An attractive archetype Americans are a scrappy lot. We’re “cussedly independent.” After all, the United States was founded by “embattled farmers” who broke the rules of war by wearing buckskins and hiding behind trees to shoot at soldiers marching in lines wearing bright red target-coats. So it isn’t surprising that we love the “pirate” and […]
“I know. I’ll become an independent consultant.” Consultants, corporate staff people, or executives came to this career epiphany before asking my advice. I gave them these five things to think about. #1 Why? The first question I asked was “Why?” because it helped me shape the advice. Consultants felt limited at their firm. Maybe they […]
“The Emperor is naked!” It is left to a naïve child to blurt out the truth, when so many would not because they were flattering the emperor or afraid of appearing stupid. In 1837, the Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen published the folk tale, The Emperor’s New Clothes. The story tells of a vain ruler […]
“I seek dead people” My wife is an amateur genealogist. She spends her retirement researching her extended, extended family. She is a detail person, a puzzler, a rigorous researcher, and a writer. She uses all her skills pursuing records of her long dead relatives. Giving gifts to support her passion is a challenge. I’ve considered […]
“Consultant, eh? Good money for old rope!” It was my first day on-site, at my first consulting project. I was still in business school. Angus, this sixty-year-old Cheshire truck manufacturing manager was communicating his experience with consultants. I wasn’t completely oblivious. I did know it wasn’t positive experience. I may have asked him to explain […]
<div class="et_pb_text_inner" data-et-multi-view="{"schema":{"content":{"desktop":" My inner thirteen-year-old boy spit Mountain Dew everywhere when I came up with this title, but he thinks it is u201cway better than u2018Self-Leadershipu2019 – boring!u201d u00a0Every act of leadership is first an act of self-leadership. Leading change starts with u201ctaking yourself in hand,u201d (snicker, snicker). n Change requires leaders n I […]
<div class="et_pb_text_inner" data-et-multi-view="{"schema":{"content":{"desktop":" The trail began in a yellow green wood. n u201cDonu2019t get your feet wet!u201d My mother admonished as I leaped across a trickle-stream not bothering with the log bridge. n Was I six? Seven? Iu2019m pretty sure it was before Cub Scouts and that was eight. The leaves had just started to […]
<div class="et_pb_text_inner" data-et-multi-view="{"schema":{"content":{"desktop":" Sell is a four-letter word n Salespeople get a bad rap. The salesperson stereotype, is a gladhanding mental lightweight with a u201csmile and a shoeshine,u201d the u201cgift of gabu201d and questionable ethics, who can talk anyone into anything, u201csell a cape to Superman, hay to a farmer, or snowballs in Alaska.u201d New […]
<div class="et_pb_text_inner" data-et-multi-view="{"schema":{"content":{"desktop":" I awoke this morning with Jeff Foxworthy on my mind. Foxworthy is a stand-up comedian, a part of the Blue Collar Comedy tour, the author of four books, an actor in thirteen movies and thirty-six television shows and series, and counting. What I remember him for is the way he created humor […]
<div class="et_pb_text_inner" data-et-multi-view="{"schema":{"content":{"desktop":" u201cFred?u201d n u201cYes, Shishya?u201d n u201cWhy, do you live here?u201d n u201cAh, Shishya, the mountains are a transition between earth and sky. How else can the seeker find change but by traversing transition?u201d n u201cBut Fred, the path up here is so strenuous.u201d n u201cShishya, Shishya, the road to change is always […]
