Copy This!: Lessons From a Hyperactive Dyslexic Who Turned a Bright Idea Into One of America's Best Companies by Paul Orfalea

Author:Paul Orfalea
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Industries, Special Education, Learning Disabled, Service, Business, Special Needs, Specific Groups, Company Histories, Biography & History, Management & Leadership, Teacher Resources, Learning Disabilities, Leadership, Business & Money, Professionals & Academics, Biographies & Memoirs, Education & Teaching, Company Profiles, Schools & Teaching
Publisher: Workman Publishing Company
Published: 2007-03-29T21:00:00+00:00

fireplace and drops his drawers and says, `Hey, somebody sewed them shut!' We were al laughing so hard that the group in the condo next to us knocked on our door and invited us to a party because they thought we were having more fun than they were."

Our earliest partner meetings were not formal affairs by any stretch of the imagination. I)id you know that 80 percent of what people learn at conferences they pick up during the breaks? Knowing this, we built in a lot of playtime. In the late seventies and early eighties, I stil had only a handful of partners. When I felt we needed to get together to talk things over, I sometimes cal ed them up and we al flew to Colorado or Utah to ski together. These meetings were never particularly organized. We sat around in the evenings and talked about business and how we could grow the company. We usual y had an agenda to get through.

Dave: Vogias "We would go into a room. We would throw on the floor of the condo al these 81/2 by 11 sheets of our potential ads. Someone would say, Ì can't deal with that one,' and another would say, Ì real y like this one: We would party and go out to dinner. After a ful day of skiing and work, Paul would burn out. He'd go out to his car to sleep. It was winter and freezing and he'd be in his parka. He was like a firecracker. Boom, his energy would crash and he'd be out."

Todd: "This was only the first or second time I'd been skiing. One time, we were al waiting at the bottom of the slope and, al of a sudden, I see this guy skiing down the hil toward us. It was Paul. He had a beat-up gray jumpsuit on, with duct tape over a couple of rips. You know how when you ski, you're supposed to crouch down? Paul skied almost straight-legged. He didn't turn back and forth at al . He didn't look coordinated at al , either. He just came straight down the hil . When, he got to the bottom, he ground to a halt and said, `Whoa! That was exhilarating."'

In later years, we formalized our partners meetings and the ski trips were replaced by more conventional gatherings. But even when we weren't out in parks for picnics or on ski slopes, we tried to bring that spirit of fun-mixed in with plenty of debate-into the meeting rooms. Without a little fun or debate, I could never bear sitting through them.

Embrace the Defect

f you're going to enjoy the picnic that life real y is, you'd better learn . A o like yourself, not despite your flaws and so-cal ed deficits, but because of them. As a dyslexic, I've truly embraced this concept. The picnic was a place where al of us at Kinko's got to be ourselves, to show our goofy, flawed, human sides, and to learn we could like and work with one another despite-or even because-of them.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.