Posted on December 31, 2007
Is it just me, or do all New Year’s resolutions focus on being less bad? Some people are resolved to stop killing themselves through diet, drink or smoking. Others promise to stop wasting time, abusing people or working too hard. None of these resolutions are inspiring and more importantly, none of them can catapult you …
Posted on December 20, 2007
Ed Catmull, Pixar and Disney Animation Studios president, once asked me a question: “What’s more important, great ideas or great people?” His answer, always people. He said you could take a perfect idea, give it to four incompetent people, and they’d screw it up every time. If you want your company to go green, your …
Posted on December 18, 2007
Are you really finished with your holiday shopping? Are you running out of time and can’t stand the thought of fighting traffic at the malls? Here are six different gifts you can buy in a few clicks. Consider these my gift tips for this season. Books for a business colleague: Go Put Your Strengths To …
Posted on December 14, 2007
I’ve always been raised to believe that there are certain days, or times of year, where you have a license to perform random acts of kindness. If it is someone’s birthday, you have a platform to show them how much they mean to you. If it is Christmas week, you have an excuse to give …
Posted on December 12, 2007
In response to yesterday’s post (find a mentee), several of you have commented or emailed me with a simple question: How do I find a mentor? You can’t. A mentor must find you, want to invest in you and most importantly l-o-v-e you. By love I mean that your mentor wants to promote your growth …
Posted on December 11, 2007
If you want to grow, put yourself in a virtuous circle. If you take on a mentee and share your knowledge, you’ll get feedback that will make you smarter for the effort. Mentees often try your advice in the real world and report back to you on results. This is the circle of knowledge. I …
Posted on December 6, 2007
If you are joyful and grateful, you are easier to get along with and generally much more creative. Have you ever met a joyful person who was mean or rude? The trick is being joyful OR grateful at work. One way to do this is to catch it, like a cold, from someone at work. …
Posted on December 3, 2007
Since my last post (Network With Finesse), I have received several emails from you asking some great questions. The key question seems to be: How can I make a valuable contact without being aggressive or proactive? If I can ‘get to’ a very important person, why wouldn’t I seize that opportunity? In other words, if …
Posted on November 29, 2007
If you are not connecting, you are not networking. Networking is not a matter of introducing yourself to someone and then finding out how they can help you succeed. Most of the time, it can be highly interruptive and obnoxious, especially if the person you are ‘networking’ with isn’t in the mood to network. I …
Posted on November 26, 2007
How many times have you had a great meeting, then struggled to find the time later to follow up on your action items from it? I believe that business life is filled with out-of-sight out-of-mind behavior, where meetings end up being ‘happy talk’ with little real execution. In many cases, it is a time management …
