I am grateful for the extended break from global travel–which largely consumed 40-50% of my time for the past 5 years. This break allows me way more time to hike in our beautiful Finger Lakes region of New York (loving the Gaia GPS app), grow and harvest veggies in the garden, read, meditate and cook more with all those fresh veggies. I am exploring winter gardening this year with a small patch of the garden under a cold frame.

At Humentum, I am starting to wind down the crazy year of 2020 with only two weeks of full time work expected in December. I am looking forward to starting a new consultancy project with one of our members of how to design a fit-for-the-future HR team in the context of digital transformation, decolonization of aid, and anti-racism.

I am exploring brining more samatha into my meditation practice and looking ahead to a silent retreat around the turn of the new year. I am grateful for the guidance of Ayya Dhammadipa and the talks from Thanissaro Bikkhu at this point in my practice.

I am currently reading Why Greatness Cannot Be Planned: They Myth of the Objective which turns everything we we thought we knew about how big ideas come to life on its head. Other 2020 reading so far: for fiction, I read Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts and The Saddlebag by Bahiyyih Nakhjavani. For non-fiction, I have competed Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates, North by Scott and Jenny Jurek. I am working on Mindful of Race by Ruth King and am reading (slowly) Being Time by Shinshu Roberts.

Empathy matters, but is just the first step to Compassion in Leadership:

1. Being fully present to someone(s) anger, fear, anxiety, or overwhelm.

2. Asking yourself “Is there something I can do to help?”

3. Having the wisdom to recognize and accept that sometimes the answer to question number 2 is no. Yet committing to being fully present anyway.

Updated November 27, 2020 from Ithaca, NY USA

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