A meditation on grief, memory, and the losses that shape us Last week, a good friend traveled across the country to visit the grave of her mother, who died 51 years ago. Why did she do that? Her act of remembrance stirred something familiar in me. I recently sold a long-held property that carried deep meaning for me. It was a writing and thinking retreat, and it was also the site of two decades of family and friend gatherings, including the wedding of my son and daughter-in-l

“Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom.” Lao Tzu Too often, leadership is measured only by results: performance metrics, growth charts, and how many people roll their eyes in meetings when you speak. But the real engine behind great leadership isn’t spreadsheets or strategy. It’s relationship success. Making relationships work starts with self-awareness. To truly establish connection and trust, others want to know who you are. So who are you? A self-

Something goes wrong in our personal lives, communities, or politics, we look for someone to blame. A trio of habits — jumping to conclusions, blaming others, and excusing ourselves — can feed division, and make truth harder to see. The aftermath of the Charlie Kirk shooting offers a vivid case study of how these tendencies play out in real time. The Lure of Conclusions The first part of this pattern is the rush to judgment. When the news of the Charlie Kirk shooting broke, f

Not every organization has a toxic star — but if you haven’t encountered one yet, chances are you will. A toxic star is the high performer who delivers impressive results while damaging the culture. They may be a charismatic leader, a top salesperson, or a brilliant project manager. On paper, they look like a hero. In practice, they drain morale, drive away talent, and leave behind long-term costs that outweigh their contributions. This is the person you can’t afford to lose…

A parent I know came home to hear her 13-year-old daughter fretting over something she'd read online: a thread predicting environmental catastrophe within a decade. The girl had taken it as gospel. No context, no filters. Just fear.   About that same time, a client —an HR director and mother of two—reported that her teenage daughter was overwhelmed by social media posts about college admissions, and the endless stream of “perfect” lives online.   Flooded with data, but starvi

Lately, I’ve been thinking about how easy it is to lead and live at a distance. Related to this, a story that has stayed with me—one I...

How do you make a wise decision when there are no easy answers?  What do you do when you’re not sure what to do? Careful discernment is...

Whether you are a supervisor, project manager, team leader, executive team member, or even the president, delivering uncomfortable...

A 33-year-old woman who goes by the pseudonym, “Aella,” is one of the Internet’s most popular sex researchers. Aella’s X bio describes...

I have a friend who just turned 90.   “I find myself thinking about dying,” he said. “But I also want to keep thinking about living.”  ...