The Simple Things in “L”ife

    My youngest son, who is now four years old, learned to pronounce the letter "l" properly this weekend. I daresay that I will miss the "w" that typically stood in the place of a properly pronounced hard "l", but hey, "wife" goes on. He spent the entire weekend searching for words that began …

Continue reading The Simple Things in “L”ife

The Natural Aristocracy

Friends of mine were discussing politics and leadership the day before yesterday and one raised the question: "I wonder why the most successful people, financially speaking, like Bill Gates or Warren Buffett shouldn't be running the country?" The question carried a bit more weight in my mind given Donald Trump's recent indication that he would …

Continue reading The Natural Aristocracy

Happiness and Righteousness Redefined

As a young man approaching middle age, I often ask myself what it is that human beings truly seek. Material wealth and comfort appear on the surface to shape the thoughts and dictate the actions of many, but scratch a little deeper and you will find that the common goal of man is happiness and …

Continue reading Happiness and Righteousness Redefined

A Seed of Greatness

(an excerpt from Robert Fulghum's book, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten) All I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sand pile …

Continue reading A Seed of Greatness

Obedience, Respect and The Future of Humanity

There is nothing more humbling than raising a child. Children are both a reflection of you - your values, your expectations, your worldview - and a fountain of self-expression. They offer constant reminders of the need to refine your own capacity of self-expression while challenging you to grow and develop as they do. I had …

Continue reading Obedience, Respect and The Future of Humanity

Change, Vulnerability and Self-Respect

"He that respects himself is safe from others; he wears a coat of mail that none can pierce." ~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow   I am surrounded by people who aspire to excellence. They push themselves, dream big and take risks. They questions assumptions, test their limitations and welcome correction. They learn to use pressure to …

Continue reading Change, Vulnerability and Self-Respect

Just say no to negativity!

I came across a scientific explanation why humanity progresses in fits and starts rather than on the basis of eternal progress. Apparently our brains are hard-wired with what is called "negativity bias," a trait that proved favorable as the process of natural selection worked its magic on our species. Negativity bias is the tendency to …

Continue reading Just say no to negativity!

The “Inner Go”

New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman used an interesting quote yesterday from Lewis Mumford's book "The Condition of Man," about the development of civilization. Reflecting on the American nation in 1944, Mumford drew a chilling parallel to the decline of the mighty Roman Empire: Everyone aimed at security: no one accepted responsibility. What was plainly …

Continue reading The “Inner Go”

You are a Creative Power

Man is buffeted by circumstances so long as he believes himself to be the creature of outside conditions. But when he realizes that he is a creative power, and that he may command the hidden soil and seeds of his being out of which circumstances grow, he then becomes the rightful master of himself. ~ …

Continue reading You are a Creative Power

Talkin’ ’bout a revolution, wherever you go…

Just as the printing press transformed religion and the Western world in the mid-1400s, the internet is catalyzing massive changes in virtually every sphere of human activity. Medicine, science, politics, education, the arts and many other major cultural institutions are adjusting so quickly to the internet's democratizing influence that the heads of the old guard …

Continue reading Talkin’ ’bout a revolution, wherever you go…