That’s the common phrase you often hear from pundits. But is it? When we first see something or somebody, the way we perceive it or them often determines how we think of them. Yet it’s important to understand that perception is subjective. Another way to say this is that it’s personal. The truth? We perceive...Read More

What’s True And What’s Myth? Sometime ago a USA Today Snapshot (2008), revealed the satisfaction level executives had with their jobs. Job/Satisfaction Level Finance – 68% Human Resources – 65% Marketing – 63% General Management – 61% Sales – 54% The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index confirmed those earlier findings. They have polled literally millions of adults...Read More

“Sometimes you have to play a long time to be able to play like yourself”. (Miles Davis) When we think unplugged, we think of musicians. We use the term when they give up all their technological advantages—the lights, electric guitars, speakers, amplifiers, media background, etc., and go back to their acoustic or box guitar and...Read More

(What Are Your Strength Roles?) What do people who excel in a particular job or position do differently than those who don’t. I’m talking about having exceptional levels of performance like engagement, retention, productivity, less work related accidents, or any job related performance you want to observe. It seems to always vary from team to...Read More

Let’s start with what everyone agrees on. It’s good for employees to be motivated and not so good when they’re not. So the question then becomes, why isn’t it happening on a more consistent basis? In our work with Millennials (Gen Y), Indifference is one of their perceived orientations by the thousands of managers we...Read More

(Millennials: Play To Their Strengths) When I was in high school the creative kid was someone out on the fringe. We (and their instructors), would say, “Boy. Does that kid have their head in the clouds!” The intended meaning was that they were hopelessly disconnected from the real world. How things have changed! Today “living...Read More

(News Alert!! Training Beats Bonuses) The job market, at first glance, looks anything but encouraging. On the surface there seems to be a dwindling supply of jobs. That’s the feeling we get. And it is true that one-third of the 2011 college grads according to one survey (Adecco Group)*, live at home with their parents....Read More

(That Which Doesn’t Expand…Contracts) Often our journeys appear on the surface to be solitary, but they are far from it. Surrounding yourself with good people and mutual supporters is essential for success. We need the physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual support of others. King Solomon said it well, Two are better than one, because they...Read More

“Not everything that is face can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” James Baldwin (American author) The concept of biological stress is a fairly recent study. Anxiety has been around for millenniums, but stress is a recent conception. In the late 1950’s Hans Selye began to identify and document stress....Read More

(The Combustible Component Of Stress) The stresses of life come in all shapes, sizes, and colors. It doesn’t take much to trigger it. Checking the weather leads to stress. How about the stock market, or other news events? And if the news wasn’t stressful enough, who is the genius that came up with that rolling...Read More