Could you just give me a minute. I'm texting someone. I'll get back to you.Okay, I'm done. How would you describe what I just did there. Was it rude.disrespectful, unprofessional. I'd say all of these. And yet, almost all of us have done this at least once.We expect the person in front of us to wait because our commitment to this feels more important than being present in the moment. According to research done by DCDX, average screen time for Gen Z goes up to 7 hours a day. 7 hours.What's odd isn't how larg ...

That wasn't an accident. But let me tell you about a time that wasn't as obvious. It was the Monday following Mother's Day. I get a call from our girls elementary school. Mrs.. Colum, we need you to come to the school right away. There's been an incident. I rushed to the school where the principal is waiting for me. Mrs.. Cullum, during our morning snack, we discovered alcohol in Simone's water bottle. Do you have any idea how it got there? Yesterday for Mother's Day, my husband made mimosas for us. I didn' ...

For years throughout my career and personal life, people have always asked me the same question. How is so positive. Especially during difficult time.I understand why they ask. They saw me building a beautiful career. They saw me raising three daughters as a single mom.And it was hard. It still is. From the outside, it looks like I had all together.People saw me showing up. They saw me smiling. But they didn't see what it took.The worry, the stress, the doubt, the late nights that uncerted brings. And the t ...

When I was 8 years old, I was in the grocery store with my mom and my younger brother. We were headed to the checkout line where they strategically place all of the impulse buys just as you're about to leave. You have your candy and your other junk food, your magazines, your little toys, and your baseball cards.My brother and I did everything we could to convince our mom that we needed something. Please, Mom. We were denied.So, my mom starts putting food onto the conveyor belt. I look over at the the rack o ...

My first lesson in relevance did indeed come in a little league dugout in a very small town in Virginia. One stoplight, peanut country we called it. On game days, I could walk to the ballpark from my house through an old cemetery, which it turns out is a good way to get some perspective as a young boy.Now, I'll come back to that dugout in a minute. First, I want to explore what relevance is and what relevance is not. Andy Warhol famously said that all of us will have our 15 minutes of fame.I'm not sure many ...

How do you make life's hardest decisions? Jenny Bates Heaton discovered that the activities we return to, the things we do that bring joy, quietly reveal our values and guide our toughest choices. In this talk, she shows how turning everyday passions into simple, personal questions can bring clarity, confidence, and courage to life’s hardest moments. enny Bates Heaton is the founder of Bates Leadership, partnering with individuals, teams, and organizations for greater alignment, clarity, and engagement. She ...

Once I chased the dean of my business school, full syllabus in hand, up the stairs to pitch to her a nonprofit class I wanted to teach. Mind you, I was just a student. Nobody asked me to do this.There was no real reason other than the fact that I saw a need. It's that young people were leaving my university because they didn't feel like it was socially impact focused enough. I needed to see that change.When I chased the dean, I didn't say, "Hi, I have an idea." I said, "Hi, I built something." You also best ...

This talk explores the impact of ignoring our own emotions and inner voice, and how that can quietly influence the direction of our lives. Rather than offering prescriptive advice, the talk focuses on a simple but powerful realization, the art of life. The aspects of ourselves we often overlook, including our emotions, creativity, and instincts, can reveal who we truly are. When they are ignored, we lose a sense of authenticity. When we begin to acknowledge them, life starts to feel more aligned and meaning ...

You probably saw a child playing bug. I remember nothing. I don't remember emotions. I remember effort.It was my very first buck. A big performance came up and suddenly I was playing the Italian conerto. In 2018, I only played the first movement.When I finished, I thought I was done with it. I wasn't. In 2020 during the pandemic, everything stopped.Concerts were cancelled. Stages disappeared. I learned second movement and third movement in 2020.It closed my solo recital on all back program in 2021. I perfor ...

At the age of eight, I learned how to be silent in a language I didn't understand. I moved to Canada alone to learn and discover a bigger world. I didn't know much of the language, but I was really excited to learn the culture, to meet friends, and just to be part of something new.But every story has its ups and downs. I often heard the kids chanting at me, "Go back home. Go back home. Go back to your country." We were all young, but words have weight. And those words really stayed in my heart.So I stopped ...