Welcome to Dispatches from the Heartland

An Introduction

Hello Readers:

Welcome to Dispatches from the Heartland. Perhaps you’re here because you are a supportive friend or family member, a curious colleague, or someone who tunes into my business writing. Maybe you’ve stumbled on this column by accident. Whoever you are – thank you for being here. 

Now that I’ve posted my first column and poem, I want to provide a brief introduction. My intent with this site is to share stories and writings that explore change and transformation from the unique vantage point of my life in the Midwest. This type of writing is a little different than what I have typically shared. 

For as long as I can remember, I have loved stories, writing, and connecting people. My journalism-related career started in 4th grade when I delivered the Shoppers News in Coon Rapids, Iowa, and continued at my high school newspaper, the Ballard Bomber. Through my years as an executive in financial services and public health, I wrote and was interviewed on business-related topics like finance, leadership, healthcare, and inclusion – particularly around gender and racial issues — for a variety of national media outlets. 

Now, for my day job, I have the privilege of leading an award-winning media and publishing company based in Iowa. We cover business, cultural and philanthropic communities. For our publications and some outside organizations, I write about another one of my passions: leadership. I tend to focus on individual and organizational change and transformation; diversity, equity and inclusion; and how things are organized or function. Those stories are told through a business lens. But we all know that at the end of the day businesses are run by people. People who have personal stories.

People like you. People like me. 

So, while I’ll likely use this site to explore some topics related to the economy or workforce or business in the Midwest, my plan is to take a more personal approach. I’ll be exploring the energy of the Heartland – the people, institutions, and dynamics that make the center of the country tick. I’ll be delving into why we embrace or resist change, how transformation is happening constantly under our very noses.

Dispatches from the Heartland may involve some business musings, some personal stories, some opinion pieces, and some poetry. And probably a lot about dogs and trees, because I love dogs and trees.

This kind of writing is new for me. That’s a little scary. But change is good, right?

Thanks for joining me on this journey.