Earlier this summer, I found myself without a job. One day I was working on an important client project and had meetings taking up much of my day, the next I was combing job sites and ramping up networking efforts on LinkedIn. My first response to the Covid-related job loss was to panic. My next …
Category: Leadership
Forgiveness is divine
I hear my wife on her Google Classroom call and she’s bursting with excitement. She’s giddy over one of her kids completing a simple math question. She raises her voice and yells out so everyone can hear, “You did it.” And then there’s me. I’m on a Microsoft Teams call and someone accidentally mutes their …
Finding some inspiration
Is anyone else having a tough week? I've been there before. Once when I was a kid, I was having a particularly tough week. I’m not sure what was going on, maybe a test or two, possibly something at home, who knows? When I let my frustration come out during basketball practice, my coach, the …
Everything I needed to learn about life, I learned writing
My college professor handed back my paper with red ink up and down both edges. My heart sank looking at the mess. I walked out of the classroom heartbroken. I felt like my heart had been ripped out of my body. I skipped the rest of my afternoon classes. I was in no mood for …
Continue reading Everything I needed to learn about life, I learned writing
Listen closely
I should have listened. Before we even left the house, I saw the weather report calling for the possibility of passing snow squalls. In the car, I heard the radio announcer caution listeners about how the snow was coming down West of us in big, large buckets and was expected to last the rest of …
Keeping an open mind
The choices were less than spectacular. One book had a blue cover and the name of the book in gold font. The other looked old and had a picture of a scary wolf with large fangs. My second-grade teacher read to the class a few minutes each day and she had given me the honor …
Learning from failure
The teacher walked up and down the aisle handing out magic markers and brightly colored folders like you might find at an office supply store. I got a red one, the girl in front of me got an orange one. It was the first day of school, I was starting the sixth grade, and, of …
It is what it is
I put my phone down in anger. I find anymore that one quick scroll or skim of social media or the day's news headlines can bring on the bitter taste of anger and sadness. I get frustrated that others can be so close-minded and selfish. I was still seething with anger when my wife, sitting …
The best laid plans of mice and men
Folk singer and songwriter John Prine had been planning to play several live shows in Kentucky, Calgary, and at the famed Apollo Theater in New York City in a few weeks in May and June. He had shows booked well into the Fall and even had a couple of events planned for next February. Prine …
Paying homage to All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten
When life hits back, and as we're finding out right now, it can pack a powerful punch, I find that I return to a few favorite things: God, my wife, my family, and my core belief system that goodness, kindness and hard work, and other related common everyday virtues, will win out. I may be …
Continue reading Paying homage to All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten