On Friday,  I went to pick up a few grocery items to have on New Year’s Eve and the following day, just as I had done prior to Christmas. As I filled the refrigerator with produce and some cheeses, I realized I was short on shelf space and would have to put my new purchases

On Wednesday night I had the honor of attending the Children’s Defense Fund‘s New York “Beat the Odds” awards ceremony for five high school seniors who have done just that. It was an extremely well orchestrated affair, featuring a number of distinguished speakers like Harry Belafonte, Whoopi Goldberg and the organization’s president, Marian Wright Edelman.

A few years ago after giving a talk at Cornell University, I asked a group of students what they were doing to change the world. The answer was a collective shrug by almost everyone present, and when one girl remarked that she just felt overwhelmed, everyone pretty much agreed. This aimlessness really got to me,

Each of us, whether we realize it or not, has a team that works with and for us every day. As a rule, we don’t really operate on our own, even if we like to think we do. We are all dependent on other people, just as they are dependent on us. Your particular team

Last week I was able to do something that I hadn’t been able to do for several days.  A very simple thing that most of us take for granted, and that was to use tap water to brush my teeth. When you’re traveling in South America, all of your water has to come from bottled

On a recent trip to South America, I was walking down a street outside Buenos Aires when I noticed gardeners engaging in a very strange motion — exercising their back muscles by pulling this pole towards them while making a kind of pleasant, rhythmic sound as they moved across the area. At first, I was

Recently I wrote a blog on the great perspectives of big thinkers like Bill McDonough and Tony Michaels.  But today, I want to talk about the kinds of perspectives we can gain from those individuals with a special gift for conveying and receiving emotional signals in unique ways that so often go unacknowledged. I’m talking

Last month I arrived at JFK Airport smiling and feeling especially mellow. Now, keep in mind that I had just spent five-and-a-half hours awake but for the most part in a confined position, which ordinarily I would consider a form of torture. So as I proceeded to make my way into Manhattan, I reflected on