Ayn Rand or Anu Partanen: Who Should We Follow?
Opinion – Longboat Observer, January 21, 2021 At the close of each year, Observer Media Group’s Editor and CEO, Matt Walsh, shares with his readers the single word or phrase he finds most important for the year ahead. Walsh has chosen ANTHEM which is the title of Ayn Rand’s 1937 novel as our North Star for 2021. He writes: “That word symbolizes what has been and what is occurring in the U.S., and it stands as a word of warning, especially to those who truly cherish the idea of liberty and who reject the idea of being subservient to the state and those who wield its power.” He highlights this particular Ayn Rand quote: “America’s abundance was not created by public sacrifices to ‘the common good’ but by the productive genius of free men who pursued their own...
Read MoreEmbracing Our Differences & the Coronavirus
In these times especially, the opportunity to see something truly original, consciously inclusive, and obviously impactful is tremendously up-lifting. Embracing our Differences is an organization founded by two modest and humble Sarasota philantrophists, Dennis and Grace McGillicuddy. Pictured above is one of the fifty 16 feet wide by 12.5 feet high billboards I saw in Sarasota, Florida’s beautiful Bayfront Park in late March before driving to Md. Remarkably, since 2004 nearly 3 million have toured this annual event including 218,000 last year. For the 2020 exhibit there were 16,000 submissions, from 127 countries, 389 schools, and all fifty states. I don’t know but I imagine this result might have started years ago as a husband/wife conversation coffee cups in hand between two good hearted and capable people at a kitchen table.*. Just now, as I am writing this, I...
Read MoreGallup StrengthFinders
Have you ever had that out of the blue experience where spontaneously you start thinking about something complex and suddenly a light bulb goes off. For whatever reason, you see the same thing but in a different way and you begin making connections you had never done before. Personally, I have a better grasp of this today having recently spent some time revisiting Gallup’s StrengthsFinders work in more depth. Gallup’s decades of research about a persons’ innate talents has resulted in a useful personal assessment tool that identifies 34 distinct themes/ talents The odds of someone else sharing your top five themes in the identical order according to Gallup is one in 288,000. For each theme Gallup provides a vivid description as well as related “Ideas for Action”. In 2004 they branded their core assessment instrument already used by...
Read MoreWhich Way for the Soul of America? – November 2018
November 3, 2018…….and 72 hours before a midterm election that is likely to be remembered months, years, and perhaps decades ahead. Most pundits are saying that the Democrats are likely to regain control of the House. I don’t know about this. I only know that more than any time in my adult life I’ve paid attention daily to the utterances and actions of our President. Trump would dismiss me as a consumer of “fake news” too “elite” to appreciate the great things he has accomplished in just two years in office: the US economy is booming reflected in a 3.7% unemployment rate, real wages have started to rise for the first time in years, Mexico and Canada as trading partners are treating the US more fairly and he will see that China does too. In truth, Trump lies so...
Read MoreMid Atlantic Club Management Association Celebrates 30 Years
Mid Atlantic Club Management Association Celebrates 30 Years Mitch Wald and I co-founded MACMA in 1986. Delighted it’s still going strong. Below is their most recent...
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