I have the opportunity to connect with very interesting people. One such person has just been commissioned to advance his organization’s national training programs. Through our recent conversations, two of his idea stood out: This is my paraphrase...

The world seems to be heading into a period of rapid change, pain and chaos. This is affecting every employee under our watch. Some of your people have gone dark, others are riddled with anxiety while some are literally hanging on by a thread. Under these conditions...

When I was 9 my dad took us, 5 kids, on a weekend camping trip to Buttle Lake, Vancouver Island. It was a bit too cold to swim so dad came up with an adventure plan. In this valley the mountains literally rose right out of the lake, but behind the campsite there was...

Foundational leadership values? Are you confident that they are clean, good and will serve not just your interests but the interests of those you serve? Many leaders simply get swamped with the day to day and as a result do not have an up to date values foundation...

In the past 24 hours I have listened to experts on Leadership, Markets, Demography, Geo-politics, War and History and they seem to all point to the importance of the value of trust. If the lender no longer trusts the borrower, if the landlord no longer trusts...

This weekend Karen and I were invited to participate in a wilderness adventure race: canoeing, archery, hiking, fire starting, hammering nails, sawing through logs, a puzzle, a poem, more canoeing, a run, swim and then finally a race up the hill to ring the bell. It was...

I recently went down a rabbit hole researching the USA military analysis and basic handbooks on the human factor… the will to fight. It appears that this could be one of the most important factors for war while at the same time one of the most overlooked. If...

In my neck of the woods the weather is turning and a new season is starting to show its colors.    These seasonal transitions are great moments to ask ourselves questions about where our life is going. Do you currently have a clearly defined goal, target, mission...

Good day: Once a month we are gathering folks for a ZOOM think tank: Switchback Innovation TEAM meeting. The foundational question we are fascinated with is: “How do large organizations like the US Forest Service shift/transform their culture...

One of my Forest Service Wildland FireFighting buddies, Phil Capurro texted me after I posted the GOLD LETTER: Mid Season Check-In (Dog Days of Summer). I think there is some very interesting...

In Canada and the US our summer seasonal workforce is in what is called the dog days of summer. This slang saying is commonly defined as hot, sultry summer weather also, a period...

We thrive and succeed when we know what we stand for and where we are going. Unfortunately these two seemingly simple foundational keys to life today are actually very hard to maintain and sustain. Have you noticed that the “thought leaders” you follow...

It is all quiet in my home, Karen's in town, my parents are off on a two day road trip and I am watching, for the first time, the 2015 documentary of the: 1994 South Canyon Fire on Storm King Mountain. The narrator starts with, “It has been two decades...

Here is a story for the ages. When my colleague/friend described this moment you could almost cut the air in the room. It was so thick with wonder. As a Canadian west coast production Hand Faller he and his buddies were used to very challenging...