Grand Dynamics International

Wow, what and exciting past few weeks and and exciting future ahead! I am writing now from our California office where things are ramping up quite nicely. Here are a few recent highlights!

Multi-day Team Building event with Web-Sense in Jackson Hole – Grand Dynamics delivered an action-packed multi-day program for Web-Sense participants from across the globe. More than 42 participants representing more than 15 countries converged in Jackson Hole to celebrate their success and foster team-work and collaboration. Our three days includes a custom-designed sled-building event, an in-town teaming with GPS program and complex search and rescue scenario on snow-mobiles! Thanks to the awesome GDI Team – Chuck, Diane, Adrian, Rob and Brendan – for spot on delivery.

Data-Net Solutions Team Building – I traveled to San Diego to work with Data-Net President Mandy Parent and her Data-Net team. What a pleasure that was! What can I say about Mandy Parent? She’s AWESOME! She exemplifies exceptional leadership and continiues to make her professional, team and organizational development a MUST. The program was a series of team initiatives that provoked excellent insights about how to foster a positive culture and environment for success. It continues to be an honor to work with Mandy and her team – a relationship we have maintained for more than five years!

STAFFING UPDATES – We are excited to have Stephanie Sibille joining the Grand Dynamics team as a Program Specialist. She will be representing Grand Dynamics at industry conferences, including the upcoming Association for Experiential Education Western Region conference and, and leading sales efforts with Holly Baade in the Western States region, including San Francisco Bay area events. Stephanie is a sharp, energetic individual and we are excited to have her join our team! Welcome Stephanie!

Summer Interns – We are also excited to be finaliziing our Grand Dynamics summer interns for both Jackson Hole and New York offices. I’ll comment more about that later – but it is always great to share the wealth of experience with excited interns!

UPCOMING EVENTS

COINS 3 Peak Challenge – UK – and USA! On May 6, the GDI Team is traveling to the UK to climb the high peaks of Scotland, England and Wales in the Number 1 construction industry networking and fundraising adventure! Check it out! http://www.coins3peakschallenge.com/cp_root/h/Home/The_Event/1/ And what’s more is that we are doing so to create the Coins 3 Peak Challenge – USA! This construction industry networking and fund-raising adventure will take place September 19-20 in the Northeast where teams of 4 will climb the high peaks of Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont! http://www.coins3peakschallenge.com/usa/h/Home/Home/21/

SEEKING TRUE NORTH – LAKE PLACID – check out the info about this incredible opportunity! Rick and I will be together with whoever wants to join us for this amazing weekend of leadership development in an inspirational setting. This will take place over Memorial Day Weekend. Please register today and join us! See the Compass on the STN home page for seminar information and registration.

SEEKING TRUE NORTH – BALTIMORE – One June 11th we will be delivering a one-day program for CFMA members that is also open to the public to join us for the ACTION-PACKED LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT DAY! I will be joined with the great Todd Walther, brother and GDI managing partner. Todd primed the pumps with his CFMA breakfast presentation – Riding the Possibility Curve and Seeking True North. Todd facilitated a series of leadership development topics related to HOW WE VIEW THE WORLD, our perspectives on business and how we can optimize our resources and experiences during current economic challenges. Yeah Todd! Register today! See the compass on the STN home page for seminar information.

SEEKING TRUE NORTH JACKSON HOLE – Another STN event at the place where it all began – Jackson Hole, Wyoming! Save the date for this incredible event at the end of September this year. See the Compass on this home page for seminar information and registration.

TIM’s ADVENTURES – Well – I am off for my annual Spring Abalone Diving Trip! What an adventure it will be. Diving 30 feet down to search for the elusive abalone amidsts crashing waves, flowing kelp and abundant rocks… let’s not forget dodging great white sharks! (Keep your fingers crossed for me!) From there we will head to Yosemite Valley for a couple days of rock climbing! Gary, my long time friend and climbing parner will be there and I can’t wait for the Yosemite Cracks! I will give updates upon my return next week.

Keep on smiling … and LIVE YOUR ADVENTURE!

Tim Walther
GDI President

Let’s SIFE IT UP! That was the mantra for the evening as we built up with energy just before I went on to deliver my keynote to the Sheridan business community. The speech was a fund-raiser event for Students in Free Enterprise at Sheridan College and was the culmination of a series of events with an international cultural theme. What a crowd and what a speech. I felt very welcome there – much thanks for Curtis and Loren and the crew for the hospitality and just totally embracing the message.

After a nice run with TELOS, (yes-he made the 8 hour harrowing road trip with me) I warmed up in the afternoon with a speech to the college students that started out with my story of Entrepreneurship and GDI highlights of the last ten years. I started and finished that speech by asking the question that every college student hears over and over and over… you know the one, “WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO?” Interweaving the story of creating your future with passion and some stories of challenges and successes over the last several years was quite fun and, from what I heard, impactful. Then I transitioned into The Spirit of Mokwai story which I just love. One of the highlights was the debut of BRING IT BACK – the trailer Scott Fessler put together. The crowd loved it and cheered at the end! Sweet. Nice work, Scottie.

And then the Keynote – well there’s about a thousand things I could say about how exciting that was for me and how the Seeking True North message was delivered and received. I will say this – The STN Message is one of PRACTICAL INSPIRATION. And yes, that’s a phrase that I just thought of, and it seems to ring true. An inspiring message that engages the audience to think about the principles and how they apply to their life, and how they can be APPLIED in a practical sense. In the end, as I concluded my speech, the room was so silent you could hear a pin drop – and everyone was still awake – amazing! HA HA. Seriously, the emotional ride included smiles, laughs, a few audience jeers (yes this happens when you reference leadership and Obama in the same sentence in Wyoming), questions, answers, big-time audience interaction and as I said my last word there were notable tears of inspiration – awesome! I was psyched – and I am sure you will be to when we share our next Seeking True North experience.

Peace –

Tim Walther
GDI President

It’s Sunday night and I just finished up a killer few days of team building programs with the Websense International Best Sellers.  Today was a Search and Rescue Simulation on snowmobiles in the Togwotee Wilderness. Yesterday was a combination of ZOOM and Teaming with GPS – Urban. The day before that was a unique sled-building slalom course event. No pictures at the moment~ but you can imagine!  The group was very eclectic international bunch from places like Brazil, Scotland, Sweden, Canada, Hong Kong, and of course, New Jersey. Many folks had never seen snow before!  The program was really about the incentive and relationship building through a series of amazing Grand Dynamics Jackson Hole Experiences. As with all of our events, I am continuously reminded of the one characteristic that makes all our events so great. ADAPTABILITY.  The ability to monitor the group, balance the needs of multiple clients (participants, meeting planners, 3rd party vendors) and adjust on the fly is a hallmark of Grand Dynamics programs.  Timing, Weather, Site, Participant and Meeting Planner Expectations and Staff insights and communication all come into play.

I am also continuously reminded that my work is a direct metaphor of my life.  The ability to begin with the end in mind while maintaining a heightened sense of awareness and thus be able to adapt is a critical component of PRACTICE.  Develop Sensory Acquity and notice what is working, and what might need to be shifted to achieve your desired end result!

How are YOU adapting?

Tim Walther
GDI President