We watched the US Women’s Olympic Gymnastic trials the other day and Simone Biles, the greatest gymnast ever, was a little off her game. Of course, she finished #1 in the overall competition, but she missed some moves on the uneven bars and fell off the beam during her routine, which is unheard of for her. She was clearly aggravated with herself and even with the obnoxious television cameras 5 feet from her face, she did what a person of...

The American Psychological Association recently released their Stress in America annual survey and not surprisingly their findings revealed that many of us  experienced major challenges to our emotional well-being over the course of the past year. In a set of follow up interviews aired on NPR, several health care and first responders discussed their strategies for staying resilient during the pandemic. While these folks were part of the group reporting difficulties, their strategies helped mitigate their overall stress. The interviewees...

In the summer of 2018, a first time US tennis open winner suffered the agony of victory. Twenty-year-old Naomi Osaka handed the greatest woman tennis champion a resounding defeat by beating Serena Williams in 2 sets, 6-2,6-4. But instead of the cheers and accolades afforded a victory, Osaka only heard boos from the crowd. Of course, some will say that the crowd was booing the controversy between Serena and the chair judge who penalized her for multiple confrontations, but it...

In the mid 1970s my girlfriend insisted that I join her on a 2-week dance retreat in Marin County near San Francisco. “Don’t worry that you are not an “official dancer,” Anna welcomes everyone,” she told me.  Off we went in her orange cab-over-camper Datsun pickup for one of the first real adventures of my young life. I didn’t know that Anna Halprin was already an icon of the dance world. Her early professional career had begun to  transform modern...

This new phase of returning to normal will bring about significant changes to the workplace. While the changes may be significant, they will actually be a continuation of what we have been doing for the past year. Getting more control of our lives! In a recent study by the Steelcase Corporation of 30,000 people from across the globe, , American reported that their top 5 most important elements that should be provided in their workplace include (1) space to collaborate,...

In our weekly podcast, The Leadership Café, that I co-host with my good friend and colleague, Michael Couch, we ask our guests the question, “assuming you’ve had no great tragedy from the Pandemic, instead of thinking, what has the Pandemic done to you, how would you respond to the question, what has the Pandemic done for you?” As we begin our back to work plans, many of my business clients are working to find the balance between their business’ expectations...