Category: Inspiration

Reading Time: < 1 minute Many aging boomers are looking forward to retirement so they can, “ check out”.   Not Paul Tasner.  A few days before Christmas in 2007 at the age of 64, Mr. Tasner was called into a meeting and fired as director of operations for a company where he had worked for

Reading Time: < 1 minute John Henry Newman once remarked that “history offers lessons, not rules.”  Imitating the path of one successful person is tempting because it’s easy, but is rarely the formula for success; we have to learn from many leaders with different stories in order to extract applicable principles as to what leadership really is. Presidential

Reading Time: < 1 minute Motivational speaker Jim Rohn famously remarked that  “you’re the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” ( Or, alternatively, as James Michener wrote, “Bad companions bring bad luck”)  The question is: who should these five people be?  One answer, and maybe the best one,  is “mentors.” Clearly, having

Reading Time: < 1 minute Gold Rushes occur throughout history.  In 1849, thousands made a mad dash to California when gold was found at Sutter’s Mill.  Most returned home even poorer than they arrived.   In the mid-1800s, the railroad boom made a few rich but destroyed many more.   Remember the late 1990’s and the Internet bubble?  

Reading Time: < 1 minute “Follow your passion”  may be in the top ten entries for career advice.  It may also be the most dangerous. This short article from Forbes, “Why Following Your Passion is Dead”, takes this advice to task as nearly certain to ruin or at least damage lives and careers. The author’s challenge

Reading Time: < 1 minute Apple made history this week by becoming the first company to achieve a trillion dollar market cap.  Given Apple’s success in recent years, you might not be surprised that it passed this milestone, but it’s 40 year history has not been a straight upward sloping line. There was a time

Reading Time: 3 minutes Moving into a leadership position comes with a collection of additional responsibilities and (often) unspoken expectations. When communicating as a leader, you must constantly be aware of the intricate details of your own behavior. It’s essential to communicate in a way that will be heard, understood, and encourage action. Not

Reading Time: < 1 minute As organizations grow and C-Level executives become busier they often lose sight of the team members who occupy the lower rungs of an ever-growing org chart. Charles Schwab CEO Walt Bettinger shared a valuable lesson in a  NY Times Interview which taught him “you should never lose sight of people who

Reading Time: < 1 minute Microsoft Founder Bill Gates not only revolutionized, some say invented, the personal computer industry as we know it, he is also making a significant impact on the world through the Gates Foundation run by him and his wife Melinda. Whatever his endeavors, he has learned to rely on facts. To

Reading Time: 4 minutes I have been hanging around the leadership arena for many years, and I can’t tell you how many mistakes I have made along the way with my communications. Why is this so? I know what to do, but my mind races ahead. I recognize I have the words to say