I Wish My Mother Had Taken Mackenzie Scott’s Advice

Issue 215 — December 19, 2022

My mother’s Wedgewood Bone china and Tiffany crystal wine, water, and cordial glasses glisten in the hutch I bought, where they could be not just stored but seen.

Mother had kept them packed away for many years. Why? Because she was “saving them for nice,” as she put it.

Read More

Hoda Kotb’s Excellent Advice for Women at Forbes 50 Over 50: “Say It Out Loud.”

Issue 214— December 12, 2022

“Say what you want out loud.”

That was the most quoted takeaway from the fireside chat interview between Morning Joe co-anchor and founder/partner with Forbes in the “Know Your Value” initiative, Mika Brzezinski and NBC’s Today Show cohost Hoda Kotb at the gathering of women chosen for Forbes 50 Over 50 2022 on December 8 at Forbes’ New York headquarters.

Read More

Are You the One Who Sent The $2000 Check?

Issue 211 — November 21, 2022

If you sent that check — it came last week without information as to the donor — to Take The Lead, thank you! This post will be published to coincide with Giving Tuesday so whoever you are, your timing could not be more perfect.

Read More

Six (Nonpartisan) Leadership Lessons from the 2022 Elections

Issue 210 — November 14, 2022

I believe so strongly that #votingisleadership that I created a hashtag for it. Civic engagement is in my view a critical part of leadership. We are all shaped by our communities and so must be part of shaping them.

Politics, as political scientist Walter Truett Anderson defined it, is the clash of uncertainties from which social realities are constructed.

Goodness knows that several big uncertainties in the cultural zeitgeist are clashing.

Read More

Is There a Place For Us? Only #Whenweallvote

Issue 209 — November 7, 2022

Voting is a form of leadership. My grandparents, who were immigrants and entrepreneurs, taught me that everyone has an obligation to participate in the community. If you have not already cast your vote in the crucial midterm elections, here is where you can go to make sure your vote counts, where and how to vote in your state, and information about where candidates stand on issues of concern to you. Here is an easy to use resource to find out what is on the ballot where you vote, how to get help if you experience a problem casting your vote, and more.

Read More

How Do You Go from Grief to Joy?

How do you go from grief to joy?

This week I write about how the examples of recent moments of communal grief–the 21st anniversary of 9/11 and the death of Queen Elizabeth II—can inform us as we grapple with personal grief. And I share a phone call that helped me process my grief by creating a lasting legacy in memory of my husband, and the resulting joy. Read the full story here…

Read More