Even if you haven’t seen Wicked in its musical or movie form, you have likely come across the iconic image of Elphaba taking her stand, complete with hat, cape, and broom – defying gravity. She’s planning to change her world, and we all look up and root for her – with tears and cheers and [...]
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven. ~ Ecclesiastes 3:1 In his latest book, Cal Newport advises us to embrace seasonality – to work at a more natural pace. He points out that humans evolved with an innate understanding of seasons – a lived experience of seasons [...]
I have always thought of January as the reset month – when I initiate new projects, start changing old habits, and commit to well-considered resolutions. It’s a good time to take a career inventory as well. As I see it, this kind of reset is a process of reflecting on your experiences and feelings, reorienting [...]
In a remarkable testament to what can happen when preparation meets opportunity, I find myself in the midst of a major change in my life. I have long hoped to trade in my suburban house for a condo closer to the beach when I retire, and – to my surprise – the stars have aligned [...]
What if employee flourishing was one of our measures of success in organizations? What if we – individually and collectively – saw that part of our work together is to ensure that each and every person thrives in their work? If we aim to ensure that people flourish, we would go beyond attending to what [...]
As the year winds down, it's time to count our blessings. In the learning and development field, we can be grateful for… 1. Our individual strengths and our unique skill stack – and the projects that allow us to contribute those strengths for a good cause. 2. The collaborations that allow us to accomplish more [...]
September has always seemed to me a time of beginnings. That feeling is no doubt a remnant of many years' experiences with starting school, and it’s also the feeling that accompanies transition from summer to fall (my favorite season!). It's a time for new backpacks, new sweaters, and new books (not-beach-reads), and a time for [...]
The following is my contribution to the Learning Guild's ebook, 2022 Predictions from L&D Practitioners. Download it to see an array of predictions from other practitioners (accessible with free membership to Learning Guild). Do you remember that scene in the Wizard of Oz where Dorothy has just landed in Munchkinland? She’s gone through a tornado [...]
Last week, I invested part of my 3214th week on this planet in reading 4000 Weeks: Time management for mortals, by Oliver Burkeman (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2021). 4000 weeks is roughly the amount of time we have in our lives if we live to be 80 years old.^ Yet not a single moment of [...]
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose unto heaven. ~ Ecclesiastes 3:1 When people talk about great achievements in self-directed learning, they often cite examples from extreme sports enthusiasts or intense hobbyists. These voracious learners read up on the subject in any way they can. They take lessons from [...]