The malapropism used in the headline is courtesy of my brother, Terry, who uses hundreds of such phrases to keep himself entertained and throw his siblings and friends off their boring centers. Thanks, Terry.

My involvement in the foundation’s for-profit businesses is now “from a distance.” And I’m amazed by what that distance lends for perspective I can use to help my partners and the people they manage. The quality of my input seems better.

In pondering what lessons I’ve learned in 2013, it became clear to me –once again– that solutions to complex problems are frequently simple. Although I have discovered this many times in my life and career, it seems I rarely remember this fact until pain presides. And yet consider: many truths seem counter intuitive:

When I would tell my Mom that “my friends are doing it,” she would say “If your friends all jumped in the lake, should you?”

The program director at an entrepreneurial class I taught recently said, “no one speaks to us so frankly about failure.” I then had fun with a colleague discussing that thought and it made me decide to postpone the second of three “Dear Reader” blogs regarding “empty abundance.”

Your responses to my request in last month’s blog for input on my book are astounding.

I need your input.

My partners allow me to hang out with our restaurant management one half day each quarter. We do an interactive workshop, always related to broader topics than day-to-day restaurant operations.

On Wednesday, I saw one of my heroes speak to a group of several hundred people. He’s Father Bob Welsh, a Jesuit priest who led St. Ignatius High School into its current prominence as one of America’s top high schools. Choose academic, sports or service standards and St. Ignatius Cleveland will rank among the top in the country.

My fondness for my son-in-law, Keith, grew on my daughter’s college graduation day. In his toast to her, he said “among the many things I love about you is that you I am a better person for knowing you.”