I remember hopping into taxi cabs terrified that my broken portuguese wouldn’t suffice in communicating my desired location. After a few lengthy and circuitous rides around Sao Paulo, Brazil I reverted to taking the local bus. Much to the horror of my work colleagues I might add. These taxi escapades introduced me to the colorful ribbons that dangled from the rear view mirrors of almost every cab in the city. On each read the phrase, BonFim, and it’s originator the Church of Nosso Senhor do Bonfim. Bonfim simply translated means, good end. If ever there was a wish for transition…. Continue reading…
2012 Summer Book Review Finale: What if?
“I never want to go back to the law,” shared a friend who is a law school graduate and a very accomplished public defender. Our conversation was interrupted by a swirl of kids ages 2 through 8. Mid-sentence we conducted an emergency rescue from a climbing structure that resembled a gangly over-sized found-art project. Public defense? Idealistic me was instantly mesmerized by the work and its likely impact. Never? Continue reading…
Summer Book Review #24: Smart Women Don’t Retire They Break Free
‘It’s not easy to think about what I really want….for as long as I can remember it’s been achieve, achieve, achieve,’ I said to a friend of mine who joined me for lunch early in my transition. The concept piqued her interest. It engaged her. She’s a financial services entrepreneur. Her dream had been fashion design. And yet she found finance and accounting. A detour? A revelation? A necessity? Continue reading…
Summer Book Review #22: The Way of Transition
“Nancy, Nancy, wake up! NANCY!” I shouted to rouse my sister who was asleep on a chair-cum-bed in my father’s hospital room. It was just after 7:00 am on a Sunday morning. We had dozed off at about 3:00 am. Cancer. I’m not sure why I woke up when I did. His breathing was erratic. We held his hand.
These moments raced back at me this week Continue reading…
Summer Book Review #20: The Happiness Project
“That was awesome!” shouted my spirited 7 year-old son as we walked into our cottage after a game of chess played on the beach on the tidal flats of Cape Cod Bay. Complete with over-sized pieces a la Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. It was one of those unplanned adventures that turned out Continue reading…
Summer Book Review #15: How Will You Measure Your Life?
I’m not a big sports fan. My 7-year-old son has taught me more about sports and team devotion in the past year than I’ve learned in my entire life. Last week, before our beloved Boston Celtics lost to the Miami Heat in game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals, we were listening to an interview with one of the Celtic’s big three, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen. The player responded to a journalist’s question about their approach to upcoming practices and games by saying, ‘we’ll probably watch the tapes.’ Continue reading…
Transition and Steve Jobs…shared learnings?
Merriam Webster’s Online defines prolific as, “marked by abundant inventiveness or productivity <a prolific composer>.” I turned to this query after completing Walter Isaacson’s, Steve Jobs (Thorndike Press, 2011). Prolific, although not a descriptive used by Isaacson, came to mind as I finally closed the book. Yes, I admit I read a physical version of the book despite the tech infused visionary at its core. Prolific. How else can you describe someone who served as the catalyst for a list that includes…the Macintosh, Pixar blockbusters like Toy Story, Apple Stores, iTunes, the iPod, the App Store, the iPad? Prolific? Continue reading…
Transition and jobs: three routes
In early May I happened to catch a few minutes of wbur’s On Point with Tom Ashbrook. His topic, Death At A Young Age, featured the 1987 death of five sorority sisters who were killed in an automobile accident when returning from a charity walk-a-thon. While it might sound morbid, the conversation was anything but. Continue reading…
Those elusive 21st century female role models
Is anyone else entertained? Can you recall any male executive who was held accountable amidst all of the hoopla surrounding the global financial crisis in 2008? We had a crisis that resulted in the collapse or near collapse of large financial institutions, like Lehman Brothers or AIG; the federal bailout of financial services and large industrial companies, recall TARP and GM; downturns in the global stock market and the housing market; and widespread unemployment that reached and still remains at historic highs. Now answer this: is there anyone in America who can’t tell you who Ina Drew is? Continue reading…
Transition through a techie lens
What’s your take on social media? Earlier today I experienced social media deja vu for the first time. Who knew? A friend tagged a Forbes.com post on LinkedIn entitled,“The Six Enemies of Greatness (and Happiness)” by blogger Jessica Hagy. The caption included a few little drawings.
The Six Enemies of Greatness ( and Happiness) by Jessica Hagy, Forbes.com 2/28/12
The drawings looked and felt like the illustrations that I’d been seeing all week in “The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of The Learning Organization by Peter Senge.” What can I say, the drawings spoke to me…. Continue reading…