Earlier this year I was invited to attend the Gala of a restored theater in the downtown area where I live. My wife has been one of many involved in a local non-profit effort to bring back a much loved landmark built in 1924.  Although we had been invited to the event, we had to pay the $70 per person...

“Removing her ex-husband from more than a decade of memories may take a lifetime for Laura Horn,” a New York Times article began.  “But removing him from a dozen years of vacation photographs took only hours…” due to the skillful help of a friend and the popular digital-editing program Photoshop. “What we’re doing,” photo-teacher Chris Johnson explained, “is fulfilling the...

Okay, boys and girls, here’s today’s ethical dilemma. You attend a Gala fundraising event for a non-profit group in your community.  While walking through the entrance your hand is stamped for what turns out to be access to an exclusive, after-event, dinner party.  You’d like to attend, but you paid $70.00 to attend the Gala and the dinner party costs...

Few of us get the opportunity to meet a true leader.  Fewer still get to spend time with one who is also a genuine hero. An authentic leader is someone committed to absolute integrity.  Their voice and their vision not only inspire loyalty but motivate those around them to live up to a higher standard. I’ve been privileged to spend...

Watching the Discovery Channel the other night, I got hooked on another episode of “Deadliest Catch.” Long considered one of the most dangerous jobs in the world, these crab fisherman risk the treacherous Bering Sea for the boat-load of money they can catch in a short season – as much as $60,000 – $70,000 per deck-hand.  The crews are a...

The Olympics is always celebrated with a great deal of pageantry, nationalism and achievement. For all its talk of “sporting excellence,” the media tends to distill everything down to the medal count.  (The New York Times’ Olympics 2008 website carries an updated count by country at the top of its page.) In one of the first events held Saturday in...

It began with a one-minute TV commercial – one stranger helps another who helps another who helps another. Insurance giant Liberty Mutual wanted to get people to think about personal responsibility.  (And to be fair, they also want to create a lot more interest in their company.) But, the reaction to this memorable concept commercial has been thousands of messages thanking the...

If you vote by mail, then die before Election Day, does your vote count? Not if you live in South Dakota. According to a (July 25) AP story, “Laws in at least a dozen states are evenly split between tallying and dumping the votes.” Most voters had not heard of this until the issue was raised during the last primary...

It’s 1938 and the darling of the British stage, Julia Lambert, has just finished another sterling performance.  The next morning, she throws another sterling tantrum. I was thinking about the Annette Bening movie, “Being Julia” when I read that the Boston Red Sox had traded their “sterling” left field slugger, Manny Ramírez to the Los Angeles Dodgers. The last several...

If I had the opportunity to speak to Congress on the importance of trust, it might sound something like this – The first time I became aware of political leadership it was 1961. Our 7th grade homeroom teacher wheeled in a big television set so that the entire class could watch the inauguration of John Fitzgerald Kennedy. We all sat...