23rd September 2009
From the iron age to nearly the industrial age, blacksmiths prospered. Villagers needed plows, shovels, iron tires for wagons, nails and tools to build their homes, all of which the blacksmiths forged. They needed their horses and oxen shod and their tool...
15th September 2009
Maybe you received the email offering cash in exchange for testing the Microsoft/AOL email tracking system. Or you heard that theaters were using subliminal advertising to increase sales of popcorn and soft drinks. Maybe it was the "buy one, get one fre...
30th August 2009
You can have outstanding ideas, yet never leverage them into winning at working results. That's because the secret behind those ideas lies in performance. Yours.
Getting the okay to pursue your idea is directly related to the level of confidence other ...
30th August 2009
Workplace decision-making often reminds me of a "Peanuts" comic strip I saw where Lucy and Charlie Brown were discussing their New Year's resolutions. "I'm going to be a changed person next year," Charlie tells Lucy. "That's a laugh," Lucy replies. "You'l...
30th August 2009
The room was lovely, the bed inviting, the architecture interesting, and the philosophy appealing. That was my impression as we checked into a newly minted green-hotel in a resort town where we were eager to spend time relaxing.
But when we checked out...
16th July 2009
I did exactly what the magazine wanted me to do. I bought it solely for an article featured on the cover. But when I got it home and started searching for the piece I wanted to read, I couldn't find it. The headline drew me in, but hidden behind other fea...
01st July 2009
Reading in the airport while waiting for a flight to Houston, a housekeeper was tidying around me when approached by another facilities employee. After a few minutes of easily overheard chit-chat, she received coaching from her now apparent supervisor.
...
27th June 2009
The story goes that after one of Ludwig van Beethoven's performances, several people were offering him their congratulations, when one woman commented, "I wish God had bestowed me with such genius." "It isn't genius, madam, nor is it magic." Beethoven rep...
12th June 2009
A friend's hairstylist saw her bookings drop as the economy fell, ultimately losing her job at a salon. But when my friend asked her if she'd be willing to make a house-call to style her ailing mother's hair, the stylist saw an opportunity. Ultimately, sh...
03rd June 2009
In the late 17th century, Lord Chesterfield, an English writer and politician, wrote to his son, "Whatever is worth doing at all is worth doing well." Three hundred years later, we still heed this advise from the fourth Earl of Chesterfield. Yet doing it ...
12th May 2009
Coward. That word, along with others less printable, popped to mind when I heard a story about a friend's son. It turns out, he learned he was no longer employed via a text-message to his cell phone on a Sunday night. The brief message from his ex-boss in...
12th May 2009
Sitting in a waiting area above the tradeshow floor, I watched the forklift drivers deliver crates and boxes to small groups who were waiting to transform their rented cement floors into inviting marketing endeavors for the next day's expo opening, hostin...
10th April 2009
Resist. Resist. Resist. That seems to be the congressional model these days. Whatever one party is for, the other is against. Before an idea makes it to the blogosphere, opposing party political pundits are railing against whatever approach or bill or sta...
20th March 2009
Thanks to frequent-flyer points and a vacation club exchange, we spent last week in Hawaii for the cost of a rental car and food. While a fun and relaxing vacation, it was strange to be at an ocean-front Maui resort during peak tourist season, without the...
13th March 2009
Ancora imparo, translated as "I am still learning" or "Still, I am learning," is attributed to Michelangelo in his eighty-seventh year. The man who painted the Sistine Chapel and sculpted the Pieta and David, whose very name evokes mastery of his craft, e...
