Joe Gerstandt | keynote speaker, freedom fighter, freak-flag flier

Mary Schaefer and I have been tossing some questions back and forth, and this is a question we both decided to take a shot at:  We both focus largely on the intangible assets in an organization or community…the things that cannot be easily counted or weighed…things like difference, trust, relationships, culture, etc.  What can we   [Read More…]

Hard questions. I was just minding my own business. Maddie Grant was in Phoenix and Jeff Hurt called her out.  And then she called Jeff and Jamie Notter out.  And then he called me out.  And here I am…called out. Maddie’s question to us was: So go on, tell me my fellow Xers – Have   [Read More…]

Blind Spots The danger of what you don’t know you don’t know. There is a lot of stuff I do not know.  A lot.  All that stuff that I do not know can be broken into two basic categories. the stuff that I know I don’t know the stuff that I don’t know I don’t   [Read More…]

Because we all want the sweetness. My last post considered what we might learn from the world of chemistry about diversity and inclusion.  Sweetness is an emergent property that is created when some specific atoms come together in some specific ways.  If we want the sweetness in our organizations and communities, if we want creativity,   [Read More…]

Want to know what my work is really all about?  Sweetness.  With a little help from one of my favorite authors, I will share an example of what I am talking about. Carbon, hydrogen and oxygen walk into a bar… No seriously. An excerpt from The Hidden Connections, by Fritjof Capra: When carbon, oxygen, and   [Read More…]

…lecture series sponsored by University of Nebraska at Omaha and open to students, staff, faculty and the general public: NEXT GENERATION LEADERSHIP AND DIVERSITY What is Diversity and Why Does it Matter? September 23rd 1:00-2:00pm Despite all of the rhetoric and static about “celebrating” and “embracing” diversity, there is a still a great deal of   [Read More…]

WILD GEESE You do not have to be good.You do not have to walk on your kneesfor a hundred miles through the desert repenting.You only have to let the soft animal of your bodylove what it loves. Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine. Meanwhile the world goes on.Meanwhile the sun   [Read More…]

Here we are again, Mary Schaefer and I, exchanging questions and answers. Joe: We both focus largely on the intangible assets in an organization or community…the things that cannot be easily counted or weighed…things like difference, trust, relationships, culture, etc.  What can we do so that more business leaders come to value these incredibly powerful   [Read More…]

I have a story to tell. I like to think of 1986 as the cultural peak of the glorious, bizarre, and not-quite-right 1980’s.  It was the year that I had a perm, wore pin-striped jeans tucked into untied high-tops and danced poorly to bad music.  It was also the year that I graduated from high   [Read More…]

I don’t know how violent you are, and chances are you don’t have a real good idea either.  We are poor predictors of our own behavior…especially when authority and social pressure show up on the scene.  One of my absolute favorite spots on the web is The Situationist.  I came across another timely reminder from   [Read More…]