I grew up in St. Cloud, Minnesota in the ’50s and ’60s.

I had a normal childhood of sports and mischief.

I loved adventures.

I began to smoke cigarettes in middle school.

I graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1968 with a degree in Sociology/Criminology.

I worked my way through college at the Star Tribune newspaper.

I began to drink in my sophomore year in college. I liked to drink beer.

I married after my freshman year and had a daughter in 1966.

I was so scared of being married, working, and going to school full-time that I got almost all A’s and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

I was an agent in the U.S. Secret Service for three years.

I worked a year in Minneapolis and two years chasing counterfeiters in Chicago.

I worked with a great group of men in Chicago.

I worked in the White House protecting President Richard Nixon.

I traveled around the world with Nixon in 1969.

I tried my hand at carpentry after the Secret Service. I sucked.

I went to treatment for alcoholism and addiction to Valium in 1974.

I’ve been sober since treatment.

I got a job at the Star Tribune newspaper and spent almost 18 years there.

I quit smoking in about 1981.

I had nine promotions and much success at the stodgy newspaper.

From 1990-1993, I led a massive change effort that changed my life.

I left the newspaper industry and completed a Ph.D. in Leadership and Organizational Change.

I began to write.

I love to write.

I made a living consulting to organizations and people.

I got divorced after 35 years of marriage.

I lived on the side of a mountain in Colorado for 14 months.

I moved to Moorhead, Minnesota in 2002.

I fell in love with Melanie. We married in 2003.

I consulted for 13 years and retired from that work in 2005.

Sausage, Pepperoni, Onions, & Green Olives.

We got flooded out of our home along the Red River in 2009. We moved to Minneapolis, MN

I wrote two e-books: Learning to Live: Essays on Life and Leadership & Value Driven Leadership: A Story of Personal and Organizational Transformation available at Amazon.com

I walk almost five miles a day, every day.

Melanie and I have six children ranging in age from 26-54.

We have 11 grandchildren ranging in age from brand new to 26 years old.

I love solitude; Melanie loves being with people.

We find our balance.

I think the world is in a time of madness.

I take a lot of photos of nature and love to be outside.

Oxbow Bend in Grand Tetons National Park is my favorite spot to take a photo.