Category: Everyday Life Leadership
What I Learned About My Family and Leadership at 13,069 Feet
This is a story about the miracle of challenging experiences and how my family showed leadership. (Spoiler: don’t worry, we were never in any real danger and nothing bad happened to us!) My husband, twin 11-year-old girls and I recently spent a week in Estes Park, Colorado hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park. We’d start ...
Find Your Inner Japan Grab
I’m always amazed by how you can find inspiration unsuspectingly in everyday life. That happened this past weekend watching the Olympics. I don’t necessarily assume a gold medal recipient is a leader, per se. However, once in a while how someone got the gold can teach us a lot about our own lives. Take Sage ...
I’m Wide Awake
The kids and I were listening to a U2 playlist in the car recently. When the live version of “Bad” was over, one of my eight-year-olds said, “I don’t get this song. What does he mean, ‘I’m wide awake, I’m wide awake?'” I have heard this song no less than 1000 times since high school ...
Top 5 Leadership Insights Learned from 8-year-olds at an Art Studio
This is another post in the “everyday leadership” category. One must follow one’s inspiration, and everyday events have surprised me lately. This time, it’s not a family reunion or hockey team helping out at church that offered leadership inspiration, but rather my daughters’ eighth birthday party at a Minneapolis open art studio, Simply Jane. It’s clear creative ...
Are Leaders Actually Born, Not Made?
My daughters and I volunteer for a church “KidPack” program where youth groups come and pack food for local elementary school kids to take home for the weekend. This week, a middle-school aged hockey team of about 20 kids helped out. As they repeatedly made their way around the table packing bags of food, there ...
Top 6 Tips for Being a Great Parent, I Mean, Leader
Thought for the week: consider how leadership and parenting are similar. I’m amazed that JUST when I think I have my twins figured out — what they’re passionate about, what makes them anxious, who they like and why — it changes. As a parent (and recovering control freak), I’m learning to turn off frustration with this ...
Four New Leadership Types Found in the Most Unlikely Place
No matter where I go, I can’t help notice people leading. It’s fascinating because you can find leaders just about anywhere. However, I wasn’t expecting to see such a blossoming petri dish of leadership during, of all things, a large family reunion at a popular Lake Superior lodge. Specifically, I observed four leadership types. What ...
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