The Mansfield Newsletter Empowering you to overcome challenges and succeed Yesterday I was the keynote speaker at a Chamber of Commerce lunch in Eagle, Idaho. Local business owners, managers and sales folks were in attendance (having been invited via this promotional piece the Chamber sent out.) As you can see, the promo piece promises that I would help them “overcome the toughest times in business and in life.” (A tall order, indeed! Ha.) And it’s my hope that I delivered. Tell me what you...
2 months ago • 7 min read
The Mansfield Newsletter Empowering you to overcome challenges and succeed In the final year of the 20th Century, the actor Tom Hanks starred in a film called Cast Away. It had something in common both with a book published in 1719 and an article that was published in 2026. What a strange concoction of facts, history and dates. Bear with me for a tiny bit and I’ll soon unpack this odd, misshaped ball of thought-yarn. As is often my custom, let’s begin first with a brief video clip. This time...
2 months ago • 7 min read
The Mansfield Newsletter Empowering you to overcome challenges and succeed At first glance, my Newsletter today wouldn’t appear to be for everybody. It’s got fighting, and prayers to vanquish Hitler, it’s got tales of woe and a nod to folks who traffic in bodily “organ recitals”. In truth, it’s about men and women advancing in age, decade after decade, and embracing those advances with a smile and a twinkle in their eyes. So, since were all aging, maybe this newsletter just might be for you....
3 months ago • 6 min read
The Mansfield Newsletter Empowering you to overcome challenges and succeed Friendship happens in the context of doing something else. At least in reality, it does. Allow me to explain by presenting the opposite idea first – that being engaged as a friend and being entertained as a fan are two totally separate things. You see, our culture tends to believe the lie that friendship is something manipulated or controlled, like an Uber Eats order: find an interesting person, order up a relationship...
5 months ago • 7 min read
The Mansfield Newsletter Empowering you to overcome challenges and succeed Have you ever gone to places that friends warned you were dangerous, but you went anyway? Well, I just returned a few weeks ago from Poland and Israel. Why did I do it? Stand by and I’ll tell you. Right now, I’d like to challenge you to join me on my next trip to Israel. (I’ll unpack that shortly, too.) Here’s a little background: Although I’ve visited Israel and Egypt several times in the past, it was still a surprise...
7 months ago • 6 min read
The Mansfield Newsletter Empowering you to overcome challenges and succeed For the past several months I’ve been a candidate for city council. The race came to completion yesterday, on Nov 4th. More on that in a little bit. Throughout the time of the race I made a decision to keep my personal priorities straight. Elections, like jobs or hobbies can tend to fill up the gaps of unscheduled time slots. Everything “seems” important and therefore moves up and fills in the gaps! I’ve learned over...
8 months ago • 4 min read
The Mansfield Newsletter Empowering you to overcome challenges and succeed Losses come our way in life. We know that to be true, though we often pretend otherwise. It could be the loss of a position, or the loss of wealth, or even one final failure that envelopes us is the loss of health – we die. We are born into the world to live. In fact, as Americans we have the Right to Life, guaranteed us in our Constitution. We accomplish much, fail frequently, reassemble ourselves in our lives, start...
10 months ago • 8 min read
The Mansfield Newsletter Empowering you to overcome challenges and succeed A close friend of mine, Terry Bush, passed away at the end of 2024; his wife decided to hold the memorial for him in late June, which we just recently went to. It was a wonderful and honoring event of his memory. My daughter, her husband, my son and his wife attended the service – a reflection of how much he was loved and respected by the Roe and Mansfield families. Many of his other friends attended, too. Each had...
about 1 year ago • 6 min read
The Mansfield Newsletter Empowering you to overcome challenges and succeed Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond, is oddly responsible for helping birth the most iconic rock band of all time, Led Zeppelin. Allow me to explain. When the very first James Bond film was being scored, Ian Fleming met with the proposed composer to discuss how the music should go. Fleming did not like that composer’s work and demanded that composer John Barry take his place. Barry was a respected motion picture...
about 1 year ago • 7 min read