| It's September 10th and there I am again, driving | | | | placed under old glory on the overpasses. My |
| North on the New Jersey Turnpike towards | | | | favorite one reads America, Diverse and Free. I think |
| Kenilworth (this time). This is the first day of eight | | | | about how important it is for everyone to constantly |
| over the next three weeks at a company in this | | | | remember that. America really is a Team, made up |
| town off exit 11 and up the Garden State Parkway, | | | | of all kinds of people. That's one of the things that |
| interspersed with a couple days in Maryland, two in | | | | makes us so strong and makes so many people |
| Connecticut and one in Manhattan. Three weeks of | | | | outside and inside our country so envious.The seminar |
| constantly being on the go, being busy conducting | | | | the next day brings those points to fore. What |
| seminars and consulting.Team Building is the topic for | | | | better example of Team Building? Instantaneously |
| this day, with four more to follow. How to build | | | | we've become a Team. Things go well under the |
| effective and efficient teams, communicate better, | | | | circumstances that day and the next. The American |
| know your and your team members' strengths and | | | | Team Building has even spread to the Garden State |
| weaknesses, delegate, motivate and of course have | | | | Parkway on the 13th where motorists have pulled |
| some fun along the way.What a great group of folks | | | | over, gotten out of their cars and stand next to their |
| they are, a dozen in the morning class and the same | | | | vehicles holding candles. It continues for miles. I leave |
| for the afternoon session. I leave at around 5:30 to | | | | North Jersey after more Team Building Sessions on |
| head home to Philly. On the road I'm mentally figuring | | | | the 14th.The next week the haze remains to some |
| out how much time I have to eat, make my calls, | | | | degree. More Kenilworth Monday and Tuesday. I |
| spend some time with my son maybe talking, just | | | | must say I really like the people I'm working with. |
| relaxing and or watching sports before going off to | | | | They seem to realize their team building needs quite |
| sleep. Tomorrow is a special day. September 11th and | | | | clearly and are already using some of the techniques |
| I'm to meet my clients Paul and Lynn in Trenton at | | | | to bring about change.Thursday and Friday I'm in |
| 7:30 A.M. to catch the train to Manhattan. | | | | Maryland. Thursday night I go to sleep around 10:30. |
| We have a day of meetings scheduled and a | | | | The workshop I'm doing starts early. Somehow I hit |
| "surprise" Birthday Party in the evening.The party's | | | | the pillow and I'm out, sound asleep until a blast |
| for me, Paul had arranged it and even called people | | | | wakes me up at who knows what time. I jump out |
| on his speakerphone while I was in his office to say | | | | of bed open the curtain look outside to hear sirens |
| "Are you coming to Dan's surprise party on the | | | | and see flashes of light. My hand reaches for the |
| 11th?" And we'd all laugh. September 11th is my | | | | remote, I turn on the TV to see what has happened |
| Birthday. I can't calculate how many times I've told | | | | and there's no signal. How my reference points have |
| people, "Do you know how much money I had to | | | | changed. Two weeks before I would have known it |
| spend to get my birthday on all those Police Cars! | | | | was thunder and lightening, now I'm not sure if it's |
| 911....it wasn't easy"?Paul calls late and leaves me a | | | | another attack. I figure if it is they'll come and get |
| message. "There's a change of plans, we're gonna | | | | me, if not I might as well make an attempt at more |
| take the eight twenty-five (or the train around that | | | | sleep.At the Seminar I ask how many folks heard the |
| time)". I call him. I don't think he's feeling too well, | | | | thunder and how many of them thought that it was |
| maybe he wants to get a few extra minutes of | | | | another attack. More than half the hands go up. Most |
| sleep in the A.M. "Check in with me in the morning" he | | | | of the rest slept through the noise.The next week |
| says. Five forty is my call into Paul. "Dan I think we | | | | takes me back up to North Jersey again and |
| can take the 10:35, I just wanna lay in bed for a bit, | | | | Connecticut. The drive to Connecticut is strange. I |
| but we're definitely going, see you at the station".So | | | | leave Philly a little after 5:00 PM. I get on the Jersey |
| I eat my breakfast, take my shower and get all my | | | | Turnpike and take exit 13 Elizabeth.In order to |
| "stuff" in order.Now it's a few minutes after nine and | | | | circumvent Manhattan I go through Staten Island, |
| the phone rings, it's my friend. He asks if I'm still | | | | Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx on route 278. It |
| going to Manhattan. I give him an affirmative and he | | | | gives me an incredible view of the Manhattan skyline. |
| says, "Oh no you're not, turn on the TV".I press the | | | | It's so beautiful and majestic. I have time. The |
| on button and there it is. I'm numb, frozen, in | | | | Battery Tunnel is closed. Traffic backs up and I look |
| disbelief. Can this really be happening? I attempt to | | | | at the City while listening to NPR on my radio. Then I |
| think, but disorganization gets thrown into the mix. | | | | see it. The smoke is still there. The haze remains, not |
| Sometimes I'm fully cognizant of what I'm doing and | | | | just in my thoughts but in the skyline. Those buildings |
| other times I have to think and rethink to make sure | | | | that I ALWAYS looked for, the ones that signified |
| that I'm comprehending even the "normal" things | | | | that I was close to my destination were gone. All I |
| away from the commentary and pictures on | | | | could see were those other buildings, ones that have |
| CNN.The calls go out, to my son, Paul, other family | | | | become familiar to me only through TV, the ones |
| members and friends to see if everyone's ok. And to | | | | with the greenish domes that formerly were |
| tell them that I didn't go.I speak with Anne Marie | | | | dwarfed by their neighbors, Tower One and Tower |
| who works in Manhattan. She was supposed to | | | | Two.On my way home to Philly I thought about |
| attend the dinner party. She tells me that a mutual | | | | business and how those two towers had, to some |
| friend, who she works with, had just dropped off a | | | | degree, symbolized the motors of commerce and |
| package to his roommate on the 102nd floor of | | | | how their demise had slowed it down. I counted a |
| Tower One, taken the elevator down and reached | | | | scant eleven airplanes from central Connecticut to |
| the lobby when the plane hit. He's fine but he doesn't | | | | New York City. Eleven. How unreal. |
| know where his roommate is.The party, the | | | | Then I realized that those eleven planes were more |
| meetings, the business seems oddly meaningless and | | | | than I had seen in the sky in quite some time. |
| meaningful at the same time. How nice it would be to | | | | We'll make it I thought. A little more cautiously on |
| have the party, sit in a meeting and do the business | | | | one hand and a lot more determined on the other |
| of business. And how absurd it all seems at this time | | | | but we'll make it.Connecticut, Maryland and North |
| of tragedy.The day passes painfully, my birthday will | | | | Jersey are, for now, behind me.Three weeks of life |
| mean something so different to me and everyone | | | | (and counting) filled with extreme emotions and the |
| else from here on out.I try to call the Red Cross to | | | | everyday chores we may treasure somewhat |
| give blood but all the lines are busy. Finally I get | | | | differently.It may be me but I get the feeling that |
| through and they tell me that there's a blood drive | | | | people are driving differently since the eleventh, I |
| being held in Flourtown (my Flourtown) tomorrow | | | | would even say more courteous. We seem to be a |
| starting at 2:00. No appointments will be taken.The | | | | bit more grounded. Is it that we've been hugging our |
| 12th is more of the same, everything to do with | | | | kids more often, understanding each others' |
| business is cancelled and who would want to do | | | | strengths and weaknesses with more tolerance, |
| anything anyway. I wonder about my friends in NYC | | | | perhaps even putting our priorities in order.What does |
| and in North Jersey and hope everyone is ok.I walk | | | | this mean for business?I hope it means a richer, |
| down the block and there, a few houses away is a | | | | slower more invigorating business climate. One that |
| makeshift shrine on the steps of a neighbor. Five or | | | | appreciates everyone and everything that makes our |
| six candles and two photos, one of the photos is on | | | | businesses work. It may mean that we have to look |
| a piece paper that looked so much like the photos | | | | around at the folks we work with and tell them how |
| I've begun to see on TV, held by distraught relatives | | | | much we enjoy seeing them each day, yeah, even |
| and friends. Missing 102nd floor, Tower One (the | | | | those who used to annoy us. And perhaps it would |
| same tower and floor of my friend's roommate), | | | | help to smile at the people who pass us by each day, |
| followed by his name and the picture of a man | | | | say thanks to all of those who clean our streets, pick |
| smiling. How sad. What do you do? Or Think? Or | | | | up our trash, deliver our mail, put out our fires, |
| say? My mind still shifts between thinking straight and | | | | protect our safety, check us out at the supermarket |
| the haze that so many people continue to say | | | | and sit in the offices and cubicles around us.Maybe it |
| appears from time to time in their thoughts.I get to | | | | really is time to put our business lives in perspective. |
| the blood drive at 1:50 P.M. there are about forty | | | | Have more fun. Treat people with added respect. |
| people waiting. And the line continues to get longer. | | | | Continue the capitalist pursuit with a little smile.Maybe |
| The day proceeds, I wait, and the realization hits me | | | | it's time to think about this amazing Team we've built |
| that I have to go back up to North Jersey the next | | | | and be thankful.Dan Goldberg, MBA, is President of |
| morning. At 7:25 P.M. I've been thanked, my blood | | | | Dan Goldberg Consulting L.L.C. a training, coaching and |
| has been given and I head home. The Team Building | | | | business development firm located in the Philadelphia, |
| Seminar Series is to continue in the morning.Team | | | | PA area. He is the founder and former owner of "For |
| Building has come to America in a manner that | | | | Eyes" the highly successful international optical |
| theory, academic exercises or lecture can only | | | | company and an internationally recognized keynote |
| reinforce in a seminar. We've illustrated it by our | | | | speaker. Dan is the author of the book "Stand Back |
| actions. The firefighters, police officers, emergency | | | | A Second, Just don't fall off the edge," and of "The |
| workers, and "civilians" have reacted in a way that | | | | Six Steps To Solid Sales Success" and "The Seven |
| shows the best in people.Everyone is helping and | | | | Elements Of Successful Management" programs. He is |
| supporting, giving money and or blood, sending | | | | Executive-In-Residence at Kutztown University and |
| supplies, performing tasks that must be done in order | | | | has been the subject of stories in Newsweek, |
| to make things move somewhat smoothly in what | | | | Business Week, Playboy, Successful Business, |
| otherwise would be a totally chaotic situation. And | | | | Investor's Business Daily, major newspapers in New |
| we do it. From psychological help to just talking with | | | | York, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Boston, Baltimore, |
| each other. We somehow realize that we need one | | | | Miami, San Francisco, Oakland, St. Louis, Chicago, Los |
| another.Then there are the flags. More than I've ever | | | | Angeles and many other national and local publications. |
| seen. I wonder how many are displayed out of | | | | In addition, Dan has appeared on Good Morning |
| respect, how many out of real patriotism and how | | | | America and other national and local television and |
| many out of jingoism. I hope the former two far out | | | | radio programs. |
| weight the third. I glance up to read the sayings | | | | |