8-Opinion
8 Parker Chronicle
Y O U R S
OPINION
February 27, 2015
&
O U R S
Dreaming of hoops, sure as shootin’ Looking at me now, you would never guess that I played basketball. Looking at me now, you would never guess that I played anything. Maybe the radio. I am not trying to make a favorable impression. I just want to remind myself now and then that I wasn’t always a potato standing in front of an easel, or a potato working on a computer. This occurred to me when I read that Lonnie Porter, head basketball coach at Regis University for 38 years, is retiring. The article tells about his first basketball — it had laces — and the outdoor playing conditions in the winter in Indianapolis. As we get closer to March Madness, it just seems like I could use a little reminiscing. My sister was a high school cheerleader, and dated the star on the basketball team. My sister was a senior, and Rich was a sophomore, so there was talk. I was a junior, and desperately wanted to make the varsity in my senior year. Here’s a spoiler alert: I was the last player cut. The summer before my senior year, Rich did everything he could to improve my game. He drove us all over metro Cincinnati for pickup games with some of the city’s best players. I still hold on to that summer, 1964, with affection. Have you ever been to Cincinnati in the summertime? It’s unpleasant. My least favor-
ite weather is humidity. Are you good at something, but not very good or great? I was a good basketball player. After I was cut, I captained a team in a Sunday league, and was the league’s leading scorer. So what? It was like winning first prize at the state fair for my pigeon. But it’s a yellowed clipping that still makes me smile. I played intramurals at UCLA, where the intramural teams were exceptionally good. I loved basketball. Not as much now. The pro game not at all, and some of what I don’t like about the pros has made it down to the college level, but not all the way. Pro basketball is a lot like rugby. And dunks seem to be a big deal too often. My father was his school’s captain. Final scores would be 28-15 and 21-17. There was no such thing as a jump shot. He shot free throws underhanded, like everyone else. Much later, Wilt Chamberlain would do the same thing.
We are nearing March Madness, and it is more fun than just about anything in sports. It makes the college football playoffs and all of those ridiculous bowl games seem a little unfulfilling. My team won’t make it into the tournament this year, so I will choose another one. The neat thing is that it only takes five guys, not 22. So smaller schools, like Northern Iowa, have a chance. That can’t happen in football. One year a little school from Terre Haute, Ind., that no one had heard of, and really hasn’t been heard from since, made it all the way to the national championship game. It’s was “Hoosiers” before “Hoosiers.” (By the way, the kid who played Jimmy Chitwood, Maris Valainis, in “Hoosiers,” was cut each of the three times he tried out for his high school team.) I wore Converse All-Stars, because that’s all we had. They were white. When my father was playing, all they had was black. And our shorts looked like tighty boxers. If you’re old enough to remember: The little school from Terre Haute was Indiana State. They had a player named Bird. “Three, 2, 1, Smith from the corner. Scores!” In my sweetest dreams. Craig Marshall Smith is an artist, educator and Highlands Ranch resident. He can be reached at craigmarshallsmith@comcast.net.
Leading by example is powerful If you are like me, you really enjoy it when you can see a leader leading by example. There are some who lead their families, others lead companies or teams, and still others lead communities, organizations, and associations. And yet the ones we seem to respect the most are NOT the ones who lead from afar, or give direction from the ivory tower; the ones we seem to gravitate towards are the leaders who lead from the front. In my line of work I have been truly blessed to have worked for leaders, coaches and trainers who have led by example. Men and women of character and integrity who wouldn’t ask others to do anything that they weren’t prepared to do themselves. I honestly believe that I would not have achieved success in both my personal life or my professional life had it not been for the leaders in the companies I worked for, the leaders who worked with me when I was the CEO or president, the leaders in my church, and the leaders in my community. And I say thank you to each one of them. So as you can see, I have a great appreciation for active, intentional leadership. If you are into history, one leader who led from the front, truly led by example, comes to mind: George Washington. If you haven’t read any of the books written about him, the book “1776” by David McCullough is a great place to start. But I digress, so let me get
back to our story. As I said, one of my very favorite things to observe is when managers, leaders, business owners, fathers, mothers, or others who are in a leadership role lead by example and we get to see it and witness their behavior. If we are smart enough, we may even try and emulate that behavior. And I have a recent story I would like to share with you about someone who truly leads by example. Her name is Nina Hinnendael. I happened to be skiing in Beaver Creek and had the opportunity to see for myself how Nina worked and led by example. She is a manager of a couple of “on-mountain” restaurants and actually the one person who inspired the Candy Cabin at the top of the Strawberry Park lift, chair 12 in Beaver Creek. Her attitude, smile, and work ethic speak for themselves. And as I sat there as a patron I was so impressed by the fact that even as a leader and a manager, she was
Construction-defects bill is needed fix Colorado is uniquely positioned to capitalize on numerous economic advantages that have lowered our unemployment rate, seen strong growth in several identified sectors and generated more than 70,000 new jobs in 2014, while the forecast for this year continues to trend upward. While economists predict a 2.5 percent growth rate for 2015, we are faced with an immense issue — skyrocketing housing costs. A recent analysis by Zillow showed renters would need to make $35 an hour to stay within the rule of thumb regarding share of housing costs to annual income. Denver is a desirable city for millennials who bring ideas, innovation, creativity and passion to the workplace. Our housing costs and lack of diversity threaten the very fabric of attainable and affordable options. As a leading statewide business organization, the Colorado Business Roundtable understands how important providing attainable housing is to community
cleaning tables, greeting customers, socializing with guests, and directing her staff all at the same time, and I asked her permission to write this column. You see I am also a leader. I have a staff, I work in my community, I volunteer, and I get so caught up in my responsibilities I often forget that I should also be leading by example and manage and lead like Nina, doing some more of the heavy lifting. Now, if we focus on you, yes you, you the business owner, you the vice president, you the venture capitalist, you the manager, you the leader of your family, are you leading by example or are you relying solely on what you accomplished in the past? That is one of the challenges that we have, managers and leaders who have met with success but have forgotten what got us there in the first place … hard work, character, and effort. And we know that talent without effort breeds mediocrity. How about you? Are you a Nina? Do you lead from the front and by example? I would love to hear all about it at gotonorton@ gmail.com, and when we remember what leadership is all about, it really will be a better than good week. Michael Norton is a resident of Castle Rock, the former president of the Zig Ziglar Corporation, a strategic consultant and a business and personal coach.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Vote yes on 300
building. COBRT will be unabashedly relentless in our support of options that allow our first responders, teachers, and business community to not only work but also live within our cities and communities. We also have many seniors who desire to live near their children and grandkids who need lowermaintenance properties. Colorado’s construction-defects law
Last year, the county lost out on $5 million dollars due to urban renewal projects. Yet LIFT, our urban renewal board, keeps saying that our taxing entities won’t be affected. The county is currently challenging Littleton’s urban renewal plans in arbitration. We are also waiting on a court decision on why agricultural land (south of Aspen Grove) was included in the Santa Fe area when that is against state law. Littleton Strong’s contributors of $70,000 consist mostly of developers and real estate professionals. This suggests to me that developers and Realtors are afraid of losing out on their corporate welfare — the tax increment financing that would benefit developers but would affect our city’s taxing districts for 25 years. Opponents of 300 complain of the cost for an election every time LIFT would want to use condemnation, eminent domain or special tax financing. How does that compare to the millions of dollars over 25 years of tax dollars being taken from our county, schools and parks? How will it impact the general fund that pays for our museum, fire and police, among
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