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The First Leaf of Fall
The Velvet Revolution or Gentle Revolution was a non-violent student-led revolution in Czechoslovakia that took place from November 17 to December 29 1989. Dominated by student and other popular demonstrations against the one-party government of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia it saw to the collapse of the party's control of the country ” and the subsequent conversion from Czech socialism to parliamentary republic. As well” it vaulted Vaclev Havel an essayist and playwright to fame. Twenty-one years later the Arab Spring was precipitated by students taking part in mostly non-violent protests. In both cases ” it was young people taking the lead. Today” I heard something that surprised…
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Family Dynamics
At the most recent Gathering conference I sat in on a session where the dominant topic was dealing with family issues. That reminded me of an article we published years ago ” but it is just as timely today. The Baylor University Institute for Family Business convened a Forum of 50 people in San Antonio and used an interesting technique for helping family members understand the different dynamics in families. The group was subdivided into several subgroups – including mothers” fathers sons and daughters of owners and in-laws. Each group was asked to converse among themselves and come up with messages they would like to send to the other…
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Going Out of Business
There was a time when families establishing private foundations rarely thought about an end to the foundation. They assumed what they had created would last (as intended) in perpetuity from generation to generation. What they discovered as John D. Rockefeller observed years ago is “perpetuity is a very long time.” I have been talking with families and executives this week about the growing number of private foundations deciding to “sunset” after a predetermined number of years. Of course, the primary reason is the concern about the mission and values of the foundation shifting away over time from the original intent of the donor. There are other reasons – like children…
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2012 PIGS
2012 PIGS I am at the 27th annual convening of the Professionals in Grantmaking Society (PIGS). What began as a group of five friends getting together to share information encouragement and frankly ” gossip has become a tradition that will probably outlive us all. That's because the old guard manages not to tell war stories” and the young participants have the freedom to change not only the topics but the format. It's not perfect and none of us would like it to be ” but it is one of the few chances people have to meet with their peers without disruption. I want to list some of the questions and…
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Batting Against Obama
In a column from last year titled “Who will bat against ‘Alibi’ Obama ” George Will wrote “Announcing his candidacy near the Statue of Liberty where Ronald Reagan began his 1980 post-convention campaign Huntsman promised ‘civility’ because ‘I don’t think you need to run down someone’s reputation’ when running for president. Actually ” you do.” I doubt George was advocating vicious personal attacks” but I do think he was saying we need to define “civil” as something other than “bland.” I only mention this because I have had two conversations recently with organizations in Washington D.C. ” that are both working to bring “civility” back into politics. Is that…
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The Wheat and the Weeds
In the last year I have been wondering how so much great art literature business success music ” charity and church growth have been accomplished by such distorted -and oftentimes tortured – personalities. If you read a few biographies” other than George Washington and a very few others ” you get a sense of how extraordinary talent is almost invariably carried by cracked souls and inflated egos. One of my favorite quotes is from “Amadeus” wherein Salieri pronounces his judgment on Mozart and God at the same time: “I heard the music of true forgiveness filling the theater” conferring on all who sat there perfect absolution. God was singing through…
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I’ll Fly Away
Today I went to the funeral of a young 29-year-old man who killed himself after nine years of fighting schizophrenia. He had Christian music playing in his car and a book by his pastor on the seat next to him. Until he went away to college he was “normal” and showed absolutely no signs of mental illness. He was a kid. Just a kid. Schizophrenia is a disease that typically begins in early adulthood; between the ages of 15 and 25. Men tend to develop schizophrenia slightly earlier than women and whereas most males become ill between 16 and 25 years old, most females develop symptoms several years later. As…
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I'll Fly Away
Today I went to the funeral of a young 29-year-old man who killed himself after nine years of fighting schizophrenia. He had Christian music playing in his car and a book by his pastor on the seat next to him. Until he went away to college he was “normal” and showed absolutely no signs of mental illness. He was a kid. Just a kid. Schizophrenia is a disease that typically begins in early adulthood; between the ages of 15 and 25. Men tend to develop schizophrenia slightly earlier than women and whereas most males become ill between 16 and 25 years old, most females develop symptoms several years later. As…
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The Beginning at the End
My father grew up in poverty in Nashville ” Tennessee. My grandfather was a pastor” who also happened to be an Irishman named Bunyan. He was somewhat forced to move from church to church because he would tell the truth about the departed at funerals. However ” my grandmother was determined that my Dad would get out of their poor neighborhood and – while making something of himself – he would make something of her life as well. She could not go but she could send him to be successful. As many of you know” men who become successful often discover the allure of expensive cars. My Dad discovered…
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Life Is Hard
A recent column by David Brooks 'The Life Reports' included this line:
