“The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don’t know.” — Albert Einstein Things can be simple and easy if we let them. Also living and learning the lessons that expand our horizons have a touch of complexity as well. Decisions are not always binary: Yes or no....
“Empathy begins with understanding life from another person’s perspective. Nobody has an objective experience of reality. It’s all through our own individual prisms.” — Sterling K. Brown My writing about not retiring and becoming a...
“In case you’re worried that you’re too oldto pursue your dreams,Frank Lloyd Wright completed 1/3 of his life’s workbetween the ages of 80 and 92.” — Unknown On Memorial Day this year, the organization that I founded celebrated its 37th...
“When we were small children, we all played dress-up and everybody had a good time. So why stop?” — Iris Apfel The conversations I am having about the concept of being ‘unretired’ are stirring up all sorts of trails of thought to follow. I realized during...
“Fight for the things that you care about,but do it in a way that will lead others to join you.” — Ruth Bader Ginsburg I am and am not a joiner of groups. I like to facilitate groups and love being in a community. However, you might find this surprising...
“Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood. All is riddle, and the key to a riddle is another riddle.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson One of the constants of life is that there will be many lessons to be learned. And many opportunities to learn them....
“I learnt lessons at every step of life.COVID-19 pandemic was the examination.And Innovation will be the new normal.” ― Omkar More I don’t have the answers, but I do have many questions and observations. Perhaps we can discover some solutions together. We have changed...
“When the sun and the moon cycles come together, that’s been a really important moment for many civilizations.” — Tok Thompson I was standing on the shore of Lake Erie with friends and neighbors when the moon blocked the sun, and the noise grew quiet. I can still feel...
“His jargon conceals, from him, but not from us, the deep, empty hole in his mind. He uses technological language as a substitute for technique.” — Richard Mitchell,“Less Than Words Can Say” Words and experiences aren’t in your lexicon until you run across them. Many...
“The difference between people who believe they have books inside of them and those who actually write books is sheer cussed persistence.” — Jennifer Weiner I have a reputation for being persistent. It is an important quality in my life. I think living through...
“The delicate balance of mentoring someone is not creating them in your image, but giving them the opportunity to create themselves.” — Steven Spielberg A colleague invited me to speak to her class of college juniors and seniors who were practicing...
“The harder we worked to convince each other that our way was the right way,the further away we got from understanding each other.We were pulling apartinstead of pulling together.” — They Just Don’t Get It,” p 97 I am a practitioner at heart. What do I...
“I can do anything I set my mind to.Watch me.” ― Pippi Longstocking • Is there a message from a childhood book that is seared into your brain? While reading a colleague’s post about leadership, what danced into my head was the very memorable phrase from the...
Aging gracefully is an art, Aging disgracefully is an Absolute Blast! — Unknown Here is a statement for your imagination: Can you imagine sixteen, mid-life women, who don’t know each other, traveling from all corners of the United States, living together, and...
“The inspiration you seek, is already in you.Be silent and listen.” — Rumi I spent most of January battling a virus and then struggling with our healthcare system. For this first month of a new year, the dogs and I were getting sick, being sick, seeking care,...
“Fatigue is the price of leadership.Mediocrity is the price of never getting tired.” — J. Oswald Sanders Many days end with a conversation with a tired leader. I seem to be talking to many tired people these days and I love to support leaders who are...
“Meantime, life outside goes on all around you.” — Bob Dylan Though I have been traveling during 2023 — and in the months and year before this — I have not been flying on planes or attending big conferences for a long time. 9/11 changed us forever and the...
“That girl wasn’t who she wanted to be anymore,but sometimes you don’t get to choose who you are.”― Catherine McKenzie My family had a secret it kept. I did not learn of this secret until I was a teenager. It was like a ghost in our home. The event and the...
“Don’t simply retire from something;have something to retire to.” — Harry Emerson Fosdick Have you ever said….’When I ……’ • Graduate• Marry• Have children• Become an empty-nester• Have this amount of money saved• Sell my...
“ Life is like a ten-speed bicycle.Most of us have gears we never use.” — Charles M. Schulz I was happy to be invited to speak at a monthly safety council meeting in Cleveland. I am always up for a conversation about safety. Though, you might wonder why a consultant...
“I’m a problem solver. I love people. The more complicated they are, the more I get into them, and I just want to understand what makes them tick.” — Paul Walker I am a very goal and activity-oriented person. Action is my preferred gear. I need to be...
“Dwelling on the past only blinds you to the future. Missing home is natural, but embrace the present and create a new place that feels just as comforting.” — Dale Carnegie I have just returned from five days committed to being in a different environment with...
“Now I sit by my window and I watch the cars.I fear I’ll do some damage one fine day.But I would not be convicted by a jury of my peers.Still crazy after all these years.” — Paul Simon This morning I stepped both back and forward in time while using...
“Worrying is carrying tomorrow’s load with today’s strength— carrying two days at once.It is moving into tomorrow ahead of time.Worrying doesn’t empty tomorrow of its sorrow,it empties today of its strength.” — Corrie ten Boom This past week I found myself picking up...
“A ship is safe in the harbor, But that’s not what ships are built for.” — Gael Attal While I was enjoying a well-needed vacation — one that really caused me to let go and disconnect — I still managed to compose a blog. In my last one, I told you I was on an...
“I learned that a friend may be waitingbehind a stranger’s face.” Maya Angelou It is a good morning when your day starts with a phone call from someone with whom you share the same values, interests, and intentions. Many of my friendships start with one kind of...
“All things are subject to interpretation.Whichever interpretation prevails at a given time is a function of power and not truth.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche Researchers report: Civility isn’t just in decline, it is disappearing. Because we are losing...
“Who am I really? What have I done? What is important and meaningful to me? What difference does it make that I have lived? What does it mean to be truly human, and where am I on that scale?” — Morrie Schwartz The Wisdom of Morrie:Living and Aging Creatively and...
Fun itself hasn’t changed — the nature of work has changed and will continue to change.But fun is fun, as much fun now as it was then.Forever.” — Bernard DeKoven, “The Playful Path” A Playful Path is the shortest road to happiness. — the Oaqui I love stories...
“Chaos was the law of nature;Order was the dream of man.Chaos often breeds life,when order breeds habit.” — Henry Adams More than one dog is a pack. I have five smaller dogs, 4 French Bulldogs and an English Bulldog. They have been given a nickname...
“It is the long history of humankind (and animal kind, too)those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed.” — Charles Darwin I believe that everyday experiences and formative life experiences are good fodder for building...
“More coal, more smoke, more heat,more steam, more pressure, more speed. ― Martin R. Jackson I have operated with several gears for most of my life. Gears is my metaphor for my work/lifestyles that I move in with ease. Life and work require us to have a full range of...
“Kindness can transform someone’s dark moment with a blaze of light. You’ll never know how much your caring matters.” — Amy Leigh Mercree My recent health challenges have caused me to be even more reflective than I am normally. In sharing my experience with a...
“They’re funny things, Accidents. You never have them till you’re having them.” — Eeyore, “The House at Pooh Corner” When I tested myself today, COVID still registered positive. I will have to relearn how to mask — and take things more...
“A dog is the only thing on Earth that loves you more than it loves itself.” ― Josh Billings My Facebook page shares with me the posts from previous years. Each day I visit the label called ‘Memories’ to view what was happening in my life on this day from...
Many of us seek community solely to escape the fear of being alone. Knowing how to be solitary is central to the art of loving. When we can be alone, we can be with others without using them as a means of escape.” ― Bell Hooks No — I am not building a dating...
“I used to think that the worst thing in lifewas to end up all alone. It’s not.The worst thing in life is ending upwith people who make you feel all alone.” — Robin Williams I have no experience being a married person. I have not yet fulfilled that commitment....
“Lunch should consist of at least1/3 relationship-building talk.If you don’t have time for business talk,it was a very successful lunch.” — Jeffrey Gitomer One of my favorite things to do is to connect with someone over a shared meal. Yesterday...
“Titles are but nicknames, and every nickname is a title.” — Thomas Paine What do you think about nicknames? Have you ever given someone a nickname? Did they know? Did that nickname carry a positive, negative, or neutral theme? What was your...
“The bad news is time flies.The good news is you’re the pilot.” — Michael Altshuler Do you find yourself having conversations that reflect on things in the past? Remember when we used the fax machine? Remember landline phones with cords? Can you remember your...
Time is the most undefinableyet paradoxical of things;the past is gone,the future is not come,and the present becomes the past,even while we attempt to define it.” — Charles Caleb Colton For years I have maintained this reflective habit. When given the gift of time...
“I like the pace of my world. It’s busy, but for me, the less I do the lazier I get.” ― Hoda Kotb This morning I found myself smiling as I bustled through the morning routines that have been made complicated by the acquisition of two new little French...
“Big stress or little stress—your body reacts the same way. The human body doesn’t differentiate between major or minor stress. Regardless of the catalyst, a typical stress reaction floods the body with a wave of 1,400 biochemical events. If this happens too...
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act, but a habit.” — Aristotle My Myers-Briggs-Type-Inventory personality style assessment is spot on. I am an ENFP. Let me explain for those who are not as enthusiastic about style assessments as I am....
“My father would tell me that there is a plan for me. My mother still tells me that all of my dreams will come true someday. Their hair is now as white as flames on candles. Wonder if they got everything that they wanted in life? Theirs is the greatest achievement of...
Mostly, it is loss which teaches us about the worth of things. — Arthur Schopenhauer Recently, I complicated my life again, but in a good way. My most senior dog and working companion, Buddha Bear the Brindle Boxer, developed a brain tumor. When his seizures...
“The ability for a group of people to do remarkable things hinges on how well those people can pull together as a team.” — Simon Sinek So, yesterday, I left you with a bunch of questions about what trends you’ve noticed recently. And asked how they...
“Unless commitment is made,there are only promises and hopes;but no plans.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson I meet with a group of colleagues each month. Recently we were discussing the trends we were personally experiencing as well as those we see developing...
“There is no elevator to success.You have to take the stairs.” — Zig Ziglar My intention every day is to be my best self in every interaction. I don’t always succeed in my goal.At the end of this week, while I was talking on an early morning call...
The World Wide Web is another interwoven network and a well-named one.It is truly a web of almost endlessly interconnecting nodules (of which this page is one)linked together by invisible strands of electronic connectivity.This page has existed, waiting for you. You...
“In everyone’s life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being.We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit.” — Albert Schweitzer Recently, I was honored to...
“You have to come to your closed doorsbefore you get to your open doors.”— Joel Osteen I have started to travel again. Though I am rusty in my pre-trip preparations, I am like a kid in a candy store with the discovery of the changes that have...
“It is only through shadows that one comes to know the light.” — St. Catherine of Siena Do you have someone with whom you can talk without restraint? Someone with whom you can sort your thoughts, share your frustrations and unfiltered concerns? Does...
“Learning is the antidote to fear, prejudice, bias, and to becoming obsolete.” ― Kate Nassar Life is a journey of highs and lows, gifts, and sacrifices — and the many planned and unexpected events. When I talk like this I sound like my mother and grandmother....
You can still make new friends when wearing a mask. Your eyes carry your smile. — Leslie Yerkes On my recent first plane trip since the onset of the pandemic and my first trip out of the country in over two years, I found the world waiting and people willing to...
“Sometimes it takes a total break to lead to complete healing and restoration.” ― Karen Pennington I took myself to a different place and discovered all sorts of things. After two years of no plane travel and many canceled trips and engagements, I boarded a...
“Rescue me,Oh take me in your arms.Rescue meI want your tender charms.’Cuz I’m lonely and I’m blue.I need you and your love, too.Come on and rescue me.” — Raynard Miner & Carl Smith Some people would tell you that I have dogs,...
“If you could only sense how important you are to the lives of those you meet;how important you can be to the people you may never even dream of.There is something of yourself that you leave at every meeting with another person.” — Fred Rogers ...
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