What I’m Learning

Lessons learned: Commit to what matters most to you, learn learn learn, make money, give a bunch away, invest in others, and play hard.

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.

Learning more about how others move through the world, increasing understanding, and reducing miscommunication.

Do you have piles, too?

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.

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.

Conflict and chaos can lead to renewed hope, belief and commitment.

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.

"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.

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.

"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."

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.

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.

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.

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.

Finding connections between food systems, wild adventure and community on a trip from Yosemite to Chattanooga and back home to Montana.

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.

Dylan is one to watch. Better yet, partner with him and change the world.

"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.

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.

Focus on how people are responding to problems, and not the problems themselves.

“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.

My daughter's "caring for the Earth" list

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.

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.