About Leslie Boney

I’m a relentless learner, fascinated at figuring out how to connect people and ideas to solve problems.

For more than 40 years I have been at work. I’ve spent time as a teacher, actor, radio and TV reporter, gubernatorial speechwriter, public policy administrator — and seen how seldom the public, for-profit, nonprofit and education sectors talk to each other. I’ve created and managed statewide initiatives ranging from afterschool mentoring to volunteer recruitment, small town revitalization to welfare reform, broadband deployment to international student recruitment — and found it is rare for those working on different kinds of problems to share ideas between subject areas.

Since my childhood I have loved to play. I’ve been a tennis player, a basketball coach, an actor, a crossword puzzle and board game lover. And I’m struck by what we can learn about life through play.

As a music performer and writer and long-time student and teacher in religious settings, I believe in the power that music and religion have to lift our spirit and shape our lives. 

In the past I’ve tried to put walls between these parts of my life: work, play and spirit. I don’t think I — or we — can afford to do it any more. Work informs spirit; play teaches us about work; spirit helps us make sense of work and life. As the pace of change accelerates and problems complexify, I want to look for insights from each of these parts of life that can give our whole lives more meaning.

I hope you’ll join me as I try to connect the dots.