Cultute Change
Wild and Crazy
At a recent leadership development conference I attended, an executive said: “What we might think is wild and crazy in our organization is probably not that wild and crazy in the external world.” The comment made me think about how many great ideas get categorically rejected because they are seen as “wild and crazy” in the culture in which they are being proposed. Although I am not a big fan of Amazon’s culture, I am Read More
Paved Roads and Free Passes
I recently attended the Spring Concert for my grand-kids at their private school. It was perfectly orchestrated performance fully attended by parents and grandparents who applauded appreciatively for every sound and song. The program was a charming event that showcased the musical progress these elementary school children had made over the year. The children were singing songs and playing tunes from the ’60s and each was dressed in fabulous outfits purchased from Amazon. I loved Read More
Helping in Hell
We recently went to the Broadway play, Hadestown. Watching someone go to hell has never been so much fun. Hadestown has its origins in Greek Mythology. The major characters are Orpheus, Eurydice, Hades, Persephone, and Hermes whose job was to guide souls into the afterlife, i.e. helping in Hell. Given the story line, one would think that the experience would be daunting and depressing, but the play is so well performed and directed that following Read More
Dignity and Dollars
I have been thinking a lot about dignity these days.
In simple terms, dignity is defined as the state or quality of being worthy of honor or respect.
We are born grasping for it. We end our days gasping for it. Read More
Sanity 101
A 21-year-old white nationalist drives 600 miles to El Paso, Texas and kills 22 men, women and children with his assault weapon because he hates immigrants―particularly Hispanics. If this isn’t insanity, I don’t know what is. Let’s face it. We now find ourselves in the ranks of the insane.
Marianne Williamson cites a “dark psychic force” happening in America. Russ Douthat describes a “black spiritual hole” as the source of the hatred and violence ripping apart our hearts and our heartland. Read More
Values Matter
“I have learned that as long as I hold fast to my beliefs and values – and follow my own moral compass – then the only expectations I need to live up to are my own.” ―Michelle Obama “There are those who would draw a sharp line between power politics and a principled foreign policy based on values. This polarized view – you are either a realist or devoted to norms and values – may Read More
Possibilists
“Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.” —Helen Keller “Pessimism is a luxury that a Jew can never allow himself.” —Golda Meir Optimists believe that desired results will occur no matter what the facts may portend. Pessimists believe that bad results will occur no what the facts may indicate. Possibilists believe that desired results can happen given the right conditions and the right amount of work. Read More
The Second Question
“God may be in the details, but the goddess is in the questions. Once we begin to ask them, there’s no turning back.” —Gloria Steinem “To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle, requires creative imagination and marks real advance in science.” —Albert Einstein In the age of sound bites, skimming, and superficial answers, we need to dig deeper for substantive solutions. Our inclination is to find “quick fixes” Read More
Conflict Clarity
“Whenever you’re in conflict with someone, there is one factor that can make the difference between damaging your relationship and deepening it. That factor is attitude.” —William James We all face conflicts in life. Conflicts occur then people have different points of view, values, and principles. There is no way we can avoid conflicts. We can develop a healthy attitude toward conflict, however, that enables us to calmly view differences as opportunities for growth. Healthy Read More
Blindness
“We’re blind to our blindness. We have very little idea of how little we know. We’re not designed to know how little we know.” —Daniel Kahneman I just finished two incredible books about entirely different subjects with the same central theme: We are searching for meaning in the midst of massacres by blinding ourselves to our ultimate destruction. In Machines Like Me, Ian McEwan leverages his skills as a novelist to craft a story that Read More
Peace Babies
I learned what it was like to live in a first-world country over the past two weeks: no litter, no homelessness, on-time bullet trains, state-of-the-art communications, universal health care, and lower levels of inequality and crime than almost any developed country. Less than 1 civilian in 100 owns a gun compared to 127 guns per 100 civilians in the United States. And children have affordable access to quality education from Pre-K (starting at 2 years Read More
Systematic Sensitization
“Have we raised the threshold of horror so high that nothing short of a nuclear strike qualifies as a ‘real’ war? Are we to spend the rest of our lives in this state of high alert with guns pointed at each other’s heads and fingers trembling on the trigger?” ― Suzanna Arundhati Roy “The Cherokee used to fear that taking a photo would make them lose their souls. Over exposure and desensitization is pretty close Read More