The actual source of my memory is lost to the sands of time.  We lived in a few houses during the first few years of my life.  I can remember seeing Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood – but I can’t remember which home I was at.  I never knew Mister Rogers as a Presbyterian minister.  What I missed in my early experiences was The Simple Faith of Mister Rogers: Spiritual Insights from the World’s Most Beloved Neighbor. By Actions There are only a few books that I remember where I was introduced to them.  Heroic Leadership is one of those books.  That plane ride and the sim ..read more

I’m pleased to announce that AIIM and I have partnered together to produce a draft white paper, “Organizational Readiness for Generative AI,” which is now available for review and feedback. Most leaders recognize the impact that generative artificial intelligence, or GenAI, can have on employee productivity and organizational performance. But those benefits aren’t guaranteed. This white paper will outline content’s role in GenAI, the ability to use content as a competitive advantage, and the three factors for success in enabling GenAI in your organization. You can get the white paper right now ..read more

There aren’t that many television shows I remember from my childhood.  Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood is one of them.  In The Good Neighbor: The Life and Work of Fred Rogers, Maxwell King speaks of the man behind the scenes.  The story is of a man who, though not perfect, lived out his life caring for and educating children on the most important parts of life, their emotions. Sissy Fred Rogers had his fans, but he had his critics, too.  People who felt that he wasn’t masculine enough.  People who felt all this talk about feelings made him – and the kids who watched – into ..read more

It’s an unfortunate reality that we can’t escape.  The odds are likely that you’ll know someone who dies by suicide – even if you don’t know their death was suicide.  The truth is that we’ve had A Sadly Troubled History with suicide.  For centuries, we’ve grappled with our inability to predict who will die by suicide and who will not.  We’ve struggled to understand what drives some to suicide and others away from it even amidst anguish.  This 2009 book doesn’t offer clear answers, but it does provide more clues that will hopefully, one day, allow us to reduce the pain ..read more

A disproportionate number of the books that I read are written by American authors.  This is particularly true when it comes to books on suicide.  Even though the London Anti-Suicide Bureau opened nearly six decades earlier than the Los Angeles suicide prevention center, the work seems centered around America.  That one of the reasons why I was interested in Suicide: A Modern Obsession: it was written by a pair of authors from Ireland.  I could get a different perspective. The Questioning For professionals who encounter patients that attempt or die by suicide, questions abo ..read more

Suicide is the most destructive thing that most people will encounter.  It can destroy families.  But It can save others.  It can also be a powerful statement that can be used to transform the world.  The question that Suicide: The Social Causes of Self-Destruction aims to answer are the motivations and desired outcomes people have for ending their lives. Cry for Help Attempted suicide is a cry for help.  Signals sent about suicidal ideation are a cry for help.  The question is what is it a cry for help for?  In other words, what is it that the person is seek ..read more

I’ve never met a suicide survivor who wanted to congratulate the person they lost on a great decision.  Universally, the word that they wanted to tell them was “Stay.”  That’s why Stay: A History of Suicide and Philosophies Against It was so interesting.  What has history said about suicide and its acceptability to society? Jennifer Hecht, who also wrote Doubt, starts by recounting a few of the influential people in her life whom she’s lost and some of the impact on her.  She longingly calls out to the people she’s lost to stay. Suffering I firmly believe that people who di ..read more

Some books acquire their own mythology.  Groups become so polarized about them that they gain their own mythical qualities.  In the space of suicide prevention, Final Exit: The Practicalities of Self-Deliverance and Assisted Suicide for the Dying has this air to it.  It’s a book that many people in suicide prevention won’t get near or read.  Some claim that they don’t want to financially support instructions for suicide – others just can’t get past the sticky, taboo feelings.  I have no such prohibition.  If I am to speak completely and honestly to people who are ..read more

It’s not a morbid curiosity (or maybe it is).  One of the key aspects of suicide work is the psychological autopsy or fatality review.  It’s an attempt to understand the intent of someone who died to determine whether their death was an accident – or if it was intentional.  If I was going to understand the psychological autopsy, I felt I needed to understand how the overall autopsy process worked, which led me to Postmortem: How Medical Examiners Explain Suspicious Deaths. It starts with an understanding that, even though it’s performed postmortem (after death), it’s done for th ..read more

As a cisgender, old, white guy, I have no doubt that I come from a different place than Alexandre Baril in Undoing Suicidism: A Trans, Queer, Crip Approach to Rethinking (Assisted) Suicide.  I’ve had the honor of sitting on a few diversity panels as an ally.  Despite my honest attempts to understand, I recognize that I am falling short.  The good news is that my friends – and fellow panelists – are often gentle in nudging me into a more understanding position. I enjoy having my perspectives challenged.  I’ll often read from both sides of an argument or speak to parties on o ..read more