"TEARING UP THE PEA PATCH!"

I don’t want “Thoughts for the Week” to be about me.

I want it to be about the leadership of others, the lessons I have gleaned from 32 years in the executive search industry, and reflections on the world around us.

After nearly 2 years of conveying these thoughts to you, I have finally realized the style, tone, and tempo I want for “Thoughts for the Week”.

I want this email to be like the conversations between Bob Edwards and Red Barber.

Do you remember those wonderful segments on National Public Radio, better known as NPR?

Every Friday morning from 1980 to 1992, NPR host Bob Edwards would have a “chat” with the legendary sports announcer Red Barber, who did the radio play-by-play for the Brooklyn Dodgers and later the New York Yankees. Their weekly conversations initially consisted of Edwards eliciting Barber’s thoughts on what was happening in the world of sports. Barber’s distinctive voice and wonderful catchphrases were generously sprinkled into the segment. A baseball team that was “tearing up the pea patch” was one that was on a long, successful winning streak; the golfer who was “sitting in the cat bird’s seat” held a four stroke lead on his next closest competitor, with only one hole to play. Barber had a way with language that mesmerizes and left you anxious for his return the next week.

What was so wonderful about these weekly conversations was how Edwards and Barber strayed beyond the subject of sports. Conversations that began talking about a baseball pennant race or a Super Bowl would turn to the beauty of the magnolia blooms in Barber’s Tallahassee, Florida backyard, or the challenges facing the United States in the Gulf War, or perhaps the travails of Barber’s pet cat, who grew reluctant to venture outside for fear of divebombing mockingbirds. 

The voice of Red Barber is still with me, 31 years after his passing. I wish I could hear Red Barber speaking about the artistry of Steph Curry, the epidemic of gun violence, the historic malevolence of Vladimir Putin, or the life bursting forth from Central Park on a spring day.

But Red Barber is not here.

You and I are here.

We can talk about what is happening in the world.

We can look at leaders and how they lead.

We can debate about what needs to be done to address the issues of the day.

We can admire the beauty and acknowledge the horrors happening in the world today.

We can observe the seismic shifts in how the world operates, and together we can learn how to navigate and manage change, so as to have a positive impact on each other – especially helping those that are in the greatest need of sustenance.

We can do all of this, by engaging with one another, and being alert and observant.

We can do this.

You and I are here.

Let’s do it.