Alpine starts for Clean in Montana

Clean Language is a powerful way to facilitate insight and lasting change in individuals and groups. In April, I'm bringing Clean Language expert Caitlin Walker to Bozeman for a three-day, in-person training.
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"There really are no mistakes."

When I drew this person walking, I was initially bummed that I accidentally crossed their arms. That was a couple weeks ago. When I looked at it on my office wall again today, I saw something else.
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What I learned in Zion Canyon

It's time to forge on with the best of our skill, trust and love.
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“Make them think differently.”

"What is your role in stewarding the Earth for the next seven generations?” Last fall in Vienna, I asked this of investor Felix Porsche. Descendant of the car inventor, this wonderful young leader is now helping drive sustainability in transportation.
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I started a podcast!

Welcome to Food, Montana.
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On mentorship

Watching Nancy in action during the Master Gardeners Workshop at Christiansen's Nursery was a masterclass in facilitation and light-handed leadership for me.
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Lessons in reciprocity

I'm pulled off on the side of the road near the end of a road trip with my daughter to see friends in Blackfeet Country. Here's what I've been learning: Reciprocity is like a flow of giving, rather than a transaction.
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The time I won $100 climbing a rock and promptly gave it away

Lessons learned: Commit to what matters most to you, learn learn learn, make money, give a bunch away, invest in others, and play hard.
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Moments of realization in my search for a creative space

As I search for an amazing creative space to hold group workshops, I find myself inspired most by windowed hallways. These are the austere, wending, in-between spaces that seem to hold so much and yet nothing all at once.
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Use Clean Questions to keep your assumptions from making a mess

Learning more about how others move through the world, increasing understanding, and reducing miscommunication.
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These towering piles of books are everywhere.

Do you have piles, too?
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The Bear and the Devil

Bears Lodge. Devils Tower. Names and words matter. The history of American Colonialism continues to unfold at a national monument in northeastern Wyoming. Reported for Mountain Outlaw in 2017, and still relevant today.
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What climbing taught me about leadership and teamwork

A friend sent me these old photos out of the blue, and they have me thinking about a few of the things I learned from climbing.
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Why? Or: the sticky note that stuck

Conflict and chaos can lead to renewed hope, belief and commitment.
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Book recommendation: A Fine Line by Graham Zimmerman

Follow Graham Zimmerman’s journey from early luck and scary accidents to cutting-edge alpine climbs, from dating foibles to marriage, and from surveying for mining interests to leading climate activism through Protect Our Winters and the American Alpine Club.
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Patagonia Founder Yvon Chouinard is in Business to Save the Earth—Not Wall Street

"At Patagonia, we make our important decisions based on wanting to be here 100 years from now." Looking back on a story I wrote for Esquire about Chouinard in 2019.
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Pulling the threads of my career journey

In the rearview, I see threads: Building things—or rebuilding them. Learning how the world works and what it’s like to walk in someone else’s shoes. Finding hidden connections everywhere. Seeking the essence of people.
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Learning and using visual facilitation

"People always tell me they don't know how to draw," said Charles-Louis de Maere, as he opened our course on visual facilitation. "I have stopped believing them."
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Learning strategy on El Cap

The first time I climbed El Capitan, a 3,000-foot rock wall in Yosemite, my partner and I spent 5.5 days on the wall. Our bags were so heavy, we nearly crushed ourselves hauling them up. Near the top, we ran out of food.
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Podcast interview: Northstar Unplugged

I was already considering stepping away from deadline-driven writing and reporting. Talking to Kristen Rainey nudged me in that direction, helping me realize that to be the person I want to be, I need to sleep. A podcast interview on Northstar Unplugged.
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Book recommendation: More by Majka Burhardt

In turns raw, bold, insightful, funny and fiercely loving, More is an important work that I hope will move the conversation forward about parenting, career, our individual and collective wellbeing, and the hidden ties between them all.
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Learning—and teaching—disruption with the masters at Level C

Working with Level C has been a game-changer for me. Last week I got to sit in the captain's chair and guide some of the great future thinkers of business and brand.
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Climbing, food and community

Finding connections between food systems, wild adventure and community on a trip from Yosemite to Chattanooga and back home to Montana.
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Latrice Tatsey studies "our relationship to the world.”

As part of my ongoing study of regenerative food systems, I spent a day with my 6-year-old, Eloise, shadowing soil scientists Latrice Tatsey and Tony Hartshorn at Blackfeet Community College and on a nearby ranch.
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Ode to a colleague and friend, Dylan Hale Thornton

Dylan is one to watch. Better yet, partner with him and change the world.
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When different perspectives = different realities

"My mom is 8 feet tall and weighs 90 pounds." A hilarious and insightful lesson from my daughter in the form of the classic kindergarten Mad Libs. Plus an exercise to use with your team.
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Book recommendation: Range by David Epstein

If you’re a curious person with wide-ranging interests and a “jungle gym” of a career, Epstein’s phenomenal book Range is one you don’t want to miss.
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The stories you tell matter. Here's why.

Focus on how people are responding to problems, and not the problems themselves.
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Trabian Shorters’ “Asset-Framing”

“Asset-Framing” is a simple, clear and imperative tool for empathetic communication in the 21st century. It is a practical strategy for productive conversation in any part of life.
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The wisdom of children

My daughter's "caring for the Earth" list
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Donkey packing 101 / Outdoor parenting 102

Time off is precious. What we decide to do with it can be meaningful. This vignette offers a window into what I do with mine. Next time maybe my time off will include a hammock.
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Cirque of the Unclimbables film

In the summer of 2010, two friends and I spent a month camping in a boulder field the base of Mount Proboscis, a 2,000 foot granite wall in the Northwest Territories, Canada. A retrospective look at our climb and film.
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