Wandering Into Wisdom

This blog chronicles the knowledge, insight and wisdom I encounter every day as a leadership consultant, executive coach, educator, father, friend and citizen. This site is dedicated to my father, Louis (Jack) Laughlin, who passed on to me an appreciation for wisdom. A special thanks to my friend Isaac Cheifetz, a businessman and journalist, who helped me understand the value of blogs and encouraged me to write one.

A Strange Look*

I was watching a meteorologist on the local news and noticed she had a strange expression on her face. I couldn’t quite put my finger on why it was unusual until I realized that her eyebrows were moving. I have become so used to watching newscasters with Botox treatments that seeing one with normal facial expressions looked out of the ordinary.

Watching Big Brother*

“George Orwell imagined a world where Big Brother is watching us. We, instead, with little cell phone cameras are watching Big Brother every moment of the day.”
Henry Jenkins, Director of Comparative Media Studies at MIT

Go The Distance*

I travel from Minneapolis to Los Angeles frequently to visit family. Despite some differences in climate and traffic they are pretty much the same. It's strange to think that it's about the same distance from Paris to Moscow.

Flato*

As an undergraduate student I volunteered at a nursing home. I was struggling to understand life and figured that’s where the wisdom was. I particularly liked an African American gentleman named Flato. He would have objected to the label gentleman since he had very little education and spent most of his life on the road. His stories and perspectives on life taught me a great deal. I remember once telling him that I was getting tired of school and thinking about quitting. I figured he wouldn’t lecture me about getting an education. I was wrong.

Walking Master*

I walk our dog almost every morning. I realized this morning that I get more exercise taking care of the dog than I ever did taking care of myself.

Hey Neighbor*

I was driving near our house a couple of days ago and came to a stop sign. It was raining so the bottom of my shoe was wet and slipped off the brake. I lurched forward and stopped again just as another car honked with an angry tone. I looked up just in time to see the look on my next door neighbor's face change from angry to smiling when he realized it was me. It makes you wonder how much of the anger we experience every day is driven by lack of familiarity.

Intelligence*

There is a lot of controversy about what I.Q. scores really mean. My psychological measurements professor made it clear to us that I.Q. is highly correlated with success in school and anything else constitutes a "misuse of the assessment."