i have always loved trying to understand systems, and the systems that built those systems. i spend a lot of time thinking about how to get there from here. I own/consult at futureemergent.com.
personal
I grew up on the outskirts of a medium-sized town in central Texas. Where I lived, Austin felt to me like the biggest, coolest city around. The underdeveloped suburbs might not count as rural for everyone. I didn’t live on a farm, but I did spend a lot of
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I went for a walk last week. I wasn’t having a particularly good day and needed to go out into the world to help clear my head. I bought a paper from a local vendor. The sun was shining. It’s been cooler than usual here, but I like
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Most of us need money—and by extension, an income—to live. I’ve written a few times about the great resignation, why you should stay, and why you should move on. While it may be easy to leave an employer, it’s not always clear-cut where we should go
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There are no safe harbors. Week after week, day after day, we feel the erosion of our rights and liberties. The protections many of us have long enjoyed are going away. The people who lead our institutions chose to preserve them and themselves over us. We suffer, as so many
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Today marks the beginning of a new year for any organization on a July-June fiscal calendar. The months leading up to a new fiscal year can be exciting or terrifying. Some people are on the side of the business that feels new or innovative to senior leadership. July for them
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Why don’t we have a template for implementing racial equity practices? I get this question every now and then. I totally understand: we seek to upend an entrenched way of life that has persisted for more than 400 years. That’s a lot to take on! To some extent
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I’ve been living in isolation in the bedroom of our apartment for almost two weeks now. The isolation is protective: I haven’t transmitted the virus to anyone, not my husband or our cats. I’ve only made a few jaunts into the outside world while my unwanted virality
personal
I got covid last weekend. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t at least a little afraid. There’s a personalization to the virus when covid is circulating in your own body. Still, I have health insurance and access to care. I have a loving spouse who
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Another week, another horrifying massacre. Any one of these events should have been enough to grind our country to a halt. Instead, there have been 212 mass shootings in america this year, more than one per day. More than one million people are dead from covid in america, almost a
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American society consists of people with deep disagreements about pretty much everything. But I know there’s one thing we can all agree on: nobody is reading the terms of service that pop up everywhere we go! These are the lengthy blocks of legalese that appear on websites, software, and
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[Hi everyone, quick note from me here. I recently wrote this blog post alongside a training I led for the Washington Society of Association Executives and their learning series, ‘Shop Talk.’ I was able to go into a bit more detail in some parts of that presentation. I also made
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This week I finished season 1 of Heartstopper, a new series from Netflix. The leads are two boys: Charlie is nerdy, shy, constantly apologetic, and gay. Nick is popular, a year older that Charlie, great at rugby, and appears to be straight. Over the course of eight episodes, they meet,
