Back in ought six (I couldn’t resist), Emy Johnson was looking for a way to teach the power of generosity to her children, ages five and eight. She and her husband Scott wanted to do something different, something special, to connect their family to others beyond their comfortable suburban neighborhood, and to make service a […]

“For God’s sake, let us sit upon the ground And tell sad stories of the death of kings.” – Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of Richard the Second.” This past week, I learned that a friend and mentor, Christian Bredo Berghoff, passed away in April. Our world is slightly darker without Chris, and I wish to […]

Treasured Readers, Last week I joined my elder son at the Tomahawk Scout Reservation, where he spent a week surrounded by great natural beauty, learning jokes about bodily functions.  He’s 11 years old; it was heaven.   I slipped our drycleaner an extra fiver to do what she could about the smell of his sleeping bag, […]

This week marked our final session with the Metro Fire Chief Officers Association (MFCOA).   We had a rich discussion, looking at some of the core challenges facing both chief and line officers: bringing out the best in our people.  Central to this discussion was the work of Daniel H. Pink, from his most recent book, Drive.  […]

In our third of four sessions, we are focusing on some underlying values for public safety organizations: Excellent Public Service Sound Stewardship of Resources Fairness to Employees We continue to build out this set of values as a resource to aid public leaders in decision-making and to evaluate resource needs and priorities. We then turn to leading […]