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“I Don’t Feel Appreciated”

“I Don’t Feel Appreciated”

When I begin working with organizations, people frequently report that a significant challenge for them is a lack of appreciation. Leadership and front-line staff alike say they give their all and don’t always feel valued for their efforts. Many fear they are...
How to Shift AWARENESS to Changed BEHAVIOR

How to Shift AWARENESS to Changed BEHAVIOR

Imagine you have toxic, disengaged (quiet quitting) behaviors in your workplace. Everything you read and measure shows this negatively impacts your growth, profitability, and reputation. The facts confirm that the effective people in your organization are personally...
Is Your Culture Toxic? Is It Costing You?

Is Your Culture Toxic? Is It Costing You?

“In all 15 countries and across all dimensions assessed, toxic workplace behavior had the biggest impact predicting ‘burnout symptoms’ and ‘intent to leave’ by a large margin.  McKinsey Health Institute May 27, 2022 Article: Addressing Employee Burnout: Are You...
It’s ALL About Customer Service… Or Is It?

It’s ALL About Customer Service… Or Is It?

“You’d corner me in your conformity but even in dormancy I’m sleeping with enormity, stretching the belly of the earth and everything I was born to be.”          ― Curtis Tyrone Jones, a veteran, coach, motivational speaker, and author   When I hear...
Do I Care Enough to Risk Losing You?

Do I Care Enough to Risk Losing You?

“Many of us live in denial of who we truly are because we fear losing someone or something-and there are times that if we don’t rock the boat, too often the one we lose is ourselves…It feels good to be accepted, loved, and approved of by others, but often...
A Fool with a Tool is Still a Fool

A Fool with a Tool is Still a Fool

“A fool with a tool is still a fool.” Grady Booch, American Software Engineer   In any situation involving significant transformation, the most important change process is the one within, one’s mindset. In my 12-month culture transformation process people often...
Your Greatest Barrier Is Your Pain Tolerance

Your Greatest Barrier Is Your Pain Tolerance

“…Sometimes I suspect that what had really happened was that we became more resigned, more cynical, raised our pain thresholds as we lowered our expectations. All in all, we settled for less.” Emma Donoghue, Playwright   It’s no accident we often hear, “no pain,...
Seize Opportunities Within the Great Resignation

Seize Opportunities Within the Great Resignation

“The true test of character is to live win-win even when promoted to positions where win-lose is possible.” ― Orrin Woodward   If you search google, you’ll find The Great Resignation is defined as an informal name for the widespread trend of a significant number...
Stop Protecting Your Reputation

Stop Protecting Your Reputation

“The strongest oak tree of the forest is not the one protected from the storm and hidden from the sun. It’s the one that stands in the open where it is compelled to struggle for its existence against the winds and rains and the scorching sun.” ― Napoleon Hill  ...
Episode 10 – Leaders Driving Culture Change

Episode 10 – Leaders Driving Culture Change

In my work with clients, I often hear people say, “how can I motivate this person to do what they’re supposed to? They’re lazy. They’re unmotivated.” The truth is people are always motivated. They’re just not always motivated to do what YOU want them to do.
In this episode, Judy and her guest, Tara Gregor, founder and CEO of Breakwell, a resource hub for holistic wellness discuss a very different and highly effective approach to motivation. Old models and external motivation tactics simply don’t work anymore. So, if those don’t work, what does? Tune in to this podcast to learn a new approach.

Are Your People High Performing? 

Are Your People High Performing? 

“Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships.” Michael Jordan “You can motivate by fear, and you can motivate by reward. But both those methods are only temporary. The only lasting thing is self-motivation.” Homer Rice As a business leader, you...
Mentoring to Develop Your People

Mentoring to Develop Your People

 “Your most important task as a leader is to teach people how to think and ask the right questions so that the world doesn’t go to hell if you take a day off”  Jeffrey Pfeffer   In our culture transformation model, a key concept is ongoing monthly mentoring to...
Do You Have a Powerful, Positive and Helpful Ego?

Do You Have a Powerful, Positive and Helpful Ego?

“If being an egomaniac means I believe in what I do and, in my art or music, then in that respect you can call me that… I believe in what I do, and I’ll say it.” John Lennon   The notion of ego is often used to describe the harmful expressions of ego.  We all...
S.L.A.M. Say Less; Ask More

S.L.A.M. Say Less; Ask More

“There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.” Edith Wharton, a novelist Many people confuse leading people with managing people and caring for or loving people with worry or concern for them. When we worry about another...
Part 3 of 5 – Program Design

Part 3 of 5 – Program Design

• 90% of organizations don’t use a planning process      • People focus on desired results only 50% of the time    • 71% of people are disengaged     • 88% of companies lack an effective plan to grow Gallup Organization You successfully started your business and now...
Powerful Leaders Create Other Leaders

Powerful Leaders Create Other Leaders

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” John Quincy Adams   “The single biggest way to impact an organization is to focus on leadership development. There is almost no limit to the...
Are My People Responsible Even When No One’s Watching?

Are My People Responsible Even When No One’s Watching?

“Integrity is doing the right thing even when no one is watching.” S. Lewis   For years, I have been spitting in the soup of leaders using control models whether in homes, schools, community organizations or businesses. Engaging in control models is choosing...
Why Ditch Annual Performance Appraisals

Why Ditch Annual Performance Appraisals

“You can motivate by fear, and you can motivate by reward. But both of those methods are only temporary. The only lasting thing is self-motivation.” Homer Rice, a former American football player, coach, and college athletics administrator   Today one of my instructors...
Episode 4 – How Can I Motivate Them?

Episode 4 – How Can I Motivate Them?

In my work with clients, I often hear people say, “how can I motivate this person to do what they’re supposed to? They’re lazy. They’re unmotivated.” The truth is people are always motivated. They’re just not always motivated to do what YOU want them to do.
In this episode, Judy and her guest, Tara Gregor, founder and CEO of Breakwell, a resource hub for holistic wellness discuss a very different and highly effective approach to motivation. Old models and external motivation tactics simply don’t work anymore. So, if those don’t work, what does? Tune in to this podcast to learn a new approach.

Task Ownership

Task Ownership

“The educator must believe in the potential power of his pupil, and he must employ all his art in seeking to bring his pupil to experience this power.” Alfred Adler, Psychologist Task ownership Task ownership is when a person is accountable to recognize and adopt...
The Key to Employee Engagement

The Key to Employee Engagement

“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”                         ~Viktor Frankl In order to understand employee engagement, you must first understand what...
A Time To Rise Up!

A Time To Rise Up!

“She was fire and life. She was awe and starlight.” ― Nadine Brandes, Author, Fawkes “O my Courageous Sister! You have to become the beacon of hope for all women around you and then for the whole society.” ― Abhijit Naskar, Author The Bengal Tigress: A Treatise on...
Episode 1- Spitting in the Soup

Episode 1- Spitting in the Soup

This topic is designed to challenge basic norms we’ve held sacrosanct for centuries. These are the four control models described in this episode as widely promoted means to cultivate good citizenship in homes, schools, churches, and workplaces; really everywhere. This episode helps listeners to recognize these as the impediments they are and that they need to be dismantled and replaced with new models.

Episode 1- Spitting in the Soup

Spitting In The Soup

People are always motivated. It’s not anyone’s job to motivate others. People can control themselves. They can do what’s right and don’t need approval or shaming to do so. They don’t need to be enabled. The problem is we don’t have faith in people nor do we know how to effectively teach them to pick up responsibility for things that are theirs to own. When we learn to do so, others can become accountable, caring and fully engaged, making a positive difference in your business.

Upgrading Our Human Systems

Upgrading Our Human Systems

“The time is now. Because in this time of change, the world needs every one of us to stand in our power, reach our highest potential, share our gifts and be the best that we can be. Humanity can no longer accept antiquated definitions, labels and metaphors about how...
Hispanic Heroes

Hispanic Heroes

Note: While this article was written for Autentico and focused on Hispanic leadership, the concepts within are applicable to all people. “You are not lucky to be here. The world needs your perspective. They are lucky to have you.” Antonio Tijerino, CEO, Hispanic...
Agility and Resiliency – A Formula for Success

Agility and Resiliency – A Formula for Success

“The game of business used to be like football: size mattered. Then it changed to basketball: speed and agility. Today business is more like chess: customer priorities change continually, and the signals given by these changes are vital clues to the next cycle...
Mentoring: Your Competitive Advantage

Mentoring: Your Competitive Advantage

“The delicate balance of mentoring someone is not creating them in your own image, but giving them the opportunity to create themselves.” Steven Spielberg When we work in organizational culture change, our clients initially focus on the new concepts and tools in our...
Resilience and Agility: The Dynamic Duo for The New World of Work

Resilience and Agility: The Dynamic Duo for The New World of Work

“Most notably, this study shows that high agility is associated with much higher levels of depression and anxiety risk when combined with low resilience. In essence, agility produces negative mental health consequences when the employee cannot be resilient....
Breaking the Addiction to Approval

Breaking the Addiction to Approval

“The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.” Friedrich Nietzsche Someone recently asked...
Teal Organizations

Teal Organizations

The Teal paradigm refers to the next stage in the evolution of human consciousness.[1] When applied to organizations, this paradigm views the organization as an independent force with its own purpose, and not merely as a vehicle for achieving management’s...
Kinds Of People You Need

Kinds Of People You Need

“A pessimist is one who makes difficulties of his opportunities and an optimist is one who makes opportunities of his difficulties.” Harry Truman No matter what your role, you have an important mission and vision to fulfill at both work and home. You also...
5 Top Challenges In Today’s Workplace

5 Top Challenges In Today’s Workplace

“Culture lives in the collective hearts and habits of people and their shared perception of how things are to be done. The #1 advantage for the ‘organization of tomorrow’ is investing in a Human System that creates a NEW KIND OF TEAM in which people are motivated...
Advantages of Cross-Functional Teamwork

Advantages of Cross-Functional Teamwork

One of the biggest challenges leaders face, according to Deloitte, is organizational design. Specifically, redesigning their structures through teams. The line and block hierarchy found on a company org chart isn’t how work actually gets accomplished. Let’s face it,...
DUP Global Human Capital Trends

DUP Global Human Capital Trends

This workforce is changing. It’s more digital, more global, diverse, automation-savvy, and social media- proficient. At the same time, business expectations, needs, and demands are evolving faster than ever before. While some view this as a challenge, we see it as an...
Creating a Culture of Digital Transformation in 2018

Creating a Culture of Digital Transformation in 2018

It wasn’t the technology. What they needed was a fundamental shift in the way their employees worked to get things done. While the new front-end solution was a great improvement, the assumption was that their employees would start using it as soon as it was...
The Agile Cultural Shift

The Agile Cultural Shift

Today’s rapidly changing, digitally infused markets and the intensifying fight for customers demand that organizations execute with unprecedented speed and agility. To address this reality, enterprises are looking for an edge; and, for many, that edge is embracing...
Episode 4 – How Can I Motivate Them?

How Can I Motivate Them?

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”      John Quincy Adams In my work with clients, I often hear, “How can I motivate this person to do what they’re supposed to? They’re lazy. They’re...
Commit to Personal Responsibility

Commit to Personal Responsibility

“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth that ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: That the moment one...
Become the Best Version of YOU!

Become the Best Version of YOU!

“The actual processes of individuation—the conscious coming-to-terms with one’s own inner center (psychic nucleus) or Self—generally begins with a wounding of the personality and the suffering that accompanies it. This initial shock amounts to a sort of a...
Inadequacy: I Can’t, So Leave Me Alone!

Inadequacy: I Can’t, So Leave Me Alone!

“Failure is only the opportunity to begin again more intelligently.” Henry Ford Ever know a person who feels like the human version of Eeyore? They assume “I can’t” and refuse to try. Their behavior communicates, “Just leave me alone”. They look and act pathetic. They...
Become the Hero You’ve Been Waiting For

Become the Hero You’ve Been Waiting For

“True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost.”   Arthur Ashe Too many people stubbornly believe it’s necessary and justifiable to use...
Put YOUR Stake in the Ground

Put YOUR Stake in the Ground

“Every champion was once a contender that refused to give up.” Rocky Balboa Anything worth doing is worth doing completely. Yet, often we hold back commitment waiting for reassurance and commitment from others first. Doing this is understandable but not helpful. A...
Be Unconsciously Competent

Be Unconsciously Competent

“The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.” “We must be willing to get rid of the life we’ve planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us”. Joseph Campbell, Author Often, we are afraid to make even positive changes because we have...
Episode 5 – The Power of Mentoring

The Power of Mentoring

“Do not train a child to learn by force or harshness; but direct them to it by what amuses their minds, so that you may be better able to discover with accuracy the peculiar bent of the genius of each.” ― Plato “The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be...
The Courage To Change & Grow

The Courage To Change & Grow

“An unexamined life is not worth living” Plato Here it is another New Year’s Day! It’s a time to reflect, re-set, and re-create. We consider our health, wealth, relationships, spirituality, and our purpose and visions. Many get determined to set new...
When We Fear Consequences

When We Fear Consequences

“Don’t only practice your art, but force your way into its secrets, for it and knowledge, can raise men to the Divine.”Ludwig vonBeethoven One of the things I notice about many people (including myself) is that we often become paralyzed in our will because we fear...
Successfully Navigate The Future

Successfully Navigate The Future

“The most exciting breakthroughs of the twenty-first century will not occur because of technology, but because of an expanding concept of what it means to be human.”   John Naisbitt Whether you welcome or resist it, change is happening at the speed of...
5 Articles That Reveal The Real Value of Employee Engagement

5 Articles That Reveal The Real Value of Employee Engagement

“The challenge is to see engagement not as a one-off activity, but as a holistic view of the employee experience… That means everything from the first moment the person applies for a job all the way through to managing work schedules, getting performance reviews, and...
Leader-Follower Agility Is Crucial

Leader-Follower Agility Is Crucial

“Innovation is key. Only those who have the agility to change with the market and innovate quickly will survive.” Robert Kiyosaki “Success today requires the agility and drive to constantly rethink, reinvigorate, react, and reinvent.” Bill Gates Change is happening...
Teal is the Trend. What Color is Your Organization?

Teal is the Trend. What Color is Your Organization?

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” Margaret Mead, American cultural anthropologist “Management is, above all, a practice where art, science, and craft meet.” Henry...
Is My Business Agile?

Is My Business Agile?

“I submit that there must be a commitment to, practice of, and execution of professional common behaviors and the presence of highly communicated standardized organizational expectations – without which there are no supports upon which the Agile/SAFe bar can be...
Activate All Super Powers

Activate All Super Powers

“I AM a sacred cocoon, a place to dismantle what no longer serves, and allow new, bright, and free possibilities to emerge. I am safe, supported and healed into the best version of myself and available to provide the same for others.”Judy Ryan, CEO Why activate?...
Get Your People To Bring Their A-Game

Get Your People To Bring Their A-Game

“Freeing yourself was one thing; claiming ownership of that freed self was another.”
– Toni Morrison, Nobel Prize- and Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist

Bridging Differences For Diversity & Inclusion Excellence!

Bridging Differences For Diversity & Inclusion Excellence!

“We need to give each other the space to grow, to be ourselves, to exercise our diversity. We need to give each other space so that we may both give and receive such beautiful things as ideas, openness, dignity, joy, healing, and inclusion.” — Max de Pree, American...
Top 10 Problems Facing Leaders

Top 10 Problems Facing Leaders

More than ever, your people are key to the success of your business. When they are adaptable and courageous, they help you overcome problems quickly and competently. The following are some of the top problems often faced by business leaders and their staff:...
It’s a Matter of Life and Death

It’s a Matter of Life and Death

Suicides and deaths due to addictions are rising to epidemic levels, especially among many considered the most privileged, those with greatest access to opportunity and often the most successful; middle-aged white males. They are dying at record numbers, not from...
Walking the Talk

Walking the Talk

“It is difficult to inspire others to accomplish what you haven’t been willing to try.”     Confucius “It is my responsibility to do what inspires me, in order to inspire others to do what inspires them.”      Tsepiso Makhubedu The holidays are a time we gather...
Don’t Hold Up Progress

Don’t Hold Up Progress

“Success on any major scale requires you to accept responsibility . . .  In the final analysis, the one quality that all successful people have is the ability to take on responsibility.” Michael Korda “Accountability separates the wishers in life...
Do You Have Faith In People’s Goodness?

Do You Have Faith In People’s Goodness?

“Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase. Always pray to have eyes that see the best in people, and a heart that forgives the worst.” Martin Luther King, Jr   You may be surprised to discover your answer might too often be...
Teach them to Fish

Teach them to Fish

“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” Maimonides The Dilemma Many systems and strategies of the past are no longer effective. Schools were originally designed to cultivate conforming, compliant factory...
Are you Strategically Aligned?

Are you Strategically Aligned?

“If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.” Henry David Thoreau What many business owners fail to realize is that if employees...
Are You In Survival?

Are You In Survival?

“The ultimate value of life depends upon awareness and the power of contemplation rather that upon mere survival.”      Aristotle “There is no such thing as perpetual tranquility of mind while we live here; because life itself is but motion, and can never be without...
Help People Conceive, Believe, & Achieve

Help People Conceive, Believe, & Achieve

The difference between an idea and a commitment is the difference between knowing about a new tool and using it in your everyday life as a new habit and way of operating. The greatest challenge many of my clients encounter as they improve their workplace culture is to...
What do you Intend to Cause?

What do you Intend to Cause?

“Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value.” Albert Einstein   When I work with businesses, organizations, families, and individuals, people are usually confused by this question: What do you intend to cause?  It’s as if the idea...
A Happy Community Works, Plays, & Serves Together

A Happy Community Works, Plays, & Serves Together

A Happy Community Works, Plays, & Serves. Leaders determine the happiness of their workplace community. When you think of a happy community, you likely picture good team players that pitch in, are positive and manage themselves well, including their relationships,...
What You Protect, You Make Weak – Empowering vs. Enabling

What You Protect, You Make Weak – Empowering vs. Enabling

Rule of Empowerment: “Don’t do for others anything they can do for themselves.  Don’t say anything they already know.” Rudolf Dreikurs In order for people to live to highest potential, each has four core needs; to feel empowered, lovable, connected and...
How to Transform Your Workplace

How to Transform Your Workplace

“The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.” Albert Einstein   “Just as a snake sheds its skin, we must shed our past over and over again.” Gautama Buddha   A healthy organization is based on shared responsibility and values, where managers become...
Creating a Life YOU Love

Creating a Life YOU Love

“Selfishness is a virtue, unless you think it must come at the expense of others. And why would anyone think that? Oh yeah, that’s what all the people who don’t “get it” told you.”  Mike Dooley   My purpose is to cause conditions in...
Part 2 of 5 – Human Systems – What Gets Measured Improves

Part 2 of 5 – Human Systems – What Gets Measured Improves

“I have been struck again and again by how important measurement is to improving the human condition.” Bill Gates What Gets Measured Improves Motivated, successful, and contributing. That’s what you need your staff to be to achieve your goals and provide...
Part 4 of 5 – Implementation

Part 4 of 5 – Implementation

“What you want is within your reach.  You can flip a switch and your life can become what you want it to be.” Sam Carpenter, Author, Work the System Cultivating Leaders Problems exist in the gap between what you desire to be happening and what is actually...
Part 5 of 5 – Maintenance

Part 5 of 5 – Maintenance

“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.”- Abraham Lincoln My Competitive Advantage Each month, I have provided information on five processes needed to ensure your greatest competitive advantage: organizational...
Get Along. Get Inspired. Get Results.

Get Along. Get Inspired. Get Results.

“Before one can hit a grand-slam home run, it first requires singles, doubles or triples.” Unknown   Every business owner sets up their organization with high hopes and a dream of making a difference, yet all the great ideas and intentions to provide quality...
Extraordinary People & Results

Extraordinary People & Results

“It is not the ultimate achievement that makes you extraordinary; it is what you become on the way to that achievement that people celebrate. Saidi Mdala, Author of Know What Matters Are you experiencing poor relationships? Seeing under-performance and disengagement...
Holding Others Accountable

Holding Others Accountable

“The committed heart finds a way. The uncommitted heart finds an excuse.” Unknown Your daughter or son agrees to complete a chore and you arrive home only to find it incomplete once again. You ask one of your employees to contribute an important section of your team...
From Compliance to Commitment

From Compliance to Commitment

“You get the best efforts from others not by lighting a fire beneath them, but by building a fire within.”   -Bob Nelson Compliance People used to think of the workplace in terms of the activities and behaviors that employees needed to perform well....
Let’s Break a Rule: the 20/80 Rule

Let’s Break a Rule: the 20/80 Rule

“We all have burdens and we need to learn to carry each other’s burdens, lighten each other’s load.”     Ann Romney Improve Your Employee AND Customer Satisfaction Your customer satisfaction is directly tied to your employee satisfaction. Your employee...
Cover Story on Culture Change

Cover Story on Culture Change

“Culture does not change because we desire to change it. Culture changes when the organization is transformed – the culture reflects the realities of people working together everyday.” Frances Hesselbein A Focus on Shifting Company Culture at KolbeCo Pays Off Many...
Are You a Leader Others Follow?

Are You a Leader Others Follow?

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” John Quincy Adams   Your role is THE determining factor in whether you drive and sustain positive change   What is YOUR transformation process...
6. Recognition: Why is Recognition Important To Trust?

6. Recognition: Why is Recognition Important To Trust?

“If you could only sense how important you are to the lives of those you meet; how important you can be to the people you may never even dream of. There is something of yourself that you leave at every meeting with another person.” Fred Rogers   I have been...
8. Seeking Excellence: Are You All You Can Be?

8. Seeking Excellence: Are You All You Can Be?

“Excellence is never an accident. It is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, and intelligent execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives – choice, not chance, determines your destiny.”      Aristotle   Seeking excellence...
Are You Cultivating Excellence?

Are You Cultivating Excellence?

National research shows 29% of employees are engaged in excellence. They’re eager, willing, and personally responsible. The remaining 71% are mediocre or actively disengaged… Ghandi, Helen Keller, DaVinci, or simply a neighbor, friend or relative with qualities...
Kinds of People I Need

Kinds of People I Need

“A pessimist is one who makes difficulties of his opportunities and an optimist is one who makes opportunities of his difficulties.”  Harry Truman An important question to consider is, “What kinds of people do I need and want to achieve my mission and...
Courage to be Imperfect

Courage to be Imperfect

“Those who have a strong sense of love and belonging have the courage to be imperfect.” Brené Brown   Why are we the most addicted, medicated, overweight, and indebted society in history? Brene Brown, researcher, author and speaker on vulnerability, worthiness...
The Dysfunctional Bunch

The Dysfunctional Bunch

“Creating chaos provides excitement for some people, especially those who are uneasy with silence, those who distract themselves from their own problems by focusing outward, those who feel empty inside and need to fill themselves up with activity, and those who were...
How to Emotionally Handle Terminations

How to Emotionally Handle Terminations

by Julia Paulus (referencing Judy Ryan and LifeWork Systems) SBM, March 2010 Getting fired is obviously difficult for an employee. But firing someone is also hard for owners and managers – probably one of the hardest things they ever have to do. This is especially...
How do I Make All-Stars?

How do I Make All-Stars?

by Julia Paulus (referencing Judy Ryan and LifeWork Systems) SBM, March 2010 My biggest all-star employee just left the company to work for a competitor.  He was efficient, virtually mistake-free and energetic.  When he left, he took with him a bunch of...
Game-Changing Appreciative Inquiry

Game-Changing Appreciative Inquiry

Imagine two scenarios both involving a couple struggling in their relationship and seeking marriage counseling. In the first instance, the couple is asked questions centering on their problems, including their origin and possible solutions. While this traditional...
Better to Give Than Receive?

Better to Give Than Receive?

We often hear the phrase, “It’s better to give than receive” but is it true? The truth is, it just feels safer to give. Without equal ability to receive, a relationship is defined and limited by a certain amount of fear and withholding. I discovered the significance...
Keep The End In Mind

Keep The End In Mind

In any situation in which you are uncertain, the first thing to consider very simply is, “What do I want to come of this? What is it for?” The clarification of the goal belongs at the beginning of any course of action because the goal is what will determine the...
The Biggest Loser

The Biggest Loser

The show “The Biggest Loser” is very popular. In it we see men and women who are determined to make monumental changes and are willing to embrace new habits and significant personal discomfort to do so. When I recently asked one of my friends what they...
What & Why Emotional Intelligence

What & Why Emotional Intelligence

We hear a lot of buzz these days about the importance of emotional intelligence (EI).  What exactly is “emotional intelligence” and why do we need it? There are 4 main components: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and relationship management....
Commitment

Commitment

“The moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves, too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and...
Vision is Everything

Vision is Everything

“By failing to prepare you are preparing to fail.” Benjamin Franklin It’s becoming more popular to talk about the power of our vision and the role it plays in creating extraordinary outcomes in our personal and professional lives. Physicists have proven that...
Organized Chaos on Purpose

Organized Chaos on Purpose

As a child deeply in love with nature, living on the edge of a park, and the 5th child of 6, I knew a lot about chaos, the beautiful, free, creative and exhilarating kind. Starting out free to explore, school at age 5 felt like bitter confinement and at times crushing...
Connection: From Chaos to Community

Connection: From Chaos to Community

Connection is to humans what water is to fish; a key to our existence and a cornerstone for our behavior.  We are social beings and from infancy we make decisions and set goals in response to our social framework.  In community, we make interpretations, then decisions...