I don’t usually cover politics. I prefer to write about people and things that change the culture. Spring means commencement speeches, and often politicians pop up to give them, including Vice President Mike Pence. I love following college graduations because they offer a rare snap shot into what’s trending as...
General
Home Front: To My Thoreau Delight
Sometime in 2017, my husband and I decided to look for a home in the woods. After months of fruitless searching, we nearly gave up. Shortly after we agreed to end the struggle, our realtor shot us a must-see listing. Yes! We made it ours. It’s a mid-century modern gem...
News: Trend Report will be a Video Series!
After 9 years, I’m excited to announce that beginning in January, the new format for our popular Trend Report will be a video series. Change is good. After all, does anyone really need a giant sheaf of written findings to add to their monstrous stack of things to read? We...
How to Make a Better Future for Yourself
On a sultry afternoon in August, I scooped up an armful of daily newspapers and trudged up to my writing studio to make sense of things: Neo-Nazis brandishing Tiki torches, the circus that is the White House and bitter partisan finger pointing. I must tell you, I see a pattern...
Announcing the 2017 Trend Report
It’s here! Our 2017 Trend Report is ready for download. This year, the team celebrated the fact that this marks our seventh annual Trend Report. It feels like a landmark in a world where very little lasts. Because we focus on deep social trends that have the power to endure,...
Field Notes: What Successful People Know About Themselves
A few years ago, I bought a Nike Fuel band to help me with my fitness goals. I loved how it cheered me on when I hit a milestone. Wearing it 24/7 bolstered my identity as an athletic person. My current research on the changing relationship between ambition and identity...
The Ultimate Recipe for Top-Performing Teams
I remember the first time I designed a workshop for a client who wanted to encourage his team after re-organization. The company was poised for a renaissance, he said. If only he could make the new team configuration gel. A few jobs had been eliminated, so people were touchy. Teams...
The Road to Eureka!
It happens fairly often as I’m researching social trends. I’m faced with moments when I’m desperate for that really big eureka. I’m not talking about a run-of-the-mill “aha” moment. I’m talking about the kind of insight that blows the ceiling off a client’s conference room. When I need inspiration sometimes,...
As Simple Step to Better Thinking
Escapism. It’s a precious thing to be able to clear the mind. To sit quietly by yourself, in a place outside your comfort zone (by that I mean, not your local coffee shop… you know, the one with the free wi-fi, where you sit in that same spot by the...