I was pleased to recently have a piece I wrote published on the Pick the Brain web site. Pick the Brain publishes a lot of terrific articles and I highly recommend that you check it out. Here's an introduction to the piece I wrote, and a link to the full…
When I started to write this post I was going to talk about what I read this year. Then I found myself thinking that I might have read more if I hadn’t watched much more TV than I have in many, many years. That led me to start thinking about…
As Thanksgiving approached, my thoughts were on gratitude—how grateful I am for all the ways that I’m blessed. Mostly I thought about family and friends, but following Storm Sandy, I also thought about things as mundane as modern conveniences—things I realized I take for granted when I had to do…
This Thursday is Thanksgiving in the U.S. It’s nice to pause and count our blessings every year on that day. And it’s easy if you are fortunate enough to spend the day with dear family and friends—special relationships that we count among our greatest blessings. In the area where I…
I've reached out to many people in the aftermath of Storm Sandy, the incredible storm that hit the area where I live. Almost to a person, those who did not suffer a devastating loss replied to my e-mails, text messages, or calls with some variation of "It could have been worse."…
Early this past summer, I began a weekly blog post called, "What Made Me Smile This Week” (if you are a regular reader of my blog, that part of today’s post is not news to you.) A bunch of people sent me notes, over the course of the summer, saying…
This week, a post I wrote was published on the terrific web site, The Bridge Maker. Here’s the first part of the piece, with a link to the rest… As a blogger, it occurred to me as I approached the day when my youngest would be going off to college…
Two weeks ago, I was the keynote speaker for a wonderful conference for educators run by AdvanceED Illinois. You can read about it here. The conference was in Champaign, Illinois. The day before the speech, I had a super easy, smooth, on-time flight into Chicago’s O’Hare airport from Newark (New…
I’m a big sports fan and have always enjoyed the Olympics. I remember the unbeatable Cuban boxer Teófilo Stevenson, the Russian weightlifter Vasily Alekseyev, and the Michael Phelps of my childhood, U.S.A. swimmer Mark Spitz. (I actually wore the same Speedo bathing suit that Mark Spitz did, with its U.S.A. flag-design.)…
Here are some things on my gratitude list this week: That my son taught in the amazing Breakthrough program this summer. That he invited us to their Celebration (where it was wonderful and inspirational to see our future leaders -- these terrific students and teachers.) That he now knows what career…
Here are some things on my gratitude list this week: The talented and dedicated authors who devote their lives to creating books that I love to read. The awesome way the sound of the ocean makes me feel. That my aunt is so generous with us that she lets us…
Stephen Covey passed away just over two week ago, on July 16. He would have been 80 this coming October. Later that week, a great man named Herb, the dad of my friend, passed away. He, too, would have turned 80 later this year. This post is dedicated to Herb…