Leadership Lessons Newsletters

“It’s a smile, it’s a kiss, it’s a sip of wine … it’s summertime!” ~ Kenny Chesney I have worked every summer of my life since I was eighteen years old. I was a camp counselor, educational director at an overnight camp, graduate student, university instructor, professional developer, or on a 12-month educational contract. There […]

“When I dare to be powerful, to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.” ~ Audre Lorde My grandmother was a clothing designer. As a kid, I would envision outfits in my mind that I wanted to wear, sketch them, and then […]

“Competence is not a destination, it’s a journey, and it requires a lifelong commitment to learning, growth, and development.” ~ Brian Tracy My brand new, bad-ass son-in-law is a Green Beret in the U.S. Army, and he never ceases to amaze me. I marvel at his unshakable self-trust and inner core which never wavers. He […]

“In times of uncertainty, grounding can help us feel anchored and stable, even when the world around us is in flux.” ~ Sarah Bowen The war against Ukraine has passed the one year mark this week, and I take it very personally. All four of my grandparents are from Zhitomir, a town just outside of […]

“It is impossible to fully love those around you without learning to treat yourself like your own best friend.” ~ Prianca Naik It’s February, and Valentine’s Day is around the corner. I am still recuperating from my daughter’s wedding, and it was one big loved up event. And I have been thinking a lot about […]

“When we are able to recognize our own light, we become empowered to use it.” ~ Michelle Obama When I saw Michelle Obama discussing her new book on her book tour in Washington, DC last month, she got me thinking, “Where and what is the light that we carry within us?” I’ve posed that question […]

“Gatherings crackle and flourish when real thought goes into them, when (often invisible) structure is baked into them, and when a host has the curiosity, willingness, and generosity of spirit to try. ~ Priya Parker Given that we are now recuperating from the recent Thanksgiving holiday, looking ahead to Christmas, Hanukah, and Kwanzaa, and for […]

“It is my hope that, when judged by future generations, our sincerity, our willingness to take a lead, and our determination to do the right thing will stand the test of time.” ~ Queen Elizabeth II I became a true Anglophile in the fifth grade when I experienced my first trip overseas to London. My […]

“I am not bound to win; I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live up to the light I have.” ~ Abraham Lincoln It’s that time of year again. The time when the Jewish high holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur arrive to remind […]

“White lace and promises.A kiss for luck and we’re on our way.” ~ lyrics from We’ve Only Just Begun.” There is a reason why I never chose to be an events planner. One daughter, one wedding, and feeling like the orchestrator of logistics for the Normandy Beach invasion is more than enough for me. Even […]

“The braver I am, the luckier I get.” ~ Glennon Doyle Perhaps you have seen the movie Sliding Doors which came out in 1998 starring Gwyneth Paltrow. At the beginning of the movie, Paltrow is racing to get to the London tube station to get to work. She arrives on the platform and sees the […]

“If you will it, it will be” ~ Martin Buber“We can do hard things” ~ Glennon Doyle ‘How hard could it be?’ I asked myself as I was contemplating buying and riding a bike again after decades of dormancy.  At seven years old, I was the Queen of my Schwinn hot pink Barbie bicycle. I […]

“This is quite sad, isn’t it? The end,” said matriarch Rebecca Pearson, on the hit TV show This Is Us. Then William says, “Oh, I don’t know. The way I see it, if something makes you sad when it ends it must have been pretty wonderful when it was happening.” Endings … Goodbyes … Retirements […]

“As you know, I have lived my life big and loud. It is my nature. And I’ve had a blast. But a stillness has come over me that is profound and potent. I didn’t know I could be this quiet. Life is not always a test. It is a teaching. I must learn this lesson […]

“There is a crack in everything. That is how the light gets in.”  ~ Leonard Cohen If the pandemic has taught us anything, I hope it begins with our giving up perfectionist tendencies and fully embracing and enacting self-compassion. To do this means that we consciously choose a very different thought pattern … one that […]

I would rather walk with a friend in the dark than alone in the light. ~ Helen Keller Hans Solo and Chewbacca; Gertrude Stein and Ernest Hemingway; Oprah Winfrey and Gayle King. Each of these pairs represents the power and gift of true friendship. These deep, real, reciprocally vulnerable friendships have the ability to restore, enrich, […]

Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion. I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning to do afterward.” ~ Kurt Vonnegut The only real laughter comes from despair.” ~ Groucho Marx In many regions of the world, other than Valentine’s Day, February can be a dark, cold, and dreary month. […]

“My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.” ~ Maya Angelou Pushing the pause button has been the gift of a winter break. Pause as in doing as little as possible, sleeping an embarrassing number of hours […]

There is no Wi-Fi in the forest, but I promise, you will find a better connection.” You may notice that this is a special holiday newsletter edition combining November and December. You may also notice that this is not my typical cheery newsletter. Here’s why. As a result of an unanticipated move from a home […]

Try to imagine a life without timekeeping. You probably can’t. You know the month, the year, the day of the week. There is a clock on your wall or the dashboard of your car. You have a schedule, a calendar, a time for dinner or a movie. Yet all around you, timekeeping is ignored. Birds […]

The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it’s indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it’s indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it’s indifference.Elie Wiesel It never ceases to amaze me. It always happens like clockwork at this time of year. It’s […]

I’ve found that no matter what life throws at me, music softens the blow. ~Bryce Anderson During the last sixteen months we have been walking on shaky ground. We have learned how to be more emotionally and organizationally agile by necessity. We have given up the illusion of control over most things, have faced our […]

Slow down, you move too fastYou got to make the morning lastJust kicking down the cobblestonesLooking for fun and feelin’ groovyBa da da da da da da, feelin’ groovy59th Street Bridge Song (“Feelin’ Groovy)~Simon and Garfunkel VERSUS “and here I amonce againalone at 2 amdrowning in love to giveknowing that the peopleI want to swim […]

Perhaps this might feel familiar to you. When you wake up, do you know what day of the week it is? How about month and year? Are you aware of the weather? Do you remember why you walked into a room to retrieve something, and then stand in the room with no idea why you […]

The most incredible thing happened last week… I already knew that I wanted to dedicate the May newsletter to “Digital Dementia” and what the pandemic and our world has done to our shrinking thinking capacity. Well, scratch that. I am saving that for next month. Listener Poet This month is dedicated to this amazing happenstance […]

*BETTY GOEDHART (PICTURED), AT AGE 86, IS THE OLDEST FEMALE FLYING TRAPEZE ARTIST IN THE WORLD. I want to love more than death can harm. And I want to tell you this often: That despite being so human and so terrified, here, standing on this unfinished staircase to nowhere and everywhere, surrounded by the cold […]

We live in a culture that says you should be able to power through anything. Life will very generously remind you that you cannot, and it will very generously break you at times and very generously show you.” Elizabeth Gilbert Whew! What a year 2020 was. We were pitched into and out of a warzone, […]

A moment of self-compassion can change your entire day. A string of such moments can change the course of your life.” Christopher K. Germer I am grateful that during this awful pandemic I’m still able to provide training for school directors, principals, senior leadership teams, and teacher leaders. In every webinar I give, I have […]

I am excited to introduce the inaugural issue of the monthly TLC Leadership Lessons newsletter. The purpose is to provide insightful, thought-provoking and practical information to support you on your leadership journey. Thank God it’s 2021. A little over a year ago, I optimistically thought that 2020 would be the year of “perfect vision”, of […]

More than at any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray that we have the wisdom to choose correctly.” When Woody Allen wrote these words forty years ago in the New York Times (August 10, 1979) it was […]

Would that there were an award for people who come to understand the concept of enough. Good enough. Successful enough. Thin enough. Rich enough. Socially responsible enough. When you have self-respect, you have enough.” ~ Gail Sheehy, Author and social critic There has been an extraordinary response to the publication of my most recent book, […]