Leaders require an enormous number of qualities in order to be successful, but confidence has always struck me as essential. Confidence allows for many things, but one that I always admire is the ability to…

Writer, storyteller, and friend Dan Kennedy tweeted this back in December of last year: “You have to find something that explains yourself to you.” As is almost always the case, the man is correct. For…

On this Memorial Day, in addition to honoring the fallen servicemen and women who gave their lives for this country, I will also be thinking about the men in my family who came before me…

I teach storytellers that the way we order our words, sentences, and scenes makes all the difference when it comes to telling a story well. Reveal something too soon or wait too long to provide…

Ben Sasse, Senator from Nebraska, delivered a shockingly terrible and exceptionally offensive commencement address to the students of Fremont Public School last week. In the span of just seven minutes, he managed to disparage teachers,…

A bit of unsolicited advice on helping friends, colleagues, students, and family members who are struggling in this pandemic world: Avoid, “Yes, but…” Embrace, “Yes, so…” “Yes, but…” is an attempt to remind someone of…

As a slightly public figure who routinely criticizes Donald Trump, writes about his racism, sexism, narcissism, and complete incompetence, has participated in a successful lawsuit against him, and uses Twitter to make my feeling known…

Was Elysha just careless with her water, begging for the cats to knock over the glass and make a puddle on the bedroom floor? Or is she signaling to me how close she is to…

On episode #96 of the Speak Up Storytelling podcast, Matthew and Elysha Dicks talk storytelling! In our follow up segment, we discuss our absence for the last couple weeks, share emails from listeners around the…

I came riding down a path behind Charlie’s elementary school last week, approaching the school. Standing on the edge of the soccer field, adjacent to the playground, is a porta-potty. I know this because after…