Dang it was a hard week. On the last day of the prior week, at the end of a wonderful time at Lake Michigan, I threw out my back (doing yoga, of all things). Crooked, bent and thus more than a little irritable, I returned to Berkeley to welcome and teach forty-two 30-and-40 year old … Continued
Visiting students from China, Japan, France, German, from Kenyon College, USC and UC Santa Barbara, oh and Berkeley jammed their way with me through a six-week course in leadership. It was akin to running a half-mile race; you can’t sprint, but you have to keep up a consistently fast pace. Eight hours of class and … Continued
I’ll be taking the week off and hope you as I celebrate the great gift of freedom. Remember “the price of liberty is eternal vigilance.”* For some leisurely 4th of July genesis of this famous, go here: http://www.thisdayinquotes.com/2011/01/eternal-vigilance-is-price-of-liberty.html And lead with your best self.
You are surely and sorely needed at this time. Needed to think – and perhaps act – globally, and surely to think and act locally. They have never been more connected. Globally, there are 25 million documented refugees, with another 40 million displaced within their countries.* Over half are under eighteen. The vast majority seek … Continued
I woke up on Sunday, Fathers Day, thinking about my dad, John G. Mulhern, 1/11/28 – 10/16/96. I ask you to hit the comments today and share the answer to the question that arose for me, which I will offer and respond to here. What were the most important gifts I received from dad? Life, … Continued
The most wonderful thing – about being human is you get to choose what you want. Yet, it’s hard. It’s so much easier to be told what to want, or to have habits take over, or to jump to doing whatever seems like it should be done next. In the hyper-busyness that is characteristic of … Continued
Authors create characters. Back in 1982, when I was entirely smitten with the work of novelist Walker Percy, I wrote him a letter to tell him that his writing was so good that I felt his characters were more real than people I met in my life. (If you enjoy character novels, try Percy’s Love in … Continued
Leaders are supposed to be STRONG, right? Look up strong on Google and click on “images.” Here’s the first of many similar images: One thing is obvious, right? The figure to the left is a GUY! There are other images on the Google search. More bulging boy biceps. You’ll also see near the top, the … Continued
“Assume more power when situations are stagnant…” Nate Medina, UC Berkeley, ’18 I am submerged in final papers. Berkeley juniors and seniors pull together their thoughts after a semester’s course on leadership. The papers marry their personal experience leading with the theoretical concepts they have gathered from lectures and readings. Their reflections are universally … Continued
“Leaders go first.” A tautology? In a sense yes, because it’s definitional that leaders stand apart. But my friends Kouzes and Posner in The Leadership Challenge stand this “going first” on its head. They don’t mean “goes first” because he or she is brimming with confidence, bravely blazing a trail that no one else can … Continued