Every day, we are writing the story of our lives. We don’t always think of it that way. Life happens to us. We get busy. Before we know it, we are signing holiday cards and decking the halls. Creating a richer, more vivid story requires that we first look backward,...
General
Resolutions, Self-determination, and What Makes a Change Stick
I’ve been setting and forgetting resolutions my whole life. Like most people, I’ve had mixed results. Like the year I got incredibly fit and lost 40 pounds after I turned 50. Or the time I found a beautiful little house in a good area that I could actually afford. Or...
The Rising LGBTQ Tide and Millennial Voters
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...
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...