Successful Meetings - December 2007 - (Page 47)

facility in the United States and began speaking to students while in custody for offenses including money laundering, bribing a public official, and conspiracy. “I started giving my little 20-minute talk, and I noticed that I got a lot of questions. A light went on: I need to do something when I get out. This is kind of fun, and I have something to say,” says Kuhse, who decided to fulfill his post-release community service requirement by speaking about his experience, what he learned from it, and how others can avoid making the same errors in judgment he did. “All of us are capable of making poor decisions. It’s what you do after that separates you,” he says. “Once I decided that I did something horrible and I saw the impact that it had on my family, I realized that I can continue on this ugly path or I can redefine myself.” Kuhse still spends much of his time speaking to university students, but has also found a niche speaking to corporate and association meetings as well as working with international groups, helping them to understand the nuances of both law and ethics that make certain actions that are above board elsewhere either illegal or unethical in the United States. SUCCESSFUL MEETINGS DECEMBER 2007 mimegasite.com Patrick Kuhse moved from a life on the lam to a life at the lectern; he now teaches groups about the importance of ethical behavior. “He was inspiring,” says Aggie Asher, co-chair of the Atchison Hospital Ethics Committee, in Atchison, KS, which hosted Kuhse as part of an ethics symposium in October. “It was apparent from his presentation that his decisions took him down a wrong path, and he’s trying not to glorify that, but to show people why to not make the same mistakes that he did. He brought a positive message about making the right choices.” Says Kuhse, “I had the American dream, yet I chose to divert my attention and go down the wrong path and every story that I heard—be it [from someone who committed] murder or wire fraud—was the same type of story.” In an effort to help keep audiences on the straight and narrow, Kuhse developed a set of eight critical-thinking errors that can derail a career, which he uses during his talks; they include Entitlement, Rationalization, and Seemingly Unimportant Decisions. “It’s the ‘Yeah, whatever’ snap decision—nothing good ever comes from that,” he says. “Next thing you know you’re in an ethical dilemma.” 47 http://mimegasite.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Successful Meetings - December 2007

Successful Meetings - December 2007 Contents Editor's Note Special Report Research Industry Trends 2008 Meeting Events Planner Spotlight Websites of the Month Mouth for Sale Technology Talk Food & Beverage Pre-Event On Site Pre-Event Tools of the Trade Goodbye, Booth Babes Five Tips to Improve Your Golf Events When Crime Pays Office for Hire More Miles for Your Money Places & Spaces South Florida Biloxi / Mississippi Gulf Coast Fort Worth Monterey Beijing Gurus Special Supplement: Hawaii Island-by-Island Guide

Successful Meetings - December 2007

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