About
Riding in the Rain
“The way to develop self-confidence is to do the thing you fear and get a record of successful experiences behind you.” — William Jennings Bryan, American politician and orator. (1860-1925)
In 2010 I borrowed my friend’s heavy cruiser and took my son out for a short ride. When we stopped for lunch I hoped the rain storm was going to pass through quickly. Unfortunately on our ride back to my friend’s house we found ourselves in a heavy rain storm. Instead of smoothly navigating a slow right hand turn through a puddle I dumped my friend’s bike on its right side and damaged the chrome engine guard and leather saddle bag.
The accident shocked us. We were strangely excited and could barely feel our bruises. After the adrenaline wore off I told my friend about the accident. I felt really stupid too. My son and I could have died or become permanently disabled. Part of me was filled with fear and never wanted to ride a motorcycle again.
After that accident I decided to confront my fear of riding in the rain and transform it into a source of strength. With each ride in the rain I could feel my fear of failure (dumping the bike in the rain) slowly diminish and my self-confidence and riding skills increase. Instead of 0f feeling ashamed of my poor judgement I proudly described my commitment to riding in the rain.
This simple story reflects how I want to live each day of the my life. I want to understand & accept my mistakes and feel the fear they create. Instead of living a small life constrained by fear I will chose to directly engage in fearful situations with the intent of transforming these fears into strengths.
Professional Experience
I am a seasoned information technology leader with a passion for and proven success in rescuing stalled strategic initiatives, transforming challenging relationships into collaborative partnerships, delivering results through people, and enjoy working in fast paced, complex, matrix organizations – delivering millions in bottom line savings.
My approach to starting a new assignment can be summarized with the following phrase: “Listen, Learn, and Add-Value”. It is important to: 1) Listen to your new boss, peers and customers. 2) Learn how they operate, and 3) incrementally “Add-Value” to their business processes and technical solutions.
My approach to leadership can be summarized with the following phrase: “Work Hard, Have Fun, and Make History”. This was Amazon.com’s first mission statement. The first two components speak for themselves. I believe it is important to work hard, have fun and exceed the customer’s expectations. “Make History” refers to building lasting relationships with the people we work with.
Contact Details
Tom Turner
Email: tom at tomturnerjr dot com
Phone: +1 847-452-1004
