It feels awesome to be back and writing again following a 5-month sabbatical. I have to admit, I missed the pure joy of it, the smell of the paper, and the intellectual challenge that I seek in it.

However, I desperately needed the break after some unexpected personal and family matters that needed attention. It sounds odd for me to use the term “sabbatical” when referring to time away from thought leadership, but as I wrote in today’s piece on Forbes, “…for those who follow and stay committed, the process of molding these ideas can sometimes be as intense and focused as the development of new products and services.”

Although a number of syndications and several less demanding projects kept me busy, the time I took gave me a chance to slow down and reflect–both critical for growth and rejuvenation.

My top 3 favorite projects were:

• The Intel Innovation Series on mobile BI strategy
• Batterii interview about design thinking and innovation
• And turnali.com 4.0 go live, which also included the merging of my personal site and thought leadership blog into a single website.

A lot of new projects, including a number of brand new series, will be coming in the rest of this year.

I feel recharged and ready to run!