This is one of the several photos of onions created for me by a former colleague of mine, Sharon Hoffman in 2004. I was preparing for a graduate school project, and knowing she was an amateur photographer, asked her for advise on how to take photos of an onion. The following Monday she had several photos on my desk that went well beyond anything in my creative sphere. “It was a fun exercise,” she said. I offer her my eternal thanks.

Some people find onions to be smelly and offensive. I find them to be beautiful, and living in the land of the Walla Walla Sweet Onion, almost as good to eat raw as apples. They are also a wonderful metaphor for the many layers of behavioral dynamics in us as individuals, and our organizations.