Networking

 As I think of what this Villanova Alumni Club will be for the 2025-2026 year, something that has come to my mind is the power of networking.  I book marked this Linked In post from a while back and am trying to get back to this "online filing cabinet" vs. screenshots on my phone. 

In the post I saved, the author says, "If the networking involves nametags and drink tickets, you're not networking, you're just working.   If you want to build a strong network, it's simple.  Build something that matters with other people.  Be curious about other people.  Help them.  Drink a beer (or a coffee), play sports (or do a service event...), live life with them and your list of networked connections will grow.

Easter Week

I speak with incredible people:  a devoted and selfless teacher, a person who serves the less fortunate, or someone committed to the lives of people managing disease.   The inner strength and selflessness of some people, never ceases to amaze me.   Today I spoke with a young woman who has battled cerebral palsy her entire life and has done incredible work in spite of her obstacles.   It was my pleasure to introduce her to a few people who may be able to help her professional journey.     

On days when I question what I'm doing, why I choose to be involved with some of the non-profits that I am, I am reminded of this line from Pope John Paul II, "faith leads us beyond ourselves."   When in doubt, help someone else.  

 

Aging

 "Aging is not for the weak.  One day you wake up and realize that your youth is gone, but along with it, so go insecurity, haste and the need to please.   You learn to walk more slowly, but with greater certainty.  You say goodbye without fear, and you cherish those who stay.   Aging means letting go.  It means accepting, it means discovering that beauty was never in our skin....but in the story we carry inside of us." - Meryl Streep

Smart - David Perkins

"How can people be so stupid" - we hear comments like this all the time.   Or we may wonder how someone "so smart" in one area of life, business, etc. may have a total and complete blindspot or weakness in another area.  Harvard Professor David Perkins breaks down "smart" in the way that most resonates with me.   Far beyond IQ, Perkins explains: 

1. Smart as planful: you think ahead, you organize your thoughts, you may use pros/cons to plan for an outcome.  

2. Smart as dispositional: an attitude: open-mindedness vs close-mindedness, curiosity vs. who cares.  how thoughtfully we figure things out.   It does not correlate with IQ.  A high IQ, could be low open-mindedness, low curiosity etc....  

3. Smart as Multiple:  smart is many ways of engaging the world.  Mathematic intelligence, inter-personal intelligence, linguistic intelligence.   Let's remember all of the types of intelligence and broaden the spectrum. 

4. Smart as performative: Smart is not just "knowing a lot"; it's what you do with that knowledge.  What problems do you solve?  How do you make sense of the world with your knowledge.  Do you use actively what you know. 

5.  Smart as intuitive.   It's not what people articulately say about their craft.  We cannot just be analytical, when to draw on pattern recognition to understand how things may work.   

We can and should cultivate each of them. 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esZdD-xRhTU&t=4s