Washington, DC II

Okay … so the events of today (May 19/20) include coaching 90+ presidents of presidents — EOers leading $60 billion in revenue — in a presentation that in many ways has changed me … to dinner at the US Chamber of Commerce (complete with full table made out of ice covered in bowls made of ice filled with shrimp and oysters) …

… to an absolutely insane time at Coyote Ugly (this one is nothing like that fake Vegas rip-off, this was raw, dirty hell, but with 3 amazing just-turned-21-year-old-blondes, 2 bartenders singing and shaking their, well, you know … and this crazy-sexy female police officer named Curry, all dancing on the bar, drunk, crazy, with only 2 fights and a little bleeding by the patrons, and 6 people kicked out at various times as we watched)…

… to then walking (mind you, at 2 in the morning in pitch black) in silence with the Minnesota chapter of EO’s Board of Directors through the WW II Memorial, to the gripping Vietnam Memorial, and all the way up to the Lincoln Memorial. Stopping there and feeling the inspiration of Lincoln’s leadership, and discussing times of reluctant leadership in our lives … and then catching a cab to our hotel, only to find 50 people — many of them newfound friends — in the hotel lobby, loudly drinking and carousing. Out yes, and I just returned to my room from the experience. It’s 3:56 am.

It’s been unbelievable … I have grown so much in leadership and also self-confidence … and know — from being singled out among 500 of my peers in the closing session — that today, at least, I was able to make a small, tiny difference in someone’s (or many?) people’s lives. And everywhere I turned, people I didn’t know knew my name, complimented me, talked to me. For a day I got to be “rock star.” It’s fun. It’s a little annoying. It’s ego-boosting. But wow, I can see how addictive it could get. (And now, M Go — my good friend, who I suspect is the sole reader of this blog — I understand a little bit of what it feels like to be you!)

Anyway, I don’t suspect they’ll be reading, but thanks to everyone who had a hand in today … especially Eric and the local EO board. (And as part of my thank you, I promise I won’t tell too many people about Rachel and Eric’s nice little “alcohol” incidents — separate incidents — last night, either.)

Okay, wow … amazing day. Over and out.