You see, if everyone is special, then no one is. If everyone gets a trophy, trophies become meaningless. In our unspoken but not so subtle Darwinian competition with one another–which springs, I think, from our fear of our own insignificance, a subset of our dread of mortality — we have of late, we Americans, to […]
I read the text from a commencement address given at Wellesley High School by David McCullough Jr. this weekend. The truth in it is hard to argue with. The brilliance of the prose floored me. His message, simply stated was, “You are not special.” Some may say it is a harsh message to hear on […]
My last 5 years leading sales teams I noticed a shift in our corporate culture. Because of increased regulations corporate compliance became a mantra throughout the organization. Playing within the rules is a given in business. But, the increased communication around compliance had a negative side effect. Compliance became a goal in and of itself. […]
People couldn’t believe he jumped to another company. Tom was an all-star salesman who won multiple sales awards over the last 5 years. He earned sizable raises year after year and large bonuses. It didn’t make sense to some. Tom called me multiple times during his final 6 months with the company. He did not […]
Every male freshman (plebe) entering West Point has a mandatory class that few other colleges offer much less require. Boxing. Each morning that boxing was on my schedule I woke up thinking about it. I would sit in calculus, chemistry or computer programing class thinking about boxing. It didn’t matter that I had tests or […]
At the Refresh Leadership Live conference (Twitter: #refreshleadership) I went to recently, Dr. Bertrice Berry read a poem with a line in it that said: “You ain’t free to do what you want to do. You are free to what you’re meant to do.” These days I feel free because I believe I am doing […]
If a blogger/consultant screams on the internet does anyone notice? I was wondering when I left my comfortable job in the corporate world if people would hear me when I screamed. I read a lot about consulting in the months before starting my company and in the months since. There was a lot of great […]
I have been thinking about writing an un-resume. This would be the list of all the things I have done wrong. It is a long and sometimes scary list. I always tell people a resume should never be more than two pages long. Unfortunately my un-resume would break that rule!
My son saw a quote this week that said, “Metta World Peace is the dirtiest player since Ron Artest.” We both laughed about that one. But just claiming a name like World Peace or Low Maintenance Team, does not ensure you act like your title. Look, I am not a genius or a visionary guru […]
“At Acme Inc. our core values are Integrity, Trust, Innovation and Community.” That statement or something similar can be found on just about any organizational website. Most companies and individuals believe having values is important. They say it. So it must be true…Right? Just because a contestant on American Idol claims they can sing doesn’t […]
