My wife and I have decided on UNITY as the vision for our marriage. It is our calling card, our lighthouse, our mantra. It’s fitting because we are two incredibly different people with two incredibly different family backgrounds. We’ve learned a lot in our pursuit of unity. One of the most important things we’ve learned is that unity does not mean conformity. Unity and diversity are not mutually exclusive. In fact, they depend largely on one another. Mistakes We make... Read more
It happens every day in a thousand different ways. My spouse doesn’t give me the answer I’m looking for. A colleague disagrees with me. Traffic is slow. I trip on a shoelace. It rains and I’ve forgotten my umbrella. I want things to go my way. If I’m honest, I even expect that things will go my way. But they never do. At least not fully. And it sucks. It is annoying, frustrating, and sometimes downright painful. So what is... Read more
Just as making an omelet requires breaking some eggs, to create something requires failure. We avoid failure at all costs. We consider failure to be final. But failing is a natural part of progress, a necessary component to the creative process. The Culture of Creativity Deep down, we are all creatives. We all want to make something. To be a part of something. Purpose is the vision of creation. It takes a culture to create something. Culture is defined as what... Read more
There are a lot of different ways to do leadership. The arena is vast and diverse. Hitler and Mother Teresa are both leaders. Presidents and mothers. Elementary teachers and elementary students. When the world talks about leadership, we are usually thinking about positional leadership. Titles. Authority placed on us by position. But this is the least effective way to lead. Positional leadership can be an entry point for leaders. It isn’t the only one, but it is the most travelled path.... Read more
The world is a diverse and complicated place full of diverse and complicated people. We know that we can’t live without one another. Loneliness is widely considered one of the most tragic of human conditions. Solitary confinement is our harshest punishment (apart from the death penalty). And yet, we also can’t seem to live with one another either. There is hate and prejudice. There is ignorance and isolation. How do we redeem our lost sense of community? What went wrong... Read more
It’s hard to know what to do. Even when we figure it out, it is hard to stay motivated to do it. And even if we do it, it is hard to know if what we’ve done mattered at all (therefore, it is hard to keep doing it). Thus is the human journey of goal setting. We struggle with planning, motivation, and follow-through. And those are just the big ones. The tide of complacency comes at us like a tsunami,... Read more
I’m sitting in a Brooklyn coffee shop today. It is a typical place. Trendy; busy. Chalkboard paint on the walls. Wood paneling. On the wall right by the entrance, however, there is something you don’t see all the time. Their mission statement. Missions statements are rarely something we get excited about. This is for good reason. We have neutered them, taken away their power. But, there is a potential lurking in the mission statement, an opportunity that can transform organizations... Read more
Our world is full of noise. We hear the literal voices of people around us. We listen to massive amounts of media – music, TV, podcasts. And we have been become addicted. As soon as we get in an elevator, wait in a line, or have a hint of quiet, we pull out our cell phones and end the silence by clicking on apps. Perhaps the great and terrible invention of this technological age is the eradication of silence. Forget... Read more
“He’s making me so angry!” “She made me mad yesterday.” We’ve all used this kind of language. It is the best way to explain why we feel the way we do. It is clean and easy. Someone is at fault. I reacted. They need to change or apologize for justice to be accomplished. It was natural. Justified. Of their doing. The problem is that this is not entirely true. What people say and do may trigger our anger, but it... Read more
From early childhood, we start receiving mixed messages about both humility and pride. We are told not to be boastful, but encouraged to be the best and to speak our truth boldly. We are celebrated when we win and chastised when we lose. The message is clear: be the best and think of yourself as the best but just don’t say it out loud. The typical religious response pushes us to the other extreme. We associate kindness with passivity. Being... Read more
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