The young woman walks into my self-defense class and exclaims: “I’m soooo psyched to learn strikes and punches to take out an attacker!” By the time she leaves, though, she assuredly says: “Wow, I never knew I could stand up for myself by just saying one word: No. It’s so effective.” In more than 20 years of teaching self-defense and personal safety programs to women, girls, men, and boys, I’ve heard and se ...

THWACK! I catch a whiff of the pine board I just broke with my bare hand and see small splinters splayed out on the stage. No matter how many times I’ve broken a 1-inch board, the effortless feeling of going through a board “like a hot knife through butter” never ceases to amaze me. Breaking a 1-inch pine board with your bare hand is not an easy feat—the thought of trying to do it can cause disbelief, trepi ...

While in Izmir I had an opportunity to visit Dozuk Eylul University and learn more about their plans for a Biomedicine & Genome Institute and Health Technology Development & Accelerator Center.  Dozuk Eylul is the largest university in Western Turkey and has 51 research and development centers.  We are developing a similar health technology incubator in Illinois and I was excited to learn more about ...

It’s February.  The New Year is over one month old and it seems like a good time to take stock of New Year’s resolutions.  I don’t usually share my resolutions, because they tend to be deeply personal and often I fall far short of achieving them.  It’s that old fear of vulnerability and failure again.  But in the spirit of facing those fears I am sharing my resolutions here in the hope that my journey to im ...

In a meeting today I listened to an impressive woman refer to herself and one of her colleagues as "the future leaders of our organization".  I loved hearing that, the promise in those words and the confidence in which she claimed it.  It inspired me to write today about another of my fears, one that she has overcome but I believe many more of us share.  Leadership. It probably seems strange that the Deputy ...

Stepping out on faith As I write this I am on my way to Turkey for three weeks to learn about the Turkish health care system and Turkish culture, network and build international connections.  It's an exciting opportunity but one that also scares me.  Traveling alone to a country I've never been to before and immersing myself in different culture for three weeks definitely falls outside of my comfort zone.   ...

“Indecision may or may not be my problem.”-- Jimmy Buffett   I must admit that I love watching The Cupcake Wars while working out.  It’s a guilty pleasure.  In The Cupcake Wars, the pairs of contestants face bizarre themes, strange ingredients and, after making past the first two rounds, team members unknown to them.  The leader must direct her/his team in extremely short time periods in designing and ...

I recently was at a meeting where the woman who was conducting the meeting was very much like a High School cheerleader.  She bounced in the room, greeted us loudly, with great enthusiasm, and over-the-top gestures.  This didn’t sit well with me because we were there to make the solemn decision of who was to move up in the organization, who was to remain, and who might be removed from the organization.  It ...

I often share a story when I’m speaking of a time I had to cry.  I was humiliated, disappointed and frustrated.  Tears were my only release.  I went into a ladies’ room by myself and made sure that no one was around.  I sobbed my heart out.  After crying, I reminded myself that I was a leader, and I was going to go out there and lead, and no one would ever guess that I was boo-hooing.  I looked up at the ce ...

A San Francisco woman police officer responded to a call about a domestic disturbance.  Police officers dislike these calls because emotions run high, tempers flare, and the potential for violence escalates.  As she approached the house cautiously, she heard a man’s voice shouting angrily, and then a television crashed through a second-story window, smashing at her feet.  Without pulling her gun, she knocke ...