The more turbulent the times, the more important solid ground.  The harder the choices, the more important first principles.  The tougher the road, the longer the trail, the whiter the river, the more important one’s companions. 

Leaders toiling through heavy weather such as that pelting them today face multiple tests, one being working from a grounded, stable place.  Denial, like hope, is not a strategy. 

In 1980, Robert Redford was still a matinee idol.  Characteristically, he broke form.  He starred in a prison movie and not just a prison movie but a prison reform movie.

Here’s a link, as promised, to an article that I wrote this spring summarizing best practices from the downsizing or, even more euphemistically, the ‘rightsizing’ of the last twenty-five years or so of the 20th century.

‘If it ain’t Boeing…’

Decades ago that maxim continued as follows, ‘…I ain’t going.’

Today?  Well, maxims, like airplanes, require maintenance.

We all choose. 

We choose to declare ourselves or not.  To fall in line or to step out of line. To put ourselves ‘out there’ or not.  To recognize and reinforce someone else’s effort and risk, or to maintain silence.  To support what we believe by what we do.  To seize and expand a moment created by another.  Great leaders (and great followers) maintain a vigilance about such choices.