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  I know I am dating myself, but I remember when we had a rotary phone. You know, the phone with the dial that went click, click, click as it turned. The whole family shared it. If you wanted to call, you would have to wait your turn. Minimum changes in technology allowed them to keep that same phone for many, many years. This is a far cry from today. We no longer have a landline. Every person carries their own cell phone. These phones are amazing. They take pictures, act as your personal assistant and allow you to access...

    Think of the telephone. My grandparents had the same rotary phone for over 30 years! The whole family shared the phone, if you wanted to call, you had to wait your turn. The phone was basic and reliable.  Yesterday, I went out with my daughter to buy a cell phone. This was to replace her “old’ cell phone, you know, the one she’s had for a year. The new phone offers a better camera, faster processor and improved touch screen capabilities. Her new phone is both improved and reliable. Besides the fact that my daughter is extremely spoiled, this story points out a...

The Star Thrower Story by Joel Barker Inspired by the writing of Loren Eiseley   There’s a story I would like to share with you. It was inspired by the writing of Loren Eiseley. Eiseley was a very special person because he combinedthe best of two cultures. He was a scientist and a poet. And from those two perspectives he wrote insightfully and beautifully about theworld and our role in it. Once upon a time, there was a wise man, much like Eiseley himself, who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of...

Ladder of Inference Have you ever noticed how people can look at same facts and make radically different conclusions? And with so many “right” answers, it often becomes difficult to come together to get anything accomplished.  Of course you have, it happens all the time, not only at work, but in many aspects of our lives. Why does this happen? And more importantly, what can we do about it? The solution to this challenge lies in understanding The Ladder of Inference. The concept was first introduced to me in Peter Senge's The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the...