Muddy Boots 2.0

I am in a time of transition, milestones, and reflections.

April 21st marked our 44th anniversary. It also now is the birthday of not only our son but his new daughter. We now have two grandchildren. May 1st marked my tenth year as Head Coach at ECS, and with some luck, I will be working with my successor come July 1st. September 1st will mark 30 years with Modern Group Ltd. This October, I will turn seventy and retire from ECS. It will also celebrate 32 years of being sober.

So...

Legacy.

Noun:

An amount of money or property left to someone in a will.

Adjective:

Denoting or relating to software or hardware that has been superseded but is difficult to replace because of its wide use.

I have a different definition.

I have been starting to think a bit more about legacy. Earlier this week, I spoke for the 15th year in a row to the senior engineering class at Rutgers. The professor there is an old friend who ask...

I started writing Muddy Boots in 2013, shortly after I became executive director of Episcopal Community Services in Philadelphia. I wanted to write about the issues of poverty, my experience and lessons running the agency, and my thoughts on leadership, which I get to talk about occasionally. What started as a small following now has some 5000 readers and followers on social media. Ten years later, there have been some 190 articles. Some are published in magazines like Inc., some have become ...

I am sitting on the same porch that I was in 2012 when I wrote my remarks for later in 2013 when I was introduced as the new Executive Director of ECS. Now ten years later and with the search for my successor underway, I find myself reflecting on what I have learned over the last ten years, about the work of challenging poverty, about leading a non-profit, and what I have learned about myself.

I would sum it up in the following areas. Listening, Talent, Focus, Impact, Marketing, Faith.

We are in the season of Advent, a four-week time of waiting for the light of the Star of Bethlehem to announce the good news of the birth of Jesus. A light that continues to shine brightly, even in the face of so much darkness across the land.

In my tradition, we are asked to be Advent people. As I reflect on that challenge, I ask myself what it means to be a people of the light.

It would be easy to be overwhelmed by the darkness of poverty, of violence in all its forms, of env...

The following letter went to the ECS Community today.

Thank you for being a supporter of Episcopal Community Services. The work of ECS to challenge poverty, to advocate for a world where opportunity is available to all, and to do so on the bedrock values of justice, dignity, community, and impact is work I have been honored to do for the last ten years. The team at ECS, both staff and board, are some of the most professional and dedicated individuals I have wo...

I have not posted for a while.

I suspect because the issues in front of all of us have plenty of press.

What strikes me on the sixth day of June is how divided we are as a people, both here and across the globe. Not exactly a news flash. But some thoughts.

There is a reason the military oath of office is to the Constitution of the United States and not an individual. There is a reason the founder’s crafted three branches of government. There is a reason they provide...

If nothing else, the events in Ukraine remind us, and I quote, that "Freedom is not free."

Historically, the cost has been one of vigilance and, when necessary, sacrifice. The battle for freedom has many forms and scales, from epic battles etched in a nation's ethos to the individual act of courage as simple as seeking equality in where one sits on the bus. If one looks at the arc of history, the battle has always been with us and scales both large and small.

Bruce Springsteen, i...

The principle of Muddy Boots is straightforward. You put on your boots, go into the world, ask questions, listen, learn, and act on that knowledge. The asking is easy. It is listening that is hard. So too is the acting on the knowledge part. That thought is brought into focus from a quote from Thomas Edison I recently reread.

“If we did the things we are capable of, we would astound ourselves.” - Thomas Edison

Hold that thought and do a little bit of self-reflection. ...

We are in the season of Advent. Advent from the Latin, "adventus," means "coming," and during this season, Christians prepare for Jesus' coming. The four Sundays preceding Christmas are recognized for four virtues. The candles on the Advent wreath symbolize hope, love, joy, and peace.

As I get ready for my 9th Christmas working at ECS, I find the season of Advent a time of contrasts and reflections.

How do we experience hope, love, joy, and peace in this time and place? Are we p...