Inspired Leadership

Boardroom and church – how much difference?

By Ann Macfarlane / December 20, 2018 / Comments Off on Boardroom and church – how much difference?
Photo of David Rumsey

David Rumsey, past president of the American Translators Association, offers thoughts for the holiday season in this guest post. 

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Expectations are planned resentments

By Ann Macfarlane / November 16, 2018 / Comments Off on Expectations are planned resentments

Guest post by Craig Freshley. We have been big fans of Craig’s wisdom for years and are honored to share this guest post with our readers. Visit Craig’s website for more superb tips on meetings and leadership.

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We need to be brutally honest as Election Day approaches

By Ann Macfarlane / November 2, 2018 / Comments Off on We need to be brutally honest as Election Day approaches

My friend Donna Cameron writes, “We need to be brutally honest with ourselves.

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Beware of negativity bias

By Ann Macfarlane / August 25, 2018 / Comments Off on Beware of negativity bias

Human beings have a sharp and useful instinct for the negative.

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Robert’s Rules as spiritual discipline

By Ann Macfarlane / April 16, 2018 /

Readers of this blog know that I am conflicted about Robert’s Rules of Order. On the one hand, they offer key insights for fair and democratic meetings. On the other, the official book is too long, too complex, and too hard to read for most of us.

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Be a crouching tiger at meetings

By Ann Macfarlane / July 13, 2017 /

As I watch meetings roll along, the good, the bad and the ugly, I often wish that chairs would observe the habits of the crouching tiger. This Sumatran beauty is lying on the rock, perfectly calm, alert and at ease – but ready to pounce at a moment’s notice. If you are chairing a meeting,…

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“Ann, nobody wants your job”

By Ann Macfarlane / November 28, 2016 / Comments Off on “Ann, nobody wants your job”
card showing king of golf

Arnold Palmer passed away in October. I was interested to read in one obituary that he hated his nickname, “King of Golf.” He was quoted as saying, “There is no king of golf. Never has been, never will be. Golf is the most democratic game on earth. It punishes and exalts us all with splendid…

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Emotional intelligence for wise meetings

By Ann Macfarlane / June 29, 2016 /
emotional intelligence on whiteboard

Using emotional intelligence will allow any leader to run better meetings. A successful leader has to be aware of his own emotions and those of others, and has to be able to deal with emotion constructively. Unfortunately many of us are prone to react impulsively in tough situations, unless we have done the hard work…

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The flickering lights men live by in the dark

By Ann Macfarlane / November 24, 2015 / Comments Off on The flickering lights men live by in the dark
photo of two oil lamps

My mother was sustained through the troubled years of World War II in part by the poems of David Morton. After the violence in Paris, I found myself returning to his poem, “Pieties.”      The flickering lights men live by in the dark:      Pity, and love, and learning, hardly won…      These…

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“The Intern” and my love story

By Ann Macfarlane / November 24, 2015 /
photo of two people

My oldest son took me to see the movie “The Intern” and I loved every bit of it. Afterwards, I realized that the arc of the story line followed my own love story. In my twenties, I was a “bright young thing” enjoying a great career with the State Department. Everything looked great on the…

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