Randy Pausch

I am hoping as you read this you will have already heard of Randy Pausch, the professor from Carnegie Mellon who gave a speech last September to his students on overcoming obstacles, realizing dreams, enabling the dreams of others and living in the moment. I have been wanting to write about him for the last few days and am now finally getting to it. His book, "The Last Lecture" has just arrived to me via my mom in the mail. I have already downloaded his speech and PowerPoint presentation so I can use it one day to motivate some unsuspecting company and my daily journal is filled with notes I took when I watched his recent interview with Diane Sawyer. His original lecture was just supposed to be for his class, but someone posted it on U tube.

Why am I so fascinated? Because he is yet another teacher who has found a way to get his message across, reminding me (us) what is important. For me, during chaotic times I need to be reminded of that message a lot. Unfortunately, Randy is dying of cancer and has less than six months to live, but his message is a strong one and I think, I am not sure, his message would be the same regardless of the cancer. So, without further adieu, here is my interpretation of his message:

He talks about telling the truth- all the time. He talks about finding something great in each day. He talks about accepting the cancer and inevitable death, but not living out his last days in sadness. He wants these days to count just as the days did before his diagnosis. He talks about the Serenity Prayer,

" God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference."

--Reinhold Niebuhr

He talks about letting go of being arrogant and the importance of holding on to childlike wonder and imagination. (His parents let him paint whatever he wanted to on his walls as a kid. He painted rockets and planets and even an elevator.) He also talks about brick walls, which I found particularly significant. He sees brick walls that you stumble across in life as an opportunity for you to figure out or challenge yourself how you are going to get around them. He also sees them placed there to keep those who should really not be there, out. He talks about being given the option of taking small risks or big ones. He says always risk big. If you fail, you will also learn big rather than just taking a pass at the mediocre. He talks about being earnest over "hip" any day. He also says, TALK ABOUT THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM.

He says that we should stop telling people how to live their lives, but instead tell them stories of lives well lived. Lead by example. Lastly, he talks about the end goal: It is not about how to achieve your dreams, it is about how to live your life.

Again, I have heard all of these messages before in a variety of iterations, but the difference this time is that this is an average guy going about his business living his life and he managed to impact over 10 million people so far without even trying. He created this speech and this book for his family and relayed it to his class, no one else. It caught fire on its own. - For me, there are not enough good stories being told.

The other significance of Randy Pausch to me is that I have recently been in the presence of two extraordinary men in the last few years who have affected me immensely and remind me exactly of Randy. They have changed the course of my life; Keith Hunter and Bob Lazzarini. Keith was a colleague at Rhythm and Hues who joined me on a leadership project. He came in quietly, listened and when he finally decided to speak, his words were filled with passion, truth, empathy and they were exactly the answer to the problem we were trying to solve. Keith was brilliant and shared it everyday, but was egoless. He was humble, giving, practical and he too possessed that childlike wonder. I would often see him wandering the halls with his remote control airplane, a drum or riding his razor scooter in the parking lot. On occasion he would bring his young son Max to work and when I heard them talking it was usually about robots or building some new cool thing. Keith also wrote children's book and was an accomplished artist. Keith died of cancer in 2007. It was very hard to let him go, but to see that he had impacted so many people while he was here made me rethink why I am here and how I want to spend my time. Sometimes when I am caught between a rock and a hard place I see a little version of Keith on my shoulder and then I know what to do.

About the same time I knew Keith, I was going to school and met a professor named Bob. He taught my Personal and Professional Effectiveness class using Stephen Covey's, "7 Habits" book. That class and Bob were the catalysts that changed my career. Bob, like Keith, listened, had empathy, strength, and courage to be who he was at all times. Bob taught about values and doing the right thing. Somehow he had just the right balance of pc needed for the workplace and gusto to tell it like it is. He never offended anyone. In my opinion, he just did/does the right thing ALL OF THE TIME. Bob just had surgery for pancreatic cancer in January. He is recovering, but it is a very slow process.

I know this is all just a coincidence, these three men, all having such an impact on me and all being sick. I know there are many more people out there that are just as amazing, but these people have somehow crossed over into my life and as sad as it is for the families and everyone involved, I am so glad to have known them or in Randy's case, known of him.

Link to Randy Pausch's speech:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo