No brand, no matter how good the products, services, or messaging it represents, can ultimately succeed in the absence of good management leadership. Two primary schools of thought about leaders seem to prevail. One is that leaders are born, not made; that they are anointed from on high, or somehow are genetically programmed to go to the head of the line to lead the rest of us. The other school of
I come from a first-generation Italian family that included my Aunt Gloria. My father worked three jobs when I was a young kid. I hardly saw him while I was growing up. My dad only had an 8 th grade education, but he and my mother were determined—there was never a question or doubt—that my sister and I would go to college. And so we did. Our parents worked hard and sacrificed much to make that hap
They say young men often do stupid and crazy things. But in my youth, I didn’t think I was stupid or crazy. I was simply hungry for a bit of adventure and authenticity. I wanted to see more of the world, widen my vision, experience how other people live and do things suburban America couldn’t possibly offer. Now, as a septuagenarian, I’m glad I did. Those crazy adventures now give me something to
We’re a bit late to the game. At ages 67 and 74, respectively, my wife Laurie and I have recently become grandparents to a beautiful baby girl. Chloe Vera came into the world a wee 6 lbs. 1 oz. and 20 inches in length on February 23, 2022. It just so happened to be the same day Russia needlessly and ruthlessly invaded Ukraine. Which led me to think: What kind of world will our granddaughter be i
“I must say that I have seen Americans make great and real sacrifices to the public welfare; and have noticed a hundred instances in which they hardly ever failed to lend faithful support to one another.” — Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America Set aside a few seconds to try to imagine what the United States of America would be like without a healthy, vibrant nonprofit sector. Your first rea
Are you married? Do you have a partner or significant other in your life? Many of us do. If you identify, think how difficult it often is to come to consensus on issues, both large and small… … How much hashing and compromising needs to take place before some kind of agreement (hopefully) can be reached? … How painful the process can be at times? … How unhappiness can easily seep into the relation
Any public speaker will tell you it’s a lot easier to change your audience than it is your material. That holds true for organizations, as well. It’s ostensibly a lot easier for organizations to churn through staff—either through firings, lay-offs, downsizings, or whatever—than it is for them to change their management style—which is usually top-down, command and control. And which is often the re
It’s a weekday evening. My wife, Laurie, is out attending one of her graduate courses in early childhood development. I’m home tending to our sons, Peter and Brian, 3 and 5 years old, respectively. I’ve just finished reading to them The Story of Babar: The Little Elephant, a favorite book of theirs I’ve read dozens of times. Sadly, the story unfolds with Babar’s mother being killed by a hunter and
Quaint. I’m desperately waiting for the return of quaint. Quaint, as in being able to take a walk in the neighborhood without having to wear a mask or avoid otherwise friendly but maskless neighbors by crossing to the opposite side of the street. Quaint, as in being able to hug loved ones rather than exchange affection-intended but awkward fist or elbow bumps. Quaint, as in spontaneously being abl
At age 68, I’m making a concerted effort to get through my bucket list. But one box that I will never be able to completely check off is “Travel to places you’ve never been.” So when the opportunity presented itself to join a cultural exchange program to Central Asia — Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, to be exact, two countries most people can’t locate on a map (including me, prior to the trip) — it was
Boomers, for better or worse, we’ve had our shot. It’s time we ensure that our daughters, sons, nieces, nephews, and grandchildren have at least an equal opportunity to have theirs. When six million jobs go begging, in large part because our young people do not have the skill sets to fill them … When so many of these same young people, from the ages of 18 to 26, feel disenfranchised from society,
So, there I am, terrified of heights, sitting on the floor of a small plane with the door open. My left foot is resting on one of the Cesna-172’s rubber wheels while both of my hands are desperately gripping a metal wing support. My right leg is dangling free. A stiff wind is blowing in my face. And the earth is 2,800 feet—about a half-mile—below me. Did I mention I’m terrified of heights? “Read
Not since the Great Depression has our nation experienced such a wide distribution of need throughout all socio-economic levels. It started out as a snowball at the top of the mountain. But as it continues to make its way down a steep slope, millions of Americans are getting swept up into what amounts to nothing less than an avalanche of personal destruction. Many, through no fault of their own, a
The cattle call went out two weeks before opening night. Newspaper and radio ads announced that the storied New York Metropolitan Opera Company needed supernumeraries—i.e. walk-ons, sometimes called extras—for its 1981 engagement at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. I thought about it for a minute, then asked myself, “When will I ever again get the chance to be on stage with the NY Met?” More
“You’re in that part of the Lower 48 that has the highest concentration of Grizzly bears, so don’t burn or bury your garbage,” said Ranger Ralph. My wife, Laurie, and I did our best to disguise our reactions. He went on to inform us that we’d be living in a one-room log cabin—sans running water or electricity (there were no cell phones at the time, either, mind you)—30 miles outside of town, the l
Power is like a greased pig: hard to grab hold of—and often even more difficult to hold on to. Power is fungible, not immutable. It can be replaced or redirected—and often, if not always, is. Fact is history is littered with once all-powerful rulers who either didn’t understand power’s fungibility or were so blinded by their own limitless authority that they became incapable of reading the tea lea
Q. Leadership: Whose journey is it, anyway? A. I often look back at my 25-plus years as a consultant and the scores of organizations I’ve worked with during that time. And it always startles me when I realize just how few good leaders or managers I’ve come across in all those years — especially knowing the impact leadership has on organizational culture, employee morale and overall brand reputatio
Turning 50 for me was no big deal; a hop, skip, and a jump into a slightly older middle age. Reaching 60 was a minor hurdle, with a bit more thought given to aging. But septuagenarian? Well, let’s just say it was a mental pole vault — with the hope for a soft landing. As Paul Simon sang, “Strange to be 70.” It’s finally sinking in that this journey is not going to last forever. So several months b
I recently read that elephants have given their final performance in the famed Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus — and the tape in my head immediately rewound to 40 years ago, long before the term “baby boomer” had even been coined. I was a young freelance feature writer for a regional chain of Gannett newspapers in New York state. Ringling Bros. had just opened its season in Madison S
It’s summer. I’m sitting on my front porch. The temperature is balmy, the sky cloudless. I can hear birds chirping in the trees. And I’m wondering: How did I get here? I mean really … here … at this very moment in time and space. I find myself thinking these kinds of thoughts more often as my eighth decade inexorably nears (don’t worry, it merely means I’m almost 70). I suppose it’s my sorry attem
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