Public and Private Leadership

On Monday, Seth Godin’s blog caught my attention. He was writing about famous conductors. What we see is an hour or two of them standing on stage “wear(ing) expensive clothes, mak(ing) dramatic gestures and receiving(ing) ovations.” We see the public version of leadership. But Godin follows that with a list of actions and behaviors that we…

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Practicing Nonviolence

It’s no surprise that on Monday my social media feed was filled with quotes by Martin Luther King, Jr. as well as reminders that it’s one thing to post quotes, but it’s another to attempt to live out his teachings. Like many people, I struggle with the practical applications of practicing nonviolence. At the macrolevel,…

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Accepting Responsibility

“Yes, I was throwing eggs, but I didn’t throw THAT egg.” said the graduate student who had been joyously riding around in a car with his friend lobbing eggs at cars and passersby. “That egg” was the one that had attracted the attention of a campus police officer. The student was convinced that he didn’t deserve a…

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The Fun of Beginning

My maternal grandmother taught me embroidery when I was ten or so and along the way, I’ve added needlepoint and knitting to my set of handicraft skills. This means that most of the time I have one or more projects in progress, whether or not I’m actively working on them. And year after year, project…

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