Jeanne Tapp
Hello. Let me introduce myself: I’m a 1950’s baby boomer who now has the spirit and the heart of a 1960’s vintage hippie. I never had the courage as a teenager, or as a young college student, to be anything other than the good girl who almost never did anything out of line. I didn’t go to Woodstock, I didn’t smoke pot (although I did inhale plenty!) and I didn’t join protests (too frightened I’d get arrested). As I get older I find I’m getting younger in spirit and have plenty to say about many things.
I have a BS degree in music education with some post baccalaureate work and spent my early years teaching in a local middle school. Teaching 11-13 year olds was not my thing, so I moved on to do other things.
I’ve served as an event planner (both small events and large), an employed manger of volunteers, a fund raiser, a volunteer for a variety of not for profit organizations, a church choir singer and a church choir director. I’ve been in plays in both high school and college and have been both in supporting roles and as the lead. Yes, you might think it strange for me to be in supporting roles and as the lead in plays when my other description is “a shy girl who landed out front”, but that’s party of my story.
Adjectives some people find to be true about me: bright , broad-minded , charming , communicative, creative, decisive , optimistic , philosophical , sensitive and straightforward. Many times I don’t think I’m very straightforward because I measure carefully the difference between what I’m thinking and what comes out of my mouth!
What’s important to me?
- Complain all you want, but don’t let me hear it unless you have a suggestion for a solution.
- Don’t waste my time with anything that will be unimportant in 10 years, 5 years, or next year.
- It’s all about the journey, and the journey can take you some interesting places.
- History is important so we won’t repeat the mistakes of the past, but the past is actually the past – put it behind us and move on.
- Food is always important (cooking and eating)!
- And a little bit of humor is always needed.
What else is important? family, travel, reading/education. My philosophy is that I will never know everything and always have something new to learn. What I learn can come from a class, a book, someone I know, and someone I don’t know. What I learn can come from a whole host of sources….. Keep looking, listening and learning.
You’ll find the types of posts on my landingoutfront blog site.
One is all about leadership. The more I land out front the more I learn about leadership. Hopefully you’ll recognize some of your own lessons on leadership in the blog. And just maybe I’ll have a few tips to help you along your way. My basic philosophy is that leadership is a gift, talent, strength and skill that cannot be taught. You either have it or you don’t. That being said, I do believe those who find themselves in leadership roles can improve their skills. This goes back to my strength as a lifelong learner.
The second part of this blog is called The Blue Platter. We love to entertain at our house, so in this part of the blog you’ll find how we do it. We tend to go in waves; there will be moments in time where it seems we are entertaining all the time. Then there will be ‘dry spells’ – those times when nothing is going on. When you find gaps, hang on, there will be more!
The third blog is is called “The Gigi Chronicles”. It started as a chronicle of a grandmother taking care of her son’s children, but it will be so much more. Part of it is the history of how I came to do this and part of it is the changing landscape of parents of adult children. We have such a huge journey ahead of us and it is so different than that of the parents who were having children in the 1950’s.
I look forward to sharing my life with you and to your comments and suggestions!