Miss Cellaneous

Sometimes there is a topic that is near and dear to me. Sometimes I just need to get something off my chest. Meet Miss Cellaneous. She is the one who I speak to when I write these. She never really fit into a category. But, she likes to hear me out on varying subjects. I hope you will join us…

Preparing to Leave My Job

What's Next?

Recently, I spoke with a friend who decided he needed a change. He has been very successful in his industry for more than a decade. But, what was once a passion has become a J. O. B.

Statistics show he is not alone. Gallup’s engagement data tells us that 70% of American’s are disengaged at work. Further, other recent data shows that 60% of employees plan to pursue a new job when the economy improves.

In 2011, I stepped away from a 20 year career and began a new life. There are two questions I recommend you answer before you leave a decent job. Continue Reading…

Bad-Old Habits Vs. Good-New Habits

Exchanging Habits

I used to swear a lot, drink too much and eat Buffalo wings for a meal 3-4 times a week. Today I rarely swear, have a beer occasionally with a meal, and eat Buffalo wings once in a blue moon. Continue Reading…

Soccer Moms—Stop Letting Your Kids Beg

Don't Ask The Kids To Beg

I love sports. I love youth sports. I love what sports teaches kids. Unfortunately, youth sports can also be a place where young athletes are exposed to the wrong lessons in life.

A previous post on this page even addresses another aspect of youth sports: trophies. But a new phenomenon in youth sports makes me crazy. Placing young athletes at street corners to beg for financial support! Continue Reading…

Hint: Take Longer Vacations

Triple Your Rest By Doubling Your Vacation

Have you ever returned from vacation and not felt rested? Is it the activities? The travel involved? The people you are vacationing with? Or perhaps it is how many days you take off from vacation.

That was my problem. I discovered a way to ensure I got real rest on vacation. Here is my thought process on vacation. Try it and see if you don’t come back more rested.

Continue Reading…

Penn State: Character Trumps Competence

Character Rules

The tragedy of what happened at Penn State has been well covered in the news. There are so many lessons that can be derived from what we know about that situation.

But, perhaps the biggest lesson we can all learn is how character trumps competence. No level of past or present competence will make up for a failure in character. Continue Reading…

3 Common Communication Pitfalls

Poor Communication

In my time in leadership in a big Fortune 50 company, I spent a lot of time practicing conflict resolution. Mainly, I was helping other people resolve their conflicts. I saw anger, distrust and pettiness prevent people from moving forward and getting things done.

Some people may call me a Polly Anna. But, I truly believe most of the people I work with have good intentions. They are not trying to hurt, belittle or take advantage of someone else.

As I look back on the conflicts I have been involved with, there is one common denominator in them all-poor communication. Continue Reading…

Leadership Pet Peeve: Self-Serving Voicemails

I have a 15 year-old pet peeve. I hate when leaders use voicemail messages to promote themselves. This pet peeve should be older. Unfortunately it is a habit I had to break myself before it became a pet peeve.

At some point I realized I was sending messages to my team that included information that did nothing for them. They would often start:

“It’s 6:00 AM and I am on my way to the airport…” or

“It’s 7:30 PM and I am 30 minutes from home…” Continue Reading…

I Am Not Special and Neither Are You (Part 3 Video)

McCullough

Below is the You Tube video to David McCullough Jr.’s speech to the graduating Class of 2012 at Wellesley High School. This is an in your face yet inspiring speech to the coming generation.

The Bottom Line:

His last words to them are about being selfless. Being selfless is truly the most likely way any of us will become special.

Exercise free will and creative, independent thought not for the satisfactions they will bring you, but for the good they will do others, the rest of the 6.8 billion–and those who will follow them. And then you too will discover the great and curious truth of the human experience is that selflessness is the best thing you can do for yourself. The sweetest joys of life, then, come only with the recognition that you’re not special.

Continue Reading…

I Am Not Special and Neither Are You (Part 2)

The Speaker:  David McCullough Jr.

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 our detriment, come to love accolades more than genuine achievement. We have come to see them as the point — and we’re happy to compromise standards, or ignore reality, if we suspect that’s the quickest way, or only way, to have something to put on the mantelpiece, something to pose with, crow about, something with which to leverage ourselves into a better spot on the social totem pole.

No longer is it how you play the game, no longer is it even whether you win or lose, or learn or grow, or enjoy yourself doing it… Now it’s “So what does this get me?” As a consequence, we cheapen worthy endeavors, and building a Guatemalan medical clinic becomes more about the application to Bowdoin than the well being of Guatemalans.

-David McCullough Jr. Wellesley High School 2012 Commencement Speech

Continue Reading…

I Am Not Special And Neither Are You (Part 1)

Look At Me!

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 graduation. But I ask you, when were they going to hear it? In 18 years these seniors probably never had!

I have met way too many bosses, peers, and job seekers who I know never heard that message. We all need to hear it. I know I did. You do too. Trust me. Sometimes it hurts to be reminded, I AM NOT SPECIAL. But pain can be helpful in learning. Continue Reading…

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