Delegation Tree

Folks are working remotely. Folks are working in person. What are they doing? What are they authorized to do? Does your delegation -- roles, responsibilities, and accountabilities -- shift as conditions change, as trust in each other grows? Wondering who is making...

“Pater Ex Arena” [a triolet]

Grasping for gains he already grips,Striving for stakes he has won,Dad hones his steel shank on his own son's small slips.Grasping for gains? He already gripsA fear of benign — yet he holds all the chips.Will he ever soften what he thinks is such fun,Grasping for...

“What Curdles The Sour” [a villanelle]

Will we ever rescind our bald admirationFor heroes who tread on our toes,While waltzing with civility's perdition? We become those to whom we pay adoration,Swallowing their crimes as their power grows. Will we ever rescind our bald admiration? A scoundrel tends...

SMARTY Aim Setting for Wingnuts

Here's an annual message in a bottle: it's time to set aims for next year!  (Not goals. It's aims. More on that below. First, we'll talk about "goals," because that's what everyone thinks they want.)  I'm not the goal-setting type. I prefer to wing it....

ANNOUNCING: Pandemonia (Poems In Seclusion)

This is a new book, free for the asking. So ask. I have no time for publishing it as a book, so it will be stapled and mailed to you on the cheap. I hope you're happy. I hope you're satisfied. I hope you can sleep at night. Here's How To get your copy, at no charge to...

“Ethical Will” [Poem with video]

For years, I have taught workshops on writing ethical wills. I have drafted my own, but never felt finished. With this poem, I feel complete. This poem is my ethical will. A Jewish tradition, ethical wills pass ethical values to the next generation. In recent years,...

“The Fourth Turning” [Poem with video]

The Fourth Turning Who wouldn't jump on a plane To Monaco, Key West, and Spain? Hot cars! Fresh honey! The haves have money! Take a selfie! The Reichstag's a'flame! The title refers to The Fourth Turning: An American Prophecy - What the Cycles of History Tell Us About...

Archives

Recommended Reading

“The Thing All Women Do That You Don’t Know About,” Huffington Post by Gretchen Kelly — for men who stare at women they don’t know

That’s What She Said: What Men Need to Know (and Women Need to Tell Them) About Working Together by Joanne Lipman — for anyone who wants to better understand gender at work

Men Explain Things to Me by Rebecca Solnit — for men who want to find out if (when) they are buffoons

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates — for anyone who wants to better understand racial privilege

Are YOU Ready to Succeed?: Unconventional Strategies for Achieving Personal Mastery in Business and Life by Srikumar S. Rao — for Type A people living in a post-industrial society

Orbiting the Giant Hairball: A Corporate Fool’s Guide to Surviving with Grace by Gordon MacKenzie — for creative freelancers (and those who hire them)

The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity by Julia Cameron — to reignite your creativity (buy the paperback and use it like a workbook)