Ordinary Life, Extraordinary Living

Life Lessons

Letting Go of Proving Myself

I learned a big lesson last week. In preparing to be interviewed about my newest venture, A Bigger Voice, I talked with colleagues about my apprehension and my biggest nightmare--being speechless or fumbling for the right words to describe my...

How An Ex-Rock Star Can Help You Create Community

A Fast Company article describes a new site for uploading videos, The Hub, as a way for human rights atrocities to be made visible.  Why is this innovative? Because according to the article, places like YouTube have "strict guidelines against...

Homelessness: A Glimpse into a Foreign Land

I previously announced the newest blogger in my family,  Ryan, my nephew. A twenty-something, he has been blogging about his experience in the Jesuit Volunteer Corps, working in a resource center for homeless men and helping them navigate the court...

Traverse City

Last month, I traveled to Traverse City, Michigan, home of the National Cherry Festival. As I munch on Cherry Republic's Ambassador Mix (dried cherries, pistachios, dried cranberries, sugar, macadamia nuts, and sunflower oil), I'm thinking back fondly on my short,...

What Entrepreneurs Should Focus On

These ideas come from Barbara Mowry, who I recently quoted in another post about channeling your energy into a business. Mowry was talking with the Denver chapter of the Association for Corporate Growth. What I took away from Mowry's talk:...

Who’s Reading Blogs? Maybe Your Grandmother…

Josh Bernoff, co-author of the book, Groundswell, and an analyst at Forrester, provides some fascinating data about the adoption of social media, hot off the Wordpress (or whatever his blog is built on.) What makes the data so valuable is...

Think to Talk or Talk to Think?

My friend, Richard, raised my awareness recently about two dominant modes that people operate from: Do you think to talk? On the Myers-Briggs scale, I'm a slight introvert. I often prefer email communication to phone conversations, blogging to speaking opportunities,...

Are You Curious, Fearful, Panicked, or Optimistic?

I'm noticing that I seem to be going around in circles, in a good way. For the last several months, I've been the optimistic entrepreneur, working on a new venture (www.abiggervoice.com), seeing my revenues continue to increase year over year,...

How to Empower Your Team

A kindred spirit from my work on A Bigger Voice wanted her staff to push through barriers in the workplace. She had this saying printed on stickers, for distribution to her team: "Proceed until apprehended." I can't help but smile...

What Makes You Angry?

Something wonderful is happening with my work on A Bigger Voice, the social entrepreneur venture that helps innovators with remarkable wisdom create stunning results and sustainability. This week, I got angry. And frustrated. And impatient. I was angry because I...