After fifteen years of retirement I find myself thinking a lot about the components contributing to an exciting and fulfilling retirement. Reflecting on my own experiences,, observing others and, in a couple of cases, reading what others have said has caused a number of principles to begin to emerge from the mist. In t......... more »
While I was still working and beginning to contemplate early retirement, I pictured a life blissfully free of responsibilities, deadlines or accountabilities. I anticipated laying in bed in the morning thinking about what I was going to do that day. Maybe I would just lay around the house, read a book, do a crossword p......... more »
Viktor Frankl was a psychiatrist in Vienna in the late ’30’s when he and his family were incarcerated in a Jewish concentration camp. Most of his family perished but he survived to write a book about his experiences and learnings from the camp. The book, “Man’s Search for Meaning”, has sold over 12 million co......... more »
Those of us that spend our careers in corporate America often unintentionally limit our exposure to the diversity of thinking that makes our country so strong and so interesting. Most of our contacts are business related: coworkers, customers, suppliers, consultants, etc. So this means that most of the people that we s......... more »
In earlier blogs, we have talked about some of the things that stay the same as we transition from work life to retirement. One thing that does change, and in a big way for most of us anyway, is that we have many more degrees of freedom within which to choose how we spend our time. This freedom enables us to resurr......... more »
Tom Morgan is widely regarded as one of the reigning experts in the design and construction of fly fishing rods. He grew up in Montana where he became addicted to fly fishing as a young boy. He began guiding as a teenager and, from the start, took great interest in the casting styles and equipment of his clients. In th......... more »
Every year I look forward to receiving the annual report from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation because it is always full of encouraging and energizing facts concerning recent trends in the world we live in. This year is no exception. The recent report is in the form of a progress report to Warren Buffet concern......... more »
Back in the 70”s, when the Japanese automakers began to seriously take market share as a result of their high levels of quality and dependability, we began to study their systems to see what was giving them such an advantage. Turns out that a major contributor was their deep commitment to statistical process control ......... more »
In our first Power of Philanthropy article, we talked about some ways in which the power of philanthropy is changing the quality of life for those on the receiving end. Now we’d like to talk about the very substantial benefits to those that are on the giving end of these philanthropic efforts. In past blogs we talked......... more »
Bill Bradley was an All-American basketball player from Princeton, a Rhodes Scholar, an NBA star and a Senator from New Jersey. He was also a candidate for the Democratic Presidential nomination in 2000. Senator Bradley was chairman of the Senate Energy and Water Committee and sponsored the Elwha Restoration Bill in......... more »
Even in retirement we find ourselves in leadership roles, anything from a neighborhood social group to a national philanthropic organization. We have all experienced the effectiveness of good leadership and the ineffectiveness of poor leadership. Whether during our careers or in retirement, there is great value in thin......... more »
"Ah, give me the good old days when we didn't have all this stress and worry". OK, let's go back to the thirties. "No! Then we had the depression, men couldn't find work, women couldn't feed their babies, families were splitting up because they couldn't afford to stay together. This is better than the thirties." ......... more »