We Have Never Agreed on the Number One thing keeps coming back to me when I think about the economic condition of Black America. We have organizations, movements, conferences, slogans, hashtags, speeches, and enough meetings to fill every ballroom in the country. What we have rarely had is one sustained national process where we sit
One Table, Real Numbers, and a Plan We Can Measure Read More »
The Stereotype Has Been Repeated Too Long One of the most damaging stories told about Black Americans is that we are somehow naturally violent and constantly killing one another. That idea gets repeated so often that some people no longer stop to question what the statistics actually say. The truth is more complicated than either
Stop Turning Black People Into a Crime Statistic Read More »
Stick With the Plan One of the most underrated skills you can learn is how to stop letting every mood decide what happens next. Some mornings you are going to wake up focused, energized, and ready to move. Other mornings you may question everything, including yourself. You may not feel motivated. You may not feel
Your Mood Is Information, Not Always Instructions Read More »
What Did We Prepare the Next Generation For? I sometimes wonder whether my generation did enough to prepare our children for the realities they would eventually have to face. A lot of Baby Boomers worked hard so their children would not struggle the way they did. We wanted better schools, safer neighborhoods, stronger careers, and
Comfort Is Not the Same as Preparation Read More »
Invalidation Changes the Conversation Invalidation is something that needs to be recognized when it shows up in a conversation. It happens when somebody dismisses, minimizes, mocks, or redirects what you are feeling instead of dealing with the issue you raised. You may be trying to explain that something hurt you, and suddenly the conversation becomes
When Someone Tries to Invalidate How You Feel Read More »
A Saying That Sounds Impossible There is a saying attributed to Yeshua that sounds almost impossible when you first hear it. In the Gospel of Thomas, he says that the dead are not alive, and the living will not die. Now obviously, every physical body eventually dies, so the saying cannot be understood simply as
The Bible and Beyond: What Does It Mean to Be Truly Alive? Read More »
The Mind Is Always Looking for Patterns Human beings have something close to a superpower, although I would not describe it as supernatural. Our brains are remarkably good at recognizing patterns, connections, repetitions, and changes in the world around us. That ability helped human beings survive long before we had laboratories, textbooks, or computers. We
Pattern Recognition, Synchronicity, and the Meaning We Give to What We See Read More »
Talent Is Not Always Enough After more than thirty-five years in corporate environments, including executive recruiting and coaching, I have seen talented people struggle because of workplace politics they never saw coming. Many were excellent at their jobs but unprepared for the hidden dynamics around them. I have also watched others move through the same
Workplace Politics: You Cannot Avoid Them, But You Can Learn to Navigate Them Read More »
The Difference Matters One thing that confuses a lot of men is the difference between giving a woman a compliment and actually flirting with her. Those two things are not the same, and misunderstanding that can create a lot of mixed signals. A compliment is simply an expression of praise, admiration, or approval. You might
Complimenting and Flirting Are Not the Same Thing Read More »
A Champion America Barely Remembers Some stories make you uncomfortable because they expose contradictions we would rather leave alone. Cornelius Johnson’s story is one of them. He was born in Los Angeles in 1913 and grew into one of the finest high jumpers in the country. By the time he was still a teenager, his
Cornelius Johnson: A Gold Medal Between Two Worlds Read More »