on stepping up
Teichman
On December 5th, 2010, another incredible Veteran’s Holiday Celebration took place where many vets and volunteers drank from a well that can only come from the hard work, love and devotion of a very powerful community of men and women committed to embracing humanity and those who have sacrificed so much to preserve it.
And on that day, Poker Canyon along with other men and women, continued their legacy of impeccable service as the Logistics Team, which I had the honor to lead as PTM along with my 2nd, Beth Porter, formally with the FOW.
I have found there is nothing that will mirror who I am as a man and what I have learned over the years I have spent on a men’s team, than by leading a major event. It exposed the very fabric of my being, and through it, I came to know things about myself I never could by just taking in theory, passively sitting in my chair week after week in meetings. I have discovered that true growth can only occur through taking action, and it revealed to me my authentic self and the power of a team.
I got a taste of how much I’m used to doing it alone. “I” had to figure everything out. “I” had to order all the busses, Porta Potties, Star Wagons, barricades, signs, “I” had to find the lots, organize the team, and “I” wanted to be spoon fed all the answers so “I” could control everything! The idea of bringing in a 2nd needed to be presented to me with the tradition of teaming up men with women.
“You could ask Beth Porter who did it last year, but she already declined.”
It was at this point that I remembered our most powerful tool, the CPR.
In order to do a CPR I actually had to put down task and catch my breath. After all, my default context, “I hope I don’t fuck this thing up,” really wasn’t working.
I replaced it with, “Efficient service, care and fun.”
At that point, things began to change.
There’s a reason men and women in relationship together make a powerful unit, (outside of making babies,) because women are all about relationship. With men, it’s easy to fall into task mode cause that’s what we do. We build shit and blow shit up. The beautiful thing about women, is they make it virtually impossible to ignore relationship and hence, context. It’s where women live and how they operate. Relationship is directed by context and context can only be delivered through relationship. Nothing can keep a man on track like a women can.
It worked. All Beth needed was a powerfully delivered context to bring her on board and she was like a loyal seeing eye dog and relationship interpreter throughout the journey, always keeping me off task and on context. When I slipped she let me know the way women do. It wasn’t training, it was just natural for her.
The biggest lesson I learned was that context was more important than any of the details. Without it, the details were overwhelming, and with it, all the details fell into place. I also learned with context, I empower my men to do what they do versus the task mode of micro managing. Poker Canyon is like a fine tuned Ferrari.
I don’t have to be the engine and push it up hill, I just have to find the right key, turn it, feel it roar, steer it to where it needs to go, and stay the fuck out of the way.
Every problem was no problem when I held context, and the problems never stopped coming in.
At the end of the day there was a glow in the air. A knowing that we have done it again. It is a feeling that will never fit in a bottle or come from one. It was the intense power of human connection on all levels from being of service together.
But it was best summed up for us by words spoken by Kristi Knight, who has really been up against it in her personal life. She intimated to us, with teary eyes, her memories and feelings of her father. He was the only man she trusted. When she thought of him, she saw a military man of unfaltering commitment and integrity. She related to us that she sadly doesn’t see these qualities in men anywhere in the world.....
except for the Logistics team.
That was the ultimate paycheck.
Teichman,
Poker Canyon.
And on that day, Poker Canyon along with other men and women, continued their legacy of impeccable service as the Logistics Team, which I had the honor to lead as PTM along with my 2nd, Beth Porter, formally with the FOW.
I have found there is nothing that will mirror who I am as a man and what I have learned over the years I have spent on a men’s team, than by leading a major event. It exposed the very fabric of my being, and through it, I came to know things about myself I never could by just taking in theory, passively sitting in my chair week after week in meetings. I have discovered that true growth can only occur through taking action, and it revealed to me my authentic self and the power of a team.
I got a taste of how much I’m used to doing it alone. “I” had to figure everything out. “I” had to order all the busses, Porta Potties, Star Wagons, barricades, signs, “I” had to find the lots, organize the team, and “I” wanted to be spoon fed all the answers so “I” could control everything! The idea of bringing in a 2nd needed to be presented to me with the tradition of teaming up men with women.
“You could ask Beth Porter who did it last year, but she already declined.”
It was at this point that I remembered our most powerful tool, the CPR.
In order to do a CPR I actually had to put down task and catch my breath. After all, my default context, “I hope I don’t fuck this thing up,” really wasn’t working.
I replaced it with, “Efficient service, care and fun.”
At that point, things began to change.
There’s a reason men and women in relationship together make a powerful unit, (outside of making babies,) because women are all about relationship. With men, it’s easy to fall into task mode cause that’s what we do. We build shit and blow shit up. The beautiful thing about women, is they make it virtually impossible to ignore relationship and hence, context. It’s where women live and how they operate. Relationship is directed by context and context can only be delivered through relationship. Nothing can keep a man on track like a women can.
It worked. All Beth needed was a powerfully delivered context to bring her on board and she was like a loyal seeing eye dog and relationship interpreter throughout the journey, always keeping me off task and on context. When I slipped she let me know the way women do. It wasn’t training, it was just natural for her.
The biggest lesson I learned was that context was more important than any of the details. Without it, the details were overwhelming, and with it, all the details fell into place. I also learned with context, I empower my men to do what they do versus the task mode of micro managing. Poker Canyon is like a fine tuned Ferrari.
I don’t have to be the engine and push it up hill, I just have to find the right key, turn it, feel it roar, steer it to where it needs to go, and stay the fuck out of the way.
Every problem was no problem when I held context, and the problems never stopped coming in.
At the end of the day there was a glow in the air. A knowing that we have done it again. It is a feeling that will never fit in a bottle or come from one. It was the intense power of human connection on all levels from being of service together.
But it was best summed up for us by words spoken by Kristi Knight, who has really been up against it in her personal life. She intimated to us, with teary eyes, her memories and feelings of her father. He was the only man she trusted. When she thought of him, she saw a military man of unfaltering commitment and integrity. She related to us that she sadly doesn’t see these qualities in men anywhere in the world.....
except for the Logistics team.
That was the ultimate paycheck.
Teichman,
Poker Canyon.
