I am typing this post in the Denver Airport, on my way home from the Aspen Ideas Festival. I’ve had three remarkable days that have supplied me with enough fodder to fill this blog for months. It was like attending the intellectual Oscars, while also feeling like a bit of a spy.
Continue reading “What I Learned on my Summer Vacation”Take In
In this second installment in my new “Be a Taker” series on navigating transition, I’m turning our attention to tools under the heading of “Take In.” It’s an invitation to pay attention to what you’re ‘ingesting’ as fuel for your forthcoming success.
It’s a good time to time to curate your focus, your crew, your creative energies and your expectations. Very practically, here’s what I’d suggest you try:
Continue reading “Take In”Learning our Way into 2025
Even though our priorities should flow from our values, when I help clients articulate their values, I don’t start there. I’d rather get to know them a bit first, individually or as an organization, and then reflect back to them what seems to be important to them so that their values are highly personalized to them. (Otherwise, if you ask folks what they value right up front, they’ll always say “integrity, accountability and respect.” Who doesn’t??)
Continue reading “Learning our Way into 2025”Make an Effort to Belong
When we are transitioning to a new version of ourselves (or our organization is doing so), part of the struggle is figuring out where we now fit.
Last week, I referenced two strong books that focus on the “art and science of belonging.” A third one we discussed at Wiser by Choice on Friday is called The Courage to Be Disliked. Although I can’t recommend this title as strongly, this passage stood out for me: “A sense of belonging is something that one acquires through one own’s efforts — it is not something one is endowed with…” (p. 171)
Continue reading “Make an Effort to Belong”Even Weak is Strong
It’s book club week, and we’re talking about Belonging and Connection. I thought I’d give you a teaser here, because a couple of the books on this topic have taken up residence in my imagination.
Two of the titles we’ll be reviewing, by Jon Levy and Kasley Killam, both have “the art and science of connection” in their titles. Both are about the importance of “social fitness” as a powerful determinant of health, arguing we should pay it as much attention as we would to our physical and mental fitness. Levy writes, “The fundamental element that defines the quality of our lives is the people we surround ourselves with, and the conversations we have with them.”
Continue reading “Even Weak is Strong”