Sonoma Dreaming

This week is the quiet before the storm, for May is chock-a-block with conferences, presentations, and writing porjects. I hate to tread the same ground twice, so I'm inventing lots of new content and fresh examples. Several years ago, my preparation would have included meticulously planning inputs and outputs, due dates and audience profiles, notes and journal entries, and a field of PostIt notes. In an unpredictable world, this old logic no longer applies.

After a charming lunch with a friend in Sonoma, I drove up the long, tree-lined driveway to the former home of General Mariano G. Vallejo (1808-1890), who, at the age of 30, was named comandante-general of California. His charming carpenter gothic home, built in 1850, is now a state park. I sat on a bench across from a one-room meditation cottage by a fountain in the side garden.

I inhaled a few deep breaths, tuned in to the babbling fountain, and gave my hand the freedom to scribble whatever came to mind. After a bit of pruning, I'd roughed out some changes in the world that can serve as the foundation of my upcoming presentations:

Schadenfreude continuation.

Fifteen years ago, a French chateau appeared in the southern section of Sonoma Valley known as Carneros. It's a knock-off ot the Taittinger family chateau in Champagne. The day's work nearly done, I felt compelled to stop.

I liked the Brut better than the pricier rose and the all-chardonnay Reve de Blancs-de-blancs. Alas, the bubbles disappeared from the Brut before I'd finished my half-glass sample.

Small world. The fellow who brought my wine sampler and I struck up a conversation. He conducts an online leadership program through a local college. Soon we were doing riffs on value-driver collaboration.

By now you may be wondering, "Has Jay totally lost it?" Maybe. But I think it's more the return of spring, bright sunshine, and flowers everywhere.

Here's where I'm investing my time these days, not in priority order:

Posted by Jay Cross at April 29, 2004 11:58 AM | TrackBack