all things t

R&D Team Creation, Compiled Docs, etc. (aka the Motherlode)

I get asked for this info frequently enough I decided to go deep into old personal files and create the definitive post about how, what and why to create an R&D Team "Thomas style" for AllThingsT.com.

Caveat: This is extremely rich stuff, so like all good things, take some time to digest. ;) Most of us don't have the luxury of spending intense focussed chunks on R&D teaming alone, as valuable as it can be. 

Although you may be interested to know, Thomas had a very strong penchant for monetizing the output of R&D.  He was a VERY bottom line driven numbers guy even though that was a lot behind the scenes and not evident to the public.

Enjoy.  If you find any broken links and such please be aware they are the fault of this writer and not AllThingsT.com.  Write me at andrea@andreajlee.com to let me know exactly what might be missing and I'll have it fixed.  Thanks!

And hey? How about a price of admission here?  (Tongue in cheek, of course.) 

But seriously...in the spirit of R&D, if you are moved by something here...let's try eating some of our own 'cooking.'

If you are looking forward to creating your own R&D team, ensure your results by first contributing as an active member of the greater R&D community, of which this site is one piece.

What do you think of the resources below? Questions, thoughts or comments? Are you going to create a team now? How will you adapt what's here? What do you think has changed since these were first posted some 3, 4, 5 years ago now in some cases?  Is some of more pertinent than ever or completly obsolete?

Let the stone soup begin.

Creative Process

Heidi Costas emailed me the following to add here, showing Thomas' logo making skill and the process he went through on this one to its place in end products. Click on the linked text to view the pages on Heidi's and Coachville's sites.

1. thomas' r&d message from around the
time when the full practice course was written.

(i fixed the picture so that it shows up, which it doesn't anymore in the
original email .. i think that Coachville deleted it from their server or
something)
(at the end of the page, thomas had a link to the animated version of the
logo; i fixed that one too and uploaded the file to my website)

he was very proud about his logos;  i uploaded the swish file, animated version, logo here.

it's soooo pretty!!!!  sigh

2. t told me (us) that if he'd ever want to start coaching again, his
website would probably look something like this, (also an email that he had sent out).

3. the logo and the idea around it eventually became lesson#29 of the full
practice course.

the full practice course is available off of the old cv page here.

Thanks, Heidi.

Last Four R&D Memos From Thomas

Heidi Costas sent these to me via email. I've turned the message into a PDF file using my printer's handy dandy PDF creation function (that's why it says "printed by Pat Gundry" on the pages).

You'll need Adobe Acrobat Reader to open the file. If you don't have that software you can download it for no cost at http://www.adobe.com

Download last_4_rd_memos_from_thomas.pdf

R&D from Feb. 11th

I always loved it when Thomas was in R&D mode.  Often, he would warn us, saying he was in development/R&D mode and we should expect a lot of emails that week.  I enjoyed the thinking most of his R&D emails provoked. 

The School of Performance was one of ten that Thomas intended to develop.  On the morning of Feb. 11th, he sent out two memos (although this has a January 11th date, that was in error)  This was the R&D memo about the School of Performance. Click on the image to see a full screen.

 

Dean Jackson and Thomas' Yellow Men

This is Dean Jackson, a friend of  Thomas' about to enjoy a beverage in a cafe near his home in Florida.  (Snapped February 2004. Click to see it bigger.)

I only know about Thomas' friendship with Dean second hand, but I know Thomas relied a lot on Dean's thinking, strategizing and just plain old advice when it came to internet marketing and connecting with people online.

Plus, I think Thomas found Dean's really easy-going lifestyle fascinating.  Thomas was so driven; Dean was so laid-back. It was an interesting mix.

Dean and his wife Sony still run one of the quietest, smoothest, far reaching (and lucrative!) internet businesses I know of.  And no, his stuff wasn't just limited to StopYourDivorce.com which was cited often at CoachVille, cool as it was. 

Susan Austin and I stayed with him and Sony in their home that February and also snapped this photo of me in front of the "Men on Spoons" artwork that used to hang in Thomas' living room.

It's exactly what the title indicates...men (that look like monks in their robes) atop spoons.  It's one of those 'odd' things that make you go "huh?" which was exactly why, as I understand, Thomas liked it.   (Again you can click the photo to see it bigger.)

As you can tell, it's a pretty big piece of art and would dominate any condo wall.  It's now in the dining room of Dean's place having been gifted to him by Thomas' estate.

I remember being surprised at the expressions on the monks' faces...one looked annoyed, I think (not pleased at spoon positioning?), another serene. Before seeing it in person I hadn't realized each monk is different and has a personality.

Kind of a cool reminder of how Thomas used art in his environment to energize and support his creativity, isn't it?  Non sequiturs are great that way, I think, to keep your brain limber and open to the possibility that the impossible, doesn't have to be.

(Says the person with not only no art on her walls right now but half empty boxes all around, lol.  This will be it for tonight's trip into dusty spots on my c: drive.  Until next time, cheers!//a)

Photos...

I seem to recall quite a few photos around, not in an official sense but if you're someone who has a photo of you with Thomas, Thomas on stage presenting in your city, or something else like...would you take just 5 minutes now and send a copy of it to Pat care of this blog?

Or, Pat, is there a better way to handle this?

Thanks!

First Issue of the Coaching Scoop

Do you remember the Coaching Scoop? It was the first ezine Thomas created after selling Coach U to Sandy Vilas and man, it grew like wildfire.

It seems a lot of these original websites are no longer in existence so the graphics and photos on this link are broken but it's still a cool thing. 

http://www.msoci.com/archives/firstscoop.html

How Thomas Died: A Personal Account...

One of the notable things about Thomas was how connected people felt to him.  Lots of people. And not just on a superficial 'acquaintance' kind of level...many people felt Thomas' presence in their lives very intimately...even though they might never have met him.  (Never let it be said you can't create a powerful coaching presence [and impact] through email and group teleseminars alone.)

It goes to follow that Thomas' death was also felt very personally.

Potpourri

Thanks Pat, for this cosy landing spot.  I'll send over some little things to post separately in the next few days...it will be good stuff from old files that I just need to scan...fun.

For now, here are some links to things that might be of interest, mostly a collection of blog posts in various places.

On the occasion of his would-have-been 50th birthday July 31, 2005: http://www.msoci.com/andrea/archives/317/index.html

On the first year anniversary of his death, February 11, 2004: http://www.andreajlee.com/thomas.pdf

http://www.msoci.com/andrea/archives/56/index.html

Random wee comment March 2004: http://www.msoci.com/andrea/archives/69/index.html