Repairing the Broken Year

December 30, 2020

Repairing the Broken Year

2020, a year that was so damaging, must hold some meaning and understanding for us. Can we find a way to mend the pains and difficulties of this year? Interestingly, the Japanese may have an idea for how we can think about this broken year and what we can do about it. It is referred to as kintsukuroi (金継ぎ, “golden joinery). In practice thistranslates to the art form of repairing broken pottery with a special lacquer and powdered gold, that actually includes...

December 23, 2020

A Little Winter Color

The sun reached its nadir on Monday at 5:02 AM (EST) while most of us were warmly tucked into bed and dreaming perhaps of a different kind of holiday celebration during this awkward year of 2020. My wife was not one of us. As she has done in previous years she awoke early to meditate and celebrate on this celestial event. After all, the holidays we celebrate at this time of the year are about light from the darkness. Kind...

December 22, 2020

What are your Curious About?

There are mysteries all around us and this is certainly the season of mysteries from the Christmas star to the Hanukkah Menorah. More importantly, perhaps, is the idea that we can think about our work and relationships as having a mysterious edge to them. If we approach projects, sales, team building and certainly leadership development as a mystery waiting to be unwrapped and discovered, then we wash away the concern that something may be overwhelming or “too hard.” My favorite...

December 09, 2020

The Many Paths to Professional Greatness

I’ve been meeting with a team of business leaders to discuss their professional development. As we conduct our initial evaluation, most of them want to focus on how to improve what they see as their most glaring weaknesses. While I point out that improving a weakness is a worthy task, there may be a better return on their efforts if we focus on some other ideas such as building on a strength or trying something new that they’ve never done...

November 25, 2020

Making Gratitudes Real

As I’ve written before, Thanksgiving is the most psychologically powerful holiday we celebrate as we recognize and express gratitude for the blessings in our lives. Even in the strangest of years, we’ll find plenty of ways to express our appreciations for the many good things in our lives. For myself, I have sometimes noticed that my expressed gratitude can be somewhat perfunctory. I might say how grateful I am that everyone is around the dinner table (this year on the...

November 11, 2020

Resilient Wednesday: Food Edition

So, what has been your favorite Pandemic food? Eating at home, for us, over the past 6 months has allowed us to try out some new menu items but has also created a certain ritual of the tried and true regulars that we have to enjoy every week. For us, it has been Broccolini, with its own little tale of resilience. We first had Broccolini about 15 years ago at a little Italian restaurant in midtown Manhattan. I was...

Absolute Citrin

by Richard Citrin

Author Archives: Richard

December 30, 2020