As they passed each other in the hall, Gail, the VP of Administration and Ray, the HR Director. The VP noticed a slight twitch away from direct eye to eye contact. The VP said the usual, “hey, Ray, how’s it going?” The HR Director, responded, “good,” but then quickly looked away. It wasn’t a dramatic … More Noticing
“Men live their lives in quiet desperation.” (Henry David Thoreau, Walden) I read “men” as gender neutral. People live their lives in quiet desperation. There as so many people that live unfulfilled lives. It’s an existence really. They feel stuck, paralyzed, and succumb to the “this is the best it will get” attitude. And I’m … More The Void
I have found that Leaders are Learners. The greatest leaders were fanatic learners. Abraham Lincoln was—we all know how far he would go just to get a book. John F. Kennedy was, I’ve read that he in fact was a speed reader, consuming books like they were food. I’ve read that Phil Knight, Bill Gates, … More Learning for Leadership
The world of commerce is filled with empty promises. It’s more common than not to promote our product or service as the best, the biggest, the world’s greatest, the fastest, the strongest, and so on. I kid you not, there is a candy store located in southern Minnesota that promotes itself as “the world’s largest … More Empty Promises
Probably one of the most misleading things in organizational life is the concept of best practices. The idea that we can copy or duplicate the practices of a particular business or organization and we will get the same results. Copy the success of Company A, and Company B will experience the same success. This has … More The myth of best practices
Spoiler alert: If you haven’t seen the movie, stop reading. Go see it and then read this blog. I didn’t expect what I found in the movie, “A beautiful day in the neighborhood.” I expected more of a children’s movie, that it was about how he spoke about difficult subjects to children. Well, it was … More What was so special about Mr. Rogers?
Let’s face it, we always want more. We spend about 5 minutes being grateful and 55 minutes grinding about that which we don’t have. Because we are goal-oriented people that means we’re never satisfied. It’s OK to be goal oriented because without it, nothing would get done. We need goals. However, our goals should never … More Growing in Gratitude
In my wildest dreams, I never thought __________! How would you fill in that blank? I never thought the Cubs would win a World Series! I never thought Vegas would have a hockey team, let alone a winning hockey team! I never thought I could FaceTime my friends and family! Let’s make it personal: In … More Expect the unexpected
Making a difference or having an impact upon someone’s life often comes from things we do or say which may not be grand or obvious. Every day you hope what you do makes a difference. Yet, many times we’re not really sure if we’ve made a difference or not. Often it’s the little things, subtle … More You never know
In the movie Princess Bride, Inego Montoya takes Wesley who is “mostly dead” to Miracle Max to see if he can be revived. After finding out his purpose was to find and avenge Prince Humperdinck, whom Miracle Max had a particular disliking, he revived Wesley. On the way out Miracle Max says to them, ”Have … More Storm the Castle?
