Brian Lawrence

In early April I took a two week business trip to Kolkata India....

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 17:03:59 -0400

In early April I took a two week business trip to Kolkata India. This is a speech about the expectations and assumptions I took with me on that trip and how the trip met those expectations.

This is speech 9 entitled ‘SKI’. One of my good...

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 18:05:52 -0500

This is speech 9 entitled ‘SKI’. One of my good toastmaster friends competed with me.. our speech objectives were to Persuade with Power.. So he focused on why you the audience should snowboard and I focused on why you should SKI!!

Latest Toastmasters speech on Communicating with Confidence. I...

Sat, 03 Dec 2011 11:20:16 -0500

Latest Toastmasters speech on Communicating with Confidence. I took home first place for this one during a battle royal with some tough competition!

My first prepared speech in a Toastmasters humorous speech...

Sun, 18 Sep 2011 17:24:48 -0400

My first prepared speech in a Toastmasters humorous speech contest. I faced off against some very tough competition. Six others battled me and I came away with 3rd place. Not too bad! This speech is an attempt at making you laugh with some funny examples from this past summer. I put this together in less than a week and I think it came out pretty good!

Guest Blog on DigitalReveries.com - Music&Life

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 22:00:00 -0400

I hit a milestone today! My first guest blog on someone else’s blog. This blog is about a theory I came up with based on the phases of life and music. Thanks Sunny for letting me post! Check it out here!

How will the World End? My fourth Toastmaster speech about end...

Wed, 08 Jun 2011 05:03:19 -0400

How will the World End? My fourth Toastmaster speech about end of the world theories with a look at the theory I believe in.. the Pan Theory!

THE PASSING OF THE STRONGEST WOMAN I KNOW

Sat, 21 May 2011 10:12:00 -0400

Many of you know that my mother has been fighting Sarcoidosis for the past 6 years. It has been a very difficult journey for her and my family over these years but she has always stayed positive. This strength and unwavering positive attitude has inspired everyone who came into contact with her. No matter what I was going through in my life, I always thought of mom and was inspired to stay positive.

On Friday May 20th around 2:15 her fight with this disease ended and she went home. The following is an email that my dad sent out Saturday morning to our church family and I would like to share it with you.

Calvary Friends,

You have all been such dear friends and continue to show your love of Christ to us as our family faced the trials of Bev’s illness and now her passing to be with our Lord. I wanted to let you know what happened at Bev’s passing yesterday since it was such a comfort to our family and hopefully in some small way will help comfort you who like us loved her dearly. Please feel free to pass this along to anyone that you think would be blessed by what happened.

After a number of conversations with the doctors and receiving the news that her kidney’s were about to shut down and even though some of the doctors wanted to continue treatment hoping to save her liver we as a family decided not to go forward with any additional treatments. After her seizure Tuesday night she never regained consciousness and even in the coma we could see on her face that she was still experiencing pain from the Sarcoids that has been so active this year.

Once the consent to pull life support was signed the nurses moved very quickly to prepare her for removing the ventilator. The family waited outside the room until they were finished then we were allowed in around 2:08pm. I, the kids and her brother and sister were in the room with her. She was breathing on her own, but with very shallow breaths, but showed no pain and looked peaceful. We talked to her and after a few minutes I put my hand on her chest and prayed aloud that if it was God’s will at this time it was OK with the family to take her home to relieve her from further suffering. It was raining outside and her brother Rick said look outside and when we looked up a hole in the clouds was opening up and a ray of sun shown in front of the hospital window into the Grand View parking lot. I looked down at Bev and said God is opening heaven for you. Her head was facing Brian sitting on the other side of the bed and her eyes opened a little and her head moved from one side of the bed to my side facing me and my daughter Jen said Dad mom just passed away. At that moment we looked outside and the hole in the clouds closed up and it started raining again. Only about 10 minutes had passed and I told the family that God had just opened up heaven to take Bev home and now he was crying with us as we mourned her leaving us.

We all felt including Rick and Debbie that God was taking her home and letting us know she was with him. The timing was perfect and it gave us all a peace about making the difficult decision not to continue treatment and to remove her from life support. After 6 years of fighting the good fight we know that Bev is dancing again with Jesus. When we came home our grandsons were there and I told the story to Josh who is 10 years old. I didn’t give any time but just related the events and how grandma was with God now. He asked if it was about 2:00 when grandma passed away because he and his class saw the sun come out and then close up and start raining again and that like us he got to see grandma go to heaven.

Thanks for your love and God Bless you all,

Ken and family

I love you Mom.

Update: This photo was taken May 20th around 2:15 by a church friend. They were waiting for the sky to clear for a wedding they were attending.

When was the last time you did something a little crazy with...

Sat, 07 May 2011 16:22:45 -0400

When was the last time you did something a little crazy with your children? My son Josh has been studying planets in school over the past several weeks. He was told that we may be able to see some very early in the morning. So we decided to go planet hunting this morning at 5:30 AM and had a blast!

“Each day of our lives we make deposits in the memory banks of our children.” ~Charles R. Swindoll

Leadership Lessons from the 30 Precepts of The Sages

Sat, 23 Apr 2011 11:56:02 -0400

I have the habit of reading a Proverb a day (works out nice since there are 31 Proverbs and at most 31 days in a month!). I have found throughout the years that no matter how many times I may read a Proverb, I always discover something new.

As I was reading this month, the thirty Precepts of the Sages stood out to me (Proverbs: 22:17 to 24:22). These precepts are sound pieces of advice no matter how you look at them, after all they are in Proverbs and associated with Sages (wise philosophers known for making sound judgments). When looked at from a business leadership perspective, they can be very helpful and applicable even in today’s fast paced environment. The following is my own translation of the precepts through my career/business eyes.

Don’t take advantage of people to get yourself ahead, in the end you will lose.
Negativity is contagious, so stay away from negative people. (Much like Passion is contagious - so be PASSIONATE!)
Be sure to consider all aspects before making a deal, don’t put yourself into debt because if you fail to pay you will lose it all.
Maintain integrity and honor deals made even if they have been made in the past.
Highly skilled people are hard to find and should be held onto if at all possible.
Always remember who you are talking to no matter where you are.
Don’t burn yourself out, we all need rest and refreshment at some point.
Be careful with gifts from people with hidden motives, better to not accept them as it could burn you in the end.
Don’t argue with people who just like to argue, it’s not worth your time.
Never cheat or be dishonest with people even if you can, those you trample on will be avenged.
Be disciplined and learn new things as often as possible.
When someone makes a mistake or does something wrong, confront them and make them aware.. they will never learn if they do not know.
When those around you are wise, you will be happy so surround yourself with wise people!
Don’t envy those who have no integrity despite who they may be, follow your principles and your future will be bright.
Everything in moderation, those who overindulge will always live in mediocrity.
Respect those who have mentored and coached you, remember what they taught you and continue to always seek advice from those around you.
Keep your guard up when it comes to relationships, choose wisely, being in a relationship with the wrong person is fatal.
Those with a victim mentality will never get ahead unless they stop blaming others and start taking responsibility for their own actions.
Be on your guard, some people really are evil, stay away from them!
A successful business is started on wisdom, established through understanding and kept running smoothly through knowledge.
An understanding of the big picture paired with good advice is critical for success.
When you are in a serious meeting, make sure those who are in the meeting are the right people.
If you put plans into place without integrity, it will eventually become public knowledge and no one will be able to trust you again.
Tough times will show one’s true character.
No action can be just as bad as negative action, ignorance is no excuse for failing to act when you know you should have.
The attainment of wisdom needs to be at the top of your list, it is critical to secure your future.
A winner will continue to bounce back and try again after a failure while a loser falls once and stays down.
Don’t become arrogant and gloat about a success over an adversary, that may come back to bite you in the end.
Do not worry about what negative people may be doing or saying, they have no future and will not last.
Respect God and those in authority over you, be careful what groups you get involved with, make sure they are always on the up and up.

Proverbs rocks!

Back in July of 2010, the boys and I filmed our trip to the...

Thu, 21 Apr 2011 20:05:16 -0400

Back in July of 2010, the boys and I filmed our trip to the Jersey Shore. We then submitted the footage along with thousands of other people to participate in Life in a Day. Of the over 4500 hours of footage submitted, our footage made it into the top 100!!..

On January 27th of 2011, the world premiere of the film occurred on YouTube. The boys and I eagerly watched in anticipation.. hoping to see ourselves appear..

We never did see ourselves but we all enjoyed the movie.. and in a way we did help to create it. If you did not see it back in January it is now going to be showing up this summer in the theaters. I would highly recommend going to see the movie the boys and I had a part in making!

Hopefully something like this happens again because it was a BLAST participating in!

How did I spend some of my vacation time this past winter? Check...

Thu, 07 Apr 2011 19:05:24 -0400

How did I spend some of my vacation time this past winter? Check it out, my first ski action video.. It came out ok, a little unstable but with the speed enhancements and music it is kind of a rush! The music is by Nastia Clear with vocals in Russian so I am not sure what the lyrics are but it sounds awesome!

Great end to my ski season this year. Now bring on Spring and CAMPING!
FYI if you watch until the end, there is a bonus clip which is pretty funny!

Driving home from work and saw a license plate that said,...

Thu, 03 Mar 2011 22:44:10 -0500

Driving home from work and saw a license plate that said, “Few Do”, so I recorded this quick video blog about it!

The Art of Creating Memories - some strategy for you to have a...

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 00:16:37 -0500

The Art of Creating Memories - some strategy for you to have a fully lived life with some amazing memories! This was speech 3 from the Competent Communication Curriculum.

Not my best speech, but I did get some great feedback that I will make sure I incorporate into future speeches, where else could you get feedback and support like that? Toastmasters!!

Back in June I started reading “The Leadership...

Thu, 23 Dec 2010 23:35:06 -0500

Back in June I started reading “The Leadership Moment” by Michael Useem. This book was suggested by an advisor of mine and for those of you who are in leadership positions or would like to be, you need to read this. I decided that after each chapter I would provide a video blog review… I am finally just about finished up reading through and I have been recording on and off over the past half a year. The first one was released today, I have already filmed all except the last two which I will be wrapping up over vacation. So check it out - Six months in the making!

SsZ Tv video version.

YPCareer Article version.

My second Toastmaster speech. For the topic I chose investing...

Wed, 01 Dec 2010 22:41:46 -0500

My second Toastmaster speech. For the topic I chose investing and how one can invest to win!

Only 8 more speeches to go until I can get my CC (Competent Communicator) award. For those of you who are looking for something new or a way to make your week a little more interesting, you need to look into joining a Toastmasters club. It is very likely there is one around your location. You will not regret it!

Diwali Dancing - be Victorious!

Sat, 06 Nov 2010 09:45:35 -0400

I am very fortunate to be able to work in a diverse work environment. This past week one of the employee resource groups at my company celebrated Diwali. This provided me with a unique opportunity to do something I typically wouldn’t be able to do at work.. Dance!!

I think this video shows and re-enforces what I have said in previous blog posts, one of the key principles of being effective in work and life is INVOLVEMENT. Get involved with activities and organizations outside of your normal work day. This not only makes your work day fun but helps your career as it forces you to network and get to know some amazing people you may otherwise have never had a chance to meet.

Yes that’s me in the Green Kurta.

Be Proactive - Take Initiative!

Sun, 17 Oct 2010 22:01:14 -0400

Be Proactive - Take Initiative!

Life In A Day Update!

Sun, 10 Oct 2010 20:43:25 -0400

Just a quick update about our participation in Life in A Day. This is an event the boys and I took part in back on July 24th. (Check here for that blog) We captured 70 minutes of our Saturday Shore trip and had a blast! So did MANY MANY other people, over 80,000 videos (around 5,000 HOURS of footage) were submitted according to the lifeinaday youtube channel.

Out of those 5,000 hours they have narrowed it down to around 100 hours..

And guess what..

YES our footage has made it into the top 100 hours being considered for the film!!! While they have made it clear this is no guarantee that our footage will get into the final cut, it is still pretty amazing!

Next steps are to upload the raw footage, sign some forms and hope for the best!

Perkasie and our area had a rough week.. Almost everyone’s...

Sun, 03 Oct 2010 17:43:39 -0400

Perkasie and our area had a rough week.. Almost everyone’s basement was flooded and a barn in Bedminster burnt down.. reminded me of Proverb 27:1.

Blog Tutorial - 3 Easy Steps to Start Your Blogging Career

Mon, 27 Sep 2010 21:34:07 -0400

Blog Tutorial - 3 Easy Steps to Start Your Blogging Career:

Over the past several weeks I have given out advice to many people about how to start a blog. Since this seems to be a popular topic, I have created a short on how to start one in 3 easy steps! Check it out.