“He is a man without love.” That was how a friend referred to a well-known public figure in America today. My friend was actually repeating what he was told by someone who knows this public figure well. This man-without-love is a very successful leader with an enormous amount of influence. Apparently, though, he has no...Read More

There is this one old-school thing that Penny and I do somewhat religiously. Almost every night, we sit down together and watch the NBC Evening News with Lester Holt. Yeah, it’s just a skim of the day’s news but it’s mildly orienting and strangely comforting to have the news delivered by a trusted voice like...Read More

Wow…it’s been a while since I have written! I’ve got a pretty good excuse. For much of the month of March I was not well. Not until I had been suffering for a bunch of weeks, did we discover through a CT scan that I had a large kidney stone lodged in my body that...Read More

“If something cannot go on forever, it will stop.” Herbert Stein, economist That makes sense in a general “duh” sort of way. But what if that also includes your professional success? Your relevance will not go on forever. It will stop. Social scientist Albert Brooks of Harvard Business School makes a strong (and depressing) case...Read More

Got friends? A few weeks ago I asked a set of questions that, if answered honestly, would give you an indication of the strength of your community…your tribe. Here are some of the questions I asked: Who could you call in the middle of the night to take you to the hospital? Who would know...Read More

If you are feeling a little lost or unmoored these days, it is likely, in part, because you don’t know who your friends are. Who can I trust? Who is safe? Who believes in me? You’d never say that out loud…you don’t want to come off as needy but, let’s be honest, sometimes we wonder...Read More

“I stare off into space for a minute. ‘I just wish my life would go back to the way it was.’ ‘Why?’ ‘Because I was happy then. Things weren’t perfect, but still, I knew where I fit. I knew where I was going.’ ‘And you don’t feel that way anymore?’ ‘No. I feel kind of…lost...Read More

I went down a rabbit hole on this one. I knew intuitively that identifying core values was one important way to get grounded again when you’re flailing in life, i.e. living in a state of anomie. But, wow, everybody has an opinion on this, and who knew how many core values are out there?! I...Read More

“Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.” ― Abraham Lincoln  Let’s shift from unmoored to anchored. For the past month I have been exploring the state of feeling unmoored, of discovering your foundations have eroded, of living with anomie. I have a sense that anomie lies at the heart of...Read More

I love a good conspiracy theory movie. Films like the Manchurian Candidate, the Da Vinci Code and The Matrix are cool escapist fare. But what if a conspiracy feels more like reality than fiction? Anomie does this to people. Last week I introduced the idea that today’s bevy of emotional and psychological struggles…depression, anxiety, despair,...Read More