DRI Consulting - Solutions for Organizational Success

"I have been meaning to write for a long while. There is not a day that passes by without me thinking of the three of you. You have impacted my life in tremendous ways. The LDP 05 training was frustrating and downright traumatic for me; in part because I really didn’t have much to apply the learning to and in part maybe because I am usually a counterweight in group such as these. I think the latter was actually a unique aspect for the composition of the class (who do you know that brags about being bad!).

Here now I am finding myself applying the very important principles of coexisting with others that I have picked up with your help. Everything I have learnt is important to me, and these are important more profoundly. I am practicing Seeking First to Understand and see Tori holding a shovel standing next to me when I do not. I am practicing “…your way or the highway” principal, and hear John in his deep voice telling me “…only if you could do a little o’ that.” And I hear Carl telling me in his warm and friendly voice “…you have got to try to learn about people.” Of course there are those moments when I actively marshal my thinking and strategizing talents, in a non-threatening way, and I am finding myself to be much more effective. This is especially helping me effectively lead upward. I champion others actively even in the areas where I am more of an expert. I have a new friend here who is also a philosopher who made a quote which I use now as part of my signature. He is a lot friendlier now than he was when we first started working with each other. I guess he knows that “I care.” Excellence here is in lack of excellence. Sometimes I hear a voice in my head, which I think is my own, telling me: “…dare to lower your standards” And I have been doing that. I have tried using the standards of the contractors as square one and helped them to raise theirs and at their own pace.

I am well, and as you have gathered I am having a great time learning new things in business of the USACE and am enjoying my unique opportunities to be empathic, especially with the locals. I don’t know what they are showing on TV back home, but apparently the media recently has been showing bad things. My wife called and wondered if I was dead since something really bad happened in Baghdad. We do hear the sounds of battle and explosions. Our base has been twice impacted in the last two months that I have been here. Two days ago I was on a mission very similar to the one which was my last back in 03. The project is to rehabilitate an asphalt plant. We had to end our meeting prematurely because our security escort called for us to wrap it up and get in the vehicles. Then after a few minutes of conversations on the radio we were told that a roadside bomb had gone off somewhere along the path we were to take and we had been contacted for assistance in battle. Later they reported they had gained control of the “situation” and no longer needed us - a very close call to join in the excitement.

Teaching is not teaching indeed if there is no learning. There has been learning for me, and so thank you for your teaching. And thank you very much for having thought of me.

Take care of yourselves."

Ghassem Khosrownia

Project Engineer

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE)

Gulf Region Division, Central District (GRC)

1-4 BEST Resident Office

Camp Taji, Iraq

Leadership Development Program USACE– Rock Island District