William Siebold

08/27/2022

07/19/2020

Once again waking in the morning to find the world around me on fire.

Portland becomes the epicenter for cultural and social clash.

Watching the viral pandemic, an entirely biological phenomenon, continue as the vehicle for polarized statements of extreme political ideologies.

Every direction I turn I see an intense disparity in cognitive, intellectual and emotional capacity, rendering all of us vulnerable.

Uncertainty, fear, anger, frustration may be driving much of it forward, but deliberate violence, narrowness of thought, prejudice, willful antagonism and thin, exclusive ideologies are certainly in play here as well.

Chest-thumping, fist-shaking judgement. Righteous sanctimony. Dehumanizing the opposition.

And overly-simplistic pseudo-solutions, almost all vicious and unkind.

Unworthy of a good people. Unworthy of civilization.

The big disconnect is to insist upon bleak, binary solutions in a richly nuanced, analog and inclusive world.

A good, civilized people should have the capacity to do better than this.

06/29/2020

Academic Coaching. Education Consultant.

Focusing on integrated and comprehensive performance of organizations, institutions, and all participants engaged in teaching & learning endeavors.

03/07/2020

The greatest gift humans are given is choice.

My beloved Malamute Mina died on Thursday March 5th. She was only 5 1/2 years old.

03/04/2020

From status quo to life reintentioned.

02/03/2020

I teach because I want to move the world.

I post on social media because I want to have an impact.

I facilitate workshops so participants can see and feel their own capacity for accomplishment.

I mentor because I want to unlock the inner brilliance of another human being.

I speak publicly to reach many people and hope to provoke meaningful thoughts and feelings.

And through these things I find where my own deep gladness meets the world's deep need.

Yes, I know it seems over the top to some.

But time and experience have taught me that for me there is no other priority. There must be a higher purpose.

I want to move the world, at least in some small way, for perhaps a single moment in time.

And then do it again, if I can.

And play with my dogs. Can't forget them.

01/26/2020

"When we consider that each of us has only one life to live, isn’t it rather tragic to find

men and women, with brains capable of comprehending the stars and the planets, talking about the weather;

men and women, with hands capable of creating works of art, using those hands only for routine tasks;

men and women, capable of independent thought, using their minds as a bowling-alley for popular ideas;

men and women, capable of greatness, wallowing in mediocrity;

men and women, capable of self-expression, slowly dying a mental death while they babble the confused monotone of the mob?"

~ Neil Gaiman

01/26/2020

Five generations in the 21st century workplace is not a problem.

It is an opportunity.

An opportunity for a meeting of the minds. A sharing of perspectives.

The multigenerational environment is a natural leadership and culture accelerator.

It is the perfect incubator for innovation.

The creative center for success.

01/26/2020

When we speak and act authentically from the heart we attract others who value that same sense of integrity.

Those people are your community.

01/26/2020

The power of a becomes even more evident when we understand that "theories of generational difference make more sense when expressed as theories of environmental difference"** and opportunity than as psychological, moral or ethical attributes.

In other words, generational differences are a function of the context of our respective times.

Remember also that Boomers have experienced not one but many changes in environment and context throughout their lives, providing a "high-altitude view" of the map of human goings-on over decades.

So it is not just that young people can teach old people about technology (because old people are obviously confused by smartphones). This clearly trivializes the multigenerational relationship. And it is itself discriminatory through application of preconceived, unfounded assumptions.

The value comes from viewing relationships, partnerships and solutions through many different lens, yielding a diverse set of perspectives and approaches.



** from Cognitive Surplus / Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age by Clay Shirky

01/26/2020

I think we should look more intently at all the extraordinary ways that the diverse lenses of experience provided by multiple generations in the workforce can benefit organizations.

From what I read and hear, many (perhaps most) commentators and self-anointed experts in this field have yet to scratch beneath the surface.

Much of what I read and hear is pseudo-analysis of demographic data accompanied by preconceived, overgeneralized assumptions.

As a self-anointed expert myself, I crave more thoughtful insight and nuance.

If this were a planning meeting, my hand would be up and I would be "I'll own that."

And so I will.