Most of us have a hard time saying no, especially to close friends or family members. For some, it’s almost impossible. Like everything else in life, saying no is a skill and perhaps one of the more important we need to master. The ability to say no, when we don’t want to say yes, is […]
Read MoreFEAR. The greatest cause of our anxiety is fear. But fear and anxiety are not the same thing. Anxiety is spurred by uncertainty, by the assumptions and predictions we make about the future in which we have little confidence. If we could forecast events with certitude, we would be much less anxious. We would know […]
Read MoreIn a relentless effort to achieve sustainable competitive advantage, leaders of the past demonstrated a decided preference for recruiting people with needed technical skills. Twelve years ago, I wrote a blog on this topic emphasizing the lack of appreciation of what are often called “the soft skills.” These include the qualities required for collaboration, adaptability, […]
Read MoreI am pleased to announce that The Game of Life, first published in 1997, has been revised and updated in e-book format to reflect the changing realities and challenges of the world in which we reside. It is now available on Amazon. At the time of its inaugural publication, there were no e-books. Yet the original version […]
Read MoreOur brains don’t record what we see; they interpret it to fit our beliefs and desires. And we are unaware of the extent to which or when this happens. We see what we want to see and have been taught to see. Our brains are story tellers: they translate impressions into the language they already understand, […]
Read MoreEveryone lies. We do it for a lot of reasons. We sometimes do it to protect ourselves as well as others from embarrassment or hurt feelings. When your cherished grandmother asks you whether you like her famous family-recipe rhubarb pie, and you really don’t, you likely say you do as you struggle with the second helping. […]
Read MoreUnprecedented. The coronavirus pandemic is often described as an unprecedented event. The word means “never done or known before.” Some aspects of COVID-19, like its global scale, likely are. Others are not. Although many choose to ignore the lessons of history, it offers much needed perspectives. As George Santana said 115 years ago, those who […]
Read MoreHave you ever been asked a question you would rather not answer? We all have. These are questions that are either too difficult to answer, upsetting or confusing. They might reveal our ignorance or be purposefully intended to annoy, frustrate or make us look (or feel) stupid. People ask them all the time, perhaps innocently, sometimes […]
Read MoreA good debate liberates our thinking. A robust but respectful exchange of views is an act of kindness – one that opens and sharpens our minds and gets us closer to the truth. It ought not be a winner-take-all contest where the primary objective is to prove one is wrong and the other right. Civilized discourse isn’t a measurement of who’s smarter; it’s an opportunity to test and exchange theories about life’s inordinate mysteries and complexities.
Read MoreOne reason we get overwhelmed by our to-do lists is because we’re unable to differentiate between what we think should be done and what must be done. A lot of “shoulds” need more time to marinate; these are matters of judgment that require greater contemplation about execution. A student once asked for my help with […]
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