Musings
It Matters
Bedlam: a place, scene, or state of uproar and confusion. First, congratulations to those of you who earned a degree from the University of Oklahoma. Your alma mater played well and deserves to be the Big 12 Champion. Perine taking a knee on the one-yard line was a classy move. The word bedlam originated around…
Read MoreListening
Several times in the past couple of weeks, the subject of listening has come up. One instance was during a meeting where someone shared how listening to the concerns of other stakeholders in a process is vital to them being willing to join the effort and has an equal benefit of bringing a lot of…
Read MoreMindfulness
I will not attempt to address the issues, methods, theories, or oddities of this year’s presidential election. I thought maybe I would, but the more I read and the more I think, the more certain I am that I am wrong. While I don’t mind being wrong, I would rather not write it down. What…
Read MoreChange
Let’s talk about change. More specifically, the changing of things that were “built around systems designed to respond to the social structures and technologies of the industrial age” and “ought to be fundamentally rethought for the one we live in now,” according to Tim Brown, president and chief executive of IDEO. In The New York…
Read MoreA Compassionate Society
I encourage you to vote in tomorrow’s election. I hope you will encourage those around you to vote. Our system of governance is based on the fundamental right of the people to advocate for what’s important to us. The government we have and the policies they enact are a reflection of our cultural choices (whether…
Read MoreChristmas Basket Letter
I am writing this before Thanksgiving. That’s important because I have a strict “no Christmas before Thanksgiving” policy. So rigid is this rule in my home that in retaliation my family requires that I participate in getting out and putting up every single Christmas decoration on Friday the day after Thanksgiving. Call us dysfunctional, but…
Read MoreFix It
My mom shared a quote by Brene Brown, with me yesterday: “We pretend that what we do doesn’t have an effect on people. We do that in our personal lives. We do that corporate — whether it’s a bailout, an oil spill… a recall. We pretend like what we’re doing doesn’t have a huge impact on…
Read MoreLove & Peace
What good is love and peace on earth? When it’s exclusive? Where’s the truth in the written word? If no one reads it A new day dawning Comes without warning So don’t blink twice We live in troubled times This is a lyric from the song “Troubled Times” on the new Green Day album. Two…
Read MoreAll Apologies
I came across an interesting article by Jelena Woehr about apologizing like you really mean it. To quote from the article: If you were wronged by an observant Jew in the past year, you may have received a phone call or visit seeking forgiveness. This is because during the Days of Awe — the ten days beginning…
Read MoreLegacy and Innovation
I read an article called “How to Stand on Shoulders” (https://getpocket.com/a/read/1437178321) which is about coding actually, but it got me thinking. The author used the term “Not Invented Here.” Not Invented Here Syndrome (NIHS) is a mindset or corporate culture that favors internally-developed products over externally-developed products, even when the external solution is superior. (read…
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