We are all a little weird and life’s a little weird, and when we find some one whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love.
Dr. Suess
8 months ago
Five most influential people in my life
Got this idea from James Gardner and thought I’d follow his lead to starting this new meme. Who would I classify as the 5 most influential people in my life? Hmmm….tough tough question but let me try.
1a) Father AKA Henry Garland - I’m wired like my Dad. Stubborn, constantly distracted, surprisingly sensitive at times, and a 100% entrepreneur at heart. He set the bar high. I have learned from his successes in business and as equally as important, his mistakes, and for that I’m incredibly grateful.
1b) Mother AKA Roz Garland - (sidebar: I know, I know, parents are so cliche but it’s true.) My mom and I have always had a strained relationship but I would say that is because we’re so much alike. We’re equally stubborn, a bit dramatic at times, and always striving for absolute perfection. My mom has taught tons of great things from my love of the arts, design, music, and doing the things that make you happy.
2) Michael Gerber (author of E-Myth) - I obviously don’t know Michael but his book changed me when I read it. It was the clarity that many people are looking for in regards to building a business. Now with that said, I don’t believe everything he says but I definitely think his organizational approach has effective be as a CEO.
3) Dr. Lori Byers AKA college professor - Lori was easily the most influential teacher of my life. She was my Communications professor from UNT. She was able to take us out of our selfish, holier-than-thou perspectives and made consider other options. From demographics, to gender, to cultural and religious differences. She always lead classes by getting out of the way and allowing us to find our own opinions instead of buying into hers. She’s a gem.
4) Courtney Treadaway - Court is an old old friend of mine. He’s also been a best friend/co-worker/roommate/employee too. My parents originally didn’t think Court was a good influence on me but turned out to be the most positive while growing up. Court has a pretty amazing story in his own right but his/our battles along the way have taught me the priority of things.
5) Al Gore - The vice-president? Well not really him specifically but what I really mean is what Al Gore helped get started. The Internet has connected me with new insights and perspectives from people around the globe that without it, I would never have even consider. People like Larry Lessig, Chris Anderson (Wired), Chris Anderson (TED curator), Clay Shirky, John Battelle, Tara Hunt, Ryan Carson, Jason Fried, Kevin Rose, Gary Vaynerchuk, Tim Ferriss, Malcolm Gladwell, Craig Newmark, Jeff Bezos, Jason Calacanis and so so SO many more. They have all been influences in my life sorry that I cheated there but if you want to single one person out (jokingly), I’d say Al Gore.
Pass it on. Who are the 5 most influential people in your life?
Also posting @bradgarland on Twitter.
I watch people and how they do things.
That’s right, I’m a people watcher.
My wife and I both are…we enjoy going to places and just watching the types of people that are all around us and start thinking about the lives that they live completely disconnected from our own. Last week, we were both in Vegas for a conference I presented at and we could’ve people watched all day long. On the plane trip home I noticed a man and his wife sitting across from us minding their own business but check this picture out (I couldn’t resist).
Now two things are going on in this picture.
1) The Obvious - I dunno how this guy sleeps that way. I’d have a neck problem for a month!
2) The Subtle - His wife, sitting next to him. If you look closely you’ll see her writing away in her address book. This is what got my attention more than the old man. What she was doing was transcribing her addresses from her OLD address book into a NEW address book. I could see that she had contact after contact of people that she was patiently writing from one book to another. So me and all my geekery started translating this into a technology discussion.
Why would she do this? Why not put it in the computer and store it indefinitely, update it at her leisure, and not have to spend hours inputting this data ever again? WHY?!?
Since I had time to spare on the plane ride I let me mind wander. I find things like this interesting because I’m always trying to understand the gap differences between generations and why Gen X/Y’s do what we do and why Boomers/Pre-Boomers do what they do. It all relates back to me to the financial industry and why people like in the photo go into branches for every single transaction they ever do and then there are people like myself that hasn’t been IN a branch for years.
I came to the conclusion that is was a comfortability issue. She did it that way because I’m sure she’s done this same task 10-20 times before and its what she knows. Her technology of having a smaller address book is far more advanced than putting it down on an large address book binder that she couldn’t tote around with her. She keeps her little address book in her purse and knows she can go to it at any point. It has, in a way, become a security blanket for her…she relies on it to be there in her purse when she calls on it. The thought of having a cell phone with all this data probably hasn’t even crossed her mind and if it had, she probably dismissed it just as fast because it sounded too complex for her to accomplish. That statement in itself is another interesting discussion. How ‘she’ judges that as complex.
Aren’t people interesting?
