Democracy Café

The photo for this podcast features yours truly and dearest friend Dennis Dienst plotting out a business venture together over cups of tea. Dennis carefully records what we are hatching in a notebook, while I scribble my patented illegible notes on a napkin. Few people I've had the privilege to know have found the sweet spot, when it comes to planning, like Dennis Dienst, who among other things is a senior category manager at Smiths Medical in the Twin Cities, my client at Martin Capital Advisors (MartinCapital.com), and co-founder with me of SocratesGroup.org. Dennis somehow manages to plan ahead and at the same time to be a spontaneous child at heart; to be a risk taker but also to be careful and methodical, with both the short and long view in minds; to plan not only for his own well-being here and now and in times to come, but for that for others for whom he cares -- and not just in his own family circle, but casting a much wider net. Since the tragic 2011 death of my father, Alexander Phillips -- a