CategoryLeadership

Standards

By Josh Nicholls
August 12, 2022
3 Min Read
In Leadership
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I recently attended a talk given by Noelle Pikus-Pace who won the silver medal in the sport of skeleton at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. Before she got into skeleton, she was dedicated to becoming a collegiate athlete in track in field. Noelle competed in the decathlon which is an event that covers ten track and field events including the high jump and pole vault.

The jumping events have a horizontal bar held up by two poles called standards. The standards mark the height of the bar and when the event begins the standards move up as jumpers clear the bar. The standards and bar never go down throughout the competition, once they are set, they only go up.

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Rumination

By Josh Nicholls
August 3, 2022
3 Min Read
In Leadership, Self Discovery
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Nearly a year ago my wife, my son, and I went through what I would describe as a traumatic experience. My son who was just a little over one sustained burns on his body, primarily on his feet and hands. This experience kicked off a series of problems or challenges that we have faced and continue to face as a family.

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Prune to Strengthen

By Josh Nicholls
July 20, 2022
2 Min Read
In Leadership
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In my backyard I have two trees that are young and still seeking to take strong hold in the desert.

At the bottom of the tree were little saplings that looked very healthy. They were present early in the springtime as little buds and by the time I did anything about them it was nearly a whole tree by itself at the root of the trunk.

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Connecting Mental Maps

By Josh Nicholls
July 8, 2022
3 Min Read
In Leadership, Science
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For as long as I can remember, I have been directionally challenged. I grew up in Washington state where the roads curve, the trees are tall, and major landmarks to help with orientation are difficult to come by. Navigation anywhere for me (even to this day) can be incredibly difficult without the aid of Google Maps.

This does not mean I have not been getting better. Since my wife and I have been married (nearly 12 years) we have lived in eight different cities. The pattern is always the same for me. I do not know how to get anywhere; I rely 100% on Google Maps to get me to my destination. Over time I start to build a map in my head. My pattern has been that after about 6-8 months in a single place I have a few maps built in my head. Once I get to a certain place where my map starts, I can figure out where I am, but my mental maps do not always connect. Common locations are mapped out first, the kids’ school, grocery store, and church. Then less common areas start to populate and grow the maps.

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Becoming a More Effective Leader

By Josh Nicholls
June 22, 2022
2 Min Read
In Leadership
B

On a recent star tour in Bryce Canyon, I had the opportunity to look through several high-powered telescopes.

Some of these telescopes were almost as big as I am, and all required a step ladder to get to the eye piece and see the object it was directed at in space.

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Re-entry Plan

By Josh Nicholls
May 25, 2022
2 Min Read
In Leadership, Learning
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Recently I attended a Summit where all the individuals in our organization got together (many of us in-person) to connect and learn.

An observation I had while talking to several different colleagues is that there is an almost natural or default behavior to return to the way things used to be before COVID. What was “muscle memory” is coming back to all of us as we come back to the office. The challenge that this presents is that our default behavior completely disregards everything we have learned from our COVID experience.

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About Me

Josh Nicholls

I teach and invite people to act. Proud husband, father and amateur pizzaiolo

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