In my 1988 Ph.D. dissertation in chemical engineering from Lehigh University, I referenced “synchronicity” in my Acknowledgements. Renowned psychoanalyst Carl Jung’s concept of synchronicity emphasizes the idea that all events and experiences, no matter how seemingly unrelated, are connected on a deeper, spiritual level. Jung viewed synchronicity as meaningful coincidences which could not be explained … Read more
In the 1970s, two words could be used to describe the United States’ attitude toward oil: complacency and panic. This insight is attributed to former US Secretary of Defense and the first US Secretary of Energy, Dr. James Schlesinger, who experienced firsthand how quickly our nation moved between these two states during the Middle East … Read more
Yesterday marked the start of a new Lunar year, 4721, also called Chinese New Year. Unlike the celebration for the solar or Gregorian calendar on January 1st, the Lunar New Year doesn’t feature the guilt and obligations of new year’s resolutions. Perhaps you’re relieved by that or reminded of what you pledged a few weeks … Read more
When I began writing A Test for Our Time: Crisis Leadership in the Next Normal, people often asked me if authoring a memoir was cathartic. Initially, I assumed it was—yet as I revised and edited the book, I discovered that there’s a distinction between catharsis and authenticity. An authentic account is rooted in fact, so accuracy … Read more
The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. said in his Letter from Birmingham Jail: “In a real sense all life is inter-related. All men are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you … Read more