Here’s Why I Can “High-Five My Brain” As Creative Thinking Did To Save My Life As You Could Save Yours

I was in Boston University Law School, and had to make a decision. You see, it was the middle of the Vietnam War. Guys my age were getting drafted into the Army, being sent to fight in a war that made no sense to millions of? Americans.

Let me be very clear, I have great respect for the military and the veterans who have served our country. Without their sacrifice America would not be free and be the greatest democracy in the world.

In fact, at the time I applied to the Massachusetts National Guard so I could perhaps use my legal skills in service to the country. I was accepted and ready to serve.

So in addition to possibly serving in the Massachusetts National Guard, I explored serving in Vista, now Volunteers of America, and the United States Peace Corps.

In the end, I chose to become a teacher in the Peace Corps. I served with my wife who had a science background.

When the folks in Washington, DC, told us we were going to Kenya, we looked at each other and said, “Great… where’s Kenya?”?

The next lucky break was being sent to Columbia University in New York City for three months to learn Swahili.?

Being young and living in NYC was a fantastic experience! Of course it was a bit “rough around the edges” at times. I remember parking my beat-up Volkswagen on the street and running into a building for 15 minutes. When I came out, my car had been broken into and all its contents stolen.

Now I don’t know if things are different today, but in those days cops wouldn’t write a police report or do anything about getting your property back. The police officer said, “young man you’re not in Milwaukee anymore, this is New York with over 9,000,000 people!”

Eventually we had to say goodbye to New York City and we began our journey to Kenya. We lived “up country.” Dirt roads. Barefooted children. Mud huts (which early on my wife and I lived in for a good part of the time) and a three month long rainy season. It was about as different from NYC as you could get.?

And poverty. Poverty on a scale most Americans can’t imagine.

They have no idea.?

I also learned that upcountry Kenya was very dangerous

I almost died in Kenya. A couple of times. The first time involved malaria. Let’s just say, along with no electricity, running water, refrigeration, etc., there were no doctors up country in Kenya.?

Let me also say you never want to get malaria. NEVER!

But I got it. There were no doctors anywhere near where we lived as we were too isolated.

So after much searching, I located an Italian nun at a Catholic mission... She didn’t speak English; I don’t speak Italian. But we both spoke Swahili, and she had the right medication with her.?

That was the first of the four or five times I almost died. And in each instance, creativity saved my life. Speaking Swahili to the Italian nun, communicating my condition, figuring out she had a remedy...this was all part of living upcountry in Kenya.?

I taught kids who came to school barefoot in our boarding school with no water or electricity, but? made a huge impact on their lives (years later I returned to Kenya to speak and learned that many of my former students were successful businessmen, professors, politicians, etc.

Creativity and innovation. That’s what it took to avoid certain death in a disastrous war, to stay alive in Kenya, and that’s what it takes to master the ‘game of business’ and life today.

In the end when you have difficult choices to make in your life, you can follow the herd and end up where the herd ends up. Alternatively, you can forge your own path. People call it “thinking outside the box”. I call it creativity and it’s the pathway to making a real difference in the world.?

Life Is Lived Forward and Understood Backward

After leaving the Peace Corps and finishing law school, Dan Steininger practiced law for a decade before joining the business world. He has led several private and public organizations, including the Port of Milwaukee.

He is the Founder and President of Steininger & Associates, LLC, in Milwaukee, WI.

Dan and his team advise companies how to drive revenue and growth through the use of innovative tools and creative practices.?

If interested, you can call Dan at 414 430 2204 or email him here.? You can also get on his calendar here.?