Examining The Last Four Years As A Catalyst For An Unknown Future.

A Sound of Thunder.

“It fell to the floor, an exquisite thing, a small thing that could upset balances and knock down a line of small dominoes, and then big dominoes, and then gigantic dominoes, all down the years across Time. Eckel’s mind whirled. It couldn’t change things. Killing one butterfly couldn’t be that important! Could it?” — Ray Bradbury, A Sound of Thunder.

As the final hours of November 8th, 2016 drew to a close and the first hours of the November 9th, 2016 dawned with anathema, an invisible echo rippled…

In the Spring of this year, we all heard the stories about people unable to get help on unemployment-assistance programs; whether by phone or by mail. By the end of this year, millions of people are still reeling from the economic fallout caused by the pandemic. With the lines stretched across foodbanks and family vehicles being turned into family homes, a

Job applications are a real pain. An even greater pain is walking into an office and giving responses to the same questions you’ll hear repeatedly throughout your life. …

A Prelude Or An Opportunity?

“If a man empties his purse into his head, no man can take it away from him. An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.” — Benjamin Franklin.

As the Coronavirus Pandemic traveled across continents, most school systems in affected countries rushed to close their classrooms and start the process of educating students at home. Teachers conducted sessions through apps such as Zoom, private tutors conducted meetings over Skype, and office staff made appointments through whatever means were available.

Any hope for a normal spring semester was wiped off the slate as presidents, governors, mayors, district attorneys, superintendents, and…

The Valley in Repose.

“Back in the seventies, Herbert Simon, the Nobel-winning economist, took these inchoate sentiments and explained them rigorously: ‘What information consumes is rather obvious. It consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention.” — Franklin Foer, World Without Mind: The Existential Threat of Big Tech.

If the word ‘normal’ existed within Silicon Valley’s everyday vernacular — perhaps muttered on the slopes outside the Bay Area or whispered from hopeful would-be-entrepreneurs talking about how to defeat normal — then surely it has been retired as of now. With the Coronavirus pandemic raging across the…

The Volcano Awakens.

“When anger arises, think of the consequences.” — Confucius, politician and philosopher.

Our most volatile moments come when we are angry. What can start as a simple office-meeting or one-on-one coaching can turn into a display of our worst instincts. Emotions turn into thoughts and thoughts turn into words; before you know it, there’s an avalanche of rage either emitting from your persona…or threatening to bury you in a river of lava.

You can point to the legal statements in company handbooks everywhere saying they do not tolerate verbal abuse — those of us who operate behind closed doors know…

Adrift in the Sea.

“The obvious objective of video games is to entertain people by surprising them with new experiences.” — Shigeru Miyamoto, creator of Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, and others.

I remember the moment very clearly.

Sitting at my desk, controller in hand, I watched my player-character bob up and down in virtual water. The player character was a middle-aged man on the threshold of crossing into old age. Mud and grime coated his armor and his swords were dull from excessive use. His long, white hair bobbed up and down with his body, resembling a pasta experiment gone wrong…

The Monday Morning Meeting.

“I’m responsible for this company. I stand behind the results. I know the details, and I think the CEO has to be the moral leader of the company…” — Jeffery Immelt, CEO of General Electric.

8:58 A.M rolls around and the last few employees wander into the conference room to get ready for the big meeting. As the fluorescent lights hum above and groups of people walk from one hallway to the next with sheets of paper in tow, the atmosphere in this building is different than what normally constitutes for air.

The air is thick with tension, anxiety, and…