VOTING & POLITICSLet’s Talk PoliticsJoAnna Bennett, O'Brien Communications GroupNovember 10, 2022It’s election week! If you’re a fellow American citizen and had the opportunity to vote this past Tuesday, I’m sure you had plenty on your mind. I know I did. Our...

What do you do if you're a self-respecting bureaucracy? Come on. You got this. Right! You add layers. According to this post from the BBC — "The rise of the 'chief remote officer'" — the latest layer is the addition of the chief remote officer (CRO), whose duty it is...

OUTDOORS & WONDERMy PathJoAnna Bennett, O'Brien Communications GroupOctober 27, 2022This past weekend, despite the light rain, my kids, my significant other, and I wanted to take an adventure outdoors. We put on our rain jackets and rain boots and headed out to...

GROWTH & BIRTHDAYSWhen Life Gives You a Lemon TreeJoAnna Bennett, O'Brien Communications GroupOctober 20, 2022This past weekend, I completed my 38th lap around the sun. It was a great day filled with birthday wishes from all the people in my life who love and care...

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE & AWARENESSDomestic Violence Awareness MonthJoAnna Bennett, O'Brien Communications GroupOctober 13, 2022We’re almost halfway through October and before the month is complete, I want to dedicate a blog post to Domestic Violence Awareness Month....

LIFE & LEARNINGUncovering IgnoranceJoAnna Bennett, O'Brien Communications GroupOctober 6, 2022When I was a teenager, I knew everything. In fact, I knew more about life then than I do now. The beauty of my adolescence was that my world was small. Sure, I knew how...

CATHECT & LOVECathect vs. LoveJoAnna Bennett, O'Brien Communications GroupSeptember 29, 2022While reading bell hook’s, all about love, I came across a word that has changed my perception. I love when that happens. While I still have 10 percent of the book left to...

FALL & LIFEIt's TimeJoAnna Bennett, O'Brien Communications GroupSeptember 22, 2022  As I look out my office window, I can see it: The first orange leaves have shown themselves. The trees in my purview are still 99.5 percent green, but the presence of this one...

NATURE & PERSPECTIVEThe Almost Fall SunJoAnna Bennett, O'Brien Communications GroupSeptember 15, 2022I’ve made it a point to get outside and enjoy the sun lately. I’m a remote employee, so I have the luxury of bringing my laptop outside to bask in some vitamin D....

CHRISTMAS & DOGCATCHERSA Grumpy Dogcatcher JoAnna Bennett, O'Brien Communications GroupSeptember 8, 2022My kids are on a Buddies kick. And so, this weekend, we watched Budderball, Rosebud, B-Dawg, Mudbud, Buddha, and Puppy Paws in Santa Buddies. It was a tragic...

VACATION & PEACEThat SoundJoAnna Bennett, O'Brien Communications GroupSeptember 1, 2022I love Vermont. I love the combined scent of pine, maple, and cedar trees that seem to sweeten the oxygen. It makes purposeful breathing pleasant. It’s easy to relax in a place...

LOST LUGGGE & FOUND HUMANITYKiara – The Lost and Found MascotJoAnna Bennett, O'Brien Communications GroupAugust 18, 2022Have you ever talked to a stranger who simply made your life better – even for a short period of time? Sure, by the nature of engaging with...

LIFE & HEATA Wave of HeatJoAnna Bennett, O'Brien Communications GroupAugust 11, 2022I’m not sure where you live, but in my neck of the woods, it’s been hot. It’s been hotter than usual, earlier than usual, for longer than usual. I’m not one to regularly use air...

GRAPE TOMATOES & MY SONGrape TomatoesJoAnna Bennett, O'Brien Communications GroupAugust 4, 2022Last summer we bought a packet of grape tomato seeds. We planted them indoors around March. That year we had the perfect amount of rain and sun for those tomato plants...

BRAVERY & TRANSFORMATION Just Keep SwimmingJoAnna Bennett, O'Brien Communications GroupJuly 28, 2022For as long as I can remember, I wanted to be a mother. I was the little girl who collected and carried around baby dolls. I would care for them and dote on them. I...

INTELLIGENCE & CHANGELearn. Always.JoAnna Bennett, O'Brien Communications GroupJuly 21, 2022“If you’re the smartest person in the room, then you’re in the wrong room.” I’ve heard this statement several times, in several different contexts over the years. I’ve...

PEOPLE & PERCEPTION People Are Just PeopleJoAnna Bennett, O'Brien Communications GroupJuly 14, 2022I have a quote hanging in a picture frame in my kitchen. The quote is from the book The Power of Lift by Melinda Gates. It reads, “Connect deeply with others. Our...

I don’t like to think of myself as being a terribly reactive person. I’m not a panic-first kind of guy. I generally prefer to be tempered, measured, moderate, contemplative. I prefer to weigh things as objectively as I can — to consider evidence, to gather facts (if...

HARDY ACORNS & SUNLIGHTIt’s More than PersonalJoAnna Bennett, O'Brien Communications GroupJune 23, 2022 The tallest oak in the forest is the tallest not just because it grew from the hardiest acorn; it is the tallest also because no other trees blocked its...

STATE INTEGRATION & MEWho Am I?JoAnna Bennett, O'Brien Communications GroupJune 16, 2022I’m an insatiable reader, a liberal, a reflective writer, a full-time marketer, a mistake-maker, a dog/chicken/tarantula owner, a mother of two, a divorcee, a survivor, a...

UNDERSTANDING & LIFEThe Big PictureJoAnna Bennett, O'Brien Communications GroupJune 9, 2022Have you ever lost the ability to see the big picture? Have you ever faced a problem you simply couldn’t resolve? It seemed so much bigger than what you could handle. Or...

COURAGE & TEETHA Loose ToothJoAnna Bennett, O'Brien Communications GroupJune 2, 2022Last week, my daughter came home from school and did what she usually does. She ran around with her friends, ate a lot of snacks, and rode her bike up and down the driveway. It was...

PERCEPTION & TRUTH Perception vs. TruthJoAnna Bennett, O'Brien Communications GroupMay 19, 2022As Malcolm Gladwell wrote in What the Dog Saw and Other Adventures, “To a worm in horseradish, the world is horseradish.” This quote is as much about perception as...

BOOKS & LIFEAground or Afloat?JoAnna Bennett, O'Brien Communications GroupMay 12, 2022Listening to Brené Brown read her book, Atlas of the Heart, got me hooked on audio books. I enjoy listening to her podcasts, but this was more. It was hours of her reading...

About a year ago, I published a post about a practical joke I'd attempted to play on my grandson, Evan. It blew up in my face. But it didn't change me or prevent me from pulling his leg. From Wednesday, April 27, to Monday, May 2, I was with Evan (now nine years old)...

BIASES & IMPERFECTIONI'm Biased. Are You?JoAnna Bennett, O'Brien Communications GroupMay 5, 2022I read/listened to a blog post from Melissa Hughes, Ph. D. yesterday titled, Are You Biased? Is the Wrong Question. In this post she suggests, “The question is not, are...

LESSONS & BABIESLife LessonsJoAnna Bennett, O'Brien Communications GroupApril 28, 2022On April 6th – 22 days ago – one of my very best friends had a baby, a boy. She lives 138 miles away, so unfortunately, I couldn’t meet him right away. As a mother-of-two myself,...

Those of you who are masochistic enough to read my posts with any regularity may remember my first post in this series. I had no idea there would be a second one. But then Saturday happened. Before we get there, a wee bit of history first: You might recall from the...

BOOKS & RIGIDITYNo Turning BackJoAnna Bennett, O'Brien Communications GroupApril 21, 2022I’ve always been a serial reader. And by serial reader I mean I’d read one book cover-to-cover before I’d start another. Sometimes I’d get through a book quickly, but other...

I had the misfortune to stumble on an article from New York magazine's The CUT. It's ominously titled, "A Vibe Shift Is Coming: Will Any of Us Survive It?" The obvious response is, "Who cares?" But this is an article that has every intention of being taken seriously:...

LINCOLN & AMERICAIt’s Been 157 YearsJoAnna Bennett, O'Brien Communications GroupApril 14, 2022It’s April 14th. 157 years ago today, Abraham Lincoln was shot in the back of the head at Ford’s Theater. He died the next day. I imagine America was a much different...

Grandma O'Brien loved to say, "There's no sense being Irish if you can't be thick." She was right. Maybe that's why when people say, “I can’t write,” I take it as a challenge to prove them wrong. Yes, you can write. If you can think and talk, you can write. If you can...

READING & THE PASTThe 1970s Were CallingJoAnna Bennett, O'Brien Communications GroupApril 7, 2022It was the summer of 1992. I was eight years old. My mother and father – like the members of most American households – worked full time. My sister was about five...

Applebee's was in the news recently. No, not for their chicken fajitas; although, Wilbur Freemish from Burnt Scrub, Arkansas, did file a product liability suit after trying to use a skillet for a Frisbee. (He said the waiter forgot to warn him the skillet might be hot...

CAPABILITY & HARD WORKPainted CabinetsJoAnna Bennett, O'Brien Communications GroupMarch 31, 2022This weekend I painted my bottom row of cabinets. When I purchased my home about two-and-a-half years ago, I knew I’d eventually repaint the honey-stained maple...

If you're familiar with computing or software design, you know what you see is what you get (WYSIWYG because everything has to be abbreviated) is a way to edit software or system configurations without any knowledge of coding. Rather, by enabling the user to see...

PEAK & MINDFULNESSAre You at Your Peak?JoAnna Bennett, O'Brien Communications GroupMarch 24, 2022The definition of peak when used as an adjective is “greatest, maximum.” Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could operate at our maximum capacity? How would one even get...

I was reading an article the other day about the fact that the International Space Station will be decommissioned in 2031. Depending on which version of the story you choose to believe, the Space Station will burn up, be dropped into the ocean, or both. As luck would...

PROMISES & PROGRESSDiscerning My RealityJoAnna Bennett, O'Brien Communications GroupMarch 17, 2022For the past four Januarys, I’ve opted to make a promise to myself as opposed to a resolution. As Brené Brown said on one of her podcasts, “I’m not a fan of...

For several months, Anne and I have been attempting to buy a new home. From that experience, we can tell you: Everything you hear about how crazy the real-estate market is right now is true, at least in Connecticut. Buying Since we promised ourselves we wouldn’t...

STORYTELLING & BOOK FORMATSThe Audio BookJoAnna Bennett, O'Brien Communications GroupMarch 10, 2022I’ve been a visual learner for as long as I can remember. If I attended class and read the book, I was usually able to do well in school. So, it’s not surprising to...

If you're anything like me, you frequently find yourself in time-related dilemmas, from the more general stuff to forgetting what time it is, what day of the week it is, or what the date might be on any given day. And if you're anything like me, you wonder if you...

LEARNING & GROWINGEvolve or RepeatJoAnna Bennett, O'Brien Communications GroupMarch 3, 2022There’s an unattributed quote that goes, “Each day we are presented with two choices: Evolve or repeat.” Do we continue to do things the way we always have? Or do we admit...

Oh, boy! Connecticut, the state in which I live and work, now has a paid family leave program. With this headline — "Gov. Ned Lamont just signed a sweeping family and medical leave law" — here's how the Hartford Courant trumpeted this wonderful news: Gov. Ned Lamont...

LEAVES & POTENTIALI'm a WriterJoAnna Bennett, O'Brien Communications GroupFebruary 24, 2022I was listening to the podcast Back2Different with Mac Bogert last Monday. He was interviewing one my favorite people, Mark O’Brien. While they were chatting, I heard Mac...

You think you got problems? On Saturday, parts of Connecticut, including the one in which we live, experienced what was uniformly described as a snow squall event. It started at 4:15 p.m. and was over by 5:00 p.m. It was characterized by near white-out snowfall and...

WISDOM & ADWORDSUnlearningJoAnna Bennett, O'Brien Communications GroupFebruary 17, 2022Have you ever heard the phrase, but we’ve always done it that way? I have. It happens in client meetings. It happens in family systems. And it happens in politics. I get it....