Blurring the line between Wants and Needs

Nearly everything you do involves a choice. With the exception of breathing and eating, there are very few non-negotiable activities. You can even make choices about what you eat and where you breathe. So, on a micro level, you are positioned more frequently than you realize to “get what you want.”

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Clip Your Wings and Soar

Sticking to a resolution made on January 1st quite often requires you to do things that are counter to your nature; to swim upstream against your native instincts. That’s the problem with resolutions: they generally demand that you to do less of what you love, or more of what you loathe.

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Free eBook

Here’s your FREE eBook

No strings attached.

No forms to fill out.

No box-tops to collect.

No stems & seeds that . . . . oops, wrong century.

I started writing a monthly column in November 2001. The first two were just emails to about 50 friends but when those folks started forwarding it to

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Keeping Your Story Straight

One critical element in a well-written novel is that the characters seldom do anything “out of character.”

Accomplished novelists take care to give their characters believable behaviors by crafting credible backstories. My favorite novels are those where normal people react to abnormal situations in ways that are outside my own experience, but totally acceptable given

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What do you pay them to do?

Counter Intelligence – April 2011

What Do You Pay Them to Do?

I serve on the board of a small private school in my town and because of some previous non-profit experience I was asked to help with the task of creating a new Employee Manual. During one of our committee meetings, someone joked that,

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Are we wrong about attitude?

Do we have it wrong about attitude?

As I watched my hometown team win its first-ever World Series it struck me how all the players credited their “will to win” and that very little was said about actual skill. Team members lined up to talk 

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Leading or Creating? Or Both?

My mind has been wandering recently around the juxtaposition of leadership and creativity. What influence does one have on the other? Are all leaders creative? Does creativity, by default, make one a leader? Can a leader be too creative? Must leaders be creative? I am not an expert in either of these areas but I

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SimplyStrengths Basic Training – April 7th

Whether you are an experienced strengths user, or a recent convert to the movement this 1 HOUR session will teach you something new.

I promise real value for your time. This is not an extended sales pitch – although many do ask for information on our SimplyStrengths Immersion Workshops.

There are two sessions offered. Both

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The Post-Leadership Era

I wasn’t paying attention when the vote was taken, but somewhere along the way leadership became the preeminent business buzz concept of the new millennium.

There are probably more blogs, tweets, books and seminars dealing with leadership than any other business related concept. Some authors have built huge empires by adding one or another derivation

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Counter Intelligence – Sept 2009

You Can Speak Your Mind, Just Not On My Time

We had dinner last month with my folks. Mom, who is in her mid-70s was complaining (comically) about people who don’t use email.

“I don’t see why these people can’t just sit down and send an email. Who has the time to write letters these

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