My Daily Bread

“Your output depends on your input.” {Austin Kleon} My morning ritual consists of coffee, reading and exercise, in that order. I have found that each is an ideal partner and precursor to the one that follows. Coffee keeps me alert to my reading, reading exercises my mind, opening it to new ideas and questions, and

#500

On May 14, 2007 I uploaded my first blog post. It was this poem – The Journey – by Mary Oliver: One day you finally knew what you had to do, and began, though the voices around you kept shouting their bad advice– though the whole house began to tremble and you felt the old

Lost With a Map

Seth Godin published a brief, excellent piece this morning called The Thing About Maps: “Sometimes, when we’re lost, we refuse a map, even when offered.  Because the map reminds us that we made a mistake. That we were wrong. But without a map, we’re not just wrong, but we’re also still lost. A map doesn’t automatically

The Blessing is Outside Your Comfort Zone

The title of this post is taken from an OnBeing interview with Ashley Hicks, co-founder of Black Girls RUN!. Buying new running shoes for her second marathon she tells the salesman that she is nervous and concerned about the upcoming race. In response he says, “Yeah, the best thing for you to remember is that the

How to Build Capability Before You Need It

In Seth Godin’s blog today he writes: “Often, organizations don’t realize that they’re falling down the abyss until extraordinary efforts are required to make a difference. But it’s always easier to fix it today than it will be tomorrow.” Last year I wrote about this by sharing 10 recommendations for how to build capability before you need

Why I Am Optimistic About Leadership and Change

Another way I might have titled this post: “Why a recent concentration of articles and videos about the higher possibilities of the human experience represents a welcome increase in the quality of the conversation about inevitable change.” The following material landed in my inbox within the last seven days. Given my professional interests and tendency to oversubscribe

The Bigger Self

“There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” – William Shakespeare, Hamlet  “It’s all invented anyway, so we might as well invent a story or a framework of meaning that enhances our quality of life and the life of those around us.” – Rosamund Stone Zander & Benjamin Zander from The Art of Possibility

Essential Listening

Not too long ago I shared a list of books – fiction primarily – that I have found to be essential reading in my development as a person, a leader and a teacher of leadership. Since then, to my great satisfaction, I have discovered the world of podcasts; the world of essential listening. It has been

Getting to 30: The Pursuit of Clarity, Brevity and Meaning

“We are so accustomed to disguise ourselves to others that in the end we become disguised to ourselves.” – Francois de La Rochefoucald –  The last two weeks have presented me with the welcome challenge of getting clearer and more concise in sharing my message regarding the kind of leadership that leads to sustainable change.

Don’t Bite the Hook

Lately I have found myself collecting what I consider to be more meaningful and useful drive time material. This is, in part, thanks to a great blog post by Seth Godin, Can an audiobook change your life?, in which he relates the impact of listening to really useful non-fiction as a source of inspiration, motivation