{"id":224,"date":"2014-03-14T16:58:22","date_gmt":"2014-03-14T16:58:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/beta.dminlgp.com\/?p=224"},"modified":"2014-08-11T22:25:47","modified_gmt":"2014-08-11T22:25:47","slug":"there-he-was","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/there-he-was\/","title":{"rendered":"There He Was!"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a young college student paying my way through school, I worked in a foods warehouse for Hershey Park.\u00a0 It was a great place to work, and even better, there were some great benefits which came along with the job.\u00a0 First, you could get into the park for free at any time when off of work.\u00a0 Second, you could golf for free (if into that sort of thing) on the world renowned west course which often hosted PGA events. \u00a0And lastly, working in the foods warehouse often meant running into celebrities. \u00a0Well, they weren\u2019t technically visiting us, but rather Hershey\u2019s Star Pavilion and summer concert series would often park the celebrity buses beside our loading docks.\u00a0 One afternoon, while taking a break and eating my brown bag lunch on our old picnic table, a new bus began to park.\u00a0 Unlike most, this bus did not have any branding or logos painted on the outside.\u00a0 Once parked, it only took a few minutes until someone emerged. All of a sudden, standing before me was Gene Simmons, from the band Kiss.\u00a0 With apple in hand, Gene made the fifteen feet walk from the bus door to my old picnic table while asking, “Would it be alright to sit and eat with you?”\u00a0<\/strong> The next 20 minutes of my break was interesting to say the least.\u00a0 Talk about the \u201cit\u201d factor!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

This past week while reading Making Room For Leadership: Power, Space and Influence by MaryKate Morse, I was struck by what the author speaks of as the \u201cit\u201d factor, or more specifically the art of presence.\u00a0 While sitting and talking with Gene Simmons that day, I knew there was something different, yet as a twenty year old, I wasn\u2019t quite sure how to articulate his presence.<\/strong>\u00a0 While reading the \u201cit\u201d factor on presence and body power this week the following three principles began to emerge in regards to my meeting that day with Gene, as well as, key understandings I need to be aware of in any\u00a0 leadership setting for myself.<\/p>\n

3 Keys to \u201cit\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Personal History\u2026<\/strong>\u00a0 The 6 ft. 2 inch Israeli born Gene Simmons did not speak of his band Kiss that day.\u00a0 In fact, after asking him where he was from, he went on to passionately talk about his homeland Israel.\u00a0 Not long after birth was moved to New York City, where as a young boy learned Hebrew and studied the Old Testament scriptures.\u00a0 It was fascinating to say the least.\u00a0 He spoke with passion, resolve and great clarity.\u00a0 He also was quick to ask about my background and life.<\/p>\n

Body Presence\u2026<\/strong>\u00a0 How we carry ourselves communicates a great deal about who we are and what we have to say.\u00a0 As Gene walked up to the table that day, I noticed his height.\u00a0 Though he is tall at 6ft. 2 inches, he also where another inch heel on his shoes.\u00a0 Once seated, he sat straight with confidence, no slouching.\u00a0 He was fully present in physicality and the conversation.<\/p>\n

Eye Contact\u2026\u00a0<\/strong> For many in 2014, eye contact is a rare commodity.\u00a0 On that day in 1993 talking with Gene, he looked me straight in the eyes. \u00a0For a person I just met, I was impacted by his intentionality of interest, questions and most of all, eye contact.\u00a0 Powerful then in 1993, I sense the \u201cit\u201d factor power of presence through eye contact in 2014 could even be more powerful.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

My shift wasn\u2019t over, but my lunch was.\u00a0 In parting I thanked him for the time.\u00a0 One which I\u2019m only beginning to understand with more clarity all these years later.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a young college student paying my way through school, I worked in a foods warehouse for Hershey Park.\u00a0 It was a great place to work, and even better, there were some great benefits which came along with the job.\u00a0 First, you could get into the park for free at any time when off of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2,8],"class_list":["post-224","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dminlgp","tag-morse","cohort-lgp3"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=224"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1541,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224\/revisions\/1541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}