Sometimes, there’s too much going on, and I need to step away to clear my head. The weather lightened up last week. On Tuesday and Wednesday nights, it was forecast not to drop below 40, so I made my getaway. Kaya and I headed out to Shenandoah National Park and straight for one of my

Warm weather is coming to DC. Two nights in the Shenandoahs next week will be in the 40s. Kaya and I are ready. My pre-camping ritual involves taking out all the supplies I might need and laying them out to ensure everything is there. I have checklists for different types of camping trips. The one

I am leading a Grand Challenge, Stop Stigma Together, which is eliminating the stigma around mental health and substance use disorders. Founded at the Huntsman Mental Health Institute, we are now in our fourth year. I have had the opportunity to speak to hundreds of mental health professionals and researchers and learned so much about

Participation is key in change work. There has to be room for people to rise into their participation. One of the great mistakes made by social change leaders is to jump into the director’s role and start telling people what to do. When your goal is to see change spread, it’s so important that everybody

I intended to skip most World War II memorials and historic sites when my son and I were in Berlin. Then, I went out to dinner with my sister-in-law and other family members. She is a native German, and she encouraged me, telling me that I could not understand Berlin if I did not understand

Last week, I had a business trip to Clearwater, Florida, and brought my beautiful bride, Laura, along for the ride. Although I spent most of my time in meetings, I deeply enjoyed both the location and the camaraderie of close colleagues. Our host secured a condo overlooking the gulf and went the extra yard to

My son, Gabe, and I met in Berlin earlier this month to spend a week in the city. It was a powerful trip in no small part because of the transformational DNA in the core of the city, all pertinent to my work on Grand Challenges. Berlin’s transformation over the past several decades is nothing

My mother, Diana Weaver Kahan, was a poet. Her birthday was yesterday. She would have been 90. Instead, she lives in eternity. She was not a published poet but a lover of poetry who read to me regularly and occasionally wrote her own. I am particularly fond of this poem she wrote in 2004: Because