Don't freak out. Just give me a minute or two. How it happened no one really knows. Somewhere along the line Mark Twain scooped up the credit as writer and speaker of one of the best quotes ever uttered about the past and history. History may not repeat—Twain is supposed to have said—but it sure does rhyme. Great stuff. And so very true when you think about the passage of time on a scale … [Read more...]
A Special Session For You: The Tough Month Of October 2020
September 2, 2020 by
ANNOUNCEMENT: on Thursday, September 17, 2020 I will be conducting a 2-hour social-distance session on my recent post, “The Tough October Of 2020.” The focus is on providing you, as a leader, with takeaways on how to help yourself and your followers deal with a month that I believe will be the worst of the year. The time is 3pm-5pm, location is The Haverstick, 9191 Haverstick Road, Indianapolis IN … [Read more...]
The Tough October Of 2020
August 31, 2020 by
October 2020 will be a bad month. It may be the toughest yet of our pandemic. I say that not because of numbers of cases or counts of the dead. I say that because of our social body, our body politic, and our civic condition. October will be traumatic. Permit me to lay out my reasoning. My approach is different, unconventional. It's not everyone's first way of looking at things. I understand … [Read more...]
2 Minutes With Lincoln
August 7, 2020 by
I just had a real moment. It was the experience of an oldest thing in an old thing where I try to do a new thing over and over. Translation: I'm constantly working on improving my communication in writing and speaking. I do that with a conscious awareness of Abraham Lincoln's lifelong experience of self-learning communication. And one of Lincoln's fundamental sources of self-learning was a … [Read more...]
The Hard Truth Of My Own Change–New Sheriff In Town Revised
August 5, 2020 by
The Headmaster then... Yes, this was my version of me as the Headmaster of the newly formed Miller In-Home 5th Grade School. That was April 2020 when Covid-19 was new and unknown and we all bonded together in the yes-we-can spirit! Now as then, apologies to Kurt Russell. Fast forward to the Revised version and the updated Hard Truth. It's August 2020 and Miller In-Home 6th Grade School is up … [Read more...]
Time In A Bucket And Time In A Bottle
July 30, 2020 by
The amount of time we have for our big project, our big switch, our big change. We thought it was a bunch of time between now and then. Enough to fill the big green bucket. A large amount of time. Oodles. Turns out we were wrong. Life got a vote, life made the choice for us, and life said it's not a big bucket but a tiny bottle instead. We have no where near the time we assumed for planning, … [Read more...]
A Lot Into A Little: Your Likely Experience In The First Wave
July 27, 2020 by
2 years into 2 months. 12 months into 2 weeks. The fear of being "too unknown to try" becomes the challenge of "too much of a crisis not to try." These are the realities of millions of leaders and followers dealing with change thus far in the pandemic of 2020. For a long time—months or quarters or years—they had argued and debated over changes that were important and controversial. Stalemate, … [Read more...]
Change Brought A Clash
July 21, 2020 by
2020 has brought you confusion and dissension from the pandemic, the social unrest, and the ongoing political whirlwinds. The year has also brought to the forefront some of the features of change you might not have expected as we stand here in mid-summer. I wonder if any of these four features—four subtle clashes, if you will—are familiar to you in this moment. First. People want to get back … [Read more...]
When Our City Started A New Era: The Unforgettable Summer Night Of Benjamin Harrison
June 17, 2020 by
It's June 25, 1888. Benjamin Harrison is in his adopted hometown of Indianapolis, Indiana. He learns that, shockingly, his political party has nominated him to be their candidate for the Presidency. He'll be the Republican nominee for the White House. But a bigger thing is at work, a larger meaning is in play. The reaction of the people--Democrat and Republican, white and black, old and young, men … [Read more...]
You Might Need Reminding
May 29, 2020 by
The weeks have more in them--the days have more in them--than we can keep up with. Sometimes the rush of events and actions overwhelm us. So, I thought you might need reminding, a gentle reminding, of a post I wrote back in early 2019. Well over a year later and the list I compiled needs to be remembered now more than ever. Of particular interest are the 4th and 6th bullet points. Without further … [Read more...]
