Note: I recently attended my 45th high school reunion. It was a wonderful experience to be welcomed by so many with whom I shared four very important years of my life. Classmates I was certain had forgotten me, came over with smiles and handshakes as if we had never been apart. On my return home, …
I recall a video game, Tetrisphere, which was a variation of Tetris. In the game the player confronted a sphere covered by three-dimensional shapes. The game provided the player with a series of objects similar in shape to those covering the sphere. When you matched a piece with one on the outermost layer of the …
Note: The following will appear in the May/June Issue of Neighbors of Batavia Magazine. If I asked, would you tell me of your gifts—the unique, stunning aspects of your humanity and journey that make you like no other human ever born? Even if you were able, would you be willing? Or would you, like so …
Note: The following will appear in the March/April edition of Neighbors of Batavia magazine. It serves as my transition from Executive Director of the Chamber of Commerce to…well, that remains uncertain. Years ago, Ram Das wrote a book entitled Still Here. In spite of having left the Chamber of Commerce, I am still …
Steven Covey, author of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, said it whimsically: few people on their deathbed wish they had spent more time at the office. But recent encounters leave me reflecting, considerably less whimsically, on what I might wish the moments just before I am called from this life. For ten …
Many years ago, my heart was captured by stories—stories of authentic, caring community—shared with me by John McKnight of Northwestern University. They were so compelling, I asked John if he would introduce me to someone who was building community based on authentic care. Without hesitation he told me about Jackie Reed at the Westside …
Too often, that which has the capacity to make our lives most fulfilling leaves us precisely when we need it most. I was reminded recently that in any two-person conversation, at least six personalities show up. On your end are two versions of you: (P1) the real you—the person you are in that place of …
I was a newly-minted MBA moving from an entry-level position to a job selling catalysts in the oil industry. The sales manager, Jim Trecek, arranged for me to spend a week under the tutelage of a renowned salesman in Toronto. His name was Pat McLaughlin. I arrived at the Toronto airport before Pat, and …
Intimacy is being seen and known as the person you truly are. Amy Bloom In my February blog entitle “On Being Fully Human,” I wrote about three leaders, each of whom allowed inhumanity to slip into the “edges” of their lives. When I penned those words, I had not yet read Isaacson’s …
I’m Still Standing: How One Woman’s Brushes with Death Taught Her How To Live by Kelly Standing. In the spirit of full disclosure, I know Kelly Standing…at least in small measure. She and I were cohorts at Speaker University, a wonderful series produced by the Illinois Chapter of the National Speakers Association. For that, the …