Call it whatever you want, it still is so much more than can be described. You can't use loyalty to capture it and likely a distorted concept of loyalty would ruin what would be the greater part of the sentiment. Using our recent Annual Elk Camp Trip to try to build the picture of what I'm trying to talk about. Maybe it wasn't as well spoken as it feels or sits in my head & heart.

I generally have to manage my first reaction & pop up thoughts anytime someone talks to me with their arms folded across their chest or hands on their hips. More so with strangers than with knowns, but even still. There's lot of suggested non verbal communication and room for misinterpretation for sure. However, the majority of the time there's a trend or pattern of something - righteousness, dominance, arrogance, ego, know it all, excessive confidence... I constantly have to fight ...

A little clean up from last week's ending. People are messy. Life is complex. I believe that most people are good and well intended. Driven be self-interest to varying degrees, but that doesn't necessarily mean we are wrong or bad. Giving some tolerance & allowance for each other and ourselves to be messy w/o a major character flaw indictment, to be personally ok when others show up and elicit some sort of injury within ourselves, and not having to invent some narrative about another to d...

Kind of a babble this evening talking about spam email & phone calls through feeling guilty or held hostage by those free return labels that come in the mail. Not sure what prompted me to start a little rant about shit talkers and gossip champs leading into 'consider the source'. But maybe there's a full circle in there somewhere. Mostly not a heavy or deep session other than just listening to myself talk to let things out.

I've been asked for my thoughts/opinions regarding the Pete Hegseth address in Quantico last week. I was reluctant to share for the better part of the last few days as I am with the Tim Kennedy Stolen Valor discussion. But here I am, not speaking about it politically and almost as a bit of a continuation from last weeks struggle bus regarding the world & our country's state of the human element. 'Holding the Middle Ground' is much different than 'Fence Sitting'. I use holding vs occ...

Seems like the world is crazy and so full of ignorance, hate, & confusion. Not sure what it's all about, how we got here, or if even half of it isn't just sensationalized. The last few weeks I can't seem to shake the 'looping' on it all. In my head, when I try to break away from productivity sprints to refresh & refocus, I feel consumed with frustration and sadness; even anger, about the "news" (if that is actually is) and how people get so consumed.

After a long break, I'm digging back into sharing stories and my internal dialogue about life, leadership, and random thoughts. During my break I haven't been just slacking off; Connor and I have been writing a book on Leadership and these Identity Circles I've been working on. I've been engaged with a lot of material with Diesel Day & 'Checking In w/ the Left Hand' Framework, as well as, putting an incredible amount of energy into the Big Fish Foundation and personal growth. Connor &...

Some story telling and reflections that a Wolf Spider gave me regarding Resilience and Persistence. How we've let learned behaviors get transferred into areas of our lives where they don't belong...

Wrapping up a year of sobriety and processing the take-aways that I couldn't have scripted going into the journey.

I'm at no shortage of receiving conversations about what I could, should, or need to being doing; personally & professionally. Most of the time I'm required to wonder if I'm getting opinion, advice, or counsel. What I'm finding as a common theme is that the more someone offers answers vs questions, the quality ( for my best interest ) of what they are delivering goes lower and lower.

Coming out of the trough (again) after a few really hard weeks of trying to simply hold on. As I get better and better at managing/ navigating these times I somehow still keep finding myself back in them. After a recent procedure in Annapolis, I'm finding myself happier & more productive than I've been in the past few years. I'm also in a place recognizing what needs to happen to break the cycle of going back there instead of just adding more load to this new increased capacity I have.

Coming back from running a 40h marathon in TN and sharing some thoughts, observations, and where I'm focusing on personal growth.

Talking about the importance of Self Care not only for a leader but also as an example for their people. it's about creating an appropriate balance to keep operating levels for individuals at a high. We also introduce setting good boundaries for leaders and their relationships. Healthy boundaries that support growth, expectations, & professional relationships through consistency.

Connor and I exploring out loud trying to tease the subtleties & nuances that differentiate experts and masters. Not the sheer skill aspect, more of the 'soft' skills/ traits as it helps us inform our discussion on Leadership.

We what happens when we reward; whether it's through praise, recognition, opportunity, award, etc. always results and absent effort? Same thing holds true in reverse. What are the unintended consequences on our audience that is excluded in the reward. It's not as simple as acknowledging everyone for their unique contributions. And, everyone is wired to respond differently to different types of rewards. When you really start to think about the ins and outs with all the different ...

Talking about how to listen. Truly listen with the intent to engage and understand vs respond. It's a fundamental step to earning trust & respect. "Seek first to understand and not respond." ~Stephen Covey

Spending 90 min grinding aways at some more basics: Don't Lie, Cheat, or Steal; it's all Stealing, Grey Areas, Who am I circles, and a few more things and tying them into Being a Good Human Being as a core competency to Leadership.

Digging in on "Being A Good Human Being". Specifically, common courtesy, decency, & respect and how it ties into "caring" as a key component of Leadership.

Connor & I picked back up on our writing project. We are going to record our writing development sessions together; essentially the content we are discussing shaping for a leadership book. We figured we would also publish these as a podcast for a few reasons. 1. Help us stay honest and on task , 2. Shape our organization & collect our content, 3. Open it up for people to respond, critique, inject, and give general feedback, 4. Ultimately stay authentic to our purpose & intent beh...

Sharing a few short thoughts about what mentorship is and isn't. Not sure I'm really digging deep enough into it, but wanted to hear out loud the looping that was going on in my head while splitting some wood.