There’s a scene in the movie Amadeus where a fictionalized Salieri, a court composer, recognizes the genius of Mozart’s work. Salieri’s epiphany is that, while God speaks through a lewd Mozart, God has granted Salieri a comparatively diminished talent despite his piety. Salieri’s maniacal envy drives the brilliant movie’s action leading to Mozart’s death.

We are all Salieri. Do you know people whose gifts are so superior that they seem unharnessed to effort or practice? I know people who can probably read Atlas Shrugged in the time it takes me to read Sports Illustrated.  I remember a college friend who might match “inconsequentially” to my “cone” in a game of Boggle. Murder seems such an extreme reaction to being bested. :–)  How about, instead, rooting these people on – cheering for their brilliance and success. Happiness isn’t zero sum.

I got to know and work with Dan Egan in the world of sailing, but he is a Mozart (and pioneer) of extreme skiing. He has skied in 12 Warren Miller Films and was named one of the “Top Skiers of All Time” by Powder Magazine. Despite his athletic gifts and success as an award-winning producer, Dan is beautifully grounded. Perhaps it was his experience in 1990, on an international expedition to climb and ski Mt. Elbrus in Russia. Dan was trapped for 36 hours in a raging storm above 18,000 feet and 33 people from the expedition never made it off the mountain. Dan still rocks ski tours around the world, produces exciting video and is quite serious about his middle-school coed soccer coaching gig.

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Connect to Dan Egan

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Extreme Sports Blog in the Boston Globe   (bragging alert, Dan says “Two Things” inspired him to start his blog and, of course, he is immediately picked by the Boston Globe!)

Extreme Faith Podcast (a religious/spiritual podcast that this skeptic loves!)

Ski with Dan

An Opinion: Valentine’s Day is the opposite of romantic — it’s forced, and lacks spontaneity.  Around here, we ignore it entirely and spring the trappings on any other day of the year.

A Person: Big brown eyes and gorgeous, and yes, I admit that’s what I saw first as I have eyes in my head and blood in my veins.  The second thing I noticed is how she explained to me what a Pediatric Occupational Therapist is in conversational tone and perfect paragraphs.  She is an articulate and engaged professional, continually working on new approaches to meet kids where they are and discovering how they learn best.

As a mom, she is roughly 3,500 chicken nuggets into the adventure.  Let’s be candid.  There’s big magic in the gig but also some drudgery.  I love that she is honest about both while leading our boys up with strength, grace and affection.  She loves being a daughter, sister, and aunt.  A loyal friend, a lover of the beach, a voracious reader if a bit of a narcoleptic one, and an athlete.  She’s got a “let’s get the coffee going and make a list” pragmatic philosophy and she’s willing to follow you on your adventures so long as she can make the 5:30 am Seaside Crossfit class first!  Happy Valentine’s Day, Katherine Schaefer Cooney!  xoxo

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Connect to Kate Cooney 

3rd Thing Shout-Out:  In February of 2002, a few days before Valentine’s Day, our mutual friend Amy Larkin, set us up and we went out on a double-date with Team Larkin.  I thought it went well enough but I was told later that Amy and I did most of the talking! What can I say except, thank you Amy!

A Quotation:  Peace. It does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble or hard work. It means to be in the midst of those things and still be calm in your heart (unknown).

A Person:  They say that the action slows down for the best race car drivers so that split second decisions flow easily. Our friend Al Hickey has comparable powers in a crisis. I saw him in action as Director of Marine Operations at SEA. As some get spun up in a charged situation, it’s often the calmer and more thoughtful players that are capable of the most deliberate action.

Al is not afraid of the heavy lift as evidenced by his work as a logistics coordinator for Doctors Without Borders in the African bush near South Sudan and in a trauma hospital in violent Port Harcourt, Nigeria. His “day” job is managing operations aboard icebreakers for the US Antarctic Program.  Last year, he was given an award for his role in rescuing injured fishermen from a burning vessel in the Ross Sea. 

When I am faced with a major crisis back home, like the DVR didn’t record a program or the gas pump wouldn’t read my debit card, I think of Al and thank him for the good work he is doing.

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Connect with Al because he is a Citizen of the World and loves a good lobster roll: hickeyal@yahoo.com

We didn’t send it out by email because it wasn’t strictly a “Two Things” but our remembrance of the great Charlie Leighton is here if you didn’t see it.

Charles M. Leighton was an almost impossibly accomplished human being.  The highlight reel is that he was Founder and CEO of  the NYSE-listed CML Group (Boston Whaler, Nordic Track, The Nature Company, Smith & Hawken among others), Commodore of the New York Yacht Club, Chairman of an America’s Cup Syndicate, Faculty Member at the Harvard Business School, and Director of MetLife and the Lahey Clinic among many other professional and personal accomplishments.  To the fortunate staff and volunteers of US Sailing between 2005-2010, he was simply Charlie. A few memories…

The US Sailing staff was planning our summer outing at Sail Newport.  Genetically competitive, Charlie suggested we do some friendly racing in the J22s, but a couple of staffers felt this would be intimidating to the non-racers.  Charlie didn’t sweat the details when a well-intended decision was made to focus on instructional sailing for the newbies.  As we cast off the dock, most of us knew what was coming.  Five minutes into the instructional activity, Charlie called out that the start was between “These two moorings, up to the Hinckley twice around.”  Miraculously, Charlie had the college sailing interns on his boat and one of them had a whistle and a count-down timer. He shut the door on us as we tried to sneak a too-late inside overlap at the Hinckley.  Many a sailor would have been yelling something somewhere during the incident.   With his sly smile, Charlie simply said in our direction,  “Well wouldn’t that have been spectacular if you could have pulled it off!” as he slid by our boat doing a penalty turn. A few years earlier at another staff event, he challenged everyone to see how many body weight bench press repetitions we could do on his Nordic Track machine – a company he had once owned.  We battled in ping pong, hallway bowling, at the driving range, political and sporting prognostications — all with the best kind of competitive spirit and sense of fun.

He was always teaching.  He wanted to give us the benefit of his knowledge and breadth of experience.  He urged us to be secure enough to listen to people without being defensive, admit when you were wrong, see it from the other person’s perspective, “sell don’t tell,” and if you needed to disagree, remember to put a smile on your face. We were encouraged to talk “with” people, not “at” them.  He had a “no grumps” rule and we were to use “we” not “I.” He made us all feel that not only were we good at our jobs, but that we were champions and could accomplish big things, and sometimes we did. When we did, he pointed to everywhere except to himself.

Charlie was a great sailor into his seventies steering Whitecap well and emphatically calling “BREAK!” which signaled the precise point that he wanted the jib trimmer (likely a former Cup sailor) to tack the oversized genoa sustaining maximum drive into the tack.  During one cruise with Charlie, he would drink a Red Bull exactly 20 minutes before the race as some expert had told him to do for maximum concentration. He loved being a student as much he loved teaching because he loved learning new things.  “Young At Heart” does not do him justice, he was young in brain and young in every cell of his body.

Flying with Charlie in his beloved single-engine Cessna Skylane was always an adventure.  After touching down on a run over the Gulf of Maine, he would ask someone else to drive the rental car saying that he was not a great driver and that he was terribly color blind. One day coming from New York, we encountered heavy rain and thick cloud cover and kept dropping down to try and get under the ceiling. It was the kind of situation where you were wondering where the Newport Bridge might be in relation to the tin can you were hurdling around in at 100 knots.  The weather never broke and just as we landed the once heavy rain turned biblical.   Charlie broke the macho pilot typecast as we wheeled to a stop, took off his headphones and exclaimed with full metaphysical irony intended, “Well, aren’t we glad to be here!”

A powerhouse of the highest order, Charlie satisfied his ego in such a gracious and generous manner.  He felt like he had won if he had had influence in a situation that mattered to him if he had left light tracks and others were given the credit.  While he sparkled in the spotlight, he more often than not deferred it.  His great humor was typically self-deprecating.  We will miss this giant of a man, this joy of a soul, this dear friend.  Fair winds, Charlie, and thank you!  November 6269 Tango, you are cleared for take off.

Our good friend Charlie died unexpectedly this past Sunday.  He was 77 years young. Memorial gifts may be made to Sail to Prevail, P.O. Box 1264, Newport, RI 02840 or www.sailtoprevail.org.

A Question: No fireworks but Independence Day came early for me.   A proud progressive, last week I joined the plurality of Americans and became an Independent.  My thinking is that we need less “Us” and “Them” as we step up to critical challenges like the structural deficit.  Are principled parties ceding to absolutism and self-interest?  Do the parties help or hurt our ability to approach problems pragmatically?

A Person: I met David Walters on a three-week mission while working for Dukakis in 1988.  Walters,  then 36, had just come on the Oklahoma political scene and I was the third-string campaign staffer assigned to help him raise money for a Lloyd Bentsen lunch.  We ran at 5am and were talking shop over a Coors Light at 10pm.  His work ethic was maniacal but his charisma and humor made the whole thing seem like fun.  After the Bentsen event, I bought a pair of cowboy boots on the way to the airport thinking I would never see Oklahoma again.   I was back two months later and the rest is, if not always accurate,  history.  I feel so fortunate to have met many of the national players of the ’90s.  Except for Clinton, no one held a candle to David’s talent.  He is a brilliant deal maker and was an exceptional Governor with a deep independent streak… precisely what we need today.

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Connect with David Walters

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David’s Electrical Power Generation Company

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An Idea: A close friendship hitting on all cylinders is one of life’s great pleasures.  What you learn at some point is that a fulfilling one takes effort. In a lasting friendship, as in a race to Bermuda, there are occasionally moments of discomfort and boredom as well as triumph, laughter and celebration.  Elbow Beach and good friends are worth the squalls.  Forgiving the inevitable misunderstandings and copping to your own imperfections is a smart strategy.

A Person:  I moved in across the street from Rusty Fearing in 1968. Together, we hid during pre-school cleanup and nearly drowned during YMCA swimming lessons. At Tabor Academy we competed across the board —  grades, sports, girls — fairly evenly (as far as he knows!).  We’ve had big fights, we’ve broken the law and set speed records to Colby College.  We give each other unending shit and support.  I admire his brains, energy and discipline. Did I mention he’s to the right of Attila the Hun, golfs when I sail and thinks recycling is a hoax?  Someday, one of us will have the honor to re-work our Best Man toast and have the final word on our friendship. 44 years gives you that kind of confidence.

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Connect with Russell because he transforms banks and businesses (IBMer), enjoys an occasional cocktail and is a great family man.

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A Story: As a staffer for his 1988 Presidential Campaign, I met Al Gore about eight times. After Gore went down in flames, I got a job with Dukakis during the general election and met Gore out on the trail another half dozen times. After the 10th time where Gore showed no recognition that we had met, I started a running joke with my dad that “I met Al Gore again!”

I knew I was a nobody, but back then I thought they all had transcendent human qualities.  In contrast, I first met Bill Clinton at a Governors’ Conference I attended with my boss, Governor David Walters, a few months before Clinton announced for President. Months later and by myself, I saw Clinton again at one of his early campaign events.  He obviously didn’t know my name, but as we shook hands,  he said, “How’s David doing?” letting me know he knew how I fit.  Hmmm!

A Person: Not a friend but you should follow David Brooks. Watch as he succinctly summed up where we are and why on Sunday.  The Republican leadership is lost but my New Year’s wish for our President is a little less Gore cool and a little more Clinton charm.

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An Idea: This agnostic believes in angels…horribly, a whole first grade class full of angels.  First graders are already perfect. They know how to postpone bedtime, they tell a good knock knock joke and have perfect ears that rest just so on stuffed animals as they sleep. First graders begin to space themselves (a little) on the soccer field and can run a mile.  They do chores and act bravely in the emergency room.  They create beautiful art, dance, mimic accents, organize lemonade stands, sing in choruses, ride bikes, skin knees, safeguard siblings and ask you how your day was.  They are perfect.  Angelhood could have waited.  Silent nights are overrated.

A Person: But if it has to be, I hope that my friend Kirk Orrell is there to meet them. We taught sailing together during a perfect Cape summer in 1984.  Kirk was a graduate of Philips Andover and Davidson. He was a talented drummer and brilliant.  He restored a 1967 Plymouth Sport Fury III to un-preppy perfection.  Each morning the Plymouth picked me up for work and we cranked Steppin’ Out by Steel Pulse, the anthem of that golden moment, while Kirk drummed on the dash with open hands. Kirk made our students smile and laugh.  His light just shined brighter and the kids loved him. Kirk died after a brief illness in 2001 leaving a wife and daughter.  He was 35.  Kirk, take good care of them.

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A Person: Tim Sperry and four friends set out in October of 1992 in a hurricane-wrecked boat, circumnavigated the earth and returned home in May, 1995. While Tim is “efficient” with the spoken word, he has just written a beautiful book about the journey.

An Idea: Tim and I grew up in the same small town. I’m a few years older.  When I first heard about his big plans all those years ago, my initial reaction was “Who?…Where??” In my mind, my group of friends had done as least as much sailing and some of us shared the dream.  But Tim and his group heeded one of my favorite quotations, ““Whatever you do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius and power and magic in it.”

I admire their courage to dream big while maintaining their every day, chore-doing grit to make it happen. I loved how their personalities blended perfectly imperfectly. Together, they were able to stay on schedule (making miles) while still reveling in the great quest.  This was the fiery liftoff of their young lives — a story of the very bearable lightness of being while tethered to small boat on a big ocean.  Good on ya boys!

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Connect with Tim Sperry:

Tim’s New Book

Tim’s Tent Business

A Question:

Watching this powerful clip of the  HBO film Ethel, I am reminded that it was once possible for politicians to speak with conviction about the most important issues of the day.  Can you imagine Bobby Kennedy leading from behind? Our leaders need to summon that same courage to be bold, to commit fully in the service of the country rather than to themselves, party, or powerful lobby.  What can we do to better hold their feet to the fire? Let’s go, while we’re young!

A Person:

Nobody speaks with more conviction than Taylor Mali.   A four-time National Poetry Slam champion, Mali is the author of two collections of poetry and a new collection of essays.  You have to experience him in full slam mode –he’s to be experienced!  I love that he is such a fierce defender of teaching, something my mother did lovingly and beautifully for 28 years. Taylor’s talk at our 25^th College Reunion last May was phenomenal; I was madly envious of the talent and inspired. I hope you will be too.

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