An Interview That Changed His Life It was late in the 1950s, and a Navy officer, fresh out of Annapolis, was hours into an interview with the admiral who single-handedly created the world’s first nuclear Navy through sheer willpower and determination. No one worked on one of his atomic subs who had not survived one […]
I have read that the nightmare of standing on a stage, under bright performance lights, as the curtain rises and realizing that you are stark naked is more common than people imagine. Realizing the shared nature of that horrible dream should ease my shame around the stupid mistakes dotting the landscape of my life. But […]
Adults, who have returned to their parent’s home for any length of time for any possible reason, may resonate with this little story. On the surface, it’s simple, but the current of its implications runs deep. I was a fat kid. No getting around that. Eating my feelings was my standard approach to life going […]
The funeral would start in about an hour. We need to leave the house in 10 minutes. Dad, moving toward the garage in his walker, announces that the toilet in his bathroom is overflowing. I sprint into action. Ten towels are needed to sop up the water sloshed onto the floor before I reach behind […]
Last week I wrote a few words positioning forgiveness as a starting point in my journey from a catastrophic face-plant to a fresh, new chapter in life. And this week, in both my work with coaching clients and in comments shared from readers, the topic of failure recovery has been top-of-mind. Then the Olympics kicked […]
Compliments are powerful and very valuable. When was the last time you received a compliment? When was the last time you gave a compliment? Studies show that receiving a compliment has the same positive effect as receiving cash. So, here’s a few dozen compliments that suddenly seem very powerful and extremely valuable. You look amazing […]
Ever heard the axiom “if you want something done, ask a busy person”? My experience says it’s true. Busy people know how to manage their time and, when asked, can often squeeze one more thing into an already busy schedule. I have discovered something similar in my coaching work that is often equally true. People […]
I don’t consider myself a technology geek by any stretch of the term, but from time to time, I dip my toe into the tech world and am rarely disappointed. While reading about the clutter of signals that surround us but are invisible to the human eye, I became aware of an app titled Architecture […]
A Bitter Mistake In the early 1870s, two brothers took over a London-based family business following their father’s death. Anxious to make a great success, the brothers entered their product into a city-wide competition. One brother redesigned the bottle while the other designed and printed the label. When they realized the mistake, there was no […]
According to the literature on the topic, on average, humans speak approximately 16,000 words each day. When you consider the average news article is around 800 words, the average blog post is between 250-300, and social media posts recommend between 60 and 150 words. With many, much longer, it is no surprise people feel buried […]