Ebola survivors. Can you tell us about the process of constructing this narrative? Writing is a solitary endeavor, right? But you can make it a bit more social. And for this book, it had to be a social process. Of course, very saliently, I was writing with the people whose stories and history are told here. They all had knowledge that was unfamiliar to me, and I just decided that every time one of them said something that triggered that tingly feeling of unfamiliarity, I would make it my business to learn more. When I heard something I didn't understand—which was all the time, every day—into my notebook it went. One of the things I wanted to do was to read (with Bai... posted on Dec 16 2020 (3,702 reads)

events and guides Vision Quests. Since settling back into city life, she’s been writing a second memoir about re-wilding the urban soul. Why does all this matter right now? One of Claire’s mentors, wilderness guide and psychologist Bill Plotkins, puts it well. He says that reconnecting with nature and our own wildness “not only re-enlivens us as individuals, but also erodes the outworn Western worldview of a meaningless, disenchanted universe upon which life-assailing business-as-usual depends.” For Claire, delving into direct connection with nature helps us to know ourselves more deeply, so that we can grow up and show up for each other—and for the mor... posted on Mar 1 2021 (4,605 reads)

with its claims to universal validity, this one way of knowing, promised us wealth and peace. The profits grew, but our trees, homes, and lands were disrespected; we became more efficient, but our efficiencies crowded out our cultures and languages. Now we can no longer abide economic structure and ideological monologue that considers our wellbeing an afterthought, our lands a lifeless mass of dirt awaiting capitalist redemption, and our cultures a cosmetic distraction from the more serious business of making more money. We cannot listen for too long to the boastings of a pixel pretending to be the entire picture. Bayo, Ej, and Alethea Akomolafe. photography | James River Richmond... posted on Apr 25 2021 (6,649 reads)

had communications, who could best create for them the quilts that they imagined.  When they were ready, families contacted their assigned quilters directly. Personal belongings were exchanged across the miles all with the utmost of trust. Relationships were established. Amazing quilts were created, spectacularly memorializing those whose lives had been cut short, each quilt unique and beautiful like the life it honored. The quilts were made from ties, t-shirts, bathrobes and sweaters, business suits, wedding attire, photographs, turbans, scarves, treasured clothing and personal items. The quilters provided all other necessary materials, including batting and backing fabric. Many gr... posted on Apr 29 2021 (7,121 reads)

because I was able to see what different people were thinking. I want to bring that back into the live classroom.” Success depends on your ability to make other people successful. That’s why investing time into learning effective leadership skills is so important. Grant said, “One of the things I hear pretty frequently, especially when I work with executive MBA students, is they’re at a point in their careers where they say, ‘I did an undergraduate business degree and I wish I had paid attention to [building leadership skills] earlier.’ And my goal when somebody finishes a class of mine is that they never have that thought again — th... posted on May 30 2021 (5,216 reads)

three years old, the very first thing we are taught is to give. In our families, we are shown how to give. We learn that when we receive something that we really cherish and we really care about, that it is the first thing we should give up, because our community is to be cherished on that level. Our people and our land is be cherished on that level. And if we don’t know how to give like that, we are poor. We are in poverty. We might hoard all the things that we think our family or our business needs, but we are poor. We used to drive through some of the cities, and my mother would look around her and she would say, “Those poor rich people! Those poor, poor rich people!&rdq... posted on Jul 13 2021 (8,612 reads)

No, cut the tethers. “But how will I go up?” That’s the hilarious question. If you cut the tethers, you’re going up. There’s nothing for you to do at that point. Do you understand that?  So, don’t be thinking anything like that, all this spiritual mumbo-jumbo, all right. Stop screwing with these ripples. Relax. Let them pass. “But they’re not passing.” They will, if you leave them alone. How long will it take? None of your business. Does it make sense to you? You understand that? All right? You let go. “But what if the tether is hard to cut? How do I go up without cutting it?” You don’t. “But wha... posted on Dec 31 1969 (138 reads)

what he did. Look at what he did here. If you have clothes, and you don't have enough time to wash them, he brought a washing machine to your doorstep, mounted on a two-wheeler. So here's a model where a two-wheeler washing machine ... He is washing your clothes and drying them at your doorstep. (Applause) You bring your water, you bring your soap, I wash the clothes for you. Charge 50 paisa, one rupee for you per lot, and a new business model can emerge. Now, what we need is, we need people who will be able to scale them up.  Look at this. It looks like a beautiful photograph. But you know what it... posted on Sep 3 2021 (3,870 reads)

out, "Is it you, Richard?" It was Kate.       Inside, the house was warm and welcoming, full of plants and more things to look at. Kate introduced me to Claudia Goldberg and invited me join them at the kitchen table. Claudia happened to be visiting and was a long-time member of the Threshold Choir. The three of us chatted a little over tea and toast with jam. I felt like I might have been on the other side of the pond. You know, I thought to myself, I like this business of meeting people and talking with them.         Over ten years have passed since Kate Munger founded the first Threshold Choir. Now there are over a hundred. On the... posted on Oct 6 2021 (6,882 reads)

there it goes, you know? And there it goes. Cynthia: Beautiful. It's incredible. I was getting a sense, as you were talking -- you were very embodied -- and I was getting a sense of what it might look like in these sterile hospital rooms with this team of -- well, are you all women? Is your team all women? Shay: It's not all women, no. Cynthia: Ok, females and males almost like dancing and communicating in nonverbal ways, and outside the door is hospital business as usual. I love it. I love it. And it gives me hope that these kinds of healings are happening and have been happening, you know, sort of hidden in plain sight for decades now. So that's... posted on Dec 31 1969 (166 reads)

that I had an eye for it, a sense for composition, and I enjoyed it. But then I sold my camera to be able to stay longer in Asia and I didn’t get another camera.      Years later I had one of those first digital cameras Sony made sitting on a shelf somewhere. In the beginning of 2014, I was home as a result of health circumstances that had caused me to withdraw from the work that I was doing, and I was talking to my husband, Stephen. He was preparing to lead a business weekend for executives and was thinking about what would be some good icebreakers to help people connect a little. Are you familiar with a show called “Inside the Actors Studio”? ... posted on Oct 14 2021 (3,412 reads)

Askew’s life took an unexpected turn in 2005 when a lucid daydream to pick up a film camera and use it in a profound fashion consumed him and dissolved any internal doubt. He describes this moment as one of “knowing” what he just had to do, as opposed to “believing” or "wanting” something. He describes this pathfinding shift – from being an eclectic explorer and Managing Director in business, to filmmaker – in a poem he wrote, The Tree of Dreams. Since that day, Nic has used this camera to capture bare human presence, taking his film subjects beyond the experience of mind – and into their inner, wiser, more intuitive and ... posted on Oct 17 2021 (4,561 reads)

of colonialism. Translators do not live in a vacuum. We are not immune to the forces of structural racism. But why is it that Rijneveld had to renounce the commission as an individual? Why does this recent story become about individual actions, rather than the entrenched patterns of operation of publishing houses like Meulenhoff? To achieve equity, transformation must be structural — it cannot fall on the shoulders of one translator alone, making them a fall guy for the business of books as usual. The directors and CEOs of dominant global (read: Western) publishing companies are predominantly white. Which begs the familiar question: what if editorial boards reflec... posted on Nov 23 2021 (3,455 reads)

that have transpired and continue to transpire on our planet. These are the attitudes that can arise in the period of dusk. That’s where we seem to be at this moment. So what happens now? For the last twenty years or more, the science has been clear that our current lifestyle is having a devastating impact on the planet—and yet this has been mostly ignored. The papers from the Nobel laureates were just filed away. The prognosis was too inconvenient, so it’s been “business as usual.” It’s up to ordinary people, then, to step forward to support the Earth and its inhabitants. Let’s be kind, let’s be compassionate, let’s be moral&mdas... posted on Dec 3 2021 (4,847 reads)

a formidable list of proponents — Buddha, Lao Tzu, the Prophets Jesus and Muhammad (PBUH), and the Sufi masters. Art, along with poetry and music, employs gentleness in a more pragmatic fashion — by observing subtle emotions, nuances of colours and form. Gentleness made a comeback through moving images on television sets across the world, of health workers comforting Covid patients, especially those dying without their families around. The world has clearly moved away from business as usual. Aggressive wars, global corporate speculation, damage to the climate and inequality, have left people anxious and hurt. Corporate Social Responsibility, microfinancing and formulati... posted on Dec 22 2021 (5,071 reads)

Scolaro speaks with Rachel Callander Rachel Callander has a room of healthcare workers in tears when I hear her speak for the first time. I’m at the Gathering of Kindness—an annual conference founded by Dumbo Feather alumni Catherine Crock about bringing more empathy and compassion into healthcare—and Rachel is sharing the story of her daughter Evie, who was born with a rare chromosomal condition. Named Evie Amour, which for Rachel and her family means, “Life is possible because of love,” Evie was constantly in and out of hospitals for tests and procedures, and Rachel became attuned to the varying ways medical staff communicated her daught... posted on Jan 16 2022 (3,879 reads)

are plenty of books that teach how to influence the behavior of others, but anyone who’s set a personal goal knows it’s a lot tougher to apply those lessons inward. Ayelet Fishbach, a behavioral science and marketing professor at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, has written a new book that can help. Get It Done: Surprising Lessons from the Science of Motivation, which was released in January, offers a framework for setting and attaining goals, working through roadblocks, and keeping the temptation to quit at bay. “It’s really important to set goals that are not so abstract that you cannot come up with a plan,” Fishba... posted on Feb 15 2022 (3,329 reads)

that my mother had become an ancestor. As I finally released her, she became part of me. And my sadness became part of the river of grief that pulses deep inside me, hidden from view but informing my life, my whole life. Our struggles usually begin when we don’t attend sufficiently to the painful, strong emotions which can flood us after the loss of a loved one, the loss of a patient, the loss of a way of life. It’s easy for to become consumed in the urgent “busyness of business” right after the experience of loss. But grief has gifts to offer us, hard as it may be to see this when we are in the thick of the experience. This is like the mother I heard abo... posted on Feb 21 2022 (11,303 reads)

I must and that I will die. But then, after that, how could I not quit my job when I’ve seen and done so little? And it’s not really the traveling that I mean, though that’s what comes first to mind. It’s the deep, deep grooves that I’ve driven into my life by staying at the same job for so long. Even if I never left Iowa, I would have so much more to see, so many more people to meet, so much more to know and be curious about than the little corner of my own tiny business that I’ve been sweeping and tidying for almost half of my life. And I don’t even think I’m particularly good at doing what I’m doing, which isn’t to say that&rsq... posted on Mar 21 2022 (20,553 reads)

really think that it does much good, but it does; it is profitable. The person who is actually loving what they do and watching something grow, whether it is a plant or a person, or an animal, there is something about that. That touches again—we go back to, what is soul anyway? I never was able to answer that very well, but the soul recognizes when you are doing something that matters; it feels that you are adding to life in a positive way, or you’re creating something, your business is creating something that’s going to help people. And there is something about whether you get more mellow inside or more resentful inside, depending on whether you feel you have made ... posted on May 9 2022 (3,996 reads)