Monday Morning Mojo

Thanksgiving is coming up here in the USA – a time where we reflect on what we appreciate about life. When most people think of miracles, they think of a binary choice. It’s either ordinary, practical or it’s a miracle, akin to magic. What they don’t realize is that there is a continuum with many […]

When you prime, you are getting ready for another activity. The verb takes its name from a biochemical process in which you use a material to get ready for a polymerization process… like preparing a surface with a primer before you paint it. The idea here is that there is an step that readies for

Take a look at your role models – the people who live their lives in very special ways. They all have quirky things they do that make them both extraordinary and unusual. William Staffor, one of my favorite poets, got up at 4am so he could have time every day to write poetry without interruption.

Teachers often talk about the teachable moment: an unplanned opportunity when a student is   particularly open and responsive to a new idea. Thanks to the immediacy and ubiquity of social media, organizations can take advantage of the reachable moment: an unplanned opportunity to use an event to raise awareness by tapping into grassroots support.  When

Last night my family and I were driving back from Annapolis where one of my best friends married his lifelong partner in a very informal yet beautiful ceremony in their home.  The ritual itself was less than 10 minutes long, officiated by a good friend. I was surprised that they made a point of recognizing

Over the last four months I upped my game at the gym, going 5-6x week. In other words, I have made a daily committment. It’s amazing how it has changed my experience of life. My body feels different, my energy is up and my mood gets a daily dose of upbeat hormones. Recently spent a

Those of you who know me well know that I am not a sports guy. I don’t follow any one sport well enough to talk intelligently about who’s ahead and who’s behind, or a particular team’s recent victories and defeats. Nonetheless, sports has a lot of great analogies and those who do care deeply about

Well, this is a Monday Evening Mojo… I am sitting with a client having dinner. We are taking a break from the workshop I designed to create an organizational growth strategy. Everyone is eating around us. Among the clinking silverware, a CEO who runs a national and prestigious organization is telling us a quirky story

If you read this regularly, you know my wife, Laura Baron, is an award-winning singer-songwriter. Last year she won 3 Washington Area Music Awards, including Song of the Year for, A Little Note. The song tells the story of a woman who leaves an abusive relationship to set out on her own and take back

My next book will be a handbook on Grand Challenges for leaders of all stripes. A Grand Challenge is a bold, socially beneficial goal that successfully addresses a systemic and embedded problem through collaboration and joint leadership. It generates new stakeholders and powerful resources for any organization—knowledge, work, support, enthusiasm, time, and money. Grand Challenges