“Wait, is this real?” That was a text I got along with an image of Policeman Derek Chauvin with his knee on the neck of a handcuffed, unarmed black man. In the next few hours, the world learned that Chauvin held this position for 8 minutes while 3 of his fellow police officers watched as…
Ugh. The Humanity. A young man laying in the street on New Montgomery and Market huddled in a green sleeping bag. Cars going around him when necessary. People looking at him with concern but moving on. I stopped and asked him several times to move and explaining why. He didn’t feel good and maybe he…
“Are you sure?” You know you’re in trouble when your blood pressure aps questions your entry of 167/90¹. I’m a little over 5’6”, I weigh 118 pounds, I walk over 20 miles a week and spend about 6 hours in that same week doing yoga. Why so high? I’ve been black most of my life.…
“Stop, stop, stop. You’ve bee talking for almost 2 minutes and I have no idea of what you are talking about. This is a 911 call. not a police report. What is the business problem?” That’s me doing my job, coaching technical people to speak so normal people can understand. I am blunt. I have a…
I am sad. There, I said it. And, I’m going to feel sad. No list of what I am thankful for. No attempt to do a “happy” activity. Our emotional control center does not work that way; different parts of the brain activate happiness, fear, sadness, disgust and anger. A good emotion does not negate…
Relationships, dating, marriage, my mind tries to reconcile rules and logic for what works and what doesn’t to make up for my limited and nonexistent experience. So, please understand both my confusion and fascination with the Conways. Yes, some people read trashy novels for the summer, I succumbed to a couple of hours of mindless…
If you could take something to help wake you up, would you? Oh wait, there is coffee, tea, cola’s, a variety of drinks with caffeine. If you could take something to relax you, would you? Well, there are options, beer, wine, spirits; all natural distillations and more recently added to the list is cannabis. All…
I was confused by an email this week. I was copied, it was not directed at me, yet the content was so acrimonious and unnecessary, I felt bad. I was in awe of the eloquent response of my colleague. Societally, we accept a sort of ratio of bad behavior allowances for founders of companies, leaders,…
“I would build a great wall, and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me, and I’ll build them very inexpensively. I will build a great great wall on our southern border and I’ll have Mexico pay for that wall. Source: Donald Trump’s presidential announcement speech June 16, 2015 This is stupid; there I said it.…
A police officer shot John Crawford dead in a Wal-Mart. Mr. Crwaford was shopping in the toy aisle and holding a toy BB gun. Mr. Crawford was a black man. The police officer, who was acquitted of any wrong doing, was a white man. Let’s start a conversation about gun control and the interpretation of…
This Pulitzer Prize–winning photograph, The Soiling of Old Glory, by Stanley Forman is cringe worthy, sickening. It’s 1976, Boston. I heard statements like, well t at didn’t happen here, or that was 42 years ago.The kid wielding the flag is 17 years old. [Joseph] Rakes vividly recalls the “blind anger” that motivated him—anger aimed,…
The first sound – the loud smack of a 4×4 piece of wood hitting shin bones. The second sound – an anguished piercing scream. The third sound – silence. Everyone stopped – mid sentence, mid action, mid thought. A 145 pound wrestler with all his might tried to keep a gymnast on a beam, unaware,…
“An excellent cast is jobless because of Roseanne herself. The show was like a bridge and she burnt it. Lost potential.” That was one my text this week. Potential. It’s that thing. People stay in a relationship, a job or an investment because there is “potential.” Yet, there is the sobering moment when someone asks, what actions…
“Wow, that’s what you really think?” I slapped my laptop shut, stunned by what I’d read. Was I overreacting to a comment made by a connection on LinkedIn? What’s my problem? Is this a teachable moment? I returned to the post three days later. I read the replies and six out of eight expressed the…
First, there are sirens. Your brain registers that there are a lot of sirens and emergency vehicles; something must have happened? Minutes later, you are in the office and everyone is standing in the middle of the office, still and quiet with one guy on the phone. When he finishes his call, he reports, “my…
I don’t associate vegan restaurants with decadence, but Souley Vegan, Monday through Friday, from 6:00 am – 10:00am, serves beignets and chicory coffee. It takes 11 minutes for me to run across the street, grab my fix and get back to my desk for a sugar and caffeine party. My party was interrupted on Friday.…
We’re getting eclipsed. There is a total solar eclipse visible in the US. For more than three years, I have posted a new blog post every Monday until last week. I posted eclipsed part one on Friday. After all, there are times to break the routine and do something different. When do you break routine?…
So the bus passes by this woman waiting at the bus stop. OK, maybe the driver didn’t see her, but still, it is a bus stop. I think the bus driver should have stopped. The woman takes off and runs after the bus. She catches is when the bus is at a stop light and…
Me, “It’s Marilyn Manson. Bo, “No, it’s Depeche Mode” Me, “It’s like one of the only two Marilyn Manson song I like, Your Own Personal Jesus.” Bo, “No, it’s Depeche Mode, I first heard it when I was in Japan., it was nuts, whoa, what is that. We’d walked by a bar where the song was…
Thursday was take your child to work day. While I work from home that day and did not see the display of kids in the office, every day I am privy to people bringing their “inner child” to work, i.e. people who use childlike logic to explain what something didn’t get done, to rationalized what…
Leaving to spend time with family and hospitalized for exhaustion. Recognize these as code speak? In the business world, an executive is “fired” but the reason is given as spend time with family. A celebrity parties to hard or has a drug overdose the reason is the half truth of hospitalized for exhaustion. This is…
Who you are in good times is what you want to be. What you do in challenging times is your nature. How you treat people in victory or defeat is your character. It’s easy to be your best self when things are good. Challenges fray nerves, shake beliefs and reveal truths. Is graciousness and compassion something you aspire to in either…
It was a spirited discussion of Trump versus Clinton with supporters on both sides. There was a moment when I just listened, observed and smiled; it was the coolest thing. This wasn’t some news program, debate or viral meme. This was dinner with a diverse group of friends having honest discussion. This was a group…
I had a gourmet breakfast today. In terms of today’s food trends it was the butter crunch bowl, crisp cereal and organic milk with just a hint of caramel and sea salt. Yes, that’s one way I could rationalized the fact I just ate a bowl of sea salt caramel gelato with butter crisp cookies…
March is getting a little mad. This time is typically reserved for me to tune out the world and tune into a nonstop sports bonanza with the NCAA basketball playoffs. This March and my beloved “basketball zone,” is disrupted by Mad Hat syndrome. This is a situation where a practice is continued in spite of the…
Look at the photo. I am inverted. I am focused, you can see the strain. If I lose balance, I not only fall out of the pose, I will also fall off the kitchen counter. Do not try to help. I have an awareness of my body and balance in space. My stability in this…
I hate being wrong and if I’m wrong, I want you to know the reason, like I didn’t do anything maliciously and I’m not stupid. Mistakes happen. I flew from San Francisco to Daytona Beach and paid an additional $89 for premium seating extra legroom, bulkhead. The last time I flew this airline, I was…
A few weeks ago, I had this discussion with a friend. I said “…and stop saying we’re both saying the same thing.” The response was, “I’m just trying to show common ground.” I shot back, “No when you say that, it’s you trying to prove your point putting my statement into your frame of reference.…
I present to you the adult temper tantrum. Angry Person on the phone: “I spent 20 hours doing this revalidation and then I couldn’t submit because I was revoked.” Pause… “The note said I would I was due to expire on April 30 and I could not submit on the 30th.” Pause… “ This is the dumbest…
“It’s your fault.” “No, you don’t understand. I continue to go above and beyond what is expected to help this client time after time. I have bent over backwards trying to help this team. This last request is just ridiculous, but they keep hounding me.” “Yes, I understand and it is your fault. You have…
Lurking in the shadows of the sustainable energy efficient lightening of corporate offices are vampires. I am not kidding. This is not a Halloween fluff piece. This is the alarming truth about an epidemic in the workplace. The savvy office worker knows it is essential to show value, be it sales, numbers, creativity, etc. Then,…
“…what leads you to believe you are are so important to this organization you can do anything you want. Sure, we all say you are the one to watch. That’s because you are the personification of incompetence and a real time version of what not to do.” TV, more specifically the half hour comedy, has…
Reality TV illustrates a powerful sense of self and confidence. I watch American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance in amazement and puzzlement. Contestants who felt they had exceptional ability are yet stunned when turned away from the show. Did these people have no one to tell them of the disparity between their…
“We can’t work with that team!” This is the part where management brings in team building exercises. Falling back into the arms of your team, ropes courses, solving puzzles and playing games. This will help you work better because …the team has now “bonded?” No doubt, team members may get to know each other better, they may…
I have a look of absolute of outrage on my face – I can tell because I feel that vein popping out between my eyebrows and I yell out, “That is the dumbest thing I have heard all year,” during a meeting. Fortunately, I work from home and my phone was on mute. There are…
