor how the families we’re helping with our microloans (see last month’s Micro Loan Quest Story) are doing. We’re taking over as presidents of the local “green club.” And the third element is helping a few companies start up by acting as technical advisors. One of them has to do with thermal and solar energy electricity generation. It’s not only a way of generating electricity from sunlight in a way that’s more efficient than what’s out there but it promises to be low cost. This could be is a real boon to third world countries, especially those that are near the equator. They have a lot of sunlight to work with. I’m also helping with the Hero’s Journey Foundation.

I am trying to apply the skills that I’ve developed in my career and my resources to make the world a better place. So I think...

Click here for the complete Quest Story.

Every month we share some of our currently favorite books, music, movies and TV shows in our Quix Pix section of the newsletter. Click here to see our top twelve favorite movies that we watched in 2009.

Take a quick break from your work and try these yoga poses from our Office Yoga program right at your desk. Click here for Seven Helpful Yoga Hints.

Stand tall with chair to your right (with wheels locked if the chair has wheels). Raise right leg and place foot on chair at a right angle.

Try placing hands in different locations for different benefits:

A - Lengthen arms at side and lower shoulder blades. Rest right hand on right thigh.
B – Raise both arms (shoulder-width apart). Sink shoulder blades and don’t hunch your neck.
C – Raise left arm and bring right arm to back of chair (try in bent-leg variation only)

Repeat on other side.

Quix Tip

What’s Your Purpose?
Four Questions to Ask Yourself When Deciding How To Be of Service

The next time you’re contemplating connecting more fully to your purpose, try answering these four questions that John Sorenson asks before committing to a cause:

1. Do I connect with the people involved?
2. Do I believe in the cause?
3. Is this something I feel that I can make a contribution to?
4. Will I enjoy doing this?

Statisticity

Q. In a recent happiness study by state, Hawaii and Louisiana were ranked the happiest states to live. What state came in the bottom of the life-satisfaction ranking?

1. Ohio
2. New Jersey
3. North Dakota
4. New York

Panza's Proverb

"Time can do more to change and alter things than human desires."

Sancho Panza, Don Quixote’s squire, was famous for his proverbs.

Spread the Word

This is your monthly word challenge. Identify the correct definition for the following word. Once you know the definition, spread the word!

Galliardise

1. Great merriment
   
2. To separate by weight
   
3. Condiment popular in Scotland
   
4. A somber visage

Good News

Take a break from bad news headlines!

Here’s encouragement for anyone wanting to try our Play the Blues music team building program – if an elephant can play harmonica, you can too!

Elephant Learns To Play the Harmonica

Have you read some good news lately? Send us a link and spread the good news!