inspiration, ideas & inroads for health
After enjoying a pleasant picnic on an island in Lake Minnetonka, our friend Cindy and I gathered up dinner gear as the sun slipped into the horizon, leaving a splash of color behind. Busy chatting as we set up for a campfire and tucked gear away before dark, we didn’t notice that the sky had changed. We were startled when Continue reading From Peaceful Evening to Stormy Night
When I got home after receiving my lay-off notice from General Mills, I tossed my severance packet on the couch, joined my husband on the porch with a glass of wine, and started brainstorming names for the business I wanted to start. After working on the naming challenge for about six weeks, I was telling our friend Doug Benson Continue reading Sunset and Fireworks Mark Key Milestones
As he eyed three passports and a Minnesota Driver’s License, a Canadian Customs Officer asked me (the driver) why a Brit, an Australian, and two U.S. citizens (from Georgia and Minnesota) were traveling together across the border at Niagara Falls? I replied that we were attending a conference at the University of Buffalo and wanted to visit the falls. He Continue reading Passport to Rainbows and Waterfalls
Jay and I paused at the crest of a foothill overlooking Boulder to the east and the Rocky Mountains to the west. According to my iPhone Activity App, we had climbed 71 floors. We decided to rest on a fallen log. While we soaked in the vista, Jay recounted a memory about hiking in the woods of Northern Wisconsin with Continue reading Resting Logs Kept Little Legs Moving
Snow covered the grounds of the Cooper Aerobic Center in Dallas, TX, when Georgia Kostas arrived for her interview with Dr. Kenneth Cooper in 1977. Tip-toeing out of the cab in her winter-white suit and pink floral blouse (with a flouncy bow), Georgia’s heart was set on getting this job. A few years earlier, Georgia had become inspired to work Continue reading Nevertheless She Persisted in Wellness
At the close of an intense month of immersion and ideation on a new opportunity, my client was in a rocky place about the next steps in their project. Like most deep dives, the process had surfaced new questions and many possibilities. Valuable marketplace, consumer, competitive, and technical data had been collected and reviewed. The team had generated a plethora Continue reading Drowning in Data? Pitch with a Story!
Four-year-old Jackson sounded like a seal barking as he called from his bedroom one wintery Sunday afternoon. I’d put him down for a nap an hour earlier and hoped sleep would curtail his cough. He was frightened and struggling to breathe. A call to our doctor: “hang up and dial 911.” The ambulance arrived in no time, and medics whisked Continue reading Lessons from Croup and Captain Hook
Gravity pulled me down the narrow ski trail as I navigated a series of sharp turns with trees on either side. My relief in making it to the bottom without a tumble turned into a sense of pride and accomplishment. I’d been skiing for over an hour and was headed back to my car. Tired but exhilarated, I’d had a Continue reading Lost and Found on Skinny Skis
Tech check was done … 15 min countdown ticking. Equipped with a clicker and a wireless mic, Chris Quam stood on the stage of a cavernous ballroom in the Las Vegas Convention Center. His heart sunk with dread that people might not come. Nervous, but not scared, his confidence soared as the audience started to fill the hundreds of seats Continue reading An Exhilarating Career Experience Became a Book
The winter sun was setting as Jay and I arrived at the tree farm to harvest our first Christmas tree as a married couple. The farm was a little more primitive than we’d expected. A fog was settling in. The next evening we were hosting a “Tree Trimming Party,” so we really needed to get a tree. Distracted with party Continue reading 2017 Holiday Story: Tale of the Toppling Tree