The Invisible Mentor

Posts Tagged ‘Lynn Kahle’

Here are the ways in which seven very accomplished people succeeded in their careers. The interviews are very detailed, and important information often gets buried so I like to extract information for your benefit. I have deliberately not included the fields where these individuals excelled because the information can be transferred to any field. And innovation often occurs when information is taken from one area and applied to another. What are your thoughts?

What are the steps you took to succeed in your field?

Steve Spalding

I made a lot of mistakes. It didn’t stop there though, in the wake of every failed idea or half-cocked project I tried to pull out that reason that everything went wrong. I think it’s OK to fail. I think that entrepreneurship of all stripes, especially in something as esoteric as the web, is about testing and iteration. That being said, I also think that all this embracing failure stuff only works if you understand the fact that you need to use your failures to make better decisions in the future.

Sometimes people listen to folks like me and get too comfortable failing. You should never be comfortable failing! I don’t want you to fail, ever if you can help it but most of us can’t and I want you to accept that and do your best to lose the fear, minimize failures and learn from the ones you can’t get away from.

Gina McAdam

Generally, I was never afraid to try something new and see where it would lead.  I didn’t have fixed ideas and notions about myself. When I did, I knocked on the right doors. But I was lucky always to have an orbit of good and wise people around me for support.

Deborah Koehler

Paying attention to where I spent my brain time.

David Gray

To be successful in my field one typically needs empathy, compassion, a conscientious work ethic and a background in HR. However, to be truly outstanding one additionally needs a great degree of life history in a variety of business settings as well as a high degree of intuitive and innovative intelligence in order to be able to work with people from numerous diverse backgrounds who are each struggling with very individual career and life challenges. In a word, one needs wisdom. And typically, that can only be accumulated over a long period of time after encountering a variety of challenging situations in one’s own career and life.

Michael McCleary

The big thing was really to make a decision that I was going to commit to my career choice and continue to pursue it even when times were tough.  By taking committed steps of action towards a goal, the path becomes clear, even when at first it doesn’t appear to be.

Lynn Kahle

Not so sure that I have but I do keep up and change the content of a course to be as relevant as possible.

Don Martelli

Good education. Staying grounded in my beliefs and vision for my future. Working with smart people that I can learn from. Helping others learn what I know.

How can you use this information? What do you have to add to the conversation? Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right hand side) by email or RSS Feed.

Photo Credit: Google via Apture

Related Posts

The Invisible Mentor Interviews Steve Spalding Part 1, Part 2

The Invisible Mentor Interviews Gina McAdam Part 1, Part 2

The Invisible Mentor Interviews Deborah Koehler Part 1, Part 2

The Invisible Mentor Interviews Michael McCleary Part 1, Part 2

The Invisible Mentor Interviews Lynn Kahle Part 1, Part 2

The Invisible Mentor Interviews Don Martelli Part 1, Part 2

I know there is a lot of information, but go through it slowly and think about it. At some point I will have a PDF of the interviews for download. While reading, jot down the information that applies to your unique situation. How would you answer the interview questions. After you have read the interview extract what you perceive as five great ideas.

Tell me a little bit about yourself.

I am a 48-year old woman, married to a Danish man. We have four children together ages 9-23. Our daughter is the oldest and only the two youngest live at home. I am from Houston, Texas, and moved to Denmark (to a small town north of Copenhagen) in 1985.

Since 1988 we have lived in an old house, built in 1922, which we have refurbished and continue to change and maintain. We also have a fairly big lot, by Danish standards, and one rooster and 11 hens. I spend a lot of money on organic vegetables and fruit as well as milk. I have cut down on the amount of frequency of our meat consumption. I also whole-heartedly support Obama and am very concerned about the environment.

How do you integrate your personal and professional life?

I have had domestic help for years. We just got an au pair and that has really helped. Housework is important but boring, time consuming, and perpetual. (Note from Avil: au pairs share responsibility for the family and some of the housework)

What’s a major regret that you’ve had in life?

That I haven’t travelled more. Still so many places I haven’t seen.

What are five life lessons that you have learned so far?

1. Learn to listen.
2. It is better to give than receive, especially when it’s unexpected.
3. The golden rule still applies.
4. Love is infinite—your children teach you this.
5. Good health, physical and mental, really is priceless.

When you have some down time, how do you spend it?

Food, friends, family, films

What process do you use to generate great ideas?

Swimming laps, jogging, and listening to great talk radio.

What’s your favourite quotation and why?

There’s a better way to do it. Find it! Thomas Edison

How do you define success?

I think it has something to do with being honest, realistic, and altruistic to an extent.

In your opinion what’s the formula for success?

Devoting time to focus on the right things

What are the steps you took to succeed in your field?

Not so sure that I have but I do keep up and change the content of a course to be as relevant as possible.

What advice do you have for someone just starting out in your field?

If you don’t love it, leave it. Do something else. There are a lot of options.

If trusted friends could introduce you to five people that you’ve always wanted to meet, who would you choose? And what would you say to them?

Nelson Mandela, Obama, Bruce Springsteen, Albert Einstein, Peter Drucker. I wouldn’t say much, just listen and feel

Which one book had a profound impact on your life? What was it about this book that impacted you so deeply? Did you have an emotional or intellectual attachment to this book? Why?

Maybe Robert Pirsig’s Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance because it is so brutally honest and goes into such depth about quality.

If you were stranded on a deserted island, what are five books that you would like to have with you and why? Summarize the book in two sentences.

Books I haven’t read yet. Comprehensive books about philosophy, literature, history, art and science/technology

What one music CD and movie would you like to have with you (on the deserted island) and why?

That’s really tough. It would have to be something that didn’t make me feel lonely.

What excites you about life?

Having choices, freedom and happiness

How do you nurture your soul?

Eclectic choices in reading, music and food

If you had a personal genie and she gave you one wish, what would you wish for? Or, if I gave you a magic wand, what would you use it for?

That the natural aging process on my body wasn’t so overt

Complete the following, I am happy when…..

I feel loved

What are three takeaway from Lynn’s interview? How can you apply Linda’s interview? Which aspects resonated with you? What are your five great ideas? Here are 10 great ideas that I pulled from the complete interview.

10 Great Ideas

1. Simplify difficult to understand information
2. Understand the different learning styles so that you can improve communication (Three learning styles are visual, auditory and kinesthetic)
3. People have different perspectives on what they perceive as being important
4. Read, read, read
5. Travel and see the world
6. Keep improving the way you do things. Thomas Edison said, “There’s a better way to do it.”
7. Focus on the things that will take you where you need to go
8. Change to remain relevant
9. You always have options
10. “If you don’t love it, leave it. Do something else.”

Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please comment. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the left side) by email or RSS Feed. I created a Mini Learning Toolkit and you can grab a copy by clicking here.

About Lynn Kahle

Originally from Houston, Texas, Lynn has lived in Copenhagen, Denmark since 1985. She holds a degree in Industrial Distribution from Texas A&M University and worked in industrial sales (pipe, valves and fittings) in Texas and joined Brüel & Kjaer in Denmark in the electro-acoustics department, heading up sales and marketing of studio microphones.

Since 1989, Lynn has been an associate professor of international marketing at Copenhagen University College of Engineering, global business engineering department, and is currently a Ph.D. candidate at Copenhagen Business School’s marketing department. Her topic is Experience Innovation, which is what led her to the GEL (Good Experience Live) conference and Creative Good. She produced euroGel2006 in Copenhagen and is the moderator for Executive Council 9.

Lynn is married to a Dane and they have four children, an old house, and lots of Wyandot hens and one rooster.

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Note: The link  for the book is an Amazon affiliate link.

I am always amazed at my interviewees, they are all so awesome and you can benefit from their wisdom and experience. I conduct these interviews as much for my benefit as yours. I know there is a lot of information, but go through it slowly and think about it.

At some point I will have a PDF of the interviews for download. While reading, jot down the information that applies to your unique situation. How would you answer the interview questions. After you have read Part 1 of the interview extract what you perceive as five great ideas.

Tell me a little bit about yourself.

I am a 48-year old woman, married to a Danish man. We have four children together ages 9-23. Our daughter is the oldest and only the two youngest live at home. I am from Houston, Texas, and moved to Denmark (to a small town north of Copenhagen) in 1985.

Since 1988 we have lived in an old house, built in 1922, which we have refurbished and continue to change and maintain. We also have a fairly big lot, by Danish standards, and one rooster and 11 hens. I spend a lot of money on organic vegetables and fruit as well as milk. I have cut down on the amount of frequency of our meat consumption. I also whole-heartedly support Obama and am very concerned about the environment.

What’s a typical day like for you?

That depends on the time of year and which day of the week it is. My “real” day job is as associate professor at an engineering college where I teach marketing, innovation and business studies. I am also working on and desperately trying to finish my dissertation at Copenhagen Business School. I would like to have had this finished a couple of years ago but I do have a full-time job on the side. I also work as a moderator for an executive council. We meet twice a year in the U.S. I wish I could make my living doing this as I learn so much and enjoy networking.

How do you motivate yourself and stay motivated?

I love to learn…anything. I am constantly trying to improve myself and to help others. I think about happiness a lot and doing the right thing.

If you had to start over from scratch, knowing what you know now, what would you do differently?

I would have started exercising earlier and participated in a sport(s) of some kind. I also think I would have either taken engineering more seriously or studied something else. I sometimes regret that I didn’t end up making a living doing what I studied in a more direct way.

What’s the most important business (or other) discovery you’ve made in the past year?

The power of social networking. Lots of potential, lots of garbage too.

What’s one of the biggest advances in your industry over the past five years?

The Internet, available information, and the limited shelf life of text books.

What are the three threats to your business, your success, and how are you handling them?

Information overload, technology, and my inability to keep up. What to prioritize in teaching? I feel like we have to sacrifice depth to breadth sometimes.

What’s unique about the service that you provide?

As a teacher I really work on context and communicating the big picture, as I understand it, through my own experience to my students.

What do you observe most people in your field doing badly that you think you do well?

Communicating, in the sense of making difficult subject matter less elusive

Describe a major business (or other) challenge you had and how you resolved it.

Trying to understand different learning styles. A coaching program one year ago helped me to realize and accept this.

What lessons did you learn in the process?

People have different perspectives on what they think is important, also in a temporal context.

Tell me about your big break and who gave you.

Being invited to write my Ph.D. at CBS, by the department head, Ricky Wilke

Describe one of your biggest failures. What lessons did you learn, and how did it contribute to a greater success?

Not understanding the responsibilities and expectations of my first job in Denmark. I have since learned to prioritize and plan better, especially in a longer-term perspective.

What has been your biggest disappointment in your life – and what are you doing to prevent its reoccurrence?

Assuming that my parents were always right and knew what was best for me. I should have accepted a scholarship I was offered and studied on the East Coast. My mother wanted me to stay close to home and my father wanted me to study engineering. I ended up doing both, at Texas A&M University. I never fit in, didn’t really enjoy it, and should have moved far away and found more liberal and intellectual folks to be in my sphere. I have done this as an adult.

What’s one of the toughest decisions you’ve had to make and how did it impact your life?

Leaving the U.S. which ended up being permanent (so far). It means that I sometimes feel as if I am in no man’s land, culturally. I can feel extremely alienated from U.S. culture and I’m not Danish either. I think it has been a wise choice in terms of quality of life and a good place to rear children.

What are three events that helped to shape your life?

Living overseas as a child (twice), learning two languages other than English, and moving as an adult to Denmark.

What’s an accomplishment that you are proudest of?

It’s not original but it’s genuine…my four children!

How did mentors influence your life?

I can’t think of any mentors and that makes me sad…

As an Invisible Mentor, what is one piece of advice that you would give to readers?

READ.

What are three takeaway from Lynn’s interview? How can you apply Linda’s interview? Which aspects resonated with you? What are your five great ideas?

Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please comment. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right side) by email or RSS Feed. I created a Mini Learning Toolkit and you can grab a copy by clicking here.

About Lynn Kahle

Originally from Houston, Texas, Lynn has lived in Copenhagen, Denmark since 1985. She holds a degree in Industrial Distribution from Texas A&M University and worked in industrial sales (pipe, valves and fittings) in Texas and joined Brüel & Kjaer in Denmark in the electro-acoustics department, heading up sales and marketing of studio microphones.

Since 1989, Lynn has been an associate professor of international marketing at Copenhagen University College of Engineering, global business engineering department, and is currently a Ph.D. candidate at Copenhagen Business School’s marketing department. Her topic is Experience Innovation, which is what led her to the GEL (Good Experience Live) conference and Creative Good. She produced euroGel2006 in Copenhagen and is the moderator for Executive Council 9.

Lynn is married to a Dane and they have four children, an old house, and lots of Wyandot hens and one rooster.

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