At the risk of shameless self-promotion, here is a post on why coaching is a powerful way to create authentic and lasting change: Who you hang out with matters. (The right coach is a wonderful person to “hang out” with once a week or so, and will challenge you to upgrade your associations if necessary.) What…

“During my 87 years, I have witnessed a whole succession of technological revolutions. But none of them has done away with the need for character in the individual or the ability to think.” – Bernard Baruch One of the reasons I chose a liberal education (thank you Hobart College) was my belief that the abilities…

“Until you commit your goals to paper, you have intentions that are like seeds without soil” –  Anonymous I hear plenty of people say that goal-setting and planning are unnecessary or limiting. That if they narrow their focus or thoughts to a particular outcome that they might miss out on something better. Or, people say that…

On page 74 on Kevin Cashman’s excellent book, Leadership From The Inside Out, he tells the story of being asked by a Tibetan monk how many days he has to live. After gathering himself, he thought for minute and answered “Six thousand.” The monk replied: “So, if you have 6,000 days, do you want to…

“Huh? What the heck is he talking about?” Excellent question. Allow me to explain: Human beings do some interesting things, some great, some good, some not-so-much. One of the things that we do that falls in the not-so-much category is dissonance resolution. First (an attempt at), a definition; Dissonance Resolution: in relation to people, ideas…

I receive Hugh MacLeod’s blog updates and highly recommend you subscribe as well. One recently got my attention and reminded me of a favorite quote from one of my mentors (Thomas Leonard): “People do what they do because they don’t have anything better to do.” Check out Hugh’s blog post here before reading on. I…

[Going through some folders on my computer today I found some blog posts that I had written (for a blog that didn’t exist . . . ) in 2006, and they’re actually not too bad; this one is from June:] Goals are a bit of a paradox, albeit an easily managed one. Clearly knowing what…