My New Mascot - the Penguin

The Penguins of Madagascar
Kowalski (top), Private, Skipper, and Rico (left to right)

Last night Corey slept over in Provo because they were having an MBA Reunion. He was there for a mix and mingle last night and stayed with a friend so he could attend the activities today. Anyway, since he was going to be gone, I picked up a Redbox DVD - Madagascar 2, and I just love the penguins. They are just so funny! They always seem to be causing chaos, but then it turns out that they are really in complete control - I love it.

I have committed to memory one phrase they said in Madagascar 2 that I hope will help me have a "can-do" attitude when life's problems are seeming overwhelming. Setting: they were trying to fly from Madagascar back to New York, the Penguins were manning the plane, and they crashed down in Africa and the plane was pretty much destroyed. The other animals were complaining about how they were going to get the plane to work. The Penguins reply: "We'll fix it!" "Fix it?!?! How are you gonna fix it?!?!" And the penguins matter of factly reply (and here is my new motto...) "Grit, Spit, and a lot of Duct Tape."

I also read "The Last Lecture" book a while ago, where Randy Pausch talks about Penguins... At the beginning of each semester, Dr. Pausch would organize his classes by teams and at the end of the semester he would honor one team with The First Penguin Award – a stuffed penguin. The award would go to the team that took the biggest gamble in trying new ideas, projects, etc., while failing to achieve their stated goals. According to Randy, it was an award for glorious failure and it celebrated the use of imagination in a daring way. For Randy and his students, First Penguin winners were losers who were definitely on the road to success. (Sometimes I feel that's the boat Corey and I are in!) The title of this award was based on the behaviors and practice of Penguins – but only certain Penguins; the Positive Deviants. The story is that when Penguins are about to jump in the water that might contain predators, someone must be the first Penguin. It is this Penguin that has the internal courage and spirit to risk everything. The story of the Penguin describes behaviors that are internally driven and celebrates risk and encourages students to attempt hard things and not to worry about failing…failure is not just acceptable, it's often essential.

So here's to glorious failure - and to keepin' at it with grit, spit, and a lot of duct tape.