Coach Bill / Dad, Entrepreneur Special Educator, American Political Scientist, Writer, Musician.

Would you eat junk food everyday and expect to have a healthy and fit body? Would you introduce heavy metals into your brain and expect to walk away unscathed? Would you listen to ’professionals’ and ‘established’ voices who told you to disregard your own common sense and listen to them tell you that eating junk food and inserting heavy metals into your brain is totally safe and sound? We feed junk into our hearts and minds by listening to musicians play catchy beats with soul-degrading lyrics. We say  ‘yes, please’ with a smile as our doctors tell us that nano-sized heavy metals will not affect our brains and they do not cause brain damage or what is blandly called, autism. The late-Bruce Lee defied incredible odds and was successful in facilitating a shift in the global culture by consistently harvesting a healthy and positive original attitude, a mindset which influenced his life actions. Because of his resoluteness tenacity, Mr. Lee trumped the ‘half-...

It was Sunday afternoon. I was driving home down one of Stamford, Connecticut’s homes when I saw an elderly manner working with a sledge hammer next to him, a door step with the floor demolished and a heap of rubble next to him. He had a great job to do and was all on his own. A ladder protruded from the whole he had shattered, broken bricks, a pick axe and ten buckets of debris surrounded him. This was great-grandfather Alex Orr. Father of six children, eight grandchildren and one great-grand child. Mr. Alex Orr, an American of Jamaican-descent, married fifty-seven years and still working hard labor as a mason…a brick-layer…a man comfortable wielding a sledge hammer, clearing rubble and making new foundations.  All I could do was pull my car over step out and get his story. I told him that I like to honor servant leaders. In the most sincere tone I could muster, I asked him for his story. My heart was grabbed and a flurry of life lessons came into clarity for me on ...

What happens when we come together under a common goal of social responsibility for each other? Where does apathy run off to? How can an organization of leaders be led successfully? How does the growth mindset play into best business practices and is it possible to run an organization where no one gets paid at first? It started with naturally developing the executive function skills of the students I work with. Movement therapy is part of my instructional tool and strategy kit and is a tremendous approach to achieving increasing degrees of independence. For a child on the autism spectrum, one with down syndrome, or simply one with mild attentional deficits, context activities for movement therapy that I use are dancing and skateboarding. With the passage of time, these two core activities used in many (not all) of my sessions also provide a backdrop for some real-world skills which need constant toning. These are the ‘soft skills’ that are seldom understood or acknowle...

When I was a young boy, my Uncle Guillo, a consummate sailor’s sailor took me under his wing.  Off we would go on sailing adventures, sometimes through storm, sometimes by night, but always to paradise. It was clear that he was the ‘Capitan’ of the ship, I was one of his mates, happy as a fly on apple pie. Out at sea, everything is restricted and unleashed at the same time. The constant motion of the bobbing sailboat, the tacking and the jiving, the occasional command by Guillo..Hour after hour, wave after wave, making slight course directions here and there, Guillo brought the boat safely to its destination expertly every time. Confident and spilling grit by the way side, ‘Tio’ mastered the depths of the sea like a seasoned poet with vision and purpose drops words on a page. My heart and his heart are intertwined. A part of him lives in me a part of me lives in him. He knows this…Young at heart and always with a quick reassuring phrase to make you smile. That is my Uncle Gu...

Today is Tuesday, November 3, 2015 Yesterday at 7 pm est, I joined a weekly special #tweetchat on Twitter for the first time, #LeadWithGiants. It was a lot of fun. Felt like I was back in school! Being the newbie I thought I would just be a listener and occasionally chime in…well, at least that was my intention:) I found it hard to keep quiet, especially after Dan Forbes (as in Mr. #LeadWithGiants), reached out to me in such a welcoming fashion, as he does to all. His humble, outgoing attitude is replicated by the other leaders in the chat and this adds to an open, dare I say, nurturing atmosphere (teacher speak, bear with me). The topic at hand was ‘consensus,’ and everything that goes with it: finding common ground, the traits of effective leaders, the size of  teams being led, orchestrating through differing politics, titles, departments, challenges, participation by all, solution-focused mindsets and last but not least, sustaining an environment where individual tho...

Raising energy  requires consistency.  Maintaining momentum  requires clear working purpose.  Moving hearts to impact minds  requires talent. In the world of sports, such thoughts are always on the forefront of a coach's mindset. She understands that the inside affects the outside, and the outside affects the inside. Aware of this, a great coach is also a mentor to her players. Her attitude gives direct and indirect expectation cues to the player's, hence (SunTzu time) it is vital that the coach protect, direct and develop herself just as the players are doing so. Cary Lee Williams is one such coach.  Recently, I had the fortune to interview, Mrs. Williams. Amongst other titles and hats, she is an entrepreneur, a boxing coach, a mentor, and is the founder of a clothing line called, Never Too Pretty. She is well-known in the boxing world as industrious, a go-getter, and because of her incredible drive, she is also known ...