Over the years, this space has grown into a living body of work — reflections written in real time and in retrospect, across seasons of change, clarity, disruption, and growth. It now also includes links to my SilverDisobedience® Perception Dynamics™ podcast interviews.
Feel free to scroll or use the search bar to choose a topic that reflects where you are right now and explore at your own pace.
There’s no order required. No finish line. Read or watch whatever meets you where you are.
Essays explore how perception — consciously and unconsciously — shapes experience, decision-making, emotional response and self-trust. They also address timing in life, trade-offs, internal alignment, and the often unspoken pressures behind big choices. Many posts look at how to separate fear, urgency, and outside influence from true readiness. Some tackle awareness of our nervous system, maintaining emotional steadiness, and returning to center — especially during periods of uncertainty, conflict, or fatigue. Plenty examine interpersonal perception, unspoken cues, boundaries, loyalty, projection, and the subtle mechanics of influence — both personal and professional. Others tackle leadership as an internal state, not a title. Topics include presence under scrutiny, decision-making in high-stakes environments, and maintaining integrity while operating in complex systems. I explore personal evolution, self-trust, and the quiet courage required to outgrow old identities — without abandoning yourself in the process. You can also expect to find posts about space for grief, patience, waiting, and the uncomfortable middle — when clarity hasn’t arrived yet, but something is clearly shifting. Basically you’ll find thoughts about the entirety of the human experience.
Enjoy! Thank you for visiting. I hope you find the content valuable. If you ever need to go deeper, I offer private consultations.
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Latest post
Before the Storm: Getting In Front of Workplace Conflicts Before They Escalate
Most workplace conflicts don’t erupt out of nowhere. They send clear signals — if you know what to look for. A shift in tone. A clipped response. Someone who suddenly stops asking questions. Break room conversations that end when certain people enter. These aren’t random behaviors — they’re early warning signs that most leaders miss. Not because they’re careless. Because they were never taught how… Keep reading →
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Latest post
The Executive Brief
How Elite Leaders Win When the Stakes Are Highest When decisions shape careers, reputations, and market trust, perception isn’t a side factor — it’s the hidden driver that you’re either harnessing to your benefit…or missing at your detriment. For more than three decades, the 6‑Layer Perception Stack™ and 4P™ Perception Model have quietly empowered leaders through moments that define organizations and careers. From boardroom showdowns… Keep reading →
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Latest post
Duchamp’s Impact on Modern Art in New York with John Strausbaugh
John Strausbaugh discusses his book “Duchamp Takes New York,” highlighting how Marcel Duchamp’s 1913 artwork, “Nude Descending a Staircase,” transformed American art. The conversation covers Duchamp’s journey from wartime Paris to New York, his innovative approach to art, and the city’s allure for creative individuals. Future topics may include Victoria Woodhull. Keep reading →
New York's Modern Art Explosion: Insights from John Strausbaugh – Silver Disobedience® Perception Dynamics™ with Dian Griesel: How People Think, Lead & Create Success
- New York's Modern Art Explosion: Insights from John Strausbaugh
- Training to Be StreetWise
- From Philosophy to Psychology: Understanding Society's Fascination with Disturbing Themes with Jordan Conrad, Ph.D., LCSW
- Revolutionizing Auto Insurance: The Roadzen AI Advantage
- Divorce, Mediation Versus Litigation with Joe Dillon
Recent posts
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Before the Storm: Getting In Front of Workplace Conflicts Before They Escalate
Most workplace conflicts don’t erupt out of nowhere. They send clear signals — if you know what to look for. A shift in tone. A clipped response. Someone who suddenly stops asking questions. Break room conversations that end when certain people enter. These aren’t random behaviors — they’re early warning signs that most leaders miss.… Keep reading →
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The Executive Brief
How Elite Leaders Win When the Stakes Are Highest When decisions shape careers, reputations, and market trust, perception isn’t a side factor — it’s the hidden driver that you’re either harnessing to your benefit…or missing at your detriment. For more than three decades, the 6‑Layer Perception Stack™ and 4P™ Perception Model have quietly empowered leaders… Keep reading →
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Simply Indescribable: Yes! That Would be You!
There’s no reason we can’t describe ourselves as indescribable. The fact is, not everyone will understand all that we are, and there may not even be enough words to describe all we do! This is not a cause for worry: The basis of humanity is that we’re all unique which makes us individually hard to… Keep reading →
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Why Questioning Perceptions is a Good Idea
Perception is the ability to see, hear or become aware of something through the senses. When we are perceiving, we are regarding, understanding, interpreting through our senses with intuition and insight.✨Perceive comes from percipere in Latin which means to seize or understand. Perceptions are formed using all the signals that course through our nervous system… Keep reading →
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The Certainty of Uncertainty
I often contemplate how certainty is not certain. Certainty implies a state of absolute assurance or conviction about the truth of an idea or the accuracy of a belief. It implies absence of doubt or ambiguity. Yet, while the allure of certainty is compelling, the complexity of certainty is limited and subject to factors that… Keep reading →
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How to Become a Calm Presence & Conscious Participant
A good goal is to be a calm presence and conscious participant in all interactions and situations. To be a calm presence means we have to possess a state of inner tranquility, holding our composure, especially in challenging or stressful situations. It involves maintaining our emotional stability and serenity, while choosing to not re-act while… Keep reading →
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Playing Time Machine Builds Memory
To stay as mentally sharp as possible, we need to keep our minds toned by exercising our brain cells daily. This is essential if we want to avoid mental decline. There’s a lot of research that confirms the harder we make our brains work, the better our brains will serve us for the long haul.… Keep reading →
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Life: A Giant Perseverance Test
In many ways, life is one big perseverance test—starting with things as basic as walking and, for many, ending with walking difficulties. In the middle, we face off against life, going up against whatever comes our way as we try again and again, with hopes of improving our lives for the better. Defined as a… Keep reading →
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When a Personality is Just the Tip of the Iceberg
The expression about how we’ve only seen “the tip of the iceberg” is really one of the best descriptors of people. While most think this phrase is a warning about how a problem or difficulty is only a small part of a bigger issue, I actually visualize icebergs quite differently. Let me explain: Ninety percent… Keep reading →
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The Difference Between Hearing and Listening
Hearing and listening are two distinct processes that involve the perception of sound, but they differ in terms of their level of attentiveness and cognitive processing. Hearing refers merely to the physical ability to detect sound waves through the ears, while listening encompasses a more active and intentional process of understanding and comprehending the meaning… Keep reading →
