Inspiration Amid Distress
While I have tried to make the Monday Morning Mojo apolitical, it is difficult to write about any subject this week without referencing what is happening in Afghanistan. I am hopeful the future will be better than the past for many of the refugees, and I pray the future for those staying in the country […]
An Olympic Celebration Of The Human Experience
I have borrowed this title from my longtime colleague and good friend Yolan Laporte encompassing what transpired in Tokyo this past month. For today’s Monday Morning Mojo, I am sharing a recap of a few of the inspiring stories we witnessed during the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympic Games. I have asked different people what stories […]
A Life Well Lived
For this week’s Monday Morning Mojo I am sharing a eulogy I gave at the funeral of my former elementary school teacher, drivers ed instructor, lifelong soccer coach and very good friend. His name is Paul Dresser and I have featured him numerous times in Monday Morning Mojo passages given the influence he has had […]
Olympic Inspiration
Friday, July 23 will mark the Opening Ceremonies of the Games of the XXXII (32nd) Olympiad, also known as Tokyo 2020. These are the Games that were intended to be held last year but were postponed to this summer because of the global pandemic. Today’s Monday Morning Mojo is a tribute to everything Olympics as […]
Random and Non-Random Acts Of Kindness
At the beginning of the year I wrote about a very kind gesture by a man who bought me a cup of coffee because the coffee shop would not accept cash and I did not have a credit card on hand. His message to me was most memorable, “a guy needs his coffee in the […]
A Tribute To Fathers
A happy Father’s Day to all those Monday Morning Mojo readers who celebrated this holiday yesterday. Today’s post will pay tribute to fathers in similar fashion to what I shared on Mother’s Day. Personal Shout Out To Jim Gradoville When I think about “hero” fathers, beyond my immediate experience, my good friend and long-time neighbor […]
Ideas, Inspiring Creativity & More
One of the most memorable training programs I attended when working at Ogilvy for more than three decades was a session led by our former CEO Miles Young. The course focused on “how to generate ideas”, specifically related to improving our creative product. Miles provided us with a book, “A Technique for Producing Ideas” by […]
How to Improve Your Odds in Life: Surface Area of Luck
“A desk is a dangerous place from which to view the world,” once cautioned the famous British fiction writer, John le Carre. While travelling beyond our work-from-home environments has made getting out behind our desks more difficult, spreading your wings virtually can be the next best thing. Today’s Monday Morning Mojo is dedicated to improving […]
“Moms Out There, You Are The Real MVP”
A Mother’s Vision In November 2020 I had the honor of meeting Shuping Zhao. Shuping is not someone most of the Monday Morning Mojo community would come in contact with. She lives on a farm in the outskirts of Beijing, a neighborhood where she has lived all of her life. She is 61 years-old and […]
Advice For The Ages
Nearly 30 years ago I was sitting in a crowded conference room somewhere in Southeast Asia. The location is a bit blurred right now, but the advice shared lasted a lifetime. I was at one of the fantastic annual Ogilvy Asia conferences where we would meet with colleagues from around the region, listen, learn and […]