I have asked Ashton Fandel to write this week. She contributes to our team with great insight. She’s currently the head reader for a Berkeley Haas leadership course, where she gives amazing counsel to aspiring Berkeley undergrads. I know she’d appreciate your constructive comments! “Class, what are the ‘Two Evil Twins of Self-Defense?” my … Continued
Gentle leadership. It’s not an oxymoron. Nor is this a contradiction in terms: self leadership. So, today a simple musing after these two facts. 1. When you are stressed and stretched, it is nearly impossible to “lead with your best self.” 2. In this time of severe dislocation, fear, and challenge, everyone I know is … Continued
Last week, I wrote about how in-your-face Covid has been for all of us. Not equally, of course. Some of your families may be right now threatened by the disease itself. Yet it confronts us all. Last week, I invited you to hear Anne Zehren our Thursday resilience speaker. Anne has dealt for a decade … Continued
The exhausting challenge. The amazing opportunity. Resilience . . . Plus . . . At no time in my 60 years of life in America, has our collective life so totally invaded my, and our, private existence. The events, threats, and responses to Covid strike at our individual identity, our “who I am.” We are … Continued
The pandemic wears on. People get more restless with the abiding uncertainty, wrankling repetition, and worry. True in homes. True in nursing homes. True in cities and colleges. True for countries and the world. Money and health? Is anything more foundational for our well-being, and more worrisome when it’s threatened? Although we don’t have physical … Continued
Today I begin a writing partnership with Greg McBeth. Greg’s an engineer, co-founder with his wife Falon, consultant to entrepreneurs, and great writer. He’s also a gambler. While I limit Read2Lead to a page’s length, Greg lets himself go into greater depth. We chose a topic, gave ourselves a little guidance, but then went off and … Continued
It’s a painful irony that we share both our deepest and ennobling love, yet also reserve our worst behavior for those who are closest to us. And “closest” these days takes on a new and literal meaning. When his 97 year-old father fell sick after exposure to Covid-19 and was left alone by his regular … Continued
From Laura Andersen of LX2. “So… what should we have for dinner tonight?” For the past two years, I’ve wanted to ask that question more often. My husband commutes an hour each way so we usually get dinner together once per week at best. Of course, this mandatory shelter-in-place is not how I ever … Continued
[If you are fed up with politics, I think you, especially, should read this, but I certainly understand if you don’t. For my part, I think we need to keep speaking and listening, and not falling into all the same divisive traps. If we are connected, you may have read an earlier version of this … Continued
When I say “leader,” you likely see a speaker. You likely see someone separated from the crowd, perhaps facing them. That was me in my lecture last week to 80 non-MBA graduate school students. But add a couple elements to the picture. Before I began speaking, I asked for a couple volunteers to take careful … Continued