A few years ago, in an executive boardroom consultation, I innocently began by asking the Director, “Who’s the problem?” The person in question came alive as never before. It was as though I had hit a real nerve. I could almost see the veils of his protective self just melt away, and instead of that …
They buried Jason Thompson up on the hill behind Barrow Creek, where they had started the new cemetery. Cemeteries should be on hills, and this was the only hill short of a mountain in the immediate area. A few days after the funeral, Rose Thompson was receiving callers. A month after burying Jason, she married …
I don’t hate Bill Gates. I really have no reason to do so because I’ve never met the man and I use his products daily – as do most of us. I hear people complaining that Microsoft products are ‘crap’, yet they seem to work and no other company has successfully marketed a better product …
A parent brings a bouquet of roses to a child playing the part of a bush in the winter pageant. A father buys his son a drum set as a reward for eating carrots. And the classic, in my view, the parent who demanded a retake of the school photo because her child was in …
As I write this piece in the aftermath of the Parkland massacre, the Paris bombings, the bombing of the Russian airplane, the airstrikes and the thousands of civilians killed in the ongoing ISIS confrontations, the floods and fires, climate change and senseless atrocities recounted on each newscast, I wonder what it all means. Certainly everything …
Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room. One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each afternoon to help drain the fluid from his lungs. His bed was next to the room’s only window. The other man had to spend all his time flat on his back. …
Enjoyment at work and play comes from doing what comes naturally. The French call this “joie de vivre”, the joy of living. The ancient Greeks had a great word for it, “enthusiasm”. In English we call it “passion”. Many people have lost a sense of passion in their work and play and seek motivation. Perhaps …
An eighteenth century philosopher has been quoted as saying “the state of unequivocal harmony and bliss is the purest form of hell”. Wow, that’s a mouthful, but what did he mean? Essentially his point is there must be some pushback; some element of disagreement, some questioning or opposing opinion otherwise society will stagnate. As a …
Have you ever noticed how most organizations relentlessly form committees to work on anything and everything and at the same time try to ensure that everybody under the sun, even the dog, are on it. They call it inclusiveness. Mistake, big, bad, ugly mistake! Start with only three people. That’s the magic number that will …
The icy spray stung her face like a thousand wasps. A thirty foot wall of water hovered over her ready to crush down like a boot on a bug. She reefed the wheel hard to starboard and caught the up rise of a forming wave just in time to miss the downward crush of the …