Margie’s Insights & Interviews
Welcome to Margie’s blog where she shares personal stories, interviews, tools and more for living bravely.
When Fear Becomes Fatal
In 1995, a team of five Navy SEALs embarked on a high-risk mission in Venezuela to test a relatively unproven capability at the time—navigating extreme rapids in inflatable boats. The theory was that rivers could serve as highways through rugged jungle terrain...
When Humility Becomes Your Hiding Place
"I never want to be one of those egomaniacs jostling for position," said Sandra, her brow furrowing. "It's just not my style." "But how will the new CEO know what you want if you don't tell him?" I asked, leaning forward. "He knows about my work. My track record...
Dear Fellow Women, You don’t need to prove your worth – just own it.
Women in leadership have always faced a higher bar. Yet amid the pushback on DEI, pressuring women to validate their worth - again - they need to boldly own it, not prove it. “I feel like I have to prove myself all over again.” That’s what a senior female executive...
Five Years On from Fire: Finding Courage When Fear Looms Large
Back in Australia for Christmas, I’m reminded of a moment five years ago, in early 2020, that feels both distant and vividly present. Charred leaves drifted down from an apocalyptic sky as I hurriedly helped my parents pack up their most precious belongings before...
Disagreement Doesn’t Have To Divide: Navigating Family Tensions
“It’s completely fine to not be around [Trump voters] and to tell them why,” said Dr. Amanda Calhoun on MSNBC. She went further, saying it’s “essential” to do so. Statements like this capture the heightened tensions of our time. They reflect the polarizing dynamics...
When to Lean in to Uncertainty and Trust Yourself
Many years ago, my younger sister Anne volunteered with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), a French medical humanitarian organization – also known as Doctors Without Borders. Anne was not long out of medical school but wanted to heed a long-held desire to help...
What’s your ‘growth edge’ for 2024?
"Every blade of grass has an Angel that bends over it and whispers, 'Grow! Grow!'" I love this verse from the Talmud for its imagery as much as its encouragement. It aligns with a valuable lesson from growing up on my parent's dairy farm which I shared in my...
Without psychological safety, fear stifles truth and courage
NASA Challenger disaster. BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Volkswagen emissions scandal. What went wrong? Investigations produced multi-layered findings. Yet beneath the complexity lay a common element. Fear. People were afraid to speak the truth. And so, they...
Get comfortable being uncomfortable
After graduating from university I moved back to my parents' farm and worked two jobs for six months until I’d saved up enough to buy an around-the-world airfare. Then off I set. No cell phone. No credit card. Just a handful of traveler’s checks (remember them?) and a...
Embracing Tears
Tears. I’ve shed a few lately. While I’ve lived a long way from my parents for many years, the miles have never tugged so hard on my heartstrings than in the last few years as the thickening fog of dementia has rolled in over my precious Mum... and on my Dad taking...
Now The Real Curriculum Begins: A Guide For New Grads
Just last week, my youngest son Matt graduated from Baylor University. As he walked that stage—broad smile, degree in hand, future wide open—I felt incredibly proud and a little relieved. After all, this was the same kid who once told his first-grade teacher he'd...
Hope is a risk that must be run.
Today is Good Friday, a sacred day in the Christian calendar and one that holds special significance for me and my family. It was on Good Friday 17 years ago that my older brother Frank was injured in a motorbike accident that left him with paraplegia, unable to ever...
My Lesson from the Trapeze: Courage is a Decision, not a Feeling.
Have you ever found yourself standing at the edge of something you knew you needed to do—knowing you needed to step up or speak up or lean in and 'take the leap', yet hesitating and holding back? I’ve been there. Not just in life, but quite literally, on a trapeze...
Embrace the hard yards and run your own best race: Insights to my first marathon!
Growing up on a dairy farm, my dad often called me “bumblefoot”—it was meant as a term of endearment but that label that did what labels do... it stuck. For years I internalized it to mean I lacked all athletic talent and anything requiring coordinated physical...
Be the captain of your life, not captive of your circumstances
“We can't all have the textbook life we once imagined at 18, 21, or 30. Life is what it is. Your future depends on the decisions you make from here on.” I’ll never forget the day my brother Frank was told he’d never walk again. I sat beside him in his hospital bed,...
You think failure is hard? Not near as hard as learning from it
Failing is hard. But not near as hard as learning from it. Thomas J. Watson, former CEO of IBM, once said, “If you want to increase your success rate, double your failure rate.” It sounds good. Yet it’s not wholly true. Sure, risking failure is crucial for success....
The greatest source of risk to us… is us
In the 2000’s, the US Armed Forces introduced bulletproof body armor to protect American soldiers in deadly combat zones such as Iraq and Afghanistan. Yet the armor was so heavy that it weighed soldiers down and slowed their speed. General Stanley McChrystal,...
Let the love you share be the legacy you leave
It’s been over three weeks since my precious mum left this world and over two weeks today since her funeral. And oh, what a beautiful funeral it was! Yes, it was sad. Yes, we cried. Yes, our hearts hurt. My siblings and I have lost our mum. Our eighteen children, a...
Put your ‘to be’ list ahead of your ‘to do’ list.
I felt awash with a swirling mix of anxiety and overwhelm in late March 2020. I was living in Singapore. My husband had just been hospitalized with Covid-19. I was put into a strict quarantine with one of my children, Singapore's health department video-calling...
Take Courage! Beware the hidden tax on timidity.
“All right, I'll go in there for Dorothy," announced the Cowardly Lion. "Wicked Witch or no Wicked Witch, guards or no guards, I'll tear 'em apart. I may not come out alive, but I'm going in. There's just one thing I want you fellows to do. Talk me out of it.” This...
