Blog

There is a peculiar irony in leadership that many leaders never fully appreciate: The ultimate measure of your success may be how well things function when you’re no longer around. Think about that for a moment. Most leaders spend their careers trying to become indispensable. They want to be the person everyone turns to for […]

There was a time when American liberalism proudly championed tolerance, freedom of expression, racial equality, and cultural diversity. Those were admirable principles, regardless of one’s political persuasion. But lately, some of the more extreme voices on the Left seem determined to turn those principles upside down. Consider three rather remarkable examples. Exhibit A: The Terrifying […]

Earlier last week, I found myself in the hospital for four days. Ever the observer and organizational analyst, I couldn’t help paying nearly as much attention to how the hospital operated as to my own medical condition. So rather than dwell on my ailments (which, I’m happy to report, are now behind me), I’d like […]

Building Your Power of Expression Axiomatic, adj. Pronunciation: ,aksēəˈmadik Meaning: Self-evident or unquestionable. Usage: “It is axiomatic that dividends have to be financed.” “It is axiomatic that a person’s credibility is seriously undermined when his actions consistently contradict his professed principles.” “The proposition that no individual possesses a monopoly on truth should be axiomatic to […]

One of the great myths of leadership is that leaders establish standards by announcing them. They don’t. They establish standards by enforcing them. You can hang a beautifully framed list of organizational values in the lobby. You can hold retreats. You can distribute laminated cards. You can even hire a consultant who uses words like […]

The Oppressive Oppressed In California, a century of traffic science and public-safety research had established strict licensing rules for truck drivers navigating fully loaded 80,000-pound, double-trailer behemoths amid tiny subcompacts on our busy freeways. Our legal system has insisted that drivers of such interstate semis must be highly skilled and certified before stepping into the […]

I have occasionally wondered how many things I might have done in life if I hadn’t been afraid to do them. Probably quite a few. Fear is one of nature’s better inventions. It keeps us from petting rattlesnakes, investing our retirement funds in Nigerian princes, and saying certain things to our wives that—while technically true—need […]

Building Your Power of Expression Protean, adj. Pronunciation: ˈ’prōdēən, prōˈtēən Meaning: The word protean denotes the idea of someone or something tending or able to change frequently or easily. Kind of reminds me of a shape-shifter or a person of extreme versatility. Usage: “It is difficult to comprehend the whole of this protean subject.” “Shostakovich […]

There is a dirty little secret about leadership that doesn’t get mentioned much in leadership seminars. Sometimes, if you’re doing it right, people won’t like you. There. I said it. We live in an age obsessed with approval. We count “likes.” We monitor comments. We curate our opinions. We soften our language so nobody becomes […]

For most people, the story of the medieval world was one of cramped cities, constant violent crime, and episodic outbreaks of deadly plagues—the dividends of unclean urban conditions, rotting food, fouled water, open sewage, and unchecked rats, fleas, and lice. Most of each day was spent simply trying to survive until the next. Castles and […]

Have you ever paid attention to the way people shake hands? I have. Then again, I pay attention to a lot of things that probably don’t deserve quite as much attention as I give them. There is, of course, the Classic Handshake—firm but gentle, two or three pumps, eye contact, perhaps a smile. It says, […]

Building Your Power of Expression Abortive, adj. Pronunciation: əˈbôrdiv Meaning: This word denotes the failing to produce the intended result; begun or attempted but unsuccessful or brought to nothing. It is an appropriate word-choice to describe the unsuccessful outcome in producing the intended result; failing to develop fully or reach a successful conclusion. The word […]

When we hear the word leadership, most of us immediately imagine other people. After all, you need followers to be a leader, right? Otherwise, you’re just some guy walking around issuing inspirational pronouncements to an empty room. But there is a form of leadership that precedes followers, titles, corner offices, organizational charts, and invitations to […]

Let me begin by disclosing something that may surprise some of my closest friends: I did not vote for Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election. Some of my friends will be delighted to learn this. Others may need to sit down. People have varying opinions—strong opinions—about President Trump. They run the gamut from believing […]

I am fascinated by the very notion of language. I am mesmerized by the fact that there are roughly 7,159 living languages in use – 44% of which are considered endangered and will very likely become extinct. I am also fascinated by the question of when does a dialect break off and become a language? […]

Building Your Power of Expression Self-Permeable, adj. Pronunciation: self-pərmēəb(ə)l Meaning: Whereas the word permeable refers to a material or a membrane that allows liquids or gases to pass through it, our word self-permeable is not found in most dictionaries. Think of it as a coined or specialized compound adjective. I use it in the sense […]

There is a peculiar piece of advice floating around these days that says personal growth requires us to “be vulnerable.” Like many pieces of advice, it contains considerable truth—and just enough ambiguity to get us into trouble. Vulnerability does not mean wandering through life emotionally naked, announcing every insecurity to anyone unfortunate enough to be […]

Welcome to the WMBA. No, that isn’t a typo. Let me explain. If the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) ultimately decides that biological males may qualify for its teams simply by pretending they are women, then perhaps intellectual honesty requires changing the name. The Women’s and Men’s Basketball Association (WMBA) has a nice ring to […]

Let me come clean right at the outset: I am not a trained chef. I’ve never attended culinary school, I don’t own one of those tall white hats, and no one is going to confuse me with Wolfgang Puck. But I do love to cook. There is something wonderfully therapeutic about working in the kitchen—chopping, […]

Building Your Power of Expression Aforementioned, adj. Pronunciation: əˈfôrˌmen(t)SHənd Meaning: This word denotes a thing or person previously mentioned or referred to earlier, especially earlier in the same conversation, document, or piece of writing. In conversational English, it basically means “the thing/person I mentioned before.” Usage: “I will be playing various songs from the aforementioned […]

Before I begin planning each new week, I engage in a brief exercise that takes only a few minutes but often changes the way I approach the days ahead. I pause and reconnect with my core values. Years ago, I learned a weekly planning process from Stephen R. Covey that began not with appointments or […]

I am going to begin with a premise. My premise is straightforward: it is biologically impossible for a man to become an actual woman or for a woman to become an actual man. Modern medicine can alter a person’s appearance through surgery and hormone therapy. It can change certain secondary sex characteristics. But it cannot […]

This week I found myself in a place that most people spend their lives hoping never to enter: a women’s prison. A small group of us had been invited there to spend an hour with about fifty inmates. We sang a few songs, offered words of encouragement, prayed together, and, perhaps most importantly, simply spent […]

Building Your Power of Expression Scurrilous, adj. Pronunciation: ‘skaralas Meaning: This word refers to the making of scandalous claims about someone with the intention of damaging their reputation. Important note: it almost always carries the implication that the attack is not merely harsh but also unfair, abusive, or malicious. It is not ordinarily used for […]

Most of us are far more forgiving of other people than we are of ourselves. A friend makes a mistake at work, and we tell him, “Don’t beat yourself up. Learn from it and move on.” Yet when we make a similar mistake, we become our own harshest critic. We replay the error repeatedly, dwell […]

July 4, 2026, marked an extraordinary milestone: the 250th anniversary of the birth of the United States of America. For a quarter of a millennium, this nation has stood as history’s greatest experiment in ordered liberty. It has endured wars, depressions, assassinations, pandemics, social upheaval, and countless political storms. Yet through it all, the American […]

I deliver a presentation entitled Navigating the Storms of Life. It has been one of my most requested presentations over the years, and I’ve had the privilege of sharing it with audiences in several countries. The “storms” I discuss in that presentation are, of course, metaphorical. They include things like loneliness, financial setbacks, conflict, disappointment, […]

Building Your Power of Expression Malodorous, adj. Pronunciation: mal’ōdərəs Meaning: This word is to be used to describe anything (or anyone) possessing an unpleasant odor. If spoiled roast beef wreaks, it could be said to be malodorous. If you are walking into a Paris subway and right in front of you is a man who […]

Most people own a camera. Fewer people own a telescope. Fewer still know when to use each. One of the most useful mental skills you can develop is the ability to switch between what I call Wide-Angle Thinking and Close-Up Thinking. Both have value. Both have a purpose. The problem is that many people use […]

I have spent a good deal of time over the years criticizing Leftism, not because I enjoy political combat for its own sake, but because I believe the modern Left increasingly finds itself at odds with many of the values that have historically allowed Western civilization to flourish. Before proceeding, let me define what I […]