The Grand Game of Story

The other night, I had a conversation with a neighbor who expressed concern about the overwhelming challenge he and his clients face to introduce new models of leadership into their organizations. A man near his seventies who has been consulting on collaborative decision-making for nearly 20 years, he was disheartened. “I don’t think society is changing . . . → Read More: A Systems View

Last night, unable to sleep, a million thoughts floated forward about my life and what it means and how it does or does not have an impact on the world. But in the light of day, I see things differently.

Over coffee, I read three news stories: about the brutal gang assault on a gay man in . . . → Read More: Dark Nights

I woke up this morning realizing that what I really miss in this fast-paced world of social media, doing more with less, doing more across multiple genres and industries, is the time and space to think deeply about things. Bill McKibben writes about deep economy in a book by the same name. Perhaps in keeping with . . . → Read More: Deep Thinking

Taoist philosophy teaches that all life contains two equal and opposite energies—yin and yang—that constantly dance toward wholeness. It is the two that becomes one only to become two again, a dynamic force whose tension is life itself. We call it by many names—stillness and action, feminine and masculine, heart and head—but regardless of the name, . . . → Read More: The Sleeping Giant

A recent article in the New York Times, “But Will It Make You Happy?” said it all: the recession has made us all rethink where and how we spend our money. We don’t want stuff, we want memories. We are experiencing what writer Stephanie Rosenbloom calls an emotional rebirth. We want, in fact, what makes us happy.

Money . . . → Read More: What Matters Most

I went to the local farmer’s market last week and came home with more vegetables than I could eat. I didn’t care. I loved the experience of watching my money go into local pockets and knowing where my food came from. I also loved seeing my friends.

I bought a chicken from Jodar Farms, a local poultry . . . → Read More: A Shopping Activist

I live in a co-housing community, a place I landed by accident. I am one of the few renters here and although I’ve attended some of the community activities and volunteered occasionally, like most introverts, I’ve mostly kept to myself or built friendship one-on-one.

This is how I like to live—alone but together.

I am a solitude junkie. I . . . → Read More: Alone Together

Many of the women I work with do not consider themselves leaders. But invariably as we unearth, name and practice a different set of competencies that celebrate women’s ways of being and leading, the story changes. It’s not that these women aren’t leaders, they realize. Rather, the definition of leadership is incomplete.

In the 1980s, Sally Helgesen, . . . → Read More: Leading from the Center of the Web

Lately, I’ve been feeling restless and unsure. I chalk it up to my physical move that has left me feeling unstable emotionally, the crack between creative projects, and an ill-timed vacation. So I focus on next business steps and hope to hell I know what I’m doing with this business I’m launching. People tell me I’m . . . → Read More: Blessed Leaders