Snowball's Chance

My friend Bob McFarlane likes to say "we're totally lost but way ahead of schedule." That's what my journey has been like. I was born in western New York state (Jamestown) but grew up in Bend, Oregon before leaving for a Broadcast Journalism degree from Arizona State, getting married, moving to Washington DC, moving back to Arizona, gaining two children, then moving to Rhode Island to work at Hasbro and get my MBA from the University of Rhode Island.  This photo is from several years ago, but it's one of my favorites - my wife Michelle and our kids Derek and Elizabeth. Derek is now a sophomore at Messiah University in Pennsylvania and Elizabeth is a Junior in high school. They are the best part of my life, and I'm lucky to get to call myself a Dad. We have two pets, including Emma (who loves you already) And Collin, who does not.  I have bounced around the toy industry since leaving Hasbro in 2017, and in between stops at three different companies I have been ...

QUOTES The author takes great care to approach the subject of privilege in America gently. It’s the kind of incendiary topic that tends to make the oppressed angry and the privileged incredulous. I found this quote to sum the concept up clearly and concisely: “To be white in America means not having to think about it.” We could say the same thing about maleness or heterosexuality or any other basis for privilege. Page 25   I found the Diversity Wheel image from Workforce America to be really interesting. Per the author’s suggestion, I got busy labeling myself came up with: male/English-German/white/52-year-old/heterosexual/physically able/married/father/middle-class professional/Master’s degree/Christian. I am all of those things, but I never really looked at myself as the sum of my labels before. I think that’s the point of the exercise though – I like to think I’m kind, thoughtful, funny, and trustworthy but you wouldn’t know any of that just by looking at me. That’s a ke...