View allAll Photos Tagged Humility
If there is any advice Col. Kirk Gibbs can give to his successor, it is this: Lead with honor and humility.
As Gibbs, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District’s 61st commander, prepares to relinquish command of the LA District July 19 to Col. Aaron Barta, he offered up some advice and reflected on the past three years as the leader of one of the largest Corps districts in the country.
There are many things Gibbs said he is proud of when it comes to the LA District, but three things stand out: the District being recognized two years in a row as a "Best Place to Work" in the Corps; completing Weed Army Hospital at Fort Irwin, California – the Department of Defense’s only Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design-Platinum, carbon-neutral, net-zero certifiable hospital – on time and within budget; and the one-on-one time he was able to spend with employees in the District.
It is the people Gibbs said he will miss the most – the employees and the District’s close partners across the four-state area.
“I have never focused on relationships like I have here in this District, and I sincerely believe it is part of the District's culture,” he said. “When projects are tough, the close relationships get us through those challenges and ultimately deliver the program.”
During his time with the LA District, Gibbs has overseen a multimillion-dollar program that provides engineering, construction, planning, contracting, real estate, emergency operations, environmental and regulatory services to military, federal, state and local governments across a 226,000-square-mile area of Southern California, Nevada, Arizona and Utah. That also includes leading about 750 military and civilian personnel with a wide array of expertise.
But leading people is nothing new to Gibbs, who has served for more than 24 years as an active-duty Soldier, leading both military and civilian personnel.
“Each person is different, and I have learned that good leaders get to know each person individually and then lead them in a way that brings out the best in that employee,” he said.
Providing priorities and a solid intent on the District’s missions, particularly disaster response operations, helps employees stay focused on what’s really important, he said.
Gibbs will now serve as the chief of staff at the Corps’ headquarters in Washington, D.C. There, he said, he hopes to be an advocate for all of the Corps’ districts nationwide.
“I feel that this District and the great people are responsible for giving me the incredible opportunity of being the Corps’ chief of staff,” he said. “The people have taught me so much, and I will take that with me to make a positive impact on the Corps’ enterprise and help our Districts deliver our programs in civil works, military, Interagency and International Services, real estate and regulatory.”
Gibbs knows how the importance of mentors and having a good support system have played in shaping his career, and he credits his parents with instilling in him respect for others; his wife, Kim, who taught him to endure all challenges, no matter how great, with grace and dignity; and his former chief of staff – Col. Steve Hill – for giving him tough jobs to prepare him for success.
“(Hill) gave me tough jobs that I thought he could have done at the time, but as I look back, the toughest assignments he gave me in that civilian organization at the Corps headquarters prepared me for District command and enabled me to achieve the goal of commanding at the battalion, brigade and District levels,” he said. “I also remember he told me I would be a chief of staff for the Corps one day. He was preparing me for that. I didn't believe him, but that is my next job.”
And, as for additional advice he can share with Barta, Gibbs provided these words of wisdom:
- Be prepared to change leadership style when leading a District of professional civilians. Don't lead them in the same way as Soldiers;
- Engage with people and get around to see them across the District's entire area of operation. Don't sit behind a desk;
- Study hard initially and learn the policies, processes and programs. “You will never be the expert, but you must prepare yourself to make effective decisions as quickly as possible”;
- Always provide a commander's intent and an end state. The civilian workforce appreciates that; and, lastly,
- Lead with honor and humility. “It isn't about you. It is about the District's people and our vital mission.”
As for the future of the LA District, Gibbs said he hopes future leaders continue to change the culture to an organization that is more risk tolerant in streamlining processes and moving projects forward; deliver the Department of Veterans Affairs and Customs and Border Protection programs phenomenally – on time, within budget and to the highest quality; and to remain a "Best Place to Work" in order to retain and recruit talent to the high-cost living area of Southern California.
“I want the District to do what it always does and ‘knock those programs out of the park,’” he said.
April 13, 2015: Featuring David Ansel, Austin's own Soup Peddler.
Sponsored by Real HQ, Razorfish Studios and Cuvee Coffee .
Hosted at The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.
Photos by Manny Pandya.
Video Production by Scott Clark.
Religious and spiritual poem by parish poet Peter Menkin: What the spirit of Church does: transformation, move to humility... This more recent poem describes humility, an experience and outcome of Church. I have thought about what Church means to me, and also what I mean to Church. Not so much in the greater sense of the entire Church, but how my Church I attend has brought the experience and teaching to me in the spiritual sense. This as a part of the larger Church, which indicates some truths about the engagement and its relationship. I hope this isn't too heady a way of discussing the subject. The poem is more direct and simple.
This CreativeMornings/DC event featured Amy Saidman of SpeakeasyDC on the theme of 'Humility.'
This event was generously supported by Huge, Capital One Digital / Capital One Labs and TrackMaven and was hosted by Smithsonian American Art Museum, Luce Foundation Center on April 23, 2015.
Photos by Lexey Swall
She kept holding the back of her hand to her head in this scarlet O'hara look. This is why we busted out the camera phone. she looks sweetly humble. And so does her sister, actually.
Profound humility is needed in order not to be complacent about progress and public applause (V:635).
Do not let me hear
Of the wisdom of old men, but rather of their folly,
Their fear of fear and frenzy, their fear of possession,
Of belonging to another, or to others, or to God.
The only wisdom we can hope to acquire
Is the wisdom of humility: humility is endless.
(T.S. Eliot, "East Coker")
"Like humility, generosity comes from seeing that everything we have and everything we accomplish comes from God's grace and God's love for us. In the African understanding of ubuntu, our humility and generosity also come from realizing that we could not be alive, nor could we accomplish anything, without the support, love, and generosity of all the people who have helped us to become the people we are today. Certainly it is from experiencing this generosity of God and the generosity of those in our life that we learn gratitude and to be generous to others."
—Anglican Archbishop and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Desmond Tutu, in God Has a Dream
.
.
.
grateful for my family, friends…
grateful for my contacts here on Flickr
who bring sunshine and inspiration from around the world
a network, web, across the miles
who share the fruits of their seeing and art of living
A neat moment last fall in the place where my grandmother is laid to rest. We don't share the same beliefs, but I was happy to capture hers in her final place.
"I didn’t believe in a God of judgement because I don’t believe
that the infinite can think comparatively. I don’t think that God knows the
difference between a molehill and a mountain in size because God is both the
molehill and the mountain. To compare there has to be “otherness,” you hear me?
This makes it unnecessary to have a God of judgement. We have a God of love and
a great law of justice without judgement. The law says, “what you sow you reap.”
You can’t plant radishes and get cucumbers. What you sow you reap. “As a man
thinketh in his heart, so is he.” It’s a great law of life. And it’s just as cold as any
law in the universe. It's as cold as the law of electricity. That law of electricity will
light that light, fry your bacon, or fry your fanny, and it's just as comfortable frying
your fanny as lighting that light. it's the nature of the law. The nature of the law of
life is that if I pour in slop I get back slop. And it's just as comfortable giving me
back slop as it is giving me back love."
-Chuck C
In September 2013, I was given the opportunity to shoot for a non-profit organisation called e.motion21. This is an organisation that provide an Australia-first, innovative dance and fitness program designed specifically for children and young adults with Down Syndrome.
This is a series of their rehearsal leading up to a dance event called Musicool. It was an eye opening experience having to shoot this event as I had never shot a subject matter relating to Down Syndrome prior to this. The most essential thing that I realised was that these kids and young adults are no different from what society deems as 'normal'. Everyone experiences struggles and it is the passion that keeps us going. For them, the unity through dance is the core of their passion and joy.
Sisters of Humility and friends "Pray for Climate Solutions" in
Davenport, Iowa
"Our ability to resolve the climate change crisis depends to a great
extent on our ability to imagine an alternative future. We need to see
the new possibilities that are emerging rather than become paralyzed by
focusing on the damage being done to earth. A time of prayer can free
our creative imagination and remind us that, with God, all things are
possible."
-Sister Johanna Rickl, CHM
Photographer:
Lisa Martin
Communications Director
Congregation of the Humility of Mary
563-336-8404
Depicting Humility, portrayed by a scene from Jesus' life.
Glass by J. Dudley Forsyth. 1906.
Pic by Jenny
This CreativeMornings/DC event featured Amy Saidman of SpeakeasyDC on the theme of 'Humility.'
This event was generously supported by Huge, Capital One Digital / Capital One Labs and TrackMaven and was hosted by Smithsonian American Art Museum, Luce Foundation Center on April 23, 2015.
Photos by Lexey Swall
April 24, 2015: Featuring Troy Hitch of Barefoot Proximity
At Barefoot Proximity/BBDO Troy leads innovation across the people, the process and the product. He also serves as a founding member of the Proximity Worldwide Creative Council. He's the creator of the breakthrough transmedia hit You Suck At Photoshop which has generated over 100 million video views, was named one of Time Magazine's Top 10 TV Episodes of 2008 and is the basis for Troy's distributed storytelling methodology. Troy is a passionate advocate for the innovation of storytelling in digital media and he has been a featured speaker at many industry conferences including Macworld, The New York Television Festival and ROFLcon. His work has been recognized by The Washington Post, The LA Times, Advertising Age, Wired and NPR.
Our Partners
Hosted by the Cincinnati Art Museum.
Photography by Joel Roewer
Video Production by Josh Emerson
Where does one start with Stowlangtoft? It was another name I'd seen for years on road-signs while visiting relatives in the area, a name that always stood out and yet we never came here. I had for some time known there were good things in the church here, but the opportunity to explore them failed to materialise, until now.
St George's church sits on high ground overlooking the main road through the village, a commanding presence rising from the surrounding trees, the tower with its squared off parapet looking a little dour compared to some of the more delicately designed Suffolk towers, but this is a handsome edifice nonetheless, built on a grand scale and all of a piece 15th century Perpendicular, though the windows are strangely narrow for the period, more concerned with height than width, much like the building itself which lacks side aisles, (which never seem to have been intended, this impressive mass was considered complete as it is).
As the church is little used now and generally kept locked it is necessary to seek out the key nearby and then enter by the priest's door on the south side of the chancel. This reveals the tall and narrow space within from the altar end, and transports one immediately into the midst of the finest carved woodwork in the church. The glass in the windows gives the interior a rather Victorian atmosphere, but this is soon forgotten when one focuses on the extensive late medieval furnishings which are the glory of this church; the nave pews are richly carved with all sorts of fantastical creatures on the bench ends, whilst in the chancel are the stalls with their reading desks and a set of six of the finest quality misericords to be seen anywhere in the country. Most of this appears to date from the last decades of the 15th century but some of the carvings seem to betray an origin in the early decades of the following century. This is a fascinating collection of carvings which kept me occupied for some time.
In the chancel is another late medieval treasure but not an indigenous one, a set of exquisite Flemish carvings depicting scenes from Christ's Passion that were given to the church in more recent years and incorporated into the paneling around the high altar (flanking the rather stodgy Victorian reredos). At the west end of the nave is the churches oldest feature, the 14th century font, the last relic of the previous church here.
Stowlangtoft church is usually kept locked so keyholder details are given, but fear not for they are friendly and live just over the road. Anyone planning to visit here should allow plenty of time (especially if like me they enjoy the carved wooden beasties of East Anglian bench ends as this church is full of them!). I had a more ambitious itinerary planned for this day, but having spent so long here I didn't get around to seeing some of my later targets (or they too were locked by the time I did). It was time well spent though, as this was easily the biggest highlight of the day.
This CreativeMornings/DC event featured Amy Saidman of SpeakeasyDC on the theme of 'Humility.'
This event was generously supported by Huge, Capital One Digital / Capital One Labs and TrackMaven and was hosted by Smithsonian American Art Museum, Luce Foundation Center on April 23, 2015.
Photos by Lexey Swall
Christ Church, with its neo-Gothic elements, was the first church to be built in Simla and the second in the whole of northern India. Its architect, Colonel J. T. Boileau, went out to India with the Bengal Engineers in December 1822. He worked for the PWD and never fought, attaining the rank of Colonel in 1855, and retiring as Hon. Major-General in 1857 ("Notes"). An astronomer and gifted architect, he had already designed St George's, the cantonment church in Agra, as well as several other important buildings there, and made repairs to historic structures in the area — including the Taj Mahal. Boileaugunj, a township of Shimla, is named after him and his brother, a fellow-engineer in the North-West Provinces (Kanwar 27).
This church has a Kipling connection: its original chancel window was designed by the writer's father, Lockwood Kipling, who is said to have made a fresco for it as well. Lockwood had a long connection with Simla: in the 1876 season, for instance, he was summoned to see Lord Lytton about the design of banners for an upcoming "Imperial Assemblage" in Delhi; and in 1885, he was there refurbishing the residence of the Governor of the Punjab. Lady Dufferin, the then Viceroy's wife, sent her daughters to him for art lessons (Allen 192).
Among the notable windows in the church now are those depicting the virtues (in all, Faith, Charity, Hope, Fortitude, Patience and Humility). The Viceroy's pews are still labelled, and one of the many touching memorials is to the wife of a later Viceroy, Lord Hardinge. Hardinge, the guiding light behind the creation of the new stately capital in New Delhi with its beautiful Lutyens buildings, was by all accounts a rather stiff and starchy man, but he had married his cousin Winifred ("Bena") against much opposition, and the marriage had turned out well. He was devastated by her death, so much so that for years "no one dared mention his name in her presence and it was only his iron will that kept him at his post...."(Prior). The memorial is near where he would have sat in the church.
Another rather fine memorial is to Lt-General Sir Gerald de Courcy Morton, once Adjutant-General of the Indian Army. "Noble" and "simple" he may have been amongst his comrades, but he was also the figure behind the development of the notorious dumdum bullet, which "expanded on impact like those used in big game hunting." This seemed unethical, but was justified by Surgeon Major J. B. Hamilton and Sir John Ardagh at the Hague in 1899, on the grounds that the "savage, like the tiger" needed to be stopped in his tracks (O'Connell 232).
MANNING NATIONAL GUARD ARMORY, Albany, Georgia, April 28, 2014 – With the humility of its namesake, the Manning National Guard Armory dedication ceremony was unpretentious and earnest Monday afternoon. The crowd of family, friends and former Warriors-in-Arms paid homage to the Georgia National Guard’s first senior enlisted advisor and State Command Sgt. Major William ‘Billy’ Manning with the renaming of the home to Company ‘F’, 148th Brigade Support Battalion, Georgia Army National Guard. Manning’s ‘Make it Happen’ leadership style made a dramatic impact on all he encountered including the State of Georgia National Guard’s seventh Command Sgt. Major and first African-American to be accepted into the position, James Nelson. Now an active U. S. Army National Guard advocate Nelson credits Manning with getting his career underway.In an interview in 2011 Nelson reflected on his career and the man who made a difference by turning is career around.“It was early in my career and I was an E-5 (Sgt.) contemplating leaving the Georgia Guard after a reorganization,” Nelson recalled. “After speaking with him he said, ‘give it a minute,’ was able to transfer me into a different (job specialty) and it was my first introduction to making it happen by taking care of Soldiers.”Manning would later pin the rank of Staff Sgt., E-6, on Nelson and becoming a mentor to the fledgling noncommissioned officer.It was the State of Georgia’s eighth senior enlisted advisor, Command Sgt. Major Phillip Stringfield who initiated the designation change to honor the legend who was famous for his heavy-handed training tactics to punctuate the need for situational awareness when you are in the business of combat arms.“His style could put you off initially,” Stringfield said. “Sgt. Major Manning was a direct, no-nonsense leader whom I’ve attempted to mirror in my style of leading our Soldiers.” (Georgia Army National Guard photo by Staff Sgt. Tracy J. Smith)
a small rectangular entrance to the Basilica of the Nativity which was created to prevent carts being driven in by looters, and to force even the most important visitor to dismount from his horse as he entered the holy place
This CreativeMornings/DC event featured Amy Saidman of SpeakeasyDC on the theme of 'Humility.'
This event was generously supported by Huge, Capital One Digital / Capital One Labs and TrackMaven and was hosted by Smithsonian American Art Museum, Luce Foundation Center on April 23, 2015.
Photos by Lexey Swall
April 13, 2015: Featuring David Ansel, Austin's own Soup Peddler.
Sponsored by Real HQ, Razorfish Studios and Cuvee Coffee .
Hosted at The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.
Photos by Manny Pandya.
Video Production by Scott Clark.
April 13, 2015: Featuring David Ansel, Austin's own Soup Peddler.
Sponsored by Real HQ, Razorfish Studios and Cuvee Coffee .
Hosted at The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.
Photos by Manny Pandya.
Video Production by Scott Clark.
April 13, 2015: Featuring David Ansel, Austin's own Soup Peddler.
Sponsored by Real HQ, Razorfish Studios and Cuvee Coffee .
Hosted at The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.
Photos by Manny Pandya.
Video Production by Scott Clark.
This CreativeMornings/DC event featured Amy Saidman of SpeakeasyDC on the theme of 'Humility.'
This event was generously supported by Huge, Capital One Digital / Capital One Labs and TrackMaven and was hosted by Smithsonian American Art Museum, Luce Foundation Center on April 23, 2015.
Photos by Lexey Swall