The 1 Percent Rule

There are approximately 16,000 tree species in the Amazon rainforest. However, 227 “hyperdominant” species (1.4% of the total) are so common that they account for half of all the trees. Of the 16,000 species, 11,000 only account for 0.12% of trees. Why? In nature, as well as in human society, we are often faced with…

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Set Fire to Your Mind, Not Books

I find it sadly interesting that most of the futures we imagine are dystopian. Really, I challenge you to think of a movie or a book about a distant future where the general sense is that things are better, people are more fulfilled, and overall we are happier. Many of these dystopian futures involve a…

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Listening

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…

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Mindfulness

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…

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Change

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…

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Losing

I read this really great essay by Bonnie Priebel Blaylock: https://getpocket.com/a/read/1432577576 Toward the end she says, “If I’m holding with white knuckles to those things I’ve lost, or am afraid of losing, my hands are too full to accept all the other great gifts waiting for me.” I have lost a lot in my life.…

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