Fairly often, I finish a conversation with a saying that echoes my Midwestern roots. As I take my leave of someone, I encourage them by saying, “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!” I get a wide variety of responses. My favorite so far was the person who told me that they were still trying to […]
Don’t Do Anything I Wouldn’t Do Read More »
One of the principles behind my Craft Brewery Pilgrimage is that leadership has a lot in common with creating a great craft brew. Being an effective leader begins with pulling together the best ingredients. Those ingredients include the resources you need to lead; the finest skills, financial resources, perseverance, the leadership qualities within your self,
Leadership is Like Creating a Craft Brew Read More »
When I tell people that I am a leadership coach and a spiritual director, there tends to be some questions. Some people have a general idea of what a leadership coach does, but there are quite a few people who have very little idea of what a spiritual director might do. It does not help
So, What is a Spiritual Director? How is that Different from a Leadership Coach? Read More »
I started running again a couple of weeks ago. A few years ago, I trained for a marathon. I bought a book about marathon training for nonrunners, and followed the program for 16 weeks. On the day of the race, smoke from wildfires here in California caused the organizers to cancel it. The last training
Running for My Life Read More »
We tend to understand our lives as having ever-increasing level of complexity. Nearly instantaneous access to information from anywhere in the world at almost anytime shapes, and shatters, our thoughts and feelings. We connect with ever-growing networks of people who live in distant places; more and more diverse perspectives influence our own. We live in
Sometimes Life is Simple Read More »
I was talking with some friends last week about being grateful. We agreed that being grateful is a good thing, and helps us become better people. We also recognized that our feelings of gratitude, which tend to be strongest when we take the time to reflect, often do not get translated into our actions. We
An Attitude of Gratitude Read More »
I spent some time near the ocean last week; the ocean is like God. The ocean is vast and powerful. It seems to ebb and flow, sometimes calm and peaceful; sometimes crashing on the shore. The ocean is buoyant, and lifts me up. The ocean can be overwhelming, and I can feel like I am
The Ocean is Like God Read More »
When I tell people that I am a leadership coach, the ones who are most honest will ask something like, “What on earth does a leadership coach do?” I help people become better, more authentic, leaders. While not everyone is a leader, everyone could become a leader. Each of us searches for the leader that
What on Earth Does a Leadership Coach Do? Read More »
Wilkie Au and Noreen Cannon Au are people who get to the heart of things. They are people of deep emotional intelligence; not “touchy-feely,” it is more that they are in touch with the emotional parts of their lives. The way they write, and the way they live their lives, helps me understand and find
Book Review: The Grateful Heart Read More »
August 31 is the feast day of Saint Aidan, a Celtic missionary monk who journeyed from the island monastery of Iona to establish the island monastery of Lindisfarne. It is also the day on which I was received as an oblate at the Benedictine New Camaldoli Monastery and Hermitage near Big Sur, California. It takes
The Long and Winding Road to New Camaldoli; or, Finding My Way Read More »
