You should have seen our CEO appealing to the board of directors’ sense of honor. It was like watching a violinist trying to saw down a tree: he had the right motion, he just was using the wrong tool.
Afterthought. Alas, greed and fear of greedy shareholders can all too often blanket board members’ vision of pursuing the honorable course. Thus the wise CEO is one who can lead her team along a profitable path to the most ethical decisions.
Thursday eve, May 4, 6:30 at the Cranbury Library
From Vine to Glass Touring the Fine Wines in New Jersey
As the sixth largest producer of wine in the United States, New Jersey boasts 55 commercial wineries and a growing number of wine-grape farms. And in the Dionysian Society blind tasting pitting the best wines of France and California vs. New Jersey – guess who took top honors? Wine author and hobby vintner Bart Jackson guides you around the Garden State’s wine offerings, explaining what grapes thrive in her four growing regions, and what winery events not to miss. (Opera & wine, anyone?) Bart also provides tips on selecting, tasting, and growing, as well as some of the best ways to launch your own wine trail explorations. All is presented with good humor and touches of history…(Do you know how many wineries in Burlington county were closed at the outset of Prohibition?) Come and discover the tasteful bounty growing all around us.
Bart Jackson, author of The Garden States Winery Guide, is a veteran advocate and explorer of New Jersey’s wine industry. Since 1995, he and his wife Lorraine have grown the grapes in their own hobby vineyard in Cranbury from which they joyfully press and produce their own Chateau Bonne Chance vintages. Bart is CEO of Prometheus Publishing, hosts The Art of the CEO radio show, and is the founder of The Prometheus Social Enterprise Awards, bringing the most inventive social contributors to light. His other books range from Whitewater – Running the Wild Rivers of North America to the bestselling CEO of Yourself – Getting Down to the Business of Your More Rewarding Life. As a globe-trotting journalist, Bart has carted his pen and curiosity and wine thirst through over 80 countries. His most prized writings are the poems penned to his bride Lorraine, which are published on the north wall of their Cranbury home.
To learn more visit From Vine to Glass Touring the Fine Wines in New Jersey – The Art of the CEO Radio
The problem is that my Thanksgiving Thankful List is like my elevator pitch – unless the elevator is running from Boston to Baltimore, I never have enough time. SO… instead of boring all my relatives at the feast table with my blessings, while they are salivating for turkey, I thought I’d share a few of the angels who continue to brighten my days.
– Most recently, when that hefty tree fell across the road blocking our path home yesterday, I thank the nameless fellow motorist who helped me sweat & wrestle it off to the side…couldn’t have done it without you, pal.
– When the media tries to terrify me with tales of shootings, I think of John whose personal crusade and clever dedication have lowered gun violence in Yonkers by 86 % – and still counting down. (John gave up his scholarship to Julliard to work for the Salvation Army and YMCA.)
– Kudos to Katie in Haiti – the medical doctor who has founded a clinic in Haiti’s rural northwest that provides healing, food and hope to the poorest of the poor.
Oh, and thanks to Lorraine who brought awareness of Katie’s work, by hosting a multi-church fundraiser for the cause.
– When newspapers gleefully portray the gore of battle, I catch the news from Mel who founded the NonViolent Peacekeepers and learn of the latest war-torn regions into which he’s sent unarmed peace keepers to halt the rape and slaughter of civilians.
– And special hats off to Orondaam for our lunch at Social Enterprise Summit, where he explained how, from his Nigerian homeland, his Slum2School enterprise has built schools, funded teachers, and awarded scholarships, giving education to tens of thousands of young people trapped in Africa’s poverty stricken regions.
– Then, of course, I thank the frenziedly active Dale, whose Entrepreneur Zones venture is helping distressed communities across the nation bootstrap their way out of hopelessness. (He’s even honored me with the ability to pitch in and help.)
I’m just getting wound up, but this elevator is not running to Baltimore. So allow me one more note of thanks to the bedraggled band of New England Pilgrims who in 1620, with half their members dead after the first year in the New World, found reason and energy to raise their hands to heaven and give thanks. And this year we all still follow that tradition. My we each find the embers of hope this thanksgiving and perhaps labor a bit to blow them into a warming flame.
Happy Thanksgiving, Bart Jackson
On a sunny Saturday morning of September 17, Bart and Lorraine joined another 300 muddy, joyful souls along the banks of the Delaware for the 5th Annual Delaware River Cleanup.
Most groups labored by foot, but we joined the canoe crew filling out boats with old chairs and pipes to ancient steering wheels – and a horrendous amount of plastic bottles. All great fun with a marvelous group of environmentally conscious folks.
Life swirls on all about us unrelentingly. Perhaps it is the ceaseless exposure to television dramas, novels, and cinema that have us viewing our lives in a series of episodes. Events hurtle upon us – we struggle – face down the challenges, then it is over. Behind us. We move expectantly to a new chapter. But Life with Covid refuses to wrap up so neatly. In the fugue of our lives, this plague storms on as a dark, dominant theme, then gets pushed into the background as other dramas unfold and take center stage, capturing our attention. Couples unite, love triumphs, man’s inevitable inhumanity rages against our compassion…the layers of life pile on. Yet the plague keeps re-emerging, varying, but it never quite resolves. It remains one of several stubborn scowling characters, spurning all calls to exit, that we must push to the fringe of our thought. And, marvelously, we do just that!
This November 2021, I stand struck by the resiliency of the people around me. Be the gathering real or virtual, after a quick news swap of booster benefits and fears, the mood invariably shifts. Folks bubble with that verve of celebration. Hope is joyfully expressed to me constantly from masked mouths; and for the first time in too darn long, I listen to words of gratitude. Last year, I recall penning a post comparing our times with the Pilgims’ example of hopeful thanksgiving as they entered harsh winter with more than half of their numbers lost. It was meant as a plea to seek out whatever reeds of hope we each could muster. This year, I find that message as obsolete as diesel fuel for a Tesla.
With so many expectations shattered, we seem to be gathering up shiny realizations of thankfulness from the pieces. And that feeling of gratitude, I truly believe, is not limited to this man’s narrow experience. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. Humankind’s unquenchable quest to celebrate with joyous thanksgiving defies circumstance, and is as innate and natural as any of our “inevitable” sins.
So this Thanksgiving, allow me to raise my glass to all of you harboring hope and gratitude. You raise our spirits as we face the next chapter, and we will pass it on.
Wishing you Every Success,
– Bart Jackson
