While other kids played hide and seek, I played wordsmith.
I’d sit at my vintage Underwood typewriter with a thrift-shop fedora perched on my eight-year-old head, the word PRESS scrawled on a 3×5 card stuck rakishly in the frayed hat band. I’d bang away at my stories: weather reports (as observed through my bedroom window); the latest exploits of the local Search and Rescue team (my dad was the commander); and opinion pieces ranging from musings about equality (seriously! I still have the original essay on that weirdly sticky, erasable typing paper) to reflections on the impermanent nature of everything that surrounded us in the small mountain town of Skyforest, California.
I never stopped writing.
But in addition to written content, I’m also interested in personal content – the stuff that makes up the meat and meaning of our individual lives. Shakespeare coined the phrase “heart’s content” to express the deep satisfaction, the contentment, that comes when we intentionally fill our lives with the qualities that makes us feel whole, alive, and vital. I want to help people live, work, make, and contribute – to their hearts’ content.
So, whether I’m writing or coaching, facilitating workshops, or leading creative teams my philosophy is this: if we can be more deliberate about the CONTENT of our lives – by asking big questions, listening deeply for unusual or surprising ideas, taking creative risks from a place of psychological safety, and plunging wholeheartedly into the messy, ambiguous, iterative realm of Making – then there’s no limit to what we can accomplish.
To learn more about my background, check out my LinkedIn profile.