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3 Questions That Help Achieve Your 2021 Goals

January 2, 2021

Making New Year’s Resolutions is a great idea. And sometimes they help us to make changes. But more often than not, resolutions fail. And if you Google “how to succeed with your New Year’s resolution” you might get an answer count that looks like the national debt. ([Pause.] Nope. I had to check and it came up with only 5,600,000.) Still, I’m guessing you don’t have time to read all of that. So I have another solution… a RE-solution if you will. (See what I did there?) Voltaire said, “Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers.” So instead of Googling or trying to figure out answers on how to succeed in your resolutions, goals, etc., you can ask three questions…

4 Gifts

December 18, 2020

“We’re often afraid of looking at our shadow because we want to avoid the shame or embarrassment that comes along with admitting mistakes.” – Marianne Williamson Listening to the radio, I heard two commercials in a row for “tax problem resolution.” This caught my attention because I was on my way to meet with a friend of mine for lunch who happens to be a professional dealing with tax issues. As we talked, I became acutely aware that although our industries are completely unrelated, our and many other businesses have much in common when it comes to what we need to do in order to close business and serve our clients.

Cleveland Browns

November 24, 2020

This is not going to be an article about football, so I’ll give you some quick info that you need to know to make my point. First, the Browns are currently winless this season (0 – 10). What’s worse is that they have only won 4 games in their last 42 going back to previous seasons. Who’s to blame? But wait… There’s more bad news for Browns fans. This isn’t likely to change soon. Because while the team, trainers, coaches, and everyone associated with the play on the field is surely trying to do all they can to win games, the problems on the field aren’t the problems. They are puzzles to solve that are results of bigger problems.

How to remove the barriers to becoming a great leader

November 17, 2020

Remove the barriers to becoming anything you dream you can be. Just remove them. Wouldn’t it be nice if it were as easy as reading those words. In reality, it takes attention, willingness to change and a desire to get better (even if you’re not sick).

You can be right or you can be successful

November 9, 2020

Think about this for a second. Does it bring up any emotion? Now, take a step back and think about what you gain from being right. Instant gratification, a pat on the back?

Why Flow Matters for Executives

November 2, 2020

Top executives, business owners, professional athletes, celebrities, and politicians all have teams that help hone natural aptitudes and learned skills. On top of that, their support systems hold them accountable for achieving their best. Simply put, the best of the best don’t reach the top alone.

Why Women are Natural Born Leaders

October 20, 2020

The Gender - Leadership Gap Why is it that there are fewer female leaders than a male? While it can’t be ignored that gender equality has improved over time, we’re still a ways from true equality in the workplace. “Patriarchy is the psychopath of society”.

Do You Want To Be Right, Or Aligned?

October 13, 2020

“What’s your intention,” I asked. He told me that they are trying to grow the business. The campaign made sense, but the resources to do it simply weren’t available. So, in one sense, he was right. Unfortunately, he was also misaligned. The client had desired results of growth. Growing is a function of expansion, openness, abundance, or at least, enoughness. However, his mindset was in a place of scarcity and restriction – what “can’t be done”/what they “can’t do”/”don’t have.”

Secret Weapons

August 7, 2020

Watching Lynda Carter fly her invisible jet while watching Wonder Woman on TV as a kid, I was mesmerized. While I could say that the idea of an aircraft that was truly invisible was amazing or that I thought planes, in general, were just cool, it was most likely due to watching Lynda Carter run around in her Underoos. Be that as it may, she, and many others, had plenty of secret weapons. 007 had any number of toys. Superheros had abilities of which the villains were unaware and that helped our heroes win.

Letting Go Of Some Of Your B.S.

July 3, 2020

Playing video games as a pre-teen and later a teenager was one of my favorite things to do. And I played them all. I shoved enough quarters to create what would now be a healthy retirement account into full-size, stand-up games in the arcade and logged countless hours over the years on the classics on the Atari 2600, Intellivision, Nintendo, and Sega game consoles. And, of course, I played the adventure games that gave our family PC (an AWESOME 8086) it’s primary purpose and something for my siblings and me to fight over (as if we needed it).

Fly

June 3, 2020

Watching airplanes take off and land at LAX is still an endless source of inspiration and excitement for me. My father traveled a lot when I was young and we frequently dropped him off and picked him up at the airport. To this day, my inner child thinks planes are cool. But more than just cool, they’re the perfect analogy for explaining the secret of achieving success in business, and in life. While modern airplanes are incredibly complex, the physics of flight are actually fairly simple. There are four physical forces at work with heavier-than-air aircraft: lift, thrust, weight/gravity, and drag. To achieve flight, an aircraft’s lift must balance its weight, and its thrust must exceed its drag. The wings give it lift and the engines provide thrust. Drag is the force pushing against the aircraft (or holding it back).

What Champions Never Do When Receiving An Award

April 3, 2020

Watching people win awards is fascinating. You can tell a lot about a person by the way they accept the honor they received. Frequently you’ll see someone express gratitude, be humble, and share the credit with their team, colleagues, or collaborators. And sometimes they will commit one of the most egregious offenses I can think of in that moment; they’ll discount their achievement. I remember once watching an awards show and as the recipient was handed the award, he made an attempt at being humble by stating, “Wow, I guess the value of these just went down.”

Stop Making Money

March 13, 2020

Remember your first job. You likely filled out an application (GenX), were called in for an interview, put on your best clothes (me in my father’s tie), and got the gig. You worked hard, learned much, and were excited every two weeks when you received that glorious check with your name on the line that said, “Pay to the order of _______________________.” Time passed. Circumstances changed. Maybe you wanted to buy (or fix) your first car, take a trip with your friends, buy cool clothes, or go out on a date. Whatever it was that you wanted was going to require funds. And you said a phrase that would, without your knowing, haunt you for years to come… “I need to make more money.” In that moment you created a dynamic that has existed and been costing you dearly ever since.

Align Your Mindset

February 5, 2020

“I just got back from Sacramento,” said the Executive Director of a nonprofit organization. “My partner, who has expertise in nonprofits, and I exchanged glances. “We lost 15% of our grants,” he said. Understanding that this was going to have a dramatic effect on the organization, we immediately went into “coach mode” and listened intently. “We can’t do X. We don’t have the money for Y. And we can’t get Z,” said the ED. After a few minutes, we had a clear understanding of their situation and I asked if they were open to feedback. The ED affirmed he was. Sidebar: Perhaps you have heard that step one to making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich is knowing/deciding that you’re hungry. If you understand this, then you know that the first step to anything is mindset; to align your mind with your goals. You can’t grow corn by planting weeds. And you can’t get abundance with a mental framework of scarcity.

4 Steps To Take When Being “Right” Isn’t Being “Successful”

January 12, 2020

Driving in Southern California will teach you many things. You will learn that distance is a function of time, not miles. You’ll discover that you might need a law degree to understand if you can park your car on the street on that day at that time. You’ll realize you can drive on six different freeways in 45 minutes and have traveled only 10 miles. And you will intimately understand the five stages of grief while sitting in traffic: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.