Blog 2: Thoughts About Girl Scouts While Not Watching Duke in the Final Four

Many of you know that I am a nut about Duke University basketball. My Dad started this rooting for Duke thing because of all things, get this: When he was growing up in rural North Carolina, Duke was a major football power. Not so now, of course.

Duke hosted a Rose Bowl in 1942 (due to fears of West Coast invasion) and played in major bowls like the Orange, Cotton and Sugar Bowls.

This time of year I am usually avidly analyzing brackets and worrying/watching Duke’s basketball team, coached by a great motivator, strategist and leader of teams, Mike Krzyzewski.

But not this year. Duke didn’t make it out of the first weekend, their lack of an effective inside big man fatally taken advantage of. So I spent my next two weekends with the Girl Scouts. And was better off for it.

I believe in the Girl Scouts. Frances Hesselbein, the CEO instrumental to their renaissance a few years ago, was the keynote speaker at a Leadership Conference I attended two years ago. She spoke quietly and passionately of how they successfully implemented the goal of being “relevant” to all girls, not just the traditional suburban girls.

So I haven’t been surprised at the positive energy, diversity and creativity that surrounds the activities my daughter gets involved in. Most businesses would do well to motivate their employees half as well as are these Girl Scout volunteers.

First weekend, she and I went to what was called the “Best Beau Dance.” This is mostly an excuse for these girls to get together and scream while eating snacks, drinking lemonade, doing the limbo and dancing. Emphasize dancing. My daughter sure loved it. I have rarely seen her so happy. I must confess she enjoyed dancing with her fellow girl scouts the most. And disco was king when I was in college! Hard to figure. There is evidence, I have heard, that girls make better life decisions if they do 1:1 activities with their dads. Confidence and self-esteem are increased.

This past weekend the entire family attended what was called “Thinking Day,” one point of which was to hear about the diversity of Girl Scouts around the world. Each troop dressed up in native garb, prepared food and presented facts about a particular country, during which all girls had lines/roles. No one was left out.

Values of inclusion, appreciation for diversity and other cultures, self-confidence and self-reliance were displayed, providing a foundation for the girls to be happier people and more able in the future to drive their own agendas at work and home.

I noticed as we left how good everyone seems to feel when leaving these activities. Contrast that to how I feel when Duke makes an early exit from the NCAA tourney. But I hear they signed a great 6’10” big man, so next year should be a different story!

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