I retired from my corporate job in 2007. At the time I was exhausted from the years of travel and pressure of working in a public company environment. I was hopeful that the “right thing” would just come along or one of the many ideas I have from time to time would be the next great thing to excite me. Four years have passed and I have dabbled in a number...

Last night in our final class of Channeling Aristotle we discussed the role of a person as citizen. Aristotle felt this role trumped all others. Our professor asked us “What is the first freedom”? Our class gave no strong response. His answer – The freedom to govern yourself. We the People. We govern ourselves. We choose. We get what WE choose. ...

7 Billion……… Person # 7 billion was born sometime yesterday on this earth. We were just at 1 Billion in 1804. It took about 1800 years to reach that first Billion. 100 years later in 1900 the population was 1.6 Billion. And now in 2011 it is 7 Billion. That is a daunting number which will rise to 9 Billion in the next 35 years. ...

Stewardship -the responsible overseeing and protection of something considered worth caring for and preserving Everywhere I hear and see finger pointing about who is responsible for this problem or that problem – global warming, the economy, loss of the moral compass, hunger, poverty. You name it, everyone is looking for someone or something to blame. As I...

I am currently taking a DU Enrichment Class “Channeling Aristotle: Cultivating a Virtuous Life in the 21st Century”. Our discussion last week evolved around the “golden mean” and finding purpose in life. Aristotle believe that happiness lay in the pursuit of one’s full potential and in maintaining a perfect balance between excess and...

I came across this TED presentation which I found very thought provoking. If you don’t have time to listen to the entire 19 minutes, just listen for the first 3-5 minutes. In this presentation conductor, Charles Hazelwood, talks about trust as a key ingredient to the success of making music. I am in the habit of connecting seemingly unrelated things. This...

This video, a clip from the BBC Series Human Planet, is a really interesting example of long term thinking. Can you imagine conceiving and designing a bridge that would require the roots of a tree to grow over many lifetimes to build it? I suppose you might think it isn’t really practical to think that way if a problem can be solved in the short term. ...

Changing our perspective is often one of the most difficult tasks we face. We are often so busy we don’t have time to stop and think about anything from an angle other than the one we’ve already got set in our minds. The New World Dictionary defines perspective as a way of regarding situations, facts, etc, and judging their relative importance . I see...

As I was sorting through the books on the shelves trying to decide which of my “babies” to part with in the garage sale I came upon a book I read several years back called “Sync – How Order Emerges From Chaos in the Universe, Nature and Daily Life” by Steven Strogatz.   Sounds a bit dry to you I imagine.  It did to me at first too but...

I just finished reading a great book about leadership – “True North” by Bill George. He is the retired CEO from Medtronic. Each chapter of the book had a section of questions in the back to help guide you in your own journey to becoming and authentic leader. The Chairman of the Board of our company spoke about this book during his speech accepting a...