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Advice is best received when asked for. Any moment before that and it’s useless. It solely benefits the advisor, not the recipient. And so, no matter how skilled we are at giving advice, and no matter how intent we are at helping and fixing and contributing to others, it’s critical that we approach people in way that recognizes and respects their boundaries.  A helpful strategy in raising someone’s receptivity…

I recently heard an inspiring story about a blocked screenwriter who couldn’t finish his first independent film.  And so, to motivate himself, he had a pair of tennis shoes custom designed with the title of his movie embroidered one hundred times on each foot. Brian claimed it was a constant reminder to take steps toward his dream, no matter how big they were. He wore those shoes all day,…

I have a client who, like so many of us, struggles with focus. His messaging is all over the place. He tries to say too many things at once. And he has a hard time sticking to one theme.  During a recent brain rental session, I asked him to create two lists. The first list was three themes he thought were most meaningful in his work. The second list contained three themes customers remembered from his…

Nobody comes home from working thinking they’re the idiot.  The human instinct is to externalize blame. To find all the ways everybody else was wrong, thereby making us innocent through process of elimination. To give ourselves license to say how stupid everybody else is without feeling guilty.  The only problem is, what we assume is another person’s failure is often projected carelessness. For example, I’ve lost count of the number of…

For any performer, there’s a tendency to pile on the firepower.  To max out. To use all your weapons at once in a symphony of destruction.  It’s a natural response to a high stakes situation. You so badly want to be noticed and heard and liked and remembered, that you try to do too much. War gamers and military operations call this type of strategy an alpha strike, which is a massive,…

Defensiveness blocks listening, closes minds, causes withdrawal, destroys communication, halts growth, reduces learning.  And those are just a few of the emotional responses.  Physically, defensiveness has also been clinically proven to elevate blood pressure and increase heart rate. In fact, according to recent social epidemiology research, defensiveness is emerging as an important psychosocial risk factor for hypertension and future cardiovascular health problems.  And so, both physically and mentally, there is…

Ideas are free, execution is priceless. That’s been my mantra since day one of starting my business. It’s also the title of a book I wrote a few years back. You can download it for free here. But here’s the problem. I’m an idea junkie. Everything I look at in the world breaks down into a collection of ideas. I have about fifty new ones every day, and sadly, I…

We all hear voices inside our heads.  That doesn’t make us insane, that makes us in touch. It’s a sign that we’re connected to the deeper currents within ourselves. Sadly, voice hearing or auditory hallucinations have been associated with madness and schizophrenia and psychosis. Because that’s something crazy people do. No need to pay attention to the content or the experience of that voice.  However, there was famous study conducted in…

Customer service doesn’t have to be a complicated notion. Simply ask yourself, does your company make things easier or harder for the people around you?  Harvard recently released a study that interviewed seventy thousand people who had interacted over the phone with customer service representatives. What’s interesting is, their research found that delighting customers didn’t build loyalty, reducing their effort did.  It was the companies who lowered the amount of work…

An entrepreneur’s income is a result of his standards.  Not the industry, not the economy, not the man, not the government, not the competition, not the system, not the marketplace, not the city he lives in, but his standards. His ability to sell himself on himself.  And so, he should never curse an empty calendar. Because it’s not a calendar, it’s a mirror. It’s a reflection of his level…