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  • Why Alice's Rabbit Was So Distraught
    The two worst subjects to write about? Death and taxes.
     
    My topic today is not taxes.
     
    Rather, The Big Chill. Big Rip. Big Freeze. Big Crunch. The Grim Reaper. Oh sure, comedians make light of it. Woody Allen: “I don’t want to achieve immortality through my work....I want to achieve it through not dying.” George Burns: “If you live to be one hundred, you’ve got it made. Very few people die past that age.” Johnny Carson: “For three days after death, hair and fingernails continue to grow, but phone calls taper off.” Read More
     
  • Money, Money, Money
    What is it about money?
     
    We must have it to live, but it can also be a terrible burden. When we have too much, life is easy; if not, life is hard. Do we really allow money to exert too much control over us?
     
    Case in point (true story): Many years ago, I met with a young woman who had come into some money. A few years before we met, she had stopped at a gas station to fill up her tank. The time was 6:55 p.m. She filled up, went into the gas station to pay, and impulsively decided to buy one lottery ticket. She paid for it, went back to her car, and tuned into the live radio broadcast of the lottery drawing. Read More
     
  • Growing Greatness
    The holidays are upon us again—which reminds me of an old plumber story Ed Coyle used to tell.
     
    It was New Year’s Eve. A couple living in a posh condo in downtown Chicago were preparing to receive friends and family for a New Year’s Eve party. An hour before guests were due, the hostess discovered their toilets were backed up. No functioning commode—and thirsty, hungry guests were on the way. Panic set in! Quickly, the couple searched the Yellow Pages for plumbers, and after repeated tries, reached a plumber closing up shop. They pleaded with him to fix their broken toilet. Read More
     
  • Understanding Complexity - And Taming It

    Complexity is the bane of our daily life.

    So many decisions, so much confusing input, so little time.

    And our world – already complex before the microchip's invention – now runs on computer steroids. Read More

  • What to Live Really Means
    I met Margaret 15 years ago. She changed my outlook on life. She was not a teacher, public speaker or best-selling author. It wasn’t her words that moved me, but her countenance, her spirit, her vital connection to the importance of living each day in the present with immense joy and great purpose. Read More

  • Uncertainty is Good
    The Market’s reaction to the recently passed $787 billion Economic Stimulus Package has us questioning whether or not this plan will help our flagging economy. No one can say with any certainty whether it will help or not. We will have to wait to see what results from the economic stimulus (tax credits, reductions, incentives) and spending on healthcare, infrastructure, energy, schools and police, among others. I can't help but wonder when we, the American people, will re-think our perception about the state of the world, and move forward with our lives. Read More

  • Navigating Today's Storms & Currents
    Are you feeling isolated, powerless and confused? If so, you have lots of company. The current economic malaise reminds me of a stressful event experienced by my daughter 20 years ago. She had just started kindergarten. I picked her up from the babysitter one day and while driving home, the car radio reported a powerful F5 tornado had hit Plainfield, Illinois. Some 29 people ultimately died. Read More

  • Do the Correct Thing
    When stationed with the U. S. Army in Fairbanks, Alaska, I spent a year with an air cavalry unit. We spent almost every day flying around in UH-IH "Huey" helicopters, the one seen in Vietnam War footage. On one particular mission, we flew from 2,000-foot elevation with a complement of troops and equipment and landed at 7,000-foot elevation on the side of a mountain next to a glacier. Read More

  • The Moment Is Now
    I sat on a rock, overlooking The Cantwell Glacier in the Alaskan Range. I was 24 years old and just beginning my military career. My boss and I had hiked for two days across two glaciers to this Bureau of Land Management cabin. The small A-frame had been air-lifted here a decade earlier. There was a journal inside, chronicling fascinating stories by cross-country skiers and hikers from the past ten years. Read More

  • We're Better Together
    Recently I scheduled a trip out to the West coast to visit with a client. My plane was to depart from O'Hare Airport at 9:00 am, arriving in Los Angeles by 11:05 am. My meeting was to begin at 4:00 pm—plenty of slack time in the schedule I thought. My cell phone rang at 6:45 am with a message from Orbitz that my flight had been canceled due to mechanical problems. Read More

  • Pass It On
    The Bob Marshall Wilderness straddles the Continental Divide in Northwestern Montana. If you find yourself here, you should hike up to Sun Butte for a breathtaking site, miles and miles of beautiful aspen and pine forests. When you climb back down to the river bottom, however, your view will be altogether different. Read More

  • Learn To Fly
    She was terrified. She looked frantically up and down the aisle, as if contemplating a mad dash to safety. In desperation, she yearned for open space. I shared a seat next to this woman on a recent plane trip to New York and came to understand that she was having a full-blown claustrophobia attack. Read More

  • The Psychology of Money
    Money talk is tricky business. Like religion and politics, it is a sensitive topic of conversation. You just don’t know who you can trust or how your money will be perceived by others, even close family members. The following story demonstrates. Several years back, my 5th grade daughter asked, “Are we rich?” Read More

  • How Do You Communicate?
    They say that communication is all about what is “heard” not about what is “said”. Take the following story for instance. A young man, Joe, began dating a nice young lady, Karen. They had been on three dates and everything was progressing nicely. Karen suggested they have dinner at her place one Friday and asked Joe to bring a bottle of wine. Read More

  • Are you a Chief or an Indian?
    During my 30 plus years in the workforce I have met many memorable people. When I first left the Army and started work at a Fortune 500 company, there were adjustments I had to make in the civilian sector. During my first weeks on the job I met many co-workers and one in particular who to this day sticks out clearly in my memory. Read More

  • The Age of Art and Heart
    I first learned about the great poets, composers, and painters of the Renaissance period in fifth grade. It was very exciting to learn about these great masters and their beautiful art which has stood the test of time. Then my teacher changed subjects. My school day finished with arithmetic, english, and science. Yet, I found myself daydreaming about the Renaissance period and its emphasis on the arts. Read More

  • Are you a Philanthropist?
    When posing this question to clients, friends and family members the responses we hear are quite often clouded by the preconceived notion that “philanthropy is for the rich”—the Rockefellers, Morgans, Carnegies and Vanderbilts. Maybe this was true 100 years ago, but not so today. Read More