a blog by John P. Schuster
“I will take the ring, though I do not know the way.” Frodo Wisdom from Frodo, Michael Jackson and George Vaillant In No Ordinary Time, What is Our Job? We citizens of The Excited States of America have to keep up our pace, do we not? So even our holidays are busyness plus, and yet they provide rest and regeneration, for many of us. In spite of holiday reminders that many beautiful things happen all[…]
Read moreCustomers hear it often…” What are you having today?” The order is placed… The brew begins…click, click, click, the expresso drops into the handled machine cup…pfsst, pfsst, the steam cuts through milk & its evolving substitutes…. sounds that could come from a steel stamping factory 50 years ago. But this is now as the baristas of the 2020’s serves up brew and lots more in the daily lives of the parade of seeker-customers, looking for[…]
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We all have a hidden job. [Note: In 1957. Ayn Rand wrote a novel with mythic staying power—Atlas Shrugged. It is the story of the innovators and productive leaders of the industrialist world prepare to go into hiding as the masses of moochers, or “looters”, in the world live off and keep taking from the leaders without understanding the leaders’ crucial role. Below is a different version and vision.] Keep Pulling Our Weight for the[…]
Read moreThis recording is one take, mine, on what we can all do to hold the center on all the issues that matter to our country. Conversations between people across the political spectrum are indeed happening in healthy ways. (go near the end if you want a moment of a beautiful American song on our gift of brotherhood) Bombarded with bad news and supposed truths about how totally terrible almost all on the other side are,[…]
Read moreThe emotional force field at work and in M&A There are many force fields within companies: innovation and risk-tolerance force fields, or the shared knowledge force field across an enterprise that carry specific languages all their own. Fundamental to them all is the emotional force field (EFF) of trust and respect and inclusion that employees sense in their bones as they experience work dynamics day by day, zoom meeting by zoom meeting. Much of this[…]
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Thich Nhat Hanh is the ultimate team builder and he lives with an emotional intelligence that most leaders need more of. If you have not seen his name alongside Jamie Diamond, Mark Cuban and that Tesla guy– Elon is it?—Thich Nhat Hanh is a much respected Eastern spiritual teacher, second to the Dalia Lama for recognizability in the West. He is referred to in many a circle of mindfulness practitioners. He is Vietnamese, has sold[…]
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[Brief foreword: I have been mostly quiet since COVID hit and then the George Floyd tragedy. Too much change and gravitas to offer much (one exception here on my other blog as I hope we think big for the bigness of the times), and the channels are clogged with everyone having thoughts and opinions, many good ones, some not as much. So I resume with a little modest thought, not equal to the gravitas of[…]
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Poets know… Be patient. Let’s teach each other how to wait, like TS Elliot taught us. I said to my soul, be still, and wait without hopeFor hope would be hope for the wrong thing…Wait without thought, for you are not ready for thought:So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing. And Jan Richardson offers a map for uncertain times. This is not any map you know. Forget longitude. Forget latitude.[…]
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