I stumbled upon a precious lesson in a gritty industrial town in Northern New Jersey. It happened many years ago, in a plastic bag factory, to be precise. I was visiting the owner, a donor to the organization for which I was executive director at the time. After handing me a check for our humanitarian…
Category: Timeless Wisdom
Drawing Together Both Sides of the Brain
A fantastic nonprofit professional I recently encountered described struggling to integrate two valuable parts of herself at work. She is a person of extraordinary work ethic and accomplishment. She works systematically and thoroughly, never missing deadlines or quotas and always remembering to “dot the I’s and cross the T’s. She is also incredibly creative. She…
Seek Your Flaws to Build Your Strengths
Build your strengths and strengthen your weaknesses. This two part formula will take you a long way toward becoming the best professional you can be. (Yes, I did say weaknesses, not challenges. More on that here.) Our innate abilities express themselves through hard-won skills. A college roommate of mine was a classical guitar major. An…
Polished Rocks
In a special space in my home, I keep a small collection of polished rocks. There are no more than eight or 10 of them. One is a crystal. Each landed in my hands from one source or another many years ago. One, the crystal actually, was given to me by a deeply spiritual and…