In 1987, I was 25 years old, straight out of the management training program; I had moved to Atlanta as a warehouse supervisor. We were an 8-person branch office and our branch manager, Brian Black had moved back from Asia to run the branch. One day I mentioned to Brian that a client’s goods that
Status Quo: “The state or fact of being the way things usually are” The status quo is comfortable. It is predictable. It lives with words like normalcy, rut, routine, conventionality. It is not exciting. It doesn’t hang out with words like innovation, progress, disruption, noteworthiness, remarkable, extraordinary. Where do you want to hang out?
How do you define success? At work? Away from work? in my work with clients, when we are too mired in the day to day fires, in the tactical pressures, I ask the question “What is your endgame?” In other words, what does success look like? It is important that we take the time to
Received this the other day. It speaks to the need for creativity and innovation to find solutions to those tough problems: The 18th Camel: There was a father who left 17 camels as an asset for his three sons. When the father passed away, his sons opened up the will. The Will of the father stated
I was having a conversation with Gary Teitelbaum, the owner Afficionados, the cigar and wine bar I frequent. Gary understands customers. He makes his living understanding what they like and reccomending cigars or wines that he believes fit his customers’ tastes. And Gary believes in creating value for his customers. The other day, Gary tells
Over the years I have had the pleasure of hiring McKinsey to help with some big stuff. And during those times I worked with some amazing people. I learned a lot. One of the things I learned that has stuck with me was the concept of MECE – its stands for Mutually Exclusive, Collectively Exhaustive.
My son Ryan graduated from college this weekend. And as I heard the commencement speaker give his (delightfully succinct!) 5 pieces of advice to the graduating class, I thought of my own words of advice for Ryan. I had already written my book, 50 Words , for my boys…my effort to pass on the values and
Oscar Wilde was always a good foil; showing us a pointed truth we might rather not recognize in ourselves. “Always forgive your enemies – nothing annoys them so much.” “Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go.” “I am so clever that sometimes I don’t understand a single word of what I am
Confidence: “great faith in oneself or one’s abilities” aplomb, assurance, self-assurance, self-esteem, self-trust Sure beats: diffidence, insecurity, self-doubt Don’t let confidence become cockiness, complacence, conceit, pride, haughtiness, presumptuousness Be confident. Exude confidence. It inspires!
Transparency: “the state or quality of being easily seen through” Clearness, brialliance, luminosity, definition, resolution, apparentness, observability, visibility Sure beats: cloudiness, opacity, turbidity, fogginess, milkiness, murkiness Strive to be transparent. Encourage transparency in others. It leads to trust cloudiness, opacity, opaqueness, turbidity, turbidness fogginess, haziness, milkiness, mistiness, murkiness
