Waking up the Brain Cells

Congratulations!

Today is your day.

You can learn what is right

And be off and away!

 You have brains in your head.

Yet dumb stuff you say.

You can do yourself harm

You can steer yourself

Any direction you choose.

But you might crash and burn 

If your mouth leads your brain.

Oh!

The stupid things smart people say!

 Thank you, Dr. Seuss and “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!”

One of the things some professors do as a semester draws near its end, and they are immersed in grading papers and exams, is to share “would you believe” Read more

April 5th, 2012 1 Comment

Strategic Planning for Life

As the fourth anniversary of my mother’s death approached, I thought about all of the things that have transpired in that short span:  too many deaths in the family and too many diagnosed with life-threatening illnesses; a nice number of graduations, mostly happily employed grandchildren and a pending wedding.

A lot of momentous stuff, and absolutely none of it—unless you put graduations in this category—planned.  Oh, if we could only engage in strategic planning for our lives!  We could know what to do and what would Read more

October 13th, 2011 0 Comment

Chasing the Future

This past week, I had the great pleasure to attend my niece’s graduation from one of the top business schools in the country.   This school annually awards one-year fellowships to eight deserving graduates which allow them to spend a year applying their new-found knowledge in one of eight nonprofits.  Some, my niece tells me, as she is one of this year’s class of eight, even become employees of the nonprofit after the fellowships conclude.  That’s the good news.

The bad news came at a reception that Read more

June 3rd, 2011 0 Comment

Strategic Planning the Right Way

Strategic planning just may be the most important policy a board of directors, executing its governance responsibilities, may create.  And yet, far too often, it isn’t done “right”.  Why?

Let me be clear about two things.  First, a board does not create a strategic plan by itself.  And second, there is no one “right” way to do strategic planning; there is, however, a “right” cast of characters and order of appearance.

When I say a board doesn’t create a strategic plan by itself, I mean just that.  Read more

May 13th, 2011 0 Comment

Reflections on Reflecting

I don’t know whether it is because I have spent so much of my life in academia or because I am Jewish, and later in life decided to use Yom Kippur as a day to fast and reflect, but September is the start of new years for me.  Not the time when you sing Auld Lang Syne and party.  But the time when you reflect upon the past year and on what worked, what didn’t, what you want to change and what you want to Read more

Reflections on Reflecting September 5th, 2008 2 Comments