This past year, 3 companies I loved working with failed spectacularly. At their peak, all 3 were places I (and countless others!) wanted to work—each characterized by a strong sense of purpose, learning, and commitment to making the world a better place. It was a joy and privilege to work with each of them. Tragically,
Here in the US, a coup is underway. There is so much happening so quickly that it is not possible to integrate it all. You may feel your nervous system being overwhelmed in trying to take everything in—and as a result you may feel yourself ping-ponging between the poles of panic and shutdown. It’s not
I started writing this post a few weeks ago, during the Los Angeles wildfires. And then…I stopped. I suppose I was a victim of the very shock I was trying to write about. This week, Trump is up to all sorts of “shock and awe” tactics; people and organizations are reeling. The question on everyone’s
2025 is here. In any new year, the seasonal call of winter beckons us to “go inside,” to make time for introspection. As we stand at the threshold between the old and the new, many of us review the past year and make resolutions for the year upcoming. Resolutions obviously are about resolve. But why
As a child, we had a ritual around the family table at Thanksgiving: my grandmother would ask us kids to say something we were grateful for. After much eye-rolling and squirming, each of us would come out with… something. Rather than being a real moment of introspection and appreciation, “saying what we are grateful for”
Halloween approaches, and right behind it, the presidential election in the U.S. Friends and clients alike are expressing anxiety about the outcome–will it be a “trick” or a “treat”? It’s normal to feel on edge about something outside one’s control, something that matters in a big way. If fretting could influence the outcome, I would
Someone tried to assassinate Trump this past weekend. I read the headlines and watched the news coverage of what little was known in the immediate aftermath. Within hours, lurid speculation and accusations began to circulate online in a nauseatingly familiar way. My dad was an old-school TV news anchor, and he drummed into his staff
Recently, I was listening to Brené Brown’s podcast on AI, with futurist Amy Webb [“What’s Coming, and What’s Here” https://brenebrown.com/podcast/whats-coming-and-whats-here/] What struck me most about their discussion was a comment Amy made about the huge changes barreling our way: “Where I grew up, we had terrible wind, terrible cold. And when you learn how to
How many times a day are you provoked, goaded, inflamed? Maybe you read a headline, overheard a conversation, or saw something on social media that REALLY got to you. Or perhaps you had a personal, direct interaction that you are still wrestling with, days later. Welcome to the Sea of Hyperarousal. Hyperarousal is a physical
I don’t live in the Middle East. I’m not a congresswoman working in American politics. I wasn’t at the school that suffered a mass shooting the other day. I’m not a pregnant woman in Texas, unable to get a legal abortion. But I read about it, and I cared about it. I’m also not a