Sink or Swim

Sink or Swim

(A version of this post was originally published here on January 8, 2017) I was a kid when The NeverEnding Story came out. There is a scene in the movie where the hero, Atreyu, and his horse are making their way through the Swamp of Sorrows. The swamp can only be...
The Key to Controlling the Elephant

The Key to Controlling the Elephant

Do you remember the analogy of the rider and the elephant in the book Switch? Each of us has a rider—our rational, logical self—and each of us has an elephant—our emotional, reactionary self. When things are going just fine in our lives, our rider is usually in...
The Station

The Station

How busy are you right now? According to the radio, it’s the most wonderful time of the year. I’m not so sure that I agree. December, for me, is one to-do list after another, both personally and professionally. I can’t wait for the fresh start of the...
The Lenses We Wear

The Lenses We Wear

The first time I became painfully aware of the lenses through which I see the world was during an anti-racism training the organization I worked for at the time held for staff and other key leaders. I was twenty-seven years old. Most of my memories of the training...
A Case for Using Your Vacation Time

A Case for Using Your Vacation Time

In late 2009, I took a twelve-week maternity leave. I was quite sure that it would be a working leave. I was in the middle of so many projects, leading many of them, and I was the expert on our organization’s database. The organization I worked for at the time...