Inspiration

“Architecture should speak of its time and place, but yearn for timelessness.” — Frank Gehry

We lost a legend in 2025. Frank Gehry has never just designed buildings; he has expanded our permission to imagine. What has influenced me most is not only the boldness of his forms but also his devotion to process: crumpled paper, rough models, fragments that looked unresolved long before they became iconic. In a world that rewards polish and premature certainty, Gehry honored experimentation and intuiti…

“Sometimes the path doesn’t appear until you begin to walk it.”

This image stopped me in my tracks the moment I saw it. The photographer, Daniel Mercadante, used long-exposure photography and a custom-built lighting rig with colored gels to create a series of images titled Rainbow Roads. It’s both surreal and grounding; the colors don’t map out a rigid route; they trace a living path, one that only becomes visible because something dared to move through the darkness. The brightest paths are often…

“It is not the answer that enlightens, but the question.” — Eugène Ionesco

In a world that rewards clarity, speed, and decisiveness, leadership has come to mean having the right answers at the right time. We celebrate the quick fix, the five-point framework, the “playbook for success.” But leadership in complex times asks something deeper of us. It asks us to unlearn the illusion of certainty and to cultivate a relationship with mystery, meaning, and multiplicity — the invisible forces that shape…

“The most beautiful things are often hidden in plain sight, waiting for our curiosity to uncover them.”

On a recent trip to London, I took a journey that wasn’t on the usual tourist map. I ventured out to the Victoria & Albert East Storehouse, located near the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park — a new, modern facility that offers something rare: a glimpse behind the curtain. Having visited London many times before, I have seen the city’s celebrated cultural landmarks — the soaring galleries of the Tat…

“Architecture is frozen music.” — Goethe

During my recent visit to Reykjavik, I was captivated by the striking silhouette of Hallgrímskirkja, one of Iceland’s most iconic landmarks. Inspired by the basalt lava flows that shape Iceland’s natural landscape, this church rises in rhythmic symmetry, an ode to both human imagination and the raw power of nature. Standing before it at dusk, I was reminded that true creation often emerges at the intersection of discipline and wonder. Leadership, much like…

“Leadership is not a position or a title. It is a choice, made moment by moment.”

How do we create moments of leadership? The question itself reframes what leadership truly is. For too long, leadership has been defined by title and scale — leading large teams, making significant decisions, and driving substantial results. But real leadership often lies in the small moments: the quiet decisions we make when no one is watching, the small acts of courage that shift the energy in a room, the choice t…

“Even in stillness, there is a story; Even in silence, there is strength.”

This image, taken in Deadvlei, Namibia, is one of nature’s most striking paradoxes; a landscape that feels both lifeless and deeply alive. The petrified trees, standing for nearly 700 years against a backdrop of shifting dunes and impossible light, tell a story not of decay, but of endurance. They remind us that vitality isn’t always about movement and growth; sometimes it’s presence and perseverance. As I reflect on this …

“None of us is as smart as all of us.” – Ken Blanchard

The phrase collective genius is often celebrated but rarely practiced. We all nod our heads when we hear about the power of collaboration, yet most organizations, and even our broader culture, fall into patterns that prevent it from flourishing. What holds us back isn’t a lack of intelligence or creativity; it’s a set of deeply ingrained habits that elevate the individual at the expense of the group.

In Western societies, particularly those sh…

“What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.” – Jane Goodall

I find myself reflecting deeply on the extraordinary life and legacy of Jane Goodall — a scientist, activist, and storyteller who has profoundly changed the way we view our planet and ourselves. Her passing marks the end of an era, but her influence continues to ripple through every act of compassion and curiosity she inspired. Jane didn’t just study chimpanzees; she redefined our und…

"The main character of any living system is openness." — Ilya Romanovich Prigogine

Have you ever worked in a team where one person — through their energy, attitude, or mere presence — completely shifted the atmosphere? Maybe they were assertive, loud, dismissive, or radiated negativity. You could almost feel the air change when they entered the room. We have all experienced this. I certainly have. And it never fails to remind me of one essential truth: we are not machines; we are living systems.

T…