Whenever a group of people is responsible for stewarding something together—whether it’s a town, a company, a nonprofit, a board, or a leadership team—there’s an expectation that shared responsibility will strengthen decision-making. Different perspectives are meant to integrate into choices that hold up over time and serve the core mandate of what’s being stewarded. That’s…
Can you have too much of a good thing? Most of us would say no — especially when it comes to virtues like empathy, kindness, or compassion. These are the qualities we’re taught to cultivate, the markers of a good person and a healthy society. But what if, in celebrating them, we’ve started to overvalue…
In Part I, When Belonging Becomes Identity, we explored how one of humanity’s oldest survival instincts, the need to belong, can quietly transform into something else. What begins as human connection can harden into identity because our natural wiring to belong runs deeper than our intentions, making it easy to drift from belonging to defending,…
There’s a strange comfort in becoming the things we love. The runner. The dog person. The entrepreneur. The devoted fan. At first, it’s just a thing we do — and then, quietly, without announcement, it becomes a thing we are. Not because we chose it, exactly, but because somewhere along the way, connection became identity.…
I had not yet made a phone call that I knew I needed to make, and I was giving myself a bit of a hard time about it. It wasn’t a crisis. It wasn’t urgent. It didn’t really affect anybody but me, but it mattered. It was important. And even though I know better, I…
We’ve all done it. Endlessly searched for the why. Why did this happen? Why didn’t I see it coming? Why didn’t they support me in this? Why now? Why me? What are we actually seeking when we ask ourselves why? At its core, why is a question about cause, reason, or purpose. It’s our way…
You’ve seen this scene before— A cowboy stands in a dusty street, hand near his holster, facing his opponent. Or maybe it’s a sharp-dressed gangster in a smoky backroom, eyes locked on his nemesis standing before him. The setup is always the same when one character says to the other, in a slow, steady voice:…
The Illusion of Independent Thought Picture this: You’re in a room with a small group of people. A simple test is in front of you—two lines drawn side by side. One is clearly longer than the other. Obvious, right? You trust your eyes. But then, one by one, every person in the room confidently…
As we step into 2024, I invite you to rethink your approach to New Year’s resolutions and goal setting. Have you ever felt that your New Year’s resolutions or the goals you’ve set in the past don’t quite capture the depth of what you truly want from life? Traditional methods often focus on external achievements,…
The fence and gates on the front of my home are causing an issue. The previous owner had them custom built from Ipe wood, also called Brazilian walnut, which is a beautiful exotic wood from Central and South America. The thing is, it’s heavy. Very, very heavy. Some believe it to hands down be the…