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Why a pink flamingo is an essential leadership tool
I was on my side porch the other day, chilling, enjoying the breeze, and doing a bit of writing for work, when I looked through the trees over to my neighbor's yard and saw a huge pink flamingo. And I mean huge. Now I probably should clarify that through the trees was...
The lies we tell ourselves and how they hurt us
"The greatest happiness is to know the source of your unhappiness." ~Fyodor Dostoyevski I spent the weekend with dear friends. Dear friends whom I've known for a long, long time. As always, when we get together, there was laughter, conversation, food, wine, a-ha...
Are you getting honest feedback?
It's said that the only way to truly grow as a leader is to have access to candid feedback about what you are doing well in leadership and where you need to improve. There are certainly processes that have been established in many organizations to get some of that –...
Glory in falling: Celebrating our ability to rise again
“The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” ~Nelson Mandela We have written many times about failing. About how when something goes wrong and we “fail,” we’re not a failure. About failing forward to learn from what’s...
Seven steps to take when new hires miss the mark
It’s never easy when the person you recently hired doesn’t live up to the potential and promise you saw during the hiring process. You imagined them fitting in seamlessly with your team and quickly leveraging their skills and experiences to excel in their role. Fast...
Treat them with love and respect
“If you would be loved, love, and be loveable.” ~Benjamin Franklin Recently I’ve had quite a few conversations around the concept of “love as a verb.” I’ve shared the Stephen Covey story of the couple who approaches a learned man for guidance. “We don’t love each...
Is that really you in the mirror?
I've learned over the years that we don't always see ourselves very accurately. We think we're being fair, and yet we're being biased. We think we're being kind, and we have a tone to our voice. We think we're being direct, and no one knows what we're saying. It's so...
Just dance.
“Don’t look at your feet to see if you are doing it right. Just dance.” ~Anne Lamott I just finished a powerful course to “perfect” my new keynote, First Most Always, and I’m ready to bring to the world the message of loving ourselves more in order to live and lead as...
Simple steps to move forward powerfully and positively now
I was in my Transformational Coaching course last week, and our instructor reminded us of one of my favorite Martin Luther King, Jr. quotes. “Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” In this course we are learning the importance of acknowledging – and...
You may think you’re thinking clearly, but…
"A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices." ~William James One of the fallacies of being human is that we think we're objective and clear minded, but we're not. Because we are human, because we've evolved to be this...
No is a complete sentence
Why is "no" such a difficult thing to say? We're great at it when we're two. "No" seems to be our favorite word at that age (at least it was for my kids). But somewhere along the line we forget that ability; we forget the word. Someone asks us to do something that we...
From habit to intention: How to transform your daily life
“Live less out of habit and more out of intent.” ~Amy Rubin Flett Sometimes we go on autopilot. Sometimes this is necessary or helpful, and sometimes it keeps us stuck in old ways. I have realized even more in the last few years, just how precious and wildly wonderful...