By Mike Tenbusch | December 4, 2020
There are a couple of lessons I learned early in life, and each came at some pretty painful personal expense. The first is that you have to change the oil in your car, especially if your car is really old and leaks oil. I learned that lesson on a cold, dark night making the ride home from college when my ’79 Mustang just stopped running in the middle of Nowhere, Michigan. Up until that point, I was pretty sure the oil just replaced itself.
The second lesson came at my first job after law school, when I learned that hiding a problem from your boss only tends to make the problem a whole lot worse, kind of like leaking oil over time, until the whole thing blows up. Thankfully, I’ve never repeated that mistake.
I felt the pain of both of those lessons reading about the freighter that ran aground in the Detroit River this week. According to a lieutenant from the U.S. Coast Guard, “They apparently experienced some sort of lube oil failure and starting drifting.” Oh man, how glad I am that I wasn’t in charge of changing the oil on that ship!

As I’ve shared with you before, I’ve run out of gas more than the average person, I’m sure. I’ve learned over time that sometimes my positivity can get in the way of accurately assessing risks.
In that light, can you please help me out, and help our organization get stronger, by taking a few minutes to complete our survey about your experience with us. Your responses, year over year, help us keep a tight ship. 😊
What’s Missing in our Mission?
By Mike Tenbusch | February 12, 2021 Our international team and board discussing our mission over Zoom. Our team took this call from rooms in six different countries! Thank you, Tucker, for this photo. When you have a really good mission statement, I’ve learned...
A Life Lesson from Detroit
By Mike Tenbusch | January 29, 2021 Way back in 1973, I remember eating at Buddy’s pizza in Detroit with my brother, my dad, and my dad’s best friend, Fr. Frank Canfield, S.J. Because I was kind of a mischievous 4-year-old, I snuck a sip of my dad’s beer when he...
The Loss of a Precious Life
By Mike Tenbusch | January 15, 2021 We lost one of our scholars last week. Asdrubal Barroso was only 13-years-old. He was born in Cuba but moved with his parents to Nicaragua four years ago in search of better opportunities. They settled in a small home in Villa...