Looking Ahead
Brass Elephants
Last week we were asked to bring a personal artifact to a workshop. And after much hand-wringing over what item of personal significance to bring to a professional training, I opted for one of a pair of brass elephant sculptures given to me by Raj, a beloved colleague, several Christmases ago.
I had brought Raj to Arlington to build an Oracle team to salvage an unsuccessful implementation and put in place the processes and practices that would serve the school system well moving forward. He was young, skilled, highly professional and fully capable of the task. More noteworthy to me, Raj was thoughtful, reflective, humble and he had the “soft skills” - the people skills to lead the culture change necessary to successfully integrate Oracle into the existing work environment. From the first time I spoke to him on the phone, through the hiring process, the many long and difficult meetings successfully getting the work done, and e
