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If you were to pick up one of the books in my library, you would find them filled with highlights and notes written in the margins. Over this past month, I’ve been revisiting them, curious about what I was thinking when I originally read them.   Five stars were next to a passage from Think…

As I entered my local grocery store this weekend, I reached for a shopping cart. My thoughts weren’t on my list of needed items, but rather on how much I appreciated the cart gliding through the store. It was effortless to push; there were no rattling wheels, no need to course-correct the direction it was…

These past months have me thinking a lot about how we handle crises and what it takes to operate successfully during turbulent times. What makes the difference between being an ordinary versus an extraordinary leader during a crisis? Extraordinary leaders do not keep their distance from events and people that need their leadership. Leaders I…

We’ve just passed the two-year mark of the start of the pandemic and we’re still processing the aftereffects:   We’ve become more attached to technology to connect and work — we find news at our fingertips, continuously streaming the crisis in the Ukraine, the political divisions within the US, hate crimes and more. Many of…

Over the last dozen days, we’ve seen brilliant leadership gloriously exemplified by Ukrainian President Zelensky.  At LAITHOS, we describe this part of the leadership journey as moving from clarity and confidence towards vision. And from that, building a community helps propel movement towards aligned action. After you are very clear and confident in the core…

Remember those times when you didn’t show up the way you wanted? You may be aware of why you were not able to be fully present or effective in the situation. Maybe you were distracted by real life matters. Or you simply didn’t get enough sleep and your body was sending you an important message…

My best varies daily.  Some days I’m able to “save the day” and solve complex problems, and other days I spend 15 minutes looking for the phone that is safely encased in my back pocket. Over time, I’ve come to understand that my value doesn’t diminish on the days I don’t think I’m performing at…

During our seven-month home renovation, my husband, Doug, and I had a key contractor abruptly leave the job. After the initial shock of discovering he wouldn’t be with us until the end, I panicked. My stomach was in knots and my mind raced with ways to figure out how to “fix” the problem. I tried…

“Oh, how I love you,” he said. One of my graduate school professors, the late Dr. Herbert Baker, professed his love for his students one evening at the end of a class on leadership. At the tender age of 25, it was the oddest thing I’d ever heard. He explained to the class: To practice…

I was browsing a friend’s Facebook posts and came across “Word of the Day is ‘spuddle’ (17th century): to work ineffectively, to be extremely busy whilst achieving absolutely nothing.” ‘Spuddle’ seems the perfect word for this phenomenon. I’ve been finding myself ‘spuddling’ a lot lately. I start the day with a “to do” list, and…