June 4, 2021 was my friend John Guzzardo’s last day on earth. He and another Northwestern University classmate Aaron Morgan were killed by a drunk driver. John’s son was also in the car, and by way of an open miracle survived.
John was a brilliant actor, writer, director, poet, and in the last many years a respected and beloved attorney in Chicago. He was kind and generous, had an infectious laugh, and a wide subversive streak which I loved and miss. He embodied the words of the Jewish sages, “Say little and do much.”
As a tribute to John, I’m going to read Stranger in a Strange Land because Heinlein was one of his favorite authors. Matt Taibbi was also one of his favorites before it was cool (or ahem uncool) to read him. He would regularly send me Taibbi links and that is why I read Taibbi regularly today. He tried to get me into Buckminster Fuller too, but so far I haven’t tackled any of that.
I was in a used bookstore in Rehovot last week and decided that for the next few months, appreciating people via books would be a theme. So I picked up one Heinlein and The Periodic Table, a book by Primo Levi, a Holocaust survivor.
What does this have to do with my second favorite topic, leadership?
👉 Appreciate your people now. “It’s never too late” is just false.
👉 Test your boundaries. Ask your favorite people what moves them. Dip your toe in those waters and see if you grow.
Miss you John. But you impacted me profoundly and that is a blessing!!
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