Category Archives: Toward Growth

I was in what was likely the last generation of school children to be paddled by their teachers. I certainly received more than my share of such paddlings, the last of which came in seventh grade. My math teacher, Mr. Melvin, was a former college football player, quite a large man. One day, he wasContinue reading “Your mind at work”

Sometimes other people in our lives are like beacons, reflecting back to us wisdom based on who we are and where we are in life. Such was the case for me a few years ago when I applied for a job I didn’t get. Toward the end, it was becoming clear that I would notContinue reading “A word in time”

In my sophomore year of college in the Spring of 1980, I was taking political science and made acquaintance with a young woman. We were cordial but not close. I knew she was just a bit older than most of us and she was married, so perhaps she felt a bit out of place. I’mContinue reading “A haunting memory”

It is the quality of our relationships that most determines our legacy. ~James Kouzes I’ll wager that few people had as profound an effect on the lives of other as did Eve Carson in her brief 22 years. The former UNC-Chapel Hill student body president was on a prestigious academic scholarship, volunteered in the U.S.,Continue reading “How to be immortal”

When I had the chance to meet the members of my favorite band, I asked the keyboard player the derivation of her name, Timshel. I smiled when she confirmed that her parents had taken it from what is my favorite work of literature, “East of Eden” by John Steinbeck. The word “timshel” figures prominently into the bookContinue reading “‘Thou mayest’”

I’m not sure that I was ever happier than when I was on the basketball court near my home, where I spent many hours of my early teenage years. I think back often to what happened, and I realize that much of what I learned applies to every single day I live. Just as withContinue reading “Life lessons learned on the court”

“We don’t receive wisdom; we must discover it for ourselves after a journey that no one can take for us or spare us. ” Marcel Proust This is the story of rebirth and redemption, how hope can be revived. It is more personal than I would like, but that is part of the telling. LaterContinue reading “The Story of My Epiphany”

I had a professor in college who was fond of saying to various students, “I have confidence in you.”  Though he repeated it often, I never tired of hearing it, especially when it was directed my way.  At the end of the semester, we gave him a card which said on the outside, “I haveContinue reading “The lion inside you: Confidence”

“As long as the world is turning and spinning, we’re gonna be dizzy and we’re gonna make mistakes.”  Mel Brooks I received a very unusual note last week, at least unusual in the business world.  The editor of a technical newsletter to which I subscribe, who is also a leader in this particular technical community,Continue reading “Nothing to fear: Admitting your mistakes”

“We cannot avoid suffering but we can choose how to cope with it, find meaning in it, and move forward with renewed purpose…Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space lies our freedom and power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and freedom.“ – Viktor E. Frankl, Man’sContinue reading “The price of cynicism”