Many years ago I was introduced to the work of Sir Ken Robinson.  He has been named as one of Time/Fortune/CNN’s ‘Principal Voices’. He was acclaimed by Fast Company magazine as one of “the world’s elite thinkers on creativity and innovation” and was ranked in the Thinkers50 list of the world’s top business thinkers.  In 2003, he received a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II for his services to the arts.  Robinson is the most watched speaker in TED’s history. His 2006 talk, “Do Schools Kill Creativity” has been viewed online over 40 million times and seen by an estimated 350 million people in 160 countries. …

Last week I took some time for myself to relax and rejuvenate.  Each morning I took a walk that enabled me to see some beautiful sunrises and some unique sites (Decorated Beach Trees). During those walks I had opportunities to FaceTime with Grace, my three year old granddaughter, who lives near the beach in Northern New Jersey.  She had difficulty understanding why Grandpa could go to the beach, wear shorts, and walk in the water in the winter.  Per Grace, “It’s too cold to go to the beach and walk in the water silly grandpa!”  …

This was an interesting week.  For whatever reason, the theme of “Relationships” emerged from a number of conversations had with friends, former colleagues and two people I met for the first time.  Hence, my reading was somewhat driven.

For our purposes, Miriam Webster identifies “Relationship” as, “The way in which two or more people or organizations read and behave toward each other.”  LOL, if only it was that simple.  As we all know, there are so many factors that influence these relationships, many of which we cannot control.…

What is the most precious commodity we have?  TIME!  How often have you wished to have:

• just a few more minutes to sleep in the morning?
• an extra few hours in the day to get it all done?
• an extra day to finalize everything before that event?
• more TIME to spend with the family or that special someone?

The bigger question is, how do we use the TIME we have?  Are we making the most effective use of that which is available to us?  …

I had an interesting conversation with a former neighbor that caused me to reflect on my career.  While at dinner last weekend, my wife and I encountered a couple we had not seen in many years.  After talking about the children and grandchildren the conversation shifted, and to our mutual surprise Joe and I discovered that retirement was our new venue .  Joe is a successful and respected attorney who retired as a partner in one of the largest law firms in the area.…