Archive for 2010

Huh?  This doesn’t make sense, you say. Let’s take a case study: the recent World Cup Soccer Tournament – THE  SINGLE BIGGEST SPORTING EVENT ON EARTH. All the focus, drama, and hype is built around the “clash of titans”,  the winners and losers, the competition and struggle. But what’s missing from the picture?  The structure [...]

I remember participating in a course many years ago and hearing the course leader say this: If you are powerful, you don’t need to use force. and People often use force when they don’t feel powerful. This notion really resonated at the time, and since then I have seen this distinction play out again and [...]

Two weekends ago I attended an AMAZING course led by a gentleman named Robin Sharma (www.robinsharma.com).  His specialty is leadership, but this course was about living the life you really want for yourself and awakening the best version of who you are: your authentic self. It was a most inspiring weekend and contained many pieces [...]

Sometimes in a relationship, you have to make the choice between being loyal to that particular person, or doing something that they won’t be happy about but you know is “the right thing”. Likely, this will result in a conflict between you and them.  But, NOT doing the right thing will only result in a [...]

Negotiating over email is a train wreck waiting to happen. If you look at your personal experience, you probably can find plenty of examples of this. Research on where the information lies in communication bears this out.  One study says that as little as 7% of the total information resides in the words.  38% lies [...]

This post builds directly off of my previous one, about focusing on what you can control. I was in Chicago last week working with fairly senior consultants in one of the world’s largest professional service firms.  I was amazed at how DISEMPOWERED  these people feel in their professional life (maybe personal life too?). We had [...]

My last two blog postings came as a result of the recent volcanic eruption in Iceland. While they might have seemed mostly philosophical in nature, there is in fact a direct connection to the advice I provide to CEOs and other Senior Executives to produce top-notch results in their negotiations: Focus On What You Control. [...]

I’m still in France as I write this – and the odds look very good now that I’ll actually get on a flight departing tomorrow.  Yippee!  I won’t count my chickens before they’re hatched, but I am indeed quite optimistic after reading the latest newspaper reports. I’m writing this quick entry to highlight a point [...]

I’m writing from France where I just spent the week teaching at an Executive Education organization.  It was very enjoyable and went very well. I am now “stranded” as a result of airport closures in the wake of the volcano’s eruption in Iceland.  If all went according to original plan, I would be in the air right [...]

Yes, you can live a life that yields the same kind of outstanding, inspiring results achieved by the leading athletes at the recent Olympic games. I thoroughly enjoyed watching the recent winter Olympics in Vancouver, and have also taken time to see some events from the Paralympic Games under way currently (finishing March 21st). During [...]