The Mansfield Newsletter Empowering you to overcome challenges and succeed My bride, Susan, and I just attended two separate high school reunions in the last few weeks and I’m getting ready for a third one in about twelve days – and all of the reunions are ours! Wait, people only graduate from one high school, what’s up? You’re correct. Here’s the simple solution - They are Susan’s reunion, Dennis’s reunion and … Dennis’s other reunion (I’ll get to that in a bit.) Though we didn’t meet until...
24 days ago • 8 min read
The Mansfield Newsletter Empowering you to overcome challenges and succeed Think of one of the most precious photos of yourself or your family in a lovely frame. Got it in your mind? Now close your eyes and imagine the framed image 100 years in the future… on a wall of a restaurant chain property that’s located on a truck route in Nebraska… And then shiver from the embarrassment? Arghhh… Maybe, maybe not. Let me start to unpack my thought. Years ago, while sitting in a local Cracker Barrel...
3 months ago • 5 min read
The Mansfield Newsletter Empowering you to overcome challenges and succeed There’s a slightly raised residential curb across the street from where I grew up as a high school kid. For whatever reason, on a June evening I ambled barefoot across the street and sat on it alone. I don’t recall being sad. I think I was somehow starting to distance myself from my own adolescence. In just a week or so I would head to basic training at West Point and then on into my future. I just sat and let my mind...
3 months ago • 6 min read
The Mansfield Newsletter Empowering you to overcome challenges and succeed I was once a very loud man. I don’t mean in a verbose and obnoxious way (though some might disagree on that… ha!) I was professionally loud and stirred up conflicts in the world of public policy, via media, legislation and initiatives. I saw trends and challenged them on television and on the radio. It got messy. At times, I described my job to reporters as a “sewer cleaner;” I descended into a pit of societal slime...
4 months ago • 6 min read
The Mansfield Newsletter Empowering you to overcome challenges and succeed A question that divides the generations? Maybe, maybe not… Do you listen to podcasts? You don’t? Hmm, well, you’re in good company, I suppose – that is, if you were born between 1946 and 1964. You’re a Baby Boomer. And when a Baby Boomer asks another more basic question, “What really IS a podcast?” the answers to both the two questions may slap them in the face. Or: You DO listen to podcasts…AND ARE NOT A BOOMER, just...
4 months ago • 5 min read
The Mansfield Newsletter Empowering you to overcome challenges and succeed Road trips are crazy. Take for example this one. Sorry, I couldn’t resist. (Didn’t click the link? Go back and please do so… you’ll be a changed person.) I’m not completely sure whether I like road trips or whether I just like the idea of road trips. Susan and I often take road trips from Idaho, down through Utah, over into Arizona and finally through Nevada to California. We take turns driving, changing seats when we...
5 months ago • 6 min read
The Mansfield Newsletter Empowering you to overcome challenges and succeed There’s a children’s book by Judith Viorst entitled “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day”. My wife Susan tells me it’s a story that belongs on every child’s bookshelf. “Alexander could tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. He went to sleep with gum in his mouth and woke up with gum in his hair. When he got out of bed, he tripped over his skateboard and by mistake...
6 months ago • 7 min read
The Mansfield Newsletter Empowering you to overcome challenges and succeed Judging someone is a much frowned upon activity in our culture. The catchphrase, “Don’t judge me” is a commonly heard response towards one who submits an undesired summation that conflicts with the narrative of the offended person. It’s normally spoken with a shirk and a snarl… You and I may have either said it (or thought it); but is it accurate? Judging is frowned upon unless it is patently obvious to the casual...
6 months ago • 8 min read
The Mansfield Newsletter Empowering you to overcome challenges and succeed “That’s a long time to be married after so short a courtship. How did you make it work?” an acquaintance asked when he found out our details. You see, Susan and I met in January of that year, I asked her to marry me in July and we were married in November. (Valentine’s Day was the first holiday that we celebrated!) This year will be our 48th Valentine’s Day. So, yes, his question was a good one. Although short...
7 months ago • 6 min read