Issue 251 — February 5, 2024
What is more fascinating to us humans than ourselves?
Don’t we check how we look when we pass a mirror? Didn’t we invent psychology, sociology, and anthropology because we are obsessed with understanding who we are and why we behave as we do? Don’t we love seeing our names mentioned, or being tagged on Instagram? Come on, admit it.
Read MoreIn 1976, 50 years after the first celebrations, President Gerald R. Ford made Black History Month official. Ford said, It is time to "seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of Black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history," History.com reports.
This year, the Smithsonian Museum is celebrating Black History Month with leaders in the arts, highlighting the “art of resistance and the artists who used their crafts to uplift the race, speak truth to power and inspire a nation.”
Read MoreIssue 249— January 1, 2024
I loved this question posed on social media by Sophia Yen, a longtime friend and the founder of Pandia Health. She asked us to “Brag to me about one thing you did in 2023.”
Take a minute and think about your answer.
Read MoreColleagues, teams, clients, customers and mentees are looking to leaders now for direction in difficult global times. The words and phrasing all leaders and managers use in every discussion at work and in public statements are of crucial importance. Reactions can lead to firings, resignations—or support.
Care and fairness is critical. This is where leadership can shine or dissolve.
Read MoreIssue 213— December 5, 2022
You really must watch this video to get your hackles up at the hapless reporter who asked New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern if she was meeting Finland’s Prime Minister Sanna Marin because they are “similar in age.”
Read MoreHow do you go from grief to joy?
This week I write about how the examples of recent moments of communal grief--the 21st anniversary of 9/11 and the death of Queen Elizabeth II—can inform us as we grapple with personal grief. And I share a phone call that helped me process my grief by creating a lasting legacy in memory of my husband, and the resulting joy. Read the full story here...
Read MoreFirst, say their names: Margus D. Morrison, 52; Andre Mackneil, 53; Aaron Salter, 55; Geraldine Talley, 62; Celestine Chaney, 65; Heyward Patterson, 67; Katherine Massey, 72; Pearl Young, 77; and Ruth Whitfield 86. On behalf of all of us at Take The Lead, we mourn the loss of their lives and stand in solidarity with their loved ones.
Read More“I was the kid who loved all kinds of things.”
As a girl growing up outside Trenton, New Jersey at Fort Dix, where her father was based in the U.S. Army, Lily McNair loved books—a biography on Harriet Tubman especially, plus a psychology textbook—and a chemistry set that taught her how to make little volcanoes.
The miniature chemistry set her parents gave her one Christmas ignited McNair’s love of science. Tubman’s story inspired her to live a life helping others. And the psychology textbook her father bought (though he had not attended college) showed her she wanted to pursue a career in psychiatry or psychology.
Read MoreYou are double vaxxed, boosted and spatially safe, yet you work regularly with colleagues, clients and customers who are not.
Never mind the masking issue, you are in contact in-person—and remotely—with people who are opposed to treating COVID-19 the same way you do and it is causing disruption, discontent and malaise in the workplace.
How as a leader do you maintain professional distance and your own safety as well as a safe and fair workplace culture?
Read MoreWomen’s Equality Day is one day on the calendar, but for Take The Lead it is the forever goal on the horizon—moving closer each day. Progress is in process, but so are biased hinderances and backsliding internationally for all those identifying as female. So take the day—Women’s Equality Day—to continue toward the goal by joining in for Take The Lead’s Women’s Equality Day Concert August 26.
Read MoreIssue 154 — December 21, 2020
Today on the winter solstice, the stars align. For the first time since 1226, the planets Jupiter and Saturn will be so close in the night sky that they might look like one large star.
Astronomers call it the Great Conjunction. Some people call it the Christmas star.
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