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I’ve never been “hip”. I’ve tried to be cool, but the truth is I was a bit of a “square” growing up…more conscientious than easy-going, always fretting about something versus letting it be. Sometimes, I can be so serious that I miss hidden meanings in sarcasm, a tactic employed frequently by my husband. As an…

Lessons often come to me when I’m playing, and that’s how this one came to me. Last week I found myself in my first virtual reality game. I was standing on the edge of a cliff, intent on rescuing my robot, when I realized that I was standing on the edge of a cliff. My…

Rest assured, this won’t be a lesson in values-based leadership…I like to leave preaching to my Dad (an ordained Lutheran Minister). The fact is, however, values play a role in the many types of leadership that have been touted by experts. This is not a new concept. It flows hand-in-hand with one of the of…

Saturday is the Winter Solstice – the shortest day and longest night of the year. In many indigenous cultures, it was the time to honor the sun as a giver of life – critical to survival of the community, the harvest, the animals and more. Indeed, the sun is critical for life, and it also…

Most of my career has been about leading change; often, it was to fix something that wasn’t working. One of these opportunities – inside a Fortune 10 company – resulted in what I call an “intrapreneurial” venture. It had all of the makings of a start-up without the need for raising funds. (It was fully…

I’m not a crafty person. My Mother was – good with crafts, that is. When it came to quilting, there were too many intricacies, I thought, as I watched her thread pieces of fabric together during my childhood. I liked to keep things simple…crafts were not for me. As I grew older, I ported my…

I was struck yesterday with the realization that toddlers have mastered the formula for declaring. Raising their voices, waving their arms, stomping their feet … they declare what they want with all their being. Imagine what we could do if we recaptured that feeling down to our core, and then used it to declare to…

I don’t like conflict may not be the words many people say aloud; however, they’re often the words that can drive a variety of behaviors: passive-aggressive actions; gossiping or back-channeling; “polite Southern” quips; hard-nosed attacks; or simply complete avoidance. Of course, none of these behaviors are “healthy”; however, there is a clear difference between the…

I like eggs…for breakfast. I like hot coals…they make beach BBQs a success nearly every time. But I walked on both of them for too many years, figuratively. I won’t go into all the reasons why I either avoided or went head-on into conflict, but I do know that tip-toeing around (“eggshell-walking”) certain people or…

Think of all the times you wanted to step up to the plate—or go out on a limb—but didn’t. What held you back? Did you defer to those with greater position or authority? I see this happen often in business. Brilliant leaders who know how to make the right things happen yield their power to…