Work Life

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…

"We are lighting up the desert sky with a fire that will burn for the rest of our lives." – Christy Ann Martine

One of the events on my bucket list is the Burning Man Festival. Burning Man is an event focused on community, art, self-expression, and self-reliance held annually in the western United States. The event's name comes from its culminating ceremony: the symbolic burning of a giant wooden effigy referred to as the Man. The event is guided by ten principles: radical inclusion, gifting, d…

"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…

There are a lot of quotes about success. However, there is one quote that I had to revise to make it work for me.

You may have heard the quote, "Success is when preparation meets opportunity." Well, that's undoubtedly true, but I don't think it is sufficient. I like to say that "Success is when preparation and your connections meet opportunity."

Preparation is critical because you can't just start hiking if you want to climb a mountain. You have to have gear, supplies, maps, and an understandi…

Have you ever felt stuck in the “originality trap”? It’s when you’re afraid to innovate because you think someone else has already done it or done something similar enough that it would seem like copying.

No one wants to be a copycat or a plagiarizer. But there’s an important distinction here: the difference between “inventive success” and “creative death.”

The writer David Perell talks about how the best way to improve any skill is first to imitate and then innovate. You don’t just start crea…