Category Archives: Leadership

Advanced discoveries in sustainability

on October 2, 2024 in Leadership, Models

I recently hit on the following observations. I shared them with a few people with experience in the overlap of experience in leading, science, and living more sustainably. They understood the concepts after some explanation, but suggested they wouldn’t be accessible to many people outside that zone. I’m not sure how many people they’ll make sense to, but I consider them big discoveries. Some day I’ll write essays on each.[…] Keep reading →

Robin DiAngelo: Not Even Wrong

on August 22, 2024 in Education, Leadership

Few things have made me so grateful to live in a time when the phrase “not even wrong” exists. I’ve read parts of White Fragility and skimmed more. I didn’t realize how impactful she had become. I’m commenting today on this video of her I just watched: “One plus one equals three” is, in mathematics, wrong. It might be nice in poetry and you can find ways to make it[…] Keep reading →

It’s not climate anxiety. *People* are causing that anxiety, destroying life, liberty, and property with impunity.

on August 15, 2024 in Creativity, Leadership, Nature

It’s natural to think of our environmental problems as issues of science, technology, or markets. We learned of them from scientists. Technologists and business people said they could solve them, but they’re social. The environment isn’t changing on its own. We’re changing it. Pollution destroys life, liberty, and property, mentioned throughout the US Constitution. We feel anxiety not from an effectively abstract “climate,” but because people can unilaterally destroy our[…] Keep reading →

We study Lincoln to see who we could be, but should also study Calhoun to see who we are

on August 7, 2024 in Education, Leadership, Models

I’ve been reading podcast guest Manisha Sinha’s book The Counterrevolution of Slavery, which recounts how slaveholders spoke and acted to justify and advance their institution of slavery. I know to expect it from having seen it before in podcast guest James Oakes’s The Ruling Race and Jenkins’ Proslavery Thought in the Old South, but I’m still shocked at how relevant their thinking is today. They treat a different institution, but[…] Keep reading →

Michael Lombardi on Bill Walsh on Tom Peters on living In Search of Excellence; on mastery and freedom

on July 31, 2024 in Habits, Leadership, Stories

A vignette from Michael Lombardi, podcast guest and football great General Manager about his mentor Bill Walsh, appears in his book Gridiron Genius, sticks with me. In particular, the part at the end of this passage about the picture frame. To me, one way mastery differs from just doing enough is that when we master an art or craft, we love the details. Before mastery, they may seem drudge work.[…] Keep reading →

Examples of sustainability tactics based on extrinsic motivation that fail sustainability and drive unsustainability

on July 22, 2024 in Leadership, Nature

Strategies and tactics based in convincing, cajoling, coercing, and seeking compliance that may sound nice, but step on the gas, thinking it’s the brake, wanting congratulations. That is, they exacerbate the problem. Compare this list with tomorrow’s list of emotions that emerge from the Spodek Method about nature that, when acted on, lead to people doing more than they said they would, expressing gratitude, and being happy to share. I[…] Keep reading →

A neighbor’s thank-you letter from Donald Trump (sadly disrespecting the office of the presidency)

on July 19, 2024 in Freedom, Leadership, Nonjudgment, Relationships

Regular readers know I pick up litter every day. The other day I found this garbage wedged in the scaffolding of a building under construction. (Come to think of it, a topic I should write more about is this bizarre practice of litter being wedged and stuffed into places and why people do it. I’m not sure, but I have some ideas. In any case, all this littering is socializing[…] Keep reading →

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