50 Ideas Worth Fighting For

I am happy to share the complete list of my “50 Ideas Fighting For,” that concluded today. I trust that these perspectives will be a valuable resource for you – a spark to inquiry and to conversation – and that you will pass them along to others who might benefit. I am thankful for your

#43 – Compassion

Pandemic What if you thought of it as the Jews consider the Sabbath— the most sacred of times? Cease from travel. Cease from buying and selling. Give up, just for now, on trying to make the world different than it is. Sing. Pray. Touch only those to whom you commit your life. Center down. And

#40 – Explain About the Thread

“The Way It Is” There’s a thread you follow. It goes among things that change. But it doesn’t change. People wonder about what you are pursuing. You have to explain about the thread. But it is hard for others to see. While you hold it you can’t get lost. Tragedies happen; people get hurt or die;

#39 – The Real Conversation

Open. Authentic. Honest. Vulnerable. Expressive. Sometimes painful, always a catalyst for new learning. The real conversation is the one below the surface of the one that is familiar and comfortable. It is the one hinted at but only entered into when two people agree to ask the un-askable questions give the un-giveable answers. I am

#26 – Show Up

This is #26 in the series, “50 Ideas Worth Fighting For.” Here’s another one you might enjoy. Years ago, just after launching my business as a leadership coach and organizational consultant, I decided to market myself through speaking engagements. Organizations like the Rotary Club need a new speaker every week and this newly minted sole-practitioner

#21 – Simplify

This is #21 in the series, “50 Ideas Worth Fighting For.” You might like #10, also. Here’s a sentence I read recently: “As brands grow they can sustain a certain growth rate; forcing higher growth unnaturally simply consumes capital unnecessarily.” It’s a terrible sentence. It’s terrible because it’s complicated and excessive. It’s terrible because it

#18 – Build Capability Before You Need It

This is #18 in the series, “50 Ideas Worth Fighting For.” Here’s another one that I like a lot. Since we know that nothing lasts forever, a healthy, necessary and realistic point of view for leaders to take is that whatever is working right now will not necessarily work next year. Rationally, we understand that.

#13 – “I don’t know” is an acceptable answer

This is #13 in the series, “50 Ideas Worth Fighting For.” Actually, it’s not just an acceptable answer, it’s often a great one. It is wonderfully counterintuitive that the ability to say “I don’t know” comes from self-confidence. It is self-assurance in what we do know that allows us the ability to be more curious,

Between Friends

A text exchange between friends \\ 10:45 AM \\ December 18, 2019 \\\ Friend: Checking in on you today – you keep crossing my mind. Wondering how your spirits are, and the sense of “darkness”? \\\ Me: Lovely timing… \\\ Friend: Crazy how that works \\\ Me: The thing about advent is that its a

You Have to Plug It In

Dec 13, 12:47pm – Oakland Airport: A man looks up between bites of his Mesquite Grilled Chicken salad and sees a “Short Story Dispenser.” Intrigued, he sets the salad on the seat next to him and approaches the machine, the sensation of his unwitting participation in a social experiment growing in his mind. He pushes