There are plenty of emotional moments in This is Us, one of the many reasons it’s my favorite show. But one scene in particular choked me up, when Randall, then a 9-year-old boy, was in his karate class with his father observing from the side. The karate instructor invited all the other fathers to surround Randall, and then invited his father Jack …

My kids are going through a phase where they seem to want MOM all the time.  The fact is they don’t want her all of the time, but the percentage is pretty high and I did state it “seems” like all the time.  Like when the first words out of my son’s mouth when he sees me are “where’s Mommy?”.  Or, when my …

Man has intuition too,  We carry it boiling in our belly  A hot coal that won’t extinguish It bubbles over in rage or suspicion Its vapor clouds our vision Sizzling whispered lies of ineptitude, inadequacy  Sometimes, when we open our mouths We breathe fire It leaps to escape Becoming the lump in our throat And suddenly we are wordless Tears …

Dan Shea is a a dear friend of mine. I love him. Today, I am going to tell you a nice story about a good man doing a good thing. Maybe we all could do one good thing today, too.  My wife and I were at Cindy and Dan’s for dinner on Monday night. Cindy turns to Dan and says, …

I drove to Detroit yesterday to meet with some customers, and while on I94 East, I ran into a bumper-to-bumper traffic jam. Teeth clenched… Grrrrr.  Cue the inner dialogue: What’s going on up there?  Where are all these people going in their cars?  It’s the middle of the day and not rush hour.   I gave myself plenty of time, but there’s so …

Andrew Reiner has been interested in challenging the tropes of modern day hypermasculinity since his teenage years. After becoming a father, the research he had been doing for years felt even more urgently needed. That, matched with the reception he got from a piece he wrote for the New York Times about the necessity of men learning to become capable of showing …

A neighbor and I used to get together to drink wine and discuss philosophy. (Now and then, we talked about roofing companies and battery-powered lawnmowers, too.) Brad’s an economics professor who spends much of life in a world of numbers. He enjoyed our monthly conversations about big ideas, and I enjoyed the camaraderie. We spent a couple of years getting …

I recently had a conversation with a member of our Executive Team at work regarding the transition of fully remote, work from home to working back in the office.  Of course, as things begin to open up here in Illinois and across the country and beyond, this topic and these conversations will steadily increase as will the associated complexities and challenges …

For a little more than a year, I have gathered virtually with many of the men on this distribution list for meaningful connection. Some weeks, I connect with you multiple times: in big groups, small groups and one on one. I have grown through these interactions and consider many of you dear friends.  Over roughly this same year, almost every …