All of us have a reluctance to see our problems as the result of our own actions. The more serious the issue, the more creative we become in our explanations. To the point of absurdity at times. Years ago, a radio student of mine had a unique twist on the age-old excuse. When I asked
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Category: Thinking with Somebody Else’s Head
Thinking with Somebody Else’s Head is featured on the STOP Radio Network.
Compromise. It's a word ripe for heated debate. A thing to be avoided? Or a necessary evil? Better to bend than break, as an old Scottish proverb puts it. Compromise is supposedly what makes nations great and marriages happy, what people use to justify unconscionable bargaining techniques. But all too often - in business and
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My father is fond of saying that the problem with human society is that we were born without an operating manual. Clever I thought. Once. But thinking more carefully, I realize it's actually not true at all. We have endless advice passed down through tradition and testament and even tablet that lays out pretty unequivocally
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Mandela wrote that true freedom is not just merely casting off your own chains, but living in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others. I love that last part because it implies that we have an obligation to do something to assist the general welfare - not just sit back in our
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Norberto Keppe's book, Liberation of the People, is the most complete book I know about the pathology of power. It explores the psychological condition that lies behind the lust for power, and shows clearly that this drive is most times fueled by a pathological desire for self-service and narcissism, not for the common good. "It
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Broach the subject of corruption with most people, and there's an almost instant reaction. We understandably get apoplectic about the cases of corruption evident in corporations like BP or rogue traders like Nick Leeson. I even remember some self-righteous media pundits lamenting the blow to baseball represented by Pete Rose betting on the game. We
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The murky world of shadows that constitutes modern leadership is not a new thing, of course. The TV mini-series "The Tudors" lays out in all its deceit and subterfuge the nest of vipers that was the British Royal Court of the 15th and 16th centuries. Ancient Rome was no picnic either from all accounts. And
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This week on Thinking with Somebody Else's Head, the first in a 2-part series on leadership. And not a superficial treatment either. But a deep investigation into what it means to be a true leader here in the 21st Century. Gone are the old values we once held so high, like charisma and conviction and
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Take a look around at the critical situations facing we human beings, and it's sobering. Maybe that's why most of us don't like looking too closely. It becomes overwhelming. "Can't you talk about something else," is how my mother often phrases this sense of overwhelm. The implication being that not talking about it makes it
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I remember the day it fully dawned on me that the path society was on was a dead end. I was on the train from Rhinebeck, NY to Toronto - a beautiful but tedious journey with only vestiges of the former romance of train travel to keep me company. I was settled in with snacks
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