Author Archive | Fred Kepler

My name is Fred, I’m a Type I diabetic

The behavior change of a type 1 diabeticMy name is Fred, and I am a Type I diabetic. It’s been about 4 hours since my last shot of insulin. (In a 12-step parody, this is where you’d say, “Welcome, Fred.”)

I’m a grizzled veteran of the diabetes wars, having developed Type I diabetes (formerly called “juvenile diabetes,”) when I was eight. Continue Reading →

Inspired Listening

Emotive Storytelling Creative ListeningWe’ve all faced a scenario like this: we sit through a meeting, presentation or conference, listen to catch what we can, take lots of notes, and then think to ourselves “Good—I got it” as the situation ends.

But did we really?

Did we understand what the speaker was trying to communicate?

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Emotive Storytelling: We Are What We Speak

Negotiation

To win hearts and minds, it might help to meet the “other guys” somewhere in the middle.

Is it safe yet to talk about Trayvon Martin? Will it ever be? In the aftermath of the shooting—and even more so after the trial and not guilty verdict—the social media and blogosphere were ablaze with angry rhetoric and rebuttals.

Two opposing camps quickly established themselves, each with its own story to tell.  Continue Reading →

Stories About Nothing

Earth-From-Space-2

Nature abhors a vacuum and so do we.

Nature abhors a vacuum and so do we. Nature filled the original void with stars, planets and galaxies. When we encounter a gap in our knowledge, we tend to fill it with stories. Not surprisingly, our most enduring stories focus on the origins of our universe—and ourselves.

Most religions include a creation story—the most familiar, of course, being “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” Continue Reading →