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Coping Skills For a World Spinning Out of Control
We live in an age of high drama, insatiable media appetites, and incredible pharmacological advances. What do you get when you put all these together in a 24-hour global society? A world that appears to be spinning out of control. A world in which oddballs become famous, kids get medicated if they’re too rowdy, and […]
Continue ReadingCreate Trust By Being Accurate and Thoughtful
Journalism, as I studied it years ago, was based on a stringent practice of checking facts, eliminating assumptions, and reporting what is. As students we were admonished to keep our opinions to ourselves until such time as we became experts in some field. At that point, we were told, we might have a chance to […]
Continue ReadingWhat’s Between the Ears and Behind the Eyes Is Most Important
I’m a product of the 60s (sort of–I was a grade school kid), so I’m well schooled in the emergence and impact of The Sexual Revolution. Women on birth control became bolder in making their desires and availability known; men were cagily advised not to buy the cow when the milk was free. All hell […]
Continue ReadingHow What You Say Exposes Who You Are
Not a week goes by that someone doesn’t say something stupid, then act surprised when they’re called on it. Words are powerful reflectors of what’s inside a person. And since our society has removed almost all barriers of decorum and appropriateness when it comes to saying what’s on our minds, some people reveal a lot […]
Continue ReadingWhy Self-control Must Be a Standard for a Safe Society
A young sheriff’s deputy in a small town kills six and injures another before being shot and killed himself. It’s another grim story that causes shock, sorrow, a lot of conversation, and… then what? Some people have yet to hear of this incident, caught up as they are in their daily struggles to get ahead. […]
Continue ReadingThe #1 Responsibility of a Leader is Helping People Grow
Managing a workforce made up of four generations creates headaches for a lot of people. Differences in language, mannerisms, dress, and attitude are visible and sometimes volatile reminders of how things change. That some people say, do, and wear things that are inappropriate at work is nothing new and no reason for alarm. That supervisors […]
Continue ReadingThe Rewards of Building Your Confidence is Life Changing
I recently taped a radio program during which the host asked what I mean when I refer to “backbone.” We hear the word used in many different contexts and although most of us have a sense of what it means, we’re hard-pressed to define it. As the author of “How to Grow a Backbone,” here’s […]
Continue ReadingHow Good Leaders Approach Decision Making
A lot of people struggle with decision-making as the same three pesky questions come up again and again. 1. What will happen if I do this or that? 2. What will others think of my decision (or more precisely, of me)? 3. What if I’m wrong? Of course there’s anxiety surrounding these questions because the […]
Continue ReadingWant to Establish Trust? Tell the Truth!
Contrary to the current popular belief that “political correctness” is the way to acceptance, I’d like to suggest that telling the truth is a powerful way to establish and fortify trust. When I say this, I am frequently asked: “Whose truth?” I used to be somewhat taken aback by this question because truth seemed an […]
Continue ReadingBuild Tomorrow’s Leaders By Teaching Them Today
Good question. It’s one I ask myself a lot as I do my work. So I was eager to read what Lee Iacocca had to say in his new book. I was hoping for some insight and original thinking, but what I found in the excerpt that ran in Sunday’s Milwaukee Journal Sentinel was more […]
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