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Cowboy Solution Featured in the Houston Chronicle

Don Hutson - noemail@cowboysolution.com — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 13:00:00 GMT

Conroe's cowboy conductor

Don Hutson believes there are similarities in working with horses and musicians

By TARA DOOLEY Copyright 2010 Houston Chronicle

Dec. 16, 2010, 4:29PM

Training horses and conducting an orchestra have more in common than one might think.

At least that's how Conroe Symphony Orchestra's "cowboy conductor," Don Hutson, sees it.

"Working with horses and working with people and working with symphonies, there is no difference," he said. "You must build a foundation of trust."

Since 2005, when he took podium as music director of the volunteer orchestra, Hutson has been putting his horse wisdom to work in his musical endeavors. In a city that supports its local theaters and galleries but comes out in full force for the county fair and rodeo, the cowboy conductor resonates with his audience, said Aline Arnold, orchestra's chairman of the board of directors and executive director.

"He has a personality that really fits well with this cowboy mentality," Arnold said.

The combination of music and horses has been a part of Hutson's 61 years of life. Or most of them.

The horses were around for work and transportation on the small family farm where he grew up in Lufkin. As a teen, he began learning to train them.

The music in Hutson's life was inspired by his involvement in the local Baptist church his family attended. In college, Hutson planned to pursue church music as a career, but he shifted focus as he learned more classical repertoire.

"It was just a different level of music," he said. "I got turned on to music from an art standpoint."

Humbling experience

Hutson earned a master's degree at Stephen F. Austin State University and returned to Lufkin to teach music at a local high school. Eventually, he decided to try a different part of the country and headed to Oklahoma for a doctorate in conducting.

After teaching conducting at the college level for about 10 years, Hutson decided that he had had enough of academic politics and left behind education for the world of business.

He moved to Longview and, with three partners, started a company that manufactured baseball caps. In about 16 years, he built it into an enterprise with about 300 employees that made 3,000 caps a day.

"It was a little bit different from music," he joked.

During that time, though, parts of his life began to unravel.

It started with the death of his 12-year-old son, Cody, who had suffered with asthma.

"I was never quite the same after that," he said.

After his son's death, his marriage fell apart. Later, he sold his company to a Fort Worth business that went under, sinking Hutson's financial future, too.

"I had lost my family. I had lost everything. So I started my life over at 52-years-old with nothing," he said.

Hutson moved to Montgomery County, where he had some family and friends. He joined a crew building fences on George P. Mitchell's ranch.

"It was a very humbling experience," he said. "It was something I felt I needed to do to find out who I was."

As he settled into Montgomery County, music and horses returned to the forefront of his life.

Working in the area, Hutson rediscovered horse training. But this time, instead focusing on telling the horses what to do, he tried listening to the horses.

"The horses were the teachers," he said. "They were great evaluators."

What he learned is that he could get a lot better response if he focused on earning the horses' trust every day, being consistent in his efforts and praising their accomplishments.

As he worked with the horses, he realized that the principles he learned from them could be applied to business and teaching. The horses offered him the "Cowboy Solution."

He started doing seminars in 2002 to show teachers and business managers how to lead, communicate and build trust by working with the horses.

"It was a struggle to get here, but in the struggle there is dignity and a tolerable destiny," he said.

Down-home style

In about 2005, Hutson was appointed music director and conductor of the Conroe Symphony Orchestra after its former conductor, Robert Zwick, retired and moved out of the area. Arnold learned about Hutson's skills and decided that a "cowboy conductor" would work well for the orchestra — and Conroe.

"He has been a university professor, and he has a degree in conducting, but I think he's able to communicate with the audience," Arnold said. "He's real down home."

Hutson's down-home style was on display at the podium earlier this month at the Ark Church in Conroe for the orchestra's annual Christmas concert. After a swift jaunt onto the stage accompanied by little fanfare, Hutson whipped the orchestra into a rousing Star-Spangled Banner. The audience stood and sang along, some with hands over their hearts.

Then it was on to a short work by the composer Bizet.

"Actually, they could do all of that without me, but it was just so much fun I couldn't keep away," Hutson joked as he turned to address the crowd after the piece. The audience chuckled in response.

These days the Conroe Symphony Orchestra attracts a fair crowd to its concerts. The Christmas show drew more than 1,000. Some arrived in evening wear, others in holiday sweaters with reindeer and Christmas trees. There were generations of families with members from toddlers to grandparents.

'Something for everybody'

The orchestra was started in 1997 with two main goals, said co-founder and concertmaster Mary Curtis Taylor. The simple one was to provide an opportunity for musicians to get together and play.

The philosophical goal of the group was encapsulated on a sticker Taylor plastered on the bumper of her Lincoln: "Every great city has a symphony."

"People, when they are moving to an area, want to know what's going on: What can you provide? What do you have?" Taylor said. "And every great city . . . "

Well, you know.

Since the symphony started, Conroe has grown as Houston's suburbs have inched north. Now the population is estimated to be more than 56,000 - up considerably from the 36,000 figure of the 2000 Census.

George Waggoner, Conroe-area president of the First National Bank Texas and a member of the symphony's board of directors, now considers the city "a mid-sized community with a small-town feel in a great area." He also thinks the city does a pretty good job of having a local arts scene with theater, galleries and the Conroe Symphony Orchestra.

"I think that is one of the things that is nice about the symphony. It kind of makes us a big city," he said.

The members of the symphony are all volunteers. Some, like Taylor, have worked as professional musicians in orchestras around the country. Others are local music teachers and educators. At least one is a building contractor who has been helpful with repairs to the symphony's new home base near downtown Conroe, said Arnold, who works as a volunteer for the orchestra.

The musicians come from as near as Conroe and as far as Katy and Huntsville, she said.

"It is not about playing perfectly, it is about playing musically and conveying emotion," Hutson said. "I believe they create art in the truest sense of the word."

The Conroe Symphony Orchestra's audience has grown to more than 1,000 for each concert since the group began playing at the Ark Church, Arnold said.

The symphony also sponsors educational programs for local school students including a popular essay-writing contest. In January, the orchestra will add a second youth orchestra, one for intermediate and one for advanced players from area schools, Arnold said. Sunday it begins a free afternoon salon series aimed at drawing seniors. The orchestra also has a symphony league of fundraising and volunteers.

"There really is something for everybody," Arnold said.

21-Dec-10 7:00 AM

[firstname], Cowboy Solution Partners with The Bishop's Lodge Ranch Resort & Spa

Debra Ford - noemail@cowboysolution.com — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 13:09:05 GMT

Hello [firstname],

We are pleased to announce our latest partnership with:

Santa Fe

What Animal Can Transform Your Workplace? A Horse, Of Course!

Bishop’s Lodge Ranch Resort & Spa Offers The Cowboy Solution

Bishop’s Lodge Ranch Resort & Spa in Santa Fe, NM has partnered with The Cowboy Solution; a Houston based corporate professional development company, to offer a unique series of team building workshops for corporate groups and professionals.

The Cowboy Solution offers a simple, but effective, core belief system to transform the workplace. Using equine partnerships in an experiential environment, seminars focus on teaching participants how to build strong partnerships within an organization based on trust and earned respect and how to use them to achieve success.

“Bishop’s Lodge is thrilled to partner with The Cowboy Solution to offer our guests another unique experience at our ranch resort. This program promotes leadership development, team building, project management and is an essential tool for any corporate retreat,” said Bishop’s Lodge Managing Director Rich Verruni.

“Horses provide a unique frame of reference, enabling participants to discover and hone their skills as a leader,” sad Dr. Don Hutson, founder of The Cowboy Solution. “Furthermore, participants gain a greater understanding that the real power is in building partnerships, which can transform any professional environment with extraordinary results,” he said.

To learn more about group packages available at Bishop’s Lodge,

please call 800-732-2240 or visit www.bishopslodge.com.

About The Cowboy Solution Founder, Dr. Don Hutson

With over 40 years of experience in education and business Dr. Hutson has worked with thousands of corporate leaders and educators in Texas, Colorado and Canada with great success. Many have reported that not only are they getting better results in their areas of expertise, but they are also gaining renewed rewards and personal satisfaction from their professions.

Dr. Hutson is the founder of The Cowboy Solution; an equine assisted educational and corporate leadership training program. This innovative program is based on the research of Roland Barth, Mike Schmoker, Stephen Covey, Ken Blanchard and others, which shows that building strong partnerships is the first key towards success. For more information on The Cowboy Solution, please visit www.cowboysolution .com or watch video here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=349KS3QsjgE

About Bishop’s Lodge:

The Bishop’s Lodge Ranch Resort & Spa is a classic, historic destination resort minutes from downtown Santa Fe. Bishop’s Lodge is a member of Historic Hotels of America, a program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation and brand of Preferred Hotel Group. Meeting spaces include four conference rooms totaling 8,000 square feet, fully wired with high-speed Internet access. Outdoor spaces are available for receptions and activities. Business support services are available, as well as catering and culinary planners. Bishop’s Lodge is ranked by Travel & Leisure magazine as one of America’s premier retreats. To make a resort or spa reservation, call 800-732-2240 or visit www.bishopslodge.com.

For Bishop’s Lodge press inquiries, please contact:

Rachel Silva

Ballantines PR

505 795 5353

Rachel@ballantinespr.com

For Cowboy Solution please contact:

Debra Ford

Ford & Company

281 415 0673

debra@fordandcompany.com

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10-Dec-10 7:09 AM

Speaker Uses Horses to solve porblems

Don Hutson - noemail@cowboysolution.com — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 16:00:00 GMT

Speaker uses horses to solve problems

www.reporternews.com

31-Aug-10 11:00 AM

The Price of Success

Don Hutson - noemail@cowboysolution.com — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 11:00:00 GMT

"Success is like anything worthwhile. It has a price. You have to pay the price to win and you have to pay the price to get to the point where success is possible. Most important, you must pay the price to stay there."

~Vince Lombardi

I just love motivational sayings. They inspire us with words of wisdom. They make us want to start the day with determination.

Unfortunately for me they usually don’t last very long. It only takes a few minutes or the first obstacle, and I am right back to where I was before.

So, I asked myself, "Why is that?" Is it that the words or the thoughts from all of the great motivational leaders and speakers mean nothing? Are they shallow? Certainly no one will deny that people like Vince Lombardi are great motivators. But, why is it that I have to be continually motivated. I believe. I want to. What is wrong?

Then it hit me. The answer as to why just may be in my inability to understand the words – the real meaning. When I was a young boy growing up in church, I remember the minister –always in a “ministerial” tone – quoting the verse “He has become as sounding brass and tinkling cymbal.” I remember that everyone in the small country church would always seem to agree with a hearty Amen! I am now 60 years old, and I have to admit that I really do not know what the scripture means. Is it good or bad?

Vince Lombardi’s quote above is right on. However, I took it at only face value. I agree with it, but I don’t get any better. Why?

“Success is like anything worthwhile.” The real key to the quote being relevant for me is to first determine what success really is. How can I achieve it if I really don’t know what it is? After all if you can’t define it how do you know if and when you achieve it? What is success anyway?

“It has a price. You have to pay the price to win and you have to pay the price to get to the point where success is possible.” This just might be the key. Do we really know what the price is? Most people don’t mind paying the price. We just really aren’t sure what the price is for the success we desire. And for many, we spend too much time paying the wrong price. It is sort of like when people say that we have to learn to accept responsibility. I don’t mind accepting it, but I am not sure that I can define what my responsibility is. But, it does sound good.

Have you ever hear someone say, “I am working hard and long hours and I don’t seem to be getting anywhere.” Perhaps the price is not the long hours. Maybe, just maybe, the real price is working smarter, getting help, or simply backing away to see what is really happening.

Maybe the real answer is to first determine what success is. Then figure out what the defined price really is. Next you can figure out what you need to pay and what the price to say there really is.

I know. It is a lot easier in the grocery store. The price is right below the item.

Don Hutson

August, 2010

4-Aug-10 6:00 AM

The Mystical Power of the Horse

Don Hutson - noemail@cowboysolution.com — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 19:00:00 GMT

The Mystical Power of Horses

Throughout history the horse has been given almost mystical powers. Books, poems, songs, and statues all attest to their power to influence our lives. Anyone who has ever spent much time around them can relate some special moment where a horse has had a significant impact on their lives.

And, they aren’t just for riding anymore. Programs like NARHA use horses to aid handicap riders of all ages in physical and mental therapy. There is even a whole industry where horses are used by psychologist and psychiatrists in various therapies with dramatic results. I suppose Winston Churchill summed it up best. “The outside of a horse is good for the inside of a man.”

I started thinking and began asking a lot of questions. What is it about the horses that cause them to possess these “mystical” powers? Did the creator bestow on them some divine trait beyond all human understanding? What caused the horse to become an almost supernatural being? What were the attributes of this wild animal that have been unchanged throughout history? Why them and not humans?

So, I started really observing what the horses were doing everyday. I wanted to try and define these traits that created the mystical power and see if there was a way to introduce them into the human world. After years of working with them, here are a few of the “mystical” traits that I discovered.

Absolute Honesty– Horses cannot lie. They are absolute evaluators of the situation, and they act accordingly. If they are afraid they let you know immediately. Their honesty is so absolute that it allows others around them to make decisions based on absolutes not agendas. What others do and how they react is irrelevant. Their honesty is not meant to hurt or please. It is simply a reaction to what is presented at the moment. To them the moment is all that matters. And to them, honesty is a two way street. They only get honesty back as well.

Authentic Barometers – They have the ability to see what really is in each other. You really can’t fool a horse. Maybe because they are honest.

Horses do not hold a grudge– Only people do that. Horses can have very violent disputes and be seen grazing next to each other moments later.

Horses earn trust from each other and in turn learn to trust. - It is how they have survived.

Absolute Communicators– Horses have an acute sense of communication and 95% of that communication is non-verbal.

Living in the Moment– Everything is about now.

24-7 job- These traits are part of their beings 24-7. They never take a break. They live their lives in this mode.

Planning– Horses do not plan for the future. Instead they prepare for it by honing their living skills.

Significant Importance- To the horse this life style is a matter of significant importance. It is about survival. Because these traits are so much a part of who they are, they are able to achieve such powerful results.

Culture - All of these traits are part of the equine culture - a shared vsion that is acted upon. Everyone not only believes it, they also act up[on it every day.

Are these traits available only to the horses? No. They are actually present in all of us. Then if they are present in us all then why don’t humans posses such “mystical” power? The answer is quite simple. To the horses these traits are an absolute part of their very existence and not something that they are about on a part time basis. Over millions of years of the upward climb from cold mud to warm man humans have developed the skill of hidden agendas, spun communication half truths and no trust. An honest person today is often the exception not the rule.

So, the power is not found in possessing these traits. The real power lies in the ability to use them consistently as a part of out everyday existence.

So, what would be the results if we applied and used the same simple basic principals that have given the mystical powers to the horse to our personal and professional lives? What would our world look like then? What would happen to Washington D.C.? One can only imagine.

Funny isn’t it? With all of our education and our evolution we still look to a simple horse to show the way. Just a thought!

Don Hutson

July, 2010

27-Jul-10 2:00 PM

Cowboys & Indians Magazine

Debra Ford - noemail@cowboysolution.com — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 14:00:00 GMT

http://www.cowboysindians.com/travel-adventure/lodging-leisure/2010-06/cowboycampout.jsp

3-Jul-10 9:00 AM

Building Trusting Relationships

Don Hutson - noemail@cowboysolution.com — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 12:00:00 GMT

Building Trusting Relationships; Making a Difference

About 10 or so years ago I found myself mired by my own personal crisis. “These things can’t be happening to me. I am not supposed to be in this situation.” My world growing up said that if you went to school and got a job, everything would be ok. But after 3 college degrees, 12 years as an educator, and 18 years as a business owner with over 300 employees in two countries, I found myself at one of the lowest points of my life both professionally and personally. I had lost everything and had nothing to fall back on. Every step I took was a new one into a world for which I was not prepared.

During this time I had to make some very hard decisions. To survive, I had to reinvent myself. So, at 52 with only the clothes on my back, a few pieces of furniture, and a car I began a new journey.

Since I had a lot of time on my hands, I took some of it to try and figure out what I might be able to do. What did I want to be now that I had grown up? At my age not many companies want you, and I wasn’t exactly sought after. I actually remember talking to a head hunter who literally laughed at me. I really didn’t know what I wanted to do, but with the time I had left, I wanted to try and make a difference in the world.

I always had a love of horses and actually did some “training” in my youth. So, I decided to try my hand at it again. As I began the “breaking” process with the horses, I drew upon the techniques that I had learned from and used in the past.

Making not teaching
Intimidation
Force if needed
Tools to make not to teach

While I was somewhat successful in this new endeavor of my life there were more than a few bumps and bruises along the way. I could ride the horses that I was training but you weren’t always sure of what the result would be. There was always a lack of trust on both parts and the result was anything but a successful partnership.

Another result of my old technique was that it was taking a long time to achieve success. My friends would say, “That horse needs some time.” Well, I was going broke waiting for the time to come.

I knew from my teaching days that it was a lot easier to transfer knowledge to a willing participant, but my current methods were causing the exact opposite

I decided that if I wanted to be successful-and keep out of the hospital- I needed to change my techniques. After all, as the trainer it was my job not the horse’s to create the success. I even looked up train in the dictionary and quickly discovered that the horse had no responsibility in the process. My first lesson was that if I wanted to be successful I had to look in the mirror. I had to make the change. The job was all mine.

Back to Basic

Again, my lesson came from a horse. After a very unsuccessful and frustrating session, my horse stopped dead still in his tracks. And, in a look that can only be described as hauntingly educational he communicated to me that if I wanted him to perform in a way that he wasn’t sure about then he needed to be able to trust me first. My frustration was not working to create any success. And no matter how much I yelled or swore the real problem still existed. I still wasn’t doing my job.

I discovered that if I wanted to be successful as a trainer, I needed to go back to basics, back to the beginning. I was asking my horses to perform at step three or four before we completed step one; the one process that would make everything easier. I had to learn to build trust first. So, I immediately set about developing a set of tools that would do just that.

I realized that the first thing I had to do to build trust was to earn it. I had to prove worthy of being trusted. It was about me as the leader. The horses looked to me to measure my competency level. After all, when a horse gives you his trust, he trusts you with his life. To him it is a matter of significant importance. His ability to trust based on another earning it has been the key to his survival for 50 million years.

However, my knowledge of the importance of trust in relationships was still getting me hurt. I asked the horses to trust me but their response was “sorry I don’t understand what you want, but you can get on.” So, not only did I need to create a set of tools, I had to use them to create actions that would prove me worthy of trust- demonstrate my competency. I quickly learned that to earn meant a couple things. First, I had to do it not the horses and secondly, there had to be an action associated with it. I had to earn not demand trust.

The benefits of my new paradigm were dramatic. Once I had established a trust the following happened.

I got to the end faster.
I reduced the bumps and bruises dramatically.
I realized that the more I built trust the more I could trust.
Trust made everything better and everything faster; faster.
I had a partner with whom I could achieve bigger goals.
I could achieve the goals faster.
I was more efficient not just more effective.

The results were also that the horses changed my life on a much higher plane. They became my teachers, and they showed me what the crisis in my life had become. My life had been almost destroyed by the lack of trust in not only my business relationships but my personal ones as well. And they showed me that the first place I need to look to become a better person was in the mirror.

Then it hit me again. What if we could apply this same philosophy beliefs and actions outside of the arena in the human world?

Today more than ever, every aspect of our lives is influenced in a negative way by the lack of trust. There is a crisis of confidence in almost every aspect of our lives. What would be the result of changing this trend? What if we could apply the same simple back-to-basics, first-things-first, tools and process that worked with the horses to create trust in business, education, and even in our everyday personal relationships? And if we did what would be the benefits?

I recently was inside a national hardware and lumber chain and overheard two mid level supervisors discussing how they didn’t trust their leaders. I listened for about 10 minutes to them discuss all the bad things that were going on simply because of a lack of trust.

What were the benefits of those 10 minutes? Their lack of trust had an exponential effect. Two supervisors, who I assume were being paid a fairly good wage, were not supervising; the job they had been paid to do. Those that they were not supervising were not doing their jobs as well. A cashier where they were standing was having difficulty with a customer and the customer was not too happy. As a customer, I was looking for help with a product and didn’t want to interrupt such a passionate discussion. The whole scenario was certainly not a positive experience.

What was the cost of this lack of trust? The negative experience was exponential. Five people left with bad feeling all around. And those bad feelings created more bad feelings that in the long run hurt the profitability of the company. Bad feelings do not a profit make.

I also had the opportunity to call on a local grocery store chain in the Houston area. While I was waiting for my appointment, I casually asked the receptionist to rate how well she trusted her leadership on a scale of 1-10. Without hesitation her body language changed to an almost giddy pride and without hesitation she said a 10. I left there feeling not only good about the company but wanting to do all of my shopping there.

High trust yields positive benefits. Low trust yields negative benefits. And, each does so exponentially.

The Solution

Bookstores are full of books that illuminate the crisis of the lack of trust in business and personal relationships, but very few give us the tools and the experiential venue to make significant change. Consultants engage in PowerPoint presentations with voluminous workbooks and manuals that promise results in only six months. But in today’s economy, what is the financial benefit of six months of failure? Neither the bad or the good stop and only the good creates profit.

The knowledge that trust is important is universal. However, the ability to earn trust requires actions. And to be successful actions have to be evaluated. We do not create partnerships with words. They are the result of earned trust.

How do you earn trust in an organization or in your personal life? You use specific tools and create actions that prove your worthiness and your competency as a leader, spouse, parent, colleague, and friend. Is it a learnable trait? Absolutely! Is it difficult? Not at all. But to learn it you must experience it. Does it take a long time? No, the benefits are immediate.

Ten years ago I began a journey to make a difference. Along the way a horses showed me how.

2-Jul-10 7:00 AM

Why is Communication Such a Difficult Concept?

Don Hutson - noemail@cowboysolution.com — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 13:00:00 GMT

Why is communication such a difficult concept?

Did the cave man have it right?

I am always amazed at the number of seminars, workshops and articles I see about how to improve the one tool most basic to interaction with others - communication. One would think that once caveman and cave woman developed past the occasional grunt-and-gesture into a world where an actual book - the dictionary - was established to create common definitions, communication would have become much easier.

Yet, with all the opportunities available it seems that communication, or rather the lack thereof, is still one of the least addressed issues in business and education today. As a training and leadership consultant, I often ask teachers and trainers to define the word “teach” and “train.” It is always interesting how varied the meaning is to different people. How can a word mean so many different things to so many different people? And if it does and that is acceptable to our society then why have a dictionary in the first place. And if it does then I personally want to go back and discuss my grades on every vocabulary test from school. I also had a similar conversation with a group of business people about the culture of their company. I asked them to define culture and like the teachers, their answers were quite different. “Well, it means different things to different people.” Really?

As a young boy in the eighth grade, I had a favorite English teacher named Mrs. Frederick. She gave a vocabulary test every Thursday. Mrs. Frederick was very old-school and rather absolute in her thinking. If I had put as the answer, “Well it means different things to different people,” she would have introduced me to the dictionary with a smack to my head. It is actually pretty simple. If words didn’t have a common meaning, then wouldn’t it be impossible to communicate with each other?

Today there is dangerous tendency to assume that when people use the same words, they perceive a situation in the same way. In truth, this is rarely the case. Once one gets beyond a dictionary definition- a meaning that is often of little practical value-the meaning we assign to a word is often our belief or interpretation and rarely an absolute. It is fairly easy to see where the problems lie. We aren’t communicating. We are talking.

In our workshops and seminars, we use horses to facilitate leadership development programs. The longer I lead these classes, the more I learn about communication - the ability to express ideas effectively - from my equine partners. After all, horses are absolute communicators. They cannot lie. They have an absolute and common form of communication and understanding that has kept them alive and has remained virtually unchanged for some 50 million years. And for the most part their communication is non-verbal.

In our equine-assisted seminars, we typically have the group lead a horse through an obstacle course. However, no one is allowed to touch the horse. The first time the leader talks to everyone telling them what to do. Success, at first, is always fair at best. Then the team is asked to repeat the exercise without anyone being able to talk. Success is always much better.

So, why does the second effort work so much better? Two reasons. First, we stop using words, especially ones that “mean different things to different people.” We spend our time trying to figure out what is being said rather than focusing on the actual task. Second, maybe the caveman and the horses have it right. Actions really do speak louder than words. They force us to be absolute.

At times the most successful communication we have is not talking at all. According to research, about 80 to 90 percent of all communication is nonverbal. While our words can be misinterpreted, our actions are more absolute. Sorry, but email just doesn’t work to really communicate. How can you see a person’s reaction or action through the internet?

What does all this mean? Perhaps, as we go along our way, we can start to become more aware of how our communication is perceived by others and work to make our words and our actions mirror each other.

If you want to have fun sometimes, look up a word in the dictionary every once in a while to see if it means what you thought. See how little you can say and how successful you can be. Learn to listen and observe body language and facial expressions. Smile, feel good, and look at people in the eye.

This communication thing is supposed to make everything better.

21-Jun-10 8:00 AM

Chic Cowboy Corporate Outings

Debra Ford - noemail@cowboysolution.com — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 13:19:24 GMT

Fill your next event with fresh air.

Looking for a fresh new way to host a special event? Why not consider a countryside dinner hosted in an authentic barn or a barbecue under a canopy of trees and stars?

Melange Catering and Events and Cowboy Campout--a working horse ranch retreat have teamed up to offer Chic Cowboy Cookouts. Whether it's an intimate dinner for 10 or a party for 300 we'll handle every detail for your event.

A truly green event space.

Contact:

lwest@melangeevents.com

debra@fordandcompany.com

don@cowboysolution.com

www.cowboycampout.com

www.melangeevents.com

Grilled to perfection

20-Aug-09 8:19 AM

Cowboy Campout offers nearby retreats

Debra Ford - noemail@cowboysolution.com — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 12:00:00 GMT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Debra Ford, 281-415-0673

debra@fordandcompany.com

COWBOY CHIC RETREAT OFFERS NEARBY ESCAPE

Montgomery, Texas…For would-be cowboys and cowgirls or just plain city folk looking for a 2-day retreat from the city life, Cowboy Campout offers the perfect combination of outdoor fun and relaxation. Just 15 miles north of historic Montgomery, Texas and an hour from downtown Houston, this cowboy chic barn and breakfast is perfect for a quick and easy getaway. The barn and breakfast is the creation of Cowboy Solution owner, Don Hutson, a local horse whisperer of sorts who works with teachers, corporate leaders and managers of all levels. His Cowboy Solution seminars use equine partners to help humans learn some back-to-basic, but critical communication and management, skills.

“This retreat seemed a natural extension of the Cowboy Solution seminars, said Hutson. We have groups who want a unique environment and seminar to help further their management goals. So, we converted our barn into a bunkhouse which offers a restorative place to stay for an overnight retreat. It’s also perfect for family reunions, girl’s getaway and host of other special events.”

Situated on an intimate horse ranch, Cowboy Campout offers 2-3 day packages which can be customized for the unique needs of a variety of visitors. The all inclusive ranch offers 2-day packages including meals, accommodations, run of the ranch, horseback riding and basic horsemanship training. Located minutes from the Sam Houston National Forest, guests can hike or bike in the piney woods, ride horses, fish, or just relax in a beautiful country setting.

The barn bunkhouse accommodates 12 (double occupancy). Guests bunk in semi-private rooms furnished in country chic flair. Private restrooms are located within the barn which also houses a quaint bar area perfect for a game of cards. If the weather is nice, outdoor movies can be arranged. A campfire and stargazing are a nightly ritual; however, fireflies are optional. A lovely garden adjacent the bunkhouse is perfect for a lazy afternoon swing.

Packages start at $399 per person including meals, accommodations and daily horseback rides. Additional fee-based activities such as massages, wine tastings and personal riding instruction are available. Picnic lunches can be arranged so guests can explore the area. Montgomery, Navasota, Lake Conroe, Sam Houston National Forest and Brenham are all nearby.

For information visit www.cowboycampout.com or make reservations by emailing reservations@cowboycampout.com.

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9-Jun-09 7:00 AM

The Cowboy Solution at TSDC Conference, Houston

Debra Ford - noemail@cowboysolution.com — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 15:00:00 GMT

Happy New Year from the Cowboy Solution.

We want to let you know that we are honored to be presenting at the Texas Staff Development Council Conference in Houston, January 15-17. Our session is scheduled for Thursday morning, January 15. The title of the presentation is “Shaping a New Culture with Powerful Partnerships.” We will demonstrate how to build strong partnerships with students and colleagues that can transform the culture of a campus so that success is achieved with all students. And, it is all so simple and easy to achieve. We will also demonstrate how to apply specific tools to create these powerful partnerships based on mutual trust and earned respect.

Please stop by our booth to learn more about our new Cowboy Solution programs for 2009. We look forward to seeing you there.

Don Hutson

281-732-4963

www.cowboysolution.com
don@cowboysolution.com

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9-Jan-09 9:00 AM

Is it the student or the system that is failing?

Don Hutson - noemail@cowboysolution.com — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 13:00:00 GMT

A March, 2008 editorial in the Houston Chronicle title "Back to School" once again focused the light of truth on the problems of educating our children. And like thousands of other studies and billions of dollars spent on them, the conclusion is the same: “Houston, we have a problem.” However, this piece did shed light on a few new ones.

The letter stated that “almost no one believes that the law (NCLB) can achieve the main goal of having every child in America reading and doing math at grade level by 2014.” One can only wonder what would happen if we not only believed this statement, but accepted it as our only goal. The Effective School Movement, on which the NCLB is partly based, says that social, economic, and environmental factors are not to blame for poor student achievement. It states that all students can learn, but they learn at different rates, different times, and in different ways. But all students can learn.

What if educators, school boards, parents, civic clubs, and communities all believed and understood the complete statement (but they learn at different rates, different times, and in different ways) and joined forces to find a viable solution to help each child succeed and to reach his or her full potential. What if failure were not an option? Imagine the positive results if all students were helped to achieve a high standard at each grade level before moving to the next? Passing a student on to the next grade level by using low standards to make our school systems look “exemplary” or to insure that we do not “lower a neighborhood’s desirability and property values” seems to succeed in only in exacerbating the problem. Where exactly is the focus on the student in that statement?

It seems unconscionable that school districts must adopt two reporting methods to avoid losing federal funding rather than focus on the real root of the problem which is how best to teach all children. Protecting property values to avoid losing tax dollars insures that our students will suffer. Perhaps a back to basics approach is needed. How can we help our teachers in the classroom?

The editorial also stated, “the law will work better if it is tweaked to distinguish between schools that, according to standardized math and reading tests, are failing miserably, and those in which only a handful of students are not adequately passing.” Do laws teach? What if we took a no excuse approach to teaching to a higher standard for all students? Do the concepts of math, science, history, or any other learning have anything to do with racial, ethnic, or class biases? Isn’t 2+2=4 the same if you are poor, rich, Hispanic, African American, or Caucasian? High standards are not affected by race creed color or religion.

The last sentence of the letter is the critical one. “How best to achieve it is a puzzle from which a nation must not turn away.” Absolutely true. But, it is not the lack of desire or lack of efforts for the past 20 years that has caused the problem. The real problem just may be that we are focusing our attention on the “problem of the problem” instead of actual solutions. After decades of spin to show that we have met our testing goals the truism is that students are at every grade level have been left behind.

If we are to succeed in changing our approach, failure cannot be an option.

15-Jul-08 8:00 AM

The Billion Dollar Drop-out

Don Hutson - noemail@cowboysolution.com — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 16:00:00 GMT

It is widely recognized that the U.S. and the world have moved towards a knowledge-based economy—one where knowledge and technology are vital to economic growth. Knowledge, of course, is embodied in human beings and thus the use of the term “human capital,” which seems to hold the key to our nation’s future success and its ability to compete in a rapidly changing global landscape. Social observers in fact agree that a city’s prosperity depends on finding, attracting and retaining the nations most skilled and creative knowledge workers.

How will Houston or any other city be able to accomplish such a feat when our education system continues to fail the very students it is supposed to help?

Much discourse of late including articles and editorials in the Houston Chronicle and other publications through out the United States extol the efforts of public educational institutions to find better ways to help our children learn. Acts mandates, and initiatives abound all designed to help “each child reach their full potential.” But, student outcomes do not improve by spending more dollars or by adding more bricks and mortar. Instead, teachers must be empowered to bring out the best in all students.

Teacher accountability in Texas began in 1983. Now, 23 years later, “student achievement in the U.S. remains effectively flat even as the demands of a 21^st century stiffen,” according to the Washington-based Thomas B. Fordham Foundation. The report indicates a national average grade of D for student achievement. And, there are more mandates, acts, and initiatives than ever. Another recent study, Quality Counts at 10; A Decade of Standards-Based Education, reports that the Texas education system received a grade of C with only 18 states receiving a score above that mark.

Billions have been spent on these studies, all of which urge change. The real issue is not that we need to change, but what are we going to do to initiate change. With so many accountability issues facing schools today, we often forget that the real key to student achievement -- not to mention our most important resource -- is the teacher.

Of the 10 recommendations made by the National Center on Education and Economy’s 2006 study Tough Choices, Tough Times, not one actually addresses the real problem. How are we helping our teachers teach?

Perhaps the issue is that our education system fails to come to grips with the actual definition of the word “teach.” According to Webster, teach means “to cause to know.” There are no excuses or extenuating circumstances. Webster does not even mention the student in the definition. What is the basic goal of education? To cause all students to know—plain and simple.

The Department of Education cites that the greatest single influence on student achievement is the teacher. Yet, there is not one recommendation related to teacher training in a quick review of the 10 recommendations made in the Tough Choices study.

The “Six Big Goals” outlined in HISD’s five-year plan are certainly lofty and needed. In essence, they reflect many such educational plans throughout the US. However, not one of the goals focuses on teacher training.

In the end, the solution may be to ask some simple questions. How are we preparing our teachers to teach? Not how can we spend more money? Not, will new technology help? Will more police help? Will branding help or more community involvement?

Maybe the real question is how can we help our teachers to inspire a student to learn? What techniques can be used that will help with the critical issue of transference of knowledge? What is our current teaching process?

Perhaps there is a simple solution.

What would happen if…

Teachers were given effective tools to help students learn.
If students were not allowed to go forward until they had mastered the subject matter to an acceptable (high) standard.
- Not just to the next grade
- but to the next unit or concept

What would happen if…

Our focus was on insuring success in the teaching process
Our teachers were able to inspire students to learn

I suspect that if we spent more time focused on preparing our teachers for the classroom rather than on the next act or mandate we might not require marketing campaigns and programs which are costing our nation billions of dollars a year. It is beyond disheartening to know that the U.S. spends $268 billion a year on high school dropouts. And, those figures do not include marketing plans, safety programs, management efficiency studies, acts, mandates, and the litany of initiatives. Congress could certainly find a good use for $286 billion dollars.

Failure should not be an option. Because in the end we all lose. We pride ourselves as a world power, but we are letting our children down by not helping the people who can make the most difference in their lives on a daily basis. Their teachers.

If our global economy and future do in fact lie in a knowledge-based economy, it seems incumbent upon our education system to insure that our students can learn. And, that our teachers are more empowered to teach.

8-Jul-08 11:00 AM