In the launch of the fall men’s group last night, wise guy Jim Kulma reminded us that harmony is sometimes about giving no one advice unless they ask for it. And even then …

We shape our self
to fit this world

and by the world
are shaped again.

The visible
and the invisible

working together
in common cause,

to produce
the miraculous.

I am thinking of the way
the intangible air

passed at speed
round a shaped wing

easily
holds our weight.

So may we in this life
trust

to those elements
we have yet to see

or imagine,
and look for the true

shape of our own self,
by forming it well

to the great
intangibles about us.

– David Whyte from The House of Belonging

Tara Donovan’s amazing installations have earned her a MacArthur Foundation “genius” award, which yields a half-million dollars. The magic of her minimalism speaks more to process than product. She works with the same kind of attachment to sustainable product as Tibetan Monks employ in mandala work. According to Tara’s zen of art, “So much about the art-making process is about paying attention. It’s about looking and noticing things.”

When we travel, we see a different world through lenses of what we expect to see, which can obscure what is there to see. The unexpected lives around the corner of our capacity for inquiry, for questioning and doubting what we’ve been told to believe. Only when we expect to be surprised in delight are we.

What are the costs when people who own and run companies lack imagination? What are the costs when people who own and run countries lack imagination? Is it possible to ethically have power over the lives and welfare of millions?

“I love you, but I will not be your conscience.” This is the highest form of love, because in it, love and freedom merge.

Working with IBM in Pittsburgh today on the theme of change where we explored the observation that when it comes to any kind of change, we can be at effect or cause with it. Not having positional power is no excuse from our freedom of choice. Life is change, so we are always at effect and always at possibility with cause.

Teaching project management today to mostly public service leaders, the question emerged for me about why would we suppose that government leaders would be good project managers when it comes to complex civic projects. In many cases, it’s the equivalent of expecting good brain surgery from great plumbers or electricians.

For many of these people, their core competencies are deal-making, delegation, speech delivering, and fund-raising. Why we should expect them to perform with other competencies like project management or strategic planning is sheer lunacy. It’s out of their league unless they have had mentors and experience in these arenas. When my father spent his career in politics, he was a very effective project manager and planner because that was in fact his day job.

It gets even more complex and compelling at state and federal levels. We should put fund-raisers and deal makers in those jobs. We should put speech makers and delegators in those jobs. We need to give people jobs they can do and find people who have the competencies to do the rest.

Guilt is the altar on which self-esteem is sacrificed to appease insatiable gods. Fear is the altar on which commitment is sacrificed to appease insatiable gods. All gods are insatiable, mythic projections of our own shadows. All guilt and fear, denials of our deep longing and capacity for courage.

Some people are more doglike in their emotional transparency of howls, grows and wags. Others are more catlike in their stoic posturing, purring, and prowling.