Geoff Steck’s

THANK GOODNESS IT’S MONDAY

TGIM #239

21^st CENTURY LIFE LESSONS

FROM THE LATE CRETACEOUS PERIOD

What do you call a dinosaur that smashes everything in its path?

Tyrannosaurus wrecks.

Kids of a certain age love that joke. (Obviously, I like it too.) And I was reminded of it just the other day when a notice from New Jersey’s own Liberty Science Center arrived in my mail.

Its headline–

Look out … for “A T.rex Named Sue!”

And now I’m as excited as a kid of a certain age because one of the most remarkable fossil finds ever – the largest, most complete T.rex skeleton ever unearthed — is putting in an appearance in the Garden State.

An exhibition that took 67 million years to create. After walking the earth those millions of years ago, the most complete (90%) and well-preserved Tyrannosaurus Rex fossil was discovered in a part of the South Dakota Badlands so rich in fossils that “We call it ‘where the rexes roam,’” says field paleontologist Sue Hendrickson.

Oh, yeah. Sue Hendrickson is the discoverer of the namesake T.rex of the exhibit. An incredible 42 feet long and standing 12 feet high at the hip, Sue (the T.rex) has a skull that measures 5 feet long with 58 razor sharp teeth, some up to a foot long.

The find is so important that the National Geographic Society calls it a Rosetta Stone for the species. After some controversy about ownership and a public auction that realized $8.4 million (none of it went to Hendrickson), the cretaceous period Sue ended up at Chicago’s Field Museum of Natural History for study and display.

Now, in an exhibit created by The Field Museum, a fully articulated cast skeleton of the “tyrant lizard king” has come to my backyard.

“Ok, Peter Pan,” you’re probably now thinking. “I hope you have fun. But what’s the 21^st Century TGIM Life Lesson in all this for the grownups?”

Sue Hendrickson knows how to look. To find the dinosaur she calls “the biggest, baddest carnivorous beast that ever walked on earth,” Hendrickson started with maps made by geologists searching for oil. She identified areas of rock from the late Cretaceous period, when T.rex lived. Walking along those rocks, Hendrickson reminded herself how fossils are made.

“To be preserved, an animal has to be sealed off from oxygen before it’s eaten or decomposes,” she says. “So I look for thin layers of rock, because thin layers were laid down quickly.”

Hendrickson’s trained eye can pick out differences in the rocks. Bone fragments at the base of a nearly 60-foot cliff provided the clue that led to the meeting of the Sues. One dark-brown rock was the bone from a 67-million-year-old T.rex.

“Because the fragments appeared to have fallen from above, I looked up,” Hendrickson is reported as saying.  “And there, about seven feet up the cliff face, three vertebrae were sticking out of the wall. By their shape, I knew the specimen had to be a meat eater. And by their size, I knew it could only be a T.rex.”

TGIM ACTION IDEA: While on the face of it, it might seem as if Sue Hendrickson possesses a sixth sense for making remarkable finds – she has qualities that any of us can copy and apply to “find” remarkable success in our chosen field.

TGIM IDEA IN ACTION: You need a high level of commitment. You need to be interested in things outside your specialized area of interest. You must be able to utilize resources beyond the scope of your specific endeavor. You want to be curious and persistent. You should be prepared to challenge limits.  You have to know how to look before you can see what others don’t and make colossal discoveries. And sometimes you gotta look up.

And Sue H. has one more attribute worth emulating. See if she conveys it to you in her description of what making a discovery like Big Sue feels like:

“It was like I was a sculptor – the feeling is you are creating her from the rock, almost bringing her to life. You feel like she waited for you. When you’re the first person to see this creature, this magnificent, splendid, awesome creature that no living being has seen for 67 million years, it’s a thrill that defies description. It’s chemical, physical, emotional ….”

Can you recall having that kind of kid-like enthusiasm for something in your growing-up years? Maybe dinosaurs. Maybe something else.

TGIM Challenge: What excites you that way now? Where has that enthusiasm gone? Why?

Sue Hendrickson gets the next-to-last word: “Never lose your curiosity about everything in the universe – it can take you to places you never thought possible!  Be curious and persistent. Know that you have no limits and follow your passions.”

I get the last word: Passion fuels success. Enthusiasm makes the difference. This kid of a certain age hopes to see you at the museum.

Geoff Steck
Chief Catalyst
Alexander Publishing & Marketing

8 Depot Square

Englewood, NJ 07631
201-569-5373
tgimguy@gmail.com

P.S. “Of all the discoveries which men need to make, the most important, at the present moment, is that of the self-forming power treasured up in themselves.” William Ellery Channing (1780-1842) said that in 1838.

P.P.S. What do you call a dinosaur that never gives up? A try – try – try ceratops. You might want to try the Best Year Ever program and discover the scores of Success Secrets & Strategies preserved there. Curious? Click HERE.

GEOFF STECK leads Alexander Publishing & Marketing, a company he formed in 1986. The core AP&M mission: To create and publish leadership, sales mastery, self-improvement and workplace skill-building resources and tools. The focus: Areas such as business communication, staff support, customer care and frontline management. Geoff also puts his corporate and entrepreneurial experience, independent perspective, and skills as a catalyst to work for other firms (ranging from multinational corporations to more modest operations), not-for-profits, and individuals who have conceived or developed programs or initiatives but are frustrated in getting them implemented.

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