Creating a culture where people act like they care and care enough to act Roya Hakakian was born back in 1966, into a Jewish family in Iran. Hakakian was 13 in 1979 when the ultra-orthodox Moslem regime took power and many previously well-accepted freedoms were taken away. She remembers women, suddenly unable to dress as […]

Approaching our work as art can change our worlds Designer Debbie Millman once wisely shared this life advice: “If you imagine less, less will be what you undoubtedly deserve.” Inverting Debbie’s insight into a more positive frame, I arrive at this: “Imagine ourselves as artists and it’s amazing what can come of it.” When I […]

A small shift in beliefs that can have a big impact You might well know the old, cynical restaurant anecdote in which a customer flags down a server who’s passing his table and politely asks for another glass of water. “I’m sorry, sir,” the server replies, “but you’re not in my section.” This story is […]

Defining the service we give to our guests in the same way we do our cheese, bread, and coffee Sometimes things come together for me in strange times and unexpected ways. Some of those ideas melt away over time and lead to very little. Others play out very positively. What follows is new, and I […]

Healthy cultural soil, counter-rhythms, and the power of Silver Branch Perception I’ve written about humility many times since the pamphlet “Humility: A Humble, Anarchistic Inquiry” first came out in the fall of 2020. As I’ve been preparing to go speak about humility again later this week out west in Portland, I’m reminded how much this […]

Befriending the occasional dark reality that can open creative doors Intellectually, I knew it was likely to happen. And still, I was emotionally caught off guard. My morning had gone great—teaching about ecosystems at ZingTrain’s ZingPosium. Then, later that afternoon I looked at the news. My stomach sank. My spirits went into the tank. If you’re […]