Archive for Month: November 2024
The Seduction of Distraction
In a conversation with my granddaughter about a movie we had recently scene suggesting that every decision we make is an opportunity to bring our best self to whatever moment we are in, she said, “It’s hard to bring the best of who you are to each moment when you have to drag along the rest of you who are into that moment.” How can we continue to dance in harmony with the world when it’s so cacophonous, churning, distracting and discordant?
Leadership Humility, Honesty, and Humor
One could say that I have been a bit obsessed with leadership and learning for most of my life, and I finally came to the conclusion that great leaders could be distinguished by three simple characteristics. Read more to find out.
Hanging onto Hope
Our twin grandchildren just celebrated their 13th birthday as thriving and loving young adults full of potential and promise. Passing this milestone made me think back to the first 105 days of their lives which were spent in the NICU. Each day we hung onto the hope that we might be able to celebrate who they would become one day. When they turned one, I wrote a poem entitled the Sun has Come Out describing Read More
Homeless Solutions and Models
How communities address homelessness issues provides a great example of what happens when you chase symptoms instead of change systems that are causing problems in the first place. Finding solutions to help people experiencing homelessness presents the same kinds of challenges communities face in dealing with health, criminal justice, poverty, inflation, immigration, climate change, gun violence, etc. The choice always involves investing in ways to improve the systems creating the problems vs. dealing with symptom Read More
Arcs of Life, History, and the Universe
Well, it’s not quite like being hit by a meteor that destroys the earth, but it’s pretty close to it. We just elected a cult leader who landed enough hateful and hegemonic messages to enough voters to win the electoral votes by 312-226. (Note: Trump’s margin was less than 2%, and he received less than 50% of the vote, llinois was the only blue state on the electoral map between the coasts, and the total Read More