Have you noticed how the concept of organizational purpose has become muddy and unclear? In pre-Industrial days, it was understood that a business was nested within a community as well as within a living ecosystem and, therefore, it existed to serve and enhance life at each of those levels. …

As in so many sectors of society, the pandemic has pushed the tourism industry to a point of reckoning. The enforced pause of the past year has allowed the industry to take full stock of its impact on communities and on our natural life support systems. As a result, what…

I’ve just given a short talk to a corporate audience at a daylong online conference. I was invited to help close out the day with some provocative thoughts. And still, it felt risky and brave. Here’s the description of the session, as it was given to me: This discussion will…

Just over half the US population and much of the rest of the world is puzzling over one question: why would anyone (much less 70 million people) continue to support Trump, given everything he and those associated with him have said and done? …

Last week, I facilitated a virtual summit on the need and opportunity for profound change in how our society cares for its elderly. …

It’s frustrating and disappointing — to put it in absurdly mild terms — that we’re still having to protest the same problems we did in the 1960s. That decade brought so much power to the table, with the Civil Rights movement, the Stonewall riots, the Women’s Liberation movement, the anti-war…

Last week I kicked off a month-long series of discussions with members of New Hampshire Businesses for Social Responsibility. Our topic is “Live Free and Thrive,” a twist on the state’s strident “live free or die” motto and an exploration of the meaning of freedom in these times. …

I have this strange occupational hazard in which I fall in love a little with whatever group I am serving, even if the encounter is brief — even, I’m discovering, if the interaction is separated by monitors and keyboards within the constraints of social distancing. This is how I find…

Suddenly, everything is up in the air. The ground has fallen out from beneath us. That vertigo we feel is real. Like the coyote in those old Road Runner cartoons, we’re suspended just beyond the edge of the cliff, waiting with equal parts denial and dread. Between coronavirus and climate…