Category Archives: Ethical Leadership

Guide for spiritual activists

Posted on by under Ethical Leadership, Fierce Grace, Social Justic, Uncategorized

One time the Buddha told a king, “You should be just, you should be fair, and you should be generous.” But the king forgot to be generous and so people started going hungry and they started stealing. Then the Buddha said to the king, “The point is not to start making laws against theft. The point is to look at why people are hungry.”

So that is the prompt: Look deeper. Look at all the causes and conditions. But that kind of assessment is so rarely applied in this country. – Sharon Salzberg, excerpt from Lionsroar interview

 

Life Doesn’t Frighten Me

Posted on by under Courageous Conversations, Ethical Leadership, Fierce Grace

Maya Angelou’s wonderful poem about courage.  It was written for children and I still love it today!

Life Doesn’t Frighten Me
Shadows on the wall
Noises down the hall
Life doesn’t frighten me at all

Bad dogs barking loud
Big ghosts in a cloud
Life doesn’t frighten me at all

Mean old Mother Goose
Lions on the loose
They don’t frighten me at all

Dragons breathing flame
On my counterpane
That doesn’t frighten me at all.

I go boo
Make them shoo
I make fun
Way they run
I won’t cry
So they fly
I just smile
They go wild

Life doesn’t frighten me at all.

Tough guys fight
All alone at night
Life doesn’t frighten me at all.

Panthers in the park
Strangers in the dark
No, they don’t frighten me at all.

That new classroom where
Boys all pull my hair
(Kissy little girls
With their hair in curls)
They don’t frighten me at all.

Don’t show me frogs and snakes
And listen for my scream,
If I’m afraid at all
It’s only in my dreams.

I’ve got a magic charm
That I keep up my sleeve
I can walk the ocean floor
And never have to breathe.

Life doesn’t frighten me at all
Not at all
Not at all.

Life doesn’t frighten me at all.

– Maya Angelou

Bias & Decision Making

Posted on by under Courageous Conversations, Decision Making, Ethical Leadership

We all have bias…it is how our brain is wired.  Once you accept this, the next step is to become conscious about your biases.  Then you can examine them and assess if they are helping or getting in the way of what you intend to accomplish.  A nice short video interview with Daniel Kahneman, Nobel Laureate, as he describes common decision making errors – i.e., unchecked bias!

http://www.inc.com/daniel-kahneman/idea-lab-thinking-fast-and-slow.html