Recent Writings
Here are the latest original writings published on the site. If you'd prefer to read on Medium or Substack, see the list of Cross Posts.
The Four Essential Attributes of any Organization
In order to survive and thrive, any organization must possess the following four characteristics: Identity, Integrity, Differentiation, and Profitability.
08 Feb 2023 · Essay
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Schembechler, Bacon and Leadership
I have a leadership video I’d like to share with you. And then I’d like to point out several valuable leadership lessons to be gleaned from this entertaining tale of a fiery confrontation between famed football coach Bo Schembechler and one of his student athletes, as recounted by award-winning raconteur John U. Bacon.
06 Feb 2023 · Essay
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Train to Birmingham
Southerner Thomas Wolfe, in his book You Can’t Go Home Again, wrote about our inability to travel back in time and return to our origins. John Hiatt seemed to have had much the same sentiments in mind when he penned his song “Train to Birmingham.”
03 Feb 2023 · Appreciation
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Thank God for Elon Musk!
Many people had gotten used to thinking of Twitter as a sort of public space, a digital town square where every reasonable person could find their own soapbox, and perhaps even a few people to stop and listen to them once in a while. But then Musk came along.
17 Dec 2022 · Essay
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Why Inflation Will be Hard to Contain
After staying at a pleasantly ignorable level for years, inflation is once again making headlines. And so the pundits and talking heads are falling over each other trying to explain what’s going on. But I still think most of them have a hold of the wrong end of the stick.
12 Dec 2022 · Essay
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Whenever Kindness Fails
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about this song by Robert Earl Keen first recorded by Joe Ely for his Love and Danger album, released in 1992. This is a song about the importance of showing care to others, through our words and our deeds. And about the implacable consequences of failures to do so.
18 Nov 2022 · Appreciation
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The MAGA Bubble Finally Bursts
Back on 7 Apr 2021 I wrote a piece titled “The Decline of the Republican Party - First Gradually and then Suddenly.” Well, for those who haven’t been paying attention lately, the suddenly part has now finally arrived. So what will the Republicans do now? They face a number of significant challenges.
13 Nov 2022 · Essay
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An Overdue Update from The Practical Utopian
It’s been a little while since I’ve posted anything from The Practical Utopian, so I thought it might be time to give everyone an update on what I’ve been up to over the last couple of months, including: updates to my Mac App Notenik, the new website LexiconOfSong.org, and the reborn site PortableWisdom.org.
10 Oct 2022 · Essay
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We Are Multi-Tribal
I’ve been reading a lot lately about human tribes. And all of these works make good points about our basic need to be part of a small, supportive community. But here’s one observation that seems to me to be getting too little consideration, among all this interest in early human tribes: We modern humans are multi-tribal. That is, we tend to belong to, not one, but to many tribes.
01 Aug 2022 · Essay
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Thinking about Abortion(s)
Along with many others, of course, I’ve been thinking a lot about the abortion issue of late. And I’m reminded of the classic album by Graham Parker, Squeezing Out Sparks, as well as other personal and cultural reference points.
21 Jul 2022 · Essay
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