We often look for leaders who prioritize output, speed, and pressure. However, in more than 30 years of working alongside senior leaders at the World Bank, Royal Dutch Shell, and over 100 associations, I have observed that those who generate the most lasting change are not the loudest or most forceful. Instead, they are the […]
Leadership Sets the Tone Read More »
Last week in downtown Bethesda outside a coffee shop there was a horse tied up. Not a sculpture, but a real horse, reins slack, calmly standing while the weekday crowd streamed past with laptops and lattes in hand. In the middle of our efficient, well-scheduled, productivity-optimized world, this enormous, beautiful creature stood there, completely at
Strength Without Frenzy Read More »
A few years ago I started writing reviews on Yelp. Restaurants. Local spots. Experiences that mattered. Not because I had to. Because it was fun. Just recently, I was invited into Yelp Elite. This means I’ll get invites to tastings and meet other reviewers. Something unexpected happened. I began to enjoy the practice more deeply.
In this episode, I sit down with my longtime friend and collaborator Andrew Kutt, founder and Board Chair of Oneness-Family Montessori School in Chevy Chase, MD—a school that mattered deeply to my family during my kids’ early years. Andrew shares how his path from world literature and meditation to Montessori training led him to open
How Andrew Kutt Built a School That Teaches Children to Lead With Peace and Character Read More »
Today, we honor the shared birthday legacy of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. They led in different centuries, through different storms. Yet they had striking qualities in common. Both carried immense responsibility without theatrics. Both endured criticism without surrendering to it. Both held a long view when others were trapped in the moment. Both understood
This week, I am facilitating the American Association of Physicists in Medicine’s summit, Empowering Medicine through Physics. It is more than a convening. It is a signal. Medicine is at an inflection point. Artificial intelligence is accelerating discovery. Workforce strain is real. Regulatory pressures are mounting. Data is exploding. And yet the promise of precision,
Empowering Medicine Through Physics Read More »
I want to lift up an interview that is both urgent and enduring: “Bryan Stevenson on why Black history is under attack,” a powerful interview sponsored by The Grio (whose mission is to inform, amplify, entertain, and empower Black America. Let me say as a white person, they are informing and empowering me as well.)
Bryan Stevenson and the Courage to Remember Read More »
Pictured: me at the World Bank, where I lived through two change initiatives in the mid-1990s, both called Knowledge Management. Same organization. Same label. Completely different outcomes. The first effort looked unstoppable. A small group of world-class thinkers. A dedicated budget. Closed meetings. Impressive technology demos. After a year, almost nothing had reached the organization.
7 Lessons on Leading Change Read More »
I was flying across the country when Mount Rainier came into view. Rising above everything around it, unmistakable. You don’t have to know its name to recognize its presence. It commands the landscape simply by being fully what it is. It reminded me of something I’ve learned about leaders who make an out-sized impact on
Called and Capable Read More »
Here on the East Coast of the USA, we are in the middle of a serious snow and ice storm, the kind that slows everything down and makes the world feel smaller and quieter. Yesterday afternoon, with the sleet coming down, I looked out through our deck and saw a bright red cardinal perched beside
The Cardinal Outside Read More »
