There’s a tendency—especially in leadership circles—to treat trust as a cultural layer that sits downstream from the “real work” of organizations. Strategy first. Execution first. Results first. Trust becomes something discussed afterward, usually once strain, disengagement, fragmentation, or burnout begin surfacing. That framing has never held up particularly well once you start paying attention to how [...]
See the Series Introduction for Just Tao It, Part I: HERE See the Just Tao It Series Introduction Tao/It on-ramp, PART II: HERE See Just Tao It, Chapter 1: HERE From my interpretation of Chapter 76 of the Tao Te Ching (Unpublished): Life comes— soft, supple. Death comes— hard, inflexible. Soft and supple— living. Hard and inflexible— dying. [...]
See the Series Introduction for Just Tao It, Part I: HERE See the Just Tao It Series Introduction Tao/It on-ramp, PART II: HERE See Just Tao It, Chapter 1: HERE From my interpretation of Chapter 2 of the Tao Te Ching (Unpublished): When people see beautiful things, Ugly things arise. When people see good things, Bad things are [...]
Some days it’s hard to be hopeful. The scope and scale of polarization and doom-loop thinking about the U.S. and the future can feel like an hourly, daily, monthly assault on the senses. Then a book like Strong Floor, No Ceiling comes out. My intuition sirens flare and my energy returns. A few differently firing synapses, [...]
Winston Churchill once observed that democracy may be the worst form of government—except for all the others that have been tried. It is the kind of line that gets laughs because it lands close enough to the truth to sting a little. Democracy is messy. It is slow. It often looks like argument layered on top [...]
(Part I, "HOPE! Strong Floor, No Ceiling" preceded this Part II.) There is an oft-repeated phrase in the global community of Polarity Thinkers: “Simple, not easy.” Strong Floor AND No Ceiling is a simple idea. It is clear. It is compelling. It resonates across differences in a way that most policy ideas do not. It offers [...]
There’s an old Chinese story about a farmer whose livelihood depends on a single horse. One day the horse runs away. The neighbors stop by and say, “That’s bad.” The farmer replies, “Maybe.” A few days later the horse returns—bringing several wild horses with it. The neighbors return and say, “That’s [...]
One word could change our trajectory. “And.” Every generation inherits problems it didn’t personally create. Some inherit wars. Some inherit economic breakdown. Some inherit institutions that no longer work the way anyone hoped they would. The generation coming of age right now has inherited something different. They have inherited a planetary system sending increasingly unmistakable signals [...]
See the Series Introduction for Just Tao It, Part I: HERE See the Just Tao It Series Introduction Tao/It on-ramp, PART II: HERE See Just Tao It, Chapter 1: HERE From my interpretation of Chapter 66 of the Tao Te Ching (Unpublished): Streams and rivers flow down to valleys. Valleys hold the sea by staying low. Those who [...]
There’s a pattern that shows up across religions, politics, organizations, and even families—anywhere belief and power begin reinforcing one another. Something complex and deeply human gradually gets simplified into a choice. Not simply a preference, but the right choice. Once that happens, everything outside that choice starts looking less like a difference in perspective and more [...]