A collection of excerpts from past keynote speeches that touch on leadership, introspection, creativity, stepping up, and more.
This essay was based on a vivid and disturbing dream. It describes a large ship of adolescents trying to sail into a fierce storm, unable to harness the power of their collective courage and creativity to save themselves. It speaks to what’s needed for any team to assemble well and survive such times.
In this essay, I highlight the essential role of the fool and his/her capacity to challenge our assumptions about what we accept as the truth, the key to any creative endeavor worth its salt. This may be more relevant now in 2025 than when I wrote it in 2021.
During the pandemic we had different experiences of the lockdowns, the virus, and other people’s choices. I encourage people to consider that we are, each of us, afraid of different things. So if something scary is happening ‘out there,’ it’s important that some people hold less fear, otherwise the collective nervous system would collapse under the strain.
A summary of the skills required to ‘up’ our relational resilience. Skills such as listening infused with curiosity, refraining from the need to be right, expressing authentic gratitude, patience to allow problems to unfurl in their own timing, making the “intangibles” visible, and taking responsibility for our fragile egos.
