#28 – Leap

“Leap, and the net will appear.” {John Burroughs} If you are feeling “ready” to step out, to risk, to greet an uncertain future, you’ve probably waited too long. There is no such thing as “ready.” There is only now. Feel the fear and do it anyway. It’s time to act.

#25 – Take Responsibility for Your Learning

This is #25 in the series, “50 Ideas Worth Fighting For.” Here’s another good one. Jia Jang is inspiring. He feared rejection so much that he decided to pursue it directly with the hope that he would learn to respond to it more positively and more productively. He recounts his “100 Day Rejection Challenge” in a

The Agenda

The organizational agenda is to plan, execute, measure, quantify and produce. The human agenda is to love and be loved, to be seen, heard and understood. Organizations are populated, organized and led by humans. How can this be? We hide our deepest longing because it is abstract and seemingly, frighteningly unattainable. We acquiesce to, and

Under Cover of Darkness

I have an enduring memory from childhood that both frightens and comforts me. At about 5 years old, I woke one morning to discover that I could not see. Disoriented and afraid, I stumbled to the hall and felt my way to my parents’ room where I cried out in fear of my blindness. My

Will this be on the test?

Every day, like the invisible oxygen that gives you life, the fear that holds you back from pursuing, attempting, realizing, challenging, seeking, risking, stepping, leaping, initiating, asserting, organizing, collaborating, questioning or any other word you can think of for getting after what you really want to do and who you really want to be –

A Great Battle

“Be kind; everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.” {Attributed to Plato but it’s more likely Ian MacLaren} I have always loved this quote and the way it challenges and evokes our empathy, our appreciation of the truth that most of the time someone else has it tougher than we do. I would not have

Make Work More Human

The following post was written by Renee Smith and first appeared on the Make Work More Human blog on 10/24/2017. In it, Renee explains the origins of the Make Work More Human movement which she leads as the Director of Workplace Transformation at ‘Results Washington’ for the State of Washington. I am posting it on my site

To be powerful

When I dare to be powerful, to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid. – Audre Lorde There is liberation in this quote: you don’t have to conquer your fear, you just have to make it less important. How? By using your

Freedom from Fear

If not now, when? To speak up? To stand up? To take a chance? To risk? To love? To discover? To explore? To learn? To lead? To follow? To be known? To know others? To investigate? To stretch? To get dirty, messy, uncomfortable? To live with hopeful realism? We are living in an age of