Drive Change gives juvenile ex-cons a food cart future

Here's an example of GREAT WORK: a teacher saw the future that kids coming out of prison might have and quit her job to do something about it. Drive Change

Never let money get in the way of doing the right thing

 Principle #4 from Great Work It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently. —Warren Buffett, billionaire philanthropist and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Integrity is priceless While it’s true that you can’t go bankrupt trying to do good in the world,…

Social sustainability for those in the developed world

Excerpted from Great Work. This was included in an article called "Confused by Social Responsibility" published by the International Society of Sustainability Professionals. Many organizations in developed countries struggle to understand what social sustainability has to do with them. They assume we’ve legislated out of existence many of the problems associated with social injustice: slavery,…

The Real Purpose of Business

Why do we as humans come together into organizations? Excerpted from Great Work When we lived in small tribes and bands, each person had a role in that society that emerged from their personal attributes and talents. One might be a warrior, a healer, or even the gifted storyteller/historian. Everyone had a ‘job’ without a…

Making a difference

Wanting to make a difference makes a difference! Excerpted from Great Work. Before I started AXIS Performance Advisors, I was a director of a small national training company. The president, Alan, wanted to update the vision and mission. So he shared with me what he had written. I can’t recall exactly what it said, but…

The Value of Dark Skies

On TV recently, I saw a segment talking about how Detroit didn't have streetlights for awhile, due to their bankruptcy, but that now the city was brightening back up. I understand the need to feel safe at night, but now that I live in Sedona, one of a handful of Dark Sky communities, this news…

Some of you owe us all an apology

Former climate skeptics: I want an apology. I know it’s petty of me, but I want an apology from all those people who have been denying climate change for the last several decades. Especially old friends and family who used to look at me with that infuriating there-there expression one would give to an overwrought…

Finding your calling (cont)

Ask, “What does the world need from us now?” Excerpted from Great Work How your calling manifests in the world tends to change over time. The world changes and what it needs from you will change as well. At least once a decade, Marsha and I had to reinvent our business. It would usually take…

Don’t Retire, Re-Fire!

As all the baby boomers enter their sixth decade, the question looms: What's next? We could live another 30, 40 or maybe even 50 years. That's more time than we each spent in our chosen career. What will we make of that time? When should you switch from working for money to working for love?…

The Value of Capturing Your Family Story

It's said a picture is worth a thousand words, but only if you know the story behind it. When my mother was alive, I always wished she would take on the task of writing down our family stories. We had some doozies, but I was often vague about who the story involved or why they…