Suddenly, books are scary – again. Books, those things that were going to disappear thanks to technology, are in the forefront of our awareness again. Discussions of banning books, removing books from school libraries, and even book burning are all over the internet. Which points out the irony of trying to get rid of physical…

There are many ways to mark the passage of time. There’s the watch hand, or rather the change of the digital clock face. There’s the calendar with large X’s on each day. Or worse, there’s wondering just who is looking back at you from the mirror some mornings. There are many more that we all…

There are so many voices coming at us right now. Literal voices at home, at work, from the media. There are also voices coming at us from all that we read. Some of these voices are unhappy, demanding ones. I’m sure all of us have had the thought, ‘if people from both sides are yelling…

I grew up in Oklahoma which means I can sing the state song. I’m pretty sure anyone who went to elementary school in Oklahoma can sing this song. It helps to have a state song written by Rogers and Hammerstein meaning it’s actually singable. But it’s also because every year, we sang and performed the…

“#I was today years old when I learned….” Sometimes a hashtag, sometimes a meme, it’s a phrase that identifies something ordinary that surprised the user. Here’s an example I found today. “I was today years old when I learned that it’s called ‘breakfast’ because you are breaking your fast.” (In full disclosure, I figured this…

I’ve read a lot of leadership books over the years. Traditional ones by traditional authors like Warren Bennis and John Gardner. Textbooks specifically about leadership but also about organizational design and communication. Not-so traditional ones by poet David Whyte and Quaker teacher Parker Palmer. Books designed for business, education, and non-profit leaders. And perhaps the only…

For this last newsletter of the year, I had thought I might do some sort of retrospective about 2021, though honestly, I’m not sure what to say about this ‘interesting’ year. And then it got more interesting. On Sunday, I drove to Oklahoma planning to spend a week working with a client there. Monday morning things changed and…

It’s a joke in my family that I only cook between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day. And it is true that is when I cook the most. Of course, there are the big food events like Thanksgiving and Christmas. Sometimes I’m responsible for all of a meal, sometimes just a dish. Then there are the cookies…