Last week I traveled to the University of Utah, my first time in the state. That’s me above next to the giant U on campus. I went to meet with the leaders of the Huntsman Mental Health Institute to discuss an initiative to lower the stigma of mental illness across the nation. It’s a powerful […]
Grand Challenge Time! Read More »
I’m involved in several initiatives where associations work to understand how conferences will evolve over the next 3-5 years. When forecasting, one handicap suffered by many people is the assumption that the rate of change will remain constant. But it won’t. The rate of change will be cut to a fraction of what it once
Technology and the Evolution of Associations Read More »
With all the rains in the last few weeks, my neck of the woods just outside Washington DC has been getting emergency flood warnings. After the rains ceased I decided to go down to the mighty Potomac River near my house and take a look around. It was breathtaking. Not only was the river up
It’s the fall of 2021, and meetings are beginning to return. Half of the face-to-face meetings I had scheduled for September and October hare canceled due to pandemic safety concerns. The pandemic has made scheduling meetings, especially if you’re working with hotels or conference centers, challenging. Lisa Levine, CEO of the Energy Bar Association, shared
Questions for Hotels this Fall Read More »
Every time I turn around it feels like there’s another major, world-changing disruption! Pandemic. Climate change. Social justice. Economic disruption. It’s hard sometimes to just get through life with all these overwhelming circumstances! My son, Gabe, introduced me to the concept of a hyperobject, an object so big one mind cannot hope to grasp it.
Wherever I go I look around me to see the local art. Above is a mural that is on display in a window in my hometown, DC. It encourages us to be bold with our lives. Boldness has magic in it, but for each of us boldness means something different. It may mean taking a
I have long marveled at the quintessential candy bars including the Hersheys, Reeses, Kit Kat, Milky Way, M&Ms, Snickers, Almond Joy, 3 Musketeers, Butterfinger, and on and on. You will note these are not highfalutin gourmet or esoteric dark chocolates that have become popular as of late. No, these are the pedestrian treats found in
On Long Beach in Rockport, Mass, I was carrying my sandals and enjoying the cold surf on my bare feet. Outside my regular daily orbit, I had the chance to go for a long walk next to the rolling waves as they came into shore. Every once in a while it’s important to get away
Every morning my dog, Sita, and I take a long walk. It’s a special time for deep thoughts. There are many benefits I squeeze from our sunrise stroll. It gives me an opportunity before the demands of the day to work on what seems personally important, relevant to the particulars of my current circumstances. It’s
I discovered a tool that that is extraordinarily useful in my work with CEOs. This tool is called the Productive Zone of Disequilibrium, a term coined by Ronald Heifetz, co-developer of the Adaptive Leadership framework. Heifetz defines the productive zone of disequilibrium as the optimal range of distress within which the urgency in the system
The Productive Zone of Disequilibrium Read More »
