Just thinking

I have a thoughtful, interesting client who wants to show up with more authenticity in his interactions at work. His boss says she also wants him to communicate with more of his “authentic self.” It seems rational that only the person doing the communicating can really determine either yes, this is the real me, or …

I’ve been a fan of the reality cooking show “Top Chef” for a long time. I just happened to hear the head judge, Tom Colicchio, being interviewed on a podcast, and he was fascinating. One question he was asked was, “What separates a good home cook from a chef?” As I expected, Colicchio had great …

I first wrote the post below in 2019. I still agree with it, and I thought I’d bring it back for another go. The theme of the post is freedom–mostly, how we respond to the way other people assert their freedoms. It feels particularly relevant to me after the last few weeks in this country, …

I have recently become fascinated with the birds in our backyard. I hung a little feeder, pulled out some bird books I got from my dad, our family birder, and started identifying the regular visitors. The first bird I confidently recognized was a small brown bird, a finch. I was pretty sure that’s what it …

When kids are little, we want them to try a lot of things. “How will you know what you like unless you try it?” We say this about foods, clothes, places, and people.  In fact, some activities are engineered toward sampling lots of different things, for example in the Scouts programs. You are encouraged to …

Our sweet dog, Rhodie, has a little problem with hyper-vigilance. Someone walking down the street near our house? ALERT! Guy next door getting out of his car? THIS IS A PROBLEM ! Neighbor’s dog frolicking in his own yard, minding his own business? GET HIM! As a result, Rhodie has to be on a long leash …

Last week, a Broadway theatre-goer smuggled a phone into the audience and recorded footage of the star of the show “Take Me Out.” This video was released onto the internet. Those are the objective, and minimal, facts of the situation. These facts describe a situation that would never, could ever, have happened a few years …

We all have lots of thoughts and ideas washing through our minds at any given time. Stuff we need to do, fragments of conversations we’ve had, bits of songs, worries, reminders, what to make for dinner. You know word clouds? There are words of different sizes close together on a background, and the relative size …

Years ago I was hired to direct a play at a theatre that made its money and reputation on very mainstream plays and musicals. They were branching out into some lesser-known works that were more of a risk with their core audience, and the company brought me in for one of these plays. Our rehearsal …

I got to have a fascinating conversation recently with a client about how leaders lead in different organizations, what their impact and influence are.  As you might expect, one of the variables that can affect this is intention. Through this conversation, it became clear to me that it’s worth having a specific conversation about a …