Finding Clarity in an Ambiguous World
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Finding Joy in Moving
I hate moving. But I love helping other people move. Even if an acquaintance is moving, I often volunteer to help even before they’ve picked a date. This weekend I had the opportunity to help some friends move. People are always surprised when I tell them I enjoy helping other people move and so I…
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The Unknown Technology
There are inventions which would have changed our lives, but we’ll never know them. Most start-ups with a brand new idea don’t succeed for all manner of reasons. Sometimes the invention was horrible. Sometimes though, they fail simply because the cards didn’t fall right. What’s lost, is not only the technology as conceived but also…
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The Unreasonable Response : Avoid Too Little, Too Late
“We’re under a lot of pressure internally and the decision has not yet been made, but unfortunately it looks like it’s only 40% likely that we’ll be moving forward with you.” Sounds bad, but it could be worse. At least the decision hasn’t been made yet. This is what we tell ourselves. The reality however…
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Leaders Inspire Effort
A ten-year old girl sits with a smile across her face. Earlier this year she was made fun of in her class for being stupid, and even more sadly, she believed it. Having struggled with school much of her life, why is she now smiling? A friend of mine who is the managing director of…
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Inspiration is Perishable
You’ll never get to read many of my blog entries. A tsunami of ideas rush through my head in any given week and I often tell myself that I should write a blog. I’ll even write the initial premise to remind myself about it later. But when I return, the idea is still interesting but…
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We Must Recognize The Stall
Suddenly, the pilot’s plane started descending at an incredible speed. He pulls up to avoid crashing. No response. He pulls up harder. Still nothing. Then the ground consumes him. Our natural reaction in emergency situations is to fight them: whether it’s a plane that has stalled, a car that is sliding out of control on…
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The Ultimatum Game
You’re sitting across from another person who has $10 in their hands. They will give you some and if you accept, you both walk away with the money in your hands. If you don’t, you both get nothing. The person offers you $2, keeping $8 for themselves. What would you do? Most people in this…
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The Search For Complicity
A cult in the Chicago area believed the world was going to come to an end. They didn’t seem too concerned for others going into that date. They gathered in a home and waited for the end. It didn’t come. After they were proved wrong, you might think that the would give up and move…
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Blame and Responsibility
The announcer asked, “To whom should I make out the card for the dozen roses?”, The boyfriend replies, “To My Shmookums Betsy, I love you alw…” “Who is Shmookums?” interrupts Sharon, his girlfriend who suspected an affair and used the radio station to organize a sting. Many of you have probably heard such radio programs,…
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Sacred Abstractions
He puts his hand around her back and kisses his wife. She puts her arms around him and they kiss. He takes her by the hand and leads her toward the bedroom. They close the door behind him. We are very familiar with this story structure. It is used because what is implied by the…
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