I learned more from the Cadets at West Point than they could possibly have learned from me, but retired General Lloyd Austin III invited me there to co-lead workshops on leadership My mentor Frances Hesselbein introduced us. As I type, the Senate is holding hearings on his nomination to Secretary of Defense. I wrote an Inc. story on the experience, “6 Lessons I Learned Teaching Leadership With a 4-Star General[…] Keep reading →

“What really has to happen is governments and corporations have to change.” People say it all the time. Do they think they’re helping? Duh! Of course. We knew that already. Everyone knows that. That’s the goal. When they change, we only have to implement—a big challenge, but swimming downstream, not upstream. It’s as pointless as to say What really has to happen is we have to score more points than[…] Keep reading →

“Our environmental problems are so big, individual actions don’t matter. Only governments and corporations can make a difference.” I’ve come to see this view as backward. Governments and corporations are causing the problems. They are what we have to change. If we wait for them to act, we will lose. When you recognize that we have to motivate them to act, you realize they are the problem. I include universities[…] Keep reading →

Eugene Bible of the Verdant Growth videocast and soon host of a This Sustainable Life podcast offshoot hosted me on sustainability leadership. (Stay tuned for his podcast launch). Speaking communicates differently than writing, so you’ll hear me express things I can’t hear, plus I cover many things I haven’t covered here at all. It’s interactive so not just me talking. I recommend checking it out. It’s one conversation split into[…] Keep reading →

I’m always amazed at how much an individual’s whole being plays out in his or her interaction with the world. Look at how much Facebook, for example, manifests Mark Zuckerberg’s personality. It’s part of why I consider integrity so important everywhere in life, but especially among leaders. You might try to hide parts of yourself, but the parts you want to hide the most reveal themselves most under times of[…] Keep reading →

As a bone heals stronger where it broke and an immune system learns to heal when invaded by disease, we will emerge stronger. I mainly write about sustainability and cleaning the air, water, and land we share. I have never wavered from achieving these goals only through freedom and democracy. I will do all I can to enable future historians to mark January 6, 2021 as the day we recognized[…] Keep reading →

People said they looked forward to 2020 ending. They wanted to return to normalcy. They didn’t like 2020 because they compared it to 2019. I compare 2020 to 2021 and beyond. I expect the trend will continue and we’ll miss 2020’s relative calm. Politically, I expect more unity and less strife, as I can’t imagine Biden exacerbating division as Trump did. I see the pandemic as an environmental problem. People[…] Keep reading →