Not long ago I gave a presentation to a group of entrepreneurs where the membership requirement was to be earning more than a million dollars a year. I started with a simple question: “How much is enough?” No one could answer the question. The best I got was, “More than we have now.” So many […]
The past few months I’ve been working through a great online course by Cal Newport and Scott Young titled, “A Life Of Focus.” It’s about getting to what truly matters in your life, pruning the unimportant, and learning to stay focused on what is essential – without distraction. A central theme of the course, which […]
I’ve noticed that in the midst of great abundance there is an equal and opposite reaction: entitlement. It seems to be human nature that the more you get, the more you want. I grew up with telephone party lines, with one line for five or six residences. Sometimes you had to wait 1/2 hour to […]
When you see entitlement in the culture where you live or work, there are five steps to counter it: Model the way. Just as you won’t expel darkness with frustration, you won’t drive out entitlement with annoyance. Instead of complaining, be the light. You attract others by being attractive. Stick with the winners. Find the […]
After guiding a senior leadership team to helping them identify their values, I proceeded to take them through a process of defining specifically how they would ensure that they would live these values in their leadership, first as an SLT and then throughout the company. Like most organizations, the value of “respect” was up near the top. […]
I once met a CEO who never promoted anyone until they spent a minimum of six months volunteering in a charitable organization. She understood that when working with volunteers, titles mean nothing. “If you can’t inspire and influence people without a title, there’s no way I’m putting a title in your hands.” Here are six […]
