Over this past year, I’ve had heartfelt conversations with friends and family. Those conversations have helped me crystallize three of the biggest mistakes that human beings make when we turn loving relationships into competitions about who’s right and wrong. I’ve written a poem about this. It doesn’t rhyme, but I hope it makes you think…
When I was growing up in Canada, ho-ho-ho was a no-no-no — not because my parents said so, but because I did. At nine years old, I challenged my family’s decision to put up a Christmas tree. The twinkle and tingle of tinsel made my sisters giddy. They laughed and decorated. I frowned and demonstrated.…
On November 4th, then again on the 5th, 6th, and 7th, I heard from friends around the world. They wanted to know one thing: How in the hell could so many Americans (at last count, 72 million) have voted for that man? Following the first burst of messages, I received another. This time, my friends…
I’m a Canadian who’s been teaching leadership in the U.S. for almost 15 years. Yet this is the first election cycle in which I’ve been labeled a “foreigner” and told to stop “meddling.” It happened more than once, each time by a Trump supporter. The insecurity that President Trump has unleashed makes me question what…
This is the third installment of a special series that I’ve contributed to “Modern Mentor,” a podcast that explores what helps and hinders success in the workplace. If you’ve read the first and second installments, you know the context of this series: I’m handed a dilemma about how to do diversity without division. I’m invited…
Welcome to the second installment of my series for “Modern Mentor,” a podcast that explores what helps and hinders success in the workplace. In this post, I’ll explain why we should avoid the kind of diversity that slices and dices individuals into bite-sized identities, as if human beings are morsels meant to be easily digested.…
“Modern Mentor,” a podcast that explores what helps and hinders success in the workplace, invited me to address several dilemmas that professionals experience when trying to practice diversity without being divisive. The catch? I’d have to address each dilemma in less than 90 seconds. After all, professionals are busier than ever! My reply? Let’s get…
In most of the world today, organized religion is being rejected. More and more young people are flipping the bird to theological authority, even in Muslim countries! At the same time, those who abuse political power appear to be filling the void. From the far Left to the far Right, we’re witnessing blind faith in…
In America’s transactional culture, workplace diversity often amounts to slapping labels on individuals. Professionals wind up being packaged like products. They’re crammed into prefabricated molds (“Black woman,” for example) and get showcased to make the company look cutting-edge. Emphasize look. Funny how the diversity hires tend to be excluded from meetings of decision-makers but are…
Let’s face it: For all our gushing about diversity, many advocates of it hold a hefty slice of America in contempt. We assume that Republicans despise difference, that Trump voters are lodged in a backward past, and that they plan to impose it on our future. But we scorn “them” at our peril. Because upon…