Last summer on Facebook I read a post from someone who called AIDS his Vietnam. I was startled. For me, Vietnam was Vietnam. AIDS is AIDS. Almost nothing about them was the same. But I must confess both changed everything for me. In 1966 I graduated from high school. At that point in my life…
When I formed my most recent Board for Myself, I was struck by the occasional ways that everyone in the room thought about a thing the same as I did. But I was more interested in the times when our thoughts were highly divergent, especially when I was the odd man out. There were only…
I started Diverse and Resilient as a program in 1995 and as a separate non-profit organization seven years later. The time I spent in health care administration and medical education was rewarding in that it provided me daily opportunities to achieve good and useful things. I honed several skills in an excellent organization that had…
“I can’t wait to get home.” “Home is where the heart is.” “Home is the place that when you go there, they have to take you in.” For me, none of these often heard statements resonate. There have been many places where people felt compelled to take me in, but were not home to…
When I was in my 50’s I told friends that I felt like I could just snap my fingers and start a new program, project, or plan. Having done just that in a large, vertically integrated health care system, a great family planning organization, and a successful national effort to create legislative policy changes, my…
Encore.org has taken to the masses the idea of contributing to the welfare of others after age 50. The organization uses social marketing to foster the important notion that a generation is headed toward retirement at the very time when society needs their efforts, thinking, and passion most. I have personally benefited from my association…
Creating Community for Everyone 