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Last week, wildfires swept the region of Maui known as Lahaina. This is a place of great significance to kama’aina, or Native Hawaiians, everywhere. Before the u.s. government conquered and colonized the Kingdom of Hawai’i, Lahaina was their capital. Hurricane winds fed by climate change gave strength
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June is LGBTQIA+ Pride month in most of the united states. This is great news for people who want to sell things to us! I’ll back up. There’s a joke in some parts of the queer community. People wake up on June 1 to see which brands have
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Last year I joined a coalition of small-business owners whose members are LGBTQIA+. They recently advertised a forum on community safety. Safety is a high-priority topic in most major cities these days. Lots of people live in cities; local media loves covering things that scare people. The forum featured three
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Throughout his term, Barack Obama had a call for the activists agitating for change. He recalled what Franklin Roosevelt told his activists pushing for their own reforms. FDR said, “I agree with you, I want to do it, now make me do it.” Then-President Obama met with members of the
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Everything in the universe is in a constant state of change. The change can be imperceptible like the flowing water of a river. Or it may be more like the sudden eruption of a volcano changing the world around it. Change is inevitable. Yet when change comes, most organizations act
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The Golden Rule is a central Christian tenet for most practitioners. For the unfamiliar the saying means (roughly), “treat others how you yourself want them to treat you.” Professor Leonard Swidler writes that similar sayings sprung up in at least four places in 6th century B.C. He also describes
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Last week, I said that our success in a system often means it’s tilted towards us. What I mean to say is that the systems that we live, work, and play in are arbitrary. There’s no reason they have to stay the way they are. For centuries, these
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Some articles get my goat and don’t let go. Last year I read an interview with a roundtable of CEOs at major food banks around the country. The headline quote was, “we have power, let’s use it wisely.” I want to unpack that! The panelists, well-meaning or well-intentioned,
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Everything changes. We can’t change that fact any more than we can stop the rotation of the earth. Most organizations feel designed for permanence. They have boards of directors and succession plans ready for when new people fill old roles. They have a set mission, standing meetings, agenda templates,
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I talked to my mom earlier this week. She’s the director of a professional organization that is starting to lose steam. She’s led the organization for decades through highs and lows and excellent conferences. Their membership numbers are in decline. Engagement among members is down since covid and
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“As president,” Kamala Harris announced in the throes of her presidential campaign. “I’ll establish a student loan debt forgiveness program,” she wrote. “For Pell Grant recipients,” she continued. “Who start a business that operates for three years in disadvantaged communities.” Student loan forgiveness is a bold plan. It’s
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This post is narrated! Listen below… I hate being othered! My brown skin is often the first thing a person notices about me. I was once in the office (when people worked in offices together) talking to a friend (when people did that too). A coworker we both knew approached
