I invite people to co-create a mobile with a thousand natural, moving parts, locating just the right space: balancing the uniqueness of each part, joining apparent contradictions and setting it all in motion in a way that achieves its own lasting rhythm. We delight in surprise to see what comes out- it may fall or solve problems too complex for any of us.

I like to cause trouble. And since I can’t stand being pinned, controlled and oppressed, I do battle to free people that are trapped and whose lack of voice makes the music off key for me. Sometimes the battle is by provoking or evoking or matching wits or creating a clever surprise strategy to awaken a neighborhood or corporation to what it can be.

I can’t stand static, dead states within me and am in wonder and terror in the face of death. So I create new rituals around death drawing from different cultures who know communal support and awaken gratitude for the gift of life.

Now my most engaging challenge is to love unconditionally.

This essay and portrait is part of a community-art and leadership project called “wdydwyd?” Tony Deifell (KNLP-16) invited his colleagues in the Kellogg Fellowship to reflect on what motivates them to follow their personal and professional paths by answering the question, “Why do you do what you do?”


“wdydwyd?” has reached over 1.5 million people worldwide and it has been used for team-building at Google, Twitter, many colleges and universities, nonprofits and K-12 classrooms. And, according to Wired Magazine, “In Silicon Valley, that question has been the hottest team-building meme since Outward Bound – and it’s spreading.” For more information: http://wdydwyd.com/leadership.


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