Yup. Monday marked the first day of the second half of 2024. What did you want from this year? Where are you in making it happen? I wanted to make sure that all nearly 30 members of my team was employed after our big project ended on June 9th and they are. I am so...

Nine years ago, I ran for office. I did well in a five-way primary but didn’t win. But it was the most impactful 70-day learning experience I’d had in decades. One of the big lessons was about how to manage my emotional responses. I joke that it surprised me as a...

Not really, at least not in general. But when you get the answer you are looking for stop, say thank you, and move on. I was hoping a board I used to work for would make an investment in the professional development of a team member. I prepared for the meeting, had...

I don’t know about you, but for a long time, there has been no white space on my calendar. And it’s been exhausting. Before the pandemic, there was time between meetings to get from one place to another. It also created time to shift gears, mentally prepare, stop in a...

What looks important often depends on where you sit. If you are a giraffe and looking across the world, understanding the big picture comes easily but the details on the ground can be fuzzy or invisible. For the ground bound turtle, understanding all the details and...

It has been a wild three years for me. Then I agreed to help a federal client build a short but intense effort that is now coming to a close. As that work comes to a close, I am reminded of a quote from David Foster Wallace, “Everything I have ever let go of has claw...

I don’t know about you but sometimes self-care seems to be what we do after we are exhausted. It’s a crazy week with lots of deadlines, intense meetings, unhappy people, no good options, and so on.  Then you stop and decide to do something for you. If you are...

A quick reminder this week. You are not here by accident.  As a favorite poet, Nikita Gill says, “it took 3.8 billion years of triumphant evolution” for you to be here.  You are not here by accident. You are here on purpose.  So what is...

I had a conversation with a friend a few years back. He ended our call with “I’m off to go slay dragons.” My response? “Why would you do that, instead tame them and harness their power for greater good.” When I think of dragons, I think of the opposition to...

It’s a joke with my team. There used to be an ad for Starbucks where a guy walked into the shop and ordered five different complicated coffees. You know, things like a venti, half caff, with a shot of vanilla, and almond milk. As he finished the order, he asked,...

It doesn’t seem to matter how much I teach other people to focus on what they want, and not how they’re going to get there, I keep needing to re-learn it. Too often I am committed to how I’m trying to do something and get stuck on how I’m doing it instead of what I’m...