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Are you comfortable with confrontation? Have you ever thought that the ability and willingness to be confrontational can be a differentiator? I think when Thoreau observed that, "Most men live lives of quiet desperation," he was commenting on their inability to confront reality, situations and people when they
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It is true that when we find ourselves in a hole, the first thing we should do is stop digging. Sometimes that pull to keep digging or keep trying harder can overwhelm our sensibilities. Instead of being smarter, we simply add horsepower and determination. It's a terrible idea.
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Try doing business without being likable. Getting connections and deals become hard quickly. We live with immense choices in who we want to deal with, and unpleasantness can simply be ignored for the next great option. Of course, there are a lot of charmers out there as well. They can
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I see people every day in business lost on what they should or can do. The old rules where you were a good boy or girl and advanced up a ladder doesn't play out much today. You can't simply rest on your laurels and hope someone
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I grew up watching Steve Martin as The Jerk, a Dirty Rotten Scoundrel, Roxanne, Father of the Bride and a traveler in Planes, Trains and Automobiles. He has that brilliant wit and timing that has made us roll over in laughter for decades and I couldn't believe he
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I saw this recent statistic to date for number of apps for my Apple devices at 2.2 million and 2.8 million for Google Play! It blows my mind how much technology is available for every average person out there with a thought and a click. We got here
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When I find people unhappy in their work and listen to what's dissatisfying them, the usual issue is that they are not doing what they are. It's no secret most people hate their work. But why persist in misery when there is all this choice out
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We had this age of efficiency and continuous improvement for a long time. When the Japanese were destroying us in the auto industry with better quality cars we buckled down and hyper focused on quality. It worked. ISO standards, Deming Cycles and Six Sigma drove quality to new standards, and
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There are too many things I am simply an amateur at in life. If I pick up a sport or study a new topic, it's hard and clumsy at first. Actually, it's difficult for a while until I can get my brain and my body the
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There are all these productivity systems out there, and I find this one thing is often underestimated. Speed. We don't live in a world where what comes in is controlled and steady. If you are like the typical knowledge worker, it is absolute chaos on a given business
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It's hard enough to get results when the world is set up against you with adversity, obstacles and high hurdles. Furthermore, it is so easy to let in a thousand distractions, commitments and assets that contribute little or nothing to your goals. I can remember getting offered so
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CNN covered an interview recently on Andre Agassi returning to tennis to coach Novak Djokovic in his next chapter of his career. Such a great read as well as an insightful interview of Brad Gilbert, commentator extraordinaire and former coach of Andre Agassi. He talked about how Agassi played his