The Starting Line of Integral Agile Wizardry

This is the first in a series of posts describing my experiences at Integral Agile Wizardry Boot Camp attended December 3 - 7, 2014 in San Francisco.

In December of 2014, I embarked on a week-long personal development, agile boot camp, and what happened there... what I learned there... is more than I could've possibly dreamed of. I'm writing here to challenge myself to not be 'alone in my depth' (thanks Johanne). I'm writing to 'put myself out there', something I'm never keen on doing in a public way. Today's post will focus on 'The Starting Line of Integral Agile Wizardry'.

I was lucky enough to be selected as a participant for the pilot of this training (although using a word so trite as 'training' seems criminal, but that's for another post). The facilitators of Integral Agile Wizardry were focused on bringing together a diverse but 'ready' set of people into boot camp. They rigorously reviewed a set of questions from every applicant. My first attempt was a bit hasty (and maybe even lazy). Luckily, I was given a second chance. Here's is a small part of my response in round 2 (with a few edits to protect the innocent):

We want people with a deep, lifelong commitment to their own growth. Describe how this has been true in your life. Also, respond to this statement: "who I am" is just as important as "what I know" in helping catalyze organizational transformation.

I started out on what you might call “the wrong side of the tracks”. I was the good kid of the bad kid group, and hung out with the “wrong crowd”. I had a rough upbringing and moved a lot when I was young. Just out of high school, I had an extremely low self-esteem. I insisted I wanted to go to college. It took me nine years and countless stops and starts to finish my undergraduate degree all while working full time.

My first year in college, I was petrified to raise my hand and speak even if I knew the answer. I kept thinking “Fake it til you make it”. Some of this lack of confidence was what kept me stopping and starting. When I started out in my career, I was a call center rep at Charter Communications answering phones and troubleshooting. I had to learn to think very abstractly to try to explain to people how to get their remote to bring up the setup menu without having that remote in front of me. I had to really, really start listening. And I was good at it. I gradually moved up and ultimately relocated to St. Louis as an Instructional Designer at the age of 24. At the time I still hadn't graduated from college. When I got to St. Louis and was settled, I immediately enrolled and finished my degree in Speech Communication Studies. My first year in college, I could barely speak out loud. I was a scared girl in a big world. I trudged through it and ultimately graduated with a degree that required LOTS OF SPEAKING. I started a career that required me to stand in front of people ALL THE TIME. And I’m so happy I did it. I found great joy in getting to know people and seeing their minds ‘click’ with some idea that they struggled with.

In 2004, I was lucky enough to move to a job in IT under an amazing manager who is still a dear friend and personal mentor in my life. I started out as BA, and worked up to ultimately managing a team. I LOVED BEING AN ANALYST. The art of listening was such a love of mine. At the time I couldn’t have described it that way. I loved to try to really understand what business problem people were trying to solve. I had a mind that could translate that quickly into solutions and I loved it. Where others were taking orders from the business, I was working to solve the business problem. It was so much fun for me.

So that was the Starting Line of Integral Agile Wizardry. It was a piece of cake sharing a small slice of me (ha, punny) with the facilitators of the class, privately, via email. I'm on this blog sharing this publicly as a way of stretching my creative competencies. I may have entered my panic zone with this one. I learned at Integral Agile Wizardry that I don't really let people know me, but that's for a later post. Here goes nothing...