Twice today I got caught in the rain. Happens once, you assume it is just bad luck. Twice and you have to think maybe I should start checking the weather. Three years later, an MBA completed, and the question of if I am any smarter still hangs in the balance.

Today, was supposed to be my graduation day. Yes, technically it was graduation day, virtual ceremony and all. It just doesn’t feel like it though and I’ll be honest I didn’t watch the ceremony. Just not quite the same. Now, my opinions on the lock down and the government response to Covid-19 is a diatribe I will spare you from reading. I mean I should thank you for getting this far. Instead, I’ll let you peak into another part of my brain.

I was brought back to today to the first class as part of my MBA program at the Weatherhead School of Management. The class entitled L.E.A.D. A clever acronym for a class based on the soft stuff. Not necessarily my skill set. Yet, that class was in itself worth the price of tuition.

There were a lot of useful lessons, intriguing insights and spinets of information in that class, but one that I always think back on is creating our vision for ourselves. Where did we want to go, who did we want to be and what did we want to do. Endless possibilities and the freedom to answer anyway you wanted. How can someone choose? How do you know what you want to do, who you want to be or where you want to go? I couldn’t pick. How does one settle on one thing like that?

I have been told I have too many hobbies. Personally, I think softball, baseball, basketball, making candles, reading, cooking, weight lifting, hiking, kayaking, concerts, collecting baseball cards and writing this jumbled mess of stories and thoughts is really not enough. I recently made my own live edge wood table and I have plans for a bar cart coming soon. I like to travel and visit new restaurants. I am an avid craft beer fan. I tried my hand at coaching youth football and basketball for a few years, briefly tried Gaelic football and even once was days away from quitting my job, moving to London and playing American Football abroad at a London University. I was really close, but the 50K price tag just in the end kept me away.

And I have a list of other things I want to do. I can’t imagine limiting myself. That is where we get back to L.E.A.D. and that assignment. I don’t remember exactly what I wrote in that paper, it was a collection of things as I am a collection of interests. The renaissance man is a lost art. We live in a world of experts with few jack of all trades. I am not sure I am the best at any one thing but I am good at a lot of them and I want to taste more of them. That class showed me that insight into myself and it is something I have tried to carry forward. Do not limit myself. As I sit here today on graduation day, I am thankful for the opportunity I had to say yes to going to Case. A lot has changed in the last three years and while the ending isn’t exactly the day anyone wanted, it still a monumental day in many of our lives. So I will end with this. Why say no, when you can say yes and see how it goes. You can also try something else.