One of 25 best Harvard Business School Professor, former Medtronic CEO
Published on October 27, 2020
COVID-19 continues to wreak havoc, as the disease has infected more than 8.6 million Americans, 225,000 of whom have died. It has also elevated a set of real heroes: the frontline workers who risk their lives every day to make our lives possible. These heroes include medical workers such as doctors, nurses, and medical technicians, as…
Published on October 6, 2020
A Vote for Unity and Stability over Continuing Divisiveness and Chaos On September 23 Penny and I voted in person at an early voting place in Minneapolis. I cast my vote for President for Joe Biden. Here is why I made that choice: In the world’s most powerful leadership position, America needs a leader who…
Published on September 15, 2020
The race for a COVID-19 vaccine is getting more and more confusing. On Wednesday, September 16, CDC Director Robert Redfield testified in front of Congress that it would be late 2nd quarter or early 3rd quarter 2021 before a vaccine would be generally available. Hours later President Trump contradicted his CDC director, calling him “confused”…
Published on July 6, 2020
In the midst of the largest COVID-19 spread yet, my family and I are spending a quiet 4th of July holiday in Colorado. Instead of taking our four grandkids along with their parents to the July 3rd cookout and dinner, followed by the 4th of July parade where we wave the American flag and my…
Published on July 2, 2020
The rapid surge in COVID-19 cases, concentrated in states that reopened too fast without following CDC guidelines, has dented America’s plans to restart its economy. On Wednesday a record 50,203 new coronavirus cases were reported, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. With cases rising rapidly, governors of at least 16 states and many businesses are pulling back from reopening. As…
Published on June 17, 2020
On Monday evening my men’s prayer group and I visited the heart of the Lake Street protests, led by member John Cuningham who lives in the neighborhood, one block from the protests. This is an extremely diverse neighborhood, very peaceful with no crime. At the start of our tour we walked past the boarded-up buildings…
Published on June 15, 2020
America is at a tipping point. We are heading into an era of dramatic change. Earlier tipping points were triggered by cataclysmic events: the end of World War II (1945), the assassination of President Kennedy (1963), Osama bin Laden’s assault on New York (2001), and the collapse of the global financial system (2008). The lesson…
Published on June 14, 2020
America is at a tipping point, as we face the greatest crises since the Great Depression. We are confronting four crises simultaneously that are inextricably intertwined: racial tensions revealed in the aftermath of George Floyd’s killing, the ongoing spread of COVID-19, the ensuing economic turmoil, and political disintegration caused by extreme partisan division. Floyd’s killing ripped off…
Published on June 1, 2020
As I sit in my home, just a few blocks from stores that are closed indefinitely, I feel sadness, pain and outrage at what has happened to our city in the last few days. Penny and I came here fifty years ago. After changing companies twice, living overseas in two countries, and teaching at Harvard…
Published on May 20, 2020
Back in 1986 during my days of coaching youth soccer (1983-1995), I wrote these lessons to capture my thoughts on leadership. Later I used them in writing Authentic Leadership and True North. See if they apply to your leadership: All I Know About Leadership, I Learned from Soccer If you want a winning team, start…