May 5, 2026 Last week I had an observation related to music and organizational leadership. I love it when my diverse interests come together! As I’m fond of pointing out how creative solutions come from diverse thinking, I was recently listening to Billy Corgan’s podcast “The Magnificent Others,” where his guest was guitarist Jeff “Skunk”…
“If work violates your values, quitting is an expression of integrity.” Adam Grant, Author & Organizational Psychologist February 27, 2023 This last Christmas, I was talking to a friend who didn’t understand Quiet Quitting. What my friend didn’t understand was Why. Why, if you’ve got a good job, would you not seek to do your…
Today is my 60th Day with my new employer. My team asked me recently, “Why do you keep count like this?” I tell them that it’s to preserve momentum — forward movement. Coming into a new organization, with challenges and things to address, you only have so much time to effect change. You have to…
November 11, 2022 Periodically, post-pandemic (is it?), colleagues and former colleagues have reached out with some interesting career opportunities. Some have been local, and some have been back in the Pacific Northwest — place means less and less these days as I’m remote or hybrid from almost all of my clients, and we seem to…
Wisdom can be found most anywhere, if you just look. Particularly so if you’re like me, and revel in the unexpected linkages between all sorts of things. Not long ago I was doing some research on an area nonprofit, which meant learning as much as possible about their leadership. Which in turn led me to…
One of my roles as a “management consultant who happens to do tech” is to go into organizations and look for ways in which things can be streamlined and make information more accessible. Organizations of all stripes struggle with this, and periodically it’s good to look at things with fresh eyes. Mapping the flow of…
April 21, 2022 “Scott Zarrow had a library.” So began Rabbi Marc Fitzerman’s eulogy of Scott Zarrow, a former client and philanthropist who became a friend, whom I think about often. Scott called me up one day after he finished an add-on to his house that was equal to or bigger than the original footprint…
Remember the movie “Working Girl”? I’m remembering the scene where Melanie Griffith’s character Tess tells Trask her train of thought that led to putting two very different companies together. TESS: See this — this is from the Wall Street Journal, just your basic article about how you were trying to expand into broadcasting, right…okay, now…
June 10, 2019 Last week I severed my final tie to the Tulsa Area United Way, my wonderful employer for 8+ years. I maintain the highest respect for their mission and the great folks who work there, doing so much for our 5-county service area. My first volunteer activity for them was the very first…
April 4, 2018 Today Karen, Miss P and I drove down to Oklahoma City, adding our voice to the thousands of educators who, for almost all of my daughter’s life, have that their salary buying power reduced by over 10%, and per-pupil funding reduced by near 20%. Putting Oklahoma last in overall education funding. I’m…