Leadership

“Curiosity is the wick in the candle of learning.” – William Arthur Ward

Have you ever watched a scene from a movie that stuck with you? In the film “Glengarry Glen Ross,” Alec Baldwin is a high-pressure, “motivational” trainer sent in to give a speech to a real estate sales team about the ABCs of selling, which in this case stands for “Always - Be - Closing.”

I like my own ABCs better. They stand for “Always - Be - Curious.”

Humans are creatures of habit, so it can be easy to get stuck in pa…

So… Tell Me About Yourself?

"A blank canvas is a playground for the imagination." – Marty Rubin

If you have sat through an interview or been to a networking event, you have heard this question before. It seems straightforward, but why do so many of us get tripped up by this question? I think it is because most of us don't like a blank canvas. A question like this is way too open, and it leaves so much up to creative expression.

Do they want to hear my life story or my job history? How much de…

Do you remember the days of HiFi stereo equalizers?

Back when music was still on vinyl records or cassette tapes, there was something profoundly fulfilling about being able to adjust and control the quality of my own music.

I was passionate about Hendrix. Zeppelin. Otis Redding. The Clash. The Velvet Underground. At the time, this was music that brought my spirit alive. So, as a true audiophile, I had to make sure it sounded incredible. I had this expansive stereo control panel full of knobs a…

One of my favorite bands when I was growing up was U2. I must have seen them live at least ten times over the years. I recently read the backstory to their song, “Running to Stand Still,” and was fascinated by what I found out.

Bono, the lead singer, asked his brother how his struggling business was going, and he replied, “It’s like running to stand still.” Interesting...

In business, we often work hard to get somewhere, only to find that we are just treading water and not really going anywher…

Every once in a while, I like to revisit an overplayed subject.

Terms like “Leverage, Optimize, or Synergize” have become so overplayed that they’ve almost lost their meaning. So, now and then, I like to explore one of these buzzwords because I see it as an opportunity to make it fresh again.

After all, something only becomes overplayed because it has so much relevance that everyone wants to talk about it.

So, let’s talk about Authenticity. If you look up the word’s original meaning, it’s mad…

"In the universe, there are things that are known, and things that are unknown, and in between them, there are doors." – William Blake

When was the last time you had to navigate through a significant personal change? It could have been a career transition, the death of a family member, a divorce, separation, or the birth of a child. All of these changes represent a shift from being in a place we know well to an unknown existence that often shakes us up and sometimes even disrupts and challenges…

Do you know those times when you see no clear path from where you are to where you want to be? Then someone comes along, points something out, and then all of a sudden, you realize the path forward was always right there; you just didn’t see it?

There is a path for pretty much every situation. Distinguishing that hidden path forward is a passion of mine. I have accumulated over 15 certifications in areas ranging from emotional intelligence to adaptability to communication styles to creative str…

Some sayings are timeless because they hold a universal truth, like “The journey of 1,000 miles starts with a single step.”

Then other sayings sound clever but just don’t stand the test of time like… “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” Well, whoever said that was clearly not a linguist, a brain scientist, or an evolving entrepreneur. Most likely some snotty kid in a schoolyard back in the 1920s.

The point is that words consistently prove to be more powerful th…

"Look for what lights you up and do more of that. The moments where we feel lit up and inspired are clues to what we're supposed to be doing more of in our lives."

Do you ever have one of those days when you would rather stay in bed than get up and go to work? I have been there, and I am sure most people have a day or two where they are just not feeling it. The problem is when this feeling persists day after day after day. That is when you realize this is more than just a rough start.

When we …

Do you ever feel like an imposter?

Whether you are crushing it in your work or still on your journey up the mountain, it's a common human phenomenon to feel like an imposter. And the more you feel like an imposter, the more hyper-aware you are of the critic.

Many people can spend their lives stuck in the energy-depleting loop of always hiding themselves, so they never get called out by the critic.

And then there is a smaller group that just chooses to get good at dealing with imposter syndrom…